How this works
Shadow Self Assessment
What does your shadow look like?
A 20-question assessment grounded in Carl Jung’s shadow theory. You’ll be scored across eight archetypes — Trickster, Tyrant, Wounded Healer, Saboteur, Hermit, Martyr, Critic, Hedonist — and shown the dominant pattern, why it formed, and how to integrate it.
There’s no right answer — only patterns. Your responses stay on this device; nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
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What the shadow actually is
Carl Jung introduced the shadow in the 1910s and developed it across Aion (1951) and the collected works as the archetype of the disowned self. It is everything in you that the conscious personality has refused: the impulses that didn’t fit the family, the school, the role you took on to be loved. The shadow doesn’t disappear when you reject it. It goes underground and starts to drive — the unexplained reaction, the pattern that keeps repeating, the version of you that surfaces under stress.
Jung’s point was not moral. The shadow contains gold as well as grit: real intelligence, real vitality, real refusal — all of which got abandoned because they were inconvenient. Robert Johnson, in Owning Your Own Shadow (1991), framed integration as the central task of mid-life: not killing the shadow, but bringing it into relationship with the conscious self. Connie Zweig and Steven Wolf, in Romancing the Shadow (1997), translated the work into something practical — noticing where your strong reactions and self-betrayals come from, and treating those as openings rather than failures.
This quiz maps your responses onto eight common shadow patterns drawn from the Jungian and Pearson–Marr archetype literature: Trickster, Tyrant, Wounded Healer, Saboteur, Hermit, Martyr, Critic, and Hedonist. Each has a survival logic, a cost, and a path back into integration. The point isn’t a label; it’s a clearer mirror.
The point isn’t a label; it’s a clearer mirror.
The eight shadow archetypes
The Trickster
You test limits, bend rules, and use charm or chaos to keep yourself one step ahead.
The Tyrant
You believe your way is the right way — and you push, correct, or override until reality agrees.
The Wounded Healer
You over-give to others from your own unhealed places, and quietly burn yourself down.
The Saboteur
You move toward what you want, then dismantle it the moment it starts to feel real.
The Hermit
You retreat — emotionally, physically, online — when closeness asks more of you than you can give.
The Martyr
You give until you resent it — and use the resentment, quietly, as leverage.
The Critic
You hold yourself and others to a standard nothing alive can quite reach.
The Hedonist
You reach for pleasure, distraction, or intensity to avoid feeling what is actually happening.
Frequently asked
What is the shadow self in Jungian psychology?
The shadow is Carl Jung’s term for the disowned parts of the psyche — qualities you reject, repress, or refuse to identify with, but that still shape behaviour from underneath. Jung argued in Aion (1951) that the shadow is not evil; it is unconscious. The work of individuation is to make it conscious, not to defeat it.
Is this quiz scientifically validated?
No self-report shadow inventory has the psychometric track record of Big Five or MMPI instruments. This quiz draws on Jung’s archetypal framework and on the Pearson–Marr archetype literature, with question patterns adapted from validated shadow-archetype short forms (e.g. IDRLabs JAST). Treat your result as a reflection prompt, not a clinical diagnosis.
How long does the quiz take?
About 5 minutes. There are 20 forced-choice questions; each maps to one or two of eight archetypes with weighted scoring.
Can I have more than one shadow archetype?
Yes — almost everyone does. The result page returns your dominant archetype, but the full score breakdown shows all eight ranked. Most people recognise themselves in their top two or three.
What if the result doesn’t feel right?
A shadow is, by definition, the part you can’t see clearly. If the dominant archetype feels off, read the second and third on your breakdown. The one you most want to dismiss is often the one worth sitting with.
Is my data saved anywhere?
No. Answers stay on your device. The score is encoded into the URL only so the result page can show your full breakdown; nothing is sent to a server.
Can shadow work be done alone, or do I need a therapist?
The quiz and its integration prompts are designed for self-reflection — journaling, observation, small experiments in daily life. For deeper or trauma-linked patterns (especially around the Saboteur or Wounded Healer), a Jungian or depth-oriented therapist is the safer container.