LogFAQs > #914475431

HanOfTheNekos posted...

Here's where I break from D&D - I think balance is inherently lawful

To be fair D&D often uses desire for balance as a form of lawfulness. Like a favored monk alignment is Lawful Neutral and yeah that's basically the reason for it.

Now that being said I think the difference between balance seeking lawful and just seeking balance goes down to the belief of the character. I never get the feeling that Thanos has some sorta creedo that makes him want to achieve balance for the sake of it being balanced as much as a balance being the means to an end of causing good things. He's not killing off the world to achieve some sort of balance with the elements or the spirits or whatever.

Now that being said while murder is bad the purpose of the murder does matter quite a bit. Having a good intention isn't auto good but murdering things doesn't make you auto bad either. Like as I said earlier, I'm pretty sure everyone would call The Incredible Hulk pretty much the definition of Chaotic Neutral, but like, he kills stuff all the time. That's just what he is, a force of nature that kills things that get in his way. Beasts in general don't have morals to measure and so mostly fall into neutral. Thanos is most similar to a beast in his mindset-- he's not murdering strictly to further himself, it's more like just disposing of obstacles-- right and wrong don't really enter the equation for him so much and his goal is (in theory) a noble one. The fact that he kills Gamora to get the Soul Stone and legit seems to not want to do it and has grief about it, yet does it anyway because the goal is that important, shows that it's more complicated than he just kills things indiscriminately because he has no value for life

Like I said I respect calling him Neutral Evil but I do think just calling him straight True Neutral is about equally as valid.
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