The Spectrum of Good and Evil

[Atomic]

Hard to find a better explanation than this:



Right click, view image for full as needed.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Eh, I could argue with the selection for Neutral Evil. Xenomorphs are barely sentient, they don't have the sapience to have an alignment.

Honestly, Neutral Evil is a hard one to place. It's somewhere between Heath Leger's Joker at the chaotic side and Tyranny of the Lawful Evil variety.

I'd also say that the Operative from the movie Serenity would make a better case for Lawful Evil than Vader. "I am a Monster, Mal. Their world holds no place for me".

And honestly, I don't see Mal as 'Lawful Neutral'. "Aw hell, I'm a fan of all seven. But right now? I'mma gonna have to go with Wrath." This is the man who trained the Reavers on civilized space, for crying out loud! I don't care what the provocation, that is NOT the act of 'Neutral Good'. Any time someone says 'I did what I had to do', it's an indication that they're taking a dip into the deeper side of the alignment pool. If anything, he slides far closer to Neutral Evil. He can, and will, do anything and everything to keep his ship in the sky. Blackmail, murder, theft... whatever has to be done. This isn't the laundry list of things which Good people are inclined to do, and he does them without a second's hesitation. He can't hesitate, or the whole thing is doomed.

However, V as Chaotic Good is spot on. You could swap Boy Blue for Captain America for the Lawful Good slot, but it works. Capt. Jack Sparrow for Chaotic Neutral is spot on. Joker, particularly the Heath Leger version, is the perfect archetypal Chaotic Evil personification. The Ents as True Neutral are about as close an example as anyone can get.

[MerchManDan]

I have to admit, I was a little surprised to see Picard as Lawful Neutral - but upon reflection, it makes sense. Starfleet (and the Federation in general) must have their people strive to be the best they can be, but in dealing with the galaxy at large there are too many grey areas. Avoiding conflict through abstention tends to be the best way to go (dealing with overtly hostile civilizations being an obvious exception, of course).