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Mim
The Shire
Dec 29 2012, 5:19pm
Views: 151
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I struggle to think of good characters that are actually lawful. The only ones that really seem to be truly lawful, are the ones that are in the position to be making the laws which gives them something of an advantage. Can a King ever really be anything but lawful when he can change the laws pretty much on a whim? I mean none of the cultures in The Lord of the Rings seem to have any structures that can challenge the power of the king. Unless you count Gandalf. So Denethor and Theoden are lawful because they are the law. Though I suppose there is something to be said for the traditions that are sometimes mentioned as binding the lawmakers decisions, but does disobeying tradition really make you unlawful?
As for characters like Galadriel, I struggle to call her lawful because I don't really see her ever obeying anyone if she didn't want to. Or rather, I don't think she would ever really think anyone knew better than she did, therefore any obedience she might show would only ever be to things she agreed with not because they were the law. I don't know that we ever see an example of her behaving contrary to her own inclination because of some kind of law.
The Hobbits are the closest to properly lawfully good characters that we see, but they are only really lawful when they're in the Shire. They break the laws of all the other lands they visit fairly universally. Attending secret councils they're not invited to (Sam in Rivendell), abandoning their posts (I'm pretty sure Pippin disobeys some direct standing orders during the siege), going into battle when they've been specifically ordered to stay back (Merry). They're also pretty unlawful when they get back so actually in the cause of this paragraph I've convinced myself they're not actually lawful at all. They only obey when the law they're obeying matches their own inclination.
In that respect, I think the only truly lawful characters are actually the Orcs because they, generally, do as they're told even when they don't want to. I'm not sure there's much Orcs want to do aside from eat and cause havoc so the fact that they every actually do anything else, even if they need serious persuading to do it, probably makes them more lawful than anyone else.
My other question is, does one act undermine your entire alignment? Farmair breaks the law in letting Frodo go, but its fairly exceptional circumstances and he dithers about it so can we actually imagine him doing that again? So is he lawful, with one minor deviation or does that deviation actually change his underlying lawful character?
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Subject
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User
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Time
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Discuss the "Allignment" of various characters (might be fun)
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noWizardme
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Dec 28 2012, 7:21pm
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Wrong! Wrong! (just kidding)
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CuriousG
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Dec 28 2012, 10:09pm
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Movin' up, movin' down
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noWizardme
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Dec 28 2012, 10:44pm
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Rating the Ring and Boromir
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CuriousG
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Dec 28 2012, 11:44pm
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Regular elvish trick
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noWizardme
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Dec 28 2012, 10:56pm
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My RP background is not D&D
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Escapist
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Dec 28 2012, 11:48pm
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Which law?
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noWizardme
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Dec 29 2012, 9:06am
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Rulers?
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noWizardme
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Dec 29 2012, 10:35am
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Law and culture
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Escapist
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Jan 1, 8:05pm
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Such as the Mafia
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CuriousG
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Jan 1, 9:01pm
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Not much is lawful...
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Mim
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Dec 29 2012, 5:19pm
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How awful to be lawful?
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noWizardme
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Dec 29 2012, 10:17pm
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Not totally convinced
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Mim
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Jan 1, 7:55pm
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