Higgs Monaghan MBTI Personality Type
Personality
What personality type is Higgs Monaghan? Higgs Monaghan is an ENTP personality type in MBTI, 7w8 - sx/so - 784 in Enneagram, SLUEI in Big 5, SLE in Socionics.
[spoiler-heavy] Easily my favorite character of all time, I adore this skrunkly, pizza-loving mofo. ENTP 7w8 and sx-dom is easy to type at first glance, but the rest of his personality is rather elusive and requires a deeper dive into lore, both in-game and supplemental materials. Everyone is voting sx/so, and I get why, but Higgs is very soc-blind and not countertype. The self-pres and social instincts are conflated a lot in e7, due to this type’s inherent need for outward validation; their cold exterior conceals fear of inferiority. e7 is arguably the most extroverted of the enneagram thus their sp needs are heavily dependent on the presence of other people and having a clear role within a group. They often create family units and can appear similar to the so8 via their proclivity for creating a “tribe” for themselves, a group they nurture and in turn are protected by. Thus, self-pres e7s are characterized as defenders in spite of their obvious self-interest. sx/sp 7s are often very warm, charismatic people. Combined with an 8 fix, they're quite intense. Many of Higgs’ deeper issues can be explained through unhealthy but highly developed tert. Fe + soc-blindness + an e2 fix in his tritype. Having grown up completely isolated from the world, there’s no way he could be anything *but* soc-blind. In his youth, every time Higgs found himself in a new social situation, he responded with skepticism and instinctual aversion to social connection. It took time and persuasion for him to warm up to the idea of group politics; he’s only convinced when he realizes he’s needed and stands to have his own needs fulfilled in turn. His self-sacrifice is cognitive compensation for social deficiency and expression of a moral righteousness generated by his sx7-driven idealism, not an instinctual social egotism and rejection of gluttony. e4 tertiary fix though? Tbh that feels like lazy analysis, a guess at best. I personally believe it’s e2, could see an argument for e3, but e4 is way off the mark. Higgs’ initial reluctance to accept his DOOMS for what it was and subsequent secretiveness about killing to maintain it for his own survival is expression of an e2 emotional center, not e4. Higgs doesn’t self-victimize or wish to be special. Rather, he conceals his own needs and justifies his actions through a belief that he’s undertaking a selfless path. (“I’m an altruist now, I live to help other people[…] Community’s what it’s all about.”) He needs the world to need him and deteriorates when he has no larger role to fill. Because he’s soc-blind and sx-dom, though, he only feels truly seen/appreciated when he has attention + approval through a one-on-one relationship, such as with Coffin, Fragile, Amelie, etc., and he obsessively pursues the same recognition from Sam. (It’s worth acknowledging this is also indicative of disordered attachment as a result of his severe unresolved trauma.) When he fails, he falls back on the self-pres instinct, so... pizza, anyone? Regarding a somewhat healthier time in his life (pre-Amelie), many recall him as a good leader and strong protector of the western region. A folk tale even went around about a modern-day King Midas. People loved him and relied on him, but that wasn’t enough for him. Amelie initially lured him with the deceptive promise of enough power to create the better, freer, fairer world he was striving for. In his mind: save the world = save himself. Can’t save the world? Can’t save himself, time to take the whole thing down with him and call it mercy. That’s an unhealthy e2 heart center, not e4, believing he’s capable of carrying the whole world on his shoulders and can only meet his own needs by rescuing everyone else, projecting his own turmoil onto others. He convinces himself he’s doing the right thing, giving the world what it needs. While his thirst for wide-scale justice is genuine, he exhibits an intense craving for attention, intimacy, and recognition, becoming suddenly naive and vulnerable when someone offers what he lacks. Conversely, he’s antagonistic, aloof, aggressive, and ego-defensive when his needs are denied or threatened. Mature-but-unhealthy ENTP 782 at its finest. His journals as well as the novelization make this quite apparent. Higgs strives to be the hero because no one was there to save Peter, the scared, abused kid that committed no sin but simple curiosity. His most basic of needs were denied, so he’s gluttonous towards intimate relationships and a sense of security. Becoming Higgs—embodying a self-righteous, pharaoh-inspired persona—was the only way he could cope with the injustice and deprivation he suffered. (Coffin: “There was such a fear in him, but beneath that a terrible anger[…] That poor boy…”) He’s far more of an anti-villain than he appears to be at first and I’d bet good money that he gets some form of redemption in DS2, considering how the Director’s Cut made additions for his story to be even more tragic. (Cont. in replies)
