History AlternativeCharacterInterpretation / Tron

Characterization being a little thin in the ''Film/{{Tron}}'' movies (and games), this tends to make some really interesting fodder for character questions. Add the ''Film/TronLegacy'' timeline properties being written by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis of ''Series/{{LOST}}'' and ''Series/OnceUponATime'', who are notorious for their GrayAndGrayMorality and ambiguous characterization that blurs the lines of "good" and "evil," and it becomes much more open to guessing than most Creator/{{Disney}} properties.

Tron Films (''{{Film/Tron}}'' and ''Film/TronLegacy'')

** The overall question: Is he the mostly harmless, geeky scientist/programmer [[UndyingLoyalty staunchly loyal]] LawfulGood boy scout he ''seems'' to be, or is he [[ObfuscatingStupidity an incredibly clever man who uses a meek and mild persona]] so that no one suspects he's potentially the most dangerous guy in the franchise?

*** Even more of a horrific thought: Is the reason why Jet refuses to take the job because he didn't earn the promotion, or does he feel that he's trapped in his father's shadow because he happens to be on the board of directors and Jet is trying to make his own way (at the start of the game, at least) and felt he was making a name for himself in video games? The question alone puts the scene where Jet corrects Ma3a's designation of him as "Alan2" in a new light.

*** Even more of a horrific thought: Is the reason why Jet refuses to take the job because he didn't earn the promotion, or does he feel that he's trapped in his father's shadow because he happens to be on the board of directors and Jet is trying to make his own way (at the start of the game, at least)?

** Is Clu a WellIntentionedExtremist operating under a badly worded and utterly stupid directive, and trying unsuccessfully to prove himself to his "father?" Is he conducting a ZerothLawRebellion against a User who was infatuated with the Isos and the Grid's potential to see the dysfunctional reality of the situation and doing what he thought was the only way to save his fellow Programs? Or are we dealing with a NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist who ''chose'' to interpret his directive in the most self-serving way possible, destroying the [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence Isos who could compete with him for attention]] and turning the Programs into rectified drones who only lived to feed his ego and serve his whims? Was he really planning to take ''all'' his army through the portal, or just himself in an attempt to [[AGodAmI become a User himself]]?

** Likewise, in ''Film/TronLegacy'', they were unambiguously a WoobieSpecies who were "[[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth naive but infinitely wise]]," doing no wrong until they were cruelly and for no reason scapegoated and killed. Quorra's sweet characterization certainly adds weight to that interpretation, as did Jalen being tricked and corrupted into Abraxas. Get into the ''Betrayal'' comic, some parts of ''Evolution'', and ''Uprising''...and again, gets more complicated. Most of the Programs are not openly hostile to the Isos, but they were led to believe that Isos were seeking to destroy Programs and able to kill with a mere ''touch,'' due to the FalseFlagOperation Clu set up in ''Evolution''. Giles and Ophelia are outright hostile to the idea of working with Programs in ''Betrayal,'' Gibson and the Bostrumites are openly separatist, and there are statements to the effect that Isos consider "Basics" to be inferior, stupid, and obsolete while the Isos ''know'' they are the race their Creator favors more, making the Programs a collective case of TheUnfavorite. There's even a bit of it in The Grid section of VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance where Quorra tells Sora not to bother trying to save Tron, blowing off the idea that a Program could have a heart. All of this could make the Isos seem less TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth and more EgocentricallyReligious. The [[Series/BabylonFive third edge]] [[ActorAllusion on the truth]] is probably closer to Disney/{{Zootopia}} where there was a lot of {{Jerkass}} behavior on both sides of the fence, but Clu was the biggest {{Jerkass}} of all for exploiting it to destroy the Isos and control the Programs through existing prejudice.

* Alan Bradley: Did he really believe Flynn was alive, or was he giving the proverbial middle finger to Flynn's enemies by refusing to state his friend was dead? Alan would also be all too aware of Flynn's faults, but could be blinded by UndyingLoyalty, NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead (especially after doing the lion's share of raising Sam), or [[HoYay something]] [[OT3 else]] [[ThreesomeSubtext entirely]]. Furthermore, in raising Sam, and helping to keep the kid's controlling interest in the company, is he really trying to do right by his former ward, or does he want to put Sam (who is every bit the ManChild his father was at that age) in charge and then act as TheManBehindtheMan? (This interpretation has a lot of weight if you've played ''VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh'', since his EstablishingCharacterMoment was in pulling strings to try and force his own son into a higher-ranking position in Encom). Furthermore, is his bi-coastal marriage to Lora a case of HappilyMarried, HappyMarriageCharade, or even TheBeard?

* [=CLU=]'s genocide of the [=ISO=]s. Did he do it because [[FantasticRacism he saw them all as flawed because they weren't created by a user]]? Or did he do it because he grew jealous of all the attention Flynn was giving them over him, Flynn's digital partner in making The Grid?

** Is Clu a WellIntentionedExtremist operating under a badly worded and utterly stupid directive, and trying unsuccessfully to prove himself to his "father?" Is he conducting a ZerothLawRebellion against a User who was infatuated with the Isos and the Grid's potential to see the dysfunctional reality of the situation and doing what he thought was the only way to save his fellow Programs? Or are we dealing with a NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist who ''chose'' to interpret his directive in the most self-serving way possible, destroying the Isos who could compete with him for attention and turning the Programs into rectified drones who only lived to feed his ego and serve his whims? Was he really planning to take ''all'' his army through the portal, or just himself in an attempt to [[AGodAmI become a User himself]]?

** Likewise, in ''Film/TronLegacy'', they were unambiguously a WoobieSpecies who were "[[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth naive but infinitely wise]]," doing no wrong until they were cruelly and for no reason scapegoated and killed. Quorra's sweet characterization certainly adds weight to that interpretation, as did Jalen being tricked and corrupted into Abraxas. Get into the ''Betrayal'' comic, some parts of ''Evolution'', and ''Uprising''...and again, gets more complicated. Most of the Programs are not openly hostile to the Isos, but they were led to believe that Isos were seeking to destroy Programs and able to kill with a mere ''touch,'' due to the FalseFlagOperation Clu set up in ''Evolution''. Giles and Ophelia are outright hostile to the idea of working with Programs in ''Betrayal,'' Gibson and the Bostrumites are openly separatist, and there are statements to the effect that Isos consider "Basics" to be inferior, stupid, and obsolete while the Isos ''know'' they are the race their Creator favors more, making the Programs a collective case of TheUnfavorite. There's even a bit of it in The Grid section of VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII where Quorra tells Sora not to bother trying to save Tron, blowing off the idea that a Program could have a heart. All of this could make the Isos seem less TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth and more EgocentricallyReligious. The [[Series/BabylonFive third edge]] [[ActorAllusion on the truth]] is probably closer to Disney/{{Zootopia}} where there was a lot of {{Jerkass}} behavior on both sides of the fence, but Clu was the biggest {{Jerkass}} of all for exploiting it to destroy the Isos and control the Programs through existing prejudice.

* [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/2043450 Can Kevin Flynn be considered heroic or "one of the good guys" at all?]] He's established as a guy who has a natural gift for business, programming, and persuading others to do what he wants, but is otherwise a full-blown ManChild. His primary motivation on the first film is to get revenge on Dillinger for stealing his ideas and a ton of money. Defeating Master Control is the only way he would be able to get back to analog so he could enjoy the credit and cash. Anyone else's concerns could be a second thought at best. Even right before he makes his attempt at HeroicSacrifice, he kisses a Program woman who is a doppelganger for his ex-girlfriend (and who he knows is happily attached to his new Program best friend). After he ''does'' get back to analog, he proceeds to ''steal'' his friends' work (Lora's laser, Alan's Program) just like Dillinger did to him, and conduct highly irregular and dangerous experiments in his arcade's basement, all the while lying to his friends and ''even his wife'' about what he's really up to! And what is he doing in {{cyberspace}}? Millions of sentient, artificial life forms with their own society, goals, thoughts, and feelings, and he explicitly refers to their world as a "game," and "[his] gift to the world," with little if any consideration for them. And when the Isos come along, he's so delighted by them that the Programs seem secondary concerns at best. When things inevitably go south on him, he saves Quorra (last Iso), but throws ''millions'' of Program lives (''including Tron's'') under the proverbial bus in the process. Quorra says he fought against Clu, but there is no evidence of it in ''TronUprising'' and his idea of "fighting" in ''VideoGame/TronEvolution'' was to code up Anon to do battle for him and die to rescue Quorra. As for his in-universe defenders? Quorra has a loyalty to him that is, to put it bluntly, fanatical. To her, he is her master and her god. To Sam, he's the long-lost heroic father he's spent a lifetime missing. Both would have plenty of reason to paper over the man's faults.

* Tron himself: Is his devotion to Users something he chose, or did Alan make him ThreeLawsCompliant in response to The [=MCP=], which was a classic AIIsACrapshoot? Was his erratic behavior in ''TronUprising'' a reasonable response to a system that was even ''worse'' than Master Control's? Was he trying to chase Beck off, after losing so many apprentices already (Beck was his sixth apprentice at ''least''). Was he slowly going mad without a User to serve? Was he slowly succumbing to the effects of [[BrainwashedAndCrazy rectification]] without being entirely aware of it? And when did the Rinzler programming start to crack? Was he FightingFromtheInside all that time, or was he freed by User power?
** Another bit (or [[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh Byte]], given the universe): Tron is know as a big hero and rallying point for the revolution, but he is clearly not very good at it in ''TronUprising''. It is because of his mental instability, as noted above? Or is it that he's a very good ''fighter,'' but [[CripplingOverspecialization not very good at anything else]]? Remember, his attempt to defuse the mob in "Scars," ended in disaster ([[Series/BabylonFive John]] [[ActorAllusion Sheridan]], he ain't). And watching the first movie, you see he is the champion of the Game Grid, but ''everything else'' - planning, diplomacy, the getaway vehicle - was handled by Yori. It could be that he's actually a very poor leader, which also kinda fits with his User being CEO after Flynn's disappearance, only to be forced out in disgrace [[KickedUpstairs and placed into a powerless mascot position.]]

** Is his rocky relationship with Jet because of Jet's apparent apathy about the future and SpoiledBrat tendencies? Is it because Jet is BrilliantButLazy? Is it frustration over the fact Jet's skills and talents are ''very'' different from his and Lora's? Is it because Jet takes after Lora in personality, so he's reminded of his lost wife when he looks at his boy? Taking a page from ''TronUprising'', it could also be that Alan is very broken himself, and therefore not really capable of emotional support. ToughLove is the only thing he ''can'' give, which just makes Jet pull away more. [[spoiler: Or, as proposed by the MindRape scenario, [[MamasBabyPapasMaybe he suspects Jet may not be his]], and the "you sound like Flynn" was a passive-aggressive, ''incredibly'' nasty comment that apparently flew over Jet's head.]]

** How much does Alan actually know at any given point? His EstablishingCharacterMoment in the first film was pulling a XanatosGambit on ''both'' villains that he had to have been working on for months, meaning that he may have suspected Master Control went AIIsACrapshoot well before anyone else did. Or was that just a lucky guess on his part? Did he submit the paperwork and memos to Dillinger thinking Dillinger was paying attention, or a BatmanGamibit, knowing he was BeneathSuspicion until it was far too late? Was it a coincidence that he kept on good terms with Gibbs, the only one who out-ranked Dillinger? Flynn apparently told Alan and Lora nothing in the Legacy timeline, but Alan's words in the ARG, his manipulation of Sam to get the kid to the arcade, and the scene with Roy in "The Next Day" are all very ambiguous as to how much he does or doesn't know about Flynn's experiments, his disappearance, and even the nature of their friendship. It's clear from his talk with Roy in The Next Day that he knows Kevin's dead, but is he assuming that because Sam's taking the company (and wouldn't do so without conclusive proof of his dad's fate), or did Alan find the computer and verify it independently? And is his decision about Dillinger Junior putting trust in Junior because he's "earned his place," or does Alan [[KeepingTheEnemyClose suspect (or know) Dillinger Junior is up to no good and better have him where he can be watched?]] Add in that Programs reflect the best and worst parts of their User (as we see with the Clu Programs, Dumont, and Yori), and realize that this harmless looking guy's virtual reflection is ''Tron.''

Characterization being a little thin in the ''Film/{{Tron}}'' movies (and games), this tends to make some really interesting fodder for character questions. ''There will be some unmarked spoilers.'' Read with caution

* Can Kevin Flynn be considered heroic or "one of the good guys" at all? He's established as a guy who has a natural gift for business, programming, and persuading others to do what he wants, but is otherwise a full-blown ManChild. His primary motivation on the first film is to get revenge on Dillinger for stealing his ideas and a ton of money. Defeating Master Control is the only way he would be able to get back to analog so he could enjoy the credit and cash. Anyone else's concerns could be a second thought at best. Even right before he makes his attempt at HeroicSacrifice, he kisses a Program woman who is a doppelganger for his ex-girlfriend (and who he knows is happily attached to his new Program best friend). After he ''does'' get back to analog, he proceeds to ''steal'' his friends' work (Lora's laser, Alan's Program) and conduct highly irregular and dangerous experiments in his arcade's basement, all the while lying to his friends and ''even his wife'' about what he's really up to! And what is he doing in {{cyberspace}}? Millions of sentient, artificial life forms with their own society, goals, thoughts, and feelings, and he explicitly refers to their world as a "game," and "[his] gift to the world," with little if any consideration for them. And when the Isos come along, he's so delighted by them that the Programs seem secondary concerns at best. When things inevitably go south on him, he saves Quorra (last Iso), but throws ''millions'' of Program lives (''including Tron's'') under the proverbial bus in the process. Quorra says he fought against Clu, but there is no evidence of it in ''TronUprising'' and his idea of "fighting" in ''VideoGame/TronEvolution'' was to code up Anon to do battle for him and die to rescue Quorra. As for his in-universe defenders? Quorra has a loyalty to him that is, to put it bluntly, fanatical. To her, he is her master and her god. To Sam, he's the long-lost heroic father he's spent a lifetime missing.

** TronUprising seems indicate that Clu's reign wasn't as hitch-free as CLU was eventually seeking to [[{{Brainwash}} "repurpose"]] every program in the Grid whether they resisted or not. Maybe CLU's real motivation was that he was a ControlFreak (admittedly, he was created to be one by Flynn) who came to resent the system he was supposed to manage. Then there's the father/son parallels between Flynn and him, especially the vicious SiblingRivalry between him and Sam when they meet, and you can extend that to Flynn's coddling of the Isos.

** How much does Alan actually know? Flynn apparently told Alan and Lora nothing in the Legacy timeline, but Alan's words in the ARG, his manipulation of Sam to get the kid to the arcade, and the scene with Roy in "The Next Day" are all very ambiguous as to how much he does or doesn't know about Flynn's experiments, his disappearance, and even the nature of their friendship. It's clear from his talk with Roy in The Next Day that he knows Kevin's dead, but is he assuming that because Sam's taking the company (and wouldn't do so without conclusive proof of his dad's fate), or did Alan find the computer and verify it independently? And is his decision about Dillinger Junior putting trust in Junior because he's "earned his place," or does Alan [[KeepingTheEnemyClose suspect (or know) Dillinger Junior is up to no good and better have him where he can be watched?]]
** The overall question: Is he the mostly harmless, geeky scientist/programmer [[UndyingLoyalty staunchly loyal]] LawfulGood boy scout he ''seems'' to be, or is he [[ObfuscatingStupidity an incredibly clever man who uses a meek and mild persona]] so that no one suspects he's potentially the most dangerous guy in the franchise?

** Another bit (or [[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh Byte]], given the universe): Tron is know as a big hero and rallying point for the revolution, but he is clearly not very good at it in ''TronUprising''. It is because of his mental instability, as noted above? Or is it that he's a very good ''fighter,'' but [[CripplingOverspecialization not very good at anything else]]? Remember, his attempt to defuse the mob in "Scars," ended in disaster ([[BabylonFive John]] [[ActorAllusion Sheridan]], he ain't). And watching the first movie, you see he is the champion of the Game Grid, but ''everything else'' - planning, diplomacy, the getaway vehicle - was handled by Yori. It could be that he's actually a very poor leader, which also kinda fits with his User being CEO after Flynn's disappearance, only to be forced out in disgrace [[KickedUpstairs and placed into a powerless mascot position.]]