​I adapted this blog series from a section of an online workshop I conducted for Writers & Books in March 2020.

Deciding a character’s alignment helps determine how they act during their adventures. I find it helpful to think about how each alignment would behave in the same circumstances because it highlights the differences between each alignment.
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Here’s the scene:
A character is in a market and encounters a thief who has stolen from them in a previous incident. The thief doesn’t see the character yet, so they have time to react. How will they act?

​A neutral good character would offer to buy the thief lunch. The thief is obviously in need, why else would she have stolen? Compassion motivates the neutral good character. He will fix people (or living beings) first, problems second. If his dilemma involves a theft, he sees a thieving soul suffering as the issue, not a missing item. 

​Neutral good characters might not be religious, but they radiate the altruism you see in spiritual leaders and monks. His benevolence extends to all people, and creatures depending on the setting. This is the only positive alignment willing to protect all other alignments because a neutral good character’s charity transcends both the nature of those in need and the law of the land. Their indifference to the law means these characters often sympathize with rebels fighting subjugation. 

​Also unique to the neutral good character is his extension of his alignment. He sees the rest of his world as neutral good as well. His reasoning for the evil deeds and poor behavior of others depends on his background and personal philosophy. He may see the cause of evil as a response to suffering, or think people inherently good, with a few missteps. Humble heroes, generous mentors, and classic princesses fall under this alignment.

​There is a myriad of ways you can develop this character. New on his journey, a neutral good character may be naïve and become world-wise within his story arc. On the other hand, an already world-weary neutral good character may help others, but neglect himself, resulting in issues in his personal relationships, that he must work to amend. Finally, a neutral good hero could expand his heroics, first aiding his friends, then his city, then the entire world. 

Gandalf from The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings trilogy wishes everyone well as he uses his powers to fight evil. He cares about everyone, from the tiniest hobbit to the mightiest of kings. Gandalf’s good deeds are organized and strategic; he has learned how to maximize his heroics.

Sherlock Holmes seems to work to uphold the law, but he endeavors outside of it whenever necessary. Holmes helps those who need it, regardless of their history or social station. Really, he’s not an agent of the law, but an agent of human compassion.
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Geralt from The Witcher is a compelling case because he wishes he were truly neutral, but he’s neutral good. He has an awareness of his alignment and the desire, but inability, to change it. Geralt is lax in personal care and relationship maintenance, which is a reoccurring theme with many neutral good characters. 

​I adapted this blog series from a section of an online workshop I conducted for Writers & Books in March 2020.

Deciding a character’s alignment helps determine how they act during their adventures. I find it helpful to think about how each alignment would behave in the same circumstances because it highlights the differences between each alignment.
​
Here’s the scene:
A character is in a market and encounters a thief who has stolen from them in a previous incident. The thief doesn’t see the character yet, so they have time to react. How will they act?

​A chaotic evil character will viciously pursue the thief with little regard for the safety of the rest of the public in the market–like throwing a grenade at your garden to uproot a weed. There’s also a chance she will ignore the thief, her reaction will depend on how badly she wants the stolen item back and her feelings toward the thief. If she sees the thief as a kindred spirit, she may invite him to join in on her anarchy.

Loss of life and destruction of property mean nothing to the chaotic evil character. This disregard for any form of social contract usually springs from one of two poisoned wells: vendetta or insanity. Often time, the chaotic evil character is both–a psychotic bent on vengeance. 

​Sometimes, a chaotic evil character has an obsession, and their actions all serve to further their infatuation. Having an obsession is not enough though to make her chaotic evil, though; there’s always an element of derangement in these characters. Chaotic evil characters are rarely antagonists unless the story is a character study, and they are never heroes. Chaotic evil character types include terrorists, mad scientists, psychos, and sociopaths.

A chaotic evil character will get more evil or more chaotic. If she tends toward chaos, her behavior will get increasingly erratic as she descends into homicidal mania. While these characters can do an impressive amount of damage in a short amount of time, they either burn out or are apprehended because of their sloppy methods and lack of planning.
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On the other hand, the character might become more evil. Instead of merely being chaotic, she could learn to sew the seeds of mass chaos through scheming and underhanded dealings. While her personality will still be unstable, she’ll be able to see her nefarious plots through to the end. 

Iago from Shakespeare’s Othello is the “sewing the seeds of chaos” character type. He’s a master manipulator who harnesses the power of chaos to reach his goal. Iago doesn’t have the instability often seen with chaotic evil characters, aside from when he alters his personality to suit his needs.

The Joker from the Batman franchise is the standard chaotic evil character who is wildly insane and bent on revenge. In many of his stories, the Joker becomes more villainous, starting out as petty and then moving on to enact more complex crimes.

Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, is one of those rare chaotic evil characters who you might feel some sympathy for. Judge Turpin drove him to madness, and his reason for seeking vengeance is understandable. But, he kills people and eats them, so our understanding can only go so far. 

​This blog series is adapted from a section of an online workshop I conducted for Writers & Books in March 2020.

Deciding a character’s alignment helps determine how they act during their adventures. I find it helpful to think about how each alignment would behave in the same circumstances because it highlights the differences between each alignment.
​
Here’s the scene:
A character is in a market and encounters a thief who has stolen from them in a previous incident. The thief doesn’t see the character yet, so they have time to react. How will they act?

​ A chaotic neutral character is likely to ignore the thief altogether in favor of his own mad schemes. The fact that the thief stole something from him is low on his list of concerns unless the thief stole something precious to him or someone he loves. Then, he’ll pursue the thief in any number of erratic ways. He might chase him, attack him, throw something at him, or even silently stalk the thief home to ambush them. Or, maybe he’ll befriend the thief. It’s all on the table.  

​Chaotic neutral characters are the most unpredictable of all the alignments, and they are singular in their ability to cause mayhem. They are, however, not emotionless slaves to chaos. On the contrary, chaotic neutral characters are driven by strong emotions and the need to act on those feelings

When a chaotic neutral character feels a sudden burst of joy, he acts on it. Maybe he expresses his joy by giving out flowers to passersby or by baking a copious amount of bread. When a chaotic neutral character feels jealousy, he acts on it as well. However, he’s just as likely to harm the subject of his envy as he is to befriend her. He may even ignore her in favor of improving himself until he’s no longer jealous. At times, he may cycle through emotions, and related actions, quickly, handing out flowers one moment and kicking a lady he’s jealous of the next.
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Chaotic neutral characters tend to be pirates, pranksters, and vigilantes. They are often exiled to the fringes of society due to their lack of desire, or ability, to control their emotions and actions, unless they live in a lawless or chaotic civilization. 

A chaotic neutral character’s actions are not necessarily neutral, but his good actions and his evil actions cancel each other out, resulting in a net neutral. He’ll steal from the homeless encampment today and feed the homeless encampment tomorrow.

Extending the length of his moods is one way to develop a chaotic neutral character. He can move from being able to focus on a task for only a few minutes to staying on track for hours, then days. His actions will still be erratic, and he may be prone to outburst, but he’ll be able to set a goal and reach it, even if his goal only makes sense to himself.
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Chaotic neutral characters may be devoted to someone or something. Though the character’s devotion rarely extends to a structured organization, he may have a love interest, or be dedicated to a loose ideology, such as hedonism or anarchy. His life journey may revolve around winning his love or becoming a master anarchist. In the end, however, the sum of his life will be almost as if he never existed, because a chaotic neutral character habitually nullifies any of his own achievements. 

Dr. Frank N. Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show is an example of a chaotic neutral character devoted to hedonism. He has massive mood swings. He’s kind, manipulative, and selfish, almost simultaneously. He does, however, stay focused on a task and achieve a goal, a skill lacking on many chaotic neutral characters when they begin their adventures.  

Gollum from Lord of the Rings has no idea what he’s doing. He has no plan and no goal outside of staying close to the ring until he’s able to get it back. Any good he does is quickly undone by his own evil actions.
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Puck from A Midsummer’s Night Dream is the agent of chaos type of chaotic neutral character. He acts randomly and watches the results of his action as entertainment. He doesn’t mean harm, nor does he mean good. He just asks on his whims whenever they occur to him.

​“If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber’d here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream.” – Puck 

​This blog series is adapted from a section of an online workshop I conducted for Writers & Books in March 2020.

Deciding a character’s alignment helps determine how’d they’d act during their adventures. I find it helpful to think about how each alignment would behave in the same circumstances because it highlights the differences between each alignment.
​
Here’s the scene:
A character is in a market and encounters a thief who has stolen from them in a previous incident. The thief doesn’t see the character yet, so they have time to react. How will they act?

​In our scenario, a chaotic good character may pull a harmless prank or trick to expose them as a thief and/or force them to give them back the stolen money or goods. She’s as likely to give away her returned goods as she is to keep them. She will also let the thief keep the stolen goods if he has a satisfactory explanation for his thievery or a compelling need for the pinched property. 

​This alignment encompasses many people’s favorite heroes because chaotic good characters are fun, light, and unpredictable. These types answer to no one, but they have a moral compass. They are unlikely to be affiliated with any organization, religion, or government, at least for any length of time. Chaotic good characters are undisciplined nice guys, rebels who fight against evil establishments, and anti-heroes.

​Chaotic good characters are not entirely selfless. They often wrestle with what group to support, which accounts for some of their chaos. For example, should they act in favor of their adventuring group, or the whole country? What if the needs of these two groups are at odds? Chaotic good characters are moral as part of their nature, and not from following a dogma, so they are often helpful to whoever is physically close or can come up with the most convincing request for aid. 

A chaotic good character has a lot of room to develop over a story arc. She may start out as a benevolent trickster and evolve into an incorruptible warrior. Her development often comes from wisdom, since she doesn’t follow the rules, she is guided only by her own intellect.

A foolish or inexperienced chaotic good character will make a lot of mistakes. She will struggle with false allies and have a hard time forecasting the ultimate result of her actions, sometimes leading to calamity.  
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As she develops, she’ll become better at reading people, and she’ll figure out who deserves her trust. Additionally, seasoned agents of chaos become adept at predicting the outcomes of situations, because they’ve seen it all throughout their tumultuous life. If she develops keen foresight, a chaotic good character may eventually become a wise sage, who takes seemingly random actions that ultimately lead to miraculous results.

Robin Hood is the classic, chaotic good character. In all his forms throughout literature, he famously flouts the law and ferociously fights a corrupt government. His loose organization, the Merry Men, has no formal structure and a likely filthy living situation out in the woods. They probably all need baths. Poor Maid Marian.

The Wizard Merlin from the myriad of Kind Arthur tales, and specifically from The Once and Future King, is the seasoned sage chaotic good archetype. He shows up at random, his methods are suspect, but his outcomes are (usually) marvelous. He sometimes makes mistakes or gets distracted, but Merlin is altruistic and always gravitates toward righteousness.  

Han Solo from the Star Wars franchise is a rebellious chaotic good character. He is, at first, good only to his companions, but his virtue soon extends to all the rebel forces as he joins their fight against malevolence. Early in his journey, he has some of the issues we see with inexperienced chaotic good characters, including treacherous collaborators and imprudence. 

Other Blogs in This Series:

• Intro to Alignment
• Lawful Good
• Chaotic Neutral 
• Chaotic Evil
• Neutral Good
• Neutral Evil ​
• Lawful Neutral
• Lawful Evil
• True Neutral