How often are certain episodes or chapters disliked by audiences, because the character acted out of character? One example of this in in the Last Airbender episode The Great Divide. Here’s an example of how applying Chris Behnke’s Human NEXUS can make such a difference when writing fiction.
In the Last Airbender, Aang is an influencer, Sokka is a solutionary, and Katara is a stabilizer. When you look at the negative conflict strategies for each of these, it’s easy to spot how these characters were mishandled in this episode. When stressed, and handling things in a negative strategy, a solutionary will break everything, a stabilizer will withdraw and withhold, and an influencer will manipulate.
Aang did manipulate everyone at the end of this episode, after everyone was safe and he wasn’t nearly as stressed as when their lives were in danger. The tension wasn’t as high, and the only problem left to solve was the friction between the Gan Jin and the Zhang tribes. The two had already learned they could work together. Now it was only pride keeping them apart. So why would Aang handle the situation with a negative conflict strategy, when he hadn’t needed to resort to that before under greater stress? It makes him appear weak natured and untrustworthy, which is out of character.
On the topic of that greater stress, the person most likely to solve a tricky riddle would have been Sokka. Except that in this episode, he was acting much more like a driver than a solutionary. A driver is the one who would have the attitude of “seen it, let’s move on” the way Sokka displayed when Katara was marveling over the beauty of the canyon. A solutionary would have studied it out, seeking understanding, trying to figure out what would have caused such a land formation and how it affected the surrounding lands. A solutionary would have figured out that there were dangerous creatures at the bottom, probably before they even got down there.
The characters acted out of character. Even though most people have never heard of the Human NEXUS, or the four motivational types, we inherently know that this episode is off. Why? Because writers tend to intuitively include concepts and techniques that they don’t even realize they’re using. I run into this all the time as an editor. I’ll compliment an author on a specific technique, and they give me a deer-in-the-headlights look. They had no idea that they’d utilized any technique, let alone what effect they created with it.
So how could an episode like this be repaired. There are several ways. Here, let’s just focus on how understanding the Human NEXUS could help. Will it be perfect? Probably not. Will it be improved? Definitely.
Since Katara is a stabilizer, she desires fairness, justice, and safety. She could be annoyed that the canyon is causing a division in the land, keeping them from their goal, which will ultimately bring stability to the four nations. When stressed, a stabilizer will withhold. Katara should be the one who dismisses the grandeur of the canyon, withholding her attention to it, a role given to Sokka in the episode.
Since Sokka is a solutionary, He desires understanding of everything he comes across. He should be the one fascinated and giving admiration. He should figure out that there are dangerous creatures at the bottom from clues given, like the guide insisting that no food be brought through. This could stress him out. When solutionaries are stressed, they tend to cause problems and break things. He could break the temporary truce between the Zhang and the Gan Jin by figuring out that everyone snuck in food despite the insistence of the guide.
This withdrawal from the truce will, naturally, upset Katara. When she is upset, Aang the influencer will feel a disconnection from her, which causes him stress. He will try to manipulate the two tribes into working together again. In the middle of that attempt is when the creatures should attack. To redeem himself, Sokka should then figure out how to use the food sacks to ride the creatures up the sides and out. Aang can then turn his influencer abilities to convincing everyone to apply that solution. Once they are all safely up at the top, Katara can then calm down by helping both tribes understand the pettiness of their rivalry, and help them decide to work together for the good of all.
Not only would this fix the way the characters behave, it would create the underlying theme of cooperation. When we all work together, our differences mitigate each others weaknesses, and empower each others strengths.
There are, of course, many other techniques that could be applies to fix an episode such as this. Story structure alone is also powerful. But if the characters act shallow or out of character, even strong structure won’t fix that weakness.
To learn more about the Human NEXUS, and which type is your strongest, go to Chris Behnke’s website and take the Human NEXUS test. Take the free version for a short synopsis, or enter code ROlson10off for a discount on the paid version for all the information. Tell us if knowing what motivates you reinforces your writing process, or if it helps you to readjust. https://thehumannexus.com/ref/271/
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