Changing One's Nature or Playing a Role?

If the MC discovers that who he thought he was is not who he actually is, is that considered “Changing One’s Nature” or “Playing a Role”?

Is anything about who or what he is actually changing? Or is he discovering something that’s been true about him all along, but that he simply couldn’t or didn’t see?

He is discovering something that’s been true about him all along, but that he simply couldn’t see.

Would you say that, before discovering this, he was “existing in a certain manner”? Are “all the elements of what [he] wants to be…present in [himself]” prior to this discovery?

Or does he “achieve an identity with something”? Does he have to “give up” something to make this discovery or to make this change complete?

Another way to ask might be, when he discovers who he really is, is he discovering how to actually use the elements already within (for example, going from fumbling around with Pursuit to being a master of Pursuit) or does he get rid of any elements (maybe he gets rid of the Oppose element that’s been holding him back)?

I think it depends on whether your character accepts this revelation and relinquishes the false identity he had before his discovery, or whether he tries to cling to it in spite of his new knowledge.

To quote the Dramatica dictionary: “Giving up” a part of oneself is always the hardest part of becoming and the reason so many characters spend a lot of time “Being” without ever Becoming.

Does your character “give up” the part of himself that no longer fits his understanding of the truth, or does he try to hold on to both the true self and the false self, thinking he can be both?

The best way to get to the heart of it is to ask where the conflict is coming from. Is he experiencing conflict from the need to behave or act in a certain way, or pretend he’s something he isn’t? Or is the conflict really coming from the fundamental change he’s undergoing?

Just wondering, what story point(s) is this for? It might be treated differently depending if it’s for a signpost vs. something like Prerequisites or Cost or Dividends.

From what you’ve said so far, I’d say it sounds more like Becoming (Changing One’s Nature). I could even see other Types like Conceiving or Conceptualizing working here, but I assume there was a reason you’re only considering these two…

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When he discovers who he is, he doesn’t automatically start using these previously unknown qualities about himself. At that point, they are only potentials which exist within him. He must work to bring them out. He does that largely by learning to get out of his own way. So, yeah, he gets rid of the Oppose or Hinder element that’s been holding him back. But, he does so very gradually because there are things about who he really is that frighten him.

Just because those two seemed the most obvious candidates. Conceiving and Conceptualizing are acceptable options as well.

“State of Being” and “Sense of Self” are two variations under Conceptualizing. They seem to convey what you say about your MC.