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To Be Lawful or Good: Difference between revisions
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The classic debate, named for the Catch22 situation which often confronts [[Lawful Good]] [[Dungeons and Dragons]] characters, for a dilemma which may face any [[Lawful Good|character who is defined in part by their struggle to remain good while upholding the stability of the system they live in.]] For whatever reason, this character has encountered a situation where doing the right thing involves breaking a law, personal code, or a binding rule that makes the character [[The Fettered]]. The character [[Moral Dilemma|must then decide]] to either break the law and move towards [[Chaotic Good|Chaotic]]/NeutralGood, or put the law of the land first and become more [[Lawful Neutral]].
Three things can happen in these situations.
1: The character [[Heel Face Turn|switches sides]], [[Vigilante Man|breaks the law]], or [[The Unfettered|removes his moral restraints]] [[Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right|in the name of doing the right thing]]. This can result in a full alignment change to [[Chaotic Good|Chaotic]]/[[Neutral Good]] or at least shake the character's stance, and also will often put the character at odds with other lawful characters. Woe betide a hero who does this if they have [[Lawful Evil]] superiors.
2: The character wants to help, but [[The Fettered|cannot bring himself to break the established laws, codes or rules.]] Maybe they believe that a breaking of the rules will result in worse things, maybe they think that it is their job to be the force of order, leaving law breaking up to the [[Vigilante Man]], or maybe they weren't as assured in their morals as they thought and the idea of doing something not enshrined in law scares them too much. If the moral oversight was too great, may result in them sliding [[Lawful Neutral]] or, in the case of really big infractions or cases of [[My Master, Right or Wrong]] or [[My Country, Right or Wrong]] may lead them into becoming a [[Worthy Opponent]] or [[Noble Demon]] type of character, establishing them as a villain or causing previously heroic characters to effectively undergo a [[Face Heel Turn]]. If called out, they may try to deny responsibility by saying that they're [[Just Following Orders]].
3: Clever characters [[Take a Third Option]]. Maybe they tell something [[From a Certain Point of View]] or find a way of doing the right thing whilst [[Loophole Abuse|not violating the letter of the law]] that would otherwise prevent them from doing so. Failing that, they may not be able to interfere themselves, but they'll contact the proper authorities or get a less Lawful character to act on their behalf, leading to a rescue by [[The Cavalry]]. A character may consider that not acting would be an even greater violation of his code or law system than holding back and letting things go through.
The LG character may alternatively combine a [[Zeroth Law Rebellion]] and [[Good Is Not Nice]] and interpret the dilemma such that he or she realizes it isn't a dilemma, or was an engineered ''false'' dilemma. [[Lawful Good]] doesn't mean [[Lawful Stupid]], after all.
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Rather than save the villain he knows will go and kill more people, he rationalizes that letting him fall off a cliff isn't ''technically'' breaking any law... and while pulling him up would be the Right(TM) thing to do, not pulling him up isn't a terribly evil action, especially if [[Pay Evil Unto Evil|they were mean]] to [[Kick the Dog|the dog earlier.]] Or conversely, maybe [[The Dog Bites Back|something else is likely to catch up with the villain in the near future, anyway,]] so that the consequences of saving the villain, letting the villain die, or killing the villain are all fairly equivalent.
Whatever happens, the character is still clearly both Lawful and Good by the end of the episode.
Note that one decision of this type doesn't change alignment. Such conflict just shows which of the axioms takes priority. Favoring Good over Law doesn't mean a character no longer cares about Law. However, a particularly big decision, such as the decision to go back on an oath of loyalty, or on the other hand, to take up arms against the heroes or the good side because of lawful demands, can effectively make a character's alignment one or the other. This trope covers both examples where a decision forces characters to make the complete alignment jump and situations where they are simply forced to prioritise.
This trope exists as part of a [[Double Standard]] regarding both the law/chaos and the good/evil axis. While Lawful Good characters' lawfulness is often seen as placed under a microscope by decisions to act in a chaotic manner, chaotic characters, by and large, are allowed to adhere to the status quo without anyone batting an eyelash, even though nothing in particular dictates they should be less committed to chaos than a lawful character is to law. One rarely, if ever, hears of a "To be chaotic or good" dilemma. By the same token, [[Lawful Evil]] characters are rarely expected to place their lawfulness before their evil. For example, Lawful Evil characters may act contrary to the laws of established societies for the purpose of advancing their own goals (e.g. overthrowing a lawfully ruling monarch or government). Few ever consider this to be a chaotic act, since evil usually only upholds the rules that suit it.
This is somewhat a [[Truth in Television]], as many times in history humans have had to choose between what the law system expects of them and what their conscience or the circumstances demand. Despite this, no [[Real Life]] examples please. The fact that this trope reflects dilemmas that people have faced and pondered about in equal measure throughout the centuries is what makes it so recogniseable; we must all have wondered what we would do if faced with a situation where we had to break the law to do the right thing from our perspectives; to breach societies moral bounds to preserve our own.
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* ''[[Crystar Crystal Warrior]]'' was nominally about Order vs. Chaos rather than Good vs. Evil. When the heroes travel to the Land of Order, the locals are unhappy when Ogeode points out that Order taken to irrational extremes would be just as bad as the Chaos forces they're fighting.
* The rationale behind the anti-registration heroes in [[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]
** Specific mention to [[Captain America (comics)]] (who opposed the [[Super Registration Act]]). He's the poster hero for the [[Lawful Good]] trope where he upholds the law and brings justice. However, he upholds the American ''ideals'' rather than the American ''law.'' And the laws created goes against the said American ''ideals'' as well as conflicting with the interests of the American citizens, mutants, and superheroes alike, he shows no hesitations on breaking the said rules to do what is right.
== [[Film]] ==
* In the first Christopher Reeve ''[[Superman (film)|Superman]]'' film, Superman winds up in a [[Sadistic Choice]] situation. Lex Luthor's evil plan involves launching two missiles, one aimed at Hackensack, New Jersey and the other at the center of the San Andreas Fault. The mother of Lex's henchwoman, Miss Teschmacher, lives in Hackensack. She agrees to get rid of the Kryptonite that is leaving Superman helpless to do anything but only if he'll agree to stop the missile heading toward Hackensack first. {{spoiler|Superman agrees and is true to his word, though more people - including Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen - are endangered by the earthquake triggered by the San Andreas Fault missile.}}
** Later on, he faces another choice. {{spoiler|He destroys the missile headed for Hackensack, New Jersey, saving millions and keeping his promise, but in doing so [[Always Save the Girl|is forced to let Lois Lane die]]. The dilemma comes when Superman decides to break Kryptonian law by using time travel to save her.}}
* A "neutral" example with M.O. from ''[[WALL-E]]''. His primary directive was to clean everything that comes onto the ship by following a lighted path, so his first encounter with Wall-E had not been that cordial since Wall-E was so filthy. Later, when Wall-E leaves tracks all over the space dock while chasing EVE, M.O. is faced with a dilemma. According to his programming, he has to stay within his lighted path, but he can't stand the dirty tracks being left all over the space dock. M.O. eventually takes a [[Leap of Faith]] and jumps off the path. It buzzes at him, but he's still functioning, so he chuckles in delight and starts following the dirty tracks.
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* Inspector Javert of ''[[Les Misérables]]'' believes throughout the book that Lawful is itself Good, but is forced by [[The Atoner|Valjean]] to confront the possibility (not the relative merits, the mere existence) of [[Chaotic Good]], and that some of his own choices fell more in line with [[Lawful Evil]].
** Which is somewhat ironic, as Jean Valjean himself had basically gone [[Lawful Good]] as a small-town mayor and business owner, and likely would have stayed that way were it not for Javert's rigid insistence that criminals are criminals, always and forever.
** This is later what kills him. [[Word of God]] confirms that Javert's rigid adherence to the law and his self-righteous arrogance as a result is his [[Achilles' Heel]]. When Valjean saves Javert's life, this puts him in the dilemma of owing his life to Valjean and also his solemn duty to recapture Valjean. Upholding either means abrogating the other, and either choice he makes means admitting that he has destroyed his own life by either breaking his moral code or living by an utterly unjust one the entire time. It's hinted that he is tending toward believing the latter, as he thinks that the appropriate way to pay for a transgression is through resignation to a higher power. He doesn't resign from the police, thinking instead "But how was he to set about handing in his resignation to God?" {{spoiler|He finds a way.}}
* A recurring theme of the ''[[Retrieval Artist]]'' series of sci-fi detective novels: humankind has treaties and a legal system of [[The Federation]]-like Earth Sphere Alliance, under which humans can be extradited for alien crimes, many which would not be crimes under human law or morality, for which the punishments are very severe. Disappearance services and Retrieval Artists work to protect these people from the law. The protagonist, Miles Flint, starts out as a cop who entered the force because he believed in justice. When a case involving a family that had Disappeared forces the question on him, he choses good, afterward leaving the force and becoming a Retrieval Artist. His partner, Noelle DeRicci, is faced with similar dilemmas and even though she resents the laws and believes they're wrong, elects to keep working under them because she has trouble accepting that breaking Law can be Good.
* [[Horatio Hornblower]], while an admiral in the Caribbean, has the choice between letting a ship full of armed Napoleonic sympathizers get away to go free Napoleon, or cut them off in a small boat and stop them by ''lying'' and claiming Napoleon has died. Rather than face decades more of war, he opts for 'good' over 'lawful' and sacrifices his honor. When he goes to turn himself in, he gets a miracle. {{spoiler|Napoleon really has just passed away.}}
* Arthur struggles with this throughout ''[[The Warlord Chronicles]]''. If he declared himself King and killed his opponents when they are vulnerable he could become one of the greatest rulers Dumnonia has seen, and perhaps saviour of entire Britain, but he refuses to because of an oath he swore. His probably darkest moment is when he allows Prince Tristan to be killed and Queen Isolde burned alive for infidelity even though her husband, King Mark was an absolute monster, because the law demanded it.
* [[Huckleberry Finn]]: Huck spends much time dealing with the fact he wants to free Jim, a slave, but has been raised to believe following the law is necessary to be good. That hell awaits lawbreakers as they are evil doers. Huck ultimately decides he'd rather go to hell then support the law.
{{quote|''"It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: "All right, then, I'll GO to hell"—and tore it up. It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming. I shoved the whole thing out of my head, and said I would take up wickedness again, which was in my line, being brung up to it, and the other warn't. And for a starter I would go to work and steal Jim out of slavery again; and if I could think up anything worse, I would do that, too; because as long as I was in, and in for good, I might as well go the whole hog." ''}}
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== [[Mythology]] ==
* Robin Hood [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|jumps off the slippery slope]] to chaotic.
* [[King Arthur]] and his knights sometimes face this dilemma. Merlin usually escapes it--in fact, he's generally depicted as [[Chaotic Neutral]].
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* In the ''[[Greyhawk]]'' campaign setting there were multiple cases of Lawful deities and their followers acting in direct opposition to each other.
** The two war gods, Heironeous (Lawful Good) and his brother Hextor (Lawful Evil) are outright enemies, and their worshipers follow suit. The kingdoms of Furyondy and Nyrond were essentially governed by leaders who favored Heironeous and seceded from the Great Kingdom of Aerdy when the [[President Evil|government of the latter]] became increasingly dominated by Hextor worshipers who pulled the whole empire towards Lawful Evil.
** The gods Pholtus and Saint Cuthbert, who alternate between Lawful Good and Lawful Neutral depending on what edition you are playing, extremely dislike each other because both believe that they have the best notion of law. This results in their stiff-necked, legalistic worshipers getting into vicious arguments. Some Pholtus worshipers are so extreme in their conviction of their god's absolute rightness that they effectively become [[Our Gods Are Greater|monotheists]], either ignoring other gods or flat out denying that they exist (despite reams of evidence to the contrary). This even became a problem ''within'' Pholtus's faith, as Lawful Good and Lawful Neutral worshipers (along with some who had even slipped as far as Lawful Evil) dubbed each other "heretics" over their differing views.
* In the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' [[Dungeons and Dragons]] setting, Tyr <s> is</s> [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|was]] one of the most staunchly Lawful Good deities. However, it is stated that his clerics "never enforce a law that can be shown to be unjust."
** Since Tyr's clerics could be either [[Lawful Good]] or [[Neutral Good]] without loosing their powers, good generally won out.
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* Cecil has a crisis of conscience at the beginning of ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' based around this. He knows that what his king orders him to do is [[Kick the Dog|wrong]], but can't yet bring himself to disobey the man that he swore his allegiance as a Dark Knight to. However, Cecil makes his decision to turn from a Lawful non-Good character to Lawful/Neutral Good after he and his longtime friend, Kain, are used by the King of Baron to massacre an entire village of innocent summoners. He then spends the next section of the game [[The Atoner|atoning]] for the various sins he committed while under his king's orders.
** It's even more difficult for Cecil since the king was also a father figure to him. {{spoiler|Good thing the [[Complete Monster]] that gave him those awful orders wasn't the real king who was [[Dead All Along]].}}
* [[Phoenix Wright]] and [[Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth|Miles Edgeworth]] both are faced with this decision, the former in {{spoiler|Turnabout Goodbyes}} and the latter in Turnabout Ablaze. Both choose {{spoiler|to reveal the truth even if they are defying their station in the justice system.}}
** The latter shares his decision with {{spoiler|the Yatagarasu, who took to theft when the justice system was not enough.}}
** Edgeworth faces this again in "The Forgotten Turnabout" in the sequel to Investigations. When Kay is accused of murder and Edgeworth is warned that he will lose his prosecutor badge if he tries to help her, he chooses to do so, {{spoiler|even getting arrested in the process}}.
** Hammered home at the end of the fourth game is the series' ideal that Good over Lawful is ''always'' the right choice, as both the Judge and Klavier point out that the Law is always changing and adapting based on people's understanding of what is Good.
* Steiner and Beatrix both have to deal with this in [[Final Fantasy IX]] when they {{spoiler|turn against Queen Brahne after they realize her lust for power has driven her mad.}} Steiner in particular is extremely conflicted about this.
** It takes Steiner much longer to realize the truth compared to Beatrix and it isn't until Steiner actually witnesses {{spoiler|Brahne's lackeys, Zorn and Thorn, rip Garnet's [[Summon Magic]] out of her soul and learning that Brahne wanted Garnet dead and had her soldiers attack Beatrix (someone he had feelings for) for her betrayal that Steiner finally decides to go against the Queen and fight to protect the people he cares about.}}
* Wallace from [[Fire Emblem Elibe]] is a [[Lawful Good]] knight, and a trusted retainer of Lord Hausen of Caelin. However, he's also {{spoiler|the best friend of a [[Warrior Prince]] named Hassar from the Lorca Tribe, who happens to fall for Lord Hausen's daughter Madelyn... which Hausen [[Parental Marriage Veto|does not approve of]] since [[Arranged Marriage|Madelyn is engaged already to the marquess of Araphen]].}} So {{spoiler|when Madelyn elopes with Hassar and Wallace is tasked with stopping them}}, what does he choose to do? {{spoiler|He prefers to let them go and allow himself to be in prision, rather than condemning them to be [[Star-Crossed Lovers]]. And considering that they're the parents of Lyndis, the main character, it all works well in the end.}}
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== [[Literature]] ==
* In ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' there's a minor character, Galad Damodred (half-brother of main character's love interest {{spoiler|and of the main character}}), a [[Knight in Shining Armor]] of the highest caliber. His sister finds it revolting that he ''always'' does what is right. This makes Elayne seem like an idiot until she explains that Galad doesn't care who gets hurt or what the costs are in his pursuit of doing the right thing. Then she looks sane and ''he'' looks scary.
** On the other hand, Galad joins the Whitecloaks, an organization that is supposed to be [[Lawful Good]] but is usually [[Lawful Stupid]] instead, and makes them live up to their ideals. After the Lord Captain Commander proves to be treacherous and dishonorable, Galad defeats him in single combat and takes his place. Later, he tells his men to set aside their prejudices about fighting alongside [[Witch Species|Aes Sedai]] and [[Our Werewolves Are Different|wolfbrothers]]. Or else.
* In ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', one of the [[Third Line, Some Waiting|three plotlines]] is a multi-sided war of succession. One of the candidates is Stannis Baratheon, who makes it clear that he does not ''want'' the throne. So why's he still fighting? Because he's next in line of succession, so it's his "by rights"... and because he is so focused on following the rules, he's willing to do war, black magic, even ''murder'' to put himself on a throne he doesn't want and wouldn't know what to do with if he had it. However, things become a bit more complicated when he {{spoiler|abandons the main theatre of battle in order to save the North from a wildling invasion, "saving the kingdom to win the realm" rather than "winning the realm to save the kingdom".}}
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== Examples of characters who [[Take a Third Option]] ==
* ''[[The Diamond Age]]'' by Neal Stephenson has an interesting example of an subverted [[Take a Third Option|third choice]]. [[Officer and a Gentleman|Judge and a gentleman]] Fang is politely but hotly on the heels of illegal nanotechnologist Dr. X. They both enjoy strictly classic Chinese outlooks: they [[Awesome Anachronistic Apparel|dress in Confucian style]], [[No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine|have]] [[Go-Karting with Bowser|traditional tea]] [[Affably Evil|ceremonies]], and are ostensibly friends. Then Dr. X invites him onto a ship he's bought, {{spoiler|filled with every unwanted girl baby in China that parents wanted to sell/abort (and there were a lot) and explained how he mass copied the hyper intelligent Young Ladies Primer for each.}} Judge Fang knows he should arrest him, but seeing the absolute good being done, says he can't because they're in international waters... to which Dr. X replies he's moved his fleet into Chinese territorial waters. {{spoiler|Judge Fang has a [[Heroic BSOD|breakdown]] and sides with Dr. X}} in the upcoming pro-nationalist Chinese revolution to return to the Celestial Kingdom style of government... with ''super'' nanobots!
* A very common problem for all ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' [[Lawful Good]] characters, especially paladins, is solving such moral dilemmas - at least, if roleplay is good (not "Me smash evil. Me bring justice") and the adventure is not a plain hack-n-slash. Interestingly enough DMs very rarely make characters have to make decisions between being chaotic and being good... A double standard, or just inherent in the nature of the two alignments?
** The above probably accounts for why, in 4th Edition, they did away with Chaotic Good completely: you're either Lawful Good, and thus "bound" to honor both the tenants of good and the rules of law, or else you're Good, and you get to say [[Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right|"Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right".]] Somewhat annoyingly, the system also cut out Lawful Neutral, leaving a void where those who want to say "Screw What's Right, I'm Following the Rules" would belong (beyond being "Unaligned" and declaring that's the character's behavior).
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** Also potentially the result of Lelouch's question of what one should do if an evil cannot be defeated by just means.
* Red Witch's ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers|Galaxy Rangers]]'' fanfics play it both ways with the characters of Walsh and Zachary. Walsh traded Lawful Good for Lawful Neutral, especially when grilled about the Supertrooper Project, and eventually crosses the line when he pulls a few [[Shoot the Dog|less than ethical stunts]] and finally pulls a ''massive'' [[Kick the Son of a Bitch]] by {{spoiler|attempting to murder Senator Wheiner and vanishing}}. Zachary is, at heart, a believer in ''justice'' more than he is a believer of law, and when it's found out that certain elements of Earth's Government dabbled in things like [[Blood Sport|staging death-matches among the Supertroopers]], and government condoned ''genocide'' of Niko's homeworld due to [[Fantastic Racism]], the good captain is justifiably pissed off, and ready to space "lawful" in order to expose and stop their crimes. Saying he goes [[Papa Wolf]] if you threaten his loved ones is like saying the ocean's a mite damp.
* [[The Captain|Captain]] [[The Kirk|Kirk]] of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' tends to play fast and loose with [[The Federation]] and its [[Alien Non-Intervention Clause|Prime Directive]].
** He's also struggled with the chain of command. In Amok Time, he makes the decision to ignore Starfleet orders to save Spock's life. In The Menagerie he sits as one of the prosecuting officers at a trial that will, if the verdict is 'guilty', sentence Spock to death.
* The ''player themselves'' must make this choice in ''[[The Reconstruction]]''. After you see a bunch of criminal shra (an [[Fantastic Racism|oppressed slave class]]) run out of a city, you have the option of pointing the Nalian Officers in the right or wrong direction. Your answer is filtered through a chaotically good character's mouth, though, which leads to a [[Lampshaded]] [[Out-of-Character Moment]] if you choose to be lawful.
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