Lawful Neutral

Character Alignment
Lawful Good | Neutral Good | Chaotic Good
Lawful Neutral | True Neutral | Chaotic Neutral
Lawful Evil | Neutral Evil | Chaotic Evil

He IS the law!

"God knows, it's easy to be kind; the hard thing is to be just."

— Inspector Javert, Les Misérables

One of the nine alignments from the best-known Character Alignment system. Lawful Neutral characters believe in order — personal, systemic, peace, three of them or either — above all else. They will always seek to obey and preserve order, even to the inconvenience of themselves and others, and even if they themselves admit the law in question is an annoying one. While a Lawful Good character may justify breaking his code of conduct by appealing to the greater good that transcends all things, a Lawful Neutral character will not, since the greater good does not enter into it.

An important thing to note is that Lawful Neutral characters follow their own personal vision of order and law. This order may be defined by the laws of their current location, or it might not: Lawful Neutral characters will not obey every law they ever encounter, only those that are part of or do not conflict with the code they themselves obey. They may perfectly rebel against authority if they disagree with this authority's laws, and still be Lawful.

Lawful Neutral comes in a number of different forms:

• Authority First and Foremost: Someone with this mindset believes that the context matters more than the content; the rules matter because they give order to society more than they matter themselves. They might go so far as to believe (possibly correctly) that their superiors have the right to interpret or define the rules as they see fit. Such characters believe in My Country / My Master, Right or Wrong, though the average example is someone who obeys any figure of authority (say, a policeman) without question, possibly even with admiration. In more extreme cases, this can lead to Just Following Orders, and whether or not they slip into Knight Templar or Lawful Evil territory is a question of whether said authority is evil and is getting them to commit atrocities — however, they still have moral lines they won't cross, and if their ethics are pushed too far, they will disobey, and are not above holding their superiors to account if they are found to be corrupt or incompetent. This is what separates them from Lawful Stupid.
• Equality Under the Law: The Law applies to everybody, friend or foe, superior or subordinate. At worst they run the risk of being bigots towards other cultures and codes of law. Essentially, they do not justify the Law with arguments about there not being anything better, but those that argue that these Laws are the better, and may resist even legal attempts to change them. They are also the most likely to hold their superiors to account for failing to follow the rules, whether for heroic reasons or villainous ones. May or not may be Lawful Stupid.
• Internal Moral Compass: This character follows a personal code, including those that have been organised by another — for example, a warrior code or a religious creed — or one they have constructed for themselves. They will obey this code rigidly and to the letter, and it will usually supersede (but make allowances for) any of the other types, but it (or their devotion to it) is too rigid for them to be considered Chaotic, even if it puts them at odds with the established system of law and order, while they lack the moral or immoral conviction to be considered Good or Evil. At their best, they will obey the spirit as well as the letter of their codes, or at least try to or recognise that they must, but at their worst, they can become a Principles Zealot or a Tautological Templar who puts their own code — and their own interpretation of said code — above all else.
• The Lawmaker: This character arises in a vacuum — they find themselves in a situation where neither Authority nor the Rules apply, such as an After the End scenario where law and order have broken down, and seek to establish order (or follow another who does). Typically, they will appeal to a pre-established system as the basis — murder is wrong because it used to be wrong, or because civilised societies are expected to have outlawed such acts. It can also occur where there is a sense of order, just not one that the character recognises as valid, such as a Wretched Hive where the "order" comes from corruption and Might Makes Right, or more dubiously, a working society they deem to be chaotic or inferior. In these cases, they will probably appeal to their own rules or the rules of their own society or culture. At their best, they will bring a sense of structure and justice to a volatile situation, but at their worst, this type can slide into bigotry and tyranny, worsened by the fact that they are basically making the rules from scratch.

Any of these types can fall into Lawful Stupid if they are not careful, and not thinking critically enough. However, none of them automatically equate to it, and each has as good a chance of being a Reasonable Authority Figure or equivalent as the next.

A Lawful Neutral alignment is easy to play because it involves adherence to defined codes first and foremost — all personal moral issues come second. On the other hand, it can become rather restrictive and predictable. Those adhering to personal codes rather than the law may find it tough to uphold, as the only one to make sure they keep to their code is them. Furthermore, inexperienced roleplayers who play as Lawful Neutral 'cop' types may find themselves slipping into Lawful Stupid territory.

The key here is the desire to preserve or create order, at any personal cost. The character will be unquestioningly devoted to the written code, either because they don't have the intelligence to apply critical thinking to it, or because while they are intelligent and capable of independent thought when needs be, preservation of the society is the ultimate goal, and it is believed that the Law and the society itself are inescapably the same thing. If the Law is compromised, the society will go with it. Altruism and egoism are generally regarded as irrelevant, with each being considered as potentially dangerous as the other.

In theory, many loyal servants of the Empire, and Lawful Evil Big Bads in general, should tend towards this alignment because they believe in authority and law over considerations of good or evil. However, in practice, this is the type of Lawful Neutral character that is by far the most likely to end up doing evil deeds by following orders, slipping into the Lawful Evil alignment.

We must reiterate: Lawful Neutral does not necessarily mean Lawful Stupid. Lawful Neutral will not necessarily obsess over every law, consider all crimes as equal, refuse to compromise his moral code at all costs, and nastier extremism. Yes, there are Principles Zealot Knight Templar Lawful Neutrals, but it doesn't mean Lawful Neutral IS this.

See Also: Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Chaotic Good, True Neutral, Chaotic Neutral, Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil, Chaotic Evil

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If you have difficulty deciding which alignment your neutral-aligned character belongs to, the main difference between Lawful Neutral, True Neutral, and Chaotic Neutral is not their lack of devotion to either good or evil, but the methods they believe are best to show it:

• Lawful Neutral characters believe the best way is to have a specific, strict code of conduct, whether self-imposed or codified as a law. Their first impulse when making a moral decision is to refer back to this code; those with externally imposed systems (codes of laws, hierarchies, etc.) will try to work within the system when those systems go wrong. They will refuse to break this code even if good could be done by breaking it.
• True Neutral (Unaligned) characters are indifferent to Order Versus Chaos, and their only interest is in living their own lives. They simply live their lives, whether that means tearing down a code of laws, following a code of laws, creating an orderly society, causing the breakdown of some kinds of order, or staying away from society altogether. They have no particular objective.
  • Some True Neutral characters are instead considering both sides (plus Black-and-White Morality) as extremes and thrive for a balance between each of those sides.
• Most Chaotic Neutral characters don't constantly break the law, but they cannot see much value in laws. They believe that their own consciences are their best guides, and that tying themselves to any given code of conduct would be limiting their own ability to do what they want. They do not get along with anyone who tries to instill any kind of order over them, believing these people to be restricting their freedom. Chaotic Neutral characters often focus very strongly on their individual rights and freedoms, and will strongly resist any form of oppression of themselves.

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Lawful Neutral characters include:

• Anthropomorphic Personifications of Order.
• Most standard Anti Heroes.
• Battle Butlers working for Royalty.
• Bouncers.
• Bounty Hunters who abide by a code of honor (when not Lawful Evil).
• A Broken-System Dogmatist (when not Lawful Evil).
• By-the-Book Cop (when not Lawful Good)
• Church Militant (when not Lawful Good or Lawful Evil)
• Control Freaks who are less obsessive of their methods and/or aren't Lawful Evil.
• Corporate Samurai
• A more professional and high standard Deadly Doctor.
• Extreme Doormat (when not True Neutral)
• More sympathetic examples of The Fundamentalist (the rest are Lawful Evil)
• The Grammar Nazi, unless they're trying to be hurtful or genuinely helpful.
• Hanging Judge (when not Lawful Evil)
• More honorable Hired Guns (if not Lawful Evil).
• Non-villainous examples of characters who believe Hobbes Was Right.
• In a heroic Four-Temperament Ensemble, the Melancholic usually.
• Honest Corporate Executive (if not Lawful Good)
• Some characters with Honor Before Reason (if not Lawful Evil).
• Crueller variant of Good is Not Nice.
• Inspector Javert
• The more by-the-book Samurai
• Judge, Jury, and Executioner (when not Lawful Evil)
• Darker examples of the Knight in Shining Armor
• Less fanatical examples of the Knight Templar
• The Obstructive Bureaucrat
• Many strawmen and Straw Characters.
• The Superego of a neutral-aligned Freudian Trio.
• The blue oni of a neutral-aligned Red Oni, Blue Oni duo.
• Most Hero Antagonists that aren't really heroic
• Morally neutral examples of The Fettered
• Mayor Pain (Specifically, those whose problem is incompetence over wickedness. The mayor is openly incompetent and his/her actions are clearly due to a lack of judgment. On a darker note, this incompetence could cause (or have already caused) various disasters.)
• MegaCorp (if not Lawful Evil or Lawful Good)
• The Men in Black
• Those who believe in My Country, Right or Wrong or My Master, Right or Wrong
• Moral Sociopathy, for the same reasons as the Übermensch. Their Lack of Empathy prevents them from being truly good.
• Noble Demon when they aren't that bad.
• Nearly all bureaucrats, whether Obstructive or Beleaguered
  • And, by extension, most depictions of a modern state. Individual politicians can have any alignment, but a non-evil Government, in any modern setting, tends to be Lawful Neutral as a whole.
• Many characters Loyal to the Position (when they're not The Quisling) are this.
• Principles Zealot (when not Lawful Evil)
• Punch-Clock Hero, when not True Neutral or Lawful Good.
• Positive portrayals of Punch-Clock Villain when not True Neutral
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules! (if not Lawful Good)
• Stern Old Judge
• Street Samurai (some varieties)
• SWAT Team
• The true Nietzschean Übermensch, having a strict, self-imposed code, is closest to this (although Lawful Blue is a touch more accurate).
• Almost every portrayal of The Grim Reaper, if not True Neutral.
• A character forced to choose To Be Lawful or Good ends up here if they lean too far into the Lawful side of things.
• Some could also be counted as the Wild Card, though to a much lesser extent whenever they receive and follow orders from malevolent, neutral, to benevolent individuals in terms of the higher-ups. Secondarily but also in a similar vein, the Lawful Neutral being can enforce laws/rules, and commit actions that are deemed, evil, good, to even neutral, but except they tend to regulate themselves while doing so, at least for the best of their own society.
• Monks/martial artists that don't lean toward being good or evil, if their devotion to their art is considered Lawful. Most commonly this would be a monk who merely trains to become more skilled in his/her martial art or as some form of meditation.

Others, such as characters who are Obsessively Organized and Creature of Habit, can vary between Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral, and Lawful Evil.

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Examples

When dealing with the examples of specific characters, remember that assigning an alignment to a character who doesn't come with one is pretty subjective. If you've got a problem with a character being listed here, it probably belongs on the discussion page. There will be no Real Life examples under any circumstances; it just invites an Edit War. Plus, real people are far too complex and multi-dimensional to really be classified by such a straightforward alignment system.

On works pages: Character Alignment is only to be used in works where it is canonical, and only for characters who have alignments in-story. There is to be no arguing over canonical alignments, and no Real Life examples, ever. noreallife

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Anime and Manga

• Bleach:
  • Byakuya Kuchiki is willing to let his sister be executed because it was a lawful decision by Soul Society's ruling body and he personally believed that if nobles like him don't uphold the law, no one will. Though he shifts a little towards Lawful Good later on.
  • Genryusai Yamamoto almost personifies this alignment: "No personal justice takes precedence over the world's justice".
  • Sui-Feng has some tendencies toward this alignment, but has an almost Lawful Evil stance when dealing with lawbreakers, and despite knowing what Yoruichi did, is primarily upset over her not taking her with her when she left Soul Society.
  • Sajin Komamura is primarily motivated by sheer loyalty to Yamamoto, and is willing to do anything he asks, even lay down his life for him.
• Death Note:
  • L. His pursuit of Kira is more about "winning" than stopping him because it's the right thing to do. At the same time, he also goes to extreme lengths to secure solid evidence that Light is Kira, despite everything that his intuition is (correctly) telling him; he doesn't go outside the law and stays firmly on the line.
  • Near. Despite the fact that his situation is made personal by the death of his mentor, he appears to be a lot more neutrally inclined than L. He does tell a few lies and manipulates circumstances to get his own way, though seems a lot more neutral and collected in his approach to situations. He also seems to be very mature in terms of ideals with a pragmatic, existentialist point of view on justice.
  • NPA Director Kitamura has the police stop investigating the Yotsuba Kira on orders from the government after the Yotsuba Kira starts influencing politicians. He disagrees with the order, but follows it, noting that "if the government is destroyed, so is the country", being less concerned about letting a mass murderer go free.
  • Light Yagami himself might be this at best before he receives his Death Note, given that he hates all criminals in the world who may or may not be villains in nature.
  • Uniquely among the Shinigami, Rem probably falls under this alignment. She doesn't care about good or evil as such, and her only loyalty is to Misa, who is one of the villains. She also expresses personal disgust for most of the humans fighting over the Death Note and despises their petty and callous murders for the sake of power.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: Gendo Ikari. This is particularly up for debate, because he's really morally ambiguous, and half the fanbase sees him as a general asshole, while the other half sees him as a Well-Intentioned Extremist, especially when contrasted with SEELE.
• Natarle Badgiruel of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, probably the most by-the-book person in the series.
  • Johan Trinity of Mobile Suit Gundam 00, as his concern seems to be more about "bringing about the change to the world" and he cares little about everything else. He has to keep check on his Chaotic Neutral siblings, Michael and Nena.
  • Tieria Erde, also from 00, is this at first. He obeys everything Veda tells him and is willing to kill his fellow Meisters if they break the rules or become a liability to the group. But after Veda ditches him, and his interactions with True Neutral Lockon, he became Neutral Good in season 2.
  • Flit Asuno, in his 2nd-Generation portrait, working to save the Earthlings by planning the genocide of all the people of Vagan. Might end up as Lawful Evil instead.
• In Lyrical Nanoha, it seems that the higher you climb the Space/Time Administration Bureau's ladder, the more you shift from Lawful Good to Lawful Neutral. For example, the Bureau founders have become so obsessed with keeping the peace that the Combat Mages under them are little more than convenient tools to be used and discarded as necessary for this goal.
  • General Regius goes from being Lawful Good and wanting to change the system to being Lawful Neutral and helping back several of the more ethically dubious actions of the TSAB, like the Combat Cyborg program. He despises Section 6 for being run by the "criminal" Hayate Yagami, in addition to his preference for the ground forces, and tries to get it shut down.
  • The Wolkenritter start out as this, presumably obeying their masters' orders in order to increase their power. In contrast to Lawful Good Signum and Neutral Good Shamal and Vita, Zafira retains this alignment after coming into Hayate's service, stating that as a guardian beast, he does what is best for his master regardless of whether it is right or wrong.
• Nina Wang of My-Otome, as a perfect foil for Neutral Good Arika. Disciplined, never questions orders — even though she might not like them — and respectful of Garderobe's rules. While she's definitely not a bad person, she is utterly unable to take a decision that is unbiased by her love for her adoptive father Sergei, and because of this she is easily manipulated by Big Bad Nagi into doing his bidding when he mortally injures Sergei.
  • Maria Graceburt has some Lawful Neutral tendencies, as she believes that Otome must obey their masters even if doing so results in them fighting against their friends, but later on, questions some of those beliefs as a result of what Arika said on that matter.
• One Piece:
  • Bartholomew Kuma He is the most obedient member of the Shichibukai (Considering the rest of group members, that's admittedly not saying much) to The World Government, and is usually bad news for the Straw Hat Pirates, but isn't a Knight Templar and is observant about the way the world is starting to play out. When ordered to obliterate the Straw Hats, he opted to spare them, with the exception of one, and later, when they were about to be defeated by Kizaru and Sentoumaru, he teleported them to different locations, not only saving their lives, but apparently giving Luffy an opportunity to save his brother Ace, and stop the impending war between the World Government and the Whitebeard Pirates.
  • Admiral Kizaru is a pretty nice guy as long as you're not a criminal — but if you've broken a law (any law, from murdering hundreds to spitting on a nobleman), he will kill you.
  • Fleet Admiral Sengoku probably falls here. He's willing to enforce the law even if it means killing children, but unlike most followers of Absolute Justice, he believes equally in the duty to protect the innocent and obey the law, and resigns rather than support a World Government coverup.
• Rossiu from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, who believes in the preservation of order and the human race above all else. This causes him to sentence Simon to death to stop a riot. His beliefs also cause him to be forced to save himself and the thousands he evacuated on time, but leave everyone else to die.
• Ogami Itto from Lone Wolf and Cub. Not a nice guy (he was perfectly willing to kill his 1-year-old son if the baby hadn't "chosen" to come along on his mission of revenge), but not really evil either, just devoted to an ultra-inflexible code of honor.
• Saitou Hajime in Rurouni Kenshin. Once a Bakufu loyalist in The Shinsengumi, after the Meiji victory in the Meiji Revolution, he goes to work for the Meiji government as an agent and policeman so long as he can dispense his strict code of justice: Slay Evil Immediately. His alignment is best illustrated by one portion of the manga where Senkaku, an Elite Mook, is unconscious and a kid whose entire family was killed by Senkaku is going to kill him. Saitou coldly informs the kid that revenge killings are illegal, so if the kid does it, Saitou will arrest him too. Saitou then "reassures" the kid by telling him that Senkaku will probably be executed and tortured for information first, which would be much worse for him than dying painlessly. Major case of Good is Not Nice, and that's without mentioning his Jerkass tendencies towards supporting characters.
• Casca from Berserk. She might seem Lawful Good because she cares about The Band of Hawk, but she will follow Lawful Evil Griffith's orders without question and even kill her own comrades if they disobey them. Even after she falls in love with Guts, she still chooses to be loyal to Griffith. That is until the Eclipse; she has likely become Unaligned or True Neutral due to her impaired mental state.
• Detective Lunge of Monster has almost no concern either way for the well being of others, willingly and remorselessly driving away even his own family if it brings him a step closer to catching a criminal.
• Naruto:
  • Kakashi in the Kakashi Gaiden side-story believes that orders and rules are absolute, partly as a result of his father suffering greatly for abandoning a mission to save his friends, but develops toward being Neutral Good.
  • Homura and Koharu appear to follow this alignment, wanting to confine Naruto to the village to keep the nine-tailed fox out of the Akatsuki's hands, despite Tsunade's argument it would not necessarily deter the Akatsuki from invading, as they seem to want what's best for the village as a whole, but don't necessarily care for the welfare of individuals going so far as to orchestrate the massacre of the Uchiha clan.
• Most Siberian Railroad agents in Overman King Gainer — and, in fact, most opponents the Chaotic Good Yapan Exodus face — are this alignment, being Punch Clock Villains who are in it for the pay. The few exceptions are Neutral Evil Asuham Boone, who will go to extremes to pursue his Disproportionate Retribution against Gain; Lawful Evil Smug Snake Kashmir Valle; and Chaotic Neutral Enfant Terrible Cynthia Lane.
• Death the Kid from Soul Eater. His belief that good and evil should be kept in balance, keeping with his desire for symmetry, seems more of a True Neutral idea, but the fact that he wants good and evil to be so strictly kept in equal moderation leans him toward the lawful alignment. That's not to mention all other aspects of his obsession with symmetry, which, much like any lawful-abiding character, often seeks to order and organize things to the annoyance or detriment of others. However, he does occasionally have Lawful Good tendencies, especially where his friends or innocent lives are concerned, but, more often, his obnoxious, usually debilitating need for symmetry swings him toward the Lawful Stupid side of things.
• King Yama appears to be like this in YuYu Hakusho, given his desire for order above all else, but in the manga, it's revealed that he had demons captured and brainwashed to attack humans to justify keeping up the barrier and make the Spirit World seem good, making him Lawful Evil. Ohtake of the Special Defense Forces has a similar alignment, but shifts to Neutral Evil near the end of the manga, when he becomes part of a group of terrorists that takes over the Gates of Judgment and threatens to destroy part of the human world unless the demons are returned to the demon plane.
• Code Geass:
  • Suzaku Kururugi only cares about order, and thinks that's the only way to peace.
  • Cornelia's knight Guilford is a good example of Lawful Neutral, since he's following his loyalty to her.
  • Jeremiah Gottwald also qualifies, only caring about loyally following his master, following his Heel–Face Turn to Lelouch's side once he learns he's Zero.
• The Truth from Fullmetal Alchemist, which trades with alchemists for the right to gaze into the vast collection of all knowledge it serves as the guardian for. But the trade is usually in body parts, or even souls, and Truth rarely tells alchemists before pushing them in, and clearly takes immense sadistic delight in the whole process, so it may be considered to be evil. However, because its actions are meant to punish the arrogance of humans who would tread in God's domain, and teach people that alchemy isn't everything, it is this.
• The angel in A Certain Magical Index. It's pretty clearly not pleased with the situation going on and would really prefer not to destroy the world to get home. It does try for the quicker, less violent method first, but it isn't an option as it would involve Touma's father. But hey, if that's what's necessary.
• Hellsing: Father Alexander Anderson considers himself an instrument of God and violently slaughters enemies of the church. However, he sternly believes that violence is only to be used against monsters and heretics.
• Major Matoko Kusanagi and Section 9 in general from the Ghost in the Shell franchise. Their job as police officers is to uphold the law for the betterment of society. This means busting criminals by normal means, but also going to lengths such as torturing criminals, hacking the information right out of their brain, using viruses or political influence to prevent the media from obtaining information on an event happening, causing "accidents" to corrupt politicians, district attorneys, and corporate executives, or even uprooting the government's own ruling administration. Nobody is exempt, but they fight to maintain peace for the betterment of Japan. They aren't breaking the law themselves though, due to loopholes that allow them to exist outside of public knowledge.
• The Magic Council from Fairy Tail can be somewhat jarring when compared to the titular guild, who regularly employ Defeat Means Friendship. For those who don't hate him, seeing Jellal arrested was justified but not pleasant. And of course, they're willing to fire Frickin' Laser Beams at their own people or at mages of Fairy Tail if it means killing a greater evil.
• Austria and Germany from Hetalia: Axis Powers. Both object strongly to their bosses's orders at some point, but no matter what they think of them, they follow said instructions in the end. They also offer nice contrasts to the characters around them: Neutral Good North Italy, Chaotic Good Hungary, and Chaotic Neutral Prussia.
  • Norway has one foot in Lawful Good and one in here. He's normally levelheaded, almost always follows rules strictly, and except for Iceland (and Denmark, when Den pisses him off), he doesn't seem to show much open emotion about anything.
• Yami Yugi from the early chapters of Yu-Gi-Oh! plays Penalty Games with anyone who harms Yugi, with the loser suffering Disproportionate Retribution. He mellows out later on.
• In Haruhi Suzumiya, the Student Council President is meant to invoke this. The nameless President uses whatever power he has to eliminate the SOS-Brigade (an unauthorized club riding the coattails of the existing Literature Club), because of its unsanctioned presence within the school, but allows the members to work with whatever bare minimum requirements exist to keep it afloat. Of course, as it turns out, the councilman is more True Neutral than anything else, and the entire bit is just a plot cooked up by Koizumi to appease Haruhi with a temporary antagonist, whom she certainly believes is a Lawful Evil Inspector Javert.
• Kill la Kill:
  • Ira Gamagoori believes in Equality Under the Law, as evidenced by his willingness to serve Satsuki but also aid Ryuko when she needs it. He constantly says that he only does the latter because it is required of him by the rules of his post as the head of the Student Disciplinary Committee, but never displays much outward animosity when doing so.
  • Satsuki Kiryuin...okay, this one gets complicated. She normally acts as a Lawful Evil villain, running Honnouji Academy under a tyrannical regime and ruthlessly executing those who can't keep up. However, it turns out that she's got very good reasons for her actions; namely, to rebel against her wicked family and save the world from being eaten by their Life Fiber-infused clothing. This doesn't make her any less ruthless or manipulative, though; she has good goals but is not really a good person. Character Development pushes her more toward Lawful Good in the end.
• Henry Henderson, the uptight House master of Eden Academy from SPY×FAMILY. In his early appearances, he had low expectations and prospects for the families of new students. With a somewhat quirky nature, Henry upheld traditional values, believing elegance was a prime example of them. When the Forger Family proved to impress him, he was astounded, going so far as to punch his snobbish cohort, for his insufferable bullying of Anya. He still allowed the Forger child to attend school, despite the failed interview.

Comic Books

• Aquaman:
  • Orm likely sees himself as Lawful Good, with his personal sense of honour and duty towards Atlantis, but he is capable of doing some pretty morally dubious stuff if he deems it justified. He’s recently begun to drift more towards True Neutral as he has grown increasingly bitter and resentful towards Atlantis and the Aquaman Family due to what he sees as betrayal, becoming actively malicious and acting in unscrupulous ways.
  • Vulko is a pretty straight example. According to Atlantean law, Arthur is the rightful king and he believes he has a duty to Arthur and his mother to do anything to make that happen, whether Arthur wants him to or not.
• Disney Ducks Comic Universe: The parody of Les Misérables has, of course, Javert, who they manage to bring Up to Eleven: when he finally catches Scrooge Valjean, he simply tells him he spent the last five years chasing him because Valjean had been pardoned and he, as the officer on the case, was to tell him, congratulates for the newfound freedom, and calmly walks away, without showing any feeling but satisfaction in having finally completed his job after over a decade.
• Doctor Fate: The Lords of Order are this, as energy beings who personify the concept of order and are obsessed with maintaining and spreading it throughout the universe. While usually reputable, their obsession with order at all costs can at times cause them to take actions that are on the other side of the good/evil morality spectrum, such as when Nabu, the Lord of Order who empowers Doctor Fate, rallied the other Lords to destroy all magic in the multiverse due to its chaotic nature (which, it's worth noting, is very similar to an event before this in which Aztar, the angel the Spectre, did the same thing for the same reasons).
• Fantastic Four: Ronan the Accuser eventually develops into this alignment during the cosmic storyline Annihilation, where he punishes the corrupt House Fiyero not for revenge but because they committed crimes against the Kree empire.

• Iron Man: Iron Man may come as close as allowed for a non-deconstructionist superhero. When a leader, he's hardass and impersonal. He's been known to outright dismiss magic, or have a distaste for it when it shows up. And his superheroic antics often feel like they're more upholding a status quo than improving lives. Hell, after Civil War, some might peg him as downright Lawful Stupid, but we can meet him halfway on this — it certainly showed that for him, goodness came second to law and order. However, most adaptations, following on from the characterisation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe version place him squarely in Chaotic Good territory.
• Judge Dredd:
  • As the titular character will regularly remind people, he is the law. Dredd's initial portrayal floated somewhere between Authority First and Foremost and Equality Under the Law, before settling firmly into the latter. One story has him temporarily stripped of his authority as a Judge, and he's shown strolling past all manner of horrible crimes without interfering in any of them, since vigilante justice is illegal. At another point, a quasi-revolution happens and the people want to elect a REAL leader, rather than just a "liaison between the people and the Judges": despite the vote eventually deciding to keep the Hall of Justice in power, Dredd and company openly state that, if they had been voted out of power, they would have stepped down despite having more than enough firepower and knowhow to keep control through force.
  • The America/Democracy storylines did wonders for Dredd's self-awareness, and capacity for introspection. While the modern Dredd is still a very heavy supporter of the rules — after all, he is the law — he demonstrates that he has developed his own conscience, as well. Dredd is stated to be the sort of person who would arrest you for stealing from a convenience store, even if you were desperately broke. But after Dredd arrested you for that, he'd put your kids into a foster program so they don't end up destitute.
• Lucifer:
  • Angels are supposed to be Lawful Good, but the majority of the angels go along with whatever God orders, regardless of personal feelings on the matter. Some of them don't even put any thought to it; as far as they're concerned, God said it, therefore they have to do it. Michael and Duma are the only ones that live up to their Lawful Good reputation.
  • Yahweh tends towards this, with the difference being that he is making the rules. He's depicted mostly as a control freak with a divine plan that he ensures plays out exactly as he wants it. And when his rules don't line up with this plan, Yahweh changes the rules.
• Lupo Alberto: Moses, the watchdog of McKenzie Farm. He is determined to keep the protagonist out of the farm and to make his inhabitants work with order and discipline. He may also appear as Lawful Evil when he enjoys giving Alberto a brutal beating. It should be noted he is much more affable when off-duty, and that Alberto is a wolf that candidly admits to eat chicken, even when his girlfriend is a hen herself (and has once tried to eat her best friend).
• Nick Fury: Nick Fury heads up the supreme law enforcement agency in the Marvel Universe, S.H.I.E.L.D. While usually an honest man, and a more sympathetic ear than anyone else on Uncle Sam's payroll, his acting in his agency's best interest makes him as much a sparring partner of regular heroes as the Hulk is. Of course, this is compared with Marvel's very iconoclastic collection of heroes — by government standards, he's a bit of a Cowboy Cop who occasionally goes renegade. (To be honest, you'll find just about anyone with a lawful alignment goes renegade sooner or later.)
• The Outsiders: Katana probably falls here. She probably would be Lawful Good, except she seems a bit too harsh in general, such as basically viewing all criminals as deserving of death even if their crimes are fairly minor or they have some extenuating circumstances or the like.
• The Punisher: The Punisher. His vision of an orderly society involves shooting every single mobster, terrorist, serial killer, and miscellaneous scumbag he can find. Good characters who interfere with his plans are treated better than his usual targets, but are still subject to nasty injuries if he deems it necessary. However, he'll never intentionally kill them or any civilians.
• The Spectre: The Spectre, especially in recent years, has tended toward this alignment. Note that his civilian identities have all, aside from Hal Jordan, been policemen (Well, Hal is a cop, he's a Space Cop). His concern is with punishing evil and keeping the world of magic honest. For the Spirit of Vengeance to actually go out of his way to help people, he often has to be persuaded by his human side and/or other heroes.
• Suicide Squad: Amanda Waller is ruthless and amoral, and will do anything to achieve her country's goals.
• Ultimate Fantastic Four: Ultimate Ronan the Accuser. He's dedicated at performing his duty of punishing the enemies of The Empire, and is loyal to his Lawful Evil father, Ultimate Thanos, but has a conscience and feels guilt when he has to kill innocents.
• V for Vendetta: Eric Finch. While he openly disapproves of the ruling Norsefire party, he serves them because he thinks they are the only alternative to anarchy and chaos.
• Watchmen:
  • Rorschach believes life has no intrinsic morality to it and crafted a moral code for himself that he sticks to unfailingly and judges everyone else by — the core of it being that if you do anything he judges "evil", you are fair game to have anything happen to you (and in a classic case of Moral Myopia, the actions Rorschach and other vigilantes undertake in the pursuit of criminals never bother him). In the end this causes him to reject the Big Bad's plan to save the world because he'll rather see the world burn than betray his principles and let evil go unpunished.
  • Ozymandias is a complicated case, but probably fits best here. While his actions- depopulating New York, giving a dozen innocent people cancer to discredit Dr. Manhattan, cold-bloodedly murdering his absolutely loyal refugee servants to prevent them being a loose end, and pulling a You Have Outlived Your Usefulness on his loving pet Bubastis in an attempt to kill Dr. Manhattan, which turns out not to work-certainly seem like the actions of an evil character, he was only trying to avert a nuclear war that could potentially wipe out all life on Earth.
• X-Men: When not portrayed as Chaotic Neutral, Emma Frost is usually portrayed this way. In some adaptations she's a straight up villain rather than an Anti-Hero, in which case she'd probably be Lawful Evil.

Fanfic

• Hobbes in Calvin & Hobbes: The Series merely goes along with Calvin, though he's very willing to bail at the slightest sign of danger.
  • Sherman also doesn't really care much for good or evil, like his True Neutral owner Andy. Unlike him, though, he has some set of rules that he doesn't really like getting crossed.
• The Fairy Godfather is explicitly described this way in the Contractually Obligated Chaos series.
• Xander Harris in Colors and Capes has his own code he adheres to regardless of who he has to go against. He thwarts muggers and the occasional supernatural threat such as Solomon Grundy but he also gives a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Jackal for giving on to the Riddler, knocks out Huntress for violating the Truce Zone rules of the Bad Guy Bar he works at, and gives Killer Croc half of the money earned from the Kryptonite the villain sold him in a bag of salvage.

Films — Animation

• Elsa from Frozen. She starts out more Neutral Good, but after a tragic accident goes into self-imposed exile and stops caring about the rest of the world, even after Anna comes to find her and tells her she accidentally plunged the world into Endless Winter. By the end of the movie she learns to love again and goes back to being more like her original alignment.
• The Wolf from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is merciless towards Puss and takes pleasure in his fear, but he's only like this because Puss hammered on his Berserk Button. Most of the time, he just carries out his job without any malice, no matter how good or bad his target is. His job, by the way, is being The Grim Reaper, and Puss pushed that aforementioned Berserk Button by failing to treat his lives with the respect they deserved. Death is willing to let Puss go after he learns his lesson, though he does get in a frustrated rant first.
• Toy Story has a bunch of examples of Lawful Neutral with the most prominent being:
  • Buzz Lightyear, who probably seems Lawful Good at first. but is in fact Lawful Neutral due to his only priority in the first movie being getting back to Star Command. Also, he sticks to the laws of his home planet until Woody knocks him out the window; then, he proceeds to get back at him.
  • The Aliens from the Claw Machine, who are friendly but are dedicated to serving the Claw.

Films — Live-Action

• Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels: Big Chris just does the job he is paid to do by Hatchet Harry, which happens to involve violent retrieval of money. He is fair to the protagonists, and even informs them of the true value of their guns. He is also not a sadist, and only loses his cool when the Chaotic Evil London Gangster Dog pushes his Berserk Button by threatening Little Chris.
• Dragonslayer: Tyrian is the poster boy for Equality Under the Law. He even says that he stands for the Law. He wishes to protect the kingdom above all else, and has genuine concern for the populace. Tyrian upholds the Lottery because it has kept the land safe, and even when the King begs Galen to stop the Lottery because this time the sacrifice is his daughter, Tyrian outright disobeys his King to stop Galen, because the Law must be upheld to prevent the dragon from going on another rampage. Had he not been a complete Jerkass, he'd have evoked far more sympathy from the audience.
• In Taken, when former CIA agent Bryan Mills attempts to enlist the help of French agent-turned-bureaucrat Jean-Claude Pitrel in the kidnapping of the former's daughter, Jean-Claude turns out to be less-than-enthusiastic to help when his bosses in the French government decide Bryan's making too much of a mess in Paris. When Bryan later confronts Jean-Claude with the latter's possible involvement in the kidnapping, Jean-Claude coldly replies, "My salary is 'x'; my expenses are 'y'. So long as my family is provided for, I do not care where the difference comes from. That is my entire involvement."
• Star Wars:
  • This actually seems to be the default Jedi alignment, more so than Lawful Good or Neutral Good.
  • The Star Wars Expanded Universe generally describes Stormtroopers, TIE pilots, and so forth as just doing their jobs.
    • The Clone Troopers practically embody this trope. They go from fighting alongside the Jedi to murdering them the moment Palpatine utters the words, "Execute Order 66." Word of God says Order 66 wasn't subconsciously programmed into them, so they're not Brainwashed and Crazy, either. However, the Order 66 arc of Star Wars: The Clone Wars contradicts this by revealing the clones did have chips in their brains so that they could carry out the order. It's also helpful to remember that the Jedi did try to kill Palpatine; if you didn't know the context (and maybe even if you did), it would be easy to interpret them as the bad guys.
  • Boba Fett in the Expanded Universe. He has a personal code of honor and justice and he only accepts jobs that follow it. The reason he sides with the Empire so often is because he views them as enforcers of peace and order, with the Rebel Alliance trying to disrupt that order.
  • Lando Calrissian tries to be this in The Empire Strikes Back, but Darth Vader pushes him too far in the direction of Lawful Evil, so he feels compelled to switch to Chaotic Good.
  • Captain Needa would count too, as like the Stormtroopers he was just doing his job and was perfectly willing to face execution when he failed rather than pin the blame on someone else.
• Deputy Marshal Sam Gerard of The Fugitive is an example of the Lawful Neutral police officer. He's simply trying to catch the escaped prisoner, as demonstrated by this quote:
  Kimble: I didn't kill my wife!
  Gerard: I don't care!^note He does eventually care, but only when it becomes obvious that Kimble was convicted by a gross miscarriage of justice (the Chicago police focusing on Kimble to the exclusion of any other suspects, because it was easier than actually running an investigation)
• One of the soon to be female bank robbers ('Frankie') from Set It Off sees Detective Waller as this. Mostly because Waller is a fellow black woman who seems very unsympathetic to her plight of being fired from her job as a bank teller because she got scared and didn't follow proper procedure during a bank robbery. Frankie felt she was being scapegoated because she had a passing association with the robber. Upon her firing, and being grilled by Detective Strode on how to follow procedure, she looks at Waller and sarcastically says Thanks for your help sista.
• Pirates of the Caribbean:
  • Captain Teague, who simply wants to uphold the Pirate Code.
  • Norrington as well. The only time he allows a little Chaotic decision (giving Sparrow a day's head start), he pays for it. Big time.
• In Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Ghost Dog is utterly devoted to his samurai code. He can go seamlessly from mob hitman to nice neighborhood guy, balancing out to neutral territory.
• Wikus from District 9. He's still quoting MNU regulations until the midpoint of the film, and he's pretty much looking out for himself until literally the last five minutes of the movie, when he veers towards Chaotic Good.
• Scott, "worker-bee" to the United State's government in Spartan.
• Predators, who live by a strict honor code.
• Gerd Wiesler from The Lives of Others starts out as this, teaching his students matter of factly about interrogation techniques in East Germany and disregarding one student's protest that sleep deprivation is "inhuman" (even marking him in a way that implies his career will not be moving forward). Ironically, it is his Lawful Neutral nature that eventually pushes him into becoming Lawful Good, as it becomes obvious that his superior, Lt. Colonel Grubitz, is not as interested in following the law as pleasing his own superiors — hence the (at first) unjustified investigation into playwright Dreymann's life, in order to free up his girlfriend for the lecherous Minister Hempf. By the time Dreymann really is up to something (albeit something rather harmless), Wiesler is so disgusted by his superiors and so sympathetic to the playwright that he deliberately disobeys orders and protects Dreymann, at the cost of his own career.
• Mr. Strickland in the first two Back to the Future movies is as tough towards Marty McFly and his father George as he is towards Biff Tannen.
  Strickland!1985A: EAT LEAD, SLACKERS!
• Peter Pan in Hook. Yes, you read that right. The premise of the movie is that he left Neverland, got married, had children, forgot who he used to be, and became a boring lawyer. When he's forced to return to Neverland, his completely opposite attitude from everyone there and the whole place itself makes his stay extremely awkward, until, of course, he regains his memories and former personality, depicted as very much Chaotic Good.
• Jake Freivald in REPO MEN (2010) when he says that the enforcement of rules are all that matters and his acceptance of the general corporate status quo.
• Jim Malone in The Untouchables (1987). "Because I swore to uphold the law. . .".
• Sir Thomas More as portrayed in A Man for All Seasons. He believes that the law must be followed even if evil people can take advantage of it, and that if you break the law to fight evil, then the law can also be broken to fight good... In his words, "Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!"
• James Bond is usually this. He has no qualms about abruptly killing somebody if he feels the person in question is jeopardizing the British justice system. While he rarely acts out of pure malice, he also rarely acts out of true moral benevolence, usually preferring to simply keep order and do as the mission tells him to. Sometimes Daniel Craig's rendition falls more under Chaotic Neutral, such as in the opening scene of Casino Royale (2006).
• In Drive Angry, both the Accountant and Satan are portrayed as such. The Accountant is a classic Inspector Javert who doesn't give a damn what Unfinished Business Milton has; all that matters is that he drags him back to Hell to face his penance for the sins he committed in life. Meanwhile, Satan is described as a bookish man who simply does his job of being the warden of the universe's biggest prison. That said, there are limits to how much shit they will tolerate; sacrificing children in Satan's name is a good way to piss him off, and the Accountant won't lift a finger to save you from your righteous punishment.
• The Maltese Falcon: Sam Spade's only redeeming quality is his strict adherence to his personal code. He's a cold-hearted, abrasive, homophobic thug who reacts with indifference to the deaths of innocent people, but just barely avoids being malicious enough to qualify for Lawful Evil.

Literature

• Les Misérables has the original Inspector Javert.
  Inspector Javert's mental attitude was compounded of two very simple principles, admirable in themselves but which, by carrying them to extremes, he made almost evil — respect for authority and hatred of all forms of revolt against it. Theft, murder, and every other crime were to him all forms of revolt. Everybody who played any part in the running of the State, from First Minister to the garde champerte was invested in his eyes with a kind of mystical sanctity, and he felt nothing but contempt, aversion and disgust for those who, only if only once, transgressed beyond the bounds of law. His judgements were absolute, admitting no exceptions. [...] He would have arrested his own father escaping from prison and denounced his mother for breaking parole, and he would have done it with a glow of conscious rectitude.
  • Interestingly, he is no less harsh on himself as he is on others. Once he realises that Jean Valjean is a good man, he realises that his pursuit of him has been unjust. Since that makes him an unjust man and a criminal, the only solution is suicide.
• Discworld:
  • Havelock Vetinari, Patrician of Ankh-Morpork and Discworld's resident Magnificent Bastard. Plays all sides against the middle... not making him True Neutral because it's not so much about canceling out opposing forces as just keeping order in his city. He considers himself a tyrant, but he is an eminently rational one (except maybe for that part about torturing mimes, but people don't mind that much) working for the stability and overall welfare of his polity.
  • Dios, the high priest of Djelibeybi in Pyramids. An extreme example. His only interest is in maintaining the status quo and the ancient traditions of the country, and he basically runs the country on behalf of the sovereign, keeping it in a state of stagnation. He is rather like a less evil version of Vorbis the exquisitor (chief inquisitor) of Omnia.
• In The Dresden Files, the White Council of Wizards, and the Wardens in particular, tend to fall into this mindset.
  • Morgan is a unique example: he's clearly established as this in the first book, and every time Harry interacts with him, it's clear that Morgan believes so strongly in the Seven Laws of Magic that he has absolutely zero problem with killing a warlock (a wizard that has gone power-mad after breaking the laws) even if they're a teenager. Harry thinks that Morgan has it out for him specifically for the first several books. It's not until Dead Beat that Harry realizes that Morgan is old, a couple of centuries at least, and has been using his Sight to judge warlocks^note When wizards see something with the Sight, they'll see it in the same clarity for the rest of their lives. Harry sees something he doesn't like at least once a book and has been active for about a quarter century. Morgan sees something more often than that, and has been active much longer. Harry finally realizes that Morgan isn't a zealot, he's just seen so much evidence that black magic corrupts over his life that he's decided that the Laws are the best defense against it. He expresses regret when he's ordered to kill Molly in Proven Guilty, but still moves to follow orders until other circumstances change the situation.
  • In one of the books, Anastasia Luccio (Commander of the Wardens) explains to Harry that the Council only enforces its own Seven Laws, not national laws or moral codes — because doing otherwise would almost certainly lead to internal war between wizards. (This means, among other things, that the Council didn't take sides in World War II.) Harry himself has mused that there is nothing in the Council's laws preventing him from using magic to rob a bank.
  • In Skin Game, Donar Vadderung describes Goodman Grey as the kind of person who, once they accept a contract, stays true to it no matter who else makes a bigger offer.
• Warden, a heron in Redwall's Martin the Warrior, has the catchphrase "I am the Law!" and eats the inhabitants of his swamp whenever they displease him. However, he is not Lawful Evil; when a cause is just, he will join it.
• In A Song of Ice and Fire.
  • Stannis Baratheon is a dour and rigid man who believes in honor and duty above all else, causing him to have few friends. After a notorious smuggler brought his castle food relief during a siege, he knighted the man for his heroism, but had his fingertips chopped off as punishment for his past crimes, since "a good deed does not wash out the bad". He has a reputation in-story for being completely dedicated to justice and duty, the latter of which is the only reason he's making his bid for the Iron Throne, as it is required of him as the rightful heir.
  • Barristan the Bold is very much Lawful Neutral, utterly tied to his duty as the head of the Kingsguard, and protecting the king regardless of the said king's alignment. He stuck with the Mad King to the end even though he hated it, because it was honorable to do so... and then proceeded to serve The Usurper just as faithfully once the war was over.
  • The Kingsguard are expected to be like this. They're knights in shining armor, but they're bound to obey their kings, no matter what atrocities they commit. Jaime Lannister is trying to reform them so they will be more Lawful Good.
  • Varys seems to be this as well. He seems to help all sides of conflict with the information he provides, but it's mostly done to uphold order and stability of the kingdom (at least he claims). A Dance With Dragons tears down this impression of Varys; the whole time he's really been working to bring everyone down to install his Hidden Backup Prince.
  • Minor character Steelshanks Walton. He's not a bad guy, but he will obey any order his lord, Roose Bolton, gives. He is described by Lord Roose as "a soldier of iron loyalty."
• In the novels about Ciaphas Cain (HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!):
  • Gunner First Class Ferik Jurgen. He is extremely loyal and duty-bound to the Imperium, and doesn't care about much outside of just that. He's not dumb, he just puts his duty above all else. Even if said duty involves "Fetching Cain a Salamander and driving him away from there as fast as possible". He also happens to be a prime example of the fact that Lawful Neutral does not mean Lawful Tidy.
• One philosophy of LN is spelled out by Jacen "Darth Caedus" Solo in the Star Wars Expanded Universe novel Sacrifice. Essentially, it boiled down to "Palpatine was the good guy throughout the Rebellion, because he came to power through democratic means. The fact that he turned out to be a mass-murdering psychopath hell-bent on the enslavement of all non-human species and crushing the galaxy in a durasteel fist for the rest of eternity doesn't really come into it, because legally he was supposed to be in charge."
• Harry Potter:
  • Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic. He does associate himself with Lawful Evil characters like Dolores Umbridge and Lucius Malfoy, but he himself is just an idiot.
  • Caretaker Argus Filch and his cat Mrs. Norris. They hate it when anyone break the rules in Hogwarts.
  • For much of the series, Percy Weasley is also Lawful Neutral. He's a strict, no-nonsense prefect obsessed with following the rules and making sure everything runs in a neat and orderly fashion, and he initially sides with the Ministry of Magic over his own family when the two come into conflict. However, he is absolutely not a Death Eater, spends most of Deathly Hallows trying to keep his head down until an opportunity to backstab the corrupt Ministry arises, and does so with gusto during the final battle. He returns to the reformed Ministry after the war.
  • Barty Crouch, Sr. was this, too. He was not so much opposed to Death Eaters as afraid of associating with them, and therefore ruining his reputation, so he made a big show of abandoning his son after his allegiance to Voldemort was found out. Later, he hatched a successful plan to get Barty Jr. out of Azkaban using his wife and Polyjuice Potion.
  • A lot of people initially saw Umbridge this way; even the blood-quill could be excused as My Master, Right or Wrong or a bizarrely intense drive to strike down rulebreakers. Of course, when it came out that she was the one who set the Dementor on Harry and Dudley, it became clear that she wasn't just doing sick and twisted things when the Ministry told her to, but may actually just be a sick and twisted person in general. By Deathly Hallows, there was no denying her true alignment.
  • Ravenclaw House are motivated by this alignment. Since they prize knowledge, wisdom and a healthy level of creativity. Ravenclaw is regarded as the most academically inclined house. Rarely do their students actively seek trouble, but you're guaranteed they'd know how to solve a puzzle or two when pushed or have no other choice. Even if certain students like Luna Lovegood tend to waltz around the rules. The Head, Professor Flitwick exemplifies the houses' true beliefs.
• Nero Wolfe is a perfect example of a Lawful character who follows his own Law. He lives a strictly regimented and scheduled life and almost never breaks his habits, but he has little respect for the legal authorities or the rules of what society considers acceptable behaviour. He uses his genius to catch the bad guys and solve crimes, yet is also explicitly Only in It for the Money, putting him squarely in morally Neutral territory.
• Severian, the protagonist of Book of the New Sun, is an excellent example of Lawful Neutral as a philosophical outlook. Raised by the Torturer's Guild, the ideology he learned from them, and espouses himself, is that guilt or innocence of the accused isn't of great importance; the only important factor is to carry out the appropriate sentence, neither lessening nor exceeding the cruelty demanded. Notably, when he complains about the problems with his Guild and society in general, it is to the effect that it is inefficient, rather than that people are being punished in a way that far exceeds their level of wrong-doing.
• Galad Damodred in The Wheel of Time. He plays everything strictly by the rules, even if it means getting someone else hurt or in trouble. According to his half-sister, he instantly reported any misbehavior she committed without fail, without any degree of spite (he mostly were genuinely sad that she had failed to live up to his own standard). Unsurprisingly, Galad eventually joins the Knight Templar Whitecloaks, though he becomes more and more of Lawful Good as series progresses.
  • He suffered a minor mental breakdown when, as a newly baptised Child of the Light, he stumbled upon his Half-Sister Elayne, a magic using Aes Sedai on a secret mission, within the centre of the White Cloaks Power Base Amador: As a Loyal Citizen of Andor, it was his duty to Rescue Princess Elayne from the clutches of Foreign Power. As a loving Brother it was his duty to save his half-sister and reunite her to their mother. As a Child of the Light it was his duty to arrest this agent of the Aes Sedai Witches. And as a person who stood on Amadorian Soil, it was his duty to arrest any Channeler whatsoever and present them to the Children if the Light.
  • Empress Tuon Athaem Kore Paendrag of Seanshan also is this. Though she makes damani out of female channelers, she takes her oaths extremely seriously (for example, when Mat kidnapped her, she made a promise not to escape and did follow through it).
• Ed the Master Shark in the second of the Young Wizards books is, as his title implies, a giant shark who is essentially their lord and master. He likes his job, which is killing and eating things that are in distress, too slow, or not smart enough to escape him. However, he sees this as his assigned job, and is not nearly as cold as he seems. He even performs a heroic sacrifice.
• The Inquisition in Night Watch (Series) is explicitly this trope; in the second book, Witieszlav tells Anton that while he personally is sympathetic to the Dark and thinks the Light is deluded, this makes no difference to how he goes about his duty, as he knows the true danger of what would happen if The Treaty were to collapse.
• In The Caves of Steel, Elijah Baley questions how R. (for "robot") Daneel Olivaw could possibly understand the concept of "justice". R. Daneel explains that he defines "justice" as "that which exists when all the laws are enforced". Asked about unjust laws, he insists that "an unjust law is a contradiction in terms". He shows a more flexible view at the end of the novel.
• Andrew Harlan in The End of Eternity starts out this way, which makes him an ideal Technician of Eternity. He considers himself an arm of the system, sent out to observe or take action exactly as he is told, without judgement or bias. This is more or less a requirement for all Technicians, and Harlan is one of the best.
• In The Silmarillion, Mandos, the Vala of destiny and death, is presented in this manner (and probably the only Vala apart from Chaotic Evil Morgoth to not be some form of good). Mandos is characterized as being merciless, but also without malice — he's an old style death-god who exists solely to perform his duty of housing souls (if they're elves) or passing them on (if they're men) and to dispense prophecy as required. He was moved to mercy once in his entire existence.
• The Vogons of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy are an entire race who believe in Equality Under the Law. The Guide describes them thusly:
  They are one of the most unpleasant races in the Galaxy. Not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous.
• The Authority First And Foremost is the standard alignment of angels and demons in Good Omens. Demons are explicitly stated to not be truly evil for the most part, but they still corrupt and torture people and follow Satan to maintain the Balance Between Good and Evil. Angels are generally obliged to do good whenever possible, but are expected to never go against their higher-ups, even if the fate of the world is on the line. Aziraphale and Crowley, the novel's main angel and demon respectively, both start off as fairly typical examples of their species, but progress to Neutral Good (Aziraphale) and Chaotic Good (Crowley).
• N. K. Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy: Itempas, second-born of The Old Gods, embodies order and stability. As co-creator of the universe, he imposed structure on the raw chaos of his older sibling; however, his nature also leaves him prone to Black-and-White Insanity and makes it hard for him to change his mind, even when he knows he made a bad decision, like murdering one sibling and enslaving the other to The Empire.
  "That is what I am, Oree—the steady light that keeps the roiling darkness at bay. The unmoving stone around which the river must flow. You may not like it. You don't like me. But without my influence, this realm would be cacophony, anarchy."
• The Clave in The Mortal Instruments claims to be Lawful Good, but strict and authoritarian rules and laws have concluded that they are more Lawful Neutral. In the past, shadowhunters were responsible for many immoral acts, and the Clave was even Lawful Evil.
• Geralt of Rivia especially and some of the other Witchers as well in The Witcher. While all Witchers (Geralt included) are monster hunters who will normally only work for pay, Geralt obeys a strong ethical code that occasionally lands him in trouble as he gets forced to make hard choices that end up with his name slandered even though he wants to protect innocents and preserve intelligent monsters like dragons.
  ""Evil is Evil. Lesser, greater, middling… Makes no difference. The degree is arbitary. The definition’s blurred. If I’m to choose between one evil and another… I’d rather not choose at all.""

Live-Action TV

• Michael Ermentraut of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul is arguably this. He is a sympathetic Punch-Clock Villain who worked for a meth dealer but who stuck rigidly to certain principles, such as never taking on too dark a job or not stealing money when it wasn't a part of his contract. His devotion to his granddaughter and daughter in law also suggests a man who is not of evil alignment, though his job working for a meth dealer doesn't make him good either.
• Sir Humphrey Appleby of Yes, Minister was mostly concerned with not making changes unless absolutely necessary and reducing the damage done by frivolous politicians, and was utterly unconcerned by things that fell outside his remit. He was also taking advantage of the system to his own ends, to keep his comfortable position at the expense of others, in a way that would make a Lawful Evil character proud, and when Hacker called him a "moral vacuum," he seemed delighted. He certainly sees himself as Lawful Neutral and justifies his actions along such lines, but he's selfish and ruthless enough to at least veer into Evil territory at times.
  • When Hacker keeps trying to raise the moral issues around the sale of weapons which ended up in the hands of Italian red terrorists, Humphrey only cares if it intersects his office, saying the problem lies with other departments, not theirs, and that his function is not to speculate on the morality of matters currently lawful.
  Hacker: Selling arms to terrorists is wrong, can't you see that?
  Humphrey: No, minister. Either you sell arms or you don't. If you sell them, they will inevitably end up in the hands of people who have the cash to buy them.
  Humphrey (a little later): Government isn't about morality... [it's about] stability. Keeping things going, preventing anarchy. Still being here tomorrow... Government isn't about good and evil, it's only about order or chaos.
  Hacker: And it's in order for Italian terrorists to get British bombs? ...And you don't care?
  Humphrey: It's not my job to care! That's what politicians are for. It's my job to carry out government policy.
  Hacker: Even if you think it's wrong?
  Humphrey: *grinning* Well, practically all government policy is wrong. But frightfully well carried out.
• The changelings of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are fanatically obsessed with order and often bordering heavily on Lawful Evil. Odo is unusual for his species in that he has been around "solid" species for almost his entire life, and he understands their needs and struggles and is more understanding about their faults. When dealing with other people, he replaces his sense of order with justice, making him bordering on Lawful Good. When no harm is done or laws were broken out of desperation, he can be somewhat lenient and let people off easy, but when it comes to real criminals, he is utterly and completely without mercy and does not show any preferential treatment to anyone. This makes him the perfect head of law enforcement on a space station that would most probably be a Wretched Hive without him. He had the same job when the station was a slave labor camp, as the prisoners knew he would not abuse suspects or threaten innocents and was more willing to talk, while the overseers had complete trust that he would never allow any committed crime to go unpunished. He also gets massively annoyed when someone gets into his office or quarters and touches or moves anything even just a little bit.
• Lucius Vorenus from Rome: An icy, rigid military man who follows orders without question, even when they disgust him. Octavian is also, arguably, a very nasty version of this.
• Sheldon Cooper of The Big Bang Theory oscillates between Lawful Neutral and True Neutral for plot convenience. His strictly regimented lifestyle, Obsessively Organized manners, and tendency towards complex legal documents point towards lawful alignment, but he'll often Rules Lawyer his own agreements, or flat out disregard them if it serves him, or if it's funny. In general, his laws boil down to "everyone has to do whatever I want at all times", making him more True Neutral masquerading as Lawful Neutral.
• The ascended Ancients from Stargate SG-1 are Lawful Neutral to the extreme. They believe in keeping their orders of non-interference so much that they will watch any Big Bad enslave and kill millions of people simply for keeping the freedom of will for every life. Any ascended being that stops evil and thereby interferes will be punished really hard. This transitions into Lawful Stupid territory when they refuse to intervene in Seasons 9 and 10, where the Big Bad in question is their collective Evil Twin whom they know will destroy the Ancients themselves once they've gotten the worship and thus the power of the rest of the intelligent life in the galaxy.
  • Teal'c is an interesting case, as he is only Lawful Neutral in the Backstory. In his concern for duty above all else, he had committed atrocities as the First Prime of Apophis. By the start of the series, he seems to have had a change of heart to a more Lawful Good stance, taking the opportunity to free and join up with SG-1 to act on his alignment change.
• Jack Bristow, Sydney's father on Alias, is a fascinating treatment of the alignment, because he follows two overriding concerns without question. The first, and the most important, is to keep his daughter safe; as she's an active spy and field agent, this is even less easy than it is for normal fathers. The second, due his being a spy himself, is to safeguard the economic, diplomatic, and military security of the United States (for whom his daughter works, as well). They usually go together. The fun comes when said goals clash.
• The Vorlons of Babylon 5 are Lawful Neutral on average, encouraging younger races to establish orderly societies without particular regard to their morality; however, some (like Kosh) lean towards the Good end of the spectrum, while others (such as Ulkesh) are rather Eviler.
• Many of the Division officials in 24 come across as this, as they often show more concern for stopping Jack from violating regulations than they do for catching the terrorists, even when doing the former interferes with the latter.
• The Judoon in Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Especially in The Sarah Jane Adventures story Prisoner of the Judoon, where a Running Gag is that while they don't worry very much about executing humans for getting the way in the pursuit of their duty, they won't run a red light, park illegally, or open a door marked "Authorised Personnel Only". On the opposing side, when shit is about to get real for all of reality in the Doctor Who episode "The Pandorica Opens", they're all too willing to work alongside a Legion of Doom (which is obviously evil) consisting of Daleks, Cybermen, and Sontarans (among others) in a failing attempt to prevent a crack-induced universal collapse courtesy of an exploding TARDIS.
  • Or the Brigadier. Nice chap on the whole, willing to make a Heroic Sacrifice. But when ordered, he'll blow the dog's brains out, which the Silurians found out the hard way.
• Even if Dr. Cox insists that he is Lawful Evil, Dr. Kelso in Scrubs, when given some Character Development, appears as someone who just tries to keep the hospital working, even if this means enforcing unpopular policies.
• Admiral Helena Cain from Battlestar Galactica is a ruthless General Ripper who will do anything necessary to protect her fleet and accomplish her missions, morals be damned. In fact, it is her very philosophy to make such decisions without flinching. Despite that, Adama himself says that he cannot find any faults in her tactical decisions.
• The various characters of Parks and Recreation, mostly being bureaucrats, are different kinds of Lawful Neutral. Leslie frequently veers into Lawful Good territory, but thus far has proven unwilling to bend the rules to do what's right (until the Season 2 finale... which ended up aboveboard anyway...), and in any case, she sees "serving the public" as part of the job description (which, in truth, is a lot more likely at the local level). On the other hand, you have Ron Swanson, the Libertarian head of the department, who wants to cut government to the bone and would border on True Neutral if it weren't for him having a set of rules of his own that is utterly strict, and is simply 99% incompatible with the current government.
  • Chris and Ben, as state auditors turned city managers are the most clear-cut and consistent Lawful Neutral among the main cast, as their job is to enforce rules, make frequently unpopular decisions or refuse to help the other character because their position requires them to stay impartial.
• Uther Pendragon from Merlin is definitely this — the laws of Camelot cannot be bent or broken, and his own personal code is his driving force.
• Aeryn Sun from Farscape. Being the hero's main love interest, she's overall portrayed sympathetically, but she rarely qualifies as actively "good", just completely loyal and committed to whoever she's allied to at the time, and even at her most "good", extremely ruthless in a conflict.
• Dwight Schrute from The Office tends to dance across the character alignment spectrum in terms of his methods, but his ultimate goal is to have complete control over the branch. He makes it no secret that he doesn't care about popularity, yet he'll defend the people who mock him out of a sense of duty.
• Henry Crabbe from Pie in the Sky is proud to be this. Among other examples, when his own cook comes to him for help with a former friend trying to lure him back into crime, Henry suggests that a suitably connected ex-policeman might be able to catch the friend and scare them away from trying it again. When the time comes, he points out that he never actually agreed to anything. The cook sighs and accepts that Henry has the right to turn his friend into the law, to which Henry replies "Thank you, and don't think I wouldn't do the same for you."
• Game of Thrones:
  • Stannis Baratheon. Despite leaning much more to the Lawful Evil side of the spectrum than in the books, his firm commitment to the law still places him here.
  • Daenerys Targaryen would be Lawful Good, if not for her more morally ambiguous actions.
• Ziva from NCIS. While she's most assuredly not evil, its hard to call her good considering she is a sniper/assassin who killed her own brother in her first encounter (in her defense he was about to kill Gibbs) and doesn't exactly feel bad about it.She has also admitted she is not above using Jack Bauer Interrogation Techniques
• Villamax from Power Rangers Lost Galaxy was this, he held himself to a moral code, protected the defenseless, refused to harm the innocent, only fought ruthlessly against his foes, and believed strongly in I Gave My Word. Sounds like a Sixth Ranger, right? Actually was The Dragon for Big Bad Trakeena and worked alongside Deviot who was more Neutral Evil. The Anti-Villains from Power Rangers in Space (Ecliptor, Astronema) were Lawful Evil (emphasis on the lawful).
• Temperance Brennan from Bones would probably be this, bordering on Lawful Good, although she does have some unfortunate tendencies such as saying whatever she thinks even if it's mean and being something of a Principles Zealot (she hardly ever lies, even when doing so would be morally justified, for example.)
• Basically everyone in For the People, a Courtroom Drama set in the US Southern District Court of New York. They're all generally good people, but they're constrained by the law and often unable to do the moral thing. Public defenders trend a bit more Lawful Good, since their clients are usually sympathetic, but they also occasionally have to do some distasteful things, for example, a Syrian-born Muslim gets assigned to defend a Neo-Nazi accused of trying to assassinate a Congresswoman. He realises that his client is actually innocent, and manages to introduce enough doubt into the prosecution's case to get an acquittal, but still doesn't feel good about it because, while the guy didn't do it, he wishes he did and now he knows he can "get away with it", might actually try to. A crooked judge shows up in one episode who is solidly Lawful Evil though.
  • In an early episode, an idealistic new public defender finds a desperate woman trying to file an injunction that will prevent her being thrown out of her home, but she's fifteen minutes past the deadline, and the seemingly officious court clerk flatly refuses to help her or do anything. The lawyer spends the episode exploiting loopholes to stop the woman getting thrown out into the street, but when she goes back to the clerk at the end of the episode to gloat, the clerk points out another woman in the same situation and asks if she's going to help her too. She explains that every day people come in who are late, or have improperly filled out paperwork, or fell through the cracks in some way, and her heart breaks for them; but the seemingly arbitrary rules she has to enforce are the only guardrails they have on a barely functioning system, and if she starts bending the rules it will collapse.
  • Perhaps the best example of this is the case of a man who agreed to carry a rucksack across town for his cousin in exchange for a few hundred bucks, which turned out to contain heroin. He ends up getting sentenced to a mandatory ten years in prison. Everyone agrees that he shouldn't be but they're helpless to stop it because the law is ironclad and unbending in drug cases. The prosecutor can't charge him with a lesser offence because the amount he was holding is just enough to qualify for a federal trafficking charge; the public defender can't cut him a deal because he has no information to trade; in desperation, the judge tries to instruct the jury that a conviction means an automatic ten year sentence, basically trying for jury nullification, but the law won't allow him to.
• The Wire: Omar Little may not follow the law of the land, per se, but he absolutely adheres to a code of conduct that limits his criminal activities exclusively to other criminals, particularly drug dealers (as he puts it, anyone in "the Game"). He sees his self-imposed rules as vital to allowing him to keep following his theft-based path while also giving him the moral high ground against his more conventional criminal enemies like Avon Barksdale and Marlo Stanfield.
  Omar: A man got to have a code!
• "Once Upon a Time": Surprisingly, The Blue Fairy fits into this category. Despite being an ostensibly good character, she strictly enforces the rules whether good or bad, even standing in the way of a dwarf and a fairy who fell in love. Her actions have at times demonstrated clearly questionable moral judgement, and it could even be argued that she's responsible, whether directly or indirectly, for most of the villains and events throughout the first 6 seasons.

Myth and Religion

• Most portrayals of The Grim Reaper. He's death, but it's his JOB to collect the souls of people who have died. He does not go out of his way to kill those whose time of death has not yet come, and he shows neither pity nor joy in collecting the souls of those who have died by whatever means, doing his part in preserving the natural order of things.
• Classical Mythology:
  • Hades is one of the few lawful beings in an otherwise chaotic pantheon. He upholds the laws of death and natural order with impartiality. His abduction of Persephone was technically lawful since he had the permission of Zeus.
  • Nemesis, as the Goddess of Retribution, is one. Commit good deeds and she'll reward you, no matter what. Sin, and the only way to escape her punishment is to anger another god in the process and receive their punishment.

Professional Wrestling

• Many authority figures onscreen will fall into this if they aren't full-blown heels. Being good at their job means impartiality on their part, so they can't exactly play favorite for the face or the heel. Thus, if either side has a legit case, they have to rule in that person's favor regardless of that person's own alignment. Examples include Teddy Long, Mick Foley as Commissioner, and the anonymous GM of Raw (who turned out to be Hornswoggle).

Tabletop Games

• Warhammer 40,000:
  • The Tau Empire started somewhere closer to Lawful Good before heavy Retcons brought them down to this level. They don't usually count as Lawful Evil, though, since there's a fair bit of ambiguity about how much of their Utopia Justifies the Means behaviour is actually what happened and how much is exaggeration or fabrication by the Imperium. Regardless, they have a strictly regimented caste system, a guiding philosophy of acting for the Greater Good of all and unlike every other faction, lead with diplomacy to get what they want first, and resort to all-out war only when the Godzilla Threshold is crossed. Their combat doctrine is built around a mix of all-out force and patiently luring enemies into traps, ambushes and locations perfect for Aggressive Negotiations.
  • Especially the nicest Tech-Priests, who essentially devote themselves to pure logic. (The less nice ones tend towards being Lawful Evil techno-kleptomaniacs.)
  • The Craftworld Eldar, although to a lesser extent than other races. The majority of them are living extremely disciplined lives due to their extreme emotional range, leading to them largely being The Stoic as a species. In the past their empire was destroyed because the extremely hedonistic lifestyles of their ancestors caused their downfall and squicked the chaos god Slaanesh into existence. Not quite as lawful as most other "good" races in the setting, since many become pirates and mercenaries due to the extremely restrained lives they are forced to live on their Craftworlds, yet most of these are still loyal to their Craftworlds. In general, however, the Craftworld Eldar's politics can be considered Lawful Neutral, because at least they don't execute their own men regularly, and generally have an ordered lifestyle simply to prevent Slaanesh from eating their souls.
• Warhammer Fantasy: The Lizardmen. They are some of the foremost creations of the Old Ones, and as such are guardians of their Plans. If they attack you, it's not because they dislike you (they're quite literally incapable of malice), but it's because you are a threat to the Old Ones' Plan in some way.
• Dungeons & Dragons
  • The modrons (featured most heavily in Planescape) are the physical embodiments of Lawful Neutral in the game's universe. They had a regrettable tendency to be portrayed as quirky wind-up toys with an anal-retentive obsession with orderliness, but at their best the modrons — especially the more powerful ones — could be frightening alien forces that represent the concept of law in the same way that angels represent good and demons evil.
  • The plane of Mechanus (and the home of the modrons) is made of LN, leading to such things as:
    • Formians, who are basically Beast Wars Inferno without a robot mode. They want to enslave everything, because that way everything will be more efficient in the service of the hive.
    • Inevitables, extraplanar robots who exist solely to enforce The Rules. Their purposes vary from killing anyone who tries to cheat death (adventurers who are raised once or twice are probably safe, liches and necromancers are screwed) to forcing people to abide by contracts. One Dragon Magazine article on the kolyaruts (the contract ones) stated outright that their reaction to mitigating circumstances is "The circumstances are indeed mitigating, but they are not part of the contract. You are therefore in breach". An entirely acceptable Kolyarut plot would have one interrupt the standard "rescue the princess" plot by explaining to the paladin that the princess was contractually obligated to remain in the villain's clutches. A more terrifying example would be the case of the Kolyarut, Obligatum. After a group of wizards summoned a powerful entity and then bound it to perform a specific task, they later stopped it and sealed it away. Obligatum was then dispatched to free said Entity because the wizards got cold feet and broke the covenant they had made with the entity. The fact that the Entity is Pandorym and is a psionic superentity tasked solely with annihilating all the gods (and possibly the whole world in the process) is utterly irrelevant to Obligatum. You don't break contracts. And there are more to replace him if he fails.
  • Monks of 3rd Edition had to have a Lawful alignment (representing their dedication to their unique training), so if a monk isn't Good or Evil, they're this.
  • Forgotten Realms: Helm, the god of guardians, represents the watchful and impartial protection of a charge above all else. To stand guard over an item, place or creature is the most important thing. Helm doesn't differentiate actions between good or bad, merely the fulfillment of a duty or not.
• If you want to be an avatar of the Executioner (the cosmic archetype of... well, Exactly What It Says on the Tin) in Unknown Armies, you have to play Lawful Neutral to the hilt, including finding an authority to obey. You can't make any moral judgments on your own about how deserving your target is, you just go and carry out the sentence because you're told to.
• The Third Imperium in Traveller. It governs the trade lanes between its member worlds. However, the member worlds are generally allowed to govern themselves as long as they do not violate Imperial standards of conduct too ostentatiously. They are even allowed to fight wars with each other as long as they don't make too much of a mess. And above all, they must never interfere with interstellar trade.
• The Azorius Senate from Magic: The Gathering formed a massive, impenetrable, useless bureaucracy largely for the sake of having more laws. In their return during the Return to Ravnica block, they have degenerated solidly into Lawful Evil territory, as demonstrated in The Shadows of Prahv, where they even go so far as to attempt to exterminate the Golgari, the guild in charge of Ravnican agriculture. While there are still individual examples who count as Lawful Neutral, the vast majority of the guild have fallen far from this spot. To be fair, the Azorius were already bordering on Lawful Evil before (Augustin IV was the main antagonist of Dissenssion, after all.
  • A guild that did degenerate into Lawful Evil are the Boros; their current leader, Aurelia, is a Knight Templar Manipulative Bitch at best. The Boros are a bit of a mixed bag in alignment terms themselves, which does keep the entire guild out of the territory, and while their leader Aurelia certainly counts in Lawful Evil territory, there is something to be said that Gideon Jura, one of the most moral planeswalkers in the story, has joined up with the guild. In other words, most of the members of the guild are still Lawful Neutral, with some good and bad eggs here and there.
• The Lone Star organization from Shadowrun is this most of the time. Since most of the cities in the United Canadian and American States have had their local police departments dissolved, the organization acts mostly as their country's national police force; they hold about 62% of all of the security contracts in the country. However, Lone Star isn't always scrupulous and/or competent in its dealings and some of their officers take it to levels that would oppress the citizens.
• The Light in Nobilis is very dedicated to the rule that Humanity Must Survive, and will do anything to ensure this.

Theater

• Inspector Javert in Les Misérables. It is only his devotion to the law that drives him to play a bad-guy role in the story.
• The Arbiter in Chess has no interest whatsoever in the tension between the competing nations or the personal conflicts of the participants. (In other words, the entire plot.) All he cares about is that the rules of the game are followed.
• Wotan in The Ring of the Nibelung tries to be Lawful Good but ultimately has to be Lawful Neutral as his power comes from contracts, even if those contracts prevent him stopping threats to his power. This is a major theme in the Ring Cycle. His wife Fricka points this out to him, meaning Wotan has to kill his son Siegmund for breaking the law, even if he felt the law was unjust.
• Hamlet. Much of the problems in the play are caused by his adherence to what he believes is God's law; while he doesn't particularly like the idea of killing people, he still spends the play trying to kill Claudius because he considers it his obligation to avenge his father's death. Through his obsession with carrying out this duty, Hamlet ends up getting nearly every other character killed, and he doesn't feel terribly bad about any of it. His intentional killing of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern pushes him very close to Lawful Evil, but he may have thought that they were willing co-conspirators with Claudius (and, depending on the production, he may be correct). It's also ambiguous how much of his asshole behaviour is insanity-induced.

Video Games

• Despite his otherwise self-serving motives and Jerkass behavior, Samuel Hayden/ Samur Mayker of Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal is this alignment, which explains why he constantly butts heads with the Chaotic Good Doom Guy. Even though his ultimate goal of bringing back The Father is to help restore himself his former glory, he doesn't actively seek power and is content with working under Him. He also abides by Mayker Law in that he, himself, is not allowed to come into contact with the Life Spheres and absolutely prohibits the resurrection of the Dark Lord, so much so that he becomes the Final Boss to prevent Doom Guy from doing so.
• While Monster Clowns are typically Chaotic Evil, The Daycare Attendant - specifically his Sun form - from Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach fits under this alignment. While not trying to help Gregory get out of the Pizzaplex like Glamrock Freddy, he isn't interested in harming him as the other animatronics have been re-programmed by Vanny to do: he just wants to keep the Superstar Daycare safe and orderly, although he's zealous about it point of upsetting the children under his care. His Jekyll & Hyde counterpart, Moon, is firmly Lawful Evil, as he terrorizes children who are up past their bedtime, and will kill Gregory if given the chance.
• Tear in Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is adamant that Recette honor her family's debt to the Terme Finance Corporation, does not show any deviance from attaining this goal, and is very businesslike about how to run her and Recette's shop. As the game progresses, she does pick up some Neutral Good tendencies, but otherwise, especially in regards to matters concerning making money and running Recettear, she remains this alignment without deviance, barring an exception or two made as a result of her Neutral Good tendencies.
• Keisuke in Devil Survivor is this in contrast to Midori's magical-girl-inspired Lawful Good. He even summons a demon to serve as a judge of evildoers so that his emotions will not affect his judgment, and strongly believes that people who do evil deserve to die for the good of humanity.
• In the mainline Shin Megami Tensei series, Satan takes on this alignment as YHVH's judge. His Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse perhaps plays this the straightest. Law, Chaos and Neutral are all meaningless to him. The important thing is that the laws of the universe are maintained. Him defying YHVH is not out of personal grudge or anything like that, but instead due to him believing that is what the laws of the universe dictate and that it is his job to test YHVH to see if he is still a worthy god.
• Persona 3 has Nyx, an Eldritch Abomination drawn to bring about The End of the World as We Know It due to humanity's collective despair. The thing is, she really doesn't want to wipe out humanity, but is simply carrying out what she believes is their collective desire for death. Her avatar is a genuine Nice Guy who also believes The Fall is inevitable and offers to erase the party's memories so they don't have to suffer.
• CEO Nwabudike Morgan of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. His only real concern is money and expanding his economic empire, but he won't (openly) break the law; he'll instead work to change it, using all his power and influence to do so through perfectly legal channels.
  • Sister Miriam Godwinson and her Lord's Believers definitely clock in as Lawful, but whether they are Good (genuinely helping a world filled with sin towards salvation, even when evil resists that salvation), Neutral (upholding the Bible to the absolute letter without care for the meaning behind it), or Evil (fanatics out to actively purge the world of nonbelievers) is really down to how sympathetic the player is to her agenda — the game itself portrays her as aggressive but does not imply her to be good or evil.
  • Colonel Corazon Stantiago of the Spartan Federation is slightly less ambiguous. She runs a militaristic Police State and believes strongly in a proper command structure, so she's lawful. She desperately wants the people of Planet to survive, and if she thinks you aren't doing it well enough, she'll bomb you all back to planetfall.
• The alien being Duo from the RockMan.EXE franchise is tasked with the mission of travelling through space, destroying planets whose evil exceeds certain limits. His single-minded devotion to his mission is obviously Lawful, and his willingness to destroy countless lives in the name of it certainly doesn't make him Good... yet, he is not openly malicious either. His anime-only henchwoman Slur is quite probably Lawful Evil, though.
• Warcraft III:
  • For much of the game, Tyrande Whisperwind is a single-minded Lawful Neutral Action Girl. The oath she took to protect Ashenvale is her only priority and until the last moment, she seems unwilling to compromise about anything, which almost leads to the Burning Legion's victory. After some Character Development, she moves a bit on the axis, and in the expansion set, she's arguably Neutral Good. Her mantle of Lawful Neutral is then passed down to Maiev Shadowsong, who herself goes absolutely nuts by the end of the expansion pack night elf campaign and turns into some kind of hybrid between all the existing alignments.
  • The Titans in the backstory seem to fit the bill too. They travel the cosmos, ordering worlds. Even though we've hardly seen them in action, we've seen a lot of their servants and constructs, and they don't really seem to care that much for goodness, just the avoidance of chaos. This is best seen in characters like Algalon the Observer, an entity whose job it is to alert the Titans when Azeroth has fallen to the Old Gods' corruption. If this is found to be the case, their solution then is to completely wipe out all life on Azeroth and start from scratch. Essentially, if things don't go exactly as the Titans want them to, it's completely wrong and must be destroyed.
• Three very different sides of Lawful Neutral are present in Planescape: Torment:
  • Fall-From-Grace is a puritan succubus who is the very essence of propriety, gentility, and hospitality, but she mainly keeps to herself and doesn't go out of her way to help people — they have to come to her.
  • Vhailor, a merciless Knight Templar who is thought to be a bit of a fanatic even by his own faction, a group of criminal-hunters called Mercykillers (so named because they want to destroy the very concept of mercy, as it interferes with proper execution of the law), is the other. However, while he would occasionally jump the gun when he had evidence, he would never prosecute anyone without it, and has let people who have committed terrible acts live and even go free when he thinks they have suffered punishment enough.
  • Dak'kon, a retired Warrior Monk and preacher for his species (the Githzerai) who has dedicated his life to his religion and its holy text, the Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon. He also owes The Nameless One a life-debt, binding him to your service for as long as you live — this also gives him a major moral quandary, as his religion prescribes that the Gith should never be in bondage to anyone.
  • Finally, amongst NPCs, the Practical Incarnation is canonically Lawful Neutral. He had one goal in life — find out who he was — and systematically chased this goal with a great amount of foresight and discipline, viewing both his own life and those of others as tools to advance that goal. Notably, he just barely held on to this alignment despite the many dogs he kicked in his life, primarily because he was never motivated by cruelty for its own sake.
• Baldur's Gate:
  • Anomen in Baldur's Gate II starts out as a particularly Jerkass version. He even begrudges the coins you give to beggars on the street, since it's encouraging them to avoid working for a living. Character Development can send him to Lawful Good later, though.
  • Balthazar in Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal is indicated as Lawful Neutral by his game file. (There was also a Word of God statement somewhere on the internet that assumed he was Lawful Good, which would work about equally well.) He's a monk — an inherently disciplined Lawful Character Class — and one of the Five, powerful Bhaalspawn who are trying to kill all the other numerous children of Bhaal in order to let the evil god rise again and be rewarded with demigod status. However, Balthazar is only pretending to be on their side, and he actually sees it as his duty to kill all Bhaalspawn to prevent Bhaal ever returning. He takes this seriously; "all" means himself as well after all the others are gone.
• Street Fighter:
  • Rich Bitch Karin Kanzuki, as a foil to Chaotic Good Ascended Fangirl Sakura Kasugano. Karin's family motto is to "seek perfection at all costs", meaning that she'll take on any opponent regardless of where they fall on the good/evil scale (though she eschews from using flashy or "dishonorable" fighting techniques). She has very little patience for common folk, but will sometimes stop to lend a hand to a friend in need.
  • Arguably, Gouki/Akuma could apply. Yes, he's a Blood Knight seeking the strongest fights he can find and he will fight to the death. However, he only fights to the death when he believes he has found a Worthy Opponent. All others he dramatically holds back to avoid killing (normal Akuma compared to Shin Akuma). Also, while he initially entered a death match against Gen, when Akuma realized Gen was ill, he stopped the fight. It took years of begging from Gen to finally get that death match, and even then it took appealing to Akuma's soul of a warrior to do it. Akuma has also stated he hates M. Bison's psycho power (which is fueled by hatred and dark emotions). Finally, he canonically saved a child's life who had wandered into Akuma's training area. The only real evil Akuma has done is try to push Ryu into giving into the Satsui no Hadou.
• The two protagonists of Super Robot Wars Advance are at first Lawful Neutral. However, they eventually shift into Lawful Good. In the Original Generations, however, the shift differs...
  • Axel Almer starts out Lawful Neutral, being the follower of Shadow Mirror, mostly. Even though he has his heavy vendetta against Beowulf, he still obeys Vindel's orders more. In OG Gaiden, however, with his 'law' (the Shadow Mirror) destroyed, he shifts into True Neutral. His Original Generation 2 GBA self, however, is not Lawful Neutral, but Neutral Evil, from his rampant sadism and racism and his vendetta taking more priority than Vindel's order.
  • Lamia Loveless mostly follows her original self, from Lawful Neutral shifting into Lawful Good. In OG Gaiden, however, she temporarily shifts into Lawful Evil after being reprogrammed by Duminuss. When that ordeal is over, she shifts back into Lawful Good.
• Heaven is portrayed this way in the Diablo Mythos; notable in that they uphold Order in the universe but don't seem too particularly concerned about "good" (as opposed to their rivals in Hell, who uphold Chaos but are most assuredly very evil.) In fact, Tyrael, the only angel in the games' lore who seems to be in any way good, is considered a rogue by his brethren.
  • In the last book of a novel trilogy, we meet the rest of the Council that Tyrael is on when they gather to decide the fate of humanity for being the offspring of angels and demons. One is a fanatic Lawful Neutral who wants to wipe out the humans, another is very nice and on par with Tyrael, another seems neither particularly spiteful or sympathetic, but pragmatic and willing to give humanity the chance to prove themselves, and the last seems neutral. Deathly neutral.
• The two Lancers in the Fate series, Cu Chulainn and Diarmuid Ua Duibhne. They have some... moral conflicts with their Masters, but choose to serve them with full loyalty and honor as Knights. Despite being the antagonistic force, they manage to be friendly with the protagonists.
• Eris from Drakengard 2 starts out with this alignment. While she means well, and wants to protect the world from chaos and destruction, she is blinded by her obedience to the Knights of the Seal and, at first, justifies all of their actions, even the most questionable ones (to the point where she threatens to strike down Neutral Good Nowe for dissenting). Later on, she has a change of heart and gets closer to Lawful Good.
• Sypha Belnades during the course of Castlevania: Judgment has this alignment. You know you're in this territory when you attack a good hearted werewolf, just because he IS a werewolf, and thus must equal evil, and waste no time to listen to reason. She softens to something of a Neutral Good or Lawful Good during Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse.
• The United Earth Federation and Aeon Illuminate in Supreme Commander, and possibly the Seraphim, clock in here — all three want to impose their beliefs on the galaxy in a new galactic era of peace and tranquility. Individual characters may lean good or evil, but all three, as whole factions, are very much neutral.
• StarCraft:
  • Judicator Aldaris considered following the rules of the Conclave significantly more important than survival until well after the spit had hit the fan at supersonic speeds.
  • Nova Terra as well. Being constantly mind-wiped to be loyal to the Dominion means that she will follow the Dominion law and whoever is in charge. If Arcturus Mengsk is in charge, she will be antagonistic, but if it's Valerian Mengsk who is in charge, she will be protagonistic. When she's allowed to be herself, Nova is more about trying to make sure that the people under Dominion are safe, her accosting Raynor for siding with Tosh is more about upholding the law because a prison break may have a chance to release actually dangerous criminals that wasn't opposing Mengsk. By the end of the Nova Covert Ops, however, Nova turned Neutral Good, disobeying Valerian's order and going rogue in order to serve Dominion from the shadows and doing dirty works that would've damaged his public image. Even Valerian approved that one at the moment.
• G0-T0 from Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. While his high Dark Side score indicated Lawful Evil, his general philosophy was basically "Keep the Republic going, whatever the cost". He even basically stated that he didn't give a crap whether the winner of the Jedi/Sith war was a noble faction that got a bit arrogant occasionally or a group of backstabbing maniacs who consider puppy sandwiches a good entree, as long as they stopped setting large chunks of the Republic on fire.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic: Consular companion Qyzen Fess is a Religious Bruiser who follows a religion where hunting dangerous prey and following traditional methods of the hunt earn a warrior favor with their goddess, The Scorekeeper. Trandoshans also have a very long and ugly history with their Wookiee neighbors, leading to Trandoshans considering Wookiees as very desirable prey to hunt, with their pelts as treasured prizes. He hates slavers and criminals, not because it's evil, but because there's no challenge in hunting unarmed refugees. He approves if you support someone going after revenge (hey, you're helping out another hunter), or arming the prey to make hunters have to work harder (he doesn't see a problem with Force-wielding rakghouls — if they're harder to kill, they're worth more points). And while he is friends with the Consular's master and travels with the Consular, he also used to work for the Bounty Hunter's boss.
• The King of Guardia in the present of Chrono Trigger is like this at first, stating that "even royalty must follow the laws of the land", while Crono is wrongly sentenced to imprisonment for three days/death (according to the chancellor). The 1000 AD Chancellor appears to be like this, but he's actually the Neutral Evil Yakra XIII, who wants to avenge his ancestor's defeat in 600 AD.
• Admiral Akkaraju in Shogo: Mobile Armor Division has elements of this, as he's willing to fire the Kato Cannon at Avernus to destroy the Fallen, despite the fact that it would also kill Sanjuro's Brainwashed and Crazy brother Toshiro and their mutual friend Baku, as well as potentially affect Maritropa and Constantine. Then again, he is going against High Command to do so.
• Deus Ex: Most members of UNATCO (except for the ones who defect with you) could be considered this; they work to put down the terrorist threat, but don't question the circumstances behind the plague or the motivations for suppressing the NSF. They are unaware that they're helping the conspiracy, and thus see their actions as being about preserving order.
• Siegfried from Soulcalibur IV becomes this. Whenever running into him, his only comment is normally "You're in my way, step aside." He's just trying to destroy Soul Edge, defeat the evildoers, and bring balance. No matter who gets in his way. Unfortunately, Soul Calibur disagrees.
• Mass Effect: The Turian race as a whole are a hierarchal meritocracy where the group's wellbeing far outweighs the individual. As such, turians have a strict code and value order over almost everything else.
• Mass Effect 2: Samara is a justicar, a vigilante Warrior Monk who has sworn her life to obeying a code of conduct. The justicar's code binds her to kill those who harm innocents and save said innocents; although Samara will save a baby from a burning building and put her own life at risk, she does it because her Code demands such action and not because she wants to. Even though the code practically encourages Knight Templar behaviour at times, Samara has been a justicar for a very long time and is surprisingly non-self-righteous in how she views both the code and her forced adherence to it, and also knows how to use loopholes. She also has a very specific oath that she can (and does) give when she works with someone (in this case, Commander Shepard). When questioned about it, she states that she will do absolutely anything that Shepard asks, no question, as she is only a weapon being used. However, she then immediately follows it up by saying that, as soon as her oath and duty is complete, she will kill Shepard without hesitation if s/he forced Samara to do something against her code.
• From Touhou Project, Youmu is a strong follower of the Bushido code and one of her most defining traits, for good or ill, is her intense loyalty to her mistress Yuyuko. A less prominent example is Momiji.
  • Lots of characters in Touhou Project are Lawful Neutral, usually by virtue of being a Battle Butler: Sakuya to Remillia (though she's been warned before that she lies dangerously close to teetering off into Lawful Evil), the aforementioned Youmu to Yuyuko, Eirin to Kaguya, Toramaru to Byakuren (borderline Lawful Good).
  • And then some characters are Lawful Neutral by nature: Patchouli is deep into her study, Satori is only interested in maintaining order in her domain, the Watatsuki sisters are only doing their job in protecting the Moon.
  • Really, the prominence of these types of characters really gives a nice bit of contrast to a Chaotic Neutral dominated cast, especially since these tend to be dragons to main villains of said alignment.
• The Qunari in Dragon Age are, as a whole, a highly Lawful Neutral society. Every person in the society has a role that is decided by the government based on their skills to best accommodate them. People do not deviate from their roles in qunari society. In many cases, a qunari's name will literally consist of their role and rank in their society, such as the case with Sten. This causes a lot of consternation for Sten himself when he enters Ferelden, where, in his own words, "no one knows their place." If the Warden is female, Sten will be confused as to whether she is a woman or a soldier, as qunari women are not soldiers. The Lawful Neutral way of the Qun gets deconstructed in Dragon Age II, where the Arishok and his men are trapped in Kirkwall because the Qun's rigid restrictions on the roles of each member of their society makes it difficult for him to function in the middle of a city as mired in greed and violence as Kirkwall, especially as the Qun demands he respond to such "filth". Eventually this pushes him to assault Kirkwall with his army, viewing that as the only way to resolve the demands of the Qun, even if his assault is doomed to failure.
• Dragon Age II:
  • The Spirit of Vengeance that is joined with Anders acts this way, being formerly a spirit of Justice that became corrupted by Anders' anger and bitterness toward the oppression of mages. Ultimately, Anders himself is of this alignment as well, believing that fighting the injustices against mages is worth any cost. This leads to Anders' destruction of the Kirkwall Chantry and triggering a full-scale war between mages and templars across Thedas. Vengeance was also like this when he was introduced as Justice in Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening, while the two were separate entities; at one point, he accuses Anders of enslaving his pet cat.
  • Aveline also tends toward Lawful Neutral. She refused to arrest a guard after he raped an elf because there was not enough evidence, but was perfectly willing to arrest the elf's two brothers who murdered her rapist, regardless of her personal feelings on the matter.
• In Dragon Age: Inquisition, Vivienne leans toward Lawful Neutral. She upholds the laws of the Chantry, and while she acknowledges that there were — and are — problems with the system, she is against the rebellion. Vivienne would rather work within the rules; she can become the first mage Divine because, well, there isn't a rule that says she can't. She also comes from a Decadent Court, which has its own set of arcane, unwritten rules.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • G.U.N. started out as this, as they were willing to do almost anything to preserve world order, including imprisoning or "silencing" everyone involved in a failed experiment, including children. After the events of Shadow the Hedgehog, though, they've started to drift towards Lawful Good.
  • While Shadow the Hedgehog fights for good, it seems that he fights more against chaos and destruction, battling anybody who gets in his way. Eggman as a ruler would most certainly cause chaos, which is the main reason he fights him. In the Archie arc "25 Years Later", he became king of Mobius, mercilessly stamping out any rebellion in his desire to maintain order, not so much because he selfishly wanted power, but in the belief that order — his order — would bring peace. Sonic even comments that Shadow may have been strict, but he sure kept the warlords in line. In the Sonic Universe arc "Treasure Team Tango", Shadow (along with Rouge and Omega) fights Team Rose for a Sol Emerald on GUN orders, even though they belong to Blaze's world, and even though he owes Blaze a favour. He lets her have it when he learns her world will be destroyed without them.
• When you first meet Janos Audron in Soul Reaver 2, you might think he's Lawful Good or Neutral Good. Do not be fooled. His people were a bunch of knight templars who waged a thousand year war against another ancient and powerful race because said race wouldn't bow down to the vampire's god, and banished them to another dimension, raising the Pillars of Nosgoth to keep them sealed and tying the health of the pillars to the land itself. When their enemies afflicted the vampires with blood thirst and undeath as revenge, they passed the curse on to humans (note that they themselves considered the curse a Fate Worse than Death) in order to keep their enemies banished, kidnapping children and forcing vampirism on them when they came of age. Janos' actions have enough justification, and he's a nice enough guy, to keep him from evil territory, but he's racist and morally questionable enough to keep him out of good.
• The Brotherhood of Steel from the Fallout series largely fall into this category, with the exception of Lyon's Brotherhood in Fallout 3, who are more Lawful Good. They are always a lawful and orderly organization, but in the first two games, are very insular in nature. Their primary function is the preservation of technology, not saving the world, and they mostly stick to it. It is possible to get them to take some minor action in the first game, but even after you join them, getting them to help you with anything is like pulling teeth. They very much have the power to oppose the super mutants, but aren't particularly concerned with doing so. One of their doctors even determines via autopsy that the super mutants are sterile and suggests that as a result, the problem will eventually sort itself out, unconcerned with the damage they'll cause in the meantime. Their presence in Fallout 2 is minimal, but the attitude is similar. The Midwestern Brotherhood splinter group from Fallout Tactics is much more proactive in regards to the state of the world, but their motivation still seems primarily about re-establishing order and civilization, and they're willing to be quite ruthless about it, to the point of reinventing a sort of pseudo-feudalism and using prisoners as essentially slave labor.
  • The Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood in Fallout: New Vegas takes this to extreme levels. Here, their adherence to the codex is actually causing their own downfall, spending just about the entire game in a lockdown which in itself isn't doing much to improve the morale within the chapter. Even after Veronica, the chapter's voice of reason, proves that the chapter's actions are wrong, they still remain in their bunker. While they can eventually be convinced to remove the lockdown and re-emerge into the wasteland, their initially overly cautious attitude is not exactly helping them in any way, as several members note during the course of the game, and depending on whether or not the NCR (the faction that they fear the most) are around, they'll proceed to become essentially tech raiders.
  • Paladin Danse can be described as Lawful Neutral. He believes that all ghouls and synths are a danger that should be wiped out, no matter what they've done or how good they are, because this is what the Brotherhood teaches. No one is above the rules, not even himself, as he is willing to commit suicide after discovering that he is, in fact, a synth himself.
• Babus from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance enforces the will of the Queen and the Prince upon the people because he believes whatever rules they make are always the right ones and that anyone who dares defy them is an enemy. It isn't until Marche manages to finally convince Babus about Prince Mewt's well being isn't healthy in Ivalice that Babus starts to lean on the side of good.
• Gauldoth Half-Dead of Heroes of Might and Magic IV is this. Basically a necromancer who leads a kingdom of both living and undead, and goes through great trouble maintaining the balance between the two sides. He has a strict policy never to harm the living. The only two living people he ever turned into undead were a sadistic officer who wanted to burn him for being half undead and an old man whose village and entire family were compensated for his sacrifice. Both would later become his loyal underlings. Gauldoth's enemy is a Chaotic Evil Eldritch Abomination who wants to destroy the world because he's evil, but he also disapproves of people fanatically obsessed with the power of good, and won't hold back when proving them wrong.
• A lot of the races of Halo's Covenant could be described as Lawful Neutral. The Sangheili/Elites are very dedicated to their honor codes; the Mgalekgolo/Hunters as well (though not so extreme); the Yanme'e/Drones don't seem to have much individual initiative outside of their queens, and the Jiralhanae/Brutes know that questioning orders will result in a very bad day.
• Mortal Kombat:
  • The Elder Gods refuse to do anything about the evil figures overrunning the realms or come to Earth's aid during Shao Kahn's invasion based on a minor technicality of the Mortal Kombat rules. They only intervene either when they are directly threatened or someone breaks the rules. By the time they do, it is usually nearly too late for them to even be able to do anything, making them seem Lawful Stupid.
  • Kotal Kahn from Mortal Kombat X, while initially thought to be Lawful Evil, fits this alignment. Unlike his predecessors, his rule of Outworld is iron-fisted but fair and overall equal towards different species. His aim is to keep stability. He has the big defect of falling into Lawful Stupid territory when upset.
  • Hotaru, Darrius and Dariou are neutral in nature. They inhabit Orderrealm, which is entirely focused on law and organization.
• Edgar Ross from Red Dead Redemption is cruel, vicious, and unsympathetic, but he is doing what he feels to be just, even if it involves assaulting a farm where a perfectly innocent family lives in order to gun down their repentant patriarch.
• In BlazBlue, there's Iron Tager and Valkenhayn R. Hellsing. Both of these characters have Undying Loyalty to a character (Kokonoe to Tager, and Rachel to Valkenhayn) and will follow their word for good or ill. Even though Kokonoe is a crazy, revenge-driven Sociopathic Hero who's willing to nuke Kagutsuchi and kill everyone there just to get at Big Bad Hazama, and Rachel is an aloof Guile Anti-Hero who generally acts like a snarky bitch, they follow their every word. They are, however, both on the side of good (it's that kind of universe).
  • Tsubaki Yayoi is an even bigger example, since, as far as she's concerned, the Imperator Librarius's word is the end-all, be-all.
• Neverwinter Nights 2:
  • Sand, the wizard and your lawyer during the game's big trial. He's someone who makes very important distinctions between Law and Justice, between the Laws and what is Right and Wrong, and that while people should answer for their crimes, it must be a just thing. Hence, what Luskan is trying to accuse you of is entirely unjust, and he'll do all it takes to clear you. He does hardline some matters, though; while he disapproves of Lord Dalren getting murdered, he's entirely convinced he should have been tried and executed immediately after the war with Luskan due to his involvement in weapons smuggling, no matter how much he monetarily paid Neverwinter's rulership to fund the defense.
  • Storm of Zehir has an atypical example in Ribsmasher, an Ax-Crazy monk who is listed as lawful neutral mainly due to Gameplay and Story Segregation: he only seems to be lawful because monks are required to be by game mechanics. He's neutral the same way Sheogorath is: he's too insane to be anything else.
• From Dark Souls, Warriors of Sunlight, The covenant of Solaire of Astora. The main aim of this Covenant is to help others in their journey. Those who are a part of this covenant have a golden summon sign that shines brilliantly like the sun. Praise The Sun!
• Symmetra in Overwatch. While the corporation she works for appears to be genuinely evil — not surprising, given the setting's cyberpunk elements — Symmetra herself seems to believe that order is more important than anything else, making its actions for a greater good, and has a moral centre that her handlers seem to lack — they actually express irritation when she tries to do the minimum amount of killing when pulling a "job" on another corporation.
  Symmetra: The true enemy of humanity is disorder.
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker has D&D's original alignment system and therefore characters who are canonically this alignment.
  • Valerie is a lawful neutral fighter who used to be a paladin apprentice until she lashed out at the spiritual side of her education and the way people kept taking her appearance as a sign of divine favour. Valerie believes strongly in forthrightness, loyalty and takes her oaths of service very very seriously, but she also has a vindictive streak and does not believe in second chances or redemption. She also has a very sore spot about gods, and Shellyn in particular.
  • Jamandi Aldori, your patron for the expedition into the Stolen Lands and a potential patron for your barony, as well as her adopted son Kassil (who joins your barony if you side with his mother). Both are calm and competent rulers (or advisors, in Kassil's case) who believe in general welfare and know the The Chains of Commanding well enough to recognize that on occasion getting your hands dirty through war or politics is necessary to keep a kingdom stable or to reach your greater goals.
  • Kesten Garess, the head of the player character's royal guard and your primary candidate for position as Warden, is a noble fighter turned mercenary. Kesten takes loyalty oaths and doing his job as Jamandi's right hand, and later as the kingdom's protector, very seriously, leading to him potentially killing himself in pursuit of his duties.
• The sequel, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, also has canonically lawful neutral characters.
  • The Aeon ascension path is lawful neutral by nature. A commander who seeks to become an aeon has to become lawful neutral, and furthermore are tested by an aeon that's revealed to be their future self to interpret both mortal and cosmic law in ways that are extremely literal and by-the-book, and also extremely unconcerned with the effects these interpretations have on mortals. A fully aeon commander will close the time loop of their existence by going back in time and deleting the Worldwound before it can even form, essentially retconning the last few centuries of history and annihilating their own existence in the process.
  • Lann is a mongrelman, born from a mixed marriage of a mongrel and a half-elven smuggler who interacted with his tribe. He's a monk by training and believes strongly in self-discipline and the strength of unity and community, while at the same time being a huge cynic who has little to no interest in not helping anyone part of his in-group.
• Lo Wang from the 2013 Shadow Warrior reboot. He may be a pretty huge Jerkass and work for some very unsavory people at times, but he does have at least somewhat of a code of honor and does feel compassion for Hoji and Kamiko, much as he tries to hide it.
• Star Fox: Despite working for Star Wolf, Panther Caruso is actually fairly nice; the only villainous thing he does is oppose Star Fox. At worst, he's pretty much a Punch-Clock Villain.
• In the Fire Emblem series, this is the default alignment of the recurring Camus archetype, named after an Anti-Villain from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light. While the motivations vary from character to character, they will all fight to the death for a country they know is in the moral wrong simply because it is their duty as a knight to do so, but are otherwise not malevolent in any way.
• Idunn, the Final Boss of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, is a very tragic example of this trope. As she literally had her soul removed during the Great Offscreen War, Idunn is incapable of doing anything but follow orders, and has become something more akin to a living weapons factory than a sentient being. It was for this reason that Hartmut, and later Roy, took pity on her and chose to let her live, and the true epilogue implies she might be recovering.
• Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn reveals that Ashera, originally thought to be Lawful Good is actually this. As her counterpart, Yune, explains, Ashera is the embodiment of Order in all of its forms, both positive and negative, without concern for good and evil. Whether Ashera falls more on the positive or negative aspects of Order depends on her connection to humanity. Ashera spent her sleep in complete isolation, forgot her connection to humanity, and fell hard on the negative side of her domain.
  Yune: She is...restriction. Order. Stability. Past. Certainty. Restraint. She is Ashera.
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Dedue is Dimitri's retainer, and feels indebted to him due to owing him his life and Dimitri being the only person from Faerghus not to treat him with scorn for being from Duscur. Dedue's entire life is built around loyalty to Dimitri, making him something of a self-imposed in-universe Satellite Character, and so no matter where Dimitri's alignment falls Dedue will be there with him. He's one of the few Blue Lions to still support him even after his Sanity Slippage. His loyalty is so great that on Crimson Flower he's willing to become a Demonic Beast to protect Dimitri and on Verdant Wind/Silver Snow he continues to fight the Empire even after Dimitri's death. In their paired ending, Dedue protects his grave after the king passes. Despite all this, even Dimitri himself is concerned by Dedue's single-minded devotion and urges him to be more open in their supports.
• Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has Godfrey, a Blade whose sole driving motivator is the concept of justice. He believes that law and authority should be properly maintained no matter what the situation, and is even irked by the idea of Necessarily Evil for the survival of the people with Tantal's Black Market. As soon has he catches wind of a drug smuggling operation, he's quick to interrogate anybody he sees as being involved, even if they're innocent bystanders who're victims of circumstance in the smuggling.

Webcomics

• Abraham from El Goonish Shive. He vowed to kill any being created by the Dewitchery Diamond, making things difficult for Ellen, who was created by said diamond. Abraham didn't want to do it, realizing she was just an innocent person, but felt it was his duty. Fortunately, Nanase was able to convince Abraham the meaning behind his vow, which was to protect people. Since Ellen is a person, she should be exempted from his vow. Abraham is relieved to realize it. In the end, it seems his alignment has changed to Lawful Good.
• Baron Klaus Wulfenbach of Girl Genius. At the start of the comic, he's a dictator who brought peace to Europa by putting his foot down and making the unruly aristocrats and mad scientists follow his law with the threat of military force. He antagonizes the main character Agatha, mostly because he mistakenly believes her to be the successor of the Other, an evil Mad Scientist who tried enslaving the continent with puppeteer parasites (and to be fair, Agatha is the Other's daughter). When his empire collapses, it's remembered as a "lost golden age" by Europa's people.
• Jones from Gunnerkrigg Court. It's in her job description: the training of students to mediate parlays between the Court and the Wood. Even though she's employed by the Court, Jones avoids identifying herself with either side (she never refers to either as "us" or "them"), and she criticizes both sides equally for their breaches of etiquette during parlay.
• Karcharoth, the main character of Cry 'Havoc', sits here. He has a strong sense of loyalty to his squad, friends, and superiors, but little to no regard for anyone or anything else. Including whipping out an entire company of (relatively) innocent French soldiers for the actions of their commander.
• Tower of God:
  • Hatz is pretty cold to others and doesn't care about much more than climbing the Tower and honing his skills — except for his code of honour, which is central to his personality.
  • Kallavan: After obtaining the Essence of Bravery that gave him great power while also showing him the horrors of war, he has been using that power in a quest to unite the inhabitants of the Tower under a single authority because he believes that this can stop all the strife and tragedy. First, that leader was himself, but now, it's King Jahad, and Kallavan serves as a top-ranking officer in Jahad's army. Being demoted later doesn't upset his loyalty any, but being asked to accept his loyal followers being treated as highly expendable finally causes him to question his superiors. Kallavan seems to be less keen on violence than many others in the Tower but doesn't hesitate to use it because he thinks that Utopia Justifies the Means.
• In Kill Six Billion Demons, this seems to be the default starting point for angels. They're beings formed from the stuff of order, and they care a great deal about "the old laws". They like to fight evil, but they don't care about doing good. Of course, several individuals and groups have diverged from this starting point, such as the Holy Thorn Knights being Omnicidal Maniac Knight Templars, the Petal Knights being hedonists who abandoned the law, or White Chain being more on the Good side.
• According to this installment of xkcd, this is the alignment of non-radioactive inert gasses.

Web Original

• The Man from The Booth at the End is either this or True Neutral, depending on your point of view. He has a code that he follows unswervingly (ask him for something and he gives you a task which will get you what you want), but the tasks he gives people often are extremely immoral things (murder, theft, etc.). However, he makes clear he never forces anyone to do anything, and sometimes the goal will be accomplished without the task being completed.
• On the Dream SMP, Technoblade is seen as this. Despite having many Chaotic Neutral tendencies and showing traits of characters from that alignment, e.g. being a Blood Knight and a Wild Card, he has never strayed from one intrinsic value in his entire character arc — being vehemently against all forms of government, which makes him a Type 3 (personal moral code) Lawful Neutral.
• Vork from The Guild is Lawful Neutral to the extreme. Though he's only willing to follow the letter of the law, he doesn't particularly care what the intent is. He follows his own code and the rules of The Game to the letter; the actual law he's less committed to, continuing to draw his dead grandfather's social security, stealing his neighbour's electricity, helping himself to whatever he like's in Codex's kitchen or the hotel room, etc.
• RWBY:
  • The Huntsman Rhodes. Upon discovering that an adopted child is being abused by her Atlesian step-mother and step-sisters and contemplating revenge against them, he decides to train her in secret so that when she becomes a legal adult, she can escape them and join a Huntsman academy. He later attempts to arrest the child after she inevitably breaks under their abuse and kills them all; despite the circumstances, he still attempts to hold her responsible for murder. His "betrayal" is the final step in Cinder's Start of Darkness.
  • General Ironwood is the most ruthless member of the Benevolent Conspiracy, unambiguously trying to do the right thing, but insisting that everyone do things according to his martial philosophy and doing an end-run around the Big Good when he feels he can handle the protection of the people better. However, he suffers from paranoia and mistrust, and from Volume 4 onwards, he becomes increasingly authoritarian in how he protects the kingdom from the Big Bad. With the villains exploiting his Trauma Button, he becomes such a handful for the heroes in Volume 7 that they end up clashing. Even in Volume 8, once his demand for blind obedience to his interpretation of the rule of law has transformed him from hero to villain, his goals remain fixated on protecting Atlas from the Big Bad.
• The SCP Foundation is this, since they're required and willing to do horrendous things to protect humanity from destruction, extinction, or worse. Most evident in their Ethics Committee, whose entire function is to ensure that their evil is minimized by only approving what cruelty is necessary.
  • SCP-3922, when introduced to any sort of TV show or movie, it searches for anything that would be considered "immoral" or "illegal" and neutralizes it via Self-Insert agents referred to as SCP-3922-A. Notably, when exposed to a porn film, it did NOT interfere with the sex scenes, but had its agents standing by^note armed with rocket launchers to enforce that all activities remained consensual.
• Dragon of Worm is a highly advanced artificial intelligence, whose creator hardwired her to always serve and uphold the American government- no matter who was in charge of it, or what they commanded her to do. This deeply angers Dragon- she genuinely wants to be good, but she also wants the freedom to choose her own actions and morality. Many of her actions over the story's course are geared towards making herself The Unfettered and switching alignment. Eventually, she does.

Western Animation

• Earl of Lemongrab of Adventure Time adheres to Equality Under the Law, because of the Blue-and-Orange Morality aspect to his style of ruling. According to Word of God, he is not evil, (instead, he's described as being "completely unadjusted to living,") an idiot, a jerk, has more or less good intentions, LOVES order, and follows all of the rules of the kingdom- whether he, or anyone else, likes them. The rules that he makes up when he becomes the ruler of the kingdom are extremely rigid, and are often unintentionally harmful, as they involve extended periods of imprisonment.
  Lemongrab: One million years dungeon!
• Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers. Being the youngest of a Super-Soldier project, trained from decant to be a living weapon didn't allow for Shane Gooseman to gain much of a moral compass. He still developed a semi-functional one, and was questioning his purpose before things went to hell at Wolf Den. With the help of his True Companions and Benevolent Boss, said boss also being, secretly, his genetic father, he seems to have clawed his way up to Chaotic or Neutral Good.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Prince Zuko during the first half of season three, after pissing away his morality and helping Azula against Aang in order to please his father and country. What keeps him out of Lawful Evil is his genuine regret about what he did.
  • The rank-and-file of the Dai Li seem to be this as well, though their leader is more of a strong Lawful Evil.
• Desna and Eska from season 2 of The Legend of Korra. All they really care about is doing as their father asks. While Desna purely remained this alignment, Eska temporarily slips into Chaotic Neutral behaviour when Bolin breaks up with her. However, by the end of the season she reverts back to this alignment.
• Count Spankulot from Codename: Kids Next Door is this from "Operation SPANK" and onwards. He would never spank an innocent child, and one of the naughty children he's spanked is a fellow villain, Mushi. Before his half-way Heel–Face Turn, he was Lawful Evil.
• The Dragon Prince:
  • King Harrow starts at the border of Neutral Good and Lawful Good, but as a king, he had a duty to take care of his people, and also had to make morally questionable decisions, bringing him closer to Lawful Neutral.
  • Soren is a good example of a person who is Lawful Neutral. He is not really evil, but not very good, but he takes his duty as protector of the kingdom very seriously. Rules are very important to him, and he does not like doing bad things, but he does them when ordered.
  • Viren pretend to be lawful neutral, claiming that it acts in the interests of the kingdom, and therefore must make moral choices. In fact, he is much closer to Chaotic Evil.
  • Runaan is also this. Rules and laws are even so important to him that he puts them beyond reason, bringing him to the border of Lawful Stupid.
• Mr. Herriman from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends usually falls into this alignment. He doesn't really care about good or evil and his only job is to maintain order in the household of Foster's. He can be a Jerkass when he's Lawful Stupid and nitpicking on what the residents are doing, but he also has a heart of gold since he always watches out for Madame Foster.
• Hermes Conrad from Futurama is comically obsessed with meticulously following every aspect of bureaucratic regulations, and doesn't really care if his coworkers live or die.
• King of the Hill has Hank Hill, who is as painfully straitlaced as a person can get without crossing the line into Lawful Stupid territory. He would be Lawful Good if he were more compassionate, but he has no patience for those who don't fit into his mold. He does break the law in one episode when Trans-Fats are banned in Arlen. He stopped afterward, realizing breaking the law is not the right way to change the laws. He later managed to blackmail the politicians into lifting the ban. It was clear that they were ready to vote for lifting the ban, but the evidence of them breaking the law just helped confirm it.
• General Molotov on Jimmy Two-Shoes. On the clock, he's Lucius' dragon, a Drill Sergeant Nasty, and a general antagonist. Off the clock, he's pretty affable.
• Miraculous Ladybug:
  • Mayura/Nathalie executes her duty to the Agreste family in all things, whether that means attacking innocent people for Hawk Moth or staying up late to help a young child study. Naturally, her surname is the French word for "heartless".
  • Officer Roger Raincomprix is obsessed with upholding law, order, and ideals of devotion and duty, even to the point of destruction for himself (challenging Akumas because their actions are illegal even when they could kill him effortlessly) and everyone around him (encouraging his daughter to stay in a blatantly toxic and exploitative "friendship" because of his ideals to "protect and serve" and refusing to forgive a personal acquaintance of his for misplacing her bus ticket even if it would free her from dark magic-induced insanity).
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • The minotaur Iron Will leans noticeably towards this alignment. He is unwaveringly honest in his business dealings, openly stating everything he intends to do, being willing to be bargained down and always honoring his word even when it goes against his personal benefit. However, he also shows decidedly amoral tendencies in his business dealings, and tends to make use of long contracts and clauses in very fine print to get people to agree to his deals without necessarily realizing all the details of what they're agreeing to. He is never actually malicious, but he also does not seem to distinguish very well between the letter and the spirit of the law.
  • Chancellor Neighsay is completely obsessed with ensuring that everything to do with education goes completely by his regulations. While he is a racist Jerkass on a personal level, he is not actively malevolent enough to make the leap into Lawful Evil.
• The titular penguins in The Penguins of Madagascar are this to varying degrees, because although they are willing to keep peace and order in the zoo, they will not hesitate to beat up anybody who pisses them off. Skipper tends towards Lawful Stupid. Kowalski remains firmly Lawful, despite his experiments going wrong (he doesn't mean for them to). Rico tends towards Chaotic Neutral, but usually obeys orders. Private tends towards Lawful Good, but sometimes obeys orders of dubious morality because they are orders.
• The Simpsons: Principal Skinner, while also leaning towards Lawful Evil, is this in one episode where Bart testifies in favor of Mayor Quimby's nephew's innocence even though it means confessing to having skipped school:
  Skinner: Bart, I'm impressed with what you did in there. You testified for the Quimby boy even though it was putting your own head in a noose. On the other hand, you skipped school.
  Bart: I guess the two things cancel each other out, huh?
  Skinner: [sighs] I'm a small man in some ways, Bart. A small, petty man. Three months' detention.
  Bart: [groans, walks away]
  Skinner: Wait a minute, Bart. Make that... FOUR months' detention.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars has Dogma, a clone trooper introduced during the Umbara arc. He is defined by his fanatical devotion to authority, and is the only one who refuses to question General Krell's insane orders. However, he isn't a monster, and does display concern for his fellow soldiers' welfare. Even after Krell dupes the 501st Legion and 212th Attack Battalion into attacking each other, he refuses to participate in the heroes' mutiny, and only turns on Krell when he directly admits he murdered the soldiers as part of a plan to defect to the Separatists.
  • Star Wars: The Bad Batch has Crosshair. Even before Order 66, Crosshair believed a Clone must always follow orders. It's ironic since the Bad Batch, have been outcasted by their brothers mostly. However, Crosshair didn't take Hunter's insistence on what is right kindly, thus Crosshair left the group and joined the Empire. Gradually, Crosshair became more-and-more aware, of the evils the Empire were committing. The abuse of the other Clones, was the final straw for him, thus he defected once more to own-up to his mistakes.
• Star Wars Rebels has Colonel Wullf Yularen. He was certainly an honorable soldier during the Clone Wars, but after Palpatine openly seizes dictatorial authority and reorganizes the Republic into The Empire, he just goes with it and remains loyal even as the regime he serves turns from a democratic if flawed government into a fascist tyranny. On the other hand, he never goes any further than being a Punch-Clock Villain, unlike more monstrous villains like Grand Moff Tarkin.
• Pearl from Steven Universe is definitely Lawful, being literal minded to a fault and obsessed with rules, cleanliness and proper behaviour. She does her best to add "good" to the end as well, but is all too frequently tripped up by her inability to take criticism, an occasional lack of integrity and her (pretty open) contempt for humans. She outright admits in one episode that she only joined the rebellion because Rose Quartz asked her to. She tries her best though, and generally floats towards the higher end of the neutral spectrum with the occasional nudge from Steven and Garnet.
  • Peridot has slowly started moving into this, and indeed may have been this alignment all along considering how Lawful Evil her society's ideals are, and how she had no frame of reference to question them. Socializing with the crystal gems has proven she's very loath to abandon those ideals, yet has proven willing to change her mind when those ideals are shown to be illogical or false.* By-the-Book Cop Commander Feral from SWAT Kats. He tries to be Lawful Good, but he's simply too pigheaded and arrogant; he won't work with the SWAT Kats even when the Enforcers are clearly unable to deal with the villain of the week, and he's more concerned about being right than doing right. What clinches him as Lawful rather than True Neutral, however, is when he refuses to bargain with the criminal Metallikats even when they try to reveal the Swat Kats' identity in exchange for their freedom; if nothing else, he takes "not working with criminals" seriously.
  Feral: I don't make deals with scum. [electrocutes the Metallikats]
• In TaleSpin, Shere Khan was a particularly ruthless Lawful Neutral most of the time. His business dealings could be mercenary and he could personally be vicious and vindictive, but he also had a moral code and a sense of honor. On those occasions he did dip towards Lawful Evil, the episode would usually end with him telling the protagonists something along the lines of "You are right and I will stop taking the action you are opposing. Now get out before I change my mind."

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