True Neutral: Difference between revisions

[[File:true neutral embassy 1933.jpg|link=Futurama|frame|[[General Failure|"What makes a man turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?"]]]]

 

 

 

A '''True Neutral''' character or organization can be introduced as a [[Wild Card]], neither aligned with the Hero nor the [[Big Bad]]. On the other hand, they may well be on one side or the other, at least nominally. Perhaps they care little for the conflict and have their own goals, which are neither particularly good or evil. A True Neutral scientist may work for the good guys because it furthers their research, but they may also work for the bad guys for the same reason. They could also be on whichever side their friends are, just because of that. True Neutral characters can seem somewhat selfish, but they can also seem rather happy-go-lucky in comparison to more responsible characters.

 

Compare [[Crowning Moment of Indifference]]. For the different types in which this alignment may manifest, check [[True Neutral/Analysis]].

 

{{examples}}

 

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Dracule Mihawk from ''[[One Piece]]'' doesn't seem to really care about anything short of finding someone who can surpass him in swordsman skills. He takes a passing interest in Zoro and Luffy, which is why he ''doesn't kill'' the former after their [[Curb Stomp Battle|hopelessly one-sided duel]]; as for Luffy, during the Whitebeard War saga he decides to attack him without holding back just to see if [[Because Destiny Says So|fate]] will really somehow miraculously save his life despite his best efforts.

** [[Magnificent Bastard|Crocodile]] starts out somewhere in the [[Neutral Evil]] range: posing as a legitimate businessman and government-sanctioned "hero" of a country his secret organization is working to overthrow, so that he can found a new military regime (also, [[Lost Superweapon|superweapon]]). After his defeat, he passes on an opportunity to escape prison out of sheer disinterest, only to escape later on [[Enemy Mine|by joining our heroes]] to fight in the War of the Summit, wherein he was on the side of [[Wild Card|exactly no one]]: He started out wanting to take [[World's Strongest Man|Whitebeard's]] head, rebuffed an offer to join forces with [[Camp Gay|Donquixote]] [[Complete Monster|Doflamingo]], and then saved both Ace and Luffy, just to spite the Marines. What he's up to next is anyone's guess.

* The ''[[Gundam]]'' series has many great examples.

** Anaheim Electronics is probably the quintessential example. THE mobile suit manufacturer in the UC-verse, they sell their products to anybody willing to pay for them, and often end up supplying multiple opposing factions in the same conflict.

* Genkai of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' holds a tournament to determine her successor, and is willing to train whoever wins, even if it is an assassin or a demon. In the Dark Tournament, she admits that she is not a champion of justice, but she fights against those she dislikes, which includes {{spoiler|her former teammate Toguro}}.

* In ''[[Code Geass]]'', there's [[Mad Scientist|Lloyd]] [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|Asplund]], C.C and [[Going for the Big Scoop|Diethard Reid]].

* ''[[Golgo 13]]''. Duke Togo seems to live by one single rule: if someone meets his hefty fee and explains their motives for wanting another person dead, Golgo 13 will put a bullet in said person's head in a laughably improbable manner. [[Contract on the Hitman|As long as you do NOT double-cross him, of course]]

* Benny from ''[[Black Lagoon]]''. Ultimately, he isn't willing to cross the line entirely into the villain territory occupied by most of the rest of Roanapur, but he's certainly no charity case either and merely ''associating'' with Revy is probably soul-staining enough to keep him off the straight and narrow.

* Charden Flamberg of ''[[Black Cat (manga)|Black Cat]]''. Unlike his comrades, he has genuine reasons for hating Chronos and follows the [[Big Bad]] to do so. But, he leaves when he realizes that Creed's ego has taken over.

* Papillion of ''[[Busou Renkin]]''. He doesn't want to kill humans and burn the world to ash, but, he's not going to help anyone out unless he gets something out of it.

* [[Wild Card]] Kai Hiwatari of ''[[Beyblade]]''.

* In ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'', {{spoiler|Kyubey is one of these. Despite behaving in an extremely creepy manner at all times, he's only watching for the wellbeing of the universe, even though during the main plot that causes a huge amount of death and suffering. After the finale it can be seen that he keeps the same personality, but behaves in a much friendlier manner. But that's not because he changed, he still has the same goal, it's just that in the new universe the most straightforward way of achieving it looks friendlier.}}

* [[Robot Girl|Cameron]] from ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' is a sapient machine, but nonetheless is bound by her programming to protect John Connor, no matter the cost. {{spoiler|Or her programming to ''kill'' him, no matter the cost.}} This tends to result in her doing terrible things to people her programming dictates are threats, or being apathetic toward others' plights if they do not concern her. In the second season, she even discusses her blank morality with John, pointing out that even though Terminators like her are killing machines, that "we aren't cruel."

* Dr. Smith from ''[[Lost in Space]]'' occasionally falls into this alignment. For example, in one episode he travels back in time to avoid going on the Jupiter II, but upon learning that by staying behind he'll condemn the Robinsons to death, he can't quite bring himself to stay behind - he's self-interested, certainly, but not a straight-out bastard.

* The Observers in ''[[Fringe]]'' seem to clearly fall into this category. True to their name, they merely observe and refuse to interact except under very specific conditions, in which case the goal also appears to be unknown.

* The Cleaners in ''[[Charmed]]'' are this alignment as their sole objective is to clean up any mess created by other magical beings in order to prevent the existence of magic from being revealed to the mostly unaware human population. They will not hesitate to take any and all measures they deem necessary to pursue this objective regardless of who they come into conflict with or what alignment those others might be. [[Fridge Logic|Not that they did anything before their formal introduction to the series, even in situations where their intervention would have been warranted...]]

* Captain Jack Harkness of ''[[Torchwood]]''.

* The Replicators of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' are a rare example of a True Neutral [[Big Bad]]. One can quite easily classify them as Type 4, as their only concern is self-replication. Unfortunately, they're so good at it (and at improving on existing technology) that they become a bigger threat than the [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|half-ascended]] [[Omnicidal Maniac]] Anubis ever was.

* When a [[Power Stable]] is feuding another [[Power Stable]], the chances are fairly good a True Neutral character will be in there somewhere. Everybody wants them on their side but they're not really willing to pick a side for whatever reason. Christian Cage was this during the beginning of the Main Event Mafia-Frontline feud. Usually, said character will eventually slide to one side of the fence or another.

* A face will sometimes become a Neutral character by default if they're feuding with a bigger face and haven't officially turned heel. Examples include the Rock at ''Wrestlemania X-7'' against Stone Cold and Shawn Michaels at ''Wrestlemania XXIII'' against John Cena.

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** In Second Edition all True Neutral people were stated to be type 4, and the player's guide definition explains that they always side with the underdog, and sometimes swap sides when one is winning. It goes on to explain that "Clearly, there are very few true neutral characters in the world". This may because of the enemies they've also wiped out killing them when they show up at the door and claiming they want to swap.

*** They presumably had to change this after the sheer absurdity of cases analogous to Jaheira and Faldorn in the ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' series, having the same alignment despite having ''mutually exclusive'' philosophies of nature and society (with Jaheira as the calm, benevolent-but-paying-lip-service-to-balance [[Nature Hero]] and Faldorn making the average [[Knight Templar]] look calm).

** Replacing the rilmani in ''[[Pathfinder]]'' are two races of True Neutral examplars. The aeons are mysterious beings spawned by the universe like antibodies to balance dualities (creation and destruction, freedom and fate, logic and emotion, etc.). The psychopomps, rather than worrying about balance, instead enforce the natural flow of souls into the afterlife on behalf of the goddess of death.

** Lizardfolk. Extremely territorial and ferocious when provoked (and will sometimes [[I Am a Humanitarian|eat their fallen enemies]]), but not malicious like orcs or goblins. They mostly just [[Heroic Neutral|want to be left alone]]. They have a high number of druids (see above) as religious leaders.

** The Orks are arguably type 5 also, all inevitably violent and bloodthirsty... but when one particular Ork is strong enough to keep all the other Orks in line and become Warboss, they typically are able to form a "Waagh!" horde which is large and strong enough to rampage throughout the galaxy. Of course, that doesn't mean there are no Orks that are willing to try to take down the current Warboss and take control from there...

*** Specifically the Blood Axe clan, who not only learned human-style tactics such as retreating and camouflage, but also do mercenary work as well. Considering the rest of the race, this is what makes them neutral.

** [[Character Development|He grows out of this]] in the sequel, where he begins to realize that the people he's killing are real people, some of whom just want to get out of the UAA. He decides that he'll destroy the UAA by killing its leader, who just happens to be the #1 assassin in this game.

* Saya, the eponymous [[Eldritch Abomination]] in the extremely gory visual novel ''[[Saya no Uta]]''. While obviously sentient, she doesn't seem to even have a clear concept of morality, and even at her worst, she comes across as [[Obliviously Evil]]. Her only real goal is to understand her own purpouse and propagate her species. And, well, her love for Fuminori is [[Tear Jerker|heart-wrenching]].

* Pete Wheeler from ''[[Backyard Sports]]''. Because he's too stupid to think otherwise.

* M.A.R.Go.T. the transit system CPU in ''[[Fallout 3]]: Broken Steel''. She is the only robot in the game (besides {{spoiler|John Henry Eden}}) who seems to know that a war happened 200 years ago, and humanity is struggling today, but is solely concerned with making the trains run on time. She only helps the player because you help her.

* In ''[[The Lion King]]'', Timon and Pumbaa start off as the "Don't Care" type of True Neutral, with their motto of ''"Hakuna Matata"'' (No Worries). They manage to convert Simba into this temporarily before he decides [[Lawful Good|to recognize his duty as a king]].

* Equinox from ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' is a rare Type 4 True Neutral, seeking to balance the conflict between good and evil. In his first appearance he had Gorilla Grodd and [[The Question]] suspended on a gigantic scales, intending to kill both, stopping only when Batman interferes.

* ''[[Adventure Time]]'':

{{quote|'''Dark Wizard:''' For your final test... ''Slay this'' ''''unaligned ant!''''

'''Dark Wizard:''' Well, no... But it's not good either! }}

* [[Your Mileage May Vary|Arguably]] [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter|Vanessa]] from ''[[Phineas and Ferb]],'' overlapping with [[Selfish Good, Selfish Evil|Selfish Neutral]]---she clearly finds her [[Punch Clock Villain]] father's plans annoying, but she never really actively helps his nemesis [[Everythings Better With Platypus|Perry]] stop him either. She seems to becoming closer to [[Chaotic Neutral]] as time goes on, though, despite expressing at least some misgivings:

'''Vanessa:''' Halfway, huh? Hmm... You mean like, maybe I should take an interest in his work? I would, but it's actually evil. I just can't---Ferb? }}

* On ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', Samy cares very little whether the people of Miseryville are suffering [[For the Evulz|like his boss does]], he's only intrested in two things: his acting career and, according to [[Word of God]], [[The Starscream|overthrowing Lucius]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Character Alignment]]

[[Category:YMMV Trope]]