Riley Finn MBTI Personality Type
Personality
What personality type is Riley Finn? Riley Finn is an ESFJ personality type in MBTI, 2w1 - so/sp - 612 in Enneagram, SLOAN in Big 5, ESI in Socionics.
Riley's not a 2. He demonstrates some negative 2 qualities in s5, but he ultimately represents the strengths and weakness of a 6w7--dependable, loyal, and friendly, but also insecure and often dependent on others for validation. I was initially on the fence between 6w5 and 6w7, but I think he's ultimately more reliant on other people for support as a 6w7, rather than a 6w5's reliance on objective systems. He spends the beginning of season 4 suspicious of Buffy before realizing he likes her, after which he immediately seeks advice from his friends, then Willow to gather information about the "right" way to court her. Later he brings up his insecurities about his relationship (even if obliquely) with Xander and, hell, even to some degree Spike when he goes to confront him. But unlike a 2, Riley's MO is never to be everyone's best friend, to be the most-liked person in the room, or to win people over. When he gets closer to Buffy's friend group in s5, it's not that he's trying to solicit more love from her or her friends, he's just searching for assurance that he has a place in his new world. When old friends/military people reach out to him, he initially turns against them because they no longer answer to same authority; the same reason why he's eager to bring Buffy into the Initiative in s4. I think what's misunderstood about Riley's angst is that it's not really about Buffy, her strength, or how much Buffy does or doesn't appreciate him. It's that he derives support from (and as a result, his self-esteem is based on) how he fits into his social world--ie. how good he is at being an Initiative soldier vs. being a Scooby. And when he falters in his chosen realm, he becomes insecure and disintegrates into 3, looking for ways to feel desirable even when it becomes self-destructive. Again, this is distinct from the unhealthy 2 feeling that other people don't appreciate what he does for them. It's the unhealthy 6 feeling that he's not good enough on his own. Ultimately Riley's the one that doesn't think he's good enough for Buffy, so he can't believe that she would ever love him.
Biography
Riley (portrayed by #MarcBlucas) is Buffy's first serious boyfriend after Angel. He is initially an operative in a military organization called "The Initiative" that uses science and military technology to hunt down HSTs or "hostile sub-terrestrials" (demons). Riley is Angel's opposite, an Iowa-born-and-raised man whose strength lies in his military secret identity. Buffy's superior physical strength causes him insecurity, particularly after his medically enhanced powers were removed. This, combined with Buffy's inability to truly emotionally connect with him, eventually causes him to leave in the middle of Season 5.
