MBTI Type: INFJ

John constantly speaks of “destiny,” and “fate,” and “spirit walks.” He forms an immediate mystical bond with the island and believes it can both teach him things, and show him things about himself and other people. The strange events of the island do not faze him; he takes them all in stride. He tends to fixate and visualize on something, and then not quit pursuing it until he gets what he wants (even on the mainland, he stubbornly clung to his idealistic belief of going on the nature walk / hike despite being in a wheelchair). He has trained himself to be aware of his environment and able to use it, through extensive research into hunting, tracking, and survival skills. Locke completely immerses himself in the experience of the island – when others run for cover, he enjoys the rain. He gets a kick out of dangerous situations and even sometimes puts himself in them for fun. Being out of a wheelchair has made him highly active and eager to pursue purely physical things. He is interested not merely in his own self-growth, but that of others, and tries to guide them to self-awareness as much as he can (teaching Walt how to hunt or throw knives, taking Boone under his wing to educate him about the island). Locke shows an ability to understand other people’s needs and desires; his own emotions only rarely surface (anger over not being allowed to do things on the mainland) but he is attentive to other people’s feelings and needs and can even be manipulative with them in accomplishing what he wants. If the facts seem insurmountable, Locke thinks around them. He trusts that at some point, the solution will present itself. Rather than try to force open the hatch, he would rather meditate on it until a solution comes to him. He often takes direct action rather than announce his intentions or formulate plans. He tends to keep his schemes inside his own head, and at first has no real interest in leadership or controlling others, so much in figuring out what the island, its occupants, and its mysticism all mean to him, personally.

Enneagram: 4w5

John arrived at the island ‘broken’ because of his father’s betrayal and the subsequent loss of his legs, and he finally feels like he has a ‘special’ connection to the island, which he exploits by using all the ‘expert’ skills he accumulated in preparation for his Australian Walkabout. In flashbacks, we see that he becomes angry at the other people in his support group, and insists they don’t know what suffering is, with the implication he does; his pain is worth more than theirs, his cuts are deeper, his losses more traumatic. His need to feel special drives him to cultivate anyone who admires him, such as Boothe, but his arrogance and total belief in his unique ability to understand the island can cause problems among the other survivors, such as when he urges Boothe to climb up into an airplane, only to get him killed. He becomes hysterical in his earlier life, whenever anyone tells him what he can or cannot do. He ruins his romantic relationship with his unwillingness to forgive his father—instead of doing what he agreed with his girlfriend he would (move on), he stalks his father’s house and sits endlessly at his gate to punish him for his actions. His 5 wing enjoys being an expert on things, and is somewhat detached from other people in many of his more ruthless or questionable decisions. He believes in whatever he decides is true, and can become quite petty when he is proven wrong (such as about the hatch).

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