Plotting Advice Requested

[Adamir he/him]

Question - The story I am currently working on has a psychopath incapable of feeling fear and a sociopath incapable of empathy as its two main characters. I've decided to write it based around the idea of the "Great Man" approach to history, going by the idea that people, not events, change the world for the better or worse, meaning that my two characters will be on their merry way overthrowing governments, causing large-scale chaos and claiming entire states for themselves.

 

However, a subset of characters in my work are able to nudge thoughts as their particular gimmick, frequently dipping into the dreams of various rulers to steer their policies just right; it's established early on to the reader that all of Das and Nax's ideas (please forgive the names, still a first draft) come from thoughts pushed into their heads. This, however, conflicts with the overall theme of the influence one person can have on the world if they set their mind to it; to put it this way, these are the two titles I have for a section of a book. It could be called A, The Principle of Great Things, or B, The Principle of Clay. So, advice? How can I make the plot and the theme get along? Should I alter one or the other? Should I have those characters realize they're being manipulated and break out of the linear road set in front of them, or take out the manipulation altogether? Should they live in blissful unawareness throughout the entire novel?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I don't know about the thought-nudging conflicting with the overall theme. To the contrary, I think it's a good illustration of how the powerful can be influenced by forces they neither see nor acknowledge, how "great men" don't come up with their ideas on their own, and how "little people" can subtly nudge the "great men" of history to change it as they like—but how the results don't always mesh with what they'd imagined. "Great men" don't invent the ideas they cling to, but they are the ones we associate with them. 

 

So I say keep the thought-nudging.