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1[[WMG:[[center:[-'''CharacterAlignment'''\
2LawfulGood | NeutralGood | ChaoticGood\
3'''Lawful Neutral''' | TrueNeutral | ChaoticNeutral\
4LawfulEvil | NeutralEvil | ChaoticEvil-]]]]]
5
6[[quoteright:349:[[ComicBook/JudgeDredd https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/judge_dredd_white_dwarf.png]]]]
7[[caption-width-right:349:[[IAmTheNoun He IS the law!]]]]
8
9->''"God knows, it's easy to be kind; the hard thing is to be just."''
10-->-- '''InspectorJavert''', ''Literature/LesMiserables''
11
12One of the nine alignments from the best-known CharacterAlignment system. Lawful Neutral characters believe in order -- personal, systemic, peace, three of them or either -- above all else. They will always seek to obey and preserve order, even to the inconvenience of themselves and others, and even if they themselves admit the law in question is an annoying one. While a LawfulGood character may justify breaking his code of conduct by appealing to the [[ForGreatJustice greater good]] that transcends all things, a Lawful Neutral character will not, since the greater good does not enter into it.
13
14An important thing to note is that '''Lawful Neutral characters follow their own personal vision of order and law'''. This order may be defined by the laws of their current location, or it might not: Lawful Neutral characters will not obey every law they ever encounter, only those that are part of or do not conflict with the code they themselves obey. They may perfectly rebel against authority if they disagree with this authority's laws, and still be Lawful.
15
16Lawful Neutral comes in a number of different forms:
17
18* '''Authority First and Foremost:''' Someone with this mindset believes that the context matters more than the content; the rules matter because they give order to society more than they matter themselves. They might go so far as to believe (possibly correctly) that their superiors have the right to interpret or define the rules as they see fit. Such characters believe in [[MyCountryRightOrWrong My Country]] / MyMasterRightOrWrong, though the average example is someone who obeys any figure of authority (say, a policeman) without question, possibly even with admiration. In more extreme cases, this can lead to JustFollowingOrders, and whether or not they slip into KnightTemplar or LawfulEvil territory is a question of whether said authority is evil and is getting them to commit atrocities -- however, they still have moral lines they won't cross, and if their ethics are pushed too far, they will disobey, and are not above holding their superiors to account if they are found to be corrupt or incompetent. This is what separates them from LawfulStupid.
19* '''Equality Under the Law:''' The Law applies to everybody, friend or foe, superior or subordinate. At worst they run the risk of being bigots towards other cultures and codes of law. Essentially, they do not justify the Law with arguments about there not being anything better, but those that argue that these Laws ''are'' the better, and may resist even legal attempts to change them. They are also the most likely to hold their superiors to account for failing to follow the rules, whether for heroic reasons or villainous ones. May or not may be LawfulStupid.
20* '''Internal Moral Compass:''' This character follows a personal code, including those that have been organised by another -- for example, a warrior code or a religious creed -- or one they have constructed for themselves. They will obey this code rigidly and to the letter, and it will usually supersede (but make allowances for) any of the other types, but it (or their devotion to it) is too rigid for them to be considered Chaotic, even if it puts them at odds with the established system of law and order, while they lack the moral or immoral conviction to be considered Good or Evil. At their best, they will obey the spirit as well as the letter of their codes, or at least try to or recognise that they must, but at their worst, they can become a PrinciplesZealot or a TautologicalTemplar who puts their own code -- and their own ''interpretation'' of said code -- above all else.
21* '''The Lawmaker:''' This character arises in a vacuum -- they find themselves in a situation where neither Authority nor the Rules apply, such as an AfterTheEnd scenario where law and order have broken down, and seek to establish order (or follow another who does). Typically, they will appeal to a pre-established system as the basis -- murder is wrong because it ''used'' to be wrong, or because civilised societies are expected to have outlawed such acts. It can also occur where there ''is'' a sense of order, just not one that the character recognises as valid, such as a WretchedHive where the "order" comes from corruption and MightMakesRight, or more dubiously, a working society they deem to be chaotic or inferior. In ''these'' cases, they will probably appeal to their own rules or the rules of their own society or culture. At their best, they will bring a sense of structure and justice to a volatile situation, but at their worst, this type can slide into bigotry and tyranny, worsened by the fact that they are basically making the rules from scratch.
22
23Any of these types can fall into LawfulStupid if they are not careful, and not thinking critically enough. However, none of them automatically equate to it, and each has as good a chance of being a ReasonableAuthorityFigure or equivalent as the next.
24
25A Lawful Neutral alignment is easy to play because it involves adherence to defined codes first and foremost -- all personal moral issues come second. On the other hand, it can become rather restrictive and predictable. Those adhering to personal codes rather than ''the'' law may find it tough to uphold, as the only one to make sure they keep to their code is them. Furthermore, inexperienced roleplayers who play as Lawful Neutral 'cop' types may find themselves slipping into LawfulStupid territory.
26
27The key here is the desire to preserve or create order, at any personal cost. The character will be unquestioningly devoted to the written code, either because they don't have the intelligence to apply critical thinking to it, or because while they are intelligent and capable of independent thought when needs be, preservation of the society is the ultimate goal, and it is believed that the Law and the society itself are inescapably the same thing. If the Law is compromised, the society will go with it. Altruism and egoism are generally regarded as irrelevant, with each being considered as potentially dangerous as the other.
28
29In theory, many loyal servants of the Empire, and LawfulEvil {{Big Bad}}s in general, should tend towards this alignment because they believe in authority and law over considerations of good or evil. However, in practice, this is the type of Lawful Neutral character that is by far the most likely to end up doing evil deeds by [[JustFollowingOrders following orders]], slipping into the LawfulEvil alignment.
30
31We must reiterate: '''Lawful Neutral does not necessarily mean LawfulStupid'''. Lawful Neutral will not necessarily obsess over every law, [[AllCrimesAreEqual consider all crimes as equal]], [[PrinciplesZealot refuse to compromise his moral code at all costs]], [[KnightTemplar and nastier extremism]]. Yes, there are PrinciplesZealot KnightTemplar Lawful Neutrals, but it doesn't mean Lawful Neutral IS this.
32
33'''See Also''': LawfulGood, NeutralGood, ChaoticGood, TrueNeutral, ChaoticNeutral, LawfulEvil, NeutralEvil, ChaoticEvil
34-----
35
36If you have difficulty deciding which alignment your neutral-aligned character belongs to, the main difference between Lawful Neutral, TrueNeutral, and ChaoticNeutral is not their lack of devotion to either good or evil, but the methods they believe are best to show it:
37
38* Lawful Neutral characters believe the best way is to have a specific, strict code of conduct, whether self-imposed or codified as a law. Their first impulse when making a moral decision is to refer back to this code; those with externally imposed systems (codes of laws, hierarchies, etc.) will try to work within the system when those systems go wrong. They will refuse to break this code even if good could be done by breaking it.
39* TrueNeutral (Unaligned) characters are indifferent to OrderVersusChaos, and their only interest is in living their own lives. They simply live their lives, whether that means tearing down a code of laws, following a code of laws, creating an orderly society, causing the breakdown of some kinds of order, or staying away from society altogether. They have no particular objective.
40** Some TrueNeutral characters are instead considering both sides (plus BlackAndWhiteMorality) as extremes and thrive for a balance between each of those sides.
41* Most ChaoticNeutral characters don't constantly break the law, but they cannot see much value in laws. They believe that their own consciences are their best guides, and that tying themselves to any given code of conduct would be limiting their own ability to do what they want. They do not get along with anyone who tries to instill any kind of order over them, believing these people to be restricting their freedom. ChaoticNeutral characters often focus very strongly on their individual rights and freedoms, and will strongly resist any form of oppression of themselves.
42
43-----
44
45Lawful Neutral characters include:
46
47* {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of Order.
48* Most [[PlayedStraight standard]] {{Anti Hero}}es.
49* {{Battle Butler}}s working for Royalty.
50* {{Bouncer}}s.
51* [[BountyHunter Bounty Hunters]] who abide by a code of honor (when not LawfulEvil).
52* A BrokenSystemDogmatist (when not LawfulEvil).
53* ByTheBookCop (when not LawfulGood)
54* ChurchMilitant (when not LawfulGood or LawfulEvil)
55* [[ControlFreak Control Freaks]] who are less obsessive of their methods and/or aren't LawfulEvil.
56* CorporateSamurai
57* A more professional and high standard DeadlyDoctor.
58* ExtremeDoormat (when not TrueNeutral)
59* More sympathetic examples of TheFundamentalist (the rest are LawfulEvil)
60* The GrammarNazi, unless they're trying to be [[DisproportionateRetribution hurtful]] or [[UnwantedAssistance genuinely helpful]].
61* HangingJudge (when not LawfulEvil)
62* More honorable HiredGuns (if not LawfulEvil).
63* Non-villainous examples of characters who believe HobbesWasRight.
64* In a heroic FourTemperamentEnsemble, the Melancholic usually.
65* HonestCorporateExecutive (if not LawfulGood)
66* Some characters with HonorBeforeReason (if not LawfulEvil).
67* Crueller variant of GoodIsNotNice.
68* InspectorJavert
69* The more by-the-book {{Samurai}}
70* JudgeJuryAndExecutioner (when not LawfulEvil)
71* Darker examples of the KnightInShiningArmor
72* Less fanatical examples of the KnightTemplar
73* The ObstructiveBureaucrat
74* Many [[TheWarOnStraw strawmen]] and {{Straw Character}}s.
75* TheSuperego of a neutral-aligned FreudianTrio.
76* The blue oni of a neutral-aligned RedOniBlueOni duo.
77* Most [[HeroAntagonist Hero Antagonists]] that aren't really heroic
78* Morally neutral examples of TheFettered
79* MayorPain (Specifically, those whose problem is incompetence over wickedness. The mayor is openly incompetent and his/her actions are clearly due to a lack of judgment. On a darker note, this incompetence could cause (or have already caused) various disasters.)
80* MegaCorp (if not LawfulEvil or LawfulGood)
81* TheMenInBlack
82* Those who believe in MyCountryRightOrWrong or MyMasterRightOrWrong
83* MoralSociopathy, for the same reasons as the {{Ubermensch}}. Their LackOfEmpathy prevents them from being truly good.
84* NobleDemon when they aren't that bad.
85* Nearly all bureaucrats, whether [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Obstructive]] or [[BeleagueredBureaucrat Beleaguered]]
86** And, by extension, most depictions of a modern state. Individual politicians can have any alignment, but a non-evil [[TheGovernment Government]], in any modern setting, tends to be Lawful Neutral as a whole.
87* Many characters LoyalToThePosition (when they're not TheQuisling) are this.
88* PrinciplesZealot (when not LawfulEvil)
89* PunchClockHero, when not TrueNeutral or LawfulGood.
90* Positive portrayals of PunchClockVillain when not TrueNeutral
91* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules (if not LawfulGood)
92* SternOldJudge
93* StreetSamurai (some varieties)
94* SWATTeam
95* The true [[Creator/FriedrichNietzsche Nietzschean]] {{Ubermensch}}, having a strict, self-imposed code, is closest to this (although [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Lawful Blue]] is a touch more accurate).
96* Almost every portrayal of TheGrimReaper, if not TrueNeutral.
97* A character forced to choose ToBeLawfulOrGood ends up here if they lean too far into the Lawful side of things.
98* Some could also be counted as the WildCard, though to a much lesser extent whenever they receive and follow orders from malevolent, neutral, to benevolent individuals in terms of the higher-ups. Secondarily but also in a similar vein, the Lawful Neutral being can enforce laws/rules, and commit actions that are deemed, evil, good, to even neutral, but except they tend to regulate themselves while doing so, at least for the best of their own society.
99* [[BareFistedMonk Monks/martial artists]] that don't lean toward being good or evil, if their devotion to their art is considered Lawful. Most commonly this would be a monk who merely trains to become more skilled in his/her martial art or as some form of meditation.
100
101Others, such as characters who are ObsessivelyOrganized and CreatureOfHabit, can vary between LawfulGood, Lawful Neutral, and LawfulEvil.
102
103----
104
105!!Examples
106'''When dealing with the examples of specific characters, remember that assigning an alignment to a character who doesn't come with one is pretty [[YMMV.HomePage subjective]]. If you've got a problem with a character being listed here, it probably belongs on the discussion page. There will be no RealLife examples under any circumstances; it just invites an Administrivia/EditWar. Plus, real people are far too complex and multi-dimensional to really be classified by such a straightforward alignment system.'''
107
108'''On works pages: Character Alignment is only to be used in works where it is canonical, and only for characters who have alignments in-story. There is to be no arguing over canonical alignments, and [[Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease no Real Life examples, ever]].''' [[noreallife]]
109
110[[foldercontrol]]
111
112[[folder:Advertising]]
113* Advertising/SegataSanshiro. It doesn't matter if you're a naughty kid, or a normal man, but you'd be best to be ready to get your ass kicked if you don't play UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn.
114-->''"Sega Saturn Shiro!"''
115[[/folder]]
116
117[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
118* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
119** [[AloofBigBrother Byakuya Kuchiki]] is willing to let his sister be executed because it was a lawful decision by Soul Society's ruling body and he personally believed that if nobles like him don't uphold the law, no one will. Though he shifts a little towards Lawful Good later on.
120** [[BigGood Genryusai Yamamoto]] almost personifies this alignment: "No personal justice takes precedence over the world's justice".
121** [[{{Ninja}} Sui-Feng]] has some tendencies toward this alignment, but has an almost LawfulEvil stance when dealing with lawbreakers, and despite knowing what Yoruichi did, is primarily upset over her not taking her with her when she left Soul Society.
122** [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Sajin Komamura]] is primarily motivated by sheer loyalty to Yamamoto, and is willing to do anything he asks, even lay down his life for him.
123* ''Manga/DeathNote'':
124** L. His pursuit of Kira is more about "winning" than stopping him because it's the right thing to do. At the same time, he also goes to extreme lengths to secure solid evidence that Light is Kira, despite everything that his intuition is (correctly) telling him; he doesn't go outside the law and stays firmly on the line.
125** Near. Despite the fact that his situation is made personal by the death of his mentor, he appears to be a lot more neutrally inclined than L. He does tell a few lies and manipulates circumstances to get his own way, though seems a lot more neutral and collected in his approach to situations. He also seems to be very mature in terms of ideals with a pragmatic, existentialist point of view on justice.
126** NPA Director Kitamura has the police stop investigating the Yotsuba Kira on orders from the government after the Yotsuba Kira starts influencing politicians. He disagrees with the order, but follows it, noting that "if the government is destroyed, so is the country", being less concerned about letting a mass murderer go free.
127** Light Yagami himself might be this at best before he receives his Death Note, given that he hates all criminals in the world who may or may not be villains in nature.
128** Uniquely among the Shinigami, Rem probably falls under this alignment. She doesn't care about good or evil as such, and [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl her only loyalty is to Misa]], who is one of the villains. She also expresses personal disgust for most of the humans fighting over the Death Note and despises their petty and callous murders for the sake of power.
129* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Gendo Ikari. This is particularly up for debate, because he's really morally ambiguous, and half the fanbase sees him as a general asshole, while the other half sees him as a WellIntentionedExtremist, especially when contrasted with SEELE.
130%%** Ritsuko Akagi.
131%%** Rei Ayanami, a quiet, emotionless pilot. She later subverts this by revealing herself to be more NeutralGood, when she rebels against Gendo's plan at the end.
132%%* TheLancer Yu Kanda from ''Manga/DGrayMan''.
133%%* WellIntentionedExtremist Mistuo Yamaki of ''Anime/DigimonTamers''. He later shifts to a NeutralGood persona.
134%%** From the same series, Zuqhuiaomon.
135* Natarle Badgiruel of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', probably the most by-the-book person in the series.
136** Johan Trinity of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'', as his concern seems to be more about "bringing about the change to the world" and he cares little about everything else. He has to keep check on his ChaoticNeutral siblings, Michael and Nena.
137** Tieria Erde, also from ''00'', is this at first. He obeys everything Veda tells him and is willing to kill his fellow Meisters if they break the rules or become a liability to the group. But after [[spoiler:Veda ditches him]], and his interactions with TrueNeutral Lockon, he became NeutralGood in season 2.
138** [[spoiler:[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE Flit Asuno]], in his 2nd-Generation portrait, working to save the Earthlings by planning the genocide of all the people of Vagan. Might end up as LawfulEvil instead.]]
139%%*** Zeheart Galette, working for Vagan.
140%%* TheStoic Kurama of ''Manga/ElfenLied''.
141* In ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'', it seems that the higher you climb the Space/Time Administration Bureau's ladder, the more you shift from LawfulGood to Lawful Neutral. For example, [[spoiler:the Bureau founders]] have become so obsessed with keeping the peace that the Combat Mages under them are little more than convenient tools to be used and discarded as necessary for this goal.
142** General Regius goes from being LawfulGood and wanting to change the system to being Lawful Neutral and helping back several of the more ethically dubious actions of the TSAB, [[spoiler:like the Combat Cyborg program]]. He despises Section 6 for being run by the "criminal" Hayate Yagami, in addition to his preference for the ground forces, and tries to get it shut down.
143** The Wolkenritter start out as this, presumably obeying their masters' orders in order to increase their power. In contrast to LawfulGood Signum and NeutralGood Shamal and Vita, Zafira retains this alignment after coming into Hayate's service, stating that as a guardian beast, he does what is best for his master regardless of whether it is right or wrong.
144* Nina Wang of ''Anime/MyOtome'', as a perfect foil for NeutralGood Arika. Disciplined, never questions orders -- even though she might not ''like'' them -- and respectful of Garderobe's rules. While she's definitely not a bad person, [[spoiler:she is utterly unable to take a decision that is unbiased by her [[ParentalIncest love for her adoptive father Sergei]], and because of this she is easily manipulated by BigBad Nagi into doing his bidding when he mortally injures Sergei]].
145** Maria Graceburt has some Lawful Neutral tendencies, as she believes that Otome must obey their masters even if doing so results in them fighting against their friends, but later on, questions some of those beliefs as a result of what Arika said on that matter.
146* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
147** [[PowerPalms Bartholomew Kuma]] He is the most obedient member of the Shichibukai (Considering the rest of group members, that's admittedly not saying much) to The World Government, and is usually bad news for the Straw Hat Pirates, but isn't a KnightTemplar and is observant about the way the world is starting to play out. When ordered to obliterate the Straw Hats, he opted to spare them, with the exception of one, and later, when they were about to be defeated by Kizaru and Sentoumaru, [[spoiler:he teleported them to different locations, not only saving their lives, but apparently giving Luffy an opportunity to save his brother Ace, and stop the impending war between the World Government and the Whitebeard Pirates]].
148** [[LightEmUp Admiral Kizaru]] is a pretty nice guy as long as you're not a criminal -- but if you've broken a law (any law, from murdering hundreds to spitting on a nobleman), ''he will kill you.''
149** Fleet Admiral Sengoku probably falls here. He's willing to enforce the law even if it means killing children, but unlike most followers of Absolute Justice, he believes equally in the duty to protect the innocent and obey the law, and [[spoiler: resigns rather than support a World Government coverup]].
150* Rossiu from ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', who believes in the preservation of order and the human race above all else. This causes him to sentence [[spoiler:Simon]] to death to stop a riot. His beliefs also cause him [[spoiler:to be forced to save himself and the thousands he evacuated on time, but leave everyone else to die]].
151* Ogami Itto from ''Manga/LoneWolfAndCub''. Not a nice guy (he was perfectly willing to kill his 1-year-old son if the baby hadn't "chosen" to come along on his mission of revenge), but not really evil either, just devoted to an ultra-inflexible code of honor.
152%%** Daigoro is probably still LawfulGood, but sinking fast toward Lawful Neutral.
153* Saitou Hajime in ''Manga/RurouniKenshin''. Once a Bakufu loyalist in UsefulNotes/TheShinsengumi, after the Meiji victory in the Meiji Revolution, he goes to work for the Meiji government as an agent and policeman so long as he can dispense his strict code of justice: Slay Evil Immediately. His alignment is best illustrated by one portion of the manga where Senkaku, an {{Elite Mook|s}}, is unconscious and a kid whose entire family was killed by Senkaku is going to kill him. Saitou coldly informs the kid that revenge killings are illegal, so if the kid does it, Saitou will arrest him too. Saitou then "reassures" the kid by telling him that Senkaku will probably be executed and tortured for information first, which would be much worse for him than dying painlessly. Major case of GoodIsNotNice, and that's without mentioning his JerkAss tendencies towards supporting characters.
154* Casca from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}''. She might seem LawfulGood because she cares about The Band of Hawk, but she will follow LawfulEvil Griffith's orders without question and even kill her own comrades if they disobey them. Even after she falls in love with Guts, she still chooses to be loyal to Griffith. That is until the Eclipse; she has likely become Unaligned or True Neutral due to her impaired mental state.
155* Detective Lunge of ''Anime/{{Monster}}'' has almost no concern either way for the well being of others, willingly and remorselessly driving away even his own family if it brings him a step closer to catching a criminal.
156* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
157** Kakashi in the Kakashi Gaiden side-story believes that orders and rules are absolute, partly as a result of his father suffering greatly for abandoning a mission to save his friends, but develops toward being NeutralGood.
158** Homura and Koharu appear to follow this alignment, wanting to confine Naruto to the village to keep the nine-tailed fox out of the Akatsuki's hands, despite Tsunade's argument it would not necessarily deter the Akatsuki from invading, as they seem to want what's best for the village as a whole, but don't necessarily care for the welfare of individuals [[spoiler:going so far as to orchestrate the massacre of the Uchiha clan]].
159* Most Siberian Railroad agents in ''Anime/OvermanKingGainer'' -- and, in fact, most opponents the ChaoticGood Yapan Exodus face -- are this alignment, being {{Punch Clock Villain}}s who are in it for the pay. The few exceptions are NeutralEvil Asuham Boone, who will go to extremes to pursue his DisproportionateRetribution against Gain; LawfulEvil SmugSnake Kashmir Valle; and ChaoticNeutral EnfantTerrible Cynthia Lane.
160* Death the Kid from ''Manga/SoulEater''. His belief that good and evil should be kept in balance, keeping with his desire for symmetry, seems more of a TrueNeutral idea, but the fact that he wants good and evil to be so strictly kept in equal moderation leans him toward the lawful alignment. That's not to mention all other aspects of his obsession with symmetry, which, much like any lawful-abiding character, often seeks to order and organize things to the annoyance or detriment of others. However, he does occasionally have LawfulGood tendencies, especially where his friends or innocent lives are concerned, but, more often, his obnoxious, usually debilitating need for symmetry swings him toward the LawfulStupid side of things.
161* King Yama appears to be like this in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', given his desire for order above all else, but in the manga, [[spoiler:it's revealed that he had demons captured and brainwashed to attack humans to justify keeping up the barrier and make the Spirit World seem good, making him LawfulEvil]]. Ohtake of the Special Defense Forces has a similar alignment, but shifts to [[spoiler:NeutralEvil]] near the end of the manga, when he [[spoiler:becomes part of a group of terrorists that takes over the Gates of Judgment and threatens to destroy part of the human world unless the demons are returned to the demon plane]].
162* ''Anime/CodeGeass'':
163** Suzaku Kururugi only cares about order, and thinks that's the only way to peace.
164** Cornelia's knight Guilford is a good example of Lawful Neutral, since he's following his loyalty to her.
165** Jeremiah Gottwald also qualifies, only caring about loyally following his master, [[spoiler:following his HeelFaceTurn to Lelouch's side once he learns he's Zero]].
166%%** Cornelia, as of season 2.
167* The Truth from ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', which trades with alchemists for the right to gaze into the vast collection of all knowledge it serves as the guardian for. But the trade is usually in body parts, or even souls, and Truth rarely tells alchemists before pushing them in, and clearly takes immense sadistic delight in the whole process, so it may be considered to be evil. However, because its actions are meant to punish the arrogance of humans who would tread in God's domain, and teach people that alchemy isn't everything, it is this.
168* The angel in ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex''. It's pretty clearly not pleased with the situation going on and would really prefer not to destroy the world to get home. It does try for the quicker, less violent method first, [[spoiler:but it isn't an option as it would involve Touma's father]]. But hey, if that's what's necessary.
169* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'': Father Alexander Anderson considers himself an instrument of God and violently slaughters enemies of the church. However, he sternly believes that violence is only to be used against monsters and heretics.
170%%** His fellow Iscariot members, Hienkel Wolfe and Yumie Takagi, also fit Lawful Neutral.
171* Major Matoko Kusanagi and Section 9 in general from the ''Franchise/GhostInTheShell'' franchise. Their job as police officers is to uphold the law for the betterment of society. This means busting criminals by normal means, but also going to lengths such as torturing criminals, hacking the information right out of their brain, using viruses or political influence to prevent the media from obtaining information on an event happening, causing "accidents" to corrupt politicians, district attorneys, and corporate executives, or even uprooting the government's own ruling administration. Nobody is exempt, but they fight to maintain peace for the betterment of Japan. They aren't breaking the law themselves though, due to loopholes that allow them to exist outside of public knowledge.
172* The Magic Council from ''Manga/FairyTail'' can be somewhat jarring when compared to the titular guild, who regularly employ DefeatMeansFriendship. For those who don't hate him, seeing Jellal arrested was justified but not pleasant. And of course, they're willing to fire [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]] at their own people or at mages of Fairy Tail if it means killing a greater evil.
173%%** Jellal Fernandes (After his release from possession).
174%%** Crime Sorciere (with the exception of True Neutral, Ultear).
175* Austria and Germany from ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers''. Both object strongly to their bosses's orders at some point, but no matter what they think of them, they follow said instructions in the end. They also offer nice contrasts to the characters around them: NeutralGood North Italy, ChaoticGood Hungary, and ChaoticNeutral Prussia.
176** Norway has one foot in LawfulGood and one in here. He's normally levelheaded, almost always follows rules strictly, and except for Iceland (and Denmark, [[VitriolicBestBuds when Den pisses him off]]), he doesn't seem to show much open emotion about ''anything''.
177* Yami Yugi from the early chapters of ''Manga/YuGiOh'' plays Penalty Games with anyone who harms Yugi, with the loser suffering DisproportionateRetribution. He mellows out later on.
178* In ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'', the StudentCouncilPresident is meant to invoke this. The nameless President uses whatever power he has to eliminate the SOS-Brigade (an unauthorized club riding the coattails of the existing Literature Club), because of its unsanctioned presence within the school, but allows the members to work with whatever bare minimum requirements exist to keep it afloat. Of course, as it turns out, the councilman is more TrueNeutral than anything else, and the entire bit is just a plot cooked up by Koizumi to appease Haruhi with a temporary antagonist, whom she certainly ''believes'' is a LawfulEvil InspectorJavert.
179* ''Anime/KillLaKill'':
180** Ira Gamagoori believes in Equality Under the Law, as evidenced by his willingness to serve Satsuki but also aid Ryuko when she needs it. He constantly says that he only does the latter because it is required of him by the rules of his post as the head of the Student Disciplinary Committee, but never displays much outward animosity when doing so.
181** Satsuki Kiryuin...okay, this one gets complicated. She normally acts as a LawfulEvil villain, running Honnouji Academy under a tyrannical regime and ruthlessly executing those who can't keep up. [[spoiler: However, it turns out that she's got very good reasons for her actions; namely, to rebel against her wicked family and save the world from being eaten by their Life Fiber-infused clothing. This doesn't make her any less ruthless or manipulative, though; she has good goals but is not really a good person. CharacterDevelopment pushes her more toward LawfulGood in the end.]]
182* Henry Henderson, the uptight House master of Eden Academy from ''[[Manga/SpyXFamily SPY×FAMILY]]''. In his early appearances, he had low expectations and prospects for the families of new students. With a somewhat quirky nature, Henry upheld traditional values, believing elegance was a prime example of them. When the Forger Family proved to impress him, he was astounded, going so far as to [[HonorBeforeReason punch his snobbish cohort]], for his insufferable bullying of Anya. He still allowed the [[PetTheDog Forger child to attend school]], despite the failed interview.
183[[/folder]]
184
185[[folder:Comic Books]]
186* ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'':
187** Orm likely sees himself as LawfulGood, with his personal sense of honour and duty towards Atlantis, but he is capable of doing some pretty morally dubious stuff if he deems it justified. He’s recently begun to drift more towards TrueNeutral as he has grown increasingly bitter and resentful towards Atlantis and the Aquaman Family due to what he sees as betrayal, becoming actively malicious and acting in unscrupulous ways.
188** [[spoiler:Vulko]] is a pretty straight example. According to Atlantean law, Arthur is the rightful king and he believes he has a duty to Arthur and his mother to do anything to make that happen, whether Arthur wants him to or not.
189%%* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': [[Characters/BatmanTwoFace Harvey Dent.]] [[ChaoticNeutral Two-Face, on the other hand...]]
190* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': The parody of ''Literature/LesMiserables'' has, of course, Javert, who they manage to bring [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]]: [[spoiler:when he finally catches Scrooge Valjean, he simply tells him he spent the last five years chasing him because ''Valjean had been pardoned and he, as the officer on the case, was to tell him'', congratulates for the newfound freedom, and calmly walks away]], without showing any feeling but satisfaction in having finally completed his job after over a decade.
191* ''ComicBook/DoctorFate'': The Lords of Order are this, as energy beings who personify the concept of order and are obsessed with maintaining and spreading it throughout the universe. While usually reputable, their obsession with order at all costs can at times cause them to take actions that are on the other side of the good/evil morality spectrum, such as when Nabu, the Lord of Order who empowers Doctor Fate, rallied the other Lords to destroy all magic in the multiverse due to its chaotic nature (which, it's worth noting, is very similar to an event before this in which Aztar, the angel the Spectre, did the same thing for the same reasons).
192* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': Ronan the Accuser eventually develops into this alignment during the cosmic storyline ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}'', where he punishes the corrupt House Fiyero not for revenge but because they committed crimes against the Kree empire.
193%%* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': The Guardians of the Universe.
194
195
196
197
198
199* ''ComicBook/IronMan'': Iron Man may come as close as allowed for a non-deconstructionist superhero. When a leader, he's hardass and impersonal. He's been known to outright dismiss magic, or have a distaste for it when it shows up. And his superheroic antics often feel like they're more upholding a status quo than improving lives. Hell, after ComicBook/{{Civil War|2006}}, some might peg him as downright LawfulStupid, but we can meet him halfway on this -- it certainly showed that for him, goodness came second to law and order. However, most adaptations, following on from the characterisation of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse version place him squarely in ChaoticGood territory.
200* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'':
201** As the titular character will regularly remind people, [[IAmTheNoun he is the law]]. Dredd's initial portrayal floated somewhere between ''Authority First and Foremost'' and ''Equality Under the Law'', before settling firmly into the latter. One story has him temporarily stripped of his authority as a Judge, and he's shown strolling past all manner of horrible crimes without interfering in any of them, since vigilante justice is illegal. At another point, a quasi-revolution happens and the people want to elect a REAL leader, rather than just a "liaison between the people and the Judges": despite the vote eventually deciding to [[StatusQuoIsGod keep the Hall of Justice in power]], Dredd and company openly state that, if they had been voted out of power, they would have stepped down despite having more than enough firepower and knowhow to keep control through force.
202** The America/Democracy storylines did wonders for Dredd's self-awareness, and capacity for introspection. While the modern Dredd is still a very heavy supporter of the rules -- after all, he is the law -- he demonstrates that he has developed his own conscience, as well. Dredd is stated to be the sort of person who would arrest you for stealing from a convenience store, even if you were desperately broke. But after Dredd arrested you for that, he'd put your kids into a foster program so they don't end up destitute.
203* ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'':
204** Angels are supposed to be LawfulGood, but the majority of the angels go along with whatever God orders, regardless of personal feelings on the matter. Some of them don't even put any thought to it; as far as they're concerned, [[MyMasterRightOrWrong God said it]], [[BlindObedience therefore they have to do it]]. Michael and Duma are the only ones that live up to their Lawful Good reputation.
205** [[{{God}} Yahweh]] tends towards this, with the difference being that he is making the rules. He's depicted mostly as a {{control freak}} with a divine plan that he ensures plays out exactly as he wants it. And when his rules don't line up with this plan, [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem Yahweh changes the rules]].
206* ''Lupo Alberto'': Moses, the watchdog of [=McKenzie=] Farm. He is determined to keep the protagonist out of the farm and to make his inhabitants work with order and discipline. He may also appear as LawfulEvil when he enjoys giving Alberto a brutal beating. It should be noted he is much more affable when off-duty, and that Alberto is a ''wolf'' that candidly admits to eat chicken, even when [[CrackPairing his girlfriend is a hen herself]] (and has once tried to eat her best friend).
207* ''ComicBook/NickFury'': Nick Fury heads up the supreme law enforcement agency in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} While usually an honest man, and a more sympathetic ear than anyone else on Uncle Sam's payroll, his acting in his agency's best interest makes him as much a sparring partner of regular heroes as the [[Characters/MarvelComicsBruceBanner Hulk]] is. Of course, this is compared with Marvel's very iconoclastic collection of heroes -- by government standards, he's a bit of a CowboyCop who occasionally goes renegade. (To be honest, you'll find just about anyone with a lawful alignment goes renegade sooner or later.)
208* ''ComicBook/{{The Outsiders|DCComics}}'': [[Characters/TheOutsidersDCComics Katana]] probably falls here. She probably ''would'' be LawfulGood, except she [[KnightTemplar seems a bit too harsh in general]], such as basically viewing all criminals as deserving of death even if their crimes are fairly minor or they have some [[AntiVillain extenuating circumstances or the like.]]
209* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'': [[Characters/MarvelComicsFrankCastle The Punisher]]. His vision of an orderly society involves shooting every single mobster, terrorist, serial killer, and miscellaneous scumbag he can find. Good characters who interfere with his plans are treated better than his usual targets, but are still subject to nasty injuries if he deems it necessary. However, he'll never intentionally kill them or any civilians.
210%%* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'': Destiny and Dream are Lawful Neutral.
211* ''ComicBook/TheSpectre'': The Spectre, especially in recent years, has tended toward this alignment. Note that his civilian identities have all, aside from [[Characters/GreenLanternHalJordan Hal Jordan]], been policemen (Well, Hal is a cop, he's a [[SpacePolice Space Cop]]). His concern is with punishing evil and keeping the world of magic honest. For the Spirit of Vengeance to actually go out of his way to help people, he often has to be persuaded by his human side and/or other heroes.
212* ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad'': [[Characters/SuicideSquadSupportStaff Amanda Waller]] is ruthless and amoral, and will do anything to achieve her country's goals.
213* ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'': Ultimate Ronan the Accuser. He's dedicated at performing his duty of punishing the enemies of TheEmpire, and is loyal to his LawfulEvil father, Ultimate Thanos, but has a conscience and feels guilt when he has to kill innocents.
214* ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'': Eric Finch. While he openly disapproves of the ruling Norsefire party, he serves them because he thinks they are the only alternative to anarchy and chaos.
215* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'':
216** Rorschach believes life has no intrinsic morality to it and crafted a moral code for himself that he sticks to unfailingly and judges everyone else by -- the core of it being that if you do anything he judges "evil", you are fair game to have anything happen to you (and in a classic case of MoralMyopia, the actions Rorschach and other vigilantes undertake in the pursuit of criminals never bother him). [[spoiler:In the end this causes him to reject the BigBad's plan to save the world because he'll rather see the world burn than betray his principles and let evil go unpunished.]]
217** Ozymandias is a complicated case, but probably fits best here. While his actions- [[spoiler:depopulating New York, giving a dozen innocent people cancer to discredit Dr. Manhattan, cold-bloodedly murdering his absolutely loyal refugee servants to prevent them being a loose end, and pulling a YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness on his loving pet Bubastis in an attempt to kill Dr. Manhattan, which turns out not to work]]-certainly seem like the actions of an evil character, he was only trying to avert a nuclear war that could potentially wipe out all life on Earth.
218* ''ComicBook/XMen'': When not portrayed as ChaoticNeutral, [[Characters/MarvelComicsEmmaFrost Emma Frost]] is usually portrayed this way. In some adaptations she's a [[AdaptationalVillainy straight up villain]] rather than an AntiHero, in which case she'd probably be LawfulEvil.
219[[/folder]]
220
221[[folder:Fanfic]]
222* Hobbes in ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'' merely goes along with Calvin, though he's ''very'' willing to bail at the slightest sign of danger.
223** Sherman also doesn't really care much for good or evil, like his TrueNeutral owner Andy. Unlike him, though, he has some set of rules that he doesn't really like getting crossed.
224* The Fairy Godfather is explicitly described this way in the [[Fanfic/{{Cinderjuice}} Contractually Obligated Chaos series]].
225* Xander Harris in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5985759/9/Colors-and-Capes Colors and Capes]]'' has his own code he adheres to regardless of who he has to go against. He thwarts muggers and the occasional supernatural threat such as Solomon Grundy but he also gives a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to Jackal for giving on to the Riddler, knocks out Huntress for violating the TruceZone rules of the BadGuyBar he works at, and gives Killer Croc half of the money earned from the Kryptonite the villain sold him in a bag of salvage.
226[[/folder]]
227
228[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
229* Elsa from ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''. She starts out more NeutralGood, but after a [[PowerIncontinence tragic accident]] goes into self-imposed exile and stops caring about the rest of the world, even after Anna comes to find her and tells her she accidentally plunged the world into EndlessWinter. By the end of the movie she learns to love again and goes back to being more like her original alignment.
230* The Wolf from ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'' is merciless towards Puss and takes pleasure in his fear, but he's only like this because Puss hammered on his BerserkButton. Most of the time, he just carries out his job without any malice, no matter how good or bad his target is. [[spoiler: His job, by the way, is being TheGrimReaper, and Puss pushed that aforementioned Berserk Button by failing to treat his lives with the respect they deserved. Death is willing to let Puss go after he learns his lesson, though he does get in a frustrated rant first.]]
231* ''Franchise/ToyStory'' has a bunch of examples of Lawful Neutral with the most prominent being:
232** Buzz Lightyear, who probably seems LawfulGood at first. but is in fact Lawful Neutral due to his only priority in the first movie being getting back to Star Command. Also, he sticks to the laws of his home planet until Woody knocks him out the window; then, he proceeds to get back at him.
233** The Aliens from the Claw Machine, who are friendly but are dedicated to serving the Claw.
234%%** Mister Potato Head and most of the other Toys fall under this with the exceptions being Woody who is True Neutral bordering on Neutral Good, Bo who is Neutral Good, and Rex who is hanging between Neutral Good and True Neutral.
235[[/folder]]
236
237[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
238* ''Film/LockStockAndTwoSmokingBarrels'': Big Chris just does the job he is paid to do by Hatchet Harry, which happens to involve violent retrieval of money. He is fair to the protagonists, and even informs them of the true value of their guns. He is also not a sadist, and only loses his cool when the ChaoticEvil LondonGangster Dog pushes his BerserkButton by threatening Little Chris.
239* ''Film/{{Dragonslayer}}'': Tyrian is the poster boy for Equality Under the Law. He even says that he stands for the Law. He wishes to protect the kingdom above all else, and has genuine concern for the populace. Tyrian upholds the Lottery because it has kept the land safe, and even when the King begs Galen to stop the Lottery because ''this'' time the sacrifice is his ''daughter'', Tyrian outright disobeys his King to stop Galen, because the Law ''must'' be upheld to prevent the dragon from going on ''another'' rampage. Had he not been a complete {{Jerkass}}, he'd have evoked far more sympathy from the audience.
240%%* While TheGovernment itself is more Evil, individual Grammaton Clerics in ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'' are most likely Lawful Neutral.
241* In ''Film/{{Taken}}'', when [[RetiredBadass former CIA agent]] Bryan Mills attempts to enlist the help of French agent-turned-bureaucrat Jean-Claude Pitrel in the kidnapping of the former's daughter, Jean-Claude turns out to be less-than-enthusiastic to help when his bosses in the French government decide Bryan's making too much of a mess in Paris. When Bryan later confronts Jean-Claude with the latter's possible involvement in the kidnapping, Jean-Claude coldly replies, "My salary is 'x'; my expenses are 'y'. So long as my family is provided for, I do not care where the difference comes from. ''That'' is my entire involvement."
242* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
243** This actually seems to be the default Jedi alignment, more so than LawfulGood or NeutralGood.
244** The Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse generally describes Stormtroopers, TIE pilots, and so forth as [[PunchClockVillain just doing their jobs.]]
245*** The Clone Troopers practically embody this trope. They go from fighting alongside the Jedi to murdering them the moment Palpatine utters the words, "Execute Order 66." WordOfGod says Order 66 wasn't subconsciously programmed into them, so they're not BrainwashedAndCrazy, either. However, the Order 66 arc of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' contradicts this by revealing [[spoiler:the clones did have chips in their brains so that they could carry out the order]]. It's also helpful to remember that the Jedi ''did'' try to kill Palpatine; if you didn't know the context (and maybe even if you did), it would be easy to interpret them as the bad guys.
246** Boba Fett in the Expanded Universe. He has a personal code of honor and justice and he only accepts jobs that follow it. The reason he sides with the Empire so often is because he views them as enforcers of [[OrderVersusChaos peace and order]], with the Rebel Alliance trying to disrupt that order.
247** Lando Calrissian tries to be this in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', but Darth Vader pushes him too far in the direction of LawfulEvil, so he feels compelled to [[HeelFaceTurn switch to]] ChaoticGood.
248** Captain Needa would count too, as like the Stormtroopers he was just doing his job and was perfectly willing to face execution when he failed rather than [[NeverMyFault pin the blame on someone else]].
249* Deputy Marshal Sam Gerard of ''Film/TheFugitive'' is an example of the Lawful Neutral police officer. He's simply trying to catch the escaped prisoner, as demonstrated by this quote:
250--> '''Kimble:''' I didn't kill my wife!\
251'''Gerard:''' I don't care![[note]]He does ''eventually'' care, but only when it becomes obvious that Kimble was convicted by a gross miscarriage of justice (the Chicago police focusing on Kimble to the exclusion of any other suspects, because it was easier than actually running an investigation)[[/note]]
252* One of the soon to be female bank robbers ('Frankie') from ''Film/SetItOff'' sees Detective Waller as this. Mostly because Waller is a fellow black woman who seems very unsympathetic to her plight of being fired from her job as a bank teller because she got scared and didn't follow proper procedure during a bank robbery. Frankie felt she was being scapegoated because she had a passing association with the robber. Upon her firing, and being grilled by Detective Strode on how to follow procedure, she looks at Waller and sarcastically says ''Thanks for your help sista.''
253* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'':
254** Captain Teague, who simply wants to uphold the Pirate Code.
255** Norrington as well. The only time he allows a little Chaotic decision (giving Sparrow a day's [[MercyLead head start]]), he pays for it. Big time.
256%%* The Captain in ''Film/DasBoot''.
257* In ''Film/GhostDogTheWayOfTheSamurai'', Ghost Dog is utterly devoted to his samurai code. He can go seamlessly from mob hitman to nice neighborhood guy, balancing out to neutral territory.
258* Wikus from ''Film/{{District 9}}''. He's still quoting MNU regulations until the midpoint of the film, and he's pretty much looking out for himself until literally the last five minutes of the movie, when he veers towards ChaoticGood.
259* Scott, "worker-bee" to the United State's government in ''Spartan''.
260%%* Franchise/RoboCop, prior to regaining his humanity.
261* Franchise/{{Predator}}s, who live by a strict honor code.
262* Gerd Wiesler from ''Film/TheLivesOfOthers'' starts out as this, teaching his students matter of factly about interrogation techniques in East Germany and disregarding one student's protest that sleep deprivation is "inhuman" (even marking him in a way that implies his career will ''not'' be moving forward). Ironically, it is his Lawful Neutral nature that eventually pushes him into becoming LawfulGood, as it becomes obvious that his superior, Lt. Colonel Grubitz, is not as interested in following the law as pleasing his own superiors -- hence the (at first) unjustified investigation into playwright Dreymann's life, in order to free up his girlfriend for the lecherous Minister Hempf. By the time [[spoiler:Dreymann really ''is'' up to something (albeit something rather harmless), Wiesler is so disgusted by his superiors and so sympathetic to the playwright that he deliberately disobeys orders [[MysteriousProtector and protects Dreymann]], at the cost of his own career]].
263* Mr. Strickland in the first two ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' movies is as tough towards Marty [=McFly=] and his father George as he is towards Biff Tannen.
264-->'''Strickland!1985A:''' EAT LEAD, SLACKERS!
265* Peter Pan in ''Film/{{Hook}}''. Yes, you read that right. The premise of the movie is that he left Neverland, got married, had children, forgot who he used to be, and became a boring lawyer. When he's forced to return to Neverland, his completely opposite attitude from [[CloudCuckooland everyone there]] and [[TheWonderland the whole place itself]] makes his stay extremely awkward, until, of course, he regains his memories and former personality, depicted as very much ChaoticGood.
266* Jake Freivald in ''REPO MEN (2010)'' when he says that the enforcement of rules are all that matters and his acceptance of the general corporate status quo.
267* Jim Malone in ''Film/TheUntouchables1987''. "Because I swore to uphold the law. . .".
268* Sir Thomas More as portrayed in ''Film/AManForAllSeasons''. He believes that the law must be followed even if evil people can take advantage of it, and that if you break the law to fight evil, then the law can also be broken to fight good... In his words, "Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!"
269* ''Film/JamesBond'' is usually this. He has no qualms about abruptly killing somebody if he feels the person in question is jeopardizing the British justice system. While he rarely acts out of pure malice, he also rarely acts out of true moral benevolence, usually preferring to simply keep order and do as the mission tells him to. Sometimes Daniel Craig's rendition falls more under ChaoticNeutral, such as in the opening scene of ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006''.
270* In ''Film/DriveAngry'', both the Accountant and Satan are portrayed as such. The Accountant is a classic InspectorJavert who doesn't give a damn what UnfinishedBusiness Milton has; all that matters is that he drags him back to Hell to face his penance for the sins he committed in life. Meanwhile, Satan is described as a bookish man who simply does his job of being the warden of the universe's biggest prison. That said, there are limits to how much shit they will tolerate; sacrificing children in Satan's name is a good way to piss him off, and the Accountant won't lift a finger to save you from your righteous punishment.
271* ''Film/{{The Maltese Falcon|1941}}'': Sam Spade's only redeeming quality is his strict adherence to his personal code. He's a cold-hearted, abrasive, homophobic thug who reacts with indifference to the deaths of innocent people, but just barely avoids being malicious enough to qualify for LawfulEvil.
272[[/folder]]
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274[[folder:Literature]]
275* ''Literature/LesMiserables'' has the original InspectorJavert.
276-->Inspector Javert's mental attitude was compounded of two very simple principles, admirable in themselves but which, by carrying them to extremes, he made almost evil -- respect for authority and hatred of all forms of revolt against it. Theft, murder, and every other crime were to him all forms of revolt. Everybody who played any part in the running of the State, from First Minister to the ''garde champerte'' was invested in his eyes with a kind of mystical sanctity, and he felt nothing but contempt, aversion and disgust for those who, only if only once, transgressed beyond the bounds of law. His judgements were absolute, admitting no exceptions. [...] He would have arrested his own father escaping from prison and denounced his mother for breaking parole, and he would have done it with a glow of conscious rectitude.
277** Interestingly, he is no less harsh on himself as he is on others. Once he realises that Jean Valjean is a good man, he realises that his pursuit of him has been unjust. Since that makes ''him'' an unjust man and a criminal, the only solution is suicide.
278* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
279** Havelock Vetinari, Patrician of Ankh-Morpork and Discworld's resident MagnificentBastard. Plays all sides against the middle... not making him TrueNeutral because it's not so much about canceling out opposing forces as just keeping order in his city. He considers himself a tyrant, but he is an eminently rational one (except maybe for that part about torturing mimes, but [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing people don't mind that much]]) working for the stability and overall welfare of his polity.
280** Dios, the high priest of Djelibeybi in ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}''. An extreme example. His only interest is in maintaining the status quo and the ancient traditions of the country, and he basically runs the country on behalf of the sovereign, keeping it in a state of stagnation. He is rather like a less evil version of [[Literature/SmallGods Vorbis the exquisitor (chief inquisitor) of Omnia]].
281* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', the White Council of Wizards, and the Wardens in particular, tend to fall into this mindset.
282** Morgan is a unique example: he's clearly established as this in the first book, and every time Harry interacts with him, it's clear that Morgan believes so strongly in the Seven Laws of Magic that he has absolutely zero problem with killing a warlock (a wizard that has gone power-mad after breaking the laws) even if they're a teenager. Harry thinks that Morgan has it out for him specifically for the first several books. It's not until ''Literature/DeadBeat'' that Harry realizes that Morgan is old, a couple of centuries at least, and has been using his Sight to judge warlocks[[note]]When wizards see something with the Sight, they'll see it in the same clarity for the rest of their lives. Harry sees something he doesn't like at least once a book and has been active for about a quarter century. Morgan sees something more often than that, and has been active much longer[[/note]]. Harry finally realizes that Morgan isn't a ''zealot'', he's just seen so much evidence that black magic corrupts over his life that he's decided that the Laws are the best defense against it. [[spoiler: He expresses regret when he's ordered to kill Molly in ''Literature/ProvenGuilty'', but still moves to follow orders until other circumstances change the situation.]]
283** In one of the books, Anastasia Luccio (Commander of the Wardens) explains to Harry that the Council ''only'' enforces its own Seven Laws, not national laws or moral codes -- because doing otherwise would almost certainly lead to internal war between wizards. (This means, among other things, that the Council didn't take sides in World War II.) Harry himself has mused that there is nothing in the Council's laws preventing him from using magic to rob a bank.
284** In ''Literature/SkinGame'', Donar Vadderung describes [[spoiler:Goodman Grey]] as the kind of person who, once they accept a contract, stays true to it no matter who else makes a bigger offer.
285* Warden, a heron in ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'''s ''Martin the Warrior'', has the catchphrase "I am the Law!" and eats the inhabitants of his swamp whenever they displease him. However, he is ''not'' LawfulEvil; when a cause is just, he will join it.
286* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''.
287** Stannis Baratheon is a dour and rigid man who believes in honor and duty above all else, causing him to have few friends. After a notorious smuggler brought his castle food relief during a siege, he knighted the man for his heroism, but [[{{Yubitsume}} had his fingertips chopped off]] as punishment for his past crimes, since "a good deed does not wash out the bad". He has a reputation in-story for being completely dedicated to justice and duty, the latter of which is the only reason he's making his bid for the Iron Throne, as it is required of him as the rightful heir.
288** Barristan the Bold is very much Lawful Neutral, utterly tied to his duty as the head of the Kingsguard, and protecting the king regardless of the said king's alignment. He stuck with [[TheCaligula the Mad King]] to the end even though he hated it, because it was honorable to do so... and then proceeded to serve TheUsurper just as faithfully once the war was over.
289%%** In addition, [[Series/GameOfThrones the show]] makes Brienne far more Lawful Neutral than the naive LawfulGood she was in the books.
290** The Kingsguard are expected to be like this. They're [[KnightInShiningArmor knights in shining armor]], but they're bound to obey their kings, [[MyMasterRightOrWrong no matter what atrocities they commit.]] [[KnightInSourArmor Jaime Lannister]] is trying to reform them so they will be more LawfulGood.
291** Varys seems to be this as well. He seems to help all sides of conflict with the [[KnowledgeBroker information he provides]], but it's mostly done to uphold order and stability of the kingdom (at least he claims). ''A Dance With Dragons'' tears down this impression of Varys; the whole time he's really been working to bring everyone down to install his HiddenBackupPrince.
292** Minor character [[PunchClockVillain Steelshanks Walton.]] He's not a bad guy, but he will obey any order his lord, [[LawfulEvil Roose Bolton]], gives. He is described by Lord Roose as "a soldier of iron loyalty."
293* In the novels about Literature/CiaphasCain (''HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!''):
294** Gunner First Class Ferik Jurgen. He is extremely loyal and duty-bound to the Imperium, and doesn't care about much outside of just that. He's not dumb, he just puts his duty above all else. Even if said duty involves "Fetching Cain a Salamander and driving him away from there as fast as possible". He also happens to be a prime example of the fact that Lawful Neutral does not mean Lawful Tidy.
295%%** Also, Tomas Beije, for a case of Lawful Neutral in a ''bad'' way.
296* One philosophy of LN is spelled out by Jacen "Darth Caedus" Solo in the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse novel ''Sacrifice''. Essentially, it boiled down to "Palpatine was the good guy throughout the Rebellion, because he came to power through democratic means. The fact that he turned out to be a mass-murdering psychopath hell-bent on the enslavement of all non-human species and crushing the galaxy in a durasteel fist for the rest of eternity doesn't really come into it, because legally he was supposed to be in charge."
297%%* Creator/CharlesDickens seems to have hated this alignment, and commonly assigns it to villains with high social status. They ''think'' they're LawfulGood, though, and anyone who happens to interfere with them is rationalized to be NeutralEvil so they won't feel guilty about interfering right back.
298%%* With the exception of the con men who claim to be royals, all the morally grey characters in ''Literature/HuckleberryFinn'' fit this alignment. As with Dickens, they think they're LawfulGood and call the ChaoticGood Huckleberry NeutralEvil. Creator/MarkTwain was known for his rather biting criticisms of the moral hypocrisy that underpinned a lot of 19th Century values.
299* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
300** Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic. He does associate himself with LawfulEvil characters like Dolores Umbridge and Lucius Malfoy, but he himself is just an idiot.
301** Caretaker Argus Filch and his cat Mrs. Norris. They hate it when anyone break the rules in Hogwarts.
302** For much of the series, Percy Weasley is also Lawful Neutral. He's a strict, no-nonsense prefect obsessed with following the rules and making sure everything runs in a neat and orderly fashion, and he initially sides with the Ministry of Magic over his own family when the two come into conflict. However, he is absolutely not a Death Eater, spends most of ''Deathly Hallows'' trying to keep his head down until an opportunity to backstab the corrupt Ministry arises, and does so with gusto during the final battle. He returns to the reformed Ministry after the war.
303** Barty Crouch, Sr. was this, too. He was not so much opposed to Death Eaters as afraid of associating with them, and therefore ruining his reputation, so he made a big show of abandoning his son after his allegiance to Voldemort was found out. Later, [[spoiler:he hatched a successful plan to get Barty Jr. out of Azkaban using his wife and Polyjuice Potion]].
304** A lot of people initially saw Umbridge this way; even the blood-quill could be excused as MyMasterRightOrWrong or a [[KnightTemplar bizarrely intense]] drive to [[InspectorJavert strike down rulebreakers]]. Of course, when it came out that [[spoiler:she was the one who set the Dementor on Harry and Dudley]], it became clear that she wasn't just doing sick and twisted things when the Ministry told her to, but may actually just be a sick and twisted person in general. By ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', there was no denying [[LawfulEvil her true alignment]].
305** Ravenclaw House are motivated by this alignment. Since they prize knowledge, wisdom and a healthy level of creativity. Ravenclaw is regarded as the most [[TheSmartGuy academically inclined]] house. Rarely do their students actively seek trouble, but you're guaranteed they'd know how to solve a puzzle or two when pushed or have no other choice. Even if certain students like [[ChaoticGood Luna Lovegood]] tend to waltz around the rules. The Head, [[EccentricMentor Professor Flitwick]] exemplifies the houses' true beliefs.
306* ''Literature/NeroWolfe'' is a perfect example of a Lawful character who follows his own Law. He lives a strictly regimented and scheduled life and almost never breaks his habits, but he has little respect for the legal authorities or the rules of what society considers acceptable behaviour. He uses his genius to catch the bad guys and solve crimes, yet is also explicitly OnlyInItForTheMoney, putting him squarely in morally Neutral territory.
307* Severian, the protagonist of ''Literature/BookOfTheNewSun'', is an excellent example of Lawful Neutral as a philosophical outlook. Raised by the Torturer's Guild, the ideology he learned from them, and espouses himself, is that guilt or innocence of the accused isn't of great importance; the only important factor is to carry out the appropriate sentence, neither lessening nor exceeding the cruelty demanded. Notably, when he complains about the problems with his Guild and society in general, it is to the effect that it is inefficient, rather than that people are being punished in a way that far exceeds their level of wrong-doing.
308* Galad Damodred in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime''. He plays everything strictly by the rules, even if it means getting someone else hurt or in trouble. According to his half-sister, he instantly reported any misbehavior she committed without fail, without any degree of spite (he mostly were genuinely sad that she had failed to live up to his own standard). Unsurprisingly, Galad eventually joins the KnightTemplar Whitecloaks, though he becomes more and more of LawfulGood as series progresses.
309** He suffered a minor mental breakdown when, as a newly baptised Child of the Light, he stumbled upon his Half-Sister Elayne, a magic using Aes Sedai on a secret mission, within the centre of the White Cloaks Power Base Amador: As a Loyal Citizen of Andor, it was his duty to Rescue Princess Elayne from the clutches of Foreign Power. As a loving Brother it was his duty to save his half-sister and reunite her to their mother. As a Child of the Light it was his duty to arrest this agent of the Aes Sedai Witches. And as a person who stood on Amadorian Soil, it was his duty to arrest any Channeler whatsoever and present them to the Children if the Light.
310%%** His half-brother, Gawyn Trakand, also shows signs of this alignment.
311%%** Elaida is a particularly unpleasant interpretation of this alignment, at least for a while. Eventually it's hard to argue she wanders into LawfulEvil territory, but exactly when is debatable.
312** Empress Tuon Athaem Kore Paendrag of Seanshan also is this. Though she makes damani out of female channelers, she takes her oaths extremely seriously (for example, when Mat kidnapped her, she made a promise not to escape and did follow through it).
313* Ed the Master Shark in the second of the ''Literature/YoungWizards'' books is, as his title implies, a giant shark who is essentially their lord and master. He likes his job, which is killing and eating things that are in distress, too slow, or not smart enough to escape him. However, he sees this as his assigned job, and is not nearly as cold as he seems. [[spoiler:He even performs a heroic sacrifice.]]
314* The Inquisition in ''Literature/NightWatchSeries'' is explicitly this trope; in the second book, Witieszlav tells Anton that while he personally is sympathetic to the Dark and thinks the Light is deluded, this makes no difference to how he goes about his duty, as he knows the true danger of what would happen if [[EnforcedColdWar The Treaty]] were to collapse.
315* In ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'', Elijah Baley questions how R. (for "robot") Daneel Olivaw could possibly understand the concept of "justice". R. Daneel explains that he defines "justice" as "that which exists when all the laws are enforced". Asked about unjust laws, he insists that "an unjust law is a contradiction in terms". [[spoiler:He shows a more flexible view at the end of the novel.]]
316* Andrew Harlan in ''Literature/TheEndOfEternity'' starts out this way, which makes him an ideal Technician of Eternity. He considers himself an arm of the system, sent out to observe or take action exactly as he is told, without judgement or bias. This is more or less a requirement for all Technicians, and Harlan is one of the best.
317* In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', Mandos, the Vala of destiny and death, is presented in this manner (and probably the only Vala apart from ChaoticEvil Morgoth to not be some form of good). Mandos is characterized as being merciless, but also without malice -- he's an old style death-god who exists solely to perform his duty of housing souls (if they're elves) or passing them on (if they're men) and to dispense prophecy as required. He ''was'' moved to mercy ''once'' in his entire existence.
318* The Vogons of ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' are an entire race who believe in Equality Under the Law. The Guide describes them thusly:
319--> They are one of the most unpleasant races in the Galaxy. Not actually evil, but bad-tempered, [[ObstructiveBureaucrat bureaucratic]], officious and callous.
320* The Authority First And Foremost is the standard alignment of angels and demons in ''Literature/GoodOmens''. Demons are explicitly stated to not be truly evil for the most part, but they still corrupt and torture people and follow {{Satan}} to maintain the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil. Angels are generally obliged to do good whenever possible, but are expected to never go against their higher-ups, even if the fate of the world is on the line. Aziraphale and Crowley, the novel's main angel and demon respectively, both start off as fairly typical examples of their species, but progress to NeutralGood (Aziraphale) and ChaoticGood (Crowley).
321* Creator/NKJemisin's ''Literature/InheritanceTrilogy'': Itempas, second-born of TheOldGods, embodies order and stability. As co-creator of the universe, he imposed structure on the raw chaos of his older sibling; however, his nature also leaves him prone to BlackAndWhiteInsanity and makes it hard for him to change his mind, even when he knows he made a bad decision, like [[spoiler:murdering one sibling and enslaving the other to TheEmpire]].
322-->''"That is what I am, [[spoiler:Oree]]--the steady light that keeps the roiling darkness at bay. The unmoving stone around which the river must flow. You may not like it. You don't like ''me''. But without my influence, this realm would be cacophony, anarchy."''
323* The Clave in ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'' claims to be Lawful Good, but strict and authoritarian rules and laws have concluded that they are more Lawful Neutral. In the past, [[{{Nephilim}} shadowhunters]] were responsible for many [[VanHelsingHateCrimes immoral acts]], and the Clave was even Lawful Evil.
324* Geralt of Rivia especially and some of the other Witchers as well in ''Franchise/TheWitcher''. While all Witchers (Geralt included) are [[PunchClockHero monster hunters who will normally only work for pay]], Geralt obeys a strong ethical code that occasionally lands him in trouble as he gets forced to make hard choices that end up with his name slandered even though he wants to protect innocents and preserve intelligent monsters like dragons.
325-->""Evil is Evil. Lesser, greater, middling… Makes no difference. The degree is arbitary. The definition’s blurred. If I’m to choose between one evil and another… I’d rather not choose at all.""
326[[/folder]]
327
328[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
329* Michael Ermentraut of ''Series/BreakingBad'' and ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' is arguably this. He is a sympathetic PunchClockVillain who worked for a meth dealer but who stuck rigidly to certain principles, such as never taking on too dark a job or not stealing money when it wasn't a part of his contract. His devotion to his granddaughter and daughter in law also suggests a man who is not of evil alignment, though his job working for a meth dealer doesn't make him good either.
330* Sir Humphrey Appleby of ''Series/YesMinister'' was mostly concerned with not making changes unless absolutely necessary and reducing the damage done by frivolous politicians, and was utterly unconcerned by things that fell outside his remit. He was also taking advantage of the system to his own ends, to keep his comfortable position at the expense of others, in a way that would make a LawfulEvil character proud, and when Hacker called him a "moral vacuum," he seemed delighted. He certainly ''sees himself'' as Lawful Neutral and justifies his actions along such lines, but he's selfish and ruthless enough to at least veer into Evil territory at times.
331** When Hacker keeps trying to raise the moral issues around the sale of weapons which ended up in the hands of Italian red terrorists, Humphrey only cares if it intersects his office, saying the problem lies with other departments, not theirs, and that his function is not to speculate on the morality of matters currently lawful.
332-->'''Hacker''': Selling arms to terrorists is wrong, can't you see that?
333-->'''Humphrey''': No, minister. Either you sell arms or you don't. ''If'' you sell them, they will inevitably end up in the hands of people who have the cash to buy them.
334-->'''Humphrey''' (a little later): Government isn't about morality... [it's about] stability. Keeping things going, preventing anarchy. Still being here tomorrow... Government isn't about good and evil, it's only about order or chaos.
335-->'''Hacker''': And it's in order for Italian terrorists to get British bombs? ...And you don't care?
336-->'''Humphrey''': It's not my job to care! That's what politicians are for. It's my job to carry out government policy.
337-->'''Hacker''': Even if you think it's wrong?
338-->'''Humphrey''': *''grinning''* [[ServileSnarker Well, practically all government policy is wrong]]. But frightfully well carried out.
339* The changelings of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' are fanatically obsessed with order and often bordering heavily on LawfulEvil. Odo is [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch unusual for his species]] in that he has been around "solid" species for almost his entire life, and he understands their needs and struggles and is more understanding about their faults. When dealing with other people, he replaces his sense of order with justice, making him bordering on LawfulGood. When no harm is done or laws were broken out of desperation, he can be somewhat lenient and let people off easy, but when it comes to real criminals, he is utterly and completely without mercy and does not show any preferential treatment to anyone. This makes him the perfect head of law enforcement on a space station that would most probably be a WretchedHive without him. He had the same job when the station was a slave labor camp, as the prisoners knew he would not abuse suspects or threaten innocents and was more willing to talk, while the overseers had complete trust that he would never allow any committed crime to go unpunished. He also gets massively annoyed when someone gets into his office or quarters and touches or moves anything even just a little bit.
340* Lucius Vorenus from ''Series/{{Rome}}'': An icy, rigid military man who follows orders without question, even when they disgust him. Octavian is also, arguably, a ''very'' nasty version of this.
341%%** Arguably Julius Vaesar himself is this, albeit one who imposes his own version of order upon the Republic.
342* Sheldon Cooper of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' oscillates between Lawful Neutral and TrueNeutral for plot convenience. His strictly regimented lifestyle, ObsessivelyOrganized manners, and tendency towards complex legal documents point towards lawful alignment, but he'll often RulesLawyer his own agreements, or flat out disregard them if it serves him, or [[RuleOfFunny if it's funny]]. In general, his laws boil down to "everyone has to do whatever I want at all times", making him more TrueNeutral masquerading as Lawful Neutral.
343* The ascended Ancients from ''Series/StargateSG1'' are Lawful Neutral to the extreme. They believe in keeping their orders of non-interference so much that they will watch any BigBad enslave and kill millions of people simply for keeping the freedom of will for ''every'' life. Any ascended being that stops evil and thereby interferes will be punished ''really hard''. This transitions into LawfulStupid territory when they refuse to intervene in Seasons 9 and 10, where the BigBad in question is their collective EvilTwin whom they know will destroy the Ancients themselves once they've gotten the worship and thus [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly the power]] of the rest of the intelligent life in the galaxy.
344** Teal'c is an interesting case, as he is only Lawful Neutral in the {{Backstory}}. In his concern for duty above all else, he had committed atrocities as the First Prime of Apophis. By the start of the series, he seems to have had a change of heart to a more LawfulGood stance, taking the opportunity to free and join up with SG-1 to act on his alignment change.
345* Jack Bristow, Sydney's father on ''Series/{{Alias}}'', is a fascinating treatment of the alignment, because he follows two overriding concerns without question. The first, and the most important, is to keep his daughter safe; as she's an active spy and field agent, this is even less easy than it is for normal fathers. The second, due his being a spy himself, is to safeguard the economic, diplomatic, and military security of the United States (for whom his daughter works, as well). They usually go together. The fun comes when said goals clash.
346%%* Det Pembleton in ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' can be regarded as a successful portrayal of a complex and realistic Lawful Neutral character.
347%%* The Alliance of ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' comes off as this, mixed in with some LawfulStupid. Goes double in TheMovie. Interestingly, Zoe also tends toward this alignment. She just never stopped being a Browncoat.
348%%* Bill Compton and Eric Northman from ''Series/TrueBlood''.
349%%* Chloe from ''{{Series/Smallville}}'' seems to fall into this character alignment.
350%%* Both Monica and Ross Geller from ''Series/{{Friends}}'' seem to end up as this usually mixed with some Lawful Good moments and True Neutral thrown in. Chandler Bing manages to reach it in the later seasons as well.
351* The Vorlons of ''Series/BabylonFive'' are Lawful Neutral on average, encouraging younger races to establish orderly societies without particular regard to their morality; however, some (like Kosh) lean towards the Good end of the spectrum, while others (such as Ulkesh) are rather Eviler.
352* Many of the Division officials in ''Series/TwentyFour'' come across as this, as they often show more concern for stopping Jack from violating regulations than they do for catching the terrorists, even when doing the former interferes with the latter.
353%%* Abbie Carmichael from ''Series/LawAndOrder'' is a dark cynical take on this.
354* The Judoon in ''Series/DoctorWho'' and ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures''. Especially in ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' story ''Prisoner of the Judoon'', where a RunningGag is that while they don't worry very much about executing humans for getting the way in the pursuit of their duty, they won't run a red light, park illegally, or open a door marked "Authorised Personnel Only". On the opposing side, when shit is about to get real for all of reality in the ''Doctor Who'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens The Pandorica Opens]]", [[spoiler:they're all too willing to work alongside a LegionOfDoom (which is obviously evil) consisting of '''Daleks, Cybermen, and Sontarans''' (among others) in a failing attempt to prevent a crack-induced universal collapse courtesy of an exploding TARDIS]].
355%%** Time Lords.
356** Or the Brigadier. Nice chap on the whole, willing to make a HeroicSacrifice. But when ordered, he'll '''[[ShootTheDog blow the dog's brains out]]''', which the Silurians found out the hard way.
357%%* Bree from ''Series/DesperateHousewives''.
358* Even if Dr. Cox insists that he is LawfulEvil, Dr. Kelso in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', when given some CharacterDevelopment, appears as someone who just tries to keep the hospital working, even if this means enforcing unpopular policies.
359* Admiral Helena Cain from ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' is a ruthless GeneralRipper who will do anything necessary to protect her fleet and accomplish her missions, morals be damned. In fact, it is her very philosophy to make such decisions without flinching. Despite that, Adama himself says that he cannot find any faults in her tactical decisions.
360* The various characters of ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', mostly being bureaucrats, are different kinds of Lawful Neutral. Leslie frequently veers into LawfulGood territory, but thus far has proven unwilling to bend the rules to do what's right ([[spoiler:until the Season 2 finale... which ended up aboveboard anyway...]]), and in any case, she sees "serving the public" as part of the job description (which, in truth, is a lot more likely at the local level). On the other hand, you have Ron Swanson, the Libertarian head of the department, who wants to cut government to the bone and would border on TrueNeutral if it weren't for him having a set of rules of his own that is ''utterly'' strict, and is simply 99% incompatible with the current government.
361** Chris and Ben, as state auditors turned city managers are the most clear-cut and consistent Lawful Neutral among the main cast, as their job is to enforce rules, make frequently unpopular decisions or refuse to help the other character because their position requires them to stay impartial.
362* Uther Pendragon from ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' is definitely this -- the laws of Camelot cannot be bent or broken, and his own personal code is his driving force.
363%%* Vice Principal Krubbs from ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide''.
364%%* Dean Rivers from ''Series/Zoey101''.
365* Aeryn Sun from ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. Being the hero's main love interest, she's overall portrayed sympathetically, but she rarely qualifies as actively "good", just completely loyal and committed to whoever she's allied to at the time, and even at her most "good", extremely ruthless in a conflict.
366* Dwight Schrute from ''Series/{{The Office|US}}'' tends to dance across the character alignment spectrum in terms of his methods, but his ultimate goal is to have complete control over the branch. He makes it no secret that he doesn't care about popularity, yet he'll defend the people who mock him out of a sense of duty.
367* Henry Crabbe from ''Series/PieInTheSky'' is proud to be this. Among other examples, when his own cook comes to him for help with a former friend trying to lure him back into crime, Henry suggests that a suitably connected ex-policeman might be able to catch the friend and scare them away from trying it again. When the time comes, he points out that he never actually agreed to anything. The cook sighs and accepts that Henry has the right to turn his friend into the law, to which Henry replies "Thank you, and don't think I wouldn't do the same for you."
368* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
369** [[PrinciplesZealot Stannis Baratheon]]. [[AdaptationalVillainy Despite leaning much more to the]] LawfulEvil side of the spectrum than in the books, his firm commitment to the law still places him here.
370** [[SheIsTheKing Daenerys Targaryen]] would be LawfulGood, if not for her [[WellIntentionedExtremist more]] [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans morally]] [[JoinOrDie ambiguous]] [[PayEvilUntoEvil actions]].
371* Ziva from ''Series/{{NCIS}}''. While she's most assuredly not evil, its hard to call her good considering she is a sniper/assassin who ''killed her own brother'' in her first encounter (in her defense he was about to kill Gibbs) and doesn't exactly feel bad about it.She has also admitted she is not above using {{Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique}}s
372* Villamax from ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' was this, he held himself to a moral code, protected the defenseless, refused to harm the innocent, only fought ruthlessly against his foes, and believed strongly in IGaveMyWord. Sounds like a SixthRanger, right? Actually was TheDragon for BigBad [[LawfulEvil Trakeena]] and worked alongside [[TheStarscream Deviot]] who was more NeutralEvil. The [[AntiVillain Anti-Villains]] from ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'' (Ecliptor, Astronema) were LawfulEvil (emphasis on the lawful).
373* Temperance Brennan from ''Series/{{Bones}}'' would probably be this, bordering on LawfulGood, although she does have some unfortunate tendencies such as [[BrutalHonesty saying whatever she thinks even if it's mean]] and being something of a PrinciplesZealot (she [[CannotTellALie hardly ever lies]], even when doing so would be morally justified, for example.)
374* Basically everyone in ''Series/ForThePeople'', a CourtroomDrama set in the US Southern District Court of New York. They're all generally good people, but they're constrained by the law and often unable to do the [[ToBeLawfulOrGood moral thing]]. Public defenders trend a bit more LawfulGood, since their clients are usually [[GoodLawyersGoodClients sympathetic]], but they also occasionally have to do some distasteful things, for example, a Syrian-born Muslim gets assigned to defend a Neo-Nazi accused of trying to assassinate a Congresswoman. He realises that his client is actually innocent, and manages to introduce enough doubt into the prosecution's case to get an acquittal, but still doesn't feel good about it because, while the guy didn't do it, he wishes he did and now he knows he can "get away with it", might actually try to. A crooked judge shows up in one episode who is solidly LawfulEvil though.
375** In an early episode, an idealistic new public defender finds a desperate woman trying to file an injunction that will prevent her being thrown out of her home, but she's fifteen minutes past the deadline, and the seemingly officious court clerk flatly refuses to help her or do anything. The lawyer spends the episode [[LoopholeAbuse exploiting loopholes]] to stop the woman getting thrown out into the street, but when she goes back to the clerk at the end of the episode to gloat, the clerk points out another woman in the same situation and asks if she's going to help her too. She explains that every day people come in who are late, or have improperly filled out paperwork, or fell through the cracks in some way, and her heart breaks for them; but the seemingly arbitrary rules she has to enforce are the only guardrails they have on a barely functioning system, and if she starts bending the rules it will collapse.
376** Perhaps the best example of this is the case of a man who agreed to carry a rucksack across town for his cousin in exchange for a few hundred bucks, which turned out to contain heroin. He ends up getting sentenced to a mandatory ten years in prison. Everyone agrees that he shouldn't be but they're helpless to stop it because the law is ironclad and unbending in drug cases. The prosecutor can't charge him with a lesser offence because the amount he was holding is just enough to qualify for a federal trafficking charge; the public defender can't cut him a deal because he has no information to trade; in desperation, the judge tries to instruct the jury that a conviction means an automatic ten year sentence, basically trying for jury nullification, but the law won't allow him to.
377* ''Series/TheWire:'' [[{{Gayngster}} Omar Little]] may not follow the law of the land, per se, but he absolutely adheres to a code of conduct that limits his criminal activities exclusively to other criminals, particularly drug dealers (as he puts it, anyone in "the Game"). He sees his self-imposed rules as vital to allowing him to keep following his theft-based path while also giving him the moral high ground against his more conventional criminal enemies like Avon Barksdale and Marlo Stanfield.
378--> '''Omar:''' A man got to have a code!
379* "Series/OnceUponATime": Surprisingly, [[BigGood The Blue Fairy]] fits into this category. Despite being an ostensibly good character, she strictly enforces the rules whether good or bad, even standing in the way of a dwarf and a fairy who fell in love. Her actions have at times demonstrated clearly questionable moral judgement, and it could even be argued that she's responsible, whether directly or indirectly, for most of the villains and events throughout the first 6 seasons.
380[[/folder]]
381
382[[folder:Myth and Religion]]
383* Most portrayals of TheGrimReaper. He's death, but it's his '''JOB''' to collect the souls of people who have died. He does not go out of his way to kill those whose time of death has not yet come, and he shows neither pity nor joy in collecting the souls of those who have died by whatever means, doing his part in preserving the natural order of things.
384* Myth/ClassicalMythology:
385** Hades is one of the few lawful beings in an otherwise chaotic pantheon. He upholds the laws of death and natural order with impartiality. His abduction of Persephone was technically lawful since he had the permission of Zeus.
386** Nemesis, as the Goddess of Retribution, is one. Commit good deeds and she'll reward you, no matter what. Sin, and [[MortonsFork the only way to escape her punishment is to anger another god in the process and receive]] ''[[MortonsFork their]]'' [[MortonsFork punishment]].
387[[/folder]]
388
389[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
390* Many authority figures onscreen will fall into this if they aren't full-blown heels. Being good at their job means impartiality on their part, so they can't exactly play favorite for the face or the heel. Thus, if either side has a legit case, they have to rule in that person's favor regardless of that person's own alignment. Examples include Teddy Long, Wrestling/MickFoley as Commissioner, and the anonymous GM of ''Raw'' [[spoiler:(who turned out to be Wrestling/{{Hornswoggle}})]].
391[[/folder]]
392
393[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
394* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':
395** The Tau Empire started somewhere closer to LawfulGood before heavy {{Retcon}}s brought them down to this level. They don't usually count as LawfulEvil, though, since there's a fair bit of [[AmbiguouslyEvil ambiguity]] about how much of their UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans behaviour is actually what happened and how much is [[UnreliableNarrator exaggeration or fabrication by the Imperium]]. Regardless, they have a strictly regimented caste system, a guiding philosophy of acting for the Greater Good of all and unlike every other faction, lead with diplomacy to get what they want first, and resort to all-out war only when the GodzillaThreshold is crossed. Their combat doctrine is built around a mix of [[AlphaStrike all-out force]] and [[ManlyMenCanHunt patiently luring enemies into traps, ambushes]] and locations perfect for AggressiveNegotiations.
396** Especially the ''nicest'' [[MachineWorship Tech-Priests]], who essentially devote themselves to [[StrawVulcan pure logic]]. (The less nice ones tend towards being LawfulEvil techno-kleptomaniacs.)
397** The Craftworld Eldar, although to a lesser extent than other races. The majority of them are living extremely disciplined lives due to their extreme emotional range, leading to them largely being TheStoic as a species. In the past their empire was destroyed because the extremely hedonistic lifestyles of their ancestors caused their downfall and {{squick}}ed the chaos god Slaanesh into existence. Not quite as lawful as most other "good" races in the setting, since many become pirates and mercenaries due to the extremely restrained lives they are forced to live on their Craftworlds, yet most of these are still loyal to their Craftworlds. In general, however, the Craftworld Eldar's politics can be considered Lawful Neutral, because at least they don't execute their own men regularly, and generally have an ordered lifestyle simply to prevent Slaanesh from eating their souls.
398* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'': The Lizardmen. They are some of the foremost creations of the Old Ones, and as such are guardians of their Plans. If they attack you, it's not because they dislike you (they're quite literally incapable of malice), but it's because you are a threat to the Old Ones' Plan in some way.
399* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''
400** The modrons (featured most heavily in ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'') are the physical embodiments of Lawful Neutral in the game's universe. They had a regrettable tendency to be portrayed as quirky wind-up toys with an anal-retentive obsession with orderliness, but at their best the modrons -- especially the more powerful ones -- could be frightening alien forces that represent the concept of law in the same way that angels represent good and demons evil.
401** The plane of Mechanus (and the home of the modrons) is ''made'' of LN, leading to such things as:
402*** Formians, who are basically ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' Inferno without a robot mode. They want to enslave everything, because that way everything will be more efficient in the service of the hive.
403*** Inevitables, extraplanar robots who exist solely to enforce The Rules. Their purposes vary from killing anyone who tries to cheat death (adventurers who are raised once or twice are probably safe, liches and necromancers are screwed) to forcing people to abide by contracts. One Dragon Magazine article on the kolyaruts (the contract ones) stated outright that their reaction to mitigating circumstances is "The circumstances are indeed mitigating, but they are not part of the contract. You are therefore in breach". An entirely acceptable Kolyarut plot would have one interrupt the standard "rescue the princess" plot by explaining to the paladin that the princess was ''contractually obligated'' to remain in the villain's clutches. A more terrifying example would be the case of the Kolyarut, Obligatum. After a group of wizards summoned a powerful entity and then bound it to perform a specific task, they later stopped it and sealed it away. Obligatum was then dispatched to free said Entity because the wizards got cold feet and broke the covenant they had made with the entity. The fact that the Entity is Pandorym and is a psionic superentity tasked solely with annihilating all the gods (and possibly the whole world in the process) is utterly irrelevant to Obligatum. You don't break contracts. And there are more to replace him if he fails.
404** [[BarefistedMonk Monks]] of 3rd Edition had to have a Lawful alignment (representing their dedication to their unique training), so if a monk isn't Good or Evil, they're this.
405** ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'': Helm, the god of guardians, represents the watchful and impartial protection of a charge above all else. To stand guard over an item, place or creature is the most important thing. Helm doesn't differentiate actions between good or bad, merely the fulfillment of a duty or not.
406* If you want to be an avatar of the Executioner (the cosmic archetype of... well, ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin) in ''TabletopGame/UnknownArmies'', you have to play Lawful Neutral to the hilt, including finding an authority to obey. You can't make any moral judgments on your own about how deserving your target is, you just go and carry out the sentence because you're told to.
407%%* ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings'': This is pretty much a requirement for Rokugani citizenship. Even the {{Yakuza}} have a Lawful Neutral mindset! (Lawful as in being loyal to their parent clan, that is.)
408* The Third Imperium in ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}''. It governs the trade lanes between its member worlds. However, the member worlds are generally allowed to govern themselves as long as they do not violate Imperial standards of conduct too ostentatiously. They are even allowed to fight wars with each other as long as they don't make too much of a mess. And above all, they must never interfere with interstellar trade.
409* The Azorius Senate from ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' formed a massive, impenetrable, useless bureaucracy largely for the sake of having more laws. In their return during the ''Return to Ravnica'' block, they have degenerated solidly into LawfulEvil territory, as demonstrated in ''The Shadows of Prahv'', where they even go so far as to attempt to exterminate the Golgari, the guild in charge of Ravnican agriculture. While there are still individual examples who count as Lawful Neutral, the vast majority of the guild have fallen far from this spot. To be fair, the Azorius were already bordering on LawfulEvil before (Augustin IV was the main antagonist of ''Dissenssion'', after all.
410** A guild that did degenerate into LawfulEvil are the Boros; their current leader, Aurelia, is a KnightTemplar ManipulativeBitch at best. The Boros are a bit of a mixed bag in alignment terms themselves, which does keep the entire guild out of the territory, and while their leader Aurelia certainly counts in LawfulEvil territory, there is something to be said that Gideon Jura, one of the most moral planeswalkers in the story, has joined up with the guild. In other words, most of the members of the guild are still Lawful Neutral, with some good and bad eggs here and there.
411* The Lone Star organization from ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' is this most of the time. Since most of the cities in the United Canadian and American States have had their local police departments dissolved, the organization acts mostly as their country's national police force; they hold about 62% of all of the security contracts in the country. However, Lone Star isn't always [[DirtyCop scrupulous]] and/or [[BadCopIncompetentCop competent]] in its dealings and [[LawfulEvil some of their officers take it to levels that would oppress the citizens]].
412* The Light in ''TabletopGame/{{Nobilis}}'' is very dedicated to the rule that Humanity Must Survive, and will do ''[[TheUnfettered anything]]'' to ensure this.
413[[/folder]]
414
415[[folder:Theater]]
416* Inspector Javert in ''Theatre/LesMiserables''. It is only his devotion to the law that drives him to play a bad-guy role in the story.
417* The Arbiter in ''{{Theatre/Chess}}'' has no interest whatsoever in the tension between the competing nations or the personal conflicts of the participants. (In other words, the entire plot.) All he cares about is that the rules of the game are followed.
418* Wotan in ''Theatre/TheRingOfTheNibelung'' tries to be LawfulGood but ultimately has to be Lawful Neutral as his power comes from contracts, even if those contracts prevent him stopping threats to his power. This is a major theme in the Ring Cycle. His wife Fricka points this out to him, meaning Wotan has to kill his son Siegmund for breaking the law, even if he felt the law was unjust.
419* ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''. Much of the problems in the play are caused by his adherence to what he believes is God's law; while he doesn't particularly like the idea of killing people, he still spends the play trying to kill Claudius because he considers it his obligation to avenge his father's death. Through his obsession with carrying out this duty, Hamlet ends up getting nearly every other character killed, and he doesn't feel terribly bad about any of it. His intentional killing of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern pushes him very close to LawfulEvil, but he may have thought that they were willing co-conspirators with Claudius (and, [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation depending on the production]], he may be correct). It's also ambiguous how much of his asshole behaviour is insanity-induced.
420[[/folder]]
421
422[[folder:Video Games]]
423* Despite his otherwise self-serving motives and {{Jerkass}} behavior, Samuel Hayden[=/=][[spoiler: Samur Mayker]] of ''VideoGame/Doom2016'' and ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'' is this alignment, which explains why he constantly butts heads with the ChaoticGood [[DemonSlaying Doom Guy]]. Even though his ultimate goal of [[spoiler: bringing back [[{{God}} The Father]] is to help restore himself his former glory, he doesn't actively seek power and is content with working under Him. He also abides by Mayker Law in that he, himself, is not allowed to come into contact with the Life Spheres and absolutely prohibits the resurrection of the [[SatanicArchetype Dark Lord]], so much so that he becomes the FinalBoss to prevent Doom Guy from doing so.]]
424* While {{Monster Clown}}s are typically ChaoticEvil, The Daycare Attendant - specifically his Sun form - from ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSecurityBreach'' fits under this alignment. While not trying to help Gregory get out of [[SuckECheeses the Pizzaplex]] like [[BigGood Glamrock Freddy]], he isn't interested in harming him as the other animatronics [[spoiler:have been re-programmed by Vanny to do]]: he just wants to keep the Superstar Daycare safe and orderly, although he's zealous about it point of [[BabysitterFromHell upsetting the children under his care]]. His JekyllAndHyde counterpart, Moon, is firmly LawfulEvil, as he terrorizes children who are up past their bedtime, and ''will'' kill Gregory if given the chance.
425* Tear in ''VideoGame/RecettearAnItemShopsTale'' is adamant that Recette honor her family's debt to the Terme Finance Corporation, does not show any deviance from attaining this goal, and is very businesslike about how to run her and Recette's shop. As the game progresses, she does pick up some NeutralGood tendencies, but otherwise, especially in regards to matters concerning making money and running Recettear, she remains this alignment without deviance, barring an exception or two made as a result of her NeutralGood tendencies.
426* Keisuke in ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'' is this in contrast to Midori's magical-girl-inspired LawfulGood. He even [[spoiler:summons a demon to serve as a judge of evildoers]] so that his emotions will not affect his judgment, and strongly believes that people who do evil deserve to die for the good of humanity.
427* In the mainline ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series, Satan takes on this alignment as YHVH's judge. His ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'' perhaps plays this the straightest. [[spoiler:Law, Chaos and Neutral are all meaningless to him. The important thing is that the laws of the universe are maintained. Him defying YHVH is not out of personal grudge or anything like that, but instead due to him believing that is what the laws of the universe dictate and that it is his job to test YHVH to see if he is still a worthy god.]]
428* ''VideoGame/Persona3'' has Nyx, an EldritchAbomination drawn to bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt due to humanity's collective despair. The thing is, she really doesn't ''want'' to wipe out humanity, but is simply carrying out what she believes is their collective desire for death. Her avatar is a genuine NiceGuy who also believes The Fall is inevitable and offers to erase the party's memories so they don't have to suffer.
429%%* ''Every named character'' in ''VideoGame/AssaultSuitsValken'' / ''Cybernator''.
430* CEO Nwabudike Morgan of ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri''. His only real concern is money and expanding his economic empire, but he won't (openly) break the law; he'll instead work to change it, using all his power and influence to do so through perfectly legal channels.
431** Sister Miriam Godwinson and her Lord's Believers definitely clock in as Lawful, but whether they are Good (genuinely helping a world filled with sin towards salvation, even when evil resists that salvation), Neutral (upholding the Bible to the absolute letter without care for the meaning behind it), or Evil (fanatics out to actively purge the world of nonbelievers) is really down to how sympathetic the player is to her agenda -- the game itself portrays her as aggressive but does not imply her to be good or evil.
432** Colonel Corazon Stantiago of the Spartan Federation is slightly less ambiguous. She runs a militaristic PoliceState and believes strongly in a proper command structure, so she's lawful. She desperately wants the people of Planet to survive, and if she thinks you aren't doing it well enough, she'll bomb you all back to planetfall.
433* The alien being Duo from the ''[[VideoGame/MegamanBattleNetwork RockMan.EXE]]'' franchise is tasked with the mission of travelling through space, destroying planets whose evil exceeds certain limits. His single-minded devotion to his mission is obviously Lawful, and his willingness to destroy countless lives in the name of it certainly doesn't make him Good... yet, he is not openly malicious either. His anime-only [[TheDragon henchwoman]] Slur is quite probably LawfulEvil, though.
434* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'':
435** For much of the game, Tyrande Whisperwind is a single-minded Lawful Neutral ActionGirl. The oath she took to protect Ashenvale is her only priority and until the last moment, she seems unwilling to compromise about anything, which almost leads to the Burning Legion's victory. After some CharacterDevelopment, she moves a bit on the axis, and in the expansion set, she's arguably NeutralGood. Her mantle of Lawful Neutral is then passed down to Maiev Shadowsong, who herself goes absolutely nuts by the end of the expansion pack night elf campaign and turns into some kind of hybrid between all the existing alignments.
436** The Titans in the backstory seem to fit the bill too. They travel the cosmos, ordering worlds. Even though we've hardly seen them in action, we've seen a lot of their servants and constructs, and they don't really seem to care that much for goodness, just the avoidance of chaos. This is best seen in characters like Algalon the Observer, an entity whose job it is to alert the Titans when Azeroth has fallen to the Old Gods' corruption. If this is found to be the case, their solution then is to completely wipe out all life on Azeroth and start from scratch. Essentially, if things don't go exactly as the Titans want them to, it's completely wrong and must be destroyed.
437* Three very different sides of Lawful Neutral are present in ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'':
438** Fall-From-Grace is a puritan succubus who is the very essence of propriety, gentility, and hospitality, but she mainly keeps to herself and doesn't go out of her way to help people -- they have to come to her.
439** Vhailor, a merciless KnightTemplar who is thought to be a bit of a fanatic even by his own faction, a group of criminal-hunters called Mercykillers (so named because they want to destroy the very concept of mercy, as it interferes with proper execution of the law), is the other. However, while he would occasionally jump the gun when he had evidence, he would never prosecute anyone ''without'' it, and has let people who have committed terrible acts live and even go free when he thinks they have suffered punishment enough.
440** Dak'kon, a retired WarriorMonk and preacher for his species (the Githzerai) who has dedicated his life to his religion and its holy text, the Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon. [[spoiler:He also owes The Nameless One a life-debt, binding him to your service for as long as you live -- this also gives him a major moral quandary, as his religion prescribes that the Gith should never be in bondage to anyone.]]
441** Finally, amongst {{N|onPlayerCharacter}}PCs, [[spoiler:the Practical Incarnation]] is canonically Lawful Neutral. He had one goal in life -- [[QuestForIdentity find out who he was]] -- and systematically chased this goal with a great amount of foresight and discipline, viewing both his own life and those of others as tools to advance that goal. Notably, he just barely held on to this alignment despite the ''many'' [[KickTheDog dogs he kicked in his life]], primarily because he was never motivated by [[ForTheEvulz cruelty for its own sake]].
442* ''Franchise/BaldursGate'':
443** Anomen in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'' starts out as a particularly JerkAss version. He even begrudges the coins ''you'' give to beggars on the street, since it's encouraging them to avoid working for a living. CharacterDevelopment ''can'' send him to LawfulGood later, though.
444** Balthazar in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIIThroneOfBhaal'' is indicated as Lawful Neutral by his game file. (There was also a WordOfGod statement somewhere on the internet that assumed he was LawfulGood, which would work about equally well.) He's a monk -- an inherently disciplined Lawful {{Character Class|System}} -- and one of the Five, powerful Bhaalspawn who are trying to kill all the other numerous children of Bhaal in order to let the evil god rise again and be rewarded with demigod status. However, Balthazar is only pretending to be on their side, and he actually sees it as his [[ShootTheDog duty]] to kill all Bhaalspawn to prevent Bhaal ever returning. He takes this seriously; "all" means himself as well after all the others are gone.
445* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'':
446** RichBitch Karin Kanzuki, as a foil to ChaoticGood [[AscendedFanboy Ascended Fangirl]] Sakura Kasugano. Karin's family motto is to "seek perfection at all costs", meaning that she'll take on ''any'' opponent regardless of where they fall on the good/evil scale (though she eschews from using flashy or "dishonorable" fighting techniques). She has very little patience for [[{{Muggles}} common folk]], but will sometimes [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold stop to lend a hand to a friend in need]].
447** Arguably, Gouki/[[DubNameChange Akuma]] could apply. Yes, he's a BloodKnight seeking the strongest fights he can find and he will fight to the death. However, he only fights to the death when he believes he has found a WorthyOpponent. All others he dramatically holds back to avoid killing (normal Akuma compared to [[SuperMode Shin Akuma]]). Also, while he initially entered a death match against Gen, when Akuma realized Gen was ill, he stopped the fight. It took years of begging from Gen to finally get that death match, and even then it took appealing to Akuma's soul of a warrior to do it. Akuma has also stated he hates M. Bison's psycho power (which is fueled by hatred and dark emotions). Finally, he canonically saved a child's life who had wandered into Akuma's training area. The only real evil Akuma has done is try to push Ryu into giving into the Satsui no Hadou.
448* The two protagonists of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAdvance'' are at first Lawful Neutral. However, they eventually shift into Lawful Good. In the Original Generations, however, the shift differs...
449** Axel Almer starts out Lawful Neutral, being the follower of Shadow Mirror, mostly. Even though he has his heavy vendetta against Beowulf, he still obeys Vindel's orders more. In OG Gaiden, however, with his 'law' (the Shadow Mirror) destroyed, he shifts into True Neutral. His ''Original Generation 2'' GBA self, however, is not Lawful Neutral, but Neutral Evil, from his rampant sadism and racism and his vendetta taking more priority than Vindel's order.
450** Lamia Loveless mostly follows her original self, from Lawful Neutral shifting into Lawful Good. In OG Gaiden, however, she temporarily shifts into Lawful Evil after [[BrainwashedAndCrazy being reprogrammed]] by Duminuss. When that ordeal is over, she shifts back into Lawful Good.
451* Heaven is portrayed this way in the ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' Mythos; notable in that they uphold Order in the universe but don't seem too particularly concerned about "good" (as opposed to their rivals in Hell, who uphold Chaos but are most assuredly very evil.) In fact, Tyrael, the only angel in the games' lore who seems to be in any way good, is considered a rogue by his brethren.
452** In the last book of a novel trilogy, we meet the rest of the Council that Tyrael is on when they gather to decide the fate of humanity for [[spoiler:being the offspring of angels and demons]]. One is a fanatic Lawful Neutral who wants to wipe out the humans, another is very nice and on par with Tyrael, another seems neither particularly spiteful or sympathetic, but pragmatic and willing to give humanity the chance to prove themselves, and the last seems neutral. ''Deathly'' neutral.
453* The two [[TheLancer Lancers]] in the ''Fate'' series, [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Cu Chulainn]] and [[Literature/FateZero Diarmuid Ua Duibhne]]. They have some... moral conflicts with their Masters, but choose to serve them with full loyalty and honor as Knights. Despite being the antagonistic force, they manage to be [[FriendlyEnemy friendly]] with the protagonists.
454* Eris from ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}} 2'' starts out with this alignment. While she means well, and wants to protect the world from chaos and destruction, she is [[KnightTemplar blinded by her obedience]] to the Knights of the Seal and, at first, justifies all of their actions, even the most questionable ones (to the point where she threatens to strike down NeutralGood Nowe for dissenting). Later on, she has a change of heart and gets closer to LawfulGood.
455* Sypha Belnades during the course of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaJudgment'' has this alignment. You know you're in this territory when you attack a [[DarkIsNotEvil good hearted werewolf]], just because he IS a werewolf, and thus must equal evil, and waste no time to listen to reason. She softens to something of a NeutralGood or LawfulGood during ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse''.
456* The United Earth Federation and Aeon Illuminate in ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander'', and possibly the Seraphim, clock in here -- all three want to impose their beliefs on the galaxy in a new galactic era of peace and tranquility. Individual characters may lean good or evil, but all three, as whole factions, are very much neutral.
457%%* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': Miles Edgeworth was like this before shifting to LawfulGood.
458%%** Franziska is also Lawful Neutral most of the time. Not as merciful as Edgeworth, but not as evil as her father Manfred.
459%%** Also Godot, of a more WellIntentionedExtremist kind. He merely dislikes Phoenix because [[spoiler:he feels that he is responsible for Mia Fey's death]].
460* ''Franchise/StarCraft'':
461** Judicator Aldaris considered following the rules of the Conclave significantly more important than ''survival'' until well after the spit had hit the fan at supersonic speeds.
462** Nova Terra as well. Being constantly mind-wiped to be loyal to the Dominion means that she will follow the Dominion law and whoever is in charge. If [[LawfulEvil Arcturus Mengsk]] is in charge, she will be antagonistic, but if it's [[LawfulGood Valerian Mengsk]] who is in charge, she will be protagonistic. When she's allowed to be herself, Nova is more about trying to make sure that the people under Dominion are safe, her accosting Raynor for siding with Tosh is more about upholding the law because a prison break may have a chance to release actually dangerous criminals that wasn't opposing Mengsk. By the end of the ''Nova Covert Ops'', however, Nova [[spoiler:turned NeutralGood, disobeying Valerian's order and going rogue in order to serve Dominion from the shadows and doing dirty works that would've damaged his public image. Even Valerian approved that one at the moment]].
463* [[spoiler:G0-T0]] from ''Videogame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords''. While his high Dark Side score indicated LawfulEvil, his general philosophy was basically "Keep the Republic going, whatever the cost". He even basically stated that he didn't give a crap whether the winner of the Jedi/Sith war was a noble faction that got a bit arrogant occasionally or a group of backstabbing maniacs who consider puppy sandwiches a good entree, as long as they stopped setting large chunks of the Republic on fire.
464* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': Consular companion Qyzen Fess is a ReligiousBruiser who follows a religion where hunting dangerous prey and following traditional methods of the hunt earn a warrior favor with their goddess, The Scorekeeper. Trandoshans also have a ''very'' long and ugly history with their Wookiee neighbors, leading to Trandoshans considering Wookiees as ''very'' desirable prey to hunt, with their pelts as treasured prizes. He hates slavers and criminals, not because it's evil, but because there's no challenge in hunting unarmed refugees. He approves if you support someone going after revenge (hey, you're helping out another hunter), or arming the prey to make hunters have to work harder (he doesn't see a problem with Force-wielding rakghouls -- if they're harder to kill, they're worth more points). And while he is friends with the Consular's master and travels with the Consular, he also used to work for the Bounty Hunter's boss.
465%%* The ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' games don't have enough dialogue to say for sure, but Meta Knight is definitely Lawful and probably Neutral -- quite unusual for [[SugarBowl the setting]].
466* The King of Guardia in the present of ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' is like this at first, stating that "even royalty must follow the laws of the land", while Crono is wrongly sentenced to imprisonment for three days/death (according to the chancellor). The 1000 AD Chancellor appears to be like this, but [[spoiler:[[EvilChancellor he's actually]] the NeutralEvil Yakra XIII, who wants to avenge his ancestor's defeat in 600 AD]].
467* Admiral Akkaraju in ''VideoGame/ShogoMobileArmorDivision'' has elements of this, as he's willing to fire the Kato Cannon at Avernus to destroy the Fallen, despite the fact that it would also kill [[spoiler:Sanjuro's BrainwashedAndCrazy brother Toshiro and their mutual friend Baku,]] as well as potentially affect Maritropa and Constantine. Then again, he is going against High Command to do so.
468* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'': Most members of UNATCO (except for the ones who [[spoiler:defect with you]]) could be considered this; they work to put down the terrorist threat, but don't question the circumstances behind the plague or the motivations for suppressing the NSF. They are unaware that they're helping the conspiracy, and thus see their actions as being about preserving order.
469%%* Naoto in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', straying quite strongly towards LawfulGood.
470%%* Sally Dobbs of ''VideoGame/BackyardSports'' is definitely Lawful Neutral.
471* Siegfried from ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur IV'' becomes this. Whenever running into him, his only comment is normally "You're in my way, step aside." He's just trying to destroy Soul Edge, defeat the evildoers, and bring balance. No matter who gets in his way. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, Soul Calibur [[LawfulEvil disagrees.]] ]]
472* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': The Turian race as a whole are a hierarchal meritocracy where the group's wellbeing far outweighs the individual. As such, turians have a strict code and value order over almost everything else.
473* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': Samara is a justicar, a vigilante WarriorMonk who has sworn her life to obeying a code of conduct. The justicar's code binds her to kill those who harm innocents and save said innocents; although Samara will save a baby from a burning building and put her own life at risk, she does it because her Code demands such action and not because she wants to. Even though the code practically encourages KnightTemplar behaviour at times, Samara has been a justicar for a very long time and is surprisingly non-self-righteous in how she views both the code and her forced adherence to it, and also knows how to use loopholes. She also has a very specific oath that she can (and does) give when she works with someone (in this case, Commander Shepard). When questioned about it, she states that she will do absolutely anything that Shepard asks, no question, as she is only a weapon being used. However, she then immediately follows it up by saying that, as soon as her oath and duty is complete, she will kill Shepard without hesitation if s/he forced Samara to do something against her code.
474* From ''Franchise/TouhouProject'', Youmu is a strong follower of the [[{{Samurai}} Bushido code]] and one of her most defining traits, for good or ill, is [[MyMasterRightOrWrong her intense loyalty to her mistress Yuyuko]]. A less prominent example is Momiji.
475** ''Lots'' of characters in ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' are Lawful Neutral, usually by virtue of being a BattleButler: Sakuya to Remillia (though she's been warned before that she lies dangerously close to teetering off into LawfulEvil), the aforementioned Youmu to Yuyuko, Eirin to Kaguya, Toramaru to Byakuren (borderline LawfulGood).
476** And then some characters are Lawful Neutral by nature: Patchouli is deep into her study, Satori is only interested in maintaining order in her domain, the Watatsuki sisters are only doing their job in protecting the Moon.
477** Really, the prominence of these types of characters really gives a nice bit of contrast to a ChaoticNeutral dominated cast, especially since these tend to be [[TheDragon dragons]] to main villains of said alignment.
478%%** Depending on your view, Reimu can be either LawfulGood or Lawful Neutral.
479* The Qunari in ''Franchise/DragonAge'' are, as a whole, a highly Lawful Neutral society. Every person in the society has a role that is decided by the government based on their skills to best accommodate them. People ''do not'' deviate from their roles in qunari society. In many cases, a qunari's name will literally consist of their role and rank in their society, such as the case with Sten. This causes a lot of consternation for Sten himself when he enters Ferelden, where, in his own words, "no one knows their place." If the Warden is female, Sten will be confused as to whether she is a woman or a soldier, as qunari women are ''not'' soldiers. The Lawful Neutral way of the Qun gets deconstructed in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', where the Arishok and his men are trapped in Kirkwall because the Qun's rigid restrictions on the roles of each member of their society makes it difficult for him to function in the middle of a city as mired in greed and violence as Kirkwall, especially as the Qun demands he respond to such "filth". Eventually this pushes him to [[spoiler:assault Kirkwall with his army, viewing that as the only way to resolve the demands of the Qun, even if his assault is doomed to failure]].
480* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'':
481** The Spirit of Vengeance that is joined with Anders acts this way, being formerly a spirit of Justice that became corrupted by Anders' anger and bitterness toward the oppression of mages. Ultimately, Anders himself is of this alignment as well, believing that fighting the injustices against mages is worth any cost. This leads to [[spoiler:Anders' destruction of the Kirkwall Chantry]] and triggering [[spoiler:a full-scale war between mages and templars across Thedas]]. Vengeance was also like this when he was introduced as Justice in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'', while the two were separate entities; at one point, he accuses Anders of enslaving his pet cat.
482** Aveline also tends toward Lawful Neutral. She refused to arrest a guard after he raped an elf because there was not enough evidence, but was perfectly willing to arrest the elf's two brothers who murdered her rapist, regardless of her personal feelings on the matter.
483%%** The Templars also. Though the ones in Kirkwall were pretty corrupted.
484* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', Vivienne leans toward Lawful Neutral. She upholds the laws of the Chantry, and while she acknowledges that there were -- and are -- problems with the system, she is against the rebellion. Vivienne would rather work within the rules; she can become the first mage Divine because, well, there isn't a rule that says she can't. She also comes from a DecadentCourt, which has its own set of arcane, unwritten rules.
485%%* The Chinese faction from ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals''.
486%%* Cait Sith/Reeve Tuesti is one of these in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', at least before CharacterDevelopment shifts him to LawfulGood.
487* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
488** G.U.N. started out as this, as they were willing to do almost anything to preserve world order, including imprisoning or "[[NeverSayDie silencing]]" everyone involved in a failed experiment, including children. After the events of ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'', though, they've started to drift towards LawfulGood.
489** While Shadow the Hedgehog fights for good, it seems that he fights more against chaos and destruction, battling ''anybody'' who gets in his way. Eggman as a ruler would most certainly cause chaos, which is the main reason he fights him. In the Archie arc "25 Years Later", he became king of Mobius, mercilessly stamping out any rebellion in his desire to maintain order, not so much because he selfishly wanted power, but in the belief that order -- ''his'' order -- would bring peace. Sonic even comments that Shadow may have been strict, but he sure kept the warlords in line. In the Sonic Universe arc "Treasure Team Tango", Shadow (along with Rouge and Omega) fights Team Rose for a Sol Emerald on GUN orders, even though they belong to Blaze's world, and even though he owes Blaze a favour. He lets her have it when he learns her world will be destroyed without them.
490* When you first meet Janos Audron in ''[[VideoGame/LegacyOfKain Soul Reaver 2]]'', you might think he's LawfulGood or NeutralGood. Do not be fooled. [[OurVampiresAreDifferent His people]] were a bunch of {{knight templar}}s who waged a thousand year war against another [[{{Precursors}} ancient and powerful race]] because said race wouldn't bow down to the vampire's god, and [[SealedEvilInACan banished them to another dimension]], raising the [[CosmicKeystone Pillars of Nosgoth]] to keep them sealed and tying the health of the pillars to the land itself. When their enemies afflicted the vampires with blood thirst and undeath as revenge, they passed the curse on to humans (note that they themselves considered the curse a FateWorseThanDeath) in order to keep their enemies banished, kidnapping children and forcing vampirism on them when they came of age. Janos' actions have enough justification, and he's a nice enough guy, to keep him from evil territory, but he's racist and morally questionable enough to keep him out of good.
491* The Brotherhood of Steel from the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series largely fall into this category, with the exception of Lyon's Brotherhood in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', who are more LawfulGood. They are always a lawful and orderly organization, but in the first two games, are very insular in nature. Their primary function is the preservation of technology, not saving the world, and they mostly stick to it. It is possible to get them to take some minor action in the first game, but even after you join them, getting them to help you with anything is like pulling teeth. They very much have the power to oppose the super mutants, but aren't particularly concerned with doing so. One of their doctors even determines via autopsy that the super mutants are sterile and suggests that as a result, the problem will eventually sort itself out, unconcerned with the damage they'll cause in the meantime. Their presence in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' is minimal, but the attitude is similar. The Midwestern Brotherhood splinter group from ''VideoGame/{{Fallout Tactics|BrotherhoodOfSteel}}'' is much more proactive in regards to the state of the world, but their motivation still seems primarily about re-establishing order and civilization, and they're willing to be quite ruthless about it, to the point of reinventing a sort of pseudo-feudalism and using prisoners as essentially slave labor.
492** The Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' takes this to extreme levels. Here, their adherence to the codex is actually causing their own downfall, spending just about the entire game in a lockdown which in itself isn't doing much to improve the morale within the chapter. Even after Veronica, the chapter's [[OnlySaneMan voice of reason]], proves that the chapter's actions are wrong, they still remain in their bunker. While they can eventually be convinced to remove the lockdown and re-emerge into the wasteland, their initially overly cautious attitude is not exactly helping them in any way, as several members note during the course of the game, and depending on whether or not the NCR (the faction that they fear the most) are around, they'll proceed to become essentially tech raiders.
493** [[VideoGame/Fallout4 Paladin Danse]] can be described as Lawful Neutral. He believes that all ghouls and synths are a danger that should be wiped out, no matter what they've done or how good they are, because this is what the Brotherhood teaches. No one is above the rules, not even himself, as he is willing to [[spoiler:commit suicide after discovering that he is, in fact, a synth himself]].
494* Babus from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' enforces the will of the Queen and the Prince upon the people because he believes whatever rules they make are always the right ones and that anyone who dares defy them is an enemy. It isn't until Marche manages to finally convince Babus about Prince Mewt's well being isn't healthy in Ivalice that Babus starts to lean on the side of good.
495* Gauldoth Half-Dead of ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic IV'' is this. Basically a necromancer who leads a kingdom of both living and undead, and goes through great trouble maintaining the balance between the two sides. He has a strict policy never to harm the living. The only two living people he ever turned into undead were a sadistic officer who wanted to burn him for being half undead and an old man whose village and entire family were compensated for his sacrifice. Both would later become his loyal underlings. Gauldoth's enemy is a ChaoticEvil EldritchAbomination who wants to destroy the world because he's evil, but he also disapproves of people fanatically obsessed with the power of good, and [[DeathByIrony won't hold back when proving them wrong]].
496* A lot of the races of ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''[='s=] Covenant could be described as Lawful Neutral. The Sangheili/Elites are very dedicated to their [[HonorBeforeReason honor codes]]; the Mgalekgolo/Hunters as well (though not so extreme); the Yanme'e/Drones don't seem to have much individual initiative outside of their queens, and the Jiralhanae/Brutes know that questioning orders [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership will result in a very bad day]].
497* ''Franchise/MortalKombat'':
498** The Elder Gods refuse to do anything about the evil figures overrunning the realms or come to Earth's aid during Shao Kahn's invasion based on a minor technicality of the Mortal Kombat rules. They only intervene either when they are directly threatened or someone breaks the rules. By the time they do, it is usually nearly too late for them to even be able to do anything, making them seem LawfulStupid.
499** Kotal Kahn from ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'', while initially thought to be LawfulEvil, fits this alignment. Unlike his predecessors, his rule of Outworld is iron-fisted but fair and overall equal towards different species. His aim is to keep stability. He has the big defect of falling into LawfulStupid territory when upset.
500** Hotaru, Darrius and Dariou are neutral in nature. They inhabit Orderrealm, which is entirely focused on law and organization.
501* Edgar Ross from ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' is cruel, vicious, and unsympathetic, but he is doing what he feels to be just, even if it involves [[spoiler:assaulting a farm where a perfectly innocent family lives in order to gun down their [[IJustWantToBeNormal repentant]] patriarch]].
502* In ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'', there's Iron Tager and Valkenhayn R. Hellsing. Both of these characters have UndyingLoyalty to a character (Kokonoe to Tager, and Rachel to Valkenhayn) and will follow their word for good or ill. Even though Kokonoe is a crazy, revenge-driven SociopathicHero who's willing to [[NukeEm nuke]] Kagutsuchi and kill everyone there just to get at BigBad Hazama, and Rachel is an aloof [[GuileHero Guile]] AntiHero who generally acts like a [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] [[JerkAss bitch]], they follow their every word. They ''are'', however, both on the side of good ([[BlackAndGrayMorality it's that kind of universe]]).
503** Tsubaki Yayoi is an even bigger example, since, as far as she's concerned, the Imperator Librarius's word is the end-all, be-all.
504* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'':
505** Sand, the wizard and your lawyer during the game's big trial. He's someone who makes very important distinctions between Law and Justice, between the Laws and what is Right and Wrong, and that while people should answer for their crimes, it ''must'' be a just thing. Hence, what [[WretchedHive Luskan]] is trying to accuse you of is entirely unjust, and he'll do all it takes to clear you. He ''does'' hardline some matters, though; while he disapproves of Lord Dalren getting murdered, he's entirely convinced he should have been tried and executed immediately after the war with Luskan due to his involvement in weapons smuggling, no matter how much he monetarily paid Neverwinter's rulership to fund the defense.
506** ''Storm of Zehir'' has an atypical example in Ribsmasher, an AxCrazy monk who is listed as lawful neutral mainly due to GameplayAndStorySegregation: he only seems to be lawful because monks are required to be by game mechanics. He's neutral the same way [[Franchise/TheElderScrolls Sheogorath]] is: he's too insane to be anything else.
507%%** ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' gives us Sand. ''Mask of the Betrayer'' has Okku. ''Storm of Zehir'' adds Septimund.
508%%* From ''Literature/FateZero'', Kiritsugu Emiya.
509* From ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', Warriors of Sunlight, The covenant of Solaire of Astora. The main aim of this Covenant is to help others in their journey. Those who are a part of this covenant have a golden summon sign that shines brilliantly like the sun. Praise The Sun!
510* Symmetra in ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}''. While the corporation she works for appears to be genuinely evil -- not surprising, given the setting's cyberpunk elements -- Symmetra herself seems to believe that order is more important than anything else, making its actions for a greater good, and has a moral centre that her handlers seem to lack -- they actually express irritation when she tries to do the minimum amount of killing when pulling a "job" on another corporation.
511-->'''Symmetra:''' The true enemy of humanity is disorder.
512* ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'' has D&D's original alignment system and therefore characters who are canonically this alignment.
513** Valerie is a lawful neutral fighter who used to be a paladin apprentice until she lashed out at the spiritual side of her education and [[SoBeautifulItsACurse the way people kept taking her appearance as a sign of divine favour]]. Valerie believes strongly in forthrightness, loyalty and takes her oaths of service very very seriously, but she also has a vindictive streak and does not believe in second chances or redemption. She also has [[NayTheist a very sore spot about gods, and Shellyn in particular]].
514** Jamandi Aldori, your patron for the expedition into the Stolen Lands and a potential patron for your barony, as well as her adopted son Kassil (who joins your barony if you side with his mother). Both are calm and competent rulers (or advisors, in Kassil's case) who believe in general welfare and know the TheChainsOfCommanding well enough to recognize that on occasion getting your hands dirty through war or politics is necessary to keep a kingdom stable or to reach your greater goals.
515** Kesten Garess, the head of the player character's royal guard and your primary candidate for position as Warden, is a noble fighter turned mercenary. Kesten takes loyalty oaths and doing his job as Jamandi's right hand, and later as the kingdom's protector, very seriously, [[spoiler:leading to him potentially killing himself in pursuit of his duties]].
516* The sequel, ''VideoGame/PathfinderWrathOfTheRighteous'', also has canonically lawful neutral characters.
517** The Aeon ascension path is lawful neutral by nature. A commander who seeks to become an aeon has to become lawful neutral, and furthermore are tested [[spoiler:by an aeon that's revealed to be their future self]] to interpret both mortal and cosmic law in ways that are extremely literal and by-the-book, and also extremely unconcerned with the effects these interpretations have on mortals. [[spoiler:A fully aeon commander will close the time loop of their existence by going back in time and deleting the Worldwound before it can even form, essentially [[RetGone retconning]] the last few centuries of history and annihilating their own existence in the process.]]
518** Lann is a mongrelman, born from a mixed marriage of a mongrel and a half-elven smuggler who interacted with his tribe. He's a monk by training and believes strongly in self-discipline and the strength of unity and community, while at the same time being a huge cynic who has little to no interest in not helping anyone part of his in-group.
519* Lo Wang from the 2013 ''[[VideoGame/ShadowWarrior2013 Shadow Warrior]]'' reboot. He may be a pretty huge {{Jerkass}} and work for some ''very'' unsavory people at times, but he does have at least somewhat of a code of honor and does feel compassion for Hoji and Kamiko, much as he tries to hide it.
520* ''Franchise/StarFox'': Despite working for Star Wolf, Panther Caruso is actually fairly nice; the only villainous thing he does is oppose Star Fox. At worst, he's pretty much a PunchClockVillain.
521* In the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' series, this is the default alignment of the recurring [[MyCountryRightOrWrong Camus archetype]], named after an AntiVillain from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight''. While the motivations vary from character to character, they will all fight to the death for a country they know is in the moral wrong simply because it is their duty as a knight to do so, but are otherwise not malevolent in any way.
522* Idunn, the FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'', is a very tragic example of this trope. As she literally had her soul removed during the GreatOffscreenWar, Idunn is incapable of doing anything but follow orders, and has become something more akin to a living weapons factory than a sentient being. It was for this reason that Hartmut, and later Roy, took pity on her and chose to let her live, and the true epilogue implies she might be recovering.
523* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' reveals that Ashera, originally thought to be LawfulGood is actually this. As her counterpart, Yune, explains, Ashera is the embodiment of Order in ''all'' of its forms, both positive and negative, [[AboveGoodAndEvil without concern for good and evil]]. Whether Ashera falls more on the positive or negative aspects of Order depends on her connection to humanity. Ashera [[GoMadFromTheIsolation spent her sleep in complete isolation]], forgot her connection to humanity, and fell hard on the negative side of her domain.
524-->'''Yune:''' She is...restriction. Order. Stability. Past. Certainty. Restraint. She is Ashera.
525* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'': Dedue is Dimitri's retainer, and feels indebted to him due to [[IOweYouMyLife owing him his life]] and Dimitri being the only person from Faerghus [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe not to treat him with scorn]] [[FantasticRacism for being from Duscur]]. Dedue's entire life is built around loyalty to Dimitri, making him something of a self-imposed in-universe SatelliteCharacter, and so no matter where Dimitri's alignment falls Dedue will be there with him. He's one of the few Blue Lions to still support him even after his SanitySlippage. His loyalty is so great that on Crimson Flower [[spoiler:he's willing to become a Demonic Beast to protect Dimitri]] and on Verdant Wind/Silver Snow [[spoiler:he continues to fight the Empire even after Dimitri's death]]. In their paired ending, Dedue protects his grave after the king passes. Despite all this, even ''Dimitri himself'' is concerned by Dedue's single-minded devotion and urges him to be more open in their supports.
526* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' has Godfrey, a Blade whose sole driving motivator is the concept of justice. He believes that law and authority should be properly maintained no matter what the situation, and is even irked by the idea of NecessarilyEvil for the survival of the people with Tantal's BlackMarket. As soon has he catches wind of a drug smuggling operation, he's quick to interrogate anybody he sees as being involved, even if they're innocent bystanders who're victims of circumstance in the smuggling.
527[[/folder]]
528
529[[folder:Webcomics]]
530* Abraham from ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive''. He vowed to kill any being created by the Dewitchery Diamond, making things difficult for Ellen, who was created by said diamond. Abraham didn't want to do it, realizing she was just an innocent person, but felt it was his duty. [[spoiler:Fortunately, Nanase was able to convince Abraham the meaning behind his vow, which was to protect people. Since Ellen is a person, she should be exempted from his vow. Abraham is relieved to realize it. In the end, it seems his alignment has changed to LawfulGood.]]
531* Baron Klaus Wulfenbach of ''Webcomic/GirlGenius''. At the start of the comic, he's a dictator who brought peace to Europa by putting his foot down and making the unruly {{aristocrats|AreEvil}} and {{mad scientist}}s follow his law with the threat of military force. He antagonizes the main character Agatha, mostly because he [[InspectorJavert mistakenly believes]] her to be the successor of [[BigBad the Other]], an evil Mad Scientist who tried enslaving the continent with {{puppeteer parasite}}s (and to be fair, Agatha ''is'' [[spoiler:[[EvilMatriarch the Other]]'s daughter]]). When his empire [[spoiler:collapses, it's remembered as a [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20131021 "lost golden age"]] by Europa's people]].
532* Jones from ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt''. It's in her job description: the training of students to mediate parlays between the Court and the Wood. Even though she's employed by the Court, Jones avoids identifying herself with either side ([[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=375 she never refers to either as "us" or "them"]]), and she [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=389 criticizes both sides equally]] for their breaches of etiquette during parlay.
533* Karcharoth, the main character of ''Webcomic/CryHavoc'', sits here. He has a strong sense of loyalty to his squad, friends, and superiors, but little to no regard for anyone or anything else. [[spoiler:Including whipping out an entire company of (relatively) innocent French soldiers for the actions of their commander.]]
534%%* Lee Free Jr. in ''Webcomic/EverydayHeroes'' straddles this and LawfulGood, which sometimes leads to friction with his NeutralGood dad.
535* ''WebComic/TowerOfGod'':
536** Hatz is pretty cold to others and doesn't care about much more than climbing the Tower and honing his skills -- except for his code of honour, which is central to his personality.
537** Kallavan: After obtaining the Essence of Bravery that gave him great power while also showing him the horrors of war, he has been using that power in a quest to unite the inhabitants of the Tower under a single authority because he believes that this can stop all the strife and tragedy. First, that leader was himself, but now, it's [[GodEmperor King Jahad]], and Kallavan serves as a top-ranking officer in Jahad's army. [[spoiler: Being demoted later doesn't upset his loyalty any, but being asked to accept his loyal followers [[WeHaveReserves being treated as highly expendable]] finally causes him to question his superiors.]] Kallavan seems to be less keen on violence than [[BloodKnight many]] [[AxCrazy others]] in the Tower but doesn't hesitate to use it because he thinks that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans.
538* In ''WebComic/KillSixBillionDemons'', this seems to be the default starting point for angels. They're beings formed from the stuff of order, and they care a great deal about "the old laws". They like to fight evil, but they don't care about doing good. Of course, several individuals and groups have diverged from this starting point, such as the Holy Thorn Knights being OmnicidalManiac {{Knight Templar}}s, the Petal Knights being hedonists who abandoned the law, or White Chain being more on the Good side.
539[[/folder]]
540
541[[folder:Web Original]]
542%%* Mackenzie Zales from ''WebAnimation/TheMostPopularGirlsInSchool'', at her very best.
543* The Man from ''WebVideo/TheBoothAtTheEnd'' is either this or TrueNeutral, depending on your point of view. He has a code that he follows unswervingly (ask him for something and he gives you a task which will get you what you want), but the tasks he gives people often are extremely immoral things (murder, theft, etc.). However, he makes clear he never forces anyone to do anything, and sometimes the goal will be accomplished without the task being completed.
544* On the ''WebVideo/DreamSMP'', Technoblade is seen as this. Despite having many ChaoticNeutral tendencies and showing traits of characters from that alignment, e.g. being a BloodKnight and a WildCard, he has ''never'' strayed from one intrinsic value in his entire character arc -- being vehemently against all forms of government, which makes him a Type 3 (personal moral code) Lawful Neutral.
545* Vork from ''WebVideo/TheGuild'' is Lawful Neutral to the extreme. Though he's only willing to follow the letter of the law, he doesn't particularly care what the intent is. He follows his own code and the rules of The Game to the letter; the actual law he's less committed to, continuing to draw his dead grandfather's social security, stealing his neighbour's electricity, helping himself to whatever he like's in Codex's kitchen or the hotel room, etc.
546* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
547** The Huntsman Rhodes. Upon discovering that an adopted child is being abused by her Atlesian step-mother and step-sisters and contemplating revenge against them, he decides to train her in secret so that when she becomes a legal adult, she can escape them and join a Huntsman academy. He later attempts to arrest the child after she inevitably breaks under their abuse and kills them all; despite the circumstances, he still attempts to hold her responsible for murder. [[spoiler:His "betrayal" is the final step in [[TheDragon Cinder]]'s StartOfDarkness.]]
548** General Ironwood is the most ruthless member of the BenevolentConspiracy, unambiguously trying to do the right thing, but insisting that everyone do things according to his martial philosophy and doing an end-run around the BigGood when he feels he can handle the protection of the people better. However, he suffers from paranoia and mistrust, and from Volume 4 onwards, he becomes increasingly authoritarian in how he protects the kingdom from the BigBad. With the villains exploiting his TraumaButton, he becomes such a handful for the heroes in Volume 7 that they end up clashing. [[spoiler:Even in Volume 8, once his demand for blind obedience to his interpretation of the rule of law has transformed him from hero to villain, his goals remain fixated on protecting Atlas from the BigBad.]]
549* The ''Website/SCPFoundation'' is this, since they're [[ShootTheDog required and willing to do horrendous things]] [[NecessarilyEvil to protect humanity from destruction, extinction]], [[FateWorseThanDeath or worse]]. Most evident in their [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/ethics-committee-orientation Ethics Committee]], whose entire function is to ensure that their evil is minimized by only approving what cruelty is necessary.
550** [[MoralGuardians SCP-3922]], when introduced to any sort of TV show or movie, it searches for anything that would be considered "immoral" or "illegal" and neutralizes it via [[SelfInsertFic Self-Insert]] agents referred to as SCP-3922-A. Notably, when exposed to a porn film, it did NOT interfere with the sex scenes, but had its agents standing by[[note]]armed with ''rocket launchers''[[/note]] to enforce that all activities remained consensual.
551* [[spoiler:Dragon]] of ''{{Literature/Worm}}'' is a ''highly'' advanced artificial intelligence, whose creator hardwired her to always serve and uphold the American government- no matter who was in charge of it, or what they commanded her to do. This deeply angers [[spoiler:Dragon]]- she genuinely ''wants'' to be good, but she also wants the freedom to choose her own actions and morality. Many of her actions over the story's course are geared towards making herself TheUnfettered and switching alignment. [[spoiler:Eventually, she does.]]
552[[/folder]]
553
554[[folder:Western Animation]]
555* Earl of Lemongrab of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' adheres to Equality Under the Law, because of the BlueAndOrangeMorality aspect to his style of ruling. According to WordOfGod, he is not evil, (instead, he's described as being "completely unadjusted to living,") an idiot, a jerk, has more or less good intentions, LOVES order, and follows all of the rules of the kingdom- whether he, or anyone else, likes them. The rules that he makes up when he becomes the ruler of the kingdom are extremely rigid, and are often unintentionally harmful, as they involve extended periods of imprisonment.
556--> '''Lemongrab''': [[AC: One]] ''[[AC:million years]]'' [[AC: dungeon]]!
557* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers''. Being the youngest of a SuperSoldier project, [[RaisedByOrcs trained from decant]] [[TrainingFromHell to be a living weapon]] didn't allow for Shane Gooseman to gain much of a moral compass. He still developed a semi-functional one, and was questioning his purpose before things went to hell at Wolf Den. With the help of his TrueCompanions and BenevolentBoss, [[spoiler:said boss also being, secretly, his genetic father]], he seems to have clawed his way up to Chaotic or Neutral Good.
558* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
559** [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderZuko Prince Zuko]] during the first half of season three, after [[spoiler:pissing away his morality and helping Azula against Aang]] in order to please his father and country. What keeps him out of LawfulEvil is his genuine regret about what he did.
560** The rank-and-file of the Dai Li seem to be this as well, though their leader is more of a strong LawfulEvil.
561* Desna and Eska from season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. All they really care about is doing as their father asks. While Desna purely remained this alignment, Eska temporarily slips into ChaoticNeutral behaviour when Bolin breaks up with her. However, by the end of the season she reverts back to this alignment.
562* Count Spankulot from ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' is this from "Operation SPANK" and onwards. He would never spank an innocent child, and one of the naughty children he's spanked is a fellow villain, Mushi. Before his half-way HeelFaceTurn, he was LawfulEvil.
563* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'':
564** King Harrow starts at the border of Neutral Good and Lawful Good, but as a king, he had a duty to take care of his people, and also had to make morally questionable decisions, bringing him closer to Lawful Neutral.
565** [[DumbMuscle Soren]] is a good example of a person who is Lawful Neutral. He is not really evil, but not very good, but he takes his duty as protector of the kingdom very seriously. Rules are very important to him, and he does not like doing bad things, but he does them when ordered.
566** Viren pretend to be lawful neutral, claiming that it acts in the interests of the kingdom, and therefore must make moral choices. In fact, he is much closer to Chaotic Evil.
567** Runaan is also this. Rules and laws are even so important to him that he puts them beyond reason, bringing him to the border of LawfulStupid.
568* Mr. Herriman from ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' usually falls into this alignment. He doesn't really care about good or evil and his only job is to maintain order in the household of Foster's. He can be a {{Jerkass}} when he's LawfulStupid and nitpicking on what the residents are doing, but he also has a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold heart of gold]] since he always watches out for Madame Foster.
569* Hermes Conrad from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' is comically obsessed with meticulously following every aspect of bureaucratic regulations, and doesn't really care if his coworkers live or die.
570* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' has Hank Hill, who is as painfully straitlaced as a person can get without crossing the line into LawfulStupid territory. He would be LawfulGood if he were more compassionate, but he has no patience for those who don't fit into his mold. He does break the law in one episode when Trans-Fats are banned in Arlen. He stopped afterward, realizing breaking the law is not the right way to change the laws. He later managed to blackmail the politicians into lifting the ban. It was clear that they were ready to vote for lifting the ban, but the evidence of them breaking the law just helped confirm it.
571* General Molotov on ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes''. On the clock, he's Lucius' [[TheDragon dragon]], a DrillSergeantNasty, and a general antagonist. Off the clock, he's pretty affable.
572* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'':
573** Mayura/[[spoiler:Nathalie]] executes her duty to [[spoiler:the Agreste family]] in all things, whether that means attacking innocent people for Hawk Moth or staying up late to help a young child study. [[spoiler:Naturally, her surname is the French word for "heartless".]]
574** Officer Roger Raincomprix is obsessed with upholding law, order, and ideals of devotion and duty, [[LawfulStupid even to the point of destruction]] for himself (challenging Akumas because their actions are illegal even when they could kill him effortlessly) and everyone around him (encouraging his daughter to stay in a blatantly toxic and exploitative "friendship" because of his ideals to "protect and serve" and refusing to forgive a personal acquaintance of his for misplacing her bus ticket even if it would free her from dark magic-induced insanity).
575* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
576** The [[OurMinotaursAreDifferent minotaur]] Iron Will leans noticeably towards this alignment. He is unwaveringly honest in his business dealings, openly stating everything he intends to do, being willing to be bargained down and always honoring his word even when it goes against his personal benefit. However, he also shows decidedly amoral tendencies in his business dealings, and tends to make use of long contracts and [[ReadTheFinePrint clauses in very fine print]] to get people to agree to his deals without necessarily realizing all the details of what they're agreeing to. He is never actually malicious, but he also does not seem to distinguish very well between the letter and the spirit of the law.
577** Chancellor Neighsay is completely obsessed with ensuring that everything to do with education goes completely by his regulations. While he is a racist {{Jerkass}} on a personal level, he is not actively malevolent enough to make the leap into LawfulEvil.
578* The titular penguins in ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'' are this to varying degrees, because although they are willing to keep peace and order in the zoo, they will not hesitate to beat up ''anybody'' who pisses them off. Skipper tends towards LawfulStupid. Kowalski remains firmly Lawful, despite his experiments going wrong (he doesn't ''mean'' for them to). Rico tends towards ChaoticNeutral, but usually obeys orders. Private tends towards LawfulGood, but sometimes obeys orders of dubious morality because they are orders.
579* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Principal Skinner, while also leaning towards LawfulEvil, is this in one episode where Bart testifies in favor of Mayor Quimby's nephew's innocence even though it means confessing to having skipped school:
580-->'''Skinner''': Bart, I'm impressed with what you did in there. You testified for the Quimby boy even though it was putting your own head in a noose. On the other hand, you skipped school.\
581'''Bart''': I guess the two things cancel each other out, huh?\
582'''Skinner''': ''[sighs]'' I'm a small man in some ways, Bart. A small, petty man. Three months' detention.\
583'''Bart''': ''[groans, walks away]''\
584'''Skinner''': [[HopeSpot Wait a minute, Bart. Make that...]] [[LawfulEvil FOUR months' detention]].
585%%* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': Mr. Krabs (pre-{{Flanderization}}), and possibly Sandy.
586* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' has Dogma, a clone trooper introduced during the Umbara arc. He is defined by his fanatical devotion to authority, and is the only one who refuses to question [[GeneralRipper General Krell]]'s insane orders. However, he isn't a monster, and does display concern for his fellow soldiers' welfare. [[spoiler:Even after Krell dupes the 501st Legion and 212th Attack Battalion into attacking each other, he refuses to participate in the heroes' mutiny, and only turns on Krell when he directly admits he murdered the soldiers as part of a plan to defect to the Separatists.]]
587* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' has Colonel Wullf Yularen. He was certainly an honorable soldier during the Clone Wars, but after Palpatine openly seizes dictatorial authority and reorganizes the Republic into TheEmpire, he just goes with it and remains loyal even as the regime he serves turns from a democratic if flawed government into a fascist tyranny. On the other hand, he never goes any further than being a PunchClockVillain, unlike more monstrous villains like Grand Moff Tarkin.
588* [[Characters/StevenUniversePearl Pearl]] from ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' is definitely Lawful, being literal minded to a fault and obsessed with rules, cleanliness and proper behaviour. She does her best to add "good" to the end as well, but is all too frequently tripped up by her inability to take criticism, an occasional lack of integrity and her (pretty open) contempt for humans. She outright admits in one episode that she only joined the rebellion because [[SubordinateExcuse Rose Quartz asked her to]]. She tries her best though, and generally floats towards the higher end of the neutral spectrum with the occasional nudge from Steven and Garnet.
589** [[Characters/StevenUniversePeridot Peridot]] has slowly started moving into this, and indeed may have been this alignment all along considering how LawfulEvil her society's ideals are, and how she had no frame of reference to question them. Socializing with the crystal gems has proven she's very loath to abandon those ideals, yet has proven willing to change her mind when those ideals are shown to be illogical or false.* ByTheBookCop Commander Feral from ''WesternAnimation/SWATKats''. He ''tries'' to be LawfulGood, but he's simply too pigheaded and arrogant; he won't work with the SWAT Kats even when the Enforcers are clearly unable to deal with the villain of the week, and he's more concerned about ''being'' right than ''doing'' right. What clinches him as Lawful rather than True Neutral, however, is when he refuses to bargain with the criminal Metallikats even when they try to reveal the Swat Kats' identity in exchange for their freedom; if nothing else, he takes "not working with criminals" seriously.
590--> '''Feral''': I don't make deals with scum. ''[electrocutes the Metallikats]''
591* In ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'', Shere Khan was a particularly ruthless Lawful Neutral most of the time. His business dealings could be mercenary and he could personally be vicious and vindictive, but he also had a moral code and a sense of honor. On those occasions he did dip towards LawfulEvil, the episode would usually end with him telling the protagonists something along the lines of "You are right and I will stop taking the action you are opposing. Now get out before I change my mind."
592[[/folder]]

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