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"Sometimes you have to ignore the rules. Sometimes circumstances are such that the rules pervert justice. I'm not in this business to protect the rules. I serve justice."
— Batman, Ten Nights of the Beast
"I may be a burglar, but I am an honest one, I hope, more or less."
Chaotic Good characters are rebels and free spirits who believe in doing good, by their own standards. Some don't have a problem with greater systems such as laws as long as they leave them alone; others are anarchists who believe that too much order is bad for everybody, and the betterment of all can only be achieved by actively rejecting any higher instances of power.
Occasionally, you get a character who doesn't care for the law, but is not above exploiting it for their own ends, such as a Technical Pacifist vigilante who sees to it that a Serial Killer is arrested and put in jail to prevent any more deaths. One of the most common usage of this trope is the Chaotic Good freedom fighter(s) battling the Lawful Evil Empire.
A Chaotic Good character will do good out of a personal motivation to help others, sometimes even sacrificing themselves (but rarely others); however, an important distinction is that they believe in CHOOSING to do good. Obligation and duty (usually) doesn't factor in.
An important aspect of Chaotic Good freedom fighters is that they excel in toppling corrupt regimes, but are often pretty terrible with power and responsibility themselves (as some of the examples show). A Chaotic Good character faces a tightrope walk even more narrow than most Lawful Good characters face because of their competing interests in being a free spirit that wants to do good in the world, and their general disdain for the authority and control over people's lives that they would be wielding to try to do that good. Generally, one of several things happens because of this:
- Riding Into The Sunset - They just abandon authority altogether.
- Delegate their power to a friend or chancellor of some kind. This isn't always the best idea.
- They decide that the best thing to do with power is just sit on it, and keep it out of more dangerous hands. Doing so winds up making for fairly poor terms in office.
- Shift in Alignment - They just fail to reconcile their philosophy and their practical reality, try to reach too far with one campaign or another, and slide in alignment, either admitting the use of law and order, and sliding Neutral Good, or Jumping Off The Slippery Slope to Chaotic Neutral or Chaotic Evil.
Chaotic Good can be considered the best alignment because it combines a good heart with a free spirit. Chaotic good can be a considered a dangerous alignment because it can disrupt the order of society and punishes those who feel the need for a social framework around themselves.
If you have a difficulty deciding which alignment a good-aligned character belongs to, there is a (subtle) main difference between Lawful Good, Neutral Good and Chaotic Good. Even though there are some situations where they can't always use this method, Lawful Good characters believes that the only method of promoting good is through a specific, strict conduct whether it is self-imposed or if it is the law. They do not trust anyone who insist that sometimes you have to break the conduct you are following, believing these kind of people are disrupting society. Neutral Good characters are indifferent to Order Versus Chaos, and their only interest is in doing good. They can accept that sometimes, to achieve their goal, it is better to go along with a specific conduct(i.e the law) but can also accept that to achieve their goal, they will have to break said conduct(once again, i.e the law). Their only goal is to do good, full stop. Chaotic good characters don't have to constantly break the law, but they cannot see any value in following a conduct at all, doing whatever they feel like. They do not get along with anyone who tries to instill any kind of order over the Chaotic Good character or others, believing these kind of people to be restricting the freedom of others.
Chaotic Good character types typically include:
Examples
When dealing with the examples of specific characters, remember that assigning an alignment to a character who doesn't come with one is pretty subjective. If you've got a problem with a character being listed here, it probably belongs on the discussion page. There will be no Real Life examples under any circumstances; it just invites an Edit War.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5 is FILLED with this trope in the protagonist side. Giorno likes to pilfer and con a few people but only to he can help the less fortunate, such as Koichi's luggage for his cash although he was nice enough to (try to) return the rest of it. Other times he has no qualms about killing people he sees as evil, and of course, getting away with it. Then there are his allies, who are comprised of the same mindset.
- Kamina.
- Simon cares only about doing what he sees as the right thing. Rules set by anyone else? He cheerfully ignores them. This includes rules of physics. Really the only rule he's sure to obey is the Rule Of Cool.
- Several of the other members of Team Dai-Gurren are also this. The second half shows why Chaotic Good people shouldn't be put in charge of a city, since Simon and the other Chaotic Good members tend to slack off, and leave everything up to Lawful Neutral Rossiu, and the Lawful Good members of the gang such as Leeron to actually run the city.
- Ichigo from Bleach. As he states when Rukia tries to pull a threshold guardian event on him, he'll save innocents because he wants to and not out of some sense of moral obligation. She learns just how much this is true when he tears up the social structure of an entire afterlife just to save her, even though she told him not to.
- It's debatable whether Ichigo does in fact fit this trope, since he has no qualms about not only working with but defending an institution he knows damn well constitutes the ruling class of an oppressive society - at least when its not his friend whose life is at stake, anyway. A better placement might be Neutral Good.
- He doesn't seem to realize just how messed up SS is. The few hints he has seen he's quite disgusted by though.
- Urahara Kisuke also fits this trope, which is unsurprising, as he's the closest thing Ichigo has to a mentor.
- Ichigo is a borderline case. Urahara is the real Chaotic Good in the series. In his first real fight in the series' timeline against the Espada, Yammy, he royally screws with Yammy's head. Not because Yammy needed to be mind screwed, but because he felt like it. Plus, you know... Rule Of Funny.
- Kaien Shiba, the former lieutenant of Squad 13 who is often compared to Ichigo, has a similar view on the law and morality, as Ukitake suggests that he'd put himself at risk and break the law to save Rukia. Renji, who is also quite similar to Ichigo, is willing to break the rules to stop Rukia's execution.
- Yusuke Urameshi from Yu Yu Hakusho is the embodiment of Chaotic Good.
- To the point where he charges at the Lawful Evil Sensui only to veer off at the last minute and jump in the nearby lake for a swim, just to taunt Sensui that he can't predict his every move.
- Goku and the Z warriors from Dragonball Z fall under this alignment due to the fact that while they fight to protect the Earth, they follow their own rules on how to do it.
- The Irresponsible Captain Tylor is this, being benevolent and good-natured but not particularly inclined to following rules... of any sort. He is irresponsible, after all.
- And while he never overtly tries to overthrow the rigid order of the military, he as much as says that his outlook on life is that people should live by the rules they choose, not someone else's. Hell, his first order to the crew as Captain of the Soyokaze was "Do whatever you want." Hilarity Ensues.
- All Straw Hat Pirates are more or less this: Being pirates, they're criminals and lawbreakers by default, but also tend to help people and beat nigh-invincible bad guys wherever they go. And all they get from it is that the World Government only thinks they're more dangerous and raise their bounties.
- Robin has some True Neutral tendencies, as she notes that she cares little about what happens to the world at large compared to saving her friends and uncovering the True History.
- Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist. He gleefully delights in breaking the rules and defies authority when he feels like it, but he also constantly goes out of his way to help people.
- This describes Onizuka-sensei of Great Teacher Onizuka perfectly. He may be stupid, selfish, greedy, a shameless Chivalrous Pervert and the furthest thing from being a mature, responsible teacher, but he'd do anything for his students.
- Dr. Kuroo Hazama aka Black Jack shows an almost gleeful disdain for the law, preferring to toss it aside for his own brand of poetic justice - usually involving the extortion of a large conglomerate for the sake of a single patient.
- Most of the Mages in the Fairy Tail guild are Chaotic Good.
- Naruto Uzumaki is another borderline case. Inherently, he's Chaotic Good, but as a loyal Konoha shinobi, he serves an organization that holds Lawful Goodness as an ideal; therefore he tries to aim for that. Throw him a Knight Templar adversary, however, and he'll come down on the side of Goodness over Law. Hard.
- Arguably that just makes him Neutral Good, He doesn't actively come down on the side of *Chaos* either.
- If anything, his personality is probably the reason that most people put him in Chaotic Good territory.
- To add more to this argument there's also the fact that really, only two rules involving ninja have been revealed. The first rule is should a ninja leave their village without permission they will be considered a missing-nin and be hunted down. And the second rule is ninja must never show their emotions in battle. Naruto follows neither of them.
- Gundam:
- Camille Vidan from Zeta Gundam, an angry young Newtype who has a problem with authority, but often shows great generosity and love to those he cares for.
- Judau Ashta from Gundam ZZ starts out as either this or Chaotic Neutral, and definitely ends as this, since his main concern is stopping the war and protecting his friends.
- Let's not forget THE Chaotic Good from Gundam, Neo Japanese Fighter Domon Kasshu. He started as Chaotic Neutral, caring just about fighting and his mission, but eventually develops into this.
- Duo Maxwell from Gundam Wing fits this. Starting off as True Neutral, Heero Yuy also becomes this after a great ammount of Character Development.
- Cagalli Yula Athha from Gundam Seed is a Rebellious Princess example. She even joined a La Resistance group at one point in the story.
- Shinn Asuka. At least in the beginning...
- Setsuna F. Seiei is this in season 1. In season 2, he seemed to boarder on Neutral Good. Being a member of Kataron, Lyle Dylandy, the second Lockon Stratos, is this initially, but due to him being a Double Agent, he can be classified as a Type 4 True Neutral. After the final battle, he left Kataron and permanently joins Celestial Being and became Neutral Good as well.
- Yuu Isami from Brain Powerd, a renegade Reclaimer who wants to stop his former peers from causing The End Of The World As We Know It for their misguided ideals. At first an Ineffectual Loner who goes by his own rules, he maintains a similar attitude for most of the series. Has possibly shifted towards Neutral Good near the end.
- Natsuki Kuga from Mai-HiME is an impenitent truant who has lived at the borders of the law for most of her life to take down the evil Searrs Foundation. She doesn't make friends easily, but is fiercely devoted to those she has, and was even willing to defend Nao, one of her bitter enemies, from an attack by her maddened friend Shizuru after realizing she and Nao were Not So Different after all. Her Mai-Otome Faux Action Girl incarnation Natsuki Kruger is probably Lawful Good instead.
- Mikoto Minagi fits this alignment most of the time, too. Though she's quite naive, having lived a sheltered life before going to school at Fuuka, she's quick to make friends and is fiercely protective of them...especially Mai. Her childlike nature also comes with a general distrust of authority, and an unfortunate susceptibility to mind control.
- The Wolkenritter during the second season of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Anti Villains with kind hearts and a downright heroic goal of saving an innocent Ill Girl, they found themselves on the wrong side of the law since the only way they knew how was to take the Mana of others. Even then, they made sure never to kill or seriously injure anyone, went after magical monsters when they could, and even looked after the welfare of the people they fought. Shifted to Lawful Good once the entire incident was resolved.
- On the other hand Zafira was consistently Lawful Neutral, as he believed that his duty to his master was more important than moral concerns.
- The Yapan Exodus from Overman King Gainer who journey to find Yapan while being hunted by the Lawful Neutral Siberian Railroad. They eventually have to save the world from the Overdevil while working with the Siberian Railroad.
- It could be argued that Gainer Sanga was True Neutral at first, since he really didn't care about the Exodus and was only going along because he didn't have much of a choice. After all, suggesting the refugees just hand Gain over to the Siberian Railroad in one of the first episodes does not sound like much of a Chaotic Good act. As the series progresses, though, he fits this alignment more squarely.
- Suiseiseki from Rozen Maiden comes off as Chaotic Neutral at most times due to her Screwy Squirrel nature, but she hides deep feelings for her sisters to the point she wouldn't fight in the Alice Game if it meant losing her sisters.
- Rock from Black Lagoon. He even states the fact, in front of Balalaika, under gun point, that he does his "good deeds" simply because he likes it.
- Brago in Gash Bell. He's generally an embodiment of Dark Is Not Evil; while being a remorseless Jerk Ass and willing to kill to get his way at first, he comes to be a strong aid to the good guys, although it seems that it's only when he feels like it. And he has a strong bond to his bookkeeper Sherry - although in an anime filler arc, he ditches her when he finds himself in a world where he can read his own spells.
- Yami Yugi in Yu-Gi-Oh! in the early chapters; willing to destroy someone's mind if they mess with Yugi's friends. Another embodiment of Dark Is Not Evil as well.
- Nagi Springfield of Mahou Sensei Negima, the main character's super powerful Disappeared Dad. He would take out enemy hideouts even when he's not supposed to, blast suspicious politicians with no regard to consequences, and would charge into the fray to save princesses from their sad fates with nary a thought. During a Grey And Gray Morality Story Arc, a former ally of his said that Nagi would have theoretically helped the Hero Antagonist who planned to reveal the Masquerade since it would eventually lead to mages moving freely and saving more lives. The chaotic effects a Broken Masquerade would have had on society would have been a detail he wouldn't have dwelled too much on.
- His son Negi attempts to be Lawful Good, though his actions often veer way to the chaotic end of the scale depending on the situation.
- Kallen Kouzuki, as a freedom fighter to the end, embodies this.
- Integra Hellsing's main goal is to protect the world, and she's more then willing to do whatever she can in her power to do so. She also doesn't care if other people disapprove of her methods as long as they get the job done.
- Integra is neutral good at best. The closest to chaotic good this troper can think of would be Anderson, who is more neutral than good. But definitely chaotic. Or Pip.
- Rosette Christopher in Chrono Crusade has no problems with following the rules when she sees they serve a purpose, but she'll just as quickly break them if they get in the way of her helping people or completing her (generally very noble) goals. Oh, and she's a nun that gambles, swears and drinks.
- Vash the Stampede from Trigun. Despite his sometimes foolish dedication to pacifism and "love and peace", he is considered the ultimate outlaw with a 60 Billion double dollar bounty on his head, and, much to his chagrin, has two insurance agents going around trying to prevent him from causing any more damage than he already has (most of which is not even his fault). Ultimately he is dubbed a "human disaster" and is not even liable for the destruction he inadvertently causes. Of course, he is not specifically against law and order, but in a world where the law is often brutal and corrupt, he tries to live out his life as happily as he can, and is far from any kind of crusader.
Comic Books
- Spider Jerusalem, dedicated to the Truth, no matter what, and perfectly willing to shoot the President of the United States with a gun that makes you shit yourself. He hovers on the edge of, and occasionally slips completely into, Chaotic Neutral.
- Depending On The Writer, if he isn't Lawful Good, Batman is usually Chaotic Good. Rejects authority, not a team player, deals out his own justice, etc. Makes for good contrast to Superman.
- However, the definitive Chaotic Good DC superhero is probably Green Arrow, who at his core is playing Robin Hood, if we change "rob from the rich" to "bring down wealthy villains" and "give to the poor" to "protect those who can't protect themselves from supers."
- The past and present Speedies also fit this trope. The odd man out on Clan Arrow is Connor, who tends more to Lawful Good or Neutral Good.
- The Incredible Hulk practically embodies this trope, he is a force for good at almost all times, but is almost completely unpredictable and wants to be left alone. (Depending On The Writer, though, he sometimes enters Chaotic Neutral territory.)
- A common interpretation of The Punisher. If you're a cop, he won't kill you, but he won't let you take him away easily unless the only way for him to escape would involve hurting you. But if you're a bad guy he will freaking kill you. Hard. With lots of explosions and bullets. Even if you'd really helped him along the way. Course, Depending On The Writer he may be Chaotic Neutral or Chaotic Evil.
- If he has different rules for cops than anyone else, then he's not Chaotic Good. I'm not sure where I'd put him, but a Chaotic Good character would recognise that cops are no different to anyone else who might be hunting him.
- Look at "The Slavers" (the single darkest Punisher story ever) for an example of the above relationship with police, as well as "Valley Forge, Valley Forge" when it's American military special forces tasked with his capture, chosen specifically due to his personal code and because the soldiers and their commanding officer are upright, honorable men attempting to take him alive; in return he goes even further than usual just for them.
- It's been argued that the Punisher's actually Lawful Stupid, since he follows Black And White Morality and will slaughter criminals even if they aren't truly evil.
- Not that defining him as Lawful Stupid makes him any less chaotic, however. It's not unheard of to see Lawful Stupid people do irrational and chaotic things to uphold the law.
- Wolverine is an example of a less idealistic Chaotic Good character. He finds civillization suffocating and authority unbearable, but saves the world all the same.
- Some other X-characters would also qualify, such as Gambit (who's either this or Chaotic Neutral) and Jubilee.
- Serial alignment-switcher (and therefore probably CN at heart) Deadpool usually finds himself here when working for the good guys. His methods are bizarre, shocking and violent, but he gets the job done. This is a guy who is willing to suffer some serious shooting, stabbing and blowing up on behalf of people he only just met, or kick Captain America in the balls in order to save humanity from a Lotus Eater Machine.
- The New Gods of New Genesis, who represent the freedom and joy of doing the right thing uncompelled, in contrast to the Lawful Evil Darkseid who seeks to eliminate free will.
- Prince Charming and Rose Red from Fables. The former is a rake, a lecher, and a rogue, but deep down harbors both conscience and courage he'd never admit to. The latter is a wild child who genuinely cares about her family and community, even if she doesn't like their rules.
- Reynard the Fox probably also fits here.
Film
- R2-D2, in Star Wars, will break any rule he thinks gets in the way of his core duty: service to his owner. This sometimes includes ignoring his owner's commands.
- Likewise, Han Solo, Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian are all of this alignment, or at least becomes it during the course of the movies, in Han's case. Chewbacca is justified in that his whole race can be considered of this alignment.
- The Monkey King from The Forbidden Kingdom virtually embodies Chaotic Good. He's playful but benign, even causing a scene during the appearance of a divine Emperor who only appears once every five hundred years. Hilarity Ensues.
- This is true of most versions of Journey to the West. There's nothing EVIL about Monkey, He's Arrogant
 even by god standards (though whether he counts as a god just because he's Immortal, has magic powers and the other gods can't control him, is debatable. Buddha him/herself had to put a gold headband on his head (which shrinks whenever Tripitaka, or presumably anyone really, chants the "Headache Sutra") and crush him under a mountain just so he'd be a LITTLE BIT controllable. But it's not like he doesn't want to help Trippitaka. If it was up to Monkey, he'd cloud-fly Trippitaka straight to India and be back before lunch. He actually had to be restrained from going too fast.
- V in V for Vendetta is a tough call in the original comic, but is more concretely Chaotic Good in the movie.
- Mary Poppins, in the film of the same name, is a benevolent force of chaos in her charges' too-ordered lives.
- Joe Hallenbeck, the Anti Hero protagonist of The Last Boy Scout.
- Bud White in the movie adaptation of LA Confidential is, overall, a Chaotic Good cop who has his own brand of justice. His rivalry with Ed Exley exemplifies the difference between Chaotic Good (White) and Lawful Good (Exley, at least until the ending, when he kills the villain in cold blood). What's interesting is that the movie casts many shades on grey on both individuals, with the first often coming across as a vigilante thug and the second as a self-satisfied, holier-than-thou jerk (in the book both were even less sympathetic).
- Kirk in the 2009 Star Trek film, in contrast to Spock's Lawful Good nature. He saves the galaxy after cheating in the Kobayashi Maru test for a reason.
- Tyler Durden in Fight Club, believing the status quo of society is a bad thing, poisoning lives, he sets up a master plan to throw modern society into chaos so that humans can start anew.
- To which end he starts up a personality cult, encourages grown men to beat the hell out of each other, expresses zero remorse when one such man is killed while on a mission he assigned, and in the long run makes the Narrators life a living hell, even convincing a bunch of cops to cut of his or their dick if he ever tried to expose the plan. He generally goes out of his way to not kill people, but that makes him Chaotic Neutral at best.
Folklore
Literature
- The titular character of The Cat in the Hat.
- Eris, goddess of Chaos and Discord, especially as portrayed in the Illuminatus! Trilogy. As the goddess of Chaos and Discord, she tops the list, mostly because this troper fears her wrath if she isn't placed there.
- Hagbard and nearly all of the Discordian characters in the Illuminatus! Trilogy fit this alignment; the only exception being The Dealy Lama, who is True Neutral.
- Eris in actual Greek mythology, however, is more Chaotic Neutral, both because she was the root cause of the Trojan War and because very, very few of the Greek gods could really be called "good".
- Also from Greek mythology, Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity. Basically the Greek Robin Hood.
- Drizzt Do'Urden, the original renegade drow, is canonically Chaotic Good, in that he has his own code but never forces it on anyone - as long as they keep to themselves. If they try to enforce their own code on unwilling people, though...
- Conan the Barbarian was generally this, playing by his own rules and following his own conscience regardless of 'civilized' sentiments on the matter.
- Firekeeper, titular heroine of the Firekeeper novels is a girl who was raised by wolves. This leaves her with a very wolf-like loyalty to any she considers part of her "pack." The combination of her wolf mindset and human body, however, leave her with a chaotic nature such that she renders attempts by trained seers to divine the future wherever she is concerned nigh impossible.
- As seen in the second page quote, Bilbo Baggins, the main hero of The Hobbit is, at least at the end of his adventure, a Chaotic Good burglar. The moment he converts to this from Neutral Good is probably when he stops feeling guilty about stealing the Elf-King's food to survive.
- The Weasley twins from Harry Potter are right on the border between Chaotic Good and Chaotic Neutral. Umbridge would call them Chaotic Evil, but...
- Belgarath. This is, after all, someone who rewards your attempts to prevent him entering a church by teleporting you about a mile downriver, and he takes a rather relaxed approach to such things as wenching, booze, and other people's property.
- From the same author, Aphrael the Child Goddess.
- Jonathan Strange, for the most part, to contrast the more conservative and less sympathetic Gilbert Norrell (who's probably True Neutral).
- Most Heinlein protagonists. At least some of the time, Heinlein himself.
- Patrick McLanahan and his HAWC coworkers from the works of Dale Brown. They're willing to use their Cool Planes and other equipment to protect the world and America as a nation, even if they have to disobey the Joint Chiefs and the President in doing so.
- Poul Anderson and Gordon R Dickson's Hokas. They do not so much disobey the rules as never manage to notice them; imaginative to the point of autohypnosis, if you give them a story, they will grab characters out of them and start role-playing as if they were those characters. They will drive you batty. But they're definitely good. Hoka Pirates were deeply offended at being told they had to give back their loot after they sacked a city; did you take them for thieves?
- Kestrel from The Wind Singer is a Chaotic Good character. Naturally, she lives in a Lawful Evil dictatorship. Her twin brother Bowman verges on Chaotic Good, but he's mostly following his sister.
- In The Dresden Files, the titular wizard Harry Dresden falls into this trope. As of now, he is currently on the bad side of the supposedly lawful neutral council of wizards (who've tried to have him killed and/or framed a few times), is under a hit from most of the chaotic evil court of vampires and a group of fallen angels, probably would be arrested on sight if he were ever to walk into a police station- simply for having the gall to walk into a police station, and is trying to discover a super evil secret society of bad wizards that have infiltrated the aforementioned council. All after he's saved the world at least twice. So yeah.
- At one point in Dead Beat, he even deliberately parks in a "No Parking" area just because he finds the idea of flouting city regulations to be "aesthetically pleasing."
- Ghengiz Cohen of Discworld, whose Code is more-or-less by definition the same as Conan's.
- The protagonists of Ayn Rand novels are probably best seen as chaotic good. Howard Roark from The Fountainhead is the most obvious case; he finds tradition stifling and boring, authority loathesome, and does not care what others think of his work. However, he clearly believes in doing good by his own moral standards. Friction often arises because his own moral standards are unorthodox. Under the traditional Dungeons And Dragons definitions, Roark (like Rand's other heroes) is a Chaotic Neutral because his moral beliefs do not define good as "good for others" (which is essentially what the original Dungeons And Dragons definition of "good" is). However, under the definition on this page, Roark (like Rand's other heroes) is Chaotic Good.
- In general, Rand's heroes are Chaotic Good fighting Lawful Evil. Consider the protagonist of Anthem who has rediscovered electricity in the novel's After The End setting, and his struggles with the World Council who try to suppress the invention on the grounds that it will disrupt their economic plans. The whole setting of Anthem, with people being randomly assigned to trade guilds and breeding partners, is pure Lawful Evil.
- The main plot point of Atlas Shrugged is Dagny Taggart's refusal to join John Galt's group until the end of the book. He is Chaotic Good, whereas she believes the existing order can be saved from the inside, and won't give up her own existing institution, the Taggart railway. She is thus Neutral Good, creating a conflict although she agrees completely with Galt's moral ideology. Rand herself would probably call the regime Lawful Evil, but some of them misguidedly think they are doing good, so they would average out at Lawful Neutral. However, Ellsworth Toohey, the villain of The Fountainhead, is definitely Lawful Evil, since he admits that his only goal is power and that he wants to destroy individualists like Roark.
Live Action TV
- Jadzia Dax, of Deep Space 9, does what she thinks is best, and will hang most rules, excepting only the most important Federation laws—and sometimes even then...
- Mal from Firefly, and probably some of the other main characters. A good illustration of this is "The Train Job": he's perfectly willing to steal, but as soon as he finds out that the stolen package contains desperately needed medicine, he returns it—and the money he was paid to steal it.
- Mal's chaotic nature is even lampshaded in Serenity, where Fanty and Mingo point out that he is completely unpredictable. Inara also points out this when she comments that she never has any idea "what Mal" she is dealing with, and has seen too many versions of him to truly understand him.
- River also definitely fits this alignment, even without factoring in her insanity. She actively cares about the rest of the crew and is perfectly willing to hurl herself into harm's way to save them, and is definitely not the kind of person who is bound by rules or laws.
Teacher: So with so many social and medical advancements we can bring to the Independents why would they fight so hard against us?
River: We meddle. People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think.Don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome.
- Though she normally fits this alignment, when exposed to a certain advertising jingle, she switches over to the Force of Nature variety of True Neutral.
- Dr. Cox from Scrubs screws the rules for the sake of doing good. It got him into trouble often enough.
- That's because he also screws the rules for the sake of screwing the rules.
- Jack Bauer from 24. Notable in that he works for a Lawful Neutral organization, but he's seen breaking CTU's rules far more often than following them.
- Most incarnations of the Doctor fit here quite well, though there has been exceptions.
- Peter Petrelli from Heroes. He probably started out Neutral Good but struggles with his Awful Lawful family over three Series have seemingly pushed him firmly into the Chaotic Good catagory. Both alternate future versions of Peter also seems to have been Chaotic Good, to the point of being willing to blow up buildings or shoot his own brother in order to save lives.
- Most of the sympathetic police of The Wire are portrayed as Chaotic Good for their willingness to occasionally bend or break rules to do proper police work and protect the people. The show's overall message is that "the system" is fundamentally flawed and corrupt. However, even the sympathetic characters are shown to occasionally take things too far.
- Michael Westin and his crew from Burn Notice. Ex-spies gone freelance with voluminous rapsheets and hearts of gold.
- The A-Team, anyone?
- Doug Ross of ER is a possible subversion. He does whatever is best for his patients and will freely break rules to do so. But this tends to destroy not only his own life and career but his friends', too.
- Sam and Dean Winchester from Supernatural, especially in the first three seasons. Their objective is their job ("saving people, hunting things—family business"), and they'll go to any lengths to save people, no matter how many laws they break. In Season 4, both brothers (but especially Sam) plunge into Chaotic Neutral territory.
- Michael Scofield in Prison Break. His brother's on death row, so what does he do? He robs a bank so he'll get sent to the same prison, where he can break his brother (and several other convicts) out. By the fifth season he's broken out of two prisons and into a secure facility and the feds are starting to get Genre Savvy. He does all this because he has a psychological condition that makes him focus on everyone else's problems and want to help them.
- Merlin from Merlin, he's basically a good guy but he has an unfortunate habit of killing people. Okay so these people are usually trying to kill the royal family but the excessive violence is...well rather excessive (not that they'd get treated any better if he did simply detain them).
- Kara "Starbuck" Thrace in Battlestar Galactica. Talk about understatement.
- Shawn Spencer from Psych. He's willing to work with the police to catch murderers, but has less than no respect for procedure or laws against lesser crimes, once even deciding to sabotage an investigation when he realized it was a consensual insurance scam.
- In earlier seasons of House, this is Dr. Gregory House on a good day, and more uniformly later on, especially throughout Season 6 thus far.
Video Games
- Sonic the Hedgehog and NiGHTS are good examples of Chaotic Good: the former a free spirit who's more than happy to help anyone in need, the latter a Defector From Decadence who "doesn't follow orders and hates bullies like Wizeman."
- Alessa, from the Silent Hill videogame, arguably fits this trope. Although you spend most of the game fighting monsters she sends after you, in the end, she has a reason for doing it: preventing The End Of The World As We Know It, brought about by the birth of an evil cult's sun god. The movie version of Alessa, however, probably falls into a different alignment.
- Domai, from Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire, believes in civil rights and social welfare as a cause that's way more righteous than any law in Planet. The same goes for Roze of the
l337 h4xX0Rz Data Angels, who believe in freedom of information as the most sacred cause in the universe.
- Mission Vao and Jolee Bindo in Knights of the Old Republic (though Jolee would probably claim to be True Neutral). Also Mira in the sequel.
- Dante from Devil May Cry, a gunslinging White Haired Pretty Boy demon hunter who goes out of his way to save the world from the forces of darkness, even if it means smashing up everything in sight. Oh, and he loves his pizza...with extra cheese.
- Starting with Firion from Final Fantasy II the Final Fantasy series have done the classic Chaotic Good rebel, with the Lawful Evil Empire several times. This is also fairly common for Thieves to be this.
- Yuri Lowell, protagonist of Tales of Vesperia, certainly falls into this alignment. By the time the story starts, he's already got a rap sheet with The Empire because he tends to try to do right regardless of law. During the course of the game itself, he murders in cold blood two different foes that were exploiting commoners to their own ends. He holds no illusions about these acts, as when called on the latter case he states flat out he knows "Murder is a crime."
- Judith and Rita are also of this alignment.
- Lloyd of Tales of Symphonia also.
- Rexxar◊ in Warcraft III is right on the edge between Chaotic Good and Neutral. He helps the orcs fight off an invasion, in the process being declared the official champion of the Horde, but afterwards retreats into the wilds, not caring for civilisation and all of that nonsense, but promising to help the orcs if they're ever threatened again. After defeating Admiral Proudmoore, the man behind the invasion, he tells the admiral's daughter to be proud of her father and remember him as a great warrior.
- Tirion Fordring of Warcraft disregards the wishes of everyone in his society to help an orc who saved his life. In exchange his order of Paladins strips him of his powers and plan to execute him until the Orcs save him. It's only later he notices that despite breaking the law, he can still channel the light.
- Eitrigg◊, the orc Fordring helped, chose to leave the Horde upon realising its corruption and evil years earlier. He later rejoins when, and only when, they prove their Heel Face Turn to him.
- Some characters in Fate Stay Night are listed as Chaotic Good in the Visual Novel:
- Rider (Medusa). She may look like a pure Dark Action Girl serving a Smug Snake like Shinji, but most of her heinous actions are from Shinji, not by herself. In truth, she really just wants to protect her true Master, Sakura, and would much like to kill Shinji. She's still quite a sadist, though, as one finds out the hard way in some of the Bad Ends.
- Gilgamesh, the Jerkass Darwinist who wants to unleash an unspeakable evil upon the world, is actually listed as Chaotic Good. See the main alignment page for more on his reasoning.
- Not exactly Chaotic Good, but Berserker (Hercules) might count, considering his total devotion to Ilya. Thanks to her keeping him in a perpetual state of madness, though, his true alignment is given as Chaotic Mad.
- Tassadar and Jim Raynor of Starcraft, who reject the Knights Templar Conclave and the Lawful Evil Arcturus Mengsk's rule respectively in order to fight the Zerg Swarm. Jim Raynor later on becomes a Freedom Fighter/Mercenary leader fighting against the Terran Dominion.
- After being the Big Bad in the first Drakengard game and almost causing The End Of The World As We Know It... Manah comes back in the second game as The Atoner and the leader of a group of resistance fighters against the excesses of the Knights of the Seal. While a rebel, her intentions are good (thus marking her adult self for this alignment), but unfortunately, she does not realize that the gods still hold dominion over her, and are trying to make her re-enact the apocalypse of 18 years ago...
- Don't fuck with Yoshi mitsu. He's like ancient Japan Robin Hood to THE MAX.
- Raspberyl from Disgaea 3 is Chaotic Good. She's a rebel against the rules of the netherworld. She's still respected anyway because she has the guts to stand up to the PTA.
- Ironically enough, rebelling against the rules actually makes her something that would be Lawful Good by most standards, as she meticulously obeys the rules that nobody wants her to follow.
- Kyoko, Asuka, and Mr. Champloo are also this alignment.
- Quite a few members of the cast of Skies of Arcadia; the Blue Rogues in general are a Chaotic Good lot. The alignment is probably best embodied by Vyse, Aika, and Gilder.
- Viktor from the Suikoden series. He is dedicated to bringing freedom and helping the weak, but he will manipulate people to get out of paying bar tabs, set a bureaucrat's house on fire to rescue people unjustly sentenced to death, denies himself love to allow his lady to achieve her own goals and destiny, and physically assaults a clerk when told he can't see the mayor because she is in a meeting and cannot be seen without an appointment. His response? "It's the best way to deal with government workers."
- In Persona 4, after some character development, Kanji goes from Chaotic Neutral to Chaotic Good.
- Zero. "I Never cared about justice, and I don't recall ever calling myself a hero... I have always only fought for the people I believe in. I won't hesitate... If an enemy appears in front of me, I will destroy it!"
- In the Street Fighter series, Ken and Sakura are carefree spirits when it comes to street fighting, living for the thrill of the fight and not actively out to hurt anyone.
- Sol Badguy from Guilty Gear. He means well and is an atoner for mistakes of his past. But he prefers to do things alone and doesn't get along with the law very much, which causes conflict with his Lawful Good rival Ky Kiske.
- His Spiritual Successor from Blaz Blue, Ragna the Bloodedge, also counts, as he is one man who openly despises the current evil Bureau and goes to become an One Man Army who lays waste to any of the Bureau's men and swore to destroy their oppressive reign.
- Juno and Nerids from Soul Nomad are somewhere between Chaotic Good and Neutral Good.
- How Did We Miss This One: Minsc from Baldur's Gate.
- Sarevok, the Chaotic Evil villain of the first game returns in the second as an ally and can be convinced to become Chaotic Good.
- And we can't forget Nalia, the Rebellious Noblewoman who is trying her very best to help people and has a profound distaste for the class system.
- While still never failing to see anyone who isn't a noble as beneath her. And refering to them as such to their face.
- Midna, from Twilight Princess.
- Gordon Freeman definitely qualifies. He isn't the kind of guy who would willingly submit to any government, even being a major spark in the larger rebellion against the Combine in Half-Life 2. Episode 2 even assumes you did the completely optional choice of blowing up Doctor Magnussons casserole in the original game. Kleiner also admits that they all owe a lot to Gordon, even if he often manages to bring trouble.
- Faith from Mirror's Edge, she just want to bring some communication freedom to the city after the November riots by Getting Crap Past The Radar. Guess you should know how the city government feel about that.
- Ratchet. He may be greatest do-gooder around and saviour of
three galaxies entire universe, more or less, but he's still one young and reckless adventurer. And one hell of a vandal, to boot.
- He falls True Neutral briefly during the course of the first game after a betrayal by his idol disillusions him. During this part his only reason for not abandoning Clank is that they happen to be going to the same places as each other.
- Qwark makes his journey from Neutral Evil to Chaotic Neutral to Chaotic Good throughout the course of the first three games.
- Sanjuro Makabe of Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, despite being in the military, tends to only follow orders when they happen to be what he wants to do anyway, and puts protecting those he cares about above all else.
- There is no way Ronny Dobbs would follow anyone unless the person actually needs help.
- Nathan Drake.
- Morte. That is all.
- Kirby seems to float between this and Chaotic Neutral, depending on the game.
- After spending most of Mass Effect at Chaotic Neutral, Urdnot Wrex returns to his homeworld in Mass Effect 2 and becomes a Chaotic Good clan overlord, assuming he is not killed in the original game.
- Nathan Zachary and the Fortune Hunters of Crimson Skies. They may be air pirates but they only steal from people that can afford the loss (in fact, many of their targets are such bastards that they more then deserve whatever trouble the Fortune Hunter's raids bring them). They are also known to help defend the innocents; one mission in the PC game had Nathan Zachary and crew protecting a hospital ship from a rival pirate gang. Not to mention the Fortune Hunter's founding charter forbids wanton attacks on civilian targets and Zachary is rumored to have shot down one of his own pilots when he needlessly strafed civilian targets.
Webcomics
- Dr. McNinja is prone to bizarre outbursts and is wildly inconsistent in his Technical Pacifism. Rather than holding the Doctor to the law, the authorities changed the law to accommodate him. Even though he's been driven loopy by his dual compulsions to kill and to heal, he hasn't lost sight of his goal of helping those who need it.
- Riff from Sluggy Freelance would undoubtedly be in jail by now if his exploits weren't too bizarre for the authorities to believe. Even if you ignore the mass destruction of property he's been directly or indirectly responsible for, there's no way he has a liscense for the various guns, explosives, nuclear reactors, and reality altering equipment he tinkers around with. Hell, he's even caused (or almost caused) the end of the world more than once. Yet, when vampires, demons, or aliens start threatening the Sluggyverse, he's usually there on the front lines with a laser cannon, a bag full of grenades, and giant killer robots to fight them off.
- I would say both he and Torg are Chaotic with a side order of Good.
- Haley Starshine and Elan from Order of the Stick. The former, an Action Girl with a lot of personal complexes who, despite her greed, cares about people and wants to do the right thing. The latter... well, he's too good-hearted and with too thin a grasp on reality to be anything else.
- Their Railroading along currently separate tracks on the meandering plot are probably the only reason they're not Happily Married.
- Belkar speculates that Lord Shojo was of this alignment, and he's probably right. For the good of Azure City he faked senility, broke any laws and oaths that got in his way, and lied about it all to an entire order of paladins under his command, including his nephew and heir.
- It should be noted that Lord Shonjo is a competent ruler although a bit manipulative. This stand in contrast to most other Chaotic Good rulers, who tend to fairly incompetent... And with incompetent I mean crazy.
- Agatha Clay, Girl Genius, her mentor Zeetha of Skifander, Gil Wulfenbach, Othar Tryggvassen (Gentleman Adventurer!) and hell, probably most of the rest of the protagonists. Maybe living in a world of Mad Science! will do that...
- Even Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach probably counts. He created a continent of order, but he did it his way, and everyone has to play by his rules. Or else.
- Eddie from Emergency Exit is the Cloudcuckoolander variety.
Western Animation
- Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender. In "The Painted Lady", she goes out of her way to help strangers (and the help involves stealing), even if it would ruin their group's plans.
- Toph's on the borderline between this and Chaotic Neutral. She's not particularly moral, but definitely a good guy. She also hates rules, and once celebrated the group decision to ignore the orders of the authorities of a city by gleefully blowing a hole in the wall of their apartment.
- Also, she considers having a warrant issued for her arrest to be a cause for celebration.
- Darkwing Duck. He's often self-centered and likes to do things his way, but when he gets dangerous, he gets dangerous for the good of St. Canard.
- Wreck-Gar from Transformers Animated is Chaotic Good. He's a nice guy really, and he wants more than anything to help people and find his place in life. He just doesn't get metaphors or rhetorical questions. And, until it was suggested to him not to take suggestions, he was highly suggestible.
- A lot of classic cartoon characters, especially those from Looney Tunes, are either this or Chaotic Neutral.
- From the horses' perspective, the eponymous main character of Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is probably this alignment.
- Despite being a member of a law enforcement organization, Walter "Doc" Hartford of Galaxy Rangers is more along this line. He's fond of trouble, a master of BS, and easily the most "rogue" of the Series 5. With how good he is about breaking and entering (computers mostly, but he isn't past other breaking and entering), and the fact that his canon was never developed, fanon tends to go with the theory that he wasn't always on the "good" side of the law.
- Johnny Test fits this easily. Dukey is more Neutral Good.
- Arguably, Timmy Turner of the Fairly OddParents. One example is his using baby Poof's biological functions such as burping and breaking wind to stop Anti-Cosmo and the Pixies. The part where he has Poof break wind is especially chaotic as it resets time itself. However, considering the Earth and Fairy World were about to be destroyed, resetting the timeline is a positive use of chaos. In the movie, Abra-Castastrophe, he, also, sets off a nuclear explosion in an isolated desert to defeat Crocker.
Web Original
- Most of the protagonists in Breeniverse series, such as lonelygirl15 and KateModern, are this to some degree. Since they're fighting against an evil conspiracy called "the Order" which has agents in governments and police forces worldwide, they frequently commit crimes ranging from breaking and entering to kidnapping without hesitation. This becomes a major plot point in LG15: the resistance when Jonas is classified as a terrorist as the result of his actions.
- Tom of Ruby Quest only wants freedom for him and his friend Ruby, but while she has some clear limitations of what she is willing to do to achieve this, putting her in a Lawful Good territory, he is willing to go into any lengths to get them away, including physical violence, and even sacrificing himself in order to ensure her freedom.
- Red arguably started here, as well. He quite certainly cared for his patients, and was willing to try unorthodox and potentially dangerous methods in order to cure them. But by the time we meet him, he has degenerated into Chaotic Neutral.
- Keith Jackson from Survival of the Fittest version three, who looks out for his friends as best he can, but at the same time isn't some kind of paragon of virtue. He threatens violence at least once to get people he doesn't like the look of to leave, and didn't hesitate to start shooting when his group was threatened.
- Definitely the Monkey King in the Whateley Universe. Probably the Lamplighter too, since for a superhero he sure is in trouble a lot with the Boston police.
- And Beltane. If you're being a big jerk, she may use her powers to do something wacky to you.
- Of Team Kimba (the notional main protagonists), Chaka definitely qualifies on attitude alone.
Tabletop Games
- Although it's mildly surprising to find any kind of good alignment in Warhammer 40000, Logan Grimnar of the Space Wolves has to qualify. He's the only one to call out the Imperial authorities on genociding the people of Armageddon after Angron invaded, and has sworn never to let anyone do that kind of crap again if he can prevent them.
- Pre-heresy Night Haunter aka Konrad Curze might have been a borderline case of this, having spent most of his youth being an illegal vigilante on his homeworld before the arrival of the emperor, hunting down and killing corrupt officals and criminals alike. He seems to have been fully aware of his Face Heel Turn beforehand, and it is highly suggested he let himself get assassinated because of that afterwards.
- Kord and Corellon in the core Dungeons and Dragons setting.
- King Boranel of Breland in Eberron. Courageous leader. Champion of warforged rights. Former treasure hunter. Boisterous Bruiser. Cool Old Guy. Even his enemies like him because of his desire to make the world a better place.
- The Free Council in Mage: The Awakening like to see themselves as this.
Meta
- Tropers who don't wish to provoke an edit war but don't like being told not to post by the moderators. Anyone who edits this trope in such a way as to call a fictional character based on a real-life person 'Chaotic Good' is therefore Chaotic Good.
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