History Main / OrderVersusChaos

** In last issue of his run Crazy Jane is keept in another world (implied to be our world) and her therapist insists her adventures with Doom Patrol are delusions, some enemies (Scissormen and Orqwith, Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E., Sex Men, Ant Farm an Telephone Avatar) as representations of cold, alien, tyrranical authority ([[LawfulEvil Evil Order]])and others (Red Jack, Desecrator, Shadowy Mister Evans, Candlemaker) as predatory forces of destruction ([[ChaoticEvil Evil Chaos]]) representing her father.

* In the first ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' game, Sovereign claims that the Reapers "impose order on the chaos of organic evolution". Two games later, a downed Reaper says something similar, arguing to Shepard that [[spoiler: harvesting organics and uploading them into new Reaper shells]] is the only way to "preserve" them. Otherwise, they will eventually create synthetics that [[RobotWar have the power to destroy them.]] [[spoiler: This turns out to be the purpose of the unthinkably old AI overseeing the whole cycle.]]

** Fanfic [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/41687/Chronicles-of-Harmony%27s-End Chronicles Of Harmony's End]] features the gods of these forces, and as you'd expect, they ''really'' don't get along.

* Marvel also has Lord Chaos and Master Order, two [[AnthropomorphicPersonification]]s of the concepts. Usually Lord Chaos serves the role as the antagonist, or they both team up to protect the universe against a greater threat. A notable subversion was when the cosmic being Edifice Rex planned to revert the universe back to a point singularity - all of the other cosmic beings opposed him, except for Master Order who thought it was a wonderful idea.

* Although naming historic examples may be a bit controversial, science does give us an interesting subversion in the thermodynamic property of Entropy. Entropy is sometimes defined as the amount of disorder or chaos in a system. However, a "chaotic" system (of molecules, for instance) is hypothetically uniform. In other words, an arrangement of molecules equally spaced out so you could make a grid out of them is more "chaotic" than a random or haphazard arrangement of molecules.
** The idea here is that the uniform arrangement is the way the universe naturally behaves, so a random or nonuniform arrangement must have been unnatural, i.e. made that way. A system being "made that way" brings to mind "order", so the opposite is logically chaos. Needless to say, this clashes with the typical idea people have of order being the same thing as uniformity.
** Wait a minute, if the molecules are equally spaced and staying that way, isn't that a perfect crystal at zero temperature? And doesn't a perfect crystal at zero temperature have ''zero'' entropy?
*** Even in a perfect crystal, there are still vibrations. Also, it's not in a thermodynamic system, so thermodynamics do not apply. Entropy in statistical mechanics (which is to thermodynamics as GR/SR are to Newtonian dynamics) is actually the most likely configuration. It is what, outside of some external ordering force, any statistical system is likely to default to.

* This is basically the conflict in physics between the theories of General Relativity, which describes an orderly and predictable universe, but is only applicable to large scales, and Quantum Mechanics, which describes a chaotic, random, near-nonsensical universe, but is only applicable to small scales. Both theories are correct, even though they contradict each other. The purpose of a Unified Field Theory would be to resolve these conflicts and unite both theories.

Bored of the [[DeadHorseTrope age-old battle]] of [[BlackAndWhiteMorality Good versus Evil]]? Want something new to spice up your setting and throw your readers in confusion? Fear not! Cosmological Forces R Us has brought you the brand-new dichotomy, Order versus Chaos.

Using it in a setting allows you to have two sides, in a similar way to Good and Evil, but without being so trite or preachy about it. While the most traditional works have assigned [[LawfulGood Order to Good]], and [[ChaoticEvil Chaos to Evil]], [[InvertedTrope inversions]] of this are becoming increasingly frequent, wherever you find people dissatisfied with ThePowersThatBe. Often nowadays, you'll find a ChaoticGood [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits band of rebels]] fighting against a LawfulEvil [[TheEmpire empire]]. In another interesting take on the subject, true goodness is seen as the [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil balance]] [[NeutralGood between the two forces]], and [[GreyAndGrayMorality both Order and Chaos are portrayed as evil when they are]] [[LawfulStupidChaoticStupid taken to their extremes]].

Order, sometimes called Law, is associated with civilization, authority, rules, protection, the status quo, tradition, and, when [[LawfulStupid stretched to its extreme]], mindless obedience to the law, fascism, and xenophobia. It's quite common nowadays to depict what happens when Order takes [[KnightTemplar their laws and oaths]] [[TautologicalTemplar just a little too far]]. When they have [[PersonalityPowers powers]] associated with them, it's often leadership, TheVirus, [[{{Brainwashed}} Brainwashing]], and the power to bind with rules and oaths. When used as a villain, he's likely to say "WeHaveReserves."

They're sometimes {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s, struggling with the whole world at stake, and don'tcha know, the hero's just the one that's got to pick [[DivineChessboard between one or the other to serve.]] [[TakeAThirdOption Or just simply]] [[TrueNeutral not play favorites and]] [[OmnicidalNeutral keep them balanced]]. When they're not actual forces, they're broad themes represented by the agenda of specific groups of people.

Rarely is it brought up that by sorting the world into clearly defined categories of Chaos and Order, the trope inherently skews itself in favor of Order (or at least Balance). It's also generally vague as to why the forces of discord and chaos are regimented and disciplined enough to have actual Forces of Chaos. Of course, this only applies to absolute, cosmic-level order and chaos, not human individuals who tend toward one or the other.

In spite of the obvious fact that a hero who flies by the seat of his pants can nevertheless believe in an orderly universe and support his society more or less according to whether it is in harmony with the greater order, and an obsessive-compulsive character may be actually reacting to his belief that the universe is chaotic, and society no better.

* Many of [[Tropers/{{Maedar}} Cyber Commander's]] works, like ''FanFic/{{Shadowchasers}}'', feature this. For example, devils are creatures of Law and Order who mostly aim to enslave the world, while demons are creatures of Anarchy and Chaos who mostly aim to destroy the world. [[EvilVersusEvil Both races are evil and hate each other]].

** Even more apparent with chapter 110's reveal that Death the Kid, the personification of order, is [[spoiler:brothers with Asura, the personification of chaos.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'' has a version of this, where it's actually Commitment versus Freedom as represented by [[NamesTheSame Katherine and Catherine]], respectively. There's also [[TakeAThirdOption a third ending]], in which [[spoiler:rather than choosing any of the girls, Vincent decides to get enough money to go to the space colonies]].

** Even more apparent with chapter 110's reveal that Kid, the personification of order, is [[brothers with Asura, the personification of chaos]]

* ''{{Devilman}}'' spin-off manga ''AMON'' potrays conflict between God, Satan and Amon as this. God is cruel tyrant, who wants to exterminate demons just because he didn't create them and they don't fit his vision of order in the world. Satan, while defending demons, despises their chaotic nature and wants to rule over them. Amon, deeply chaotic spirit, despises both of them.

* Even ''SisterSister'' had this! Tia and Tamera had very [[SiblingYinYang different]] personalities. Tia (order) was the neat, studious one, and Tamera (chaos) was the party girl.

** Green in the middle represents the order and the further you go from it, the more chaotic the corps become. Each color represents emotion, except for Green, which is willpower - ability to overcome and control your emotions for greater good, the further you go from it, the less control you have.
** Blue and Yellow, hope and fear respectively, represents how you can use the emotions to affect and shape the world. Their goal is to estabilish order, but Blue Lanterns see it as [[LawfulGood harmony]] that can be built only in cooperation with Green, while Sinestro Corps tries to impose [[LawfulEvil tyranny]] and rule the Universe with an iron fist.
** Orange and Indigo - greed and comparision - represents what happens when you let your emotions define your life. Indigo Tribe sacrifices their individuality for [[NeutralGood common good]], but it makes them detached and boderline sociopathic. Larfleeze on the other hand is completely [[NeutralEvil selfish]] and cares only about himself.
** And finally we have Pink and Red - love and anger - who represents Chaos. Members of both corps lose their minds, taken by the representive emotion. Star Saphires wants to [[ChaoticGood spread love through the Universe]] and are willing to go through the extremes to do so, as well as prone to [[{{Yandere}} yanderish]] tendencies. Red Lanterns are horde of [[ChaoticEvil berserkers]] destroying everything in their path and often fighting between each other, when not provided with better (as in, any) target. In the beginning they were mindless and bestial, but Atrocitus allowed them to regain some degree of self-control since then.
** It should be noted that order isn't present as completely good and chaos as completely evil. White Entity is composed of white light, that forms when all of seven colors are combined, and represent life, which is a combination of all emotions, as well as order and chaos in all their forms. Meanwhile Black represents absence of emotions and life, state of emptiness and stasis. Guardians' actions to purge emotions from Green Lantern corps allowed the forces of Black to infiltrate them, as their actions has bought them too close to this cold, emotionless state.

* In 2008's ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', the Joker claims that he is a representation of chaos, going up against Batman who represents order. As a sort of jusitfication, he tells that chaos, for all that it does, it's at least ''fair''.

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** The cosmology in the ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' setting stressed the importance of the Unity of these three forces. When in balance, they feed into one other in a perfect harmony of creation, existence, and destruction leading to new creations. The CrapSackWorld nature of the [=WoD=] is a result of that balance having been broken in favor of stasis and corruption.

* The theme of Jonathan Hickman's ''{{SHIELD}}'' is a war between science as a force for change (represented by LeonardoDaVinci) and science as a means of control (represented by IsaacNewton). The lead character, the son of NikolaTesla, initially sides with Leonardo, before deciding both sides are wrong because they're locked into the idea there must ''be'' a war.

* ''FanFic/TheDarkLordsOfNerima'' has this in form of the [[SailorMoon Sailor Senshi]] (heroic [[MagicalGirl Magical Girls]] who fight for love and justice and work to preserve the peace of the world), and [[RanmaOneHalf Ranma and the Wreaking Crew]] (crazy Martial Artists with [[MartialArtsAndCrafts so many different]] [[SupernaturalMartialArts fighting styles]] that can [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower blow up mountains with ease, plus they're [[ChewToy Chew Toys]]). They only reason why both sides are at war is because Ranma and Ryoga tricked the Senshi into thinking that they are both [[MultiversalConqueror Multiversal Conquerors]] to protect a Youma that Ryoga befriended. The said thing is that the Senshi are ''very'' instance into believing that they're evil, which given how twisted their villains were it's not sorta surprising.

* ''FanFic/TheDarkLordsOfNerima'' has this in form of the [[SailorMoon Sailor Senshi]] (heroic MagicalGirls who fight for love and justice and work to preserve the peace of the world), and [[RanmaOneHalf Ranma and the Wreaking Crew]] (crazy Martial Artists with [[MartialArtsAndCrafts so many different]] [[SupernaturalMartialArts fighting styles]] that can [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower blow up mountains with ease, plus they're [[ChewToy Chew Toys]]). They only reason why both sides are at war is because Ranma and Ryoga tricked the Senshi into thinking that they are both [[MultiversalConqueror Multiversal Conquerors]] to protect a Youma that Ryoga befriended. The said thing is that the Senshi are ''very'' instance into believing that they're evil, which given how twisted their villains were it's not sorta surprising.

* ''{{STALKER}}: Shadow of Chernobyl'' has the very aptly named Duty vs. Freedom, Duty being a highly disciplined paramilitary organization that believes the world needs to be protected from the Zone, and Freedom being a loosely run band of stoners and anarchists who believe the Zone's gifts should be shared with the entire world.

* {{Averted}} in ''VForVendetta'': V fights to bring down the oppressive government, but is careful to tell to Evey that it's law, rather than order, that he opposes. He also makes sure to explain that anarchy is not the same as chaos.