Harry Potter and MBTI, Part 10: The Combinations of Hufflepuff (I)

Welcome all to another instance of this series, where we attempt to see whether we can map the Hogwarts/Ilvermorny combinations to the 16 MBTI types. Today’s post has us beginning our in-depth exploration of the House of Hufflepuff, one which is very near and dear to my heart. Formalities apply, so here you can read the individual articles for Hufflepuff as well as Thunderbird and Pukwudgie.

Let’s have a brief recap. The average odds for any given Hogwarts house to be sorted into a given Ilvermorny house is as follows:

• Thunderbird: 36.21%
• Pukwudgie: 26.81%
• Horned Serpent: 23.83%
• Wampus: 13.15%

This is how Hufflepuff contributes to that dynamic:

Right off the bat we can see a refreshing change here: while both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were overwhelmingly skewed towards Thunderbird dominance, Hufflepuff pulls back heavily from the standard amount, instead showing a stronger tendency for Pukwudgie. Seeing as that house favours the heart, this is not a surprise, but it’s still a welcome fact.

Let’s jump on straight to the Thunderbird though.

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Hufflepuff – Thunderbird
(Hufflebird)

 

The house of soulful adventurers meets the kind badgers in a seemingly unlikely yet strangely satisfying proportion, with nearly a third of all Hufflepuffs being sorted into the House of Storms. While this is a large portion of all badgers, it is still lower than our average by a noticeable margin (37.38% of people in the survey were sorted into Thunderbird, against 31.33% for all Hufflepuffs), so let us analyze the characteristics of this combination.

Lest we forget, Hufflepuffs tend to be ISFJs, while Thunderbirds tend to be INFP/ENFPs. This sets up an interesting juxtaposition of two almost diametrically opposed personality types, with only the Decisionmaking through Feeling being shared by both houses.

Whatever extroverts Thunderbird may have are most certainly not Hufflepuffs, and the reverse also holds true – Hufflebirds have a much stronger tendency towards Introverted Focus than either standalone house, at a remarkable 15.14%. This is almost double the distance from our average as there is from our average to Hufflepuff, so the signs are extremely clear. We are dealing with reserved, observant people, who are masters of their inner voice and need to have things clear in their minds.

Thunderbird sets itself through on Information Intake though, with Intuition being the preferred mode for Hufflebirds at 3.92%. This makes them the only combination of Hufflepuff to possess this as their single mode of Information Intake. Hufflebirds do not care for the boring boundaries of the literal or the practical – they set their minds on the hypothetical and the possibilities around. They see the world not as it is, but as it could be, and will go the extra mile to make that happen. They express themselves vividly, in a very poetic fashion, peppering their speech with similes and images to convey their points.

As is the trademark with both standalone houses, this combination has an inordinate tendency towards Decisionmaking through Feeling, at a staggering 26.17%. There is no room for doubt here – Hufflebirds’ inner world and sensibilities are driven primarily by what they believe deep in their hearts to be true. Their heightened empathy, when combined with the above traits, gives them the ability to read and understand people. The final piece of the puzzle comes by virtue of the badger’s Outer Judgment setting itself over the bird’s outer Perception, at a strong 6.42%. Hufflebirds do not like open ends or uncertainty, rather preferring to settle affairs and issues clearly and concisely. Rules are to be respected, and these rules should ideally be made in accordance to their own personal values.

The combination yields a clean-cut picture, much like Hufflebirds themselves. They are idealistic yet orderly, strongly driven by an inner engine which shows them the flaws around them not out of contempt, but out of the knowledge that they can make it better. While reserved and quiet, they absorb the intricacies of people around them, keeping neat files on their loved ones and how best to help them.

Key
Values to the right correspond to predominant Extraversion, Intuition, Thinking, Judging
Values to the left correspond to predominant Introversion, Sensing, Feeling, Perception
The further a value from the middle line, the more predominant it is.

We can describe the quintessential Hufflebird as follows:

“Hufflebird has a very strong tendency towards Introverted Focus, a slight tendency towards Information Intake through Intuition, a very strong tendency towards Decisionmaking through Feeling and a moderate tendency towards Outer Judgment.”

If you meet a random Hufflebird, odds are good that they are an INFJ.

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Hufflepuff – Pukwudgie
(Hufflewudgie)

In stark contrast to their brethren above come the Hufflewudgies. If ever there was a match made in heaven for the badgers, then the house representing the heart, where the healers dwell, is surely it. The numbers back this assertion up: Pukwudgie is where most of our Hufflepuff readers were sorted (32.53%) and it’s the largest share of Pukwudgie in any other Hogwarts house.

So what does the combination yield? At first glance, the idea of the absolutely independent Pukwudgie seems to run counter to the sense of community innately present in Hufflepuff. However, we should not judge a book by its cover, and Hufflewudgie is all about running counter to our expectations. Right off the bat, we see a moderate tendency towards Extroverted Focus, at 6.94%, which is stronger than Pukwudgie’s individual 1.33% and completely against Hufflepuff’s 8.14% tendency towards Introverted Focus.

What gives? It’s very simple – Hufflewudgie is the only combination of Hufflepuff to have Extroverted Focus, meaning that here is where the outspoken, outgoing Hufflepuffs find their place. These people exist and are well represented within Hufflepuff, but they are almost exclusively sorted into this combination. So if you ever see a person in black and yellow being the center of the party, odds are good that they’d be at home in Pukwudgie.

Moving on, we see an absolutely unyielding tendency towards Information Intake through sensing, at a staggering 25.28% – the highest of any individual house or combination. This means that, more so than most other people, Hufflewudgies are grounded, practical people, who deal in concrete terms and have a firm grasp on the reality of situations. They are very detail-oriented, being able to pick up on even the slightest cues from their environment.

This becomes particularly powerful when coupled with their titanic tendency towards Decisionmaking through Feeling at 30.59%, again the highest of any individual house or combination (quite the record-breakers, Hufflewudgie). Practical as they may be, they are far from impersonal or logical – we are dealing with empathetic, harmonious people, who let their hearts guide them.

As a final analysis point, we find that Hufflewudgie’s Outer Actions are very strongly influenced by Judging, at 11.69%. As almost all Hufflepuff combinations, the orderly healers prefer matters to be settled, plans to be well thought out, and instructions to be clear – they leave nothing to chance, and feel uneasy when that happens.

We could use this moment to draw a contrast to the Hufflebirds we mentioned above. While they both have a superbly strong tendency towards Decisionmaking through Feeling, their approaches could not be more different. We said that Hufflebirds are the idealists, seeing the world not as it is, but as it could be. Even though they are both driven by that same powerful inner engine, Hufflewudgies do see the world exactly as it is, with all its flaws and shortcomings. However, instead of letting that bring them down, they rally for their causes, making sure that their voices are heard in the face of injustice. If Hufflebirds are idealists, shaping the world after its potential, then Hufflewudgies are the activists, righting the wrongs they perceive.

We can describe the quintessential Hufflewudgie as follows:

“Hufflewudgie has a moderate tendency towards Extroverted Focus, a very strong tendency towards Information Intake through Sensing, a very strong tendency towards Decisionmaking through Feeling and a very strong tendency towards Outer Judgment.”

This places the house of Hufflewudgie solidly as being strongly suited to ESFJs.

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This concludes our first half of our explorations into Hufflepuff – stay tuned for the upcoming article where we’ll complete our analysis on the House of Badger!