A PCM-based analysis of the personality types of main Game of Thrones characters (1/6: Jon Snow)

Hello dear reader and thank you for dropping by to check my newest blog post, which focuses on the PCM personality types of the Game of Thrones main characters.

It’s been a while since my last post, but this one has been in the making for a while now. More than that, it is special in its own way, because it was first published as a guest post on kikatraining.com (here, in fact: http://bit.ly/KiKaGOT).

The website belongs to Katrin, Social and Blended Learning Specialist. She offers collaborative and blended learning programmes that make learning a habit and boost performance in companies. And, guess what? She also became interested in PCM :). 

Check out her website for more useful and interesting information! 

So… why this blog post?

I am following up on your suggestions and the fact that many of you underlined how useful (and fun! 😉 ) my previous article on the Analysis of the PCM Personality Types of the Harry Potter Characters has been.

In this new series of posts I am going to analyse some of the main characters in the Game of Thrones TV Series from the point of view of their base personality type according to PCM.

As you might remember, the base is the one that defines their perceptual frame of reference. It defines the “currency” they use in their communication, the most preferred communication channels, their character strengths and management style.

One can see what base personality someone has by simply noticing what words and expression that person uses most of the time. This is why, in PCM, we say “It’s not WHAT you say, but THE WAY you say it”.

For those who are still not familiarized with PCM and the PCM Personality Types please have a look at these before you continue: What is PCM + The 6 PCM Personality Types.

This is a short summary of the relevant information about the base personality types:

Also, remember that it is quite normal that book/movie characters won’t show 100% consistency with the Process Communication Model. In the end, they are not real people living in the real world; they are the result of the author’s imagination, mirroring some of the features he/she found most relevant for the storyline.

This is why, sometimes, we will not find an exact fit between the PCM personality types and a character. For example, they might have the respective perceptions, currency, communication channel, but maybe their strengths will not “fit” the profile. In the end, they are “created” to express a focus on certain traits, but they would not be fully crayoned as a complete “real-life” personality). But, you know what?… it is still fun to try it 🙂

So… let’s start with our analysis of the PCM Personality Types of the Game of Thrones’ main characters.

And we begin with…

Jon Snow – Persister base

Jon Snow fits best the Persister personality type. The Persister experiences the world through the perception of opinions and prefers to take in and process information through their belief system. They are conscientious, dedicated and observant, and prefer a democratic communication style, using values as the currency in their conversations.

In the cinema world, persisters are seen in characters like Sherlock Holmes and Superman, while in history, the civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. is a good reference.

While Jon (just like any other person) is a mixture of all six personality types and in different moments and situations we see some of his other personality types being more active than that of the Persister, for simplicity and ease of understanding purposes, I will focus on his base only.

Jon’s features:

(summary based on the TV series and these articles: Article 1, Article 2, Article 3):

Values, moral compass:

• “Jon Snow of House Stark and the Night’s Watch is the secret son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, though raised as the bastard son of Lyanna’s brother, Ned Stark. Because he was raised by Ned Stark at Winterfell, Jon has adopted a clear moral compass and a true sense of honour. He tries his hardest to abide by these even when he must make a difficult decision, especially after he becomes Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch” (Article 1) => values, moral compass
• Ned Stark teaches all his children about leadership, selflessness, duty and honour. Following his father’s example becomes more difficult as Jon faces challenges to his identity as a man, a Stark, and a brother of the Night’s Watch. Benioff and Weiss note that “Jon Snow tries to live with honour, while knowing that honour often gets his family members murdered.” Writing for Variety about the season 6 episode “Battle of the Bastards”, Laura Prudom suggests that Jon “has the same shortcomings” as his father: “he fights with honor against opponents who are all too willing to use that predictable morality against him”. (Article 3) => values, morality, strong beliefs
• His love for his family (even if he cannot fully call it his own) is also very important for him and he would do anything for them => values, dedication, principles

Sense of duty, does “what is right”

• “At the end of the day, Jon is his father’s son, he’s a person who’s honourable to a fault and does the right thing even when the right thing is extremely dangerous to him personally.” (Article 3) => strong values / do what is right / duty
• He fights because it’s the right thing to do, for the greater good of everyone – not because of selfish interests. For the same “greater good” he is also killing Daenerys in the end, though he loved her and this must have broken his heart (as Tyrion says at one time “duty is the death of love”) => strong values, sense of duty, doing “the right thing”
• “You all crowned me your king. I never wanted it. I never asked for it. But I accepted it because the North is my home! It’s part of me, and I will never stop fighting for it, no matter the odds!” ―Jon to his subjects. (Article 2) – sense of duty

Observant; evaluates people/situations through a belief system

• He’s a good observer of characters and makes up his own opinions about people – let’s just think about how he also understands the side of the wildlings and decides to help them (yes, the fact that he fell in love with Ygritte must have helped also 😛 ) => observant, just
• “When enough people make false promises, words stop meaning anything. Then there are no more answers, only better and better lies.” ―Jon Snow at the Dragonpit Summit (Article 2) =>  values/strong belief system

So…  this is Jon Snow… the humble hero of the series and the first in the several blog posts that will focus on the PCM Personality Types of the Game of Thrones characters.

Check in next week for the next character analysis!

Until then… remember: “It’s not WHAT you say, but THE WAY you say it!”

Magda.

 

Disclaimers:

1. One must be aware that not everything can be explained through PCM. As much as I love this training and I see its utility in everyday life, we humans are way too complex beings to be deciphered through a training that is taught in only three days. The way we were educated, the culture and the society we grew in, the events in our life (happy or traumatising) all leave marks on the way we think, react, talk, behave, on the stories we build about ourselves and the world around us. Here’s to us!
2. These thoughts and this analysis are my own and do not represent the view of Kahler Communications I wrote it in order to offer my readers and educational and fun analysis that might help them better understand PCM and its concepts, as it is based on widely known characters. I hope you will take it as such and enjoy it.
3. Also, please note that, as these are fictional characters, they most probably won’t act/think/feel/develop just as a “normal” person, in the real life, would. As such, sometimes, applying PCM to them might feel a little “forced”. .
4. None of the images of the Game of Thrones characters belong to me. They are property of the publishers/producers/HBO or the mentioned websites
5. I am open to feedback and suggestions regarding my interpretations of the PCM Personality Types of the Game of Thrones characters, so please feel free to leave a comment if you have a different opinion :).

Sources:

Article 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Game_of_Thrones_characters

Article 2. https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki

Article 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Snow_(character)

Featured image downloaded from: https://www.pcclean.io/game-of-thrones-hd-wallpapers-and-background-images-static-wallpaper-set/  (free to download and use)

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Copyright Information: Dr. Taibi Kahler holds the copyright for The Process Communication Model® and all derivative works.