DakariKingMykan wrote a perfect unhealthy 2w3 character · 2:00am Nov 10th, 2018
And no, it's not clickbait.
Wow! A post about Mykan that is not a critique of his series or a link to an mst or a response post! make a wish people.
No, I still don't like the guy (I blocked him) but one has to give credit where is due.
While he is known for hating giving characters complex personalities because they hold back the plot, he, perhaps unwillingly ,wrote an actual complex character.
Who is this complex character?
Why, Ath-Lita of course. Perhaps is the fact that she seems to be based on IRL user Cherry-Lei (and IRL sweetheart).
Before we start our analysis let me quote wikipedia on the enneagram:
"TheEnneagram of Personality, or simply the Enneagram (from the Greek words ennéa, meaning "nine" and grámma, meaning something "written" or "drawn", is a model of the human psyche which is principally understood and taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types"
The types divide in three triads:
Feeling Triad (2- The Helper, 3- The Achiever, 4- The Individualistic) , Thinking Triad (5- The Investigator, 6- The Skeptic, 7- The Enthusiast) and the Instinctual Triad (8-The Challenger,9-The Mediator, 1- The Reformer).
Basically each one of these types has a desire, a vice, and a fear.
I could go on and on talking about this, but for now, let's focus on our beloved and yellow designated villain.
Type 2:
(Source: Various)
The enneagram type 2, or The Helper, describes persons who are helpful, altruistic, kind, and overall pleasant individual when they are healthy, when unhealthy they think they are like the description above, however they come off as manipulative, possessive, belligerent, and even toxic, and once they step to the path of disintegration they become violent, aggressive and nasty, showing the worst characteristics of a type 8. On the path of integration type 2s learn to pay attention to their needs and become more emotionally aware, showing the best characteristics of a type 4.
From the start to the end of "Friendship is Failure: Pride and Punishment" Ath-Lita exhibits traits of an unhealthy type 2 (but not a fully disintegrated one), and while her Myers-Briggs type is undeterminate (She is definitively an Extraverted Feeler tho) and her temperament oscillates between sanguine and choleric, she is definitively a type 2. It fits her like a glove.
"“Just wait ‘til I get my hoofs on you!” she shouted as she galloped along (...)" Just from the first line she says we can deduce she is quite abusive and abrasive towards her brother, however as she is not fully disintegrated , Ath-Lita can still have a civil and polite conversation with the ponies and spike .
" “Can’t you just tell us what’s wrong? We’re actually here to help with a friendship problem, and you just may be who were looking for.”
The others all nodded, and Ath-Lita decided to explain. She and her older brother Talon-Ted used to be really close growing up, both of them were extremely talented; Ath-Lita loved sports and athletics, and her dream was to compete in the Equestria games and win gold medals for all of Ponyville. (...) she went on explaining that her brother was a very talented actor, singer, dancer, and impressionist, “He wanted to get into the business really badly, but after he graduated from college and earned his acting degree, he turned down every single offer that was given to him!” (...) “Now all he ever does is just sit on his tail at home all day doing nothing, that is when he’s not at work, and it’s all because of this cash settlement he got a few years back.”(...)" Ath-Lita's hierarchy of importance has her brother on top and at the center, all the things she does are to try to help her brother, and he is the most important pony in her life, she doesn't consider her own needs to focus on her brother. is that a good thing? Like hell it is ! Lita's unselfishly selfish or selfishly unselfish behavior causes nothing but trouble between her and her brother, not that Talon-Ted attitude helps either, but I'm not gonna dwell on that issue, other users already did.
While the actual friendship problem of the fic is the relationship between Ath-Lita and Talon-Ted, Ath-Lita's issues lie on the fact that she desperately wants her brother to become successful and that his lazy,unmotivated attitude drives her mad because she feels he's wasting his talent. This goes line in line with typical type 2s who want nothing but the best for their loved ones, sometimes without considering if that will really make them happy.
" "(...) It’s all about what YOU want, Lita.” Talon-Ted line nails it. Ironically despite type 2s desire of being as helpful and unselfish as possible, they often come across as really selfish and possessive, as their main vice is pride they can let their ego consume and bring the worst of them . Is worth nothing that Lita's intentions are genuinely good, but the way she applies them makes her nasty, overbearing and abusive towards her brother . A sweet character gone sour.
In relation to her wing, this is an easy thing to say, she is more active and sociable so 2w3 without question, and about disintegration of this type? Well...
"2w3s in stress can become arrogant, overbearing, authoritarian and are prone to bursts of anger."
So he did it, he absolutely did it, Mykan wrote a deep and complex character , even if he did not want to, and he absolutely nailed it.
Yes, I am as shocked as you are.
The thing is. She wasn’t meant to be “deep and complex” Mykan intended her to be seen as an unlikable violent control freak. So yes he created a complex character...by accident
4965700
It's a given fact he hates complexity and depth but sometimes we end up doing things we hate by pure accident.
And hey... even though angry control freak describes type 1s it can also apply to disintegrated type 2s