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Stupid Neutral: Difference between revisions
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== Literature ==
* Probably one of the most well-known examples is Meursault, from ''[[The Stranger]]'', who shoots an Arab because he sees no reason in doing so (the text implies it's because the sun was in his eyes), being an emotionless shell to all the wrong people before that, and not caring about anything in jail, awaiting execution.
* In ''[[Villains
** In her defense, the world ''was'' about to be destroyed in a flash of light by the imbalance. The other druids, on the other hand, were pretty dumb betraying the massive forces of good in an attempt to save evil before it got to that state. Wouldn't it have been smarter to retreat, bide their time, and just do what Kaylana did?
* [[Older Than Print]]: Early on in Dante's ''[[Divine Comedy]]'', he meets the Uncommitted, who refused to choose good or evil in life, and as a punishment are forced to eternally chase after a banner while being stung by wasps.
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* Lord Gro in ''The Worm Ouroborous'' just can't help rooting for the underdog, which leads him to switch sides on a regular basis until {{spoiler|in the final battle he starts attacking both sides at once.}}
* Bisochim the Wildmage from the ''Enduring Flame'' books brought evil back into the world and re-created the [[Our Demons Are Different|Endarkened]], simply because he thought the Light was becoming too powerful and wanted to restore the True Balance. He gives many metaphors about how "light" blinds and burns and "darkness" is a desert-dweller's friend, but never gives any concrete examples of how ''evil'' could possibly be useful.
* The [[Douglas Adams]] book ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy/Mostly Harmless
== Live Action TV ==
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** Mordenkainen the Mage is the original incarnation of this trope. He believed that the forces of good, evil, law and chaos would ''all'' screw the world up if they were unquestioned, so he ensures that no side is ever vastly more powerful than its counterpart.
** Versions 3.0 and 3.5 explicitly point out that PCs playing "true neutral" shouldn't fit this trope. Even though they usually don't care about greater causes, true neutrals still prefer neighbors who aren't going to betray, kill, or enslave them.
** [[Depending
*** 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.
* Rounding out the ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' Inquisition examples: the Amalathian faction are the ultimate conservatives, believing that the Imperium as it currently exists is the Emperor's divine work, and that mere mortals have no right to interfere with His divine plan. As such, the Amalathians fight to preserve the Imperium in its current state, [[Inherent in
* [[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.
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* Probably the best example is ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' and its expansions and [[Neverwinter Nights 2|sequel]]. It is damn-near impossible to keep a True Neutral alignment because there never is a neutral option to dialog, so you're acting either as a jerk (evil), a loony (chaotic), the messiah (good) or a robot (lawful), and to try to keep a balance there will make you seem bipolar.
* In ''[[Fallout]] 3'', the Impartial Mediation perk gives you 30 bonus points to the Speech skill (an extraordinary amount) as long as your Karma level is "neutral". Since, once again, Karma is a scale between good and evil, with no specifically "neutral" actions, you will probably be forced to alternate between stealing and murdering and giving to charity to maintain a neutral Karma.
* In ''[[Marathon
** It's implied that a major part of the problem is that the Pfhor aren't much inclined to listen to the AI that was just helping you kill them. Its schizoid side-swapping put a serious dent in its credibility.
*** To further complicate the issue is Durandal's reputation to [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|screw over anyone and anything]] he can in order to achieve his often enigmatic goals. Thoth wasn't trying to balance good and evil, he was trying to strike a balance between an [[Evil Empire]] and a psychotic [[Master Computer]] with its own agenda.
* In [[Shadow the Hedgehog]] it is perfectly possible to be Stupid Neutral. One of the better examples is that you can raise the flying temple of Black Doom. Then you can quite easily work your way to a level where you have the option to bring it crashing back down again. Or you can try to stop it from rising, and then go on to keep it airborne.
* In many early [[MUD]] games, alignment was determined by what monsters you were killing. Kill some innocent Gnomes in the Gnome Village, and your alignment shifts towards evil. Kill some Lamias in the ruins across the forest and your alignment shifts towards good. Neutral characters, to maintain their alignment, had to kill an ''equal'' number of creatures from both alignments. This lead to "Neutral" characters being "justified" for massacring a peaceful village by simply cleaning out an evil temple later. Granted, you could seek out and kill only neutral creatures all the time, but these (usually animals) obviously almost never carried many powerful items.
* ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' features a character called Blackrose, who lurks in the corner of a dangerous alley. In the alley are two gangs, one good and one evil. Blackrose will ask you what your alignment is, and ask you to kill the opposite gang. Once you've done that, he'll ask you to kill the other to maintain the balance. Then he'll request that you fight him to the death because it's the right thing to do. You can at least avoid the fight to the death by informing him that you're immortal and would eventually win.
* Averted in ''[[
** Also, there's a third option for the civil war between the [[La Résistance|Scoia'tael]] and the Order of the Flaming Rose: you can in fact remain neutral.
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== Western Animation ==
* Equinox, a vigilante on ''[[Batman:
** Based on Libra, from the main DC Universe, who also "maintains the balance", but what that translates to is "giving the baddies some wins."
* The Neutral Planet in [[Futurama]] is a deliberate parody of this alignment.
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