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Pop Culture Alignment

Jared
Posted Nov 5, 2009 12:21 AM
user 8948323
Kansas City, MO
Post #: 12
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I found his on the internet. What do you think? I'm not sure I agree with all of them:


Matt Nute
Posted Nov 5, 2009 4:08 PM
user 3790457
Kansas City, MO
Post #: 27
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I don't think I'd classify John Locke as the archetype of Lawful Good - he's got his moments of shady. I'd push him closer to Neutral Good or the 4e "Good" alignment.

Dwight is probably pretty close to True Neutral - willing to oppose the existing power structure (the cops) for his goal, but his goal isn't exactly a noble one, nor is he concerned with the fact that his actions are liable to cause massive repercussions. While he doesn't waver into Evil or wildly Chaotic, I don't think he falls on the Good side either.

Rorschach is Lawful Neutral. Definitely NOT a good guy, and definitely has his own rigid code of behavior that he follows. Act within his code (i.e., vote Republican and love the Gipper) and you're acceptable. Step outside of it, and you get annihilated. Definitely serves Law over Good.

On the other hand, Indiana Jones is Chaotic Good. Will break all sorts of laws in the pursuit of the Greater Good. Acts heroically but with disregard for laws and traditions. Will happily break customs/smuggling laws (Chaotic) for the greater good of world knowledge ("This belongs in a museum!").

Nico Belic... I don't think you can classify a player-character in a sandbox video game as having an inherent alignment. The dialogue and backstory portray Nico as someone who's made bad choices, shows remorse but no real drive for redemption. Fits the 4e category of "Unaligned" better than the classic wishy-washy "True Neutral".

Tyler Durden is Chaotic Chaotic. :) Walks the line between CN and CE, but given the Nietzschean outlook (moreso in the book than the film), is a good example of Chaotic Neutral.

Vader exemplifies Lawful Evil, all the way.

Anton Chigurh is also a good example of Neutral Evil - the "True Evil" alignment of sociopaths and really genuinely nasty folks. Nothing says Evil can't be charismatic or polite, but the kind of single-minded determination a character like Chigurh shows is definitely well on the Neutral end of the Law/Chaos scale.

And the Joker, of course, is pure Chaotic Evil.


Now, if I were giving alignment examples:

Lawful Good: Superman. You do good because it's Right, and you believe in an ordered and harmonic system where everyone can help each other achieve happiness.

Neutral Good: Batman. Doing good is your primary goal, and if you have to buck the system to do it, that won't stop you.

Chaotic Good: Robin Hood. Forget the laws and traditions of society, you're going to do what's right for the individual.

Lawful Neutral: Judge Dredd. "I AM THE LAW." The idea that following a strict code of laws is paramount and that order is more important than the moral direction of one's actions. Doctor Doom could also fit here.

True Neutral: In the real world, this would be an indicator of sociopathy. "What I want to do, how I want to do it" narcissism and selfishness. Marv from Sin City could possibly fit here - obviously a criminal but respects the law enough to obey his parole officer. Does horrible things that fall under the purview of Evil, but for a noble cause. Serves the greater good, but commits evil acts to do it. It all averages out to Neutral - but that's not really the definition of the alignment.

Side note: Back in the days of 9 alignments, "Neutral Neutral" was always forbidden in my campaigns for just that reason.

Chaotic Neutral: Stone Cold Steve Austin. A "screw the rules" tweener. Out for himself, disregard for authority, might do noble things but is just as likely to do heelish things.

Lawful Evil: Darth Vader's a great example. Supporting the Fascist Machine. Loyal to those around you that share your beliefs, even if those beliefs involve tyranny and oppression. Can also cover the "only the strong survive" doctrine of supervillains like Magneto and Apocalypse.

Neutral Evil: Self-centered narcissistic evil. The "common criminal" alignment.

Chaotic Evil: Break it all down, kill everyone. Your delusional psychopaths, the uncontrollable monsters. The Joker, Alex DeLarge, Mickey/Mallory (from Natural Born Killers). They may not be raving lunatics, but they'll stab anyone in the throat just because that's their nature.
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