History Main / OrderVersusChaos

* ''Literature/AClockworkOrange'' uses this to prevent DarknessInducedAudienceApathy, though it's subtle; the main conflict is between VillainProtagonist [[TheSociopath Alex]], a young man who generally dedicates himself to rape, ultraviolence, narcotics, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Beethoven]], and the government that wants to torture the criminal impulse out of him. Alex is Chaos; the government is Order. They're both pretty damn bad.

** ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' adds a fourth option: [[OmnicidalNeutral Nothingness]]. Screw Order. Screw Chaos. [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy All of your options suck and nothing anyone does will bring an end to the neverending]] CrapsackWorld that is the [=MegaTen=] universe, [[DespairEventHorizon so just end it all.]] [[spoiler: Not that it'll help, as ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'' reveals.]]

* Patrick Tilley's ''Amtracj Wars'' series pits the fascistically orderly Amtrack Federation against the chaos of the Mute tribes. it pretty much comes off as GrayAndGreyMorality with the tribes being the [[ALighterShadeOfGrey the lighter shade]].

* [[spoiler: Grundy]] from ''{{Literature/A Fable of Tonight}}'' belives his mission is to ensure balance between Order and Chaos, with healthy dose of BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil, through TheMultiverse. [[spoiler: When he finds a world where either Order or Chaos gained too much of an advantage, he tries to balance it. But because he's a demon, his methods are both utterly evil - he brings terror to wacky, crazy world of magic and lets criminals from it into our, much more orderly, world, to spread disorder - and bound to upset the balance to much towards the other side. This is when the force Grundy calls the Adversary intervenies, creating a champion of good to trurly restore the balance between order and chaos.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', the Ethos system features, amongst others, the Collectivist-Individualist dichotomy. The exact ideology represented by any given stance on the dichotomy is left intentionally vague for roleplaying purposes, but from what can be gathered, Collectivists favour autocratic governments and [[HappinessInSlavery don't take happiness penalties from slavery]] and Individualists favour democracies and personal liberty, gaining bonuses to energy production.

* ''VideoGame/GrandiaII'' portrays the two Gods of the story (Granas and Valmar) as personifications of Order and Chaos, both supposedly created by humans who leaned too far one way or the other. It spells this out, ''very'' briefly, and the characters do not comprehend any of the implications. [[AncientKeeper A little robot]] makes the remark in question. You see, [[spoiler:Granas and Valmar were some ancient civilization's scientific researchers, who jointly discovered how to transmute matter and energy at will, i.e. [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas the key to utopia]], and promptly [[AGodAmI became as gods]]. Their partnership broke up when they realized their ideologies were split neatly along the line described by this trope -- Granas wanted [[{{Utopia}} a perfect world]] full of happy people who never experience anything negative; Valmar insisted that life is made interesting by conflict... so he started one. The details are foggy, but we do find out that the war ended with Granas [[DeaderThanDead down for the count]] and Valmar (or at least his giant bio weapon) [[NotQuiteDead still hanging around]]. Gameplay ensues.]]

* A common theme in the VideoGame/{{Geneforge}} series. [[TheMagocracy The Shapers]] have maintained a fairly peaceful and stable social order for centuries, and kept the [[EvilutionaryBiologist worst]] [[AGodAmI excesses]] of their distinctive form of magic to a minimum. Scratch the surface, though, and you'll quickly notice that this relative peace and comfort masks a tyrannical society with next to no social mobility, kept afloat with healthy doses of FantasticRacism, including [[WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide the systematic extermination of most sentient nonhuman species.]] The rebellion against them, in turn, wants to tear down not just the tyranny and racism, [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized but the peace and stability, and all the rules that made it possible in the first place.]] It doesn't help that the rebels are not exactly in agreement about what should come next, and many of the rebel creations hate humans just as much as humans hate them. Both sides are convinced they're right, and neither side is presented as overwhelmingly better or worse than the other when it comes to morality; both demonstrate [[KickTheDog plenty of willingness to punt a few canines over the horizon.]] And you get to choose which side wins. There are a few sides that try to compromise, but these tend to get killed off quickly, or become affiliated with the (chaotic) rebels by default.

* The [[GrandFinale final Splatfest]] of ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' is themed around this, with Pearl championing Team Chaos while Marina leads Team Order, with the latter convinced that Chaos winning means that Pearl would end their band Off the Hook (and by extension, [[HeterosexualLifePartners their close-knit friendship]]) simply for the sake of mixing things up. [[spoiler:When Chaos wins, Marina prepares for Pearl to cut ties with her... only for Pearl to reveal that she just wanted the duo to [[GenreShift experiment with different musical genres]], and is taken aback that Marina thought for even a second that she would end things.]]

Order, sometimes called Law, is associated with civilization, authority, rules, protection, the status quo, tradition, and, when [[LawfulStupid stretched to its extreme]], mindless obedience, fascism, and abuse of power. It's quite common to depict what happens when Order takes [[KnightTemplar their laws and oaths]] [[TautologicalTemplar just a little too far]], but also don't be surprised to see TheGoodKing portrayed positively. When they have [[PersonalityPowers powers]] associated with them, it's often [[TheLeader leadership]], TheVirus, [[{{Brainwashed}} Brainwashing]], and the [[MagicallyBindingContract power to bind with rules and oaths]]. When used as a villain, he's likely to say "WeHaveReserves."

Bored of the [[OlderThanDirt 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.

* The ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' trilogy has the gods Ruin (chaos) and Preservation (order).

* Tanya von Degurechaff of ''LightNovel/YoujoSenki'' maintains neutrality in this debate, saying that that freedom without regulation leads to anarchy; while regulation without freedom leads to tyranny.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'' had the Vorlons and the Shadows. Originally they were portrayed as Good vs. Evil (Vorlons projecting angelic images of themselves, shadows causing utter fear with their ships). Later, their millennial conflict is revealed as rival philosophies run amok: Order (Vorlons) vs. Chaos (Shadows), with the younger races being forced to choose a side or die. The idea was taken from Babylonian mythology, hence the name of the show.

* The officials of Ohio Valley Wrestling took [[ObviousRulePatch frequent measures]] to help tone down the cheating of the {{heel}}s and were met with stiff opposition and or creative interpretations of their new rules every single time. The most frequent offenders were Bolin Services and The Jersey Shore Crew(who existed before the television show).
* Every main member of the WWN family excluding Wrestling/DragonGate USA and including Wrestling/RingOfHonor took some measure to cut back on the "cliches" of pro wrestling and reign in heel cheats. In every case there was a group that formed in response to more or less do what they wanted without reproach, such as The Prophecy, Special K, Generation Next, The Rottweilers, The Embassy, [=Hangm3n=], SCUM, The Kingdom, The Rebellion and [[TheLongList probably a few others]] in ROH, YRR, and "The MSL Universe" Full Impact Pro, The Scene and Premier Athlete brand of EVOLVE, Valkyrie and [=C4=] in SHINE, Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels and [=SoCal=] Val being habitual offenders. And that's not even getting into outside groups seeking to bring chaos such as The Blackout, The House Of Truth, most obviously Wrestling/{{New Japan|ProWrestling}} PowerStable CHAOS and most infamously Wrestling/BulletClub. Although The Second City Saints, Age Of The Fall and Decade were ''orderly'' heels, Bullet Club [[HeelFaceTurn turned face]] and Las Sicarias were chaotic baby {{face}}s from the start.

** The Were-Spider source book details their more minute distinctions of each force in the way they determine their Auspice. Each were-spider has what amounts to a primary alignment with one of the three forces, and a secondary allignment which determined how they expressed it. An entropic-dynamic character then, would thus be concerned with spreading/serving entropy and destruction in as choatic a manner as possible, whereas a static-dynamic character might be more intered in creating and preserving new works.
** It is not as hard-written into the story as in the other gamelines, but ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' has this kind of conflict too between the three core factions presented, with the Anarchs representing chaos, the Camarilla representing order and the Sabbat representing destruction, based on their general demeanours and goals. This in itself gets twisted around a through the individuals of each sect a lot, however, so it's definitely not as prominent as the more solid examples in the setting. The Camarilla is generally presented as the good guys in this gameline, with some Anarchs shining through occasionally, though it more leans towards being the lesser evil than actually being good.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'', Lord Business represents order, with his insistence on conformity and following the instructions, and the Master Builders represent chaos, with their unbridled (and sometimes counterproductive) creativity. [[spoiler:Emmet succeeds by balancing the two, in a sense. But then comes the Duplo Aliens of the Systar System being more of chaos, the destructive kind come the sequel...]]

** Dr. Cocteau is a [[WellIntentionedExtremist benevolent dictator]] who has built a future world where anything that can offend or harm anybody is banned and maintaining civil, peaceful coexistence has usurped the value of life in importance. To this end, the following things are banned: guns, alcohol, swearing, caffeine, sexual intercourse, contact sports, chocolate, non-educational children's toys and spicy food.
** Simon Phoenix is a violent psycho who hates rules because they stop him from behaving like a violent psycho. [[spoiler:After he murders Cocteau]], he and his unfrozen gang want to turn San Angeles into a lawless hellhole where they can commit crimes all day, everyday.
** Edgar Friendly is an iconoclast leading a gang in the sewers against the Cocteau regime. He fights so people have the right to eat real food, listen to real music, have real sex and generally make their own choices. Cocteau wants him dead for it.

* 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 justification, he tells that chaos, for all that it does, it's at least ''fair.''[[note]]Though really, he means "indiscriminate," not balanced or even.[[/note]]

* Somewhat the point of ''Film/TheWorldsEnd''. [[spoiler:What is better? An advanced, progressive society full of robots, or a crude, harsh society where individual freedom is preserved? Humanity chooses the latter. In fact the advanced society is only full of robots ''because'' humans instinctively reject their idea of order; when they did this on other worlds they only had to replace a few people to achieve it, but on Earth it was damn near everyone.]]
* In ''Film/CadetKelly'', Kelly represents chaos, while Jennifer represents order. Kelly wants to express her creativity and individuality while Jennifer just wants to enforce the rules. Ultimately, [[spoiler: Kelly finds a way to be creative through the school's rifle team.]]

** Loki, TheTrickster is the embodiment of chaos in all his appearances, while Thor brings order to the Nine Realms. Lampshaded in regard to Loki in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'':

** With the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer Age of Sigmar}}'' sequel setting to Warhammer Fantasy, the Gods of Law have been dropped entirely and the stifling evil absolute Order role is take by the successor to the original undead factions, the Grand Alliance of Death. The healthy order is taken by the Grand Alliance of Order, the Chaos Gods and their followers in the Grand Alliance of Chaos and the Greenskins, Trolls (renamed to Troggoths), Ogres (renamed to Ogors) and Giants are placed in Grand Alliance of Destruction, still on the chaos side, just not capital C Chaos side.

* The [[GrandFinale final Splatfest]] of VideoGame/Splatoon2 is themed around this, with Pearl championing Chaos while Marina supports Order. [[spoiler:When Chaos wins, Marina says she championed Order because she was worried the duo would split up and she didn't want that because of her chaotic DarkAndTroubledPast. Pearl quickly shuts down that line of thinking, sayng she would never intentionally split up with Marina. All Pearl wanted was a convenient excuse to GenreShift.]]

* The order-chaos dynamic is what the dimensions on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_compass political compass]] amount to, designed in order to illustrate a slightly more complex graph of political ideologies compared to the traditional left-right spectrum. The X-axis measures the extent to which economic enterprise is controlled (far left is extreme central market planning, far right is extreme unregulated market capitalism), the Y-axis measures the extent to which moral norms are enforced (the far top is extreme authoritarian social control, the far bottom is extreme atomization of social mores).

** With the ''TabletopGame/{{Age of Sigmar}}'' sequel setting to Warhammer Fantasy, the Gods of Law have been dropped entirely and the stifling evil absolute Order role is take by the successor to the original undead factions, the Grand Alliance of Death. The healthy order is taken by the Grand Alliance of Order, the Chaos Gods and their followers in the Grand Alliance of Chaos and the Greenskins, Trolls (renamed to Troggoths), Ogres (renamed to Ogors) and Giants are placed in Grand Alliance of Destruction, still on the chaos side, just not capital C Chaos side.

** With the ''TabletopGame/{{AgeofSigmar}}'' sequel setting to Warhammer Fantasy, the Gods of Law have been dropped entirely and the stifling evil absolute Order role is take by the successor to the original undead factions, the Grand Alliance of Death. The healthy order is taken by the Grand Alliance of Order, the Chaos Gods and their followers in the Grand Alliance of Chaos and the Greenskins, Trolls (renamed to Troggoths), Ogres (renamed to Ogors) and Giants are placed in Grand Alliance of Destruction, still on the chaos side, just not capital C Chaos side.

* The [[GrandFinale final Splatfest]] of VideoGame/Splatoon2 is themed around this, with Pearl championing Chaos while Marina supports Order.

** This is heavily played up in some of the religions of the [[OurElvesAreBetter races of Mer (Elves)]], ''especially'' the Altmer (High Elves). According to Altmer religious beliefs, the creation of Mundus was seen as an act of malevolence as it forced them to experience mortal suffering, loss, and death while removing their spirits from a place of pre-creation divinity. While most are content to toil in this mortal "prison" with "more limitations than not," some extremists, like [[ANaziByAnyOtherName the Thalmor]], actively seek to ''[[OmnicidalManiac undo creation]]'' to return to that state of pre-creation divinity. According to their beliefs, mankind was made up from the "weakest souls" by Lorkhan to spread Sithis (Chaos) "into every corner," ensuring that there could never be the "stasis" (Order) of pre-creation again. However, they believe that not just the ''existence'' of mankind, but the existence of the ''possibility'' of mankind keeps them trapped in Mundus. Essentially, the Altmer are [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence oppressed not just by the existence of mankind, but the possibility of mankind's existence]].

** In the older editions, the [[EvilVersusEvil Blood War]] was a massive mashup between the demons and the devils on which kind of evil (pure rampaging destructive chaos vs brutal and cunning tyranny) should dominate the cosmos. Now it's just a personal vendetta between the demons and the devils -- the devils want the Shard of Evil that created demonkind, the demons want the fragment of it they already stole back. Your tastes may vary, as, although it now lacks much of the flavor of the original, it also eliminated the implication that it was [[OnlyTheAuthorCanSaveThemNow the only thing keeping the endless hordes of demons from overwhelming the cosmos]].
--> "Basically, the Blood War is a conflict between an army of regimented, disciplined war mongers and a bunch of psychopathic murderers." (''Fiendish Fortresses'' by Monte Cook)

* ''Anime/{{Scryed}}'' (anime version) casts the independent mercenary Kazuma as a proponent of Chaos and the military-mindset HOLY member Ryuhou as a Orderly KnightTemplar who's confidently skirting the MoralEventHorizon. Most of Kazuma's potential Inner allies aren't all that good, and Ryuho's fellow CapeBusters run the gamut from easygoing to TheCaligula. Then ConflictKiller [[spoiler: Kyoji Mujo]] shows up, having suckered the mainland brass into thinking him a full-blown KnightTemplar when he's really a SocialDarwinist. At this point, if the two are left unattended for more than ''two seconds'' they start pounding on each other, but both agree that he's the biggest threat.

** Spinoff series generally portray the alignments in a much more positive manner. One example is ''Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon'', where it's not them being forced to pick a side but rather how Raidou wishes to live his life. The only game with a SocialDarwinist outlook in the spinoffs is ''Devil Survivor 2's'' Meritocracy, but it's based on star signs instead of the typical alignments.

*** Fittingly, this means that the Mane Six have actually battled against both Chaotic foes, such as Discord or the magic-eating monster Tirek, and Orderly ones, such as the tyrannical Nightmare Moon and King Sombra.

** The 2-part opening episode of season 5 is based on this, with the villainess, Starlight Glimmer, having determined that even so minor a form of chaos as "ponies having individual talents and specialties" is an evil she cannot tolerate. Leading her to strip all ponies under her rule of their cutie marks and with these, their special talents. Naturally, the Mane Six have to stop her and give them all back.

* The virtue system in ''[[VideoGame/UltimaVIIPartII Serpents Isle]]'' is quite different from past games. Unlike the Britannia virtues, based on Infinity, Ophidian virtues are based on Order and Chaos. The Virtues of Order are Logic, Ethicality, and Discipline. The Virtues of Chaos are Emotion, Enthusiasm, and Tolerance.
** However, unlike the virtues of Britannia, Ophidian virtues are not good by themselves and must be practiced with its opposite counterpart to achieve balance, otherwise, wrongs are committed, called Banes. The Banes of Order are Ruthlessness (Logic without Emotion), Apathy (Discipline without Enthusiasm), and Prejudice (Ethicality without Tolerance). The Banes of Chaos are Insanity (Emotion without Logic), Wantonness (Enthusiasm without Discipline), and Anarchy (Tolerance without Ethicality). The Order and Chaos counterparts combined together form the Principles of Harmony (Tolerance and Ethicality), Dedication (Discipline and Enthusiasm), and Rationality (Logic and Emotion).