Stupid Neutral: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

'''''"[[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|Meh, so what if I refuse to try to put out this fire? As long as I can finish this post, I'll be content. I mean, I'm gonna die someday, so what if it's a little sooner than later?]]"''''' }}

 

Some [[True Neutral]] people are devoted to the [[Balance Between Good and Evil]] - They fight only because the forces of darkness grow too strong. The problem comes when they become [[Omnicidal Neutral|''militantly'' neutral]]; so devoted to not taking sides that they lash out against both Good and Evil without distinguishing between [[Friend or Foe]]. This usually takes the form of always siding with the underdog; the moment one side gains the upper hand, they'll pull a [[Face Heel Turn]] (or a [[Heel Face Turn]]) to make sure both sides are 'equal'. This can lead to a very [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|unreliable fellow]] and a [[Wild Card]] whose misguided morals lead his former allies to cut him down despite his [[What Is Evil?|protests that he was only following his heart]].

 

 

This type of 'stupid neutral' may occur in [[Video Games]] with a [[Karma Meter]] that offers no true middle ground between '[[Complete Monster]]' and '[[The Paladin]]'. So the 'neutral' route, if it even exists, ends up consisting of doing enough good and evil deeds (with no regards to common sense or reason) to balance the meter in the middle. Or, you know, not doing anything, but where's the fun in that?

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Early editions of the game strongly suggested that this is how druids (who were always supposed to be true neutral) should behave, basically stepping in to support whichever side is weakest in any given situation. 3rd edition relaxed things a bit by requiring druids to be only partially neutral, implied that their previous methods (flip-flopping one's agenda and allegiances) fostered chaos more than anything, and suggested that true neutrality was more about detaching oneself from concepts of ethics and morality than about maintaining an arbitrary balance.

*** This still seems a bit odd, however, as somebody with no morals or ethics is going to be chaotic evil. The alignment system in D&D is usually fairly easy to understand, until they try to explicitly describe True Neutral (which also includes things too dumb to have an alignment, and also presumably Cthulhu and friends who operate on [[Blue and Orange Morality]]). Despite this, the general trend seems to be going away from Stupid Neutral and [[Lawful Stupid]].

*** This type of argument is also one of the specific reasons they streamlined the alignment system for 4e, and came up with "unaligned", which basically boils down to "works for themselves rather than any particular ideal", and the only way to change alignment is DM-contrivance, permanent mind control, or player's choice, rather than simply "you did too many good deeds in a row, now you're not allowed to pickpocket random strangers."

* Nix from ''[[Queen's Blade]]'' isn't the stupid one; rather her stave, the Funikura, is essentially an unstable piece of work that can either destroy a village or kill the evil leader of said village. Needless to say, she sticks with it.

* [[Rifts]] creator Kevin Siembieda has said that the last part (not getting out of a burning building) is the reason the Palladium Rules System has no Neutral alignments. His opinion is that Neutral characters would be unwilling to do anything interesting, like adventuring.

 

* Arguably the staff at [[Whateley Universe|Whateley Academy]] are bordering on this. While their desire to provide a safe haven for the superpowered children of both heroes and villains is understandable, their execution of their policy leaves much to be desired—turning a blind eye to some of the criminal and even outright vicious behavior of many "ethically alternative" students, hiring staff of criminal and even murderous backgrounds, welcoming an [[Eldritch Abomination]] prophesied to destroy all humanity as a student.....

** Part of the issue is the Whateley Charter—the details on which are sketchy, but is an agreement between Superheroes, Supervillains, and Superneutrals to make sure Superpowered children are safe. Presumably, the Supervillains would have made absolutely certain that part of the charter included turning a blind eye to certain amounts of villainy—remembering that for a villain, learning how to sneak behind authority's back is a vital life lesson. Ultimately, the one thing the Superheroes, Supervillains, and Superneutrals could agree on was going after friends and family is beyond the pale—the only way to make sure ''everyone'' wants you dead in the setting is to break that cardinal rule.

 

 

* Equinox, a vigilante on ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]''. He tries to kill Gorilla Grodd for his crimes, but in order to "maintain the balance" he tries to kill the Question at the same time.

** Based on Libra, from the main DC Universe, who also "maintains the balance", but what that translates to is "giving the baddies some wins."

{{quote|'''Neutral President:''' I don't know, but my gut says "maybe."

'''Neutral President:''' If I die, tell my wife, "hello." }}

[[Category:Tabletop Game Tropes]]

[[Category:Stupidity Tropes]]