Boardwalk Empire is a critically-acclaimed HBO drama that focuses on the Prohibition Era. While most of the show occurs in Atlantic City, New Jersey, focused on the life of businessman and political figure Nucky Thompson, the action spans multiple cities and countries, from New York to Philadelphia to Cuba.
While the show makes many important statements about political corruption, it’s also a haunting, well-acted character study of evil men and the lives they ruin. Over its five-season run, Boardwalk Empire became popular not just for its exploration of 1920s America, but its tendency to kill off characters left and right, a testament to the violent world they inhabit.
From cops to mobsters to sex workers to bootleggers, BoardwalkEmpire’s cast span the spectrum from introverted and emotional to extraverted and intellectual. Where do you fit in amongst them? Find your MBTI below and see if it matches up.
ESTJ (Executive): Nucky Thompson
As the top boss and unofficial king of Atlantic City, Nucky Thompson is the quintessential ESTJ. He’s the city’s treasurer, and it turns out this is the most important political office in the city. Nucky implicates himself in all of Atlantic City’s affairs, making sure he gets a cut of anything traveling through.
In the series, Nucky, who starts out as a morally conflicted, yet ultimately kind, character, transforms into a nefarious and hateful man as he gains more and more power. While good ESTJs are known for being traditional and hard-working, the bad ESTJ qualities are on full display with Nucky: insensitivity, bossiness, and stubbornness.
INFP (Mediator): Margaret Thompson
Margaret Thompson is an Irish immigrant who begins the series living with her abusive and alcoholic husband in a poor section of Atlantic City. Soon, she catches the attention of Nucky Thompson, and the two eventually forge a strange affair. Margaret marries Nucky, but it’s clear their union is cursed from the start.
As an INFP, Margaret attempts to maintain a normal household with Nucky by being devoted, sensitive, and caring. She attempts to pass these qualities down to her children, too, but all the brutality happening around them seeps into their personal relationships with each other. Margaret’s INFP idealism turns out to be her downfall, and while she gets out alive, she’s forever jaded by her time with Nucky.
INTJ (Architect): Jimmy Darmody
The young and energetic Jimmy Darmody returns to Atlantic City after serving in World War I. Despite having a limp due to getting hit with shrapnel in Germany, Jimmy is intelligent, quick, and determined. As Nucky’s protege, Jimmy seems to be next in line to claim the empire.
As an INTJ, Jimmy is a sensitive, hard-working, and detail-oriented man. His fragility, though, is exposed through his marriage to Angela and his fraught relationship with his mother, who was only 13-years-old when she had him. His father, the Commodore, was 54 at the time. While capable and fierce when he needs to be, Jimmy is too trusting for his own good, and he meets his end at the directive of the man, Nucky, he’d come to look upon as a father figure.
ISTJ (Logistician): Nelson Van Alden
A fan favorite, Nelson Van Alden begins the series as a puritanical Prohibition agent working for the federal government. After murdering his corrupt partner, this intense and orderly ISTJ flees and assumes a new identity in Chicago, becoming the very thing he spent his life hating: a bootlegger.
Like other ISTJs, Van Alden is judgmental, observant, and persistent. In the first few seasons, he stops at nothing to bring down the vast underground bootlegging networks around him. His own weaknesses get the best of him, though, and he destroys all of his connections to the real world, ultimately being taken out by gangster Al Capone’s men.
INFJ (Advocate): Eli Thompson
Nucky’s younger brother and initially Atlantic City’s Sheriff, Eli lives in his sibling’s shadow. The two, whether or not they acknowledge it, are constantly jealous of each. While Nucky has all the power, Eli has a large family.
Intuitive and emotional, INFJs like Eli care deeply about their personal relationships and base their decisions on how it will affect those around them. Eli is torn between his dedication to his family, his loyalty to his brother, and his allegiance to his job. As it goes with many other characters on Boardwalk Empire, Eli makes some really poor choices in an effort to get a share of his brother’s wealth and status. It doesn’t turn out well for him.
ENTP (Debater): Chalky White
Outgoing and talkative, Chalky White is a magnetic and persuasive ENTP who is the unofficial leader of Atlantic City’s black community. A racketeer by trade, Chalky is a fierce businessman, a perplexing family man, and a true ally to Nucky.
In order to protect Atlantic City’s black residents, Chalky inserts himself in the vast criminal underground around him, securing funds and weapons alongside the city’s various gangs and ethnic groups. He displays the ENTP tendencies toward innovation and creativity to get what he wants, but he sacrifices too many bonds in his own quest for power. His life is eventually ended by a rival, Narcisse.
ISFP (Adventurer): Gillian Darmody
Orphaned at a young age, Gillian is forced to grow up early. In order to survive, she becomes a showgirl and sex worker when she’s still a child, targeted by Nucky and the Commodore for the latter’s own personal pleasure.
Her son, Jimmy, is the result of her relationship with the Commodore. Forever stunted by this, Gillian still does her best to be a good mother, but she has an unhealthy relationship with her son. As an ISFJ, Gillian is perceptive and observant, always angling to maintain a secure life for herself. Survival is key for a woman like Gillian, whose innocence was compromised by the patriarchal outside world. Despite her problems, Gillian wants, above all else, to be a protector.
ENFP (Campaigner): Owen Sleater
Nucky’s bodyguard and Irish independence fighter Owen is alluring, handsome, and a skilled killer. He comes to America in order to continue John McGariggle’s war against their pro-British countrymen, eventually being hired by Nucky to carry out his malfeasance.
A true ENFP, Owen is warm, communicative, and fun. He and Margaret, both Irish immigrants, fall for each other, but Owen is wrapped up in Nucky’s ongoing battles against his rivals, and he dies while attempting to take out Joe Masseria at a Turkish bath.
INTP (Logician): Richard Harrow
Jimmy meets Richard as a veteran’s hospital. Disfigured during World War I, Richard is a young, tortured man with a kind heart but no real purpose in life beyond killing. A sensitive, practical, and easy-going ally, Richard steps in to take care of Jimmy’s son after his friend is killed by Nucky.
Action-oriented and learning from experience, Richard displays many INTP qualities. He’s constantly crafting new plans, but he’s, at the end of the day, another lost young man whose eventual death turns out to be in vain.
ESFP (Entertainer): Lucy Danziger
Nucky’s girlfriend when the show begins, Lucy is a beautiful performer forced to make a life for herself by commodifying her body. Hypersexual and dramatic, Lucy is an impulsive and passionate ESFP. When Nucky dumps her for Margaret, her dismay knows no bounds.
Eventually, she engages in a sexual relationship with Nelson Van Alden, which results in pregnancy. She gives birth to their child, but, like a true ESFP, she can’t handle Van Alden’s cool aloofness, and she flees, leaving the child behind.
