"Navigate" (verb) originated in the 1580s from the Latin navigatus, the past participle of navigare, meaning "to sail, steer a ship, or go by sea".  It is a combination of navis ("ship," from Proto-Indo-European root nau-) and agere ("to drive, set in motion").  Originally referring to sea travel, it expanded to general directing in the 1660s, to ballooning in 1784, and to aircraft in 1901.  

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the earliest known use of the verb navigate in English is from the late 1500s.  The verb navigate first appeared in a translation of Juan González de Mendoza’s The Historie of the Great and Mightie Kingdome of China by Robert Parke in 1588.   The noun navigation appeared earlier, in the early 1500s (before 1527).  

Character navigation—the way characters, their motivations, and their psychological journeys are steered through a plot—is crucial for driving engagement, developing themes, and building empathy.  It transforms a mere sequence of events into a coherent narrative by linking internal growth (character) with external action (plot).  

Just the facts:

NAVIGATE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

NAVIGATE Synonyms: 42 Similar Words | Merriam-Webster Thesaurus

NAVIGATION Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

NAVIGATING Synonyms: 42 Similar Words | Merriam-Webster Thesaurus

CIRCUMNAVIGATE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Navigating the internet from the days of a dial-up connection using my pre-windows 95 PC, to 2026 has been an experience.  It seems I've forgotten so much as everything is so intuitive now.