History Main / ToBeLawfulOrGood

* Aang, in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', struggles a great deal with whether or not to kill Fire Lord Ozai at the end. He is advised by numerous people, including another airbender and Ozai's own son, to kill him, but being a MartialPacifist, Aang is resistant to such a direct use of violence, even to save the world. [[spoiler:In the end, he is able to [[BroughtDownToNormal remove Ozai's bending]], which renders him mostly harmless.]]

Often a subtrope of ConflictingLoyalty and MoralDilemma. And possibly JustifiedCriminal. A common dilemma for ThePaladin (especially if there's a [[KillerGameMaster Jerkass DM]] at the table) and the TokenGoodCop, but by definition a Paladin always chooses good over law, as would anyone who qualifies as ATrueHero. See also FrequentlyBrokenUnbreakableVow. Related to the logical paradox MortonsFork. A defining feature for TheMcCoy is that they will often never ponder this dilemma for any prolonged periods of time; they ''will'' always end up choosing the "Good" option in short order, consequences (especially personal ones) be damned. In comparison, TheSpock will most of the time (though not always) lean towards the "Lawful" option, while TheKirk is the one who will most likely try to TakeAThirdOption. GoodVersusGood may result if two characters choose opposite sides in the conflict. CuriousQualmsOfConscience may occur if what the character thinks of as Lawful (or Good) is in fact immoral. The dilemma is simplified a bit in cases where there is LegalizedEvil, when what's permitted by law is obviously morally wrong.

** On the other hand, the ''ComicBook/PublicEnemies'' storyline involved ComicBook/LexLuthor becoming President and declaring Superman an outlaw, so Supes didn't have much choice but to fight the government.

* In the [[Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaAkiraHimekawa manga adaptation]] of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames'', when Queen Ambi's knights call Raven out on freeing her prisoners despite pledging his loyalty, Raven responds that a ruler who enslaves her people isn't worth serving.

* Suzaku of ''Anime/CodeGeass'' is a good person, but leans more towards the "Law" side -- he recognizes that the Britannian Empire is horribly corrupt, but believes that the way to fix things is to peacefully reform it from within, rather than fomenting open rebellion the way Zero does. However, the PowersThatBe keep yanking the rug out from under him, [[spoiler:which ultimately results in his joining Zero's side near the end of the series.]]

Often a subtrope of ConflictingLoyalty and MoralDilemma. And possibly JustifiedCriminal. A common dilemma for ThePaladin (especially if there's a [[KillerGameMaster Jerkass DM]] at the table), but by definition a Paladin always chooses good over law, as would anyone who qualifies as ATrueHero. See also FrequentlyBrokenUnbreakableVow. Related to the logical paradox MortonsFork. A defining feature for TheMcCoy is that they will often never ponder this dilemma for any prolonged periods of time; they ''will'' always end up choosing the "Good" option in short order, consequences (especially personal ones) be damned. In comparison, TheSpock will most of the time (though not always) lean towards the "Lawful" option, while TheKirk is the one who will most likely try to TakeAThirdOption. GoodVersusGood may result if two characters choose opposite sides in the conflict. CuriousQualmsOfConscience may occur if what the character thinks of as Lawful (or Good) is in fact immoral. The dilemma is simplified a bit in cases where there is LegalizedEvil, when what's permitted by law is obviously morally wrong.