D&D Alignments in LORD OF THE RINGS and HARRY POTTER
Every so often, a Dungeons & Dragons alignment chart of fictional characters goes around. Which fictional characters are on the chart varies, but there’s one common thread: I usually disagree with at least one person’s place on the chart. So I thought I’d make my own. I’m sure some readers will disagree with my assignments, so I encourage you to make your own, too!
Dungeons & Dragons was largely based on the world of The Lord of the Rings, so it seems only logical to start there.
Lawful Good: Samwise Gamgee is the good-est, most lawful hobbit there ever was.
Neutral Good: The goodness of Eowyn, shield-maiden of Rohan, is never in question, but as a woman in a man’s world she doesn’t have many opportunities to lean away from neutrality.
Chaotic Good: Merry & Pippen. It is likely unfair to combine them, but I shall do it anyway.
Lawful Neutral: Bilbo, follower of rules and lover of order, nonetheless wreaks havoc once he embraces his role of thief in “The Hobbit,” and particularly after inheriting the One Ring.
True Neutral: Frodo Baggins.
Chaotic Neutral: Gandalf the Grey is manipulative, controlling, confounding and mysterious, but he does all for the greater good, probably.
Lawful Evil: I know there will be some objections, but this is where Sauron, the big bad, belongs. Maybe.
Neutral Evil: Gollum probably didn’t start out on the evil side of the chart, but by the time we meet him the ring has corrupted him utterly–but he remains neutral, only caring about the ring itself.
Chaotic Evil: Saruman the White creates the Uruk-Hai.
And of course, I had to do the characters of Harry Potter as well.
Lawful Good: Hermione Granger read about it in Hogwarts: A History.
Neutral Good: Harry Potter is good, but neither lawful nor chaotic.
Chaotic Good: Albus Dumbledore does things in a decidedly unorthodox, dangerous, and even mad way, but he does it for the greater good.
Lawful Neutral: To be frank, I wanted Ron Weasley to share Chaotic Good with Dumbledore, but that would mean acknowledging the time travel theory.
True Neutral: Luna Lovegood is too pure to be anywhere else.
Chaotic Neutral: Rubeus Hagrid could be nowhere else on this chart.
Lawful Evil: Dolores Umbridge is probably who Gary Gygax was thinking of when he invented alignment charts.
Neutral Evil: Severus Snape I don’t care what his fans say, Snape was evil. But like, in a neutral way.
Chaotic Evil: Voldemort, I guess? Chaos certainly follows him.
Edited to fix a factual error about the one ring.
