Petyr Baelish personality type: INTJ

Littlefinger gives his mission statement in an empty throne room, standing next to Varys. Chaos, he says, is a ladder. Most people see it as a pit. He sees steps. Remember that image, because his whole type is built into it. The ladder runs on patience, and Petyr Baelish is an INTJ. He sets the War of the Five Kings in motion with two quiet moves: he gets Lysa to poison Jon Arryn, then has her write to Catelyn blaming the Lannisters. Later he tells Catelyn that the dagger used on Bran belonged to Tyrion. Then he waits for everybody to destroy each other. The machinery is his too. He is master of coin, he owns brothels, he buys the City Watch, and he moves money, men and information like pieces on a board.

Behind the schemes sits a Three with a 4 wing. Threes chase status and fear being worthless, and Littlefinger was born the son of a minor lord on a tiny holding. Everyone at Riverrun made sure he knew it. Every move afterward is about proving he can climb higher than the people who laughed. The 4 wing gives that ambition a wounded, romantic edge. He wants the throne, but he also wants Catelyn to have chosen him.

One private obsession he cannot reason away is Catelyn Tully. As a boy he fought a duel with Brandon Stark for her and lost badly. He still carries it. When Catelyn is gone, he transfers that fixation onto Sansa, which is as creepy as it sounds.

He does not change. He gets better at the same game until the game turns on him. In Winterfell he tries to turn Sansa against Arya, using the same tricks that worked on Lysa and Ned. The sisters compare notes instead. At what he thinks is Arya’s trial, Sansa reads out his crimes, Arya cuts his throat, and the ladder ends in the great hall. Littlefinger is lethal in a council chamber and helpless in a room where someone simply acts. He never fights his own battles. Some fans type him ENTJ or even ENTP, since he talks so smoothly in public. Those are fair reads. I keep INTJ because his real work is done offstage. The conversations are just delivery. The plan was always already made.