Lamplighter - SEE

 

Se 1: Lamplighter from The Boys fits well within the SEE "Napoleon" sociotype, particularly in his willful and confident approach to dangers and conflicts. His intense need to realize his sensing potential and ethical goals—demonstrated through his commitment to being recognized for his work as a hero—aligns with the SEE's desire to assert individuality and prove personal achievements. While he doesn't compromise to external demands, Lamplighter has a heightened and ingrained sense of volition, expecting more from himself, confident in his personal willpower. While his volitional sensing (Se) demands authority and immediate action, his ethical inconsistency, depression and fluid social approach can lead to tension, as he may switch from favoring someone to viewing them as an adversary when they do not align with his goals. Lamplighter is very receptive to forming temporary bonds with others, just the same for the SEE, which finds it interesting to form bonds with people they consider powerful and can help them achieve his goals, despite temporary and fleeting. His methods can distrust other people at first, leading to conflicts, but as the situation and power dynamics aligns, he is able to form temporary bonds, even when his aggressive ethical approach backfires. 

Lamplighter focus lies within control over his personal life and over power. This is seen in the way he burned children alive in the past, showcasing Se base tendency to get "lost in the moment", easily sold by power and control over situations.  The weight of his failures show his internal battle between wanting to be seen as the best and not wanting to be reduced to past mistakes. It reminds of Napoleon, SEE namesake, in the sense that excessive indulging in the moment and on the control over the situation, can catch up to him and make him feel depressed about what he "overdid". Like the SEE, Lamplighter engages in intense volition, making decisive action and maintaining and unwavering position, even applying this harsh vision of the world to himself, leading to his downfall. Lamplighter shows further attachment to the Se base position in his ease to deal with the physical world and reality, such as shamelessly watching adult movies in front of strangers or his overreliance in his own powers and skills, which undeniably is a characteristic of Se bases, individuals that are attuned to the physical, real world. 

Lamplighter is not a stereotypical SEE, particularly because of his intense feelings of depression and other mental disorders, traumas and thousand-mile stare. But the SEE cognitive patterns are very obvious, particularly those regarding his glorious days at Vought, which show more a stereotypical SEE at his younger, primer years. His provocative behavior, occasional self-destruction, and desire to maintain control in his space reflect the SEE's dynamic, yet sometimes violent, nature. His struggle to hold onto influence and navigate through the morally complex environment of Vought shows a classic SEE personality, driven by ethical motivations yet prone to destructive behavior when the golden years are past. 

Fi 2: The Fi’s creative personal ethics are adaptable and often used for achieving their goals, as they can also become inconsistent and manipulative. For Lamplighter, this shows up when his emotional bonds or personal loyalties clash with his need for dominance. He may exploit the emotions of others to maintain control or power in a situation, but this often results in a chaotic social environment. In Lamplighter, we observe how confident and easily he expresses his own deep sentiments, often sharing introspective feelings of shame, guilt and other moral judgements with other characters, even when they don't have a more deep bond. This reflects the flexible skill the SEE has with ethics of relations, often using it to feel closer to other people or to make other people feel their internal pain, as used in this case by Lamplighter. His need to feel respected and admired drives his interactions, yet his Fi creative function doesn’t always allow for genuine, stable ethical connections. Lamplighter is more interested in his own personal redemption, understanding that others can't affect that, leading to his ultimate self-destruction. An example to this is how even Hughie, one very compassionate and empathetic character can't dissuade Lamplighter. At the heart of SEE behavior, like Lamplighter's, is the desire to shape relationships to their advantage, using emotional intelligence to express how they feel or to judge others, while still appearing to have a personal, almost intimate, ethical reasoning behind their actions. 

Ne 3: As Lamplighter as appeared in The Boys is a deeply traumatized and unhealthy character, we find many traits of his super-ego functions as SEE, especially the role Ne.

Overthinking and Reliving Traumas: While Lamplighter’s primary mode of operation is action-oriented (through Se and Fi), Ne occasionally makes him speculate on different possibilities or future outcomes, such as overthinking, stuck in a loop about his past actions and how they affect them today. This also shows a more valued approach to Ni, as he wish things were different, and even attach his own personal greatness to the moral implications of his past actions. He at one point exemplifies himself as the "cuck" in the adult video, an interests analogy showing how uncomfortable he is by feeling he's being dominated, and not dominating. 

Confusion about Intentions: Lamplighter may start adding complexity to otherwise straightforward situations. For example, instead of addressing conflicts directly as he did in his past years, the hero that partied and leaded at Vought, he might begin to imagine alternative motives behind others' actions or create unnecessary layers of intrigue in social dynamics. This would make he become more cautious about forming bonds with others, even temporary ones. This reflects how Lamplighter's trauma and dissatisfactions built up and made him become more aware of negative functions, such as this one, in his life. 

Ethical Experiments: Lamplighter's Ne role might lead him to test new or unfamiliar ways of managing relationships and ethical dilemmas, but he can exaggerate this, such as him making Hughie watch porn with him. This shows a more uncared for approach when creating temporary significant bonds, even though he holds this kind of social approach as essential. 

Mismatches in Strategy: Lamplighter’s ethical inconsistencies and extremism (due to Se base) clash with the Ne role’s attempt to adapt and consider multiple outcomes. While his Se-Fi orientation pushes him to take control and have an attention toward feelings, Ne might prompt him to consider more long-term consequences or explore the many ways relationships could evolve. But because Ne is a weaker function for him, he struggles to integrate these potentialities into a coherent strategy, leading to impulsive or inconsistent moral decisions. 

Ti 4: Lamplighter shows many characteristics of Ti polr characters. As an unhealthy and traumatized character of the show, being presented as a shadow of his former self, Lamplighter shares many classic traits of the insecurity towards Ti shared by Napoleon. 

Ti polr reveals difficulties in logical analysis and structuring behavior based on rational principles. Lamplighter, as "Caesar", finds it hard to be objective because they are largely governed by their ethical predispositions—in Lamplighter's cases, his search for redemption, but still arrogant and unwavering personality—which often cloud their judgment and their attention toward order and precise logic around them. Like Lamplighter, which ignores common sense and logical alternatives or even societal expectations, focused only on their own flexible ethical values. In Lamplighter's case, this causes him to feel overburdened and misunderstood, feeling that the only solution to his problems is his own death — since anyone around or even society in general could help him find the redemption he wants. This painful approach to structural logic manifests in a tendency to act according to personal ethical preferences - without deep introspection. Sometimes this is seen in Caesar’s habit of getting distracted from logical reasoning, focusing on ethical details, or digressing into topics about themselves or others, like Lamplighter is seen in the show always talking about either himself or others, focused more on ethical understanding on people rather than a logic or academic one.

Analyzing and ordering concepts, or following instructions, is a dull and tiresome task for SEEs. They may repeatedly make the same mistakes, such as observed in Lamplighter's tendency to be trapped in his errors, even when he wants redemption. When forced to be logical or to follow society's norms on order and principles, Lamplighter struggles, often reverting to deep personal emotional or instinctive behavior. They can also become defensive when criticized for illogicality, leading to frustration and a feeling of inadequacy. 

Lamplighter’s decision to burn Mallory’s grandchildren in Season 2 instead of the intended target (Mallory herself) is a clear example of his lack of logical thinking and poor impulse control. His actions are not planned or thought out, showing a disregard for strategic consequences. Instead of analyzing the situation calmly and following through with a methodical plan, Lamplighter acts rashly out of anger, letting his emotions override any sense of logic.

• This act shows how Lamplighter struggles with making decisions that align with structured, logical outcomes. He operates based on emotion and impulse, which leads to disastrous and irrational consequences.

When Lamplighter joins The Boys to help them infiltrate the Sage Grove Center, he doesn't fully comprehend the larger implications of his involvement or the risks tied to it. He seems more concerned with his own feelings of guilt and the chance to redeem himself emotionally rather than logically evaluating the outcomes of his actions. His decision to join forces with Butcher’s group is not rooted in any clear analysis of how things might unfold but is instead an emotionally charged move based on guilt and shame.

• Lamplighter does not approach the situation with a strategic plan or logical foresight. His actions are driven by his need for emotional redemption, which blinds him to the logical implications of putting himself and others in harm’s way.