The Myers-Briggs® Personality Types Of The Death Eaters

The objective villains of the Harry Potter series were the Death Eaters. Although some of them were blackmailed into doing Lord Voldemort’s bidding or threatened into it, most of them seemed to believe in his pretty horrific cause—genocide of non-magical blood. It was a dark theme, but it worked well for the series because it made us hate the people Harry was fighting against. And isn’t that the whole point?

Nevertheless, they were pretty fascinating characters and are still interesting to look into. We’ve thought about the Myers-Briggs personality types of the Death Eaters we know well enough to type.

Lord Voldemort: INTJ

Leader of the Death Eaters, Dark Lord, it’s Voldemort. Lots of people think Voldemort is an ENTJ because he’s a born commander, but we have to disagree slightly. He’s very reserved about his personal life, tends towards privacy, and spent a ridiculous amount of time in the forests of Albania withdrawing from society. For most of the war, he operated in the background. Even when the Ministry was taken over, he placed one of his puppets at the head rather than sitting there himself.

He’s still cold and calculating though, pretty much a mastermind, and that makes him an INTJ.

Severus Snape: INTJ

One of the few people to ever truly outsmart the Dark Lord, what Snape did took a lot of careful planning and masking his emotions and how he truly felt about the whole situation. He lied to Voldemort’s face and manipulated situations like a master to keep Harry safe. His motivation was questionable but regardless of his reasons, he did it successfully.

Like Voldemort, he’s an INTJ—private, reserved, but calculating and manipulative, and very successful at being both. Snape and Voldemort was great examples of how two very different people can actually be the same personality type. They’re just different sides of it, with the traits sitting at varying levels of intensity.

Bellatrix Lestrange: ESFP

Bellatrix is a very interesting character. She’s Sirius’ cousin, married to Rodolphus Lestrange but blatantly in love with Lord Voldemort. She’s a very enthusiastic character, creative and loving to put on a show—even if those shows are very creepy displays of torture. She seems very erratic and comes across as someone who can’t plan as well as Snape and Voldemort, but is very useful for other things. Such as scaring people.

She’s an ESFP who’s using all of the typical ESFP traits to an unhealthy maximum. She ruins the villain stereotype of them all being quiet masterminds and for that, you have to credit her.

Lucius Malfoy: ESTJ

From what we see of Lucius Malfoy, he sits at the head of the family and keeps everything in order. He seems to be very tough on Draco, expecting the best from him in every situation and anything his son ever does never seems to be good enough. If he got a good grade, it doesn’t matter, if Hermione did better. If he played well in Quidditch, it doesn’t matter, if Harry beat him.

He’s a great people manager but a really poor father in terms of emotional support, and his difficulty expressing motion combined with his supervisor-like parenting skills makes him an ESTJ.

Draco Malfoy: ESTP

His son, Draco, has a few possible types, as we see different sides of him over the series—but, ultimately, he seems to be an ESTP. He’s very prone to risks, impatient, and insensitive—deliberately so at times. When Draco wants something, he wants it right then and there.

On the more positive side, he seems to be very direct and bold, and there’s a level of practicality to him; after all, he does pretty well in school even if he’s not as clever as Hermione. He also manages to fix the vanishing cabinet, if you need further proof.

All of these traits combined make him an ESTP overall.

Peter Pettigrew: ISFJ

Pettigrew isn’t really your typical villain. He doesn’t believe in Voldemort’s cause at all, but doesn’t have enough of a moral backbone to stand up to his ideas either. It’s more the weaknesses of an ISFJ that stand out than the strengths here, though. He’s very shy, takes things personally, and seems to be very sensitive. He’s the villainous version of an ISFJ.

ISFJs have the capability to be very loyal people, but it seems like the war made Peter a very ruined, burnt out ISFJ. After all, he’s definitely not loyal or altruistic, which are two positive traits that can be born from an ISFJ. More than anything, he’s loyal to himself and his own life.

Although he did repay the debt to Harry, if you remember correctly… maybe that’s a clue to his type being a true ISFJ, in the end. Even the positives.

Barty Crouch Jr.: INFP

Barty Crouch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Quidditch World Cup

Barty Crouch Jr. is a hard one to get to know, if only because he’s acting like someone else for most of the time that we see him. He pretends to be Mad-Eye Moody and we see his true self only in a flashback and under the influence of Veritaserum, which makes his personality blank. But from what we know, he was truly dedicated to Voldemort, a passionate individual who might have turned out well if he hadn’t been parented so poorly. He was creative, but his bad family life pushed traits that could have been used for good into something really bad.

Overall, he seems to be an INFP.

Fenrir Greyback: XXXX

Did you know that the Myers-Briggs system is only intended to be used on those who are mentally healthy, with a balanced mind? It’s hard to pinpoint a type for those who don’t have that—let alone people who have become complete monsters.

Fenrir Greyback wasn’t technically a Death Eater as he wasn’t allowed the Dark Mark, but he was working for Voldemort—and he is a brilliant example of the fact that this system can’t be applied to everyone. A serial killer full of only negative traits, he is a complete Myers-Briggs outlier. He can’t be shoved into any of the boxes, which makes him a pretty rare individual.