Charlie Swan personality type: ISTJ

Charlie Swan might be the most underrated character in the whole saga, and the reason is that he never asks for attention. He is the police chief of Forks. He fishes with Billy Black and Harry Clearwater, he watches sports on TV, and when his teenage daughter moves in he mostly gives her room. He married Renee right after high school, Bella arrived soon after, and then Renée divorced him and moved to Phoenix with Bella. Their relationship starts out distant, which is how two quiet people tend to get along, and it warms up the way most things in Charlie’s life do: slowly, through habit, without anyone making a speech about it.

We type him ISTJ. Introverted sensing makes him a creature of routine and loyalty: the same friends, the same town, the same job for years. Extraverted thinking comes out as rules and consequences. When Bella runs off to Italy without a word, he grounds her. When she announces she is engaged, his first assumption is that she must be pregnant, which is what a practical cop would conclude from the evidence. He reluctantly agrees to the wedding and then walks her down the aisle, because showing up is how he says I love you.

He handles chaos like a nine: by not asking. In Breaking Dawn Jacob phases into a wolf in front of him so he will stop asking questions about Bella, and Charlie settles into knowing only what he needs to. He is never told the Cullens are vampires. That sounds like denial, and partly it is, but it is also a peace he chooses so he can keep his daughter close and fall hard for Renesmee. Nines merge with the people they love, and he lets the mystery stay a mystery. He even finds a quiet romance with Sue Clearwater along the way. Billy Burke plays him in all five films with a dry, deadpan touch.

But: ISFJ makes sense too, since he is so loyal and protective. The tell is how he shows care. He blames Edward after New Moon, openly prefers Jacob, and in Eclipse lifts Bella’s grounding on the condition that she spend time with her friends and Jacob. He solves feelings with policies. That is thinking, so ISTJ fits.