Alignment system

One of the reasons I'm super-excited about having a blog for English this year is because now I finally have a place to talk about my semi-academic musings which, until this point, I've mostly kept to myself.

I've always been intrigued by the Dungeons & Dragons "alignment system," and I actually think it can be a great tool when applied to literature. The alignment system is a way of classifying people and characters according to two axes: laws and morals. The law axis defines lawful vs. chaotic; in other words, one's willingness to follow rules, as well as traditions and social customs. The moral axis defines good versus evil; good means willing to sacrifice the self for the benefit of others, and evil means willing to sacrifice others for the benefit of the self.

Lawful Evil	Lawful Neutral	Lawful Good
Neutral Evil	True Neutral	Neutral Good
Chaotic Evil	Chaotic Neutral	Chaotic Good

(I've often seen this diagram rotated 90 degrees, as in it says "Lawful Good, Neutral Good, and Chaotic Good" from left to right across the top. However, I prefer this format because it's like a graph-- morals increase along the x-axis, and laws increase along the y-axis. Also, I apologize if this post turns out all wonky in your browser, I used some pretty weird code on the table ^^; If it looks weird I'd appreciate it if you commented to tell me so I can fix it.)


Starting at the top right, we have Lawful Good. Lawful good characters are benevolent and follow rules. 'Nuff said. Lawful good characters in literature often face conflicts between laws and morals; for example, a lawful good tax collector is sent to imprison a man who hasn't paid his taxes for a long time. When he finds the man, he discovers that he hasn't paid his taxes because he was robbed and has a wife and two small children to take care of. Should he imprison the man to follow orders (lawful) or leave the man alone to save his family (good)?

Next, we have Neutral Good, also called True Good. These characters will do the right thing whether it's legal or not. Think Harry Potter-- Harry generally follows rules, and doesn't have any specific desires to cause chaos, but he does sneak out at night occasionally and has no problem disobeying Umbridge when she takes over.

After that is Chaotic Good. This is the "rebel" alignment, in which characters enjoy causing chaos but always do so for a good cause. Robin Hood is probably the most cited chaotic good character, since he steals from the rich (chaotic) and gives to the poor (good).

Starting at the top again is Lawful Neutral, sometimes called True Lawful. These characters value order above all else and will follow/enforce laws whether it's morally right or not. Javert from Les Miserables is definitely lawful neutral.

In the very middle is True Neutral. There are three ways to be true neutral: (1) unconsciously [animals and newborn babies are true neutral by default because they aren't capable of conscious thought] (2) apathetically [characters who just DON'T CARE about ANYTHING are true neutral, also by default] and (3) objectively/purposely [some characters could be dedicated to being neutral because they see all other alignments as biased]. Dr. House from House, M.D. is true neutral because the only thing he wants is to find out what's wrong with his patients; not out of benevolence or concern, but because it's a game for him. Also, he frequently breaks hospital rules, but he is usually too lazy to cause chaos for chaos's sake.

At the bottom is Chaotic Neutral, also called True Chaotic. These characters dislike laws and are indifferent morally. This is like Captain Jack Sparrow. Also, sometimes people reference the alignment Strongly Chaotic Neutral, which would include characters who just reeeeeally like causing chaos for the fun of it.

At the top left is Lawful Evil. This is basically the "evil dictator" alignment. For example, Hitler didn't just grab a gun and shoot Jews on sight (chaotic evil); he rose to a position of government and set up a highly organized army to systematically exterminate the Jews (you get the idea). Sometimes lawful evil characters will have a personal code of conduct (ex. avoid violence against women or children, swift deaths are okay but torture is not, etc.) that they feel makes them "better" than other villains. Also, lawful evil characters will keep promises, and will be nice to those close to them (ex. family members, partners-in-crime, or in Hitler's case, other Aryans).

Next is Neutral Evil, also called True Evil. These characters are only out for themselves, and as far as laws & chaos go, they'll do whatever is convenient. Think Randall from Monsters, Inc.-- he cooperates with Mr. Waternoose to develop and use the Scream Extractor (a lawful evil action), but also attempts to break the Scare Record by cheating (a chaotic evil action).

At the bottom left is Chaotic Evil. This is probably the most classic "villain" alignment, like the Joker. However, a chaotic evil characters' love of chaos might work against him sometimes; for example, a chaotic evil character might set fire to a village after robbing it just for the fun of it, even if it means it might wake the villagers and increase his chances of getting caught. Also, chaotic evil characters will often have an "every man for himself" attitude, and will readily betray anyone, even close friends and family.


So, given that this system was originally developed for a board game, why is it useful for literature?

Personally, I think the alignment system is a really good framework to guide analysis/discussion of a character, kind of like how we used S.O.A.P.S. for our DBQs in History. Also, maybe it's just because I'm a science-minded person, but I like categories and classifications. When I'm analyzing characters, I like to be able to assign categories that allow me to easily remember facts about them and to compare them to other characters. Alignments can't tell you everything about a person, because laws and morals aren't the only things that determine personality; however, the alignment system can give you lots of insight into their values and motivations.

Another thing I like about the alignment system is that it can be applied to characters as well as individual actions. If you have identified a character's alignment, you have a very simple litmus test to easily recognize when he or she acts "out of character." For example, let's say we have a police officer who we already know is lawful good. His daughter suddenly becomes very sick, and in order to drive her to the hospital fast enough, he speeds and runs several red lights, which are definitely chaotic actions. Whenever a character acts out of alignment, that's important for us as readers to notice-- it gives us an opportunity to ask questions, like why did this chararacter act this way? Could this be a signal of a change in this character, or was it only in response to a specific event? How will these actions affect the character in the future?

Well, if you've managed to read this far, I must thank you for your dedication! Now that I've defined the alignment system, I'll put it to good use-- I started reading The Poisonwood Bible, so in another post I plan to talk about the main characters' alignments.

Thanks for reading! :)