The Nerdist Way_ How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life) - Chris Hardwick [10]
LAWFUL NEUTRAL, “SOLDIER”
Are you dogmatic? Do you enjoy an abdicratic existence where you do everything you’re told in an effort to never question your authority of choice? There’s no real allegiance to a greater good or evil, just tradition and orders. EXAMPLES: James Bond, Odysseus, and Kiefer Sutherland’s mush-mouthed marine in A Few Good Men.
NEUTRAL, “UNDECIDED”
Welcome to On-the-Fence-Berg. If you’re Neutral, there isn’t any other alignment that really suits you. You also might be an animal, as animals do not have the burden of moral and ethical concerns. If you really feel like this one is you in a nutshell, then fine, but I don’t recommend it. It’s too vague, IMHO. EXAMPLES: full-time stoners or a chicken running around your yard.
CHAOTIC NEUTRAL, “FREE SPIRIT”
ANARCHY!!! If all you give a crap about is yourself and your own wants and needs without regard for anyone or anything, this is you. You’re pretty much free to do whatever you want, and you will probably undermine authority just for the sake of undermining authority. EXAMPLES: Captain Jack Sparrow, Al Swearen-gen from Deadwood, and Snake Plissken.
LAWFUL EVIL, “DOMINATOR”
If you ever rub your hands together diabolically while uttering a crescendoing “mwua-ha-HA-HA!!!!” then you are Lawful Evil. Isn’t it nice to FINALLY have a name for it? You do follow a code of conduct, or a leader, and while you wouldn’t go out of your way to crush someone, you would take great pleasure in leveling anyone or anything that gets in your way. EXAMPLES: Boba Fett and Magneto.
NEUTRAL EVIL, “MALEFACTOR”
These guys are not needlessly destructive, but they also don’t follow any higher code. They are guided by their own desires and will only pledge allegiance to those who will help them get what they want, and then turn on them later if it suits them. EXAMPLES: General Zod and Sawyer of the early seasons of Lost. And why not add Megatron just cuz?
CHAOTIC EVIL, “DESTROYER”
Not only are these jerks guided only by their own desires, but those desires are almost always cruel and awful. Demons, monsters, most serial killers (’cept Dexter). They enjoy the torture and suffering of others. Best to stay away from this lot. EXAMPLES: Carl Denham from King Kong, Riddick from Pitch Black, Darth Maul, and Sauron from The Lord of the Rings.
Why the hell would you bother with all of this? Well, because it’s fun. MORE IMPORTANTLY, few people ever stop to reflect on how they approach the world. They just react without really thinking about it (how’s that ghost ship working for ya?). The idea here is for you to use this exercise to start to figure out who you are. Having a stronger yet compact sense of how you are aligned with the world will help inform your goal setting and decision making. RELATED STORY ALERT! I took four years of Latin in high school. “But that’s a DEAD language! Why toil in such linguistic necrophilia??” Besides the fact that English (despite being a Germanic language) has more than half of its roots in Latin, it creates an understanding of language STRUCTURE that you don’t really get with your native language. I had never heard of “pluperfect tense,” “subjunctive mood” and “passive voice.” They were terms I had always employed but never recognized. You just intuitively speak your first language without paying much attention to WHY you make the choices you do because you mainly learn to communicate through social interaction. When people talk at you, they rarely say, “Eat your vegetables! That’s in the imperative voice!” so you never think about it.
By identifying yourself as a character and dissecting your why’s and points of view, you gain a bit more of this same structural clarity. It will give you more control with regard to picking between