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Neutral Good

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"I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong."

The Character Alignment of sweetness and light. A Neutral Good character will usually comply with laws if doing so benefits the greater good, but rebel against those they consider unjust or which conflict with the greater good.

There are different kinds of Neutral Goodness:

  • Passively Good — they have fairly normal lives and ambitions, but will do good as the situation arises. They will help anyone they come across who needs it, then get back to their normal routine. They are most likely to be good towards family, friends, and those within their social circle (if they are a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, to the extent allowed), though they have no issue with helping strangers. They may even do volunteer work or other do-gooding that they find personally satisfying. At the same time, they do not view Good as the concept that defines their lives — for them, Goodness is an obligation, or even just their nature. They will do what Good they like or what needs to be done, and then they will go home and carry on as normal.

  • Actively Good — for them, Goodness is an Ideal as well as (or, less likely, instead of) an obligation. They devote themselves to a life of Goodness and doing Good is the most important thing in their lives or one of at least. They believe in doing what is Right and may sacrifice personal happiness, perhaps even in advance, in pursuit of that. If they are not an Ideal Hero, they admire and seek to imitate them. This type wants to do good, to go out and have adventures and to right wrongs and fight evil, but might be unprepared for the harsh realities they have to face, though they will probably have strong enough principles and beliefs that this will not stun them for long. Alternatively, Comes Great Responsibility is in play and they feel that doing good is their duty — this does not make them Lawful Good but means that they will do good regardless of whether Lawfulness is in play.

Neutral Good can be the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. Neutral Good characters value freedom and will protect others' freedom as long as it's not used to do harm. Likewise, they respect and will try to obey laws, again, as long as they're not used to do harm.

A Neutral Good character is not too caught up in Order Versus Chaos; they are concerned with moral goodness, but often not willing to enforce it in others. Something of a 'classic' hero or adventurer alignment as seen in many RPGs and JRPGs, as well as many anime series, particularly Shōnen or more optimistic Seinen works.

A Neutral Good character is sometimes a Friend to All Living Things and/or a Technical Pacifist, but they don't necessarily have to be either. Just think "basically good person" and you've probably got it. If they do decide to take up arms, they may have a particular affinity with kneecap and other non-lethal shots.

Neutral Good states may be really nice places to live, but depending on how idealistic the setting is, they may be deluding themselves. Neutral Good characters tend to suffer more personal conflicts in Grey-and-Gray Morality settings with Order Versus Chaos themes.

However, before you all run up to this alignment expecting it to hand out unconditional love and free cake, a small word of caution: if this alignment is combined with Good Is Not Soft, things can get interesting. That is to say, someone who will always, always do what they believe is right, and won’t let either laws or personal freedoms get in their way. If played properly alongside Good Is Not Nice, this alignment can be downright scary.

When it comes to fighting evil, the Neutral Good character is probably the best equipped and the most dangerous hero to face for the bad guys. While they will follow the law if it's best and even make friends with people in authority, they will, without hesitation, say Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!. So to a Lawful Evil character, the laws are no protection against a Neutral Good character, who will dispense with finding evidence to convict the villain in lieu of taking him out. If just killing the bad guy is the best way to go, then the Lawful Evil baddy had best have an army to protect him, because Neutral Good only takes the rules as helpful suggestions. Chaotic Evil would also have issues against Neutral Good characters because they tend not to be caught up in causes like the Lawful Good hero or have the issues of a Chaotic Good hero, so any attempt by a Chaotic Evil character to Break Them by Talking or a Hannibal Lecture about how they aren't so different will usually be met with Shut Up, Hannibal! or Talk to the Fist. In much the same way that pragmatism and being The Unfettered make Neutral Evil the most dangerous evil alignment, that same pragmatism and willingness to go for the most straightforward solution makes Neutral Good, arguably, the most dangerous good alignment.

Like Chaotic Good, characters/people of Neutral Good are driven by an internal, rather than external, code of morality, known as their conscience. The difference between Chaotic and Neutral here is that Neutral Good is more pragmatic and usually (although not always) more moderate. Neutral Good's internal definition of Goodness is what directs them, irrespective of the presence or absence of an externally enforced legal code. If abiding by the law is the most expedient means of accomplishing a goal that is internally defined as Good, then that is what Neutral Good will do. If, on the other hand, they live in an environment with laws that they consider unjust, or which impede them in doing what they internally define as Good, then they will quite happily (although usually a bit more hesitantly and carefully than Chaotic) break said laws.

Neutral Good is primarily dangerous because the alignment is primarily concerned with Good results, whereas the means employed to achieve those ends are usually considered irrelevant. A fanatical Neutral Good can therefore be just as dangerous as Chaotic Good if their internal heuristics get screwed up.

Although Pure Good characters stereotypically tend to be considered Lawful Good, that isn't necessarily right: they can be Neutral Good or even Chaotic Good as well. Neutral Good may even be the purest alignment, as lawful or chaotic characters are, by definition, beholden to concepts other than goodness and can thus be kind of extremists.

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


If you have difficulty deciding which alignment a good-aligned character belongs to, the main difference between Lawful Good, Neutral Good, and Chaotic Good is not their devotion to good, but the methods they believe are best to promote it:

  • Even though there are some situations where they can't always use this method, Lawful Good 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. Depending on whether they are more Lawful or more Good, they will either refuse to break the code even though it would hurt someone, or else break it only very reluctantly, and only when it would hurt someone if they kept their code. Lawful Good characters have to be very good at Taking A Third Option.
  • Neutral Good characters are indifferent to Order Versus Chaos, and their only interest is in doing good. They will use whatever means will promote the most good, whether that means tearing down a code of laws, following a code of laws, creating an orderly society, causing the breakdown of harmful kinds of order, or staying away from society altogether. Their only goal is to do good, full stop.
  • Most Chaotic Good characters don't constantly break the law, but they cannot see much value in laws (or, for weaker-CCGs, do not see the value in laws that do not function solely to punish evil). 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 good. They do not get along with anyone who tries to instill any kind of order over the Chaotic Good character or others, believing these people to be restricting their freedom and the freedom of others; however, most Chaotic Good characters will respect the right of others to impose strong codes of conduct on themselves. Chaotic Good characters often focus very strongly on individual rights and freedoms, and will strongly resist any form of oppression of themselves or anyone else.


Neutral Good character types include:

Others, such as the Ideal Hero, All-Loving Hero, Small Steps Hero, and Friend to All Living Things, can vary between Lawful Good, Neutral Good, and Chaotic Good.


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.

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Shaman King's Yoh Asakura is definitely one, more concerned about saving people who were trying to kill him than killing them, and his neutral outlook on things infuriate the X Laws, who believe themselves to be Lawful Good.
  • Belldandy of Ah! My Goddess is entrusted with greater power than her sisters because she is this.
  • Jim Hawkings of Outlaw Star. Despite his age, he's the most mature and responsible member of the group, being the one who handles all of the cash, finds jobs for them, pays the bills, and otherwise devotes himself to the exasperating task of organizing and caring for Chaotic Neutral slacker Gene Starwind. What keeps him from being Lawful Good is the fact that he's a Child Prodigy hacker who often uses his code-breaking skills in less-than-legal ways.
  • Mai Tokiha and Arika Yumemiya, main characters of, respectively, My-HiME and My-Otome. Both girls are not above breaking their respective schools' (Fuuka Gakuen and Garderobe) rules if it's necessary to do the right thing. The latter especially fits this alignment, considering she's a Friend to All Living Things.
  • Of course, Gundam has characters in this alignment.
    • Shiro Amada is perfectly willing to violate the common sense of war and the military rules to save the lives of everyone, even including his enemies (or at least, some of them, depending on the actions that define their nature), from death in battlefields.
  • Kira Yamato from Gundam SEED, particularly after he becomes a saintly Martial Pacifist. In the same series, Murrue Ramius. She recognizes the value of the law and tries to abide by it as much as she can, but follows her own conscience first even if it means breaking laws or military regulations in the name of the greater good.
  • Hime Utsumiya, the messianic, redheaded Tsundere from Brain Powerd. She respects the orders of her superiors and has no problem with authority, unlike Chaotic Good Yuu. Still, her main concern is saving the world and protecting people, and would much rather talk with the Reclaimers than fight them. Actually, most people from Novice Noah fit this alignment.
  • Sailor Moon and the inner Sailor Senshi from Sailor Moon are pretty much the definition of this trope. They fight to protect everyone in the name of love and justice and also try to redeem the villains they battle whenever they get the chance. The Outer Senshi, not so much, with the exception of Sailor Pluto who is Lawful Good.
  • Touta Matsuda from Death Note arguably falls into this category when he's not being Stupid Good. He's not driven to catch Kira because of the law, and at one point, it is no longer his job to do so; he intends to catch Kira because he wants to make his Lawful Good mentor Soichiro Yagami proud of him. He does also have a serious affinity for non-fatal shots, as mentioned in the description.
  • Shane Caxton from Black Lagoon. Yes. Black Lagoon. One of the few characters in there you can get sympathetic with. Sure, he would gladly take any order for his country, but he's a rather good, inspiring leader, and he would never, never harm innocents or let innocents (especially children) get screwed up and is ready to take any consequences for that. And he's willing enough to trust a gun to a vengeful child whose father he had killed in the line of duty.
  • Jushiro Ukitake and Shunsui Kyoraku of Bleach. While they are willing to detain the intruders who are trying to save Rukia (but not kill them), Ukitake tries to appeal to stop Rukia's execution, and when that fails, he and Kyoraku destroy the Sokyoku. The two of them believe that occasionally, people have to carry out justice on their own.
    • Retsu Unohana as well, going by her willingness to heal any injured people she and her lieutenant come across, including those technically on the other side, and exiles from Soul Society, the Visored. Somehow, the first three mentioned here all had Knight Templar Yamamoto as their mentor. However, when it comes to her old past as Yachiru Unohana, she becomes at best Chaotic Neutral, at worst Chaotic Evil, being a bloodthirsty criminal who still is the worst criminal of Soul Society, even surpassing Aizen. It's still a mystery why she decided to turn a new leaf and become more Neutral Good when things are all sunny.
  • Negi Springfield from Negima! Magister Negi Magi, a cute ten-year-old Chick Magnet and descendant of an exceptionally powerful wizard who's devoted to protecting all of his 31 students (who all happen to be cute in their own special way). While he generally tries to act like a proper Welsh gentleman, he consistently defies orders even if given direct orders to stop one of his students' plans, much less uphold the Masquerade of keeping magic secret, he will instantly and without hesitation break every rule if it so much as gets in the way of his students having fun, never mind when they are in actual danger. It's especially evident when he chooses to learn forbidden Black Magic if only to protect those around him.
  • This alignment applies to Dr. Tenma of Monster. His entire philosophy is that no life has any more inherent value than any other, and he attempts to save as many as possible.
  • In Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto, Sakamoto definitely qualifies in this alignment, due to despite his known coolness, he is pretty much a really kind, selfless and compassionate guy who will always lend a hand if someone's genuinely in trouble and does the right thing.
  • The main character from Hayate the Combat Butler. Not only is he suicidally devoted to anybody who happens to need his help, he also took care of his deadbeat parents as a child instead of running away like a sensible person. He tries to be Lawful Good, but his use of chaotic and pragmatic means to do goodness places him here, like how Maria gives Hayate one million yen to go live outside the mansion for three days after Nagi kicked him out for embarrassing him. Instead of doing that, he uses that money to help people in need, leaving him broke. He's also concerned about his own freedom, which is the main reason why he hired himself as Nagi's Battle Butler so he could pay off his debt and be free of it. He's not battling injustice or upholding the law; he's doing the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing.
  • Kakashi in Naruto believes that breaking rules is bad, but not helping those close to you is worse, and tests all his potential students to see if they will disobey orders in order to help each other. He puts this into practice when, rather than immediately going off to his next mission as Tsunade orders, he goes to find Sasuke. In Kakashi Gaiden, it's noted that he started off as more Lawful Neutral, as a result of his father being ostracized for failing a mission, to save his friends — even by said friends — and committing suicide, but the Neutral Good Obito changed that.
    • A good portion of the rising generation of ninjas is like this, as they typically abide by the rules, but are willing to disobey orders in order to accomplish what they consider important or help those they care about.
    • Naruto is between this and a Chaotic Good. Because even though he breaks the rules, he still respects the shinobi way of learning, and when he does break the rules, it's either helping a friend or doing what's morally right.
  • Rushuna, of Grenadier, a massive Technical Pacifist who primarily uses the tactic of either smiling sweetly or Blasting It Out of Their Hands.
  • Kurogane of Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- . He'd be Lawful Good were it not for his fiercely individualistic streak and bucking the curse placed on him to not fight, but would be Chaotic Good were it not for his devotion to the well-being of his liege Princess Tomoyo and native country.
    • Syaoran also belongs here or at least whichever one is active in the party at any point during the series, as demonstrated by actions like dropping out of an important race in order to save a fellow competitor in danger of getting killed. His more questionable deeds can be blamed on losing his "heart" and reverting to his basic programming or being trapped in a no-win situation made worse by his feelings for Sakura.
  • Jiro "Roji" Kusano of Muhyo and Roji tends to often object to some of the Lawful Good Muhyo's harsher decisions that stem more from his Lawful side (like sending Nana's father to the Styx), until he realizes the motives behind them, and occasionally acts on his own.
  • Dragon Ball:
    • Goku, full stop, at least as an adult, what with being the nicest guy in the universe and all. This is almost summarized in Episode 130 of Dragon Ball Super, when he confronts Jiren (and after Jiren almost kills his teammates):
      Goku: [after flying to the stands and deflecting the attack, barely even keeping his rage in check] I don't think I'm a hero of justice or anything. But those who'd hurt my friends... I won't forgive!!
    • His first son, Gohan, takes after him, becoming the single kindest character in Dragon Ball Z (unless he gets VERY angry). Gohan even creates two superhero identities to solve crimes just because he has the power to do so and thinks it's the right thing to do. This is in stark contrast to the other members of the Dragon Team, who only become active when the Earth is threatened. Although once he becomes an adult and is busy doing work, Gohan falls into the same mold as the others, if not even more, to the point that he almost appears to be True Neutral at times.
  • Hajime no Ippo's Ippo is so polite, nice, and well-meaning that it almost hurts sometimes, feeling sympathy for almost all of his opponents. That said, his devotion to winning even during the toughest of odds leaves him to do whatever it takes, but he still is extremely polite to his opponents even after they lose.
  • Liar Game: Nao Kanzaki is about as Neutral Good as it gets — yes, she'll trick people, but only if they don't trust her enough to believe that she's really looking out for them. And she is — she pays off all her opponents' debts after beating them, even though this will almost certainly leave her with an unpayable (in the 'billions of yen' range) debt at the Liar Game Tournament's end.
  • Alphonse Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist is definitely Neutral Good, conscience-driven, and kind. His brother Edward is Chaotic Good.
    • Winry is also Neutral Good.
  • Gintoki from Gintama fits in this alignment. Usually, he is a useless lazy bum who is happy to go along with rules. However, he won't hesitate to break all rules and throw himself in fire when it comes to protecting those he cares about, whether it is his True Companions in danger or a child Gintoki promised to reunite with his mother.
  • Code Geass: Xing-ke is the rare straight shooter in a world inhabited by characters of conflicted alignments and intentions. His priorities are saving China from the tyrannical Eunuchs and protecting his lady of liege, Empress Tianzi, at all costs.
  • This describes Onizuka-sensei of Great Teacher Onizuka under D&D rules. He may be stupid, selfish, greedy, and the furthest thing from being a mature, responsible teacher, but he'd do anything for his students. He sits here because he isn't particularly Chaotic or Lawful.
  • While most of her guildmates in Fairy Tail are Chaotic Good, Lucy is mostly likely Neutral Good. While she is as motivated by compassion and friendship as everyone else, she lacks the rowdy and anti-authoritarian spirit that is characteristic of chaotic alignments, thus she is also often her guild's Only Sane Man.
  • Haruka Kotoura of Kotoura-san is an excellent example of a NG character facing an Untrusting Community. In her rather depressing backstory, she was born with always-on Telepathy making her an Innocently Insensitive Living Lie Detector in a Crapsaccharine World where Tatemae is a dominant concept, which she is unable to use herself since speech and thought are essentially the same to her. Her classmates soon figured out she has Telepathy, so they unsympathetically outcasted her for being a "compulsive liar" and a "monster". As a result, she soon develops a "jerkass act" that is the epitome of True Neutral as an emotional defense. Fortunately, Haruka develops back into a Neutral Good over the course of the story because deep down, she is a classic Moe sweetheart who wants to do no wrong unto others.
  • From the Pokémon: The Series anime, All-Loving Hero Ash Ketchum. He'll go out of his way to help anybody who's in trouble, even if they're villains. (But if they cross him, he'll still kick their asses.)
  • Endride: Demetrio and the Ignauts are very much Neutral Good, despite being a revolutionary army. It's lampshaded that, although they are clearly an unlawful force, they are not the Robin Hood-esque heroic bandits the protagonist assumes, but rather steadily building a militia that they hope to never seriously use (but will, if they have to). Their goal is to use their numbers to peacefully negotiate with the king to step down in order to protect society from being disrupted by violent conflict since they all have personal experience with being the "little guy."
  • Yugi Muto from Yu-Gi-Oh! is one of the most kindhearted characters ever, and is willing to forgive anyone who's genuinely remorseful for whatever they did.
  • Mikasa Ackerman from Attack on Titan would go out of her own way to protect Chaotic Good Eren. No matter how grim things got, she always had hope for Eren even if it meant risking her own life. In such an apocalyptic world, Mikasa never loses her belief in the greater good, which in turn makes her one of the best Titan killers around.
  • It's not hard to find a character in Black Bullet who fits this alignment, but the most noticeable examples include Rentaro Satomi (especially during the Fugitive arch), Enju Aihara (a Nice Girl who is mostly ostracized by society), and even Tina Sprout (the antagonist of volume 2, but still fits this bill since she was an assassin who'd show hesitation to kill and is generally a Nice Girl).
  • Sword Art Online's main protagonist Kirito, a Nice Guy with Chronic Hero Syndrome who is willing to help others in need fits into this bill. There are times he is willing to break the rules or damage his own reputation to do what is right, but he is willing to work with Reasonable Authority Figures to investigate certain incidents.
  • Mikiya Kokutou from The Garden of Sinners is the most compassionate and caring character in the story, who goes out of his way in his attempts to help even the worst psychopaths (which, accidentally, makes him irresistible to said psychopaths, his love interest Shiki being chief among them). In his pursuit of the others' happiness, he regularly disobeys explicit instructions and occasionally breaks the law, although he always views it as a necessary evil.
  • Kimagure Orange Road has its heroine Madoka Ayukawa. She's very selfless, and usually polite and serious, though she starts out as a bit rough but if she has to save others from bad guys, she reveals to be a real fighter, tends towards Chaotic Good.
  • Puella Magi Madoka Magica as well. It has its titular heroine who essentially is Neutral Good, very selfless, socially polite and shy, but reveals to have more Chaotic Good than Lawful Good traits, as she's willing to break the law when she becomes the new god.
  • Hunter × Hunter has Leorio who lost a friend because of an illness. He wants to become a doctor to help ill people, doesn't kill anyone, and just fights against his enemies. He's a bit more Chaotic Good than Lawful Good, but still, Neutral Good is his alignment.
  • Lycoris Recoil has its protagonist Chisato Nishikigi. She strives to be Lawful Good by demonstrating all the hallmarks of a breakaway benevolent entity with lawful ideals, sure, but at the end of the day what she does is following her conscience, and if the question is either To Be Lawful or Good, she'll choose to be good. Her ultimate goal as an All-Loving Hero is to maintain peace and help others no matter what.
    • Her partner Takina also belongs here. She may appear True Neutral at first for her former cold and ruthless mindset, but especially after Character Development thanks to Chisato turns her into a nicer person, it's clear she wants to help others along with Chisato, and she resorts to non-lethal violence against enemies just like her.
  • Ranma ½ has Yamato Nadeshiko Kasumi (very sweet, and more Lawful than Chaotic) and Akane (generally a Nice Girl, but with more Chaotic tendencies when she gets angry). The other main characters are Chaotic Good (except the morally neutral ones).
  • What about Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai's protagonist Sakuta Azusagawa? He's calm and serious, yet very compassionate Nice Guy with Chronic Hero Syndrome who helps everyone in need and can't say no; every arc of the series is based on a girl he helps by solving her so-called Adolescence Syndrome case. Still, he is rather indifferent to social conventions and simply cares about doing what's right, be it lawful or not.
    Sakuta: Because everyone is doing it... Because everyone says so... Who's this everyone anyway?
    • Mai, of course, counts as well. She's a kind, compassionate Nice Girl just like him, who cares about others; when Sakuta solves her issue, and people recognize her existence again, she helps him, telling in front of their school that the rumours about Sakuta being a violent delinquent are fake, and also suddenly starts helping Sakuta's little sister Kaede, who is a Hikikomori. She helps Sakuta solve every case of the Syndrome, until the end where she decides to be killed, hit by a car, instead of him and Shoko, saving both of them.
    • To be fair, as this is a rather idealistic series, practically every character is a Nice Guy who fits this alignment. Shoko, Rio, Kaede, Nodoka, Tomoe and Yuuma all would fit.
  • Tanjiro of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is a kind, friendly young man who has no problem breaking the rules of the Demon Slayer Corps to do what he thinks is right - particularly when it comes to things like sparing any Ascended Demons he encounters, including Nezuko, which is strictly against Corps rules and even gets him put on trial.
  • Record of Ragnarok: Adam is presented here as the truly ideal man, who despite hating the the gods (with very good reason) is not motivated by it; he fights simply to protect humanity, for he loves all of humanity as his very own children, and he is adored by them in turn. Even his acts of defiance that saw him banished from Eden were all for his beloved wife.

    Comic Books 
  • Wonder Woman is arguably this, as she tends to be able to break rules (her own and those of society) when the situation calls for it but also doesn't needlessly break them (she is an ambassador to Man's World, after all).
  • Civil War (2006) more or less locked Captain America into Neutral Good, though some would still argue he's Lawful Good. Considering that he has twice given up his name because he disagreed with the actions of the American government, there's definitely an argument that he's been Neutral Good for a long time. Simultaneously, Tony Stark, who had long been more of a Millionaire Playboy hero that did what he felt was right, became Lawful Good / Lawful Stupid at the same time.
  • Spider-Man. What sets him most into this area is his motivation: he's a good guy because his Uncle Ben would have wanted him to be a good guy. He's not battling injustice or upholding the law; he's doing the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing. He's willing to work with the authorities when they're willing to work with him, but his perpetual status as a Hero with Bad Publicity means that he's on the wrong side of the law as often as the other.
  • The Blue Lantern Corps is composed of hopeful individuals who are equally concerned with helping everyone, whether evil or good, chaotic or lawful. They are the Badass Pacifist corps, if there ever was one.
  • While often portrayed as Lawful Good, Superman can sometimes be this. While he tries to maintain good relations with the law, he isn't above going against the letter of the law if he feels it is the right thing to do. (The storyline "Last Son" comes to mind, where he rescues a Kryptonian boy... by smashing up an armoured government transport. He knew where the boy was by attacking a secure government location and making them tell him. See? Neutral Good). However, Superman was much more visibly Neutral Good back when he was first created. At the time, he was a borderline vigilante who often dealt with societal problems that the regular authorities could not or would not touch. Also, take into account that Superman is basically an illegal immigrant or refugee whose foster parents falsely claim him as their biological son. Superman's very presence on Earth is an infraction against the law, so his boy-scout demeanor might just be compensation for this.
  • Tim Drake initially came off as this when he became the third Robin. Although he had lost his mother to a criminal (who also severely injured his father), revenge and punishment has never been his motivation. He became Robin because Batman needed a Robin to save him from his own darkness. Jason Todd had been dead for several years now, Dick Grayson was firmly established as Nightwing, and he was the only one with the skills and motivation to fill the void. Tim is one of the few people who Batman feels will eventually surpass his teachings and actually improve on his crimefighting methods. The other is Dick Grayson himself, who also falls into this alignment.
  • Boy Blue from Fables. He generally lived by Fabletown's laws, but when he found out his lost love might be alive, he stole the most powerful magical artifacts in town and went off after her.
  • This seems to be the default alignment for members of the Bat-Family. Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, and Tim Drake all potentially qualify, motivated mostly by a desire to help people. Some, though, tend to veer off elsewhere, as with Lawful Good Cassandra Cain, Chaotic Good Stephanie Brown, Chaotic Neutral post-Face–Heel Turn Jason Todd, and True Neutral / Chaotic Neutral Damien Wayne, and these ones tend to be noticeably more arms-length (and, coincidentally, are all the offspring of villains). Bats himself swings all over the Alignment scale (Depending on the Writer) but is generally considered either Lawful Good or Chaotic Good.
  • Doctor Strange is this with shadings of Lawful Good. He wants to protect his dimension from esoteric monsters and preserve what is good in the world, and he will work for (or against) anyone to achieve this goal.
  • The Flash family covers the whole "Good" alignment axis, with Wally West holding down the Neutral Good fort. Wally's got one of the least complicated origin stories of his generation of superheroes — he got superpowers and decided he'd use them to help people. While he set out to work within the framework of law and order set by his mentor, Barry Allen, and is generally respectful of the laws of the land, he wasn't opposed to stepping outside of that framework when circumstances supported it and has worked with his baddies to achieve a common goal, befriended a (not particularly evil) super-villain or two, and joined a Black Ops group when he thought it would serve the greater good.
  • X-23 tends to fall under either this or Chaotic Good since joining the X-Men, though leaned more towards True/Chaotic Neutral in her origin books and NYX.
  • Matt Murdock/Daredevil would fit into this. During the day, he's a crusading attorney, using the law to bring justice to those who need it the most. By night, he's a vigilante who, while he doesn't kill, doesn't have qualms about putting a guy in a body-cast if he really deserves it.
  • Silver Surfer, when he's not serving Galactus, flies around the cosmos helping those in need without lawful or chaotic motives. His neutral goodness is so strong that his soul actually caused pain to Hell's overlord Mephisto when he tried to take it.
  • Starman (DC Comics): Jack Knight, the protagonist of this acclaimed comic book, starts more or less as Chaotic Good. He is the somewhat rebellious son of a Golden Age superhero who agrees to continue his father's legacy, but on his own terms. He is kind-hearted and loves Opal City, but he is also a tattooed Deadpan Snarker who thinks of himself as being a bit too cool for tights and codenames, and proudly claims he never got along with cops. Gradually, he comes to respect the Starman legacy more and more, and fully switches to Neutral Good when he befriends the O'Dare family, a clan of Opal City cops. From this point on, Jack works in partnership with the police whenever he needs to.
  • Rung in The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye is a kindly, gentle soul, who's dedicated his life to helping others; he's not precisely nonviolent, but he clearly views it as the last option for more reasons than just his being bad at fighting. While he has his faults and his secrets - everyone on the Lost Light does - he's also the guy who comforts Fortress Maximus moments after Max had been holding him at gunpoint because he knows Max is severely traumatised and isn't responsible for his actions. He also lacks both Rodimus's freewheeling approach and Ultra Magnus's perpetual clench; his primary goal, almost all the time, is helping others. When they find that he's an amnesiac Primus, he gives his life to create the twelve Matrices that will save the day, and even knowing full well that this was going to be the end of him, his last act before that is to tell two people to forgive themselves and find peace, literally trying to help others right up to the end - and, afterwards, his death brings about the first new wave of living Cybertronians in a long time.
    Rung: I've been around for a while, now. I've learned to forgive anything.
  • Death in The Sandman (1989), of all things. She is portrayed as an All-Loving Hero who tries to comfort the dying even as she takes their souls to the afterlife, as she knows full well how much mortals fear death.

    Comic Strips 
  • The Phantom is a strong proponent of order, law, and justice in his jungle and country, holding positions of authority and making sure criminals get not only caught but tried properly whenever possible. However, when he's out fighting bad guys by himself, he takes a rather straightforward approach to things and habitually uses his ninja-esque skills to evade, disable, or bypass guards and officers of the law, who tend to find him suspicious for understandable reasons. He also makes a habit of intimidating his way past "no dogs allowed" restrictions, pointing out that it's a wolf, not a dog.

     Fan Works 
  • Most of the heroes in Child of the Storm:
    • The Avengers, who are noted to follow the law when they think it is right, and ignore it completely when they think it is not - though the Avengers bob around towards the darker end of the border between this and Chaotic Good as they also ignore laws when it is merely convenient.
    • Harry Thorson, the story's chief protagonist, starts out as a Passive example, before shifting hard to the darker end of Chaotic Good after a Trauma Conga Line early in the sequel, and finally settling back onto an Active example of this after becoming a Knight of Faith (albeit of the less obedient sort). Most of his friends, Uhtred (Harry's Oathman who takes his duties very seriously), excepted, lean towards this. The divide is between Active (his outside-of-Hogwarts friends) and Passive (his Hogwarts friends - though Harry stops them when they try to become Active in the sequel because he wants to protect them).
    • Jean Grey and Clark Kent, both generally noted to be among the purest and sweetest characters in the series, qualify as this because of their sweetness and light, but for different specific reasons. Jean is preoccupied with doing good, primarily by looking after and protecting those around her, and is generally a well-behaved and rule-abiding young woman. She also threatens to dismantle SHIELD if they even blink the wrong way at Harry, her cousin and little brother substitute, or Maddie, her stolen at birth twin sister. Clark is preoccupied with keeping his head down, but compulsively helps people, even at the cost of routinely breaking and entering to get information, and routinely performing acts of vigilantism.
  • Vow of Nudity: Spectra is listed as this on her character sheet, mostly because she is so cosmically unlucky that she (justifiably) has very little faith in any system, from the societal ones that ruined her life to the natural ones that punish her every time she does anything to try and better her life. But she remains Good because, despite everything, she never stops trying to do the right thing, even after it inevitably blows up in her face and leaves things worse than if she hadn't done anything at all.

    Films — Animation 
  • Emmet in The LEGO Movie. The antagonist wants law and order, the other heroes are freedom fighters, but Emmet is just some everyman. He enjoys living in an orderly world but is ready to trade it in when he realises the sinister machinations behind his neat and tidy existence. His alignment is also helpful in the scene where the Master Builders are trying to build a submarine, but because they come from different sets, are unable to work together. Emmet's by-the-book attitude is what ultimately saves them.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Star Wars:
    • Luke Skywalker. What else can you say about a guy who was effectively turned into a weapon aimed at the Empire... who then won the crucial battle with love?
    • In support of the above, you could say each of the three original films features Luke going off the rails in some way, to do what's right. In A New Hope, as the last remaining X-Wing pilot in the Death Star assault, he disengages his ship's targeting computer to allow The Force to guide his single, crucial shot. Then in The Empire Strikes Back, he basically deserts the Alliance to go to Dagobah for Jedi training, and practically deserts again in Return of the Jedi, leaving the mission on the Endor moon to surrender himself to Darth Vader, not only depriving his forces of a key warrior but also leaving himself open to perhaps give up crucial intel to the enemy. Just about anybody else would have been demoted, if not outright court-martialed for these actions.
    • From the prequel movies, Qui-Gon Jinn. His first and last priority is the greater good, and he will follow the rules or break them as he sees fit. Given what happened later, the Jedi Council probably should have listened to him a bit more.
    • This is where Lando Calrissian ultimately ends up. In his backstory he was a Chaotic Neutral smuggler and outlaw like Han Solo, but by the time of his initial appearance in The Empire Strikes Back has evolved into True Neutral territory as the leader of the Bespin Cloud City, whose first priority is to keep the people he leads out of the conflict between the rebellion and the Empire. Vader's repeated abuses of power and eventual occupation of the city and abduction of Solo make him realize the threat the Empire poses, and he joins the rebellion as one of its main generals for the sake of the greater good.
    • Anakin viewed himself as this, willing to do good even if it put him in conflict with the rest of the Jedi. However, his self-perception and his reality may have been very different, as he had strong aspects of Chaotic Good. This was particularly evident in his tendency to question Obi-Wan's decisions, to say nothing of the Jedi Council's, as well as ignoring the rules of the order much of the time. Palpatine's offer of the secret to preventing death resulted in Anakin doing whatever it took to get it. And we all know how that turned out...
    • Although there will always be some question about whether he was Neutral Good or Lawful Good, it's implied in Revenge of the Sith that Obi-Wan Kenobi withheld knowledge of Anakin's relationship from the Jedi Council, and even explicitly states his disagreement with the Council's assignment for Skywalker in the waning days of the Clone Wars. This would imply that, like his old master, Kenobi generally played by the rules but was willing to break them. Of course, it's possible that Kenobi was the only truly Lawful Good member of the Council, and that the rest were Lawful Neutral, which was the reason Palpatine chose to wait until Kenobi was away before making The Reveal to Skywalker. It could also be reasonably argued that the Council had drifted so far into Lawful Stupid that they did Palpatine's work for him. Mace Windu's unrelenting hostility towards Anakin, in particular, tended to only increase the latter's rebelliousness. Anakin might have actually been closer to Neutral Good were his relationship with the Council not quite so adversarial.
    • Padme started out in the prequel trilogy as Lawful Good but as the Clone Wars went on, she became critical of how the Republic was becoming more authoritarian and became Neutral Good in opposition to this development.
  • The Dude from The Big Lebowski, whenever he gets the motivation to do anything. He's way too laid back to want to enforce or tear down society's laws.
  • Axel Foley from Beverly Hills Cop. A policeman, but one who often does not go by the book, and even fractures the occasional law in the interests of what's right in the long run.
  • Will Turner from Pirates of the Caribbean. He really would like to be Lawful Good, and he does his best at it, but... well, piracy is In the Blood.
  • While he initially claims to be True Neutral, Rick of Casablanca is actually this, as re-encountering Ilsa and learning of Victor's plight reignites his latent idealism and drives him to do whatever he can both within the system and extralegally to thwart the Nazis' efforts.
  • The eponymous heroine of Amélie, who pretty much makes being altruistic and bringing happiness to people around her the point of her daily life — within the rules if possible, but (mildly) breaking them if need be.
  • Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid is the utterly perfect Cool Old Guy example. He is an incredibly skilled martial artist and a kind teacher, but he wouldn't harm a fly (figuratively speaking) other than in the sake of defense of himself or another.
  • In the TRON universe, Lora Baines-Bradley, Roy Kleinberg, and their digital counterparts Yori and Ram, seem to fall here. They do have respect for order and law, but more respect for what's right.
    • Lora is the one convincing Alan that they should warn Flynn about Dillinger, and spends her scene with the two of them trying to mediate between Alan's skepticism and Flynn's incessant trolling to get them on the same page.
    • Roy is a quiet, unassuming guy who ends up being the primary motivator behind "Flynn Lives." He'll exhaust the legal and proper methods, and then get into the computer hacking.
    • In a deleted scene, Yori pulls off a highly-illegal power transfer just to give her "husband" a properly sexy welcome home, but otherwise is a simulation debugger.
    • Ram's not as driven to destroy Master Control, as he just wants to get back to his job calculating insurance rates. Even when he's de-rezzing, he's more focused on The Power of Friendship than anything else.
    • Quorra in TRON: Legacy also fits here. Her youth and "more aggressive strategy" is a bit at odds with the elder Flynn's approach, but she is also much more reverent and orderly than Chaotic Good Sam.
    • In the Alternate Continuity of Tron 2.0, Jet also qualifies. He's been in some trouble with the law over unauthorized computer access, but cleaned up his act, enjoying his job building games. He's fairly laid back and easy-going, ("Life's short, Pop, I plan to enjoy it"), but will step up to heroic measures if pushed into it by circumstance. ("People like me, we created this universe. We have a responsibility to keep it safe.")
    • The newest hero in the franchise, Beck in TRON: Uprising, is also this alignment. What he's doing isn't lawful in the slightest, and he's ripping off his hero's identity to fight Tesler, but he's also the kind of guy who will spare the life of a defeated opponent and tries very hard to minimize casualties — enemy, ally, or civilian.
  • Robin Hood in The Adventures of Robin Hood qualifies; while openly at war with the Normans, especially Prince John, he will aid Norman and Saxon equally as need be. When Robin gives Marian a tour of a makeshift hospice he had set up for those victimized by Norman soldiers and tax-gatherers, Marian observes that one of the people he has sheltered was a Norman. Robin answers, "What of it? It's injustice I hate, not the Normans."
  • Jason Bourne from The Bourne Series. Originally a Neutral Evil black-ops agent, he got amnesia and upon discovering his ruthless past, spends his life on the run from the CIA, though still standing up to their more scrupulous, under-the-table dealings.
  • The version of Batman in The Dark Knight Trilogy is this. Though he regularly breaks the law to carry out his mission to protect Gotham, it is because corruption and violence are so prevalent in Gotham that before Batman comes on the scene to motivate the few good cops and city officials, the justice system is basically nonfunctional. In The Dark Knight, when he thinks that his crusade against crime and corruption in Gotham has come far enough that it can be taken over by an inspirational, legally elected city official, he is happy that he might be able to give up his role as Gotham's protector. This is partially so that he can settle down with Rachel, but it's also because one of his goals as Batman is to clean up the city enough so that more legal means of keeping people safe actually work. He also has a strict internal code of honor, but it only consists of one rule, and that is to not kill anyone while fighting crime. He is willing to break the law to protect people, but he doesn't distrust the law, and it is implied that he would like it better if it was possible to protect people without resorting to vigilantism so he could have a normal life.
  • Mary from There's Something About Mary. Not only is she a very kind person in general, she is surprisingly forgiving after learning Ted was stalking her.
  • In Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, this is Doric's official alignment. She has little ideological interest in the outside world and fights primarily to protect her own home and loved ones, the elves who took her in after she was abandoned.
  • Oskar Schindler from Schindler's List, is a re-imagining of the real Businessman, who spared and saved many lives during the Holocaust. This version shows Schindler as an enterprising and successful factory owner. Over time, Schindler grew more and more concern, for the welfare of the Jewish community. He would go so far as to break the law and undermine the Nazis, if it meant saving a few workers. In the end, what Schindler sacrificed for his business, repaid in far much more, than even he didn't expect.

    Literature 
  • Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings, seeing as they all but say his name when they describe Neutral Good in one of the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbooks as "Serving kings and magistrates but not being beholden to them".
    • Frodo Baggins also counts. What makes him neutral is that he wants to destroy the ring and go back to Hobbiton to live a peaceful life. What also makes him good is that he wants no one to carry his burden, and doesn't want them to be corrupted by the ring.
  • Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher, usually slides into an extremely cynical example, though he will swear up and down to being True Neutral. Most Witchers are True Neutral, following a loose code that can be summed up with: kill monsters, get paid, don't involve yourself. Geralt admits to a few that he often makes up new aspects of the code whenever he's offered a job he's not comfortable with as a way to get out of doing it. He refuses to hunt sentient life without an extremely good reason, often goes out of his way to intervene when innocent lives are in danger, and has even professed to feeling bad about killing elven terrorists because their species is going extinct. He rarely associates with causes, because almost all causes in the ambiguously principled world he lives in tend to come with large loss of life, often innocent.
  • Harry Potter:
    • This is the default alignment of Gryffindor House, with its defining traits being courage and chivalry. While they may be respectful towards rules and authority, it never overrides their obligation to do the right thing. Lawful Good and Chaotic Good characters are also seen in the house, but they often gravitate towards this alignment over time.
    • Harry Potter possesses a great capacity for love and faith in his friends. He willingly consults authority figures for help and advice but isn't afraid to subvert them to do what he believes is the right thing (which may or may not be because different authority figures are wrongly persecuting him half the time).
    • Dumbledore also exhibits this alignment as well. He maintains firm discipline at Hogwarts and insists on certain behaviors from students. For example, when he needs Harry to do something while Harry is scheduled for detention, Dumbledore reschedules the detention instead of simply canceling it. At the same time, Dumbledore does subvert — or outright ignores — the rules (especially those of the Ministry of Magic) if they get in the way of defeating Voldemort. Dumbledore is revealed to be Chaotic Good later in the series when details of his past are revealed and his motives come to light. Due to his great age, wisdom, and intelligence, however, his form of Chaotic Good is much more cerebral than usual depictions.
    • Hermione Granger, while she has great respect for rules and authority and starts off the series as a Lawful Good, is willing to bend the rules to do the right thing and save lives — though she doesn't feel good about going against rules.
    • Fleur Delacour/Weasley fits here too, even if she has a problem with vanity.
  • Lu-Tze of Discworld hangs someplace between this and Chaotic Good. He also takes the Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught philosophy to its logical extreme — he tells his apprentice that yes, rules are sometimes obstructive and must be broken to get anything done, but that is why they are there; so that you think before you break them.
  • In The Malloreon, Belgarion walks the fine line between Lawful Good and Neutral Good. While he tries to keep things fair in Riva through the law, he scraps a rule about noblemen not having to pay a specific tax the very second his 'ear to the ground' lets him know it exists. Absolute legal power is fun like that.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire:
    • Daenerys Targaryen is concerned with being a good monarch and with her followers' well-being, whether that entails sticking to her moral code or leading a slave revolt. Though her methods are rather bloody, Daenerys has noble intentions, wants to make the world a better place, and is clearly good by the standards of the setting. Daenerys is more clearly a Neutral Good in the HBO adaptation.
    • Jon Snow. He wants to be Lawful Good like his now deceased father and has a lot of qualities from him, but will bend rules and go against tradition when necessary to do the right thing. Jon is of the heroic variety, has a good moral compass, is noble-hearted and his main concern is protecting the innocent and saving lives, doing his best to uphold his duty. Jon is also a Neutral Good in the HBO adaptation as well.
  • Somewhere between "Literature" and "Comics", there are the protagonists of the X-Wing Series. Wedge Antilles might seem Lawful Good, but will disobey orders, frequently faking interference, if he sees the need. He's a Mildly Military Maverick who gets enough success that the New Republic loves him. He also leaves the New Republic when he finds that the Rogues can't get back at a traitor due to diplomatic immunity, and all of his subordinates follow.
    Antilles: "I joined this Rebellion to fight the Empire's tyranny. Just because we have Coruscant doesn't mean it's ended. The New Republic might not be able to strike at Thyferra, but there are Rebels around who can. I quit."
    Fey'lya: "It would appear, Captain Celchu, that Rogue Squadron is now your command."
    Celchu: "I don't think so. It's been a long time since I've been a civilian. I'm out as well."
  • The Soul Drinkers Space Marines, who following a Gambit Pileup, became fed up to the back teeth with the Imperium and ended up declared Excommunicate Traitoris. They're mostly good guys, unusually compassionate for Space Marines (one of them notes that he feels more regret over killing a Guardsman now that he's holding the gun himself instead of using them as meat-shields) and are having trouble balancing their opposition to Imperial tyranny and its role in protecting people against Chaos.
  • The Stormlight Archive has various orders of the Knight Radiants who get special powers based on making and following Oaths. Windrunner Oaths about protecting others and Edgedancer Oaths about standing up for the forgotten are very much Neutral Good. Windrunners also intentionally contrast with the Lawful Neutral Skybreakers, who hold following the law above morality.
"I will protect even those I hate so long as it is right."
The Third Ideal of the Windrunners
"I will listen to those who have been ignored."
— '''The Third Ideal of the Edgedancers'
  • Rand al'Thor of The Wheel of Time, the hero capable of utilizing order or chaos to advance the side of right. He is ultimately devoted to "the Light" and spearheads the battle against the forces of the "Dark One." His overarching task through most of the series is to unite the various nations of the world under a single banner — his. He often acts as (and is seen as) a chaotic force, overthrowing established traditions and rules, being a usurper. However, when he gains control over a nation, be it by force or trickery, he quickly consolidates his power and brings the nation back under a lawful regime. His more lawful side is best demonstrated in Lord of Chaos when he stresses to the Aiel not to loot the newly conquered kingdom of Caemlyn, saying he wants to avoid anarchy and keep everything nice and lawful until he can put a ruler of his choice on the throne to govern for him.
    • The Big Three (male) heroes all seem to be linked to one of the goods, although there's a good deal of ambiguity. Perrin, despite his "simple blacksmith" protests, seems very fond of an ordered society, which dovetails in nicely with the pack mentality of his old friends. Matt, of course, as the Loveable Rogue, would be the representative of chaos in the group, although this gets tempered quite a bit as the series goes on.
  • The three protagonists of the Green-Sky Trilogy. Raamo finds many of the laws and rituals baffling and illogical and supports something only if it's in the greater interest of peace and joy.
  • In The Dresden Files, Sanya, the Russian Knight Of The Cross, is mostly devoted to the simple act of rescuing innocents and fighting evil. When offered a Holy Sword by an Archangel, he took it despite his lack of belief in God, simply because it allowed him to make up for his dark past and help people in need.
  • Sherlock Holmes (interestingly enough, given his personality) fits this trope to a T: while he dedicates most of his life to upholding law and order, he cheerfully and enthusiastically breaks it when it gets in the way of doing what he thinks is right.
    Holmes: I had rather play tricks with the law of England than with my own conscience.
  • Poirot is quite proud and often annoying but is dedicated to solving crime and bringing murderers to justice. The law doesn't really factor in his actions: he can let murderers go free in the case of an Asshole Victim.
  • Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games is a more cynical Passive Good. Her main goal is to help her family, and during the actual games, she's more focused on helping her friends than killing her opponents — only resorting to slaughter when somebody she loves is in serious danger, and there's absolutely no other option to save the person. However, she also shows a clear distrust for other people and willingly avoids things like political conflict and revolution, instead choosing to concern herself more with the well-being of her friends and family.
  • Tavi, the protagonist from Codex Alera uses whatever tools given to him to do what's right, from becoming a Cursor, AKA. secret police spy, loyal only to the ruler of the land, to breaking a dangerous political prisoner out to end a war.
  • Warrior Cats: Firestar, the protagonist of the first series. He takes the Warrior Code seriously and believes it is essential for any Clan cat to know it and follow it, but he's ultimately willing to skirt around it if he feels it's getting in the way of doing the most morally correct thing. He's often called out by other characters for only following the Code when it suits him as a result; however, one of the points the books' authors are trying to make is that the Warrior Code isn't always right. The protagonists of the following series, most of which are descendants of Firestar, tend to follow in his pawsteps.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Captain Kirk of Star Trek: The Original Series has just enough respect for the Federation to not violate its laws unless he has a damn good reason, as he understands it's probably the best government out there.
    • In his later days, particularly in the movies, Spock tends to flow a bit into this as well, actually allowing emotion in order to quell his internal conflicts. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, when Kirk and McCoy are convicted for Klingon Chancellor Gorkon's assassination, Spock defies Starfleet orders so that he can investigate Gorkon's assassination and save Kirk and McCoy, telling his treacherous disciple Lt. Valeris that "Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end".
  • Commander (later Captain) Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is much more flexible with the rulebook than his immediate predecessor, Captain Picard. When the rules align with his sense of right and wrong, he'll dig in his heels to defend them, but when they become an obstacle to doing what's right, he seems to take a slightly perverse glee in stretching them to the breaking point or just tossing away the rulebook when necessary.
    • From the same series, Doctor Bashir will use his medical knowledge to help anyone who needs it, be it a Federation ally or enemy.
  • Karl ("Helo") Agathon from Battlestar Galactica, probably the most purely good character on the show. A strong case might be made for his being Lawful Good, but his willingness to go beyond or disobey orders puts him more in the Neutral Good category.
  • Shepherd Book and Simon Tam from Firefly. Both seem to have a decent amount of respect for law and order but have no problems breaking any law which endangers their friends or family.
    • Also, Kaylee and Wash from the same show, though they may have chaotic good leanings. They are just generally good, happy (for the most part) people who always try to do what they believe is right. They are also the two least violent people in the show, making them Technical Pacifist.
  • The Avengers (1960s) work with the government but don't particularly care for the law and will simply do what is best.
  • Angel, as the lead in a series rife with Character Development, naturally varies in his alignment, but his default "ensouled" alignment once he gets his own show seems to be Neutral Good: helping others and protecting those who can't do it themselves, no matter the personal cost.
  • In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy herself fits this category. She accepts (somewhat reluctantly) her destiny and then proceeds to fulfill it in her own way. She accepts her Mentor while rejecting his organization. In the end, the only thing certain about her is her devotion to good. Most of her True Companions end up in this category.
  • Some of Jack's closer friends at CTU, like Chloe and Tony, tend to be Neutral Good in that they more often follow orders and the law than he does, but tend to put themselves at risk to help him.
  • iCarly: Carly started off as a Neutral Good person, but shifted towards Chaotic Good in season 3.
  • Sam Winchester from Supernatural started out as this in season one, being the naive, idealistic, and hopeful individual who craves safety and normalcy away from his family's abnormal and dangerous lifestyle of hunting. As the series progresses, Sam goes from being Neutral Good to Chaotic Good throughout seasons two and three and he eventually becomes Chaotic Neutral in seasons four and five.
  • Both JD and Turk from Scrubs are this in contrast to the rebellious natures of Dr. Cox and the Janitor and the more traditionalist beliefs of Carla and strictness of Kelso. Turk even speaks out to Carla at one point that tradition is not as important to him as to her.
  • Most of the characters on ER are of this alignment. In fact, the show seems to go out of its way to praise those on the front lines who are willing to bend or break the rules when required in order to get a decent outcome, while portraying the more Lawful administrators as pigheaded Jerkasses. Conversely, more Chaotic characters, such as Doug Ross or Dave Malucci, tend to see their behaviour rebound catastrophically on themselves or, worse, others.
  • Chuck: Chuck. Placed in a very difficult situation, he works with the NSA and CIA in order to stop bad guys (he leans toward Lawful), but is completely devoted to his friends and family, and is willing to buck authority in order to do the right thing. Think of all the times he didn't stay in the car.
  • Eiji Hino, aka Kamen Rider OOO, helps anyone he comes across and has no plans for the future. At the same time, he accepts long-term contracts with enthusiasm if they will help him help others.
  • Shane Mccutcheon, Bifauxnen of The L Word. Although a good person who's loyal to her friends, she has a reputation as being a heartbreaker since she doesn't allow herself to get too close to her (many, many) romantic interests.
  • Major Howard "Bunny" Colvin of The Wire. He generally follows the rules, but as is shown in the "Hamsterdam" arc is willing to break them when he thinks they are counterproductive to the goal of helping the people he serves and making Baltimore a better place. Lester Freamon likely fits here as well, as while he's almost as willing to break police department rules as Jimmy McNulty, he generally does so only when he perceives it to be the best way to accomplish his goals.
  • Harold Finch of Person of Interest holds no contempt for the law, in fact, has great respect for it used properly, but he breaks it without a second thought if it means saving or protecting someone.
  • Dr. John Watson of BBC's Sherlock, as a contrast to his so-called "high-functioning sociopath" friend, is kind and caring, but occasionally willing to step outside the boundaries of the law to achieve what is right, i.e., shooting a Serial Killer to save his friend.
  • Merlin from BBC's Merlin (2008) could classify as this type of character alignment. He is known to be a genuine, kind, heroic, and selfless individual. However, Merlin does become a bit of a darker character later on in the series. He could also be more of the Chaotic Good alignment.
  • Most of the main protagonists of Once Upon a Time. Emma Swan is the town sheriff but is perfectly willing to do unlawful things like breaking and entering to do what she thinks is right. Her mother Snow White is a princess and ruler but also spent time as a Robin Hood-like bandit while on the run from the Evil Queen. Her father Prince Charming fights for his "father" King George but later starts a rebellion against him. The three of them are willing to ally with anyone (even the show's villains) in order to do good.
  • MacGyver: He works for the government during the first season and for a government contractor for the other six, will work with the authorities, and follows the law whenever possible (whether he's on assignment or just helping out people on his own time), would much rather see criminals locked up and tried than take any drastic measures, and unlike the A-Team or some other heroes from the same era, takes no particular pleasure in sticking it to the man. But he's been around long enough to know that the authorities are no more immune to corruption and abuse of power than anyone else, and he'll absolutely break the rules if he doesn't see another way of getting a just result. The most egregious case came in the season 5 finale when he broke out of jury lockdown to personally investigate a case that had become so politicized, controversial, and mishandled that there was no other way for him to get a clear picture of what was happening. By contrast, while he will break the law if he feels the need, his most deeply held personal convictions — against guns and killing, in particular — are "rules" he will absolutely never break, come hell or high water.
  • Felicity Smoak in Arrow. She breaks government rules, steals FBI software, and hacks into government computer systems to help Oliver Queen in his crusade. She has no problems whatsoever with breaking rules or people dying as long as it's for the greater good of Starling City.
  • Abby from NCIS, with perhaps a slight bent toward Chaotic Good.
  • Penny from The Big Bang Theory is a type I. She's a pretty nice gal all around but doesn't really do anything heroic.

    Music 
  • Laugh Maker from Bump of Chicken. His only goal in life is to make people laugh and the video is all about him trying to help a depressed Hikikomori learn how to smile again.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Dungeons & Dragons, as the Trope Namer and Trope Codifier, offers plentiful examples.
    • This is the most common alignment for gnomes. They are usually kindhearted and live in close-knit communities, but generally blanch at restrictive rules. They live in harmony with nature, which usually precludes a lawful or chaotic bias.
    • Guardinals are a "race" of Neutral Good angelic beings who exemplify that alignment. They represent the nurturing, protective aspect of nature (hence the name) and appear as humanoid animals.
    • Forgotten Realms:
      • Lathander is a Greater Deity whose portfolio encompasses athletes, birth, optimism, renewal, self-perfection, vitality, and the sun.
      • The Harpers are a semi-secret organisation of do-gooders from all races and societies who work to preserve ancient relics, the balance between nature and civilization, and disrupt the plans of evil groups like the Zhentarim and the Red Wizards of Thay. What prevents them from going into lawful territory is that they do not disdain to lie, manipulate people and break the law to accomplish their missions.
    • Greyhawk: Pelor, the sun god, has a dual role as the protector of the meek and a crusader against evil without preference for order or chaos. Garl Glittergold, the god of the gnomes, is a watchful protector with a playful sense of humor.
  • Pathfinder:
    • Guardinals are renamed as "agathions" and represent a "peaceable kingdom" where everything fits into its natural place, taking animal forms based on the role they serve, and help the souls of the dead reach inner peace. In the culture of the Outer Planes, they also serve as mediators between the Lawful Good archons and Chaotic Good azatas and help the forces of the Upper Planes present a more or less unified front against evil.
    • Neutral Good is the default alignment for angels, due to their commitment to the ideal of Good at all costs (although there are large minorities of Lawful Good and Chaotic Good angels as well).
    • Sarenrae, the sun goddess, champions good above all other considerations, and embodies both the righteous crusader against evil and the welcoming hand extended to the needy and the repentant. Her followers are tasked with fighting evil where they find it, but to do without excesses of punishment or vengeance for their own sake and to never reject those who would turn away from wickedness. Shelyn, the other major Neutral Good deity, is the goddess of beauty, love, art, and music.
  • Warhammer 40,000:
    • It's hard to believe that anyone in the setting could qualify as Neutral Good, but Captain Kayvaan Shrike of the Raven Guard Chapter does. He takes Raven Guards he has trained, known as Shrike's Wing, and goes on campaigns of mercy to rescue civilians that other Imperial commanders have given up on.
    • Certain elements of the Inquisition, believe it or not, although they're not exactly shy about it. In particular, the stereotype of the Ordo Xenos, as opposed to the Ordos Hereticus and Malleus, is very much focused on the safety of the Imperium first, ideological disputes a very distant second. (It helps that, while Hereticus Inquisitors can fall to Chaos and Malleus Inquisitors sometimes are tempted by demons, it's very rare for Xenos Inquisitors to be corrupted by aliens.) The Amaltheans are also dedicated to a process of gradual improvement, keeping Imperial tradition and structure where it works and correcting it when it fails, rather than the strictures of Puritan or Radical thought.

    Video Games 
  • God Hand:
    • What prevents Gene from being True Neutral is that, beneath his snarky and indifferent exterior, he genuinely does care for the wellbeing of the people who get harassed by the demons, as seen in his flashback sequence when he attempted to save Olivia from getting her arm amputated, only for his own arm to get amputated instead. What prevents him from being Chaotic Good instead is that because they live in a post-apocalyptic Crapsack World, there doesn't seem to be any law to begin with.
    • Olivia is also this alignment, though, unlike Gene, it's mainly because she doesn't have as much screentime as her companion and is, therefore, less characterized. All that we know about her is that she is using Gene to defend humanity with the power of the God Hands. Yes, "using" is used correctly here.
  • Amaterasu from Ōkami, who will even take time from saving the world to feed poor, hungry kittens and help an old lady dry her laundry. She has shades of Lawful Good — her main opponent is the Chaotic Evil Yami — but her quest is more about restoring peace and beauty than order.
  • Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: Artina from the 4th game, being the "medic that treats all" type. As "Vulcanus, Thieving Angel" though, her actual alignment can be hard to get a bead on, as while she's still her old self underneath it all, she now charges money to demons for her services and steals, er, "repossesses" money from the Netherworld in the name of Celestia. However, it's mostly an act, as it was a Black Ops mission with the net objective of saving all three realms.
  • VEGA/ The Father of Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal is a deconstruction of the All-Loving Hero archetype of this alignment. He loves all of His creations to a fault, to the point where he can't even bring Himself to smite the Satanic Archetype of the Doomiverse. Instead, he opts to merely imprison him, even if it would have been easier on the rest of the universe to simply kill him. Because of this, He is indirectly responsible for the universe-wide demonic invasion that took place back in Doom.
  • Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords give most of the senior Jedi this alignment. While it frees them to do as they think best, it can also leave them wondering what to do in a situation.
    • Carth Onasi explains the difference between a warrior and a soldier: "Warriors attack and conquer, they prey on the weak. Soldiers defend and protect the innocent — usually from warriors." Carth is Lawful Good, but this spells out a Neutral Good philosophy just as well.
  • Star Wars: The Old Republic:
    • Aric Jorgan, the first companion for a Republic Trooper Player Character. He dislikes bravado/greedy behavior, and Knight Templar/ Just Following Orders mindsets, equally. Considering that most everyone in The Republic is repeatedly Shooting The Dog, corrupt, or secretly working for The Empire, this says a lot about his character.
    • Consular companions Felix Iresso and Nadia Grell also fall here. Felix is a laid-back grunt just glad to be where he can be useful and straddles the line between Neutral and Chaotic Good (it's revealed that he was a bit too lax with hierarchy and orders for Jorgan's taste). Nadia straddles the line between Neutral and Lawful Good, as she's a politician's daughter and nice. While she believes the law is right most of the time, she is just as quick to start an argument when she believes a law (such as the Jedi ban on attachment) is wrong.
  • Klonoa is pretty much the embodiment of Neutral Good. It would be nigh impossible to exceed him in being a Friend to All Living Things and Incorruptible Pure Pureness.
  • Most of the protagonists in Soul Nomad & the World Eaters are probably neutral good, helping people for their own sake and wanting to save the world for the good of all... Barring Gig, of course, who'd rather burn what's left down to the ground and do a funny little dance on the ashes.
  • Warcraft III:
    • Khadgar from the Expanded Universe, seems to have a very strong air of "I respect your order and ceremony, but can't be bothered for it myself" about himself. In the novel Tides of Darkness, he arrives at the meeting of the leaders of The Magocracy, cutting short their mysteriousness to get to the point and deliver the news that they're in danger and need to prepare. Even after he becomes a member of the very same council, he just mostly hangs on the other side of the world, building defences against the orcs.
    • Also Jaina Proudmore, probably the only human leader who is interested in peace (or perhaps even alliance) between The Alliance and The Horde post-Warcraft III. Unfortunately, she lost this trait after Theramore was bombed and was more into Chaotic Neutral, basically giving up that the Horde and Alliance can be at peace and for Azeroth to have peace, the Horde must be destroyed, and overall being a shadow of her former self.
    • The ultimate example is probably Tirion Fordring, who went against his own masters to rescue an orc from execution. Later on, he is paired with Chaotic Neutral (or perhaps Chaotic Good) Darion Mograine and his army of Death Knights.
    • Farseer Nobundo was willing to upset draenic society to some degree by introducing shamanism... but only with Prophet Velen's okay. He's also a former vindicator, and no less honorable for the "former" part.
  • Sanger Zonvolt and Ratsel Feinschmeker from Super Robot Wars: Original Generation. They are not part of the Earth Federation Army officially, but will occasionally show up and help them. When they do, they do it with obedience to the rules and much badassery.
    • Masaki Andoh and the rest of the Elemental Lords (Yang Long, Tytti, and Mio) also fit the bill. Technically, they abide by the laws of La Gias, but they are given special permission to break the law if they see the law straying from its path. Masaki only uses it once and that's not out of whim and dislike towards law. In the Original Generation series, Masaki does follow the rules nicely, though he's not part of the official EFA (he tends toget lost and be found nearby... and then tags along).
  • Though he started off as arguably Lawful Good or Lawful Neutral in the Metal Gear series, by the end of Metal Gear Solid, Snake has more or less given the entire U.S. Military and the world governments the bird in order to work on a personal mission he and Otacon share: The eradication of Metal Gears and anti-nuclear proliferation, even if said activities would label him as a Terrorist. But if given the option, Snake would probably have used 'legal' means if they existed, so that puts him in the Neutral Good turf.
  • Maya from Borderlands 2, being the Token Good Teammate, and given her outright refusal to murder civilians on her homeworld, it would make her Lawful Good, but she's clearly not above partaking in the targeted Comedic Sociopathy the Vault Hunters are offered a chance to participate in from time to time, placing her into this alignment.
  • In the prequel novel to Fate/stay night, Fate/Zero, the Neutral Good character is Rider (Alexander the Great). His Boisterous Bruiser qualities fit him as a Neutral Good character, having much of a wild life and bravado, but he adheres well to the rule of Holy Grail War when it comes to battle.
  • Nowe, the "dragon-boy" from Drakengard 2 and a more traditional hero in contrast with the Chaotic Evil Sociopathic Hero Caim, has helping out his fellow men as his top priority. This view leads to him questioning whether the methods used by the Knights of the Seal are truly righteous after seeing the suffering of the Empire survivors... and finally, to him leaving the order and seeking a less extreme way of bettering the world.
  • Balancing out the Chaotic Good Sonic and Lawful Good Knuckles, Miles "Tails" Prower seems to embody Neutral Good the best among the Power Trio. He is noticeably more responsible than Sonic. He encourages most of the ideals of freedom Sonic lives for (unlike Knuckles, who frowns on Sonic's 'irresponsible' behaviour), and usually adheres to them, but will take the time to slow down.
    • Despite his extremely Jerkass nature, Shadow is Neutral Good. In the Archie comics he explains to E-102 Gamma that he joined GUN because it makes his mission of protecting the world so much easier, but will defy them if he feels it's the right thing. He is brutal in the achievement of his goals, but his methods are never actually evil, and his goals are always good. While he is more conflicted than Sonic regarding the choice between Good and Evil, he ultimately does the right thing and will make Rouge do the right thing too.
    • Amy Rose fits here too. Despite sometimes acting inappropriately towards Sonic she is a Friend to All Living Things and even puts her life on the line to save a (non-sentient) bird at one point, as well as being the one who persuades Shadow to pull a Heel–Face Turn in Sonic Adventure 2.
  • Most Suikoden characters fall into the Trifecta of Good Alignments, but Thomas from Suikoden III is without a doubt an excellent example of Neutral Good. He's a sweet-hearted guy who stands up for another person without even asking what's going on, and is primarily focused on creating a place where everyone can get along. The poor kid tends to lean towards Stupid Good at times.
  • Being a Legacy Character, Link often finds himself shifting alignments through the series, but can be generally put into this territory by default, mostly due to him being a Kleptomaniac Hero in pretty much every incarnation.
  • Mario and Luigi of the Mario series aren't characterized enough to be considered Lawful or Chaotic, but they're undoubtedly heroes. It is evident that Mario has grown out of his previous shenanigans such as being the villain of Donkey Kong Junior when in the opening of Mario Tennis, he suggests "Hey, letsa all play!" after Mario and Luigi are confronted by their respective rivals, Wario and Waluigi then their archenemy Bowser and his minion Boo. They seem to choose peace when no one is in any real danger.
  • Kathryn Akkaraju in Shogo: Mobile Armor Division typically follows orders, but later helps Sanjuro-even while disobeying orders and getting confined to quarters for it-in order to help uncover the truth about Gabriel and Shogo's motives.
  • Kasumi, from Dead or Alive. Despite her need for revenge in the first game, which caused her to be forced into exile, she never tries to kill the ninjas that are sent after her. She's also one of the nicest characters in the game.
  • JC Denton could be considered this alignment in the original Deus Ex based on his dialogue, unless the player decides to make him go around killing people. He's intelligent enough to question many of the orders that he's been given and eventually defect from UNATCO, but only does so after it's clear that he has no other choice, and otherwise is supportive of the idea of democratic government. Nicely summed up in the following quote.
    JC Denton: I never had time to take the Oath of Service to the Coalition. How about this one? I swear not to rest until UNATCO is free of you and the other crooked bureaucrats who have perverted its mission.
  • Mordin Solus of Mass Effect 2 has the distinction of being a Neutral Good Well-Intentioned Extremist. Compassionate individual. Believes in helping all those in need. Also willing to Shoot the Dog if necessary, and has done so by upgrading Genophage. Believes action necessary. Feels immense guilt. Became doctor in Omega as result.
    • To a lesser extent (and with more pronouns and articles) Commander Shepard, especially on the Paragon path. S/he routinely rejects laws that s/he finds to be immoral or unjust while upholding those s/he views as necessary.
    • Possibly one of the best examples of this alignment would be Ashley. She's ultimately on the side of good, but also somewhat Hot-Blooded and isn't adverse to shooting first in order to end problems. This is best shown in how she will gun down Wrex if you don't talk him down on Virmire and when she pulls a gun on Shepard in the third when Udina claims that Shepard has come to assassinate the Council before Shepard explains that they are trying to stop an assassin sent by Udina himself as part of a coup.
  • Many would tag the Captain Bailey of C-Sec as Chaotic Good on account that he breaks the laws he's supposed to uphold in front of Shepard, but his off-screen actions and personality mirrors more Neutral Good than most of the things he does. He does his best to work within the boundaries of the law, but only breaks it when he has to or when Shepard needs something done. Plus, you can't exactly uphold the law when a Spectre is asking you to.
Bailey: I don't mind working with the law, right up until it prevents me from doing my job.
  • The Paladins in Quest for Glory. Bluntly, the Karma Meter notion of Honor in the game is related to how much of a Nice Guy the hero is, and how in tune he is with the world's goodness. The way of the Paladin also explicitly states to break laws for the greater good. As Rakeesh puts it: "The way of the Paladin is to seek to know that which truly is. The Paladin strives to learn his own inner nature and that of others. The Paladin does whatever needs to be done to bring light to the world. Not for glory, not for gain, the Paladin Becomes a Paladin because it is his Will."
  • Baldur's Gate:
    • Imoen, the Player Character's cheerful, playful, good-hearted friend and surrogate little sister. Above all else, she joins the party to help her friend and sticks by them no matter what path they take but always encourages them that Good Feels Good and they shouldn't let the outside world or their Bhaalspawn heritage get in the way of being a good person.
    • Jaheira, at least in the second game. The game labels her as True Neutral because that's the only alignment 2nd edition Druids were allowed to have, but in practice, she is a member of the Harpers (a Big Good organization in the setting) and always encourages the player to make positive changes to the world over negative ones.
    • Valygar Corthala. Although he complains about how often people come to you expecting you to fix all their problems, he'll pitch in and do the right thing as readily as any Good-aligned party member — sometimes while still complaining about the problems everyone wants you to fix.
  • Daniel Vinyard, main protagonist of Exit Fate, is a good example since he in many cases directly disobeys his leaders (although he still respects them) when he thinks that their actions are against his moral principles most notably and awesomely at the end of Chapter 5, when he goes between his superior's and the enemy army in order to end the way. This is because he has had a spirit, the Hand of Fate, summoned into him since before his birth to shape him into a leader to unite the various fragmented countries and end their petty infighting.
  • Jade Empire:
    • Dawn Star. She is kind, shy, and VERY high up on the Open Palm side of the Karma Meter. She is the first to cheer when your character does something selfless. She respects the law of nature, but the Empire? Not so much. Yes, you CAN corrupt her when you play Closed Fist.
    • From the same game, Henpecked Hou. Generally nice guy, doesn't much care one way or another about the forces of Order and Chaos but finds Closed Fist actions pretty questionable.
  • Recette Lemongrass from Recettear can easily be seen as this. She is generally well-liked by the local citizens of Pensee and is easily one of the nicest people in the town. However, she is often rather irresponsible and doesn't even fill her own accountings (and really doesn't even understand why they are nessecary), which Tear comments angrily upon at the end of the game when she finds out that all the pages in the book are blank. She's nowhere near responsible enough to be Lawful Good but is still far from reckless enough to be Chaotic Good.
  • Gabriel Belmont from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, though a nuanced Byronic Hero motivated by a self-centered desire, is still an incredibly pious and kindhearted man, prepared to combat the darkness no matter the odds. Nonetheless, while carrying out the duty as a warrior of the Brotherhood of Light, he does not waver when it comes to stepping outside the standard of the Brotherhood, such as upgrading his chain whip with spikes in order to continue on his journey. And in spite of the villains constantly denouncing him as similar to themselves, and sometimes even proposing that he's worse than them, the only creatures he opposes are inherently evil by nature.
  • BlazBlue's Litchi Faye-Ling is squarely on this alignment, as her concern is doing good and protecting and saving people, especially her lover Lotte Carmine. She's kind and motherly, with a strong distaste for shadiness and evil. And despite pulling a Face–Heel Turn and joining NOL, she still retains her kindness and goodness as shown by her comforting Carl (and calling out Relius), and is apparently not particularly enjoying her position, as she feels that she really has no other choice and wouldn't have joined if there was any other alternative to save herself and Lotte in such a short time.
  • Touhou Project has 2 characters that exemplify Neutral Goodness: Keine Kamishirasawa and Byakuren Hijiri. The former isn't afraid to fight Reimu to protect her people, and Reimu is the de-facto pillar of order in Gensokyo. The latter is the Messianic Archetype for the Youkai in Gensokyo, despite being a human. Both of them (especially Byakuren) pay dearly for their ideals.
  • Metroid: Samus Aran probably falls here overall, as she has worked closely and obediently with the Galactic Federation in Prime 3 and most of Other M, but she's a Bounty Hunter so that she can be free to tell the Federation to sod off when they get evil, as was the case in the finales of Fusion or Other M.
  • Leliana in Dragon Age: Origins will often dance between this and Chaotic Good. She's a born-again follower of the Maker and the Chantry. She believes in doing good as it is the Maker's will, but she can't quite shake her roguish Chaotic Good or even Chaotic Neutral past. Whether she stays on the Neutral Good or goes back to her roguish Chaotic Good lifestyle depends on the player's actions and what is said to her through the course of the game, AKA whether or not she is hardened.
    • Deconstructed with the Grey Wardens. They hold no allegiance towards any authority, will often volunteer former criminals in exchange for their freedom and/or life, and fight against the Always Chaotic Evil Darkspawns and for good in general. However, they are utterly devoted to the greater good, meaning that they will ignore personal liberties and disrupt order if it's necessary to achieve their goal.
  • In Dragon Age II, Aveline's early Character Development transforms her into this. She continues to uphold the law and is still very much by the book... it just skews a little when her friends are involved. She still berates them to no end, though.
  • The world of Tekken may have taken a dive in Darker and Edgier turn, but King II remains true to his personality as an orphanage owner, Friend to All Children, and is still a generally positive Nice Guy who doesn't tolerate evil (in Scenario Campaigns, he clearly does not approve both Jin and Kazuya for their World War III attempts), and can be genuinely forgiving, even if you committed a very personal crime to him (as Marduk can attest). Julia Chang can also count with her dedication to save nature and still a pretty decent girl overall.
  • Despite most of his lines and values leaning towards Lawful Good, Cole Phelps of L.A. Noire can be nudged towards this alignment depending on the player's choices. These include letting an accomplice to a minor crime get off scot-free and convicting a pedophile who's clearly planning to harm kids despite most of the evidence leaning towards another suspect.
  • Neverwinter Nights 2 gives us Elanee, a druid who, despite being a protector of the balance of life, also firmly believes in helping others. Mask of the Betrayer adds Kaelyn the Dove, a half-celestial who rebelled against a Lawful Neutral god because she believed his code was unjust.
  • The Princess' Guard in Dark Souls is the covenant of Gwynevere, Princess of Sunlight. Those who are a part of this covenant are guardians who will stop at nothing to protect Gwynevere, believed to be one of the last remaining Deities in Anor Londo. They also seek to aid one another and are specialists in healing.
  • Sora from Kingdom Hearts definitely fits into this alignment. His first concern is doing good and stopping Xehanort. He will work with the authorities of whatever world he finds himself in toward those goals if he can, but if that authority is either too incompetent to do anything, obstructive, or the source of the evil and darkness in the first place, Sora will ignore any laws and/or rules of said world and smash straight through that authority without a second thought. Sora also cares nothing for the rules of world non-interference if people are in trouble, but he won't reveal the fact that he's from another world if he doesn't have to either.
  • Amane Kuzuryu from Devil Survivor: Overclocked is the one character in the game who always, in every case, fights for what she believes to be the best future for humanity. At first, she supports her father and the Shomonkai, then when his duplicity is revealed, she allies herself with Remiel and the Angels and tries to bring peace to humanity. However, in Naoya's Good 8th Day, she gives her allegiance to Abel even though the latter is fighting against God, because God and his angels have turned against humanity, and here she states that her only concern is the good of humankind. In the original game, she is implied to be Lawful Good instead, since the 8th Day scenarios were only added in Overclocked.
  • Final Fantasy: The producers seem to like making the heroes follow the middle path in most games, regardless of lawful or chaotic influences. Recent installments have even gone as far as making the Warrior(s) of Light become the Warrior(s) of Darkness if it means maintaining the middle path.
    • In Final Fantasy VII, Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart are the ones who actually fit this alignment (though Cloud pretends to be True Neutral at the beginning). Aerith and Red XIII are Lawful Good, while the other members of AVALANCHE are globally Chaotic Good (and some even have shades of Chaotic Neutral).
    • Auron from Final Fantasy X is like this after rethinking his worldview after his pilgrimage with Braska and his death, being willing to help protect Yuna regardless of what that requires. "We will protect Yuna from anyone, even a Maester". Rikku probably belongs here as well, as her primary goal is to save lives and although she's perfectly willing to disregard the laws of Spira to do it she's more motivated by pragmatism than rebelliousness.
    • Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning and Sazh both have someone they want to save and reunite with (Serah and Dajh, respectively), and they'll do whatever they have to in order to bring that about. Vanille just wants to do good by the people she has (inadvertently) wronged, and unconditionally tries to help them save Cocoon. Hope just wants to survive and (in later parts of the game) help everyone else save Cocoon, without being a burden. Snow and Fang lean more into Chaotic Good and Chaotic Neutral, respectively.
    • Ramza from Final Fantasy Tactics is perhaps the purest example of this trope in Final Fantasy, even more so because he lives in a World Half Empty where almost nobody else believes in honesty or honor. Even when he knows that No Good Deed Goes Unpunished, he's still going to save his sister, stop the world from being destroyed...and do it without making any sacrifices or compromising himself.
  • If a Shin Megami Tensei game has a Neutral story branch, it's often presented as the morally best and most humanistic choice, even if it is often A Lighter Shade of Black at best. But in some games, Neutral is just outright written as a morally upstanding choice:
    • You become this in Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey if you choose to pursue the Neutral path. Unlike other games with a Law/Neutral/Chaos system, which relegate you to Omnicidal Neutral if you reject Law and Chaos, Strange Journey has you dismissing the forces of both Law and Chaos not to kill everything and become the new ruler, but to liberate humanity from the Schwarzwelt. In fact, not going Neutral causes you to enable the mass brainwashing of humanity, either into eternal worshippers or beastly savages, actions that are pretty insane by the series' standards. Taking Neutral means you restore the Earth and, more importantly, spread the lessons you learned in the Schwarzwelt to ensure humanity doesn't trigger another such calamity. The Updated Re Release Redux on the other hand finally gives Law and Chaos its Lawful Good and Chaotic Good time of day by having humanity live in a utopia with free will or a world with infinite possibilities while the neutral ending for once is the Bittersweet Ending as The Hero Space Marine must become immortal to wage a Forever War on the demons until humanity changes its ways to loosen their grip over them. Though the Space Marine is still Neutral Good in the new Neutral route.
    • Shin Megami Tensei IV likewise sends you straight into this by choosing the Neutral Path, as you then are tasked with restoring Tokyo's hope; it's things as little as playing delivery boy or taking a couple of photos to remind an old woman of her past, or as big as stopping major demon summonings or saving the Fairy race from extinction. The end result has you become The Paragon for the entire city and an almost literal beacon of hope along with hidden allies Fujiwara and Skins.
  • Final Fantasy VI: While Terra logically starts off as "True Neutral" (albeit not so much out of choice as just out of confusion), she veers towards "Neutral Good" pretty early in the game and settles on it by the time you reach the World Of Ruin as she makes protecting innocent people and stopping the empire her primary goals.
  • The Followers of the Apocalypse from Fallout: New Vegas qualify as this. They are mainly interested in improving the quality of life for everyone in the Wasteland. They find the strict laws and rules of the NCR to be oppressive and often work against their interests, but they aren't rebellious enough to be Chaotic Good.
  • The Minutemen faction from Fallout 4 definitely fits this trope as they are pretty much the only faction that actively helps the common people in the Commonwealth, namely wastelanders of all walks of life, and are not affiliated with a particular faction. They ascribe to rebuilding the Commonwealth in the ways of pre-Great War America instead of the dreary aftermath that befell it. By the time the player character first meets the Minutemen, they are essentially on the brink of extinction due to being pinned down by raiders in a largely destroyed town. If the player character helps the Minutemen get back to prominence, he/she will eventually become the Big Good of the faction.
  • Pathfinder: Kingmaker: Tristian is Neutral good. He is a cleric of Sarenrae (see Tabletop Games), the goddess of light and redemption, and always supports solutions that harm the least amount of people, increases the public good, and offers second chances to those who seem genuinely repentant. That said, he's also uncannily good at reading faces and will usually tell you if someone is genuinely repentant or just says they're repentant to avoid punishment. As it later turns out, his true nature means his personality is in-born rather than a choice made freely.
  • Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus: Sigrun Engel, who is probably the nicest person in the whole series and even before she joins the good guys right at the start, one gets the impression she was never really evil, just unlucky enough to be the child of two very evil Nazi parents.
  • Mighty the Armadillo of the Sonic the Hedgehog series definitely fits this trope, and his Archie Comics adaptation might even be it's definitive example. The entire reason he was forced to fight Eggman in the first place during the comics was because his sister Matilda was kidnapped by his forces, and when Jack forces one of his troops to kill Mighty only for Matilda to step in and get severely injured instead... yeah, it does not end well for Jack at all.
  • In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Claude fits into this alignment regardless of what route is taken. While he's willing to work with authority figures from the Church of Seiros to fight a common threat (such as Edelgard and "those who slither in the dark" if his route is chosen), he's not above bending several of the Church's rules and teachings to do what is best for the people of Fódlan, even willing to give up control of the Alliance to other lords in the other routes if they can achieve his dreams and prove themselves to be better rulers than him. One of his main goals and ambitions is to break the Church's policy of isolationism and open Fódlan to the outside world of trade and culture and exposing the secrets of the Church. In particular, as a half-Almyran, he wants to bring the people of Fódlan and Almyra together despite their mutual distrust of each other and thaw the tensions between Fódlan and Almyra. At the end of the Verdant Wind route, Claude leaves Fódlan to take leadership and throne of Almyra, and both Fódlan and Almyra enter a golden age with Byleth taking over as the new ruler of a united Fódlan. While the Church is still intact, the Church's influence in Fódlan is diminished thanks to the internal reforms of the church.
  • Elizabeth from BioShock Infinite starts out as this. In at least one of the Bad Future timelines, however, she is tortured for decades, and while she's not quite evil afterward, she retains little of her original personality and is True Neutral at best.
  • Wattson from Apex Legends is a fan favorite for being the sweetest girl in the game. She practically gets along with everyone (except of course Revenant). Wattson is a sympathetic character, trying to understand others, even the morally questionable, Caustic acknowledges her kindness. But you'd be a fool to mistake her kindness for weakness, lest you desire a very shocking experience?
  • Jin Sakai from Ghost of Tsushima becomes this throughout the story. Very often, Jin is forced to go against his Samurai teachings, resorting to vicious, underhanded tactics just to stave off the Mongols. Even when his actions get put into question, Jin justifies that he's saving more lives this way. Ironically, the young lord is right, yet it goes against the Samurai code. Regardless how ineffective, it was proven otherwise.
  • Genshin Impact: The Traveler's main focus is to find and reunite with their missing sibling, but they keep helping others along the course of their journey. More often than not they get falsely blamed for something and have to fight the authorities, but the Traveler doesn't mind allying themselves with the authorities. The Traveler also might help out the Fatui from time to time, who are normally their enemies.

    Web Animation 
  • RWBY: The titular Team RWBY and their allies are largely this: their first and last goal is protecting innocent peole from the Creatures of Grimm, or any other threat to innocent lives, and they will work within larger systems or defy them as necessary to pursue that goal. Though they always try to go through the proper channels first, they seldom hesitate to default to rule-breaking when that doesn't work. Best exemplified in Volume 7 when they find themselves caught between the Lawful Neutral General Ironwood and the Chaotic Good Robyn Hill, and try to act as mediators to get them on the same side, which works until Ironwood's fear of Salem pushes him to evil.

    Webcomics 
  • Ruby of Ruby's World is this almost to an extreme, willing to risk her life for the test animal that caused her mutation. Her friends vary between this and Chaotic Good since none of them are exactly nice in demeanor.
  • Sandra from Sandra and Woo cares for the environment, admires Jesus for his teachings about ethics and forgiveness and — above all — always tries to be nice to Woo,her father and her friends. However, she is also a remarkably good liar and somewhat resentful.
  • Lee Free Sr. in Everyday Heroes balances out here. His motivation, defense of the little guy against the system is Chaotic Good but as a skilled and knowledgeable lawyer, he uses the law to his advantage.
  • Criminy in Sinfest. Jesus being here should be a no-brainer. Fuschia started as Chaotic Evil but eventually moved to Neutral Good by 2010.
  • In El Goonish Shive, according to fans who responded to Dan's request to weigh in on the alignment of Grace, the most common response was that she would be Neutral Good as opposed to Chaotic Good as Dan had initially guessed. Dan said that at the time he was still reading the responses and would need to think about it, but he liked the sound of that.
  • Zoë from Sluggy Freelance just tries to get by in the comic's crazy world, but whenever it really comes down to it, she's basically very decent and occasionally heroic. She was perhaps Lawful Good when younger due to being even more "nice" and rule-obeying (leading to everyone walking all over her).
  • The cartoonist of Kevin & Kell has identified Lindesfarne as Neutral Good. She's always looking to do the right thing but will take either the lawful or chaotic means to do so, depending on which would get her the results she needs.

    Web Videos 
  • Penny of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, the crush of Dr. Horrible due to the fact that she's the only one who proves to him that Humans Aren't All Bastards with her efforts of helping the homeless, as well as being the idealist to Billy's cynic. Caring little for the conflicts of heroes and villains, she chooses to help the helpless and offer a caring hand to those who need it. Her death completes Billy's Start of Darkness as Dr. Horrible.
  • DC Super Hero Girls: Poison Ivy, of all people. While she's normally a Neutral Evil or Chaotic Evil Eco-Terrorist, the 2015 version of her is basically a Friend to All Living Things, and while she still creates weird plant creatures, it's never in order to hurt people, and more to serve as her pets and the like.
  • Danny "Sexbang" Avidan of Ninja Sex Party and Game Grumps, fame very often serves as the calming, good-natured co-host towards Chaotic Good Arin Hanson. Danny is usually the voice of reason, especially when Arin goes off on one of his temper tantrums (which is often). You can always rely on Danny, to provide at least some explanation towards their antics. But sometimes, even he can't make-up what insanity befalls before them...poor guy.

    Western Animation 
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
    • Aang, complete with Friend to All Living Things and All-Loving Hero, not to mention going against the evil government. Avatars in general seem to be Neutral Good by default.
    • Iroh was once a Lawful Evil general, but ever since the Hundred Year War cost him his son's life, he's been clearly Neutral Good with his concern for balance and justice. The only reason he still wraps himself up in his dysfunctional family's morally repulsive messes is that he cares about his nephew Zuko, and even then, goes out of his way not to enable his toxic tendencies.
    • After going through all neutral alignments (except for one) during the series first, Zuko finally ends up here, deciding that nothing else matters other than helping Aang defeat Ozai and start the Fire Nation's redemption. However, as the sequel book "The Promise" shows, he still struggles with working out what, exactly, counts as "good".
    • In the sequel, Korra ends up here when she's had her Character Development and mellowed out from her angry, more Chaotic Good younger period — developing a willingness to negotiate with and spare her enemies, rather than defaulting to "beat the problem's ass until it goes away".
    • Asami Sato also qualifies. She's been shown to work through legitimate institutions first and respects law and stability much more than Korra. She's also known to work alongside the new air nation, a prototypically Neutral Good faction.
  • The Justice League incarnation of the Flash. Apart from generally trying to help everyone, whether they appreciate it or not, he has also managed to talk Batman out of using the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique and got all the information they needed by having a friendly chat with the villain (and even got him to turn himself in!).
  • Transformers: Animated:
    • Bumblebee. Early in life he badly wanted to train for the Elite Guard, a Lawful organisation. He was kicked out, but now he is still consistently good. While he has committed rash actions as a result of his disobedience, he has never obeyed orders to do bad things, nor has he had any desire to do bad things. Most other Hot Rod/Hot Shots fall under this or Chaotic Good.
  • The Simpsons: Lisa Simpson seems to fit here pretty well, due to her moral standards and her status as the Only Sane Woman. She tries to, and usually succeeds at, following laws and rules that exist, but she is more than willing to break said rules when she believes it's the right thing to do. She lacks the laid-back and outright rebellious nature of Bart, but she is a bit too willing to break norms and traditions to be Lawful Good.
  • Mystery Inc., from Scooby-Doo. Afflicted with a nasty case of Chronic Hero Syndrome, they'll pry and move their way into every whodunnit, even if other external factors may turn them away. This helps to contrast them with their respective villains, who fit just two alignments lower.
  • Total Drama has several contestants who embody this alignment:
    • Gwen is the mild Anti-Hero version. She displays an antisocial attitude toward others and prefers to be by herself. Despite her cold, harsh attitude, Gwen is a good person but is rather suspicious and cautious about whom she lets into her life. Eventually, she manages to open up and make friends with the others, thanks to the efforts of those who truly care about her.
    • Owen fits this quite well. Due to his All-Loving Hero traits, he manages to befriend nearly every contestant he has competed with, due to his friendliness and lack of unlikable characteristics. He is optimistic towards everyone he encounters, even those deemed unsociable, and struck good terms with them.
    • Mike is one of the altruistic contestants to the point where he actually deeply cares for his alters despite finding them troublesome, often unpredictable behavior, as well as his crush Zoey. His biography implies that he may volunteer to help other people, and develops positive relationships with them.
    • This alignment applies to Zoey as well, being an optimistic, kind-hearted girl who is easy to get along with. She is extremely protective of her friends and her boyfriend Mike, with who she falls in love with even with the knowledge of his multiple personalities.
    • Cameron also fits. As a very good-natured contestant, he cares deeply for others to the point where in the finale of Revenge of the Island, he cannot bring himself to watch his friends getting attacked by mutants and tries to help them while having to fend off attacks from Lightning.
    • Shawn started off as Chaotic Neutral, as his fear is so intense that he will become nervous the very moment one seems to be around, sometimes retreat without investigating fully, and even neglect to think about his own feelings or those of others. In fact, he would abandon them in favor of protecting himself. However, he walks to the Neutral Good path as the show progresses, after his cowardice costs him his relationship with Jasmine, which lets him learn that there is more to life than ensuring his own survival against the zombie apocalypse. Following this incident, he becomes more selfless and will be more willing to protect others from danger in addition to himself.
  • Timmy Turner of The Fairly OddParents!. Especially during the 4th and 5th seasons, Timmy would at least try to do the right things even if they were occasionally against the rules. One example is the TV movie "Abra Castastrophe" where he reveals Cosmo and Wanda's existence to his parents and Mr. Crocker. Revealing them is against the rules, but it freed them from Crocker's clutches. Another example is the "Wishology Trilogy" where he bribes Vicky, his evil babysitter and one of his enemies, to save the lives of his family, friends, and indeed the universe.
  • Teen Titans:
    • Robin tries to be Lawful Good, but his willingness to use chaotic and occasionally morally ambiguous means if he feels the situation demands it probably shifts him more to here particularly when Slade is involved. Starfire (who is very lawful in some respects and very chaotic in others) and Raven may also fit here.
    • Perhaps the truest representation in the main Titans Team is Beast Boy. Sometimes he can come off as Chaotic Good, but that has more to do with his status as the team's Wacky Guy. When you get right down to his motivations he does what he does because it is right.
  • Galaxy Rangers — Niko falls here. She's a little more willing to bend regulations and keep something quiet if speaking openly is going to harm someone, essentially splitting the difference between Lawful Good Zachary and Doc.
  • Clockwork from Danny Phantom. He alternates between breaking the rules and following them—the constant is that whatever course of action he takes is the one that is best for the time stream. However, he may come across as True Neutral or even Lawful Neutral, since his best interests (for the time stream) do not always coincide with the protagonists' best interests (for themselves and the people around them).
  • Most of the kids from Dungeons & Dragons (1983) fit this alignment (confirmed by their 2nd Edition stat sheets). The exceptions are Hank (Lawful Good), Eric, and Bobby (Chaotic Good).
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • Fluttershy isn't afraid of breaking rules if it is for the greater good but doesn't rock the boat unless she has to and is polite and generally respectful of the existing social order. Occasionally veers into Stupid Good.
      Fluttershy: Um, I'm just wondering if it's OK if I hold you down against your will for a little bit?
    • Princess Celestia is the one who makes the rules and governs the kingdom, yet has shown a sly disrespect for both said rules and the ruling class probably. She is emphatic towards others and loving towards those close to her, and, while she is willing to step outside the rules when this promotes the greater good, she understands that her position does not itself make her exempt from social systems and her greatest fear is turning into an unchecked, Chaotic Evil madwoman. She boasts massive patience and wishes all her enemies redeemed, yet responds decisively to evil and selfishness.
    • Starlight Glimmer bounces across the entire alignment spectrum, starting off as Lawful Evil or Lawful Neutral, bouncing into Chaotic Evil or Neutral, bouncing back towards Lawful Neutral or Good, then skewing back towards Chaotic again. By the end of the series, she's this, fond of harmony and order while quick to pursue chaotic means to get there, and dedicated to good and selfless goals.
  • Young Justice (2010): In a general sense, The Team seems to be the overall balance between Lawful Good(The Justice League) and Chaotic Good(Heroes like Red Arrow). They're willing to listen to their elders, and admit they have much to learn. But they're also willing to do what they see fit, even if it involves disobeying the League.
  • Both Dipper Pines and Mabel Pines, the main protagonists of Gravity Falls, are largely of this alignment, though Mabel veers more towards Chaotic Good and Dipper veers more towards Lawful Good. While always ready to help their friends, atone for their mistakes, or attempt to convert enemies, they don't have very clear codes of ethics and often break their word when it suits them.
  • Star Wars Rebels: The crew of the Ghost are, sure enough, outlaws, do things that could count as acts of terrorism, and make deals with other criminal organizations. But the government they're up against is the Sith-ruled Empire, who deliberately do much more heinous acts with government sanctioning, plus the Rebels will take their time to help people who are oppressed by the Imperials.
  • Phineas and Ferb, alongside their friends Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford are very much the Passively Good variety. They are generally friendly, rule-abiding kids, but they do have a rebellious side, as evidenced by Phineas' building a machine that defies the law of gravity because "a universal law without hope of appeal" is "despotism", among other things. Beyond this, they have no inclination for blind obedience to authority, even if the authority in question is someone that they admire and respect — as their relationship with Candace shows. Their second-dimension counterparts had, but this was used as contrast and dropped after their exit from their house. They nevertheless bother to do things like getting building permits and obeying zoning laws, albeit often with Loophole Abuse.
  • Jackie Chan Adventures: Jackie just wants to follow his career as an archaeologist, though when push comes to shove, he will kick ass against human and demon foes alike.

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