Always Lawful Good: Difference between revisions

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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Wedding Peach]]'' have the angels fill this role. Even the worst of them is a [[Knight Templar]] who thinks the angels aren't doing enough to ''help'' the humans.
 
== [[Literature]] ==
* Angels if they are [[Our Angels Are Different|not too different]].
* [[Our Elves Are Better|Elves]] if they are close to Tolkien's depiction (high elves). His idea behind them was to depict a people not corrupted by the Original Sin. ** Subverted by Tolkien with characters such as Maeglin and Feanor (and his sons). ** Indeed, nowadays, this trope is subverted more than played straight for elves, due to people playing up their arrogance or pride. There is a reason there exists drow and dark elves in many settings these days that are purely the [[Exclusively Evil|opposite of this trope]]. Indeed, that was actually the case in [[Dungeons and Dragons]] before the fans started introducing far too many examples of [[Chaotic Good]] drows who are subject to [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much]]. For a setting that involves this trope and its evil counterpart and plays them straight on several occasions, this is not very surprising.
* "Angels in the house", perhaps better known as [[True Lady|True Ladies]].
* [[Our Elves Are Better|Elves]] if they are close to Tolkien's depiction (high elves). His idea behind them was to depict a people not corrupted by the Original Sin.
** Subverted by Tolkien with characters such as Maeglin and Feanor (and his sons).
** Indeed, nowadays, this trope is subverted more than played straight for elves, due to people playing up their arrogance or pride. There is a reason there exists drow and dark elves in many settings these days that are purely the [[Exclusively Evil|opposite of this trope]]. Indeed, that was actually the case in [[Dungeons and Dragons]] before the fans started introducing far too many examples of [[Chaotic Good]] drows who are subject to [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much]]. For a setting that involves this trope and its evil counterpart and plays them straight on several occasions, this is not very surprising.
* Archons in ''[[Age of Wonders]]''.
* The Hazers from [[Clifford Simak]]'s ''[[Way Station]]''.
* The Organians, and possibly the Metrons, on the original ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek the Original Series]]''.
** For that matter, most of Star Fleet itself is portrayed as something like this (with a few bad seeds), until the existence of Section 31 was revealed (AFTER Gene Roddenbury' s death of course).
* ''[[Redwall]]'': Mice, otters, hedgehogs, moles, hares, badgers, squirrels. Shrews are generally [[Chaotic Good]] (but always chaotic); voles are good but sometimes whiny.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has [[Our Angels Are Different|the naaru]].
** The Tauren and Draenei—both of which seem to be overwhelmingly honorable on a cultural level—have often been accused of being this ([[Purity Sue|or]] [[Superior Species|worse]]). However, both races have at least a few bad seeds (and representation among [[Equal Opportunity Evil]] organizations).
*** Seems reasonable that the Draenei would be overly pure since most all of the ones that were more susceptible to corruption have already turned into demons. The ones that exist currently are the ones who fled from that.
* The eledhel (“elves of light”) in ''[[The Riftwar Cycle]]'' live in a perfect [[Hidden Elf Village]] Utopia with no internal strife. All named eledhel to date have been unfailingly wise, noble and heroic. Notable because in this world, they are the same race as the dark elves (moredhel), who are war-like and hostile, differing only in their mentality and lifestyle. Though it is possible for a moredhel to embrace the eledhel way of thinking and thus Return and ''become'' eledhel, the reverse does not happen. Ever. Making this a case of [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness]].
* The Houyhnhnms of [[Gulliver's Travels]]. They are incredibly [[Can't Argue with Elves|honourable]], [[Intellectual Animal|intelligent]] [[Superior Species|horses]] that live alongside feral, [[Humans Are Bastards|deformed humans]] (called "Yahoos") that appear to be [[Exclusively Evil]], {{spoiler|though this is later revealed to be a prejudice on the Houyhnhnms' part.}}
* In ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', the Nox definitely qualify, the Asgard usually do, and the Ancients occasionally do (when they're not [[Neglectful Precursors|Always]] [[Lawful Stupid|Lawful]] ''[[Lawful Stupid|Stupid]]'', at least), depending on which episode in which series you're watching. Well, the Nox might be more Chaotic Good. Or Lawful Neutral.
* ''[[Animorphs]]'': Deconstructed with Pemalites, a highly developed and joyful race that praised life and abhored violence, so much that when [[Exclusively Evil]] [[Omnicidal Maniac|OmnicidalManiacs]] the Howlers arrived, Pemalites failed to muster any defence and were exterminated.
* The Dimension of Lame from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' is filled with people like this. They consider littering and food fighting to be the most horrific crimes imaginable, not because [[All Crimes Are Equal]], but because [[Stupid Good|they can't imagine anything worse]].
 
* Mormons in ''[[South Park]]'', although this tends to make them incredibly annoying for everybody else.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience|Metallic]] [[Our Dragons Are Different|dragons]] in older versions of, what else, ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''.
* The Organians, and possibly the Metrons, on ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]''. ** For that matter, most of Star Fleet itself is portrayed as something like this (with a few bad seeds), until the existence of Section 31 was revealed (AFTER''after'' Gene Roddenbury' s death, of course).
** Also, Paladins are a literal example. Or at least up until the fourth edition, where they were allowed to be any alignment so long as it matched their patron god.
* In ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', the Nox definitely qualify, the Asgard usually do, and the Ancients occasionally do (when they're not [[Neglectful Precursors|Always]] [[Lawful Stupid|Lawful]] ''[[Lawful Stupid|Stupid'']]'', at least), depending on which episode in which series you're watching. Well, the Nox might be more Chaotic Good. Or Lawful Neutral.
* The Devas, Archons and related [[Shaped Like Itself|Lawful Good]] entities in [[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]. They even ''point out'' that [[Lawful Stupid]] is the [[Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard]]. Entities such as them exist in a state of grace that is literally impossible for mortals to reach, meaning they forgive and tolerate mistakes made by Lawful Good characters - even to the point of such characters embracing Chaos in the form of being [[The Snark Knight]] or even a [[Knight in Sour Armor]] - as long as they are consistently '''trying''' to be Lawful Good.
{{quote|'''Roy's Deva''': ''[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0490.html People forget how crucial it is to keep trying, even if they screw it up now and then. They figure that if they can't manage it perfectly every waking second, then they should just pick some other alignment because it'll be easier. But it's the struggle that matters. It's easy for a being of pure Law and Good to live up to these ideals, but you're a mortal. What matters is that when you blow it, you get back up on the horse and try again.]''}}
** Best part? This is a high quality [[Real Life]] Aesop - good people screw up. Doesn't mean we shouldn't stop trying to be as good as we can be.
* Vorlons in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' turn out to be another subversion as they are just as petty and terrorizing as their opposing species, the Shadows; while Kosh was literally [[Lawful Good]] (for certain values of Lawful; he had no qualms about encouraging [[The Chosen One]]--{{spoiler|all three parts of...him? Her? Them? Anyway, Sinclair, Delenn, and Sheridan}}—to bend the rules when necessary to maintain long-term order) the Vorlons as a whole turn out to be merely Always Lawful (Ulkesh being definitely [[Lawful Evil]]).
* The Eternals in [[Doctor Who]] were originally intended to be this, although not much is revealed about them in the show and the [[Expanded Universe]] depicts them as having their fair share of villains. Some other species, such as Star Whales and Thals, have also only been seen in a positive light so far.
 
* The Toads and Yoshis in [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario games]].
== [[Oral Tradition]] ==
** Though the RPGs have introduced exceptions.
* Angels if they are [[Our Angels Are Different|not too different]].
* ''[[Animorphs]]'': Deconstructed with Pemalites, a highly developed and joyful race that praised life and abhored violence, so much that when [[Exclusively Evil]] [[Omnicidal Maniac|OmnicidalManiacs]] the Howlers arrived, Pemalites failed to muster any defence and were exterminated.
 
* The Houyhnhnms of [[Gulliver's Travels]]. They are incredibly [[Can't Argue with Elves|honourable]], [[Intellectual Animal|intelligent]] [[Superior Species|horses]] that live alongside feral, [[Humans Are Bastards|deformed humans]] (called "Yahoos") that appear to be [[Exclusively Evil]], {{spoiler|though this is later revealed to be a prejudice on the Houyhnhnms' part.}}
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* [[Wedding Peach]] have the angels fill this role. Even the worst of them is a [[Knight Templar]] who thinks the angels aren't doing enough to ''help'' the humans.
* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience|Metallic]] [[Our Dragons Are Different|dragons]] in older versions of, what else, ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''. ** Also, Paladins are a literal example. Or at least up until the fourth edition, where they were allowed to be any alignment so long as it matched their patron god.
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Archons in ''[[Age of Wonders]]''.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has [[Our Angels Are Different|the naaru]]. ** The Tauren and Draenei—both of which seem to be overwhelmingly honorable on a cultural level—have often been accused of being this ([[Purity Sue|or]] [[Superior Species|worse]]). However, both races have at least a few bad seeds (and representation among [[Equal Opportunity Evil]] organizations). *** Seems reasonable that the Draenei would be overly pure since most all of the ones that were more susceptible to corruption have already turned into demons. The ones that exist currently are the ones who fled from that.
* The Toads and Yoshis in [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario games]]. ** Though the RPGs have introduced exceptions.
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* The Dimension of Lame from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' is filled with people like this. They consider littering and food fighting to be the most horrific crimes imaginable, not because [[All Crimes Are Equal]], but because [[Stupid Good|they can't imagine anything worse]].
* The Devas, Archons and related [[Shaped Like Itself|Lawful Good]] entities in [[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]. They even ''point out'' that [[Lawful Stupid]] is the [[Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard]]. Entities such as them exist in a state of grace that is literally impossible for mortals to reach, meaning they forgive and tolerate mistakes made by Lawful Good characters - even to the point of such characters embracing Chaos in the form of being [[The Snark Knight]] or even a [[Knight in Sour Armor]] - as long as they are consistently '''trying''' to be Lawful Good. {{quote|'''Roy's Deva''': ''[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0490.html People forget how crucial it is to keep trying, even if they screw it up now and then. They figure that if they can't manage it perfectly every waking second, then they should just pick some other alignment because it'll be easier. But it's the struggle that matters. It's easy for a being of pure Law and Good to live up to these ideals, but you're a mortal. What matters is that when you blow it, you get back up on the horse and try again.]''}} ** Best part? This is a high quality [[Real Life]] Aesop - good people screw up. Doesn't mean we shouldn't stop trying to be as good as we can be.
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Mormons in ''[[South Park]]'', although this tends to make them incredibly annoying for everybody else.
 
== [[Real Life]] ==
* "Angels in the house", perhaps better known as [[True Lady|True Ladies]].
 
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Otherness Tropes]]
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Always Lawful Good{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Examples Need Sorting]]