I feel like most fans would describe Clover as this independent person who's got their stuff together and can handle anything, but these people often forget that Clover didn't start out like this.
Just like Starlo, Clover was only pretending to be a hero. This kid initially was clumsy and had a poor sense of the physical world, when you remember how they died at every turn.
The thing about them is that they subconsciously become more skilled the more they die, and the more Flowey resets. That's why Clover doesn't seem like a scared, clumsy kid when we first meet them. Because they've experienced so many resets, over a hundred, and died so many times, they now appear more "put together."
But even with all that being said, Flowey still has to encourage them to believe in themself more and not to be afraid of a new place (specifically Snowdin). He still has to lift Clover's spirits and he still asks them why they have a "long face" during their "first" encounter.
I've been trying to figure out whether or not I've typed Clover correctly, so I decided to do something else and compare them to Frisk. Now, we don't know how old Frisk is, but we can assume that all the fallen children were in a similar age range.
The thing is, Frisk had a way better sense of navigating the Underground. They had a better sense of direction, and unlike Clover, didn't die during the easiest possible fights (and especially the lasers in Hotland).
I like to think that, in some of the previous runs, Clover met Alphys, and she explained to them what to do, but they became paralyzed with fear and/or forgot that they simply had to run through the orange lasers. I guess that would mean Clover's more "flighty" than most fans think.
more comparisons with popular sayings
...intuiting AGAIN (I also find it interesting how they just FELT that the person on the pillar was Integrity, hence the silence)
Heck, even here they tend to zone out (it's their 100+ run, so I suppose it's an innate trait):
It wasn't Clover's personality that got them this far, but circumstances, aka Flowey. Without him intervening, they'd still be sheltered and safe, they wouldn't have become fearless enough to deal with so much stuff, and especially willingly die in the end (I feel like Clover never really knew just HOW brave they are beneath the naivety and clumsiness, and they brought the toy gun to only FEEL brave).
Again, what they needed was efficency and an idea on HOW to put their plan of saving the kids into action. Clover was always altruistic, but they were also clueless and clumsy and insecure and afraid of danger. That's why they had decided to stay with Toriel. Because their fear had stopped them from acting upon what they believed was the right thing to do.
Frisk didn't need THIS many resets. They even managed to defeat geno Undyne and Sans WITHOUT Flowey "guiding them along." Flowey saw Clover as so weak that he offered them Friendliness Pellets (minus in Pacifist 'cause Ceroba's there + she also gave Clover extra defense)
when it comes to their mbti...
Those with Ti/Se (ISTPs) are grounded and adaptable, whereas Clover literally had to be forced into dangerous situations to become more "capable" of dealing with the Underground.
Yeah, Clover always had this inferior Te (this leadership quality), when you remember that they wanted to "realize their plan," but it was really REALLY poorly developed. That's pretty much what got them to chicken out. They had no clue what to do, and they didn't want to die.
It hits even harder when they do just that in the end.
