The Myers-Briggs® Types Of The Original Pokemon Gym Leaders

The Pokémon gym leaders are a pretty formidable bunch, heavily present in both the anime and the games. Anyone familiar with the franchise knows what the gyms are: you must challenge the leader of each one to a Pokémon battle if you wish to get the badge, and only after gaining eight badges from a region can you participate in the Pokémon league.

The first leaders we were introduced to were the ones from the Indigo league, stationed in Kanto. Each of them used a different type of Pokémon and had a distinct personality that made them fit to be a gym leader, but what exactly are their Myers-Briggs® types? What makes their personalities so distinct and so special?

Let us know if you agree or disagree with these, and if you share a type with one of these gym leaders!

8 8. Brock: INFJ, The Advocate

Leader of the Pewter City gym is Brock, a leader who uses rock type Pokémon. In the game, he stays in the gym and battles the trainers who come across him but in the show, he leaves his gym and the siblings he takes care of to go ahead and travel on a journey through the regions with Ash and Misty.

Although he initially seems very tough and hard-headed, the softer side revealed of Brock can only mean that he’s an INFJ. They tend to be quiet, to hide their true selves, but they’re idealists who are willing to work hard for a good cause. Between running his gym and taking care of his family, Brock was certainly doing just that.

7 7. Misty: ENTJ, The Commander

ENTJs are generally thought of as being very intimidating, which means people may overlook this type for Misty. She wasn’t the oldest of her siblings and didn’t come across as the most powerful, but she seems to be an ENTJ nonetheless. She scoffs at Ash’s half-baked ideas and requires a solid plan, as well as feeling the need to be in control most of the time. Her need to be in charge solidifies her as an ENTJ, even though this might not be super obvious until she gets older and stops feeling as if she’s in the shadow of her sisters.

6 6. Lt. Surge: ESTJ, The Executive

A gym leader of electric types like Lt. Surge needs an electric personality and oh boy, does this gym leader deliver!

ESTJs are good bosses; or, to be more precise, bosses who work those under them hard to achieve the desired results. Surge proved himself to be extremely hard on his Raichu, but he also gained incredible results from the Pokémon that were extremely hard to defeat. His Pokémon probably had a hard time from him, but his winning streak meant that the gym seemed pretty undefeated until Ash learned how to use Pikachu’s agility moves to his advantage. Who remembers this amazing battle?

5 5. Erika: INFP, The Mediator

Erika is definitely one of the softer personality types when it comes to the gym leaders. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course—the world needs kind people, it’s just unusual when it comes to this ruthless group.

In the games, she seems to have dozed off and barely notices that the trainer wants to battle. Battling doesn’t even seem to be her first priority, even though she knows she’s good at it. She seems to be more of a dreamer than anything—kind and altruistic, which makes her a perfect INFP candidate.

Again, seems unusual for a gym leader, but she seems to be good at what she does, so good for her.

4 4. Koga: ENTJ, Another Commander

Koga is another ENTJ, and a good example of just how different personality types can look between different trainers. He’s very different from Misty, and perhaps a more obvious ENTJ.

He’s very self-confident. A user of the Pokémon type of poison, he doesn’t seem to think that he can be beaten, and how strong he is (he appears later in the game, a clear sign he’s stronger than most of the others) means that he’s definitely been working hard. He’s an ENTJ who’s had more time to develop his confidence than Misty, with no one overshadowing him.

He’s almost a very typical example of a gym leader, with that confidence bordering on arrogance.

3 3. Sabrina: INTJ, The Architect

A user of psychic types and extremely hard to defeat - Ash didn’t actually defeat her properly, Haunter made her laugh so much she couldn’t continue - Sabrina was an INTJ. She architected her own world, turning people into dolls so she could play with them, and she had clear strategies for battle that made her a very powerful trainer.

She didn’t show much emotion, always too deep into the logic of the battle to get into debates over things she considered more trivial. Sure, Haunter made her laugh, but that was because of her psychic link with Kadabra—not because she was a particularly humorous person.

2 2. Blaine: ENTP, The Debater

Blaine was an odd one. Entertaining, but odd.

A trainer of fire types, he was very, very into making up riddles. It’s easy to think that the gym leader of fire types would be someone who was hot-headed and bad-tempered, but Blaine seemed a little too logical and rational to jump into things without thinking, often using his mind over his heart. His riddles were very hard to solve in the anime and he put a lot of careful thought into them, making him a smart and curious thinker. Presumably, he thought that because he loved intellectual challenges, everyone else would too; or perhaps he just had none to face, so he made some up for everyone else instead.

1 1. Giovanni: INTJ, A Different Kind Of Architect

Giovanni is another INTJ, and shows some similarities to Sabrina... but he’s a grown man, not a teenage girl, and he’s somehow even more sinister than the psychic gym leader.

He’s very mysterious so he’s hard to type, but INTJ is the only one I can possibly consider for him. He’s the leader of Team Rocket and orchestrates plans to capture Pokémon around the world as well as leading a team of criminals, which takes some impressive managing and logic. He doesn’t seem like an extravert, and he’s someone who sits in the background despite being the boss and has managed to fly under the radar—therefore, INTJ.

NEXT: Prepare To Fight: 15 Awesome Things Fans Don't Know About Team Rocket