The Guv’nor

There is no better way to learn characteristics of Character Components and Talents than to look into extreme cases, where the character traits are magnified so intensely that it is very clear to read them.

Meet Lenny McLean – The Hardest Man in Britain

One compelling case came to our attention after watching the movie about Lenny McLean, a street fighter from England also known as “The Guv’nor.”

Lenny McLean has been referred to as the hardest man in Britain, known for his incredible fighting abilities, stamina, and very intense, confrontational character traits. He is also known for his role in a British cult movie, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, which was his last public performance. He died a week after the film was released.

He was also involved in various criminal activities, mostly extortion and serving as a security guard for shady businesses.

Please have a look at the movie trailer before we continue; a picture is definitely worth more than a thousand words.

Now let’s have a look at his Five Elements.

Lenny McLean was born as Yin Earth Master Element, a mighty one. If we look into his Five Elements, almost 80% of his Chart is the Earth Element.

Water and Wood are squeezed out, Metal is slightly damaged, and Fire serves the Earth, making it a dominant force, or we could say, a “Gov’nor,” which was Lenny’s favorite expression, because it represents control.

All his life, he was fighting the demons created by his father, who abused him when he was a little. In our research, we noticed that this is an often-cited case with dominant Master Elements; they are tortured and abused during childhood, either by parents or by other people, bullies.

Now, you are probably asking yourself why he gets bullied if he is so strong. Many are confused by this contradiction, but the simplest explanation is that the stronger we are, the stronger our ego is, the more pressure the universe will put on us to break the dominance of the Element. We shouldn’t forget the fundamental principle: the universe always seeks balance. If we are a dominant Master Element, the universe will exert extra pressure to even it out.

Also, when we were kids, we didn’t have much understanding of power dynamics, so once he got older, he was able to use his force to confront his demons.

But the key reason is probably his powerful Competitor Talent, which made him extremely confrontational, leading him to attract aggressive behavior from people around him. Check his Talent Chart below to get a better picture:

The BODY Component is completely dominating his Chart, with both Competitor and Self-esteem Talents being powerful.

It shows that Lenny McClean was extremely confrontational, and when you combine that with the stubbornness of the Earth Element, you get a basic frame of his personality.

Competitors strive to win and always be the first, in a field of high importance for them, and for him, that was boxing.

He had an awful first 20 years, with an abusive father, alcoholism, and constant street fights. During this period, he was going through an intense Wood period. In normal circumstances, Wood controls Earth, but if Wood is unable to control excessive Earth, it results in a painful outcome for the person, filled with issues, confrontations, legal problems, addictions, etc.

Once he entered the Water period, things improved because the Earth Element suddenly had something to do. Water brought him a stable relationship; his wife helped him get his life together, and he stopped drinking and even started performing in movies, thanks to his Creativity Component, represented by the Metal Element, which is also a highly beneficial Element for him.

What also made his Chart better is good cooperation between Fire, Metal, and Earth, so he wasn’t just brute force; he had certain creative qualities, which made him quite famous later in life.

One of the positive sides of Competitor Talent was his ability to gain followers, making him highly popular and serving as a role model for many middle- and low-class people.

He died right at the end of his lucky Water period; his Chart was moving into the Earth period, so his health rapidly got worse. His Chart was too unstable; it could only function if there were a substantial presence of Water and Metal to exhaust excessive Earth. Once he lost that support, things got worse for him again.