Pop Culture Alignment

1. David Ali
   November 4th, 2009 at 4:24 pm

   Okay, I can understand why all the characters are where they are, but I agree with you John, that Rorschach should be under Chaotic Neutral. Also, I don't understand why he put Anton Chigurh under Neutral Evil. He/she could've chosen someone else... Posted this to my blog:

   http://dailyrampager.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/pop-culture-alignment/

2. dlauthor
   November 4th, 2009 at 4:55 pm

   No way is Indiana Jones lawful. Dude's a tomb robber, for the love of Pete. You want Lawful Neutral, call Judge Dredd. If anything, Indy's Chaotic Good.

   And Lawful Good is harder to peg. Aragorn? Will Kane in High Noon?

3. Hola
   November 4th, 2009 at 5:25 pm

   Nifty. That's cool.

4. poppedculture
   November 4th, 2009 at 5:49 pm

   Thanks for the link, John, and let me know if anyone lays claim to its creation. I hate posting things uncredited.

5. pwscott
   November 4th, 2009 at 6:17 pm

   Good concept. It could use a little more research and tweaking.

6. susiejock
   November 4th, 2009 at 8:40 pm

   Is it really? I never heard of that. Are you looking for wealthy men? I know a hot and interesting place named Billionairepal.com where I have met my boyfriend. You may take a look.

7. Toolbit
   November 4th, 2009 at 9:02 pm

   I would probably argue that Indiana Jones is Lawful Good. He believes priceless artifacts should be in a museum and will risk his life to do so. It seems like a good thing and it falls under the notion of law being the prime virtue.

   Vader seems like Neutral Evil: he kills younglings and gives into his feelings (e.g., he kills Count Dooku instead of arresting him), which is diametrically opposed to the Jedi code. A better choice, in my opinion, would be Javert in Les Miserables or the cop (played by David Morse) who pursued House in season 3.

   I agree with David Ali: Anton Chigur is too hard to classify. I too think there should be a better example. On the other hand, I disagree on Rorschach; he is the quintessence of Chaotic Good. He is good because his ideals are impeccable, even if his methods are psychotic.

   dlauthor may be onto something with Aragorn being Lawful Good.

   Haven't seen Lost or played GTA IV; everyone else seems like a good pick.

   Toolbit out.

8. Hoople
   November 4th, 2009 at 9:25 pm

   Hmm. Back in my D&D days, I always thought that alignments were plain dumb anyways, but seemed a part of the game that just couldn't be excised. My original thought though, was that Rorschach would be Lawful Good, if anything, because of his never compromising. I admit he didn't turn in villains for legal processing, but he would see the "LAW"-ful authorities as being weak and corrupt.

9. Cola
   November 5th, 2009 at 2:09 am

   I don't think you people understand Rorschach. Neutral implies that the character is in it for their own benefit, and is relatively indifferent to the benefit or cost to others as a result of their actions. Lawful neutral, for instance, is someone who plays by a set of rules, but doesn't have a huge investment in the outcome. Rorschach is a vigilante. His motivations are directly related to the well being of other people (children, the innocent, the people he cares for) but he operates outside of the rules of his society to achieve those ends, which is what makes him chaotic.

   His concern is justice/punishing the unjust. He wants to cleanse the city of perverts and murderers, but not just to please himself (which would make him neutral).

   Maybe you are all forgetting the girl's underpants in the stove?

10. Cola
    November 5th, 2009 at 2:10 am

    Also his unpredictability, I guess.

    I should have added that I have little to say about the other guys. I think Indy was miscategorised but I don't really know where I'd place him.

11. Geoduck
    November 5th, 2009 at 3:47 am

    Over on tvtropes.com, the Lawful Good picture-example is Superman, while Chaotic Good is Robin Hood. Both better fits. I've always thought The Doctor from Doctor Who would also a (ahem) good example of the latter.

12. TDiam
    November 5th, 2009 at 9:13 am

    What a weird coincidence! I just had this discussion with my friends last week; debating the placement of various figures on the d&d alignment chart. The Punisher is an interesting one to place...

13. Cluck
    November 5th, 2009 at 10:04 am

    Think the person cheated with using a video game for True Neutral and a TV show for Lawful Good.

    I agree that Superman is the most obvious Lawful Good but True Neutral in movies is much harder to find. I keep thinking that the two movie characters that make the most sense for True Neutral are the Predator and the Aliens.

    Think the others are for the most part a good fit.

14. Gail Pink
    November 5th, 2009 at 10:12 am

    I don't know anything about DD, but this is really awesome and thought provoking, obviously.

15. secret
    November 6th, 2009 at 12:22 am

    this type of thing is popular on the 4chan.

16. Chairman
    November 6th, 2009 at 2:27 am

    Anton Chigurh is to me a True Neutral. Laws and morality do not matter to him, which strip him of both lawful and good. He's not irrational, illogical, nor born of passion, which strips him of chaotic. As far as evil is concerned he never did anything blatantly evil that was without purpose. He killed only those who he was paid to kill or those who threatened his mission. As he said when he whacked the wife at the end, the husband made the choice to gamble with her life and lost, and he gave her the opportunity to gamble and win it back, so the motive wasn't born of malice or hatred. She refused to take her chance to change her outcome and so the previous outcome stood.

17. Landon
    November 6th, 2009 at 4:09 am

    Rorschach should stay where he is. He says "Evil MUST be punished". He spent his whole life fighting crime and even killing criminals. Hell man, he calls his mask his real face because he doesn't want to be associated with other "humans".
    (SPOILERS)
    He was killed because he wouldn't stand that the worlds peace be built on a lie.

18. shagbark
    November 10th, 2009 at 6:33 pm

    Rorschach is Lawful. He's a caricature of the dangers of lawful good; he has his own rules and will follow them no matter what the consequences. The laws that he follows just doesn't happen to be the ones voted in by legislatures.

19. The nerd
    November 11th, 2009 at 11:30 am

    Okay time to show my nerdinss. The list is mostly good but there is two problems, Indian and Rorschach need to be switched.
    First Rorschach:
    He is not good. He murders freely and feels no empathy.He has no mercy and cares little for other people. He will use what ever means necessary weather they be good or evil. He is lawful not because he follows the law but he has his own rigid code that he follows dogmatically. In the player's hand book 3.5 Lawful neutral can either be a judge of other laws or your own as long as you stick to it rigidly.
    Second Indie:
    Jones is chaotic good. He lives his life as a free spirit outside of normal laws yet he still does good. This is the definition of Chaotic good in the PHB 3.5. He helps people and tries to do right but he does not listen to what to the normal legal system.

    But other than that it was great list and a difference of opinion is expected.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT