Extraverted Sensation (Se) is the function orienting us towards that which is visceral and immediate. As a Hero or Heroine (in ESTPs and ESFPs), it drives us to seek-out action, adventure and excitement in the physical world — anything that stimulates the senses is given the highest value.

As a Trickster (in INTPs and INFPs), however, Se becomes suspicious and untrustworthy, though often alluring nonetheless. It instead strikes us as hedonistic and frivolous, being “fun” but not nearly enough to build a life on.

The prototypical Se Trickster is Bender in the very INTP-ish animated comedy science fiction series Futurama. Bender is a funny, loveable and attractive character, but also utterly amoral, often betraying his closest friends for personal gain. Nonetheless, you can’t help but suspect that all those maths geeks writing for the show secretly wish they could be Bender in real life, if only they could get away with it.

This seems to be the Trickster in a nutshell: despite perceiving this figure as generally opposed to our own self-image, we still harbour a desire to take a holiday from our ego every so often and embrace this archetype.

Take Han Solo in the original Star Wars: Luke (named after George Lucas) may be the Hero, but Han is the guy Lucas wishes he were. Still, Han is portrayed as selfish and without a moral centre — it’s only in the final reel that the character is redeemed by choosing loyalty to his friends over pure self-interest (a very Fe message). Han is, of course, another Se Trickster from the mind of an INTP, clearly depicting both the best and worst of the function.

And then there’s Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back, whose Cloud City is beautiful and alluring (Se) but ultimately a place of danger and deception. Again, Lando is redeemed by employing Fe.

If that weren’t enough, in Return of the Jedi we have Jabba the Hutt, a caricature of Se at its most extreme. Note that Jabba’s palace features trap-doors — another alignment of Se with deception.

Indeed, Obi-Wan counsels Luke that “Your eyes can deceive you”, and Luke ultimately learns to not rely on direct, immediate sensory data when attempting to destroy the first Death Star.

In the Genesis album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (with story and lyrics by INFP Peter Gabriel), the hero, Rael, is only able to escape the Chamber of 32 Doors by being lead out by the blind character, Lilywhite Lilith — his eyes were deceiving him rather than aiding him, in other words. Furthermore, his later erotic, sensual encounter with the Lamia results in gross deformities, and the only solution is castration. The world of direct sensory experience is yet again depicted as being alluring and attractive but also dangerous and deceptive.

Need I mention Zaphod Beeblebrox from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as one more example of the Se Trickster, this time from INTP Douglas Adams?

So what this all comes down to is that INTPs and INFPs are both drawn to and wary of the world of Se. It all just seems a little bit too fickle and superficial, as if you’re having too much fun and you’ll come to regret it later. If life were consequence-free, however, they’d jump at the chance to go wild, and given the right set of circumstances and frame of mind, these types only need a nudge to embrace their inner Bender. (Believe me, I know…)