MBTI Type: ESFP

Archie is extremely proactive and hands-on in how he immediately leaps on opportunities, whether that’s to start up a rival gang to deal with threats in Riverdale, or build a fire department (and rush into a burning building to save someone, when others tell him it can’t be done), or even impulsively joining the army so that he doesn’t have to repeat his last year of high school. When the school needs funding, he decides to round up escaped convicts for the bounty. Archie often leaps into action without thinking of the consequences, which gets him in and out of trouble. He is hands on and involved; objective about the environment, and good at noticing things—clues, the subtle facial expressions of his friends, and having a direct view of reality. He often copes with his anxiety about the Black Hood by ‘living life to the fullest’ – with Veronica, “all over her house” (through sex). Archie is direct but not great at thinking about how their romantic entanglement could ruin his teacher’s career and put her in jail; how his actions against the Black Hood could put his family and friends in danger, etc. He is led by his emotions and his heart right into a taboo sexual relationship with one of his teachers, because it ‘feels right.’ A deeply emotional, internal man, Archie feels hurt when his friends do not confide in him, when Jughead joins the Serpents, when his girlfriend does not tell him about an attempted rape, and when he learns the truth from Betty. When his ex-lover and teacher is found dead, Archie runs out of class—away from everyone, to process his grief on his own. Out of anger and fear for the Black Hood, he decides to do something about it and stop the immoral attacks on the town’s citizens by asserting himself. His Fi simply ‘knows’ what the right solution is, and he rushes into it. Archie tells Jughead joining the Serpents was stupid and could lead to his eventual death or arrest. He is quick-thinking, such as when he calls the cops about an illegal ‘drag race’ hoping to get a rival gang arrested in the process—but as Jughead points out, Archie never much thinks about the eventual consequence of this—that someday, they will get out. Given the chance to blackmail a potential rapist into a payoff, Archie also gives him a fierce beating for touching his girlfriend. His Ni is poor, but he lays out for Jughead the futuristic consequences of his decision to join a gang, or him just ‘knowing’ that he should follow Jughead after getting a flat tire fixed, to make sure he is all right while carting around a crate of drugs.

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Archie can seem reckless at times, but it all comes out of a deep place of fear and apprehension. He challenges things head-on, then becomes aware of how dangerous they are, and backs off—unlike Veronica. When threatened by the Black Hood, Archie decides to recruit a ‘gang of people’ to protect the town. He then worries about Veronica wearing a Red Circle t-shirt, thinking it might draw the Black Hood into targeting her. Later, in juvenile detention, rather than fighting his fellow inmates, he tries to mobilize them into a football team, and then uses teamwork in his various attempts to escape. Archie can be both skeptical of people and too loyal; at first, he is overly loyal to Veronica’s father, until he knows the extent of his nefarious intentions and then he becomes an enemy. When he expresses his love for Veronica in a moment of passion, and she does not immediately say it back, Archie becomes ambivalent about their relationship and starts doubting and questioning it, turning to his father for reassurances. His 7 wing runs at things, rather than away from them, and can be hedonistic—seeking to distract himself from fear through direct action or sex.

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