9s often take an inner role of the unfazed person. The inner role is a consistent, reflexive identity to which a type refers to navigate their interactions with the environment and other people (i.e. the unchanging "I"). The inner role is the "self that is intended for the self." 9's inner role, the unfazed person, is someone who takes pride in not being easily moved on an emotional level. The unfazed person has a flexible volition, but it is difficult to access their inner life. Sometimes the unfazed person does not appreciate their capacity for subtlety, and thus discounts their ability to experience life with the same nuance as others.

9s have an inner setting of a sanctum. The inner setting is a place that arises when a person loses awareness of needing to accommodate others, when attention is brought inward to the self alone. The sanctum is a peaceful, serene semiabstract/semiconcrete place where the 9 withdraws in times of stress and becomes the unfazed person.

9s have an outer role of the harmonizer. In the archetypal/symbolic perspective of the Enneagram, the outer role is a general archetype or observable character pattern into which a particular type falls, and which comes to life in interaction with other persons. The harmonizer is a person who brings together two disparate parties, moderates two disjointed experiences, or else minimizes disharmony in their environment through a grounded, vague, and optimistic presence.

9s have an outer setting of a dreamscape. The outer setting differs from the inner setting in that it caters and houses other active agents which the outer role is designed for. In the dreamscape, connections between objects are appreciated as diffuse and non-exclusive. There is a sense of everything being loosely connected in the environment. Attention is not consciously filtered according to mental criteria or strong emotions, everything is left in its place. Psychological events are unprioritized, and the passing of time is untracked.

9's externalization pattern, which describes the energy flow from their inner role to their outer role, is philosophizing, the 9's particular pattern of reframing. Philosophizing takes an inner harmony, or sentiments from the unfazed person, and weaves them into a general understanding of the world that can be expressed to others in philosophies or sagas (the 9's communication style) through the harmonizer. Sagas are elaborate narratives with loose and dreamlike logical or sentimental connections, like poetry prose. Like a dream, sagas as a communication style allows the 9 to circumvent conflicting aspects of the message they are trying to share.

9's internalization pattern, which describes the energy flow from their outer role to their inner role, follows the patterns of Jung's collective unconscious. Attachment and withdrawn cause external content to seemingly well up from within in the form of symbols or impressions. Impressions are a powerful tool for allowing the 9 to feel connected to their environment, because impressions absorbed by the harmonizer arise holistically in the unfazed person's psyche as microcosms of real or abstract entities, and are often experienced in synesthetic and kinesthetic forms. Impressions convey a vague statement about a physical or psychological agent or property in the form of a transient gut feeling.

9s have a past orientation of the went-along. The went-along is aware that they have spent a long time doing things they do not want to do, but they do not feel they have what it takes to stop this pattern.

9s have a present orientation of the drifter or kite. The drifter does not define his will to others or to themself. They prefer to leave themselves open to fate and to see where the wind takes them.

9s have a future orientation of the invisible person. The invisible person does not know where they are going or whether they can go anywhere. The invisible person feels inconsequential and unseen, so it does not matter what they choose to do in the future, or whether they choose to do anything at all.

The went-along, drifter, and invisible person benefit from developing a sense of agency (the solution). Since a 9 may suffer from forgetting their volition and inner life, and are resistant about their true development, it can be useful for them to imagine themselves as an agent (exemplary character). Agents are people who believe they can change their circumstances despite interference from others, the environment, or fate.