To Be Lawful Or Good / Video Games

Orisa: Tracer, is it wrong for us to operate outside the law?
Tracer: That's a difficult question, Orisa. I think there are some times when you need to do what's right.

— Overwatch

---

Examples of characters forced to break from "lawful", or whose status as such is called into question.

• An instance of this pops up in the third DLC mission of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, where the captain of the submarine Alicorn declares intent to surrender and disarm the sub. Your side immediately starts bickering amongst one another, your fellow pilots saying you should probably just sink the Alicorn anyway rather than risk it firing its rail cannon at Osea's capital, while your AWACS and commanding officer demand you hold fire or else become war criminals for refusing to honor a surrender request. At the same time, however, the Alicorn's captain all but outright states he's actually preparing to fire the rail cannon anyway and that he has no real intent to surrender (not that your AWACS seems to notice), meaning his request is effectively negated, so you have to fly in and hit the cannon before it can fire.
• A paladin or other Lawful Good character faces this dilemma in Baldur's Gate II after Imoen is kidnapped: The (corrupt) authorities prove extremely unhelpful (and are actually the cause of the kidnapping) and the only two parties that can help are either a shadowy thieves' guild (not lawful) or a coven of vampires (not good). The game treats going with the thieves as the 'good' way and a paladin won't get in trouble for it, but some players complain that it is impossible for a paladin to stay true to their alignment. Several Game Mod's allow the player to Take a Third Option.
• The Caligula Effect has Kotaro face this dilemma near the end of his Character Episode. He admits that he doesn't want to go save someone in danger because the person is someone he knows and doesn't like. But the protagonist reminds him of his dream of becoming a rescue worker — someone who helps those in need. Kotaro realizes that being a rescue worker means saving anyone who needs help, regardless of personal feelings. He goes to save his acquaintance, but makes the distinction clear. He's helping because that's what a rescue worker does, but makes it clear he still doesn't like them.
• This is a choice in Cuphead. The Lawful choice is to honor the deal with the Devil you struck at the beginning of the game, at the expense of several debtors. The good choice is to break the deal, beat the Devil and save all debtors. The latter is considered canon.
• Makoto's Fate Events in Devil Survivor 2 center around this. She belongs to JP's, the underground government run by Yamato Hotsuin, who makes it clear that his goal is important and those that are against it are of no use. Makoto wants to help people, but feels torn because she owes a lot to JP's, and this means she has to turn her back on rebels that might need assistance. Going through her events has Makoto realize that she should focus on what she believes is more important.
• Flonne from Disgaea: Hour of Darkness has to decide if she is going to be a dutiful little angel and follow the laws of Celestia or if she is going to fight for rights of demons and humans to be considered equals to angels. She settles on the latter and fights for it even at the cost of her life.
• Aveline and Sebastian from Dragon Age II. The biggest difference between them is Aveline usually chooses to be Good, while Sebastian is more Lawful. This is enforced by how it is easier to gain friendship points with Sebastian by following both Kirkwall and Chantry law, yet there are several scenarios in the game whereas Aveline's reaction to following the law even where it hurts people is much less predictable. In the endgame, if Hawke sides with the mages and has a high enough Friendship/Rivalry, Aveline will as well, despite technically being bound to help Meredith. Even if she wasn't convinced to help the mages as well, rather than fight Hawke she will bow out of the conflict and take the other guards with her. Sebastian will side with the mages as well, despite being tied even more closely to Meredith, so long as Anders is dead.
• Cecil has a crisis of conscience at the beginning of Final Fantasy IV based around this. He knows that what his king orders him to do is wrong, but can't yet bring himself to disobey the man that he swore his allegiance as a Dark Knight to. However, Cecil makes his decision to turn from a Lawful non-Good character to Lawful/Neutral Good after he and his longtime friend, Kain, are used by the King of Baron to massacre an entire village of innocent summoners. He then spends the next section of the game atoning for the various sins he committed while under his king's orders and ultimately earning his redemption by being transformed into a Paladin: an exemplar of the side of good. It's even more difficult for Cecil since the king was also a father figure to him. Good thing the one who gave him those awful orders wasn't the real king who was Dead All Along.
• Steiner and Beatrix both have to deal with this in Final Fantasy IX when they turn against Queen Brahne after they realize her lust for power has driven her mad. Steiner in particular is extremely conflicted about this. It takes Steiner much longer to realize the truth compared to Beatrix and it isn't until Steiner actually witnesses Brahne's lackeys, Zorn and Thorn, rip Garnet's Summon Magic out of her soul and learning that Brahne wanted Garnet dead and had her soldiers attack Beatrix (someone he had feelings for) for her betrayal that Steiner finally decides to go against the Queen and fight to protect the people he cares about.
• Wallace from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade is a lawful knight, and a trusted retainer of Lord Hausen of Caelin. However, he's also the best friend of a Warrior Prince named Hassar from the Lorca Tribe, who happens to fall for Lord Hausen's daughter Madelyn... which Hausen does not approve of since Madelyn is engaged already to the marquess of Araphen. So when Madelyn elopes with Hassar and Wallace is tasked with stopping them, what does he choose to do? He prefers to let them go and allow himself to be in prison, rather than condemning them to be Star-Crossed Lovers. And considering that they're the parents of Lyndis, the main character, it all works well in the end.
• In Ghost of Tsushima, Jin Sakai has to abandon his traditional samurai ways to defeat the Mongols over the course of the game. Midway through the story, he is called out for his dishonorable tactics by his traditional Uncle. The principle theme of "sacrificing honor to save lives" is repeatedly used in the stories, where Jin's compatriots, Sensei Ishikawa and Lady Masako, all denounce Jin's methods as dishonorable, only to then ignore the tenets of samurai honor in their own quests, to the detriment of everyone around them. Masako lost both of her sons and her husband in battle, and then learned that her entire family was murdered as that was happening, so her instability is understandable. Ishikawa comes around by admitting that at the end of the day Samurai are still killers, honor or not, and is content to finish his lectures by simply asking Jin to not repeat his own mistakes over strict adherence to or total disregard of honor.
• The backstory of Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords has this happen to, of all things, a droid. G0-T0, programmed to produce options to save the Republic from economic collapse without breaking any of its laws, quickly discovered the two parts of his Obstructive Code of Conduct to be mutually exclusive - any practical plan he could come up with required breaking one or more laws. This presented a Logic Bomb for him, and he responded by deciding to prioritize the first directive and ignore the second, hiding from the Republic and assuming the identity of a human crime lord named Goto, using some... questionable means to "stabilize" the Republic. The Exile can call him on it. Pretty much a textbook Zeroth Law Rebellion: he decides that the objective of his programming allows him to ignore the restrictions in order to preserve the Republic.
• In Mass Effect, Commander Shepard (Paragon as well) is forced to go against the law many times throughout the games to pursue the greater good. This is suggested to be a common trait of Spectres in general: those willing to do nasty things in pursuit of higher goals; it's why they're officially above the law in galactic society. Of course, some Spectres take things too far in the other direction.
• A central conflict in Persona 5. The Phantom Thieves become criminals to reform those who have manipulated the rules of society to exploit others, and are thus untouchable by traditional authorities. Goro's Face–Heel Turn also seems motivated by his desire to follow the law instead of doing the right thing, only for it turn out to be the opposite. He takes the Phantom Thieves' methods to the extreme, killing people in order to propel his father to Prime Minister, only for him to tear the rug out from under him, in his form of punishment for society allowing him to abuse others.
• Inquisitor Zacharias Barnham goes through this ordeal towards the end of Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney, challenging his superior over the implications of the witch trials that he prosecutes.
• Completely averted by Paladins in the Quest for Glory series: if the choice is ever presented, their code of honor demands that they be good rather than lawful. The law can be corrupted by the powerful, but goodness is incontrovertible. In the second game, you have to fight against an absolutely corrupt regime to free the city of Raseir, which is considered honorable. In the third game, the Liontaur society dictates "honor" to mean "lawful", and at the beginning of the game strips the thief Harami of honor, meaning that no one in Tarna can interact with him. The hero must, however (saving his life by giving him food, which he cannot get as everyone refuses to see him), and it's implied the Paladin recognizes that the Liontaur version of honor is not good when he does so.
• Star Trek: Elite Force: In the first game, Alex ignores Tuvok's demands to stand down and come back when he goes to confront the Big Bad. At that point, it had become personal.
• Sword of Paladin: This is briefly discussed when Captain Eagle offers to team up with the party to solve a zombie incident. Chris and Miguel are hesitant to team up with outlaws, but Nade is open to this idea, since they need a ship to reach the next dungeon and he already discerned that Eagle is trustworthy. This establishes that despite being a straight-laced knight, Nade will choose good over the law.

Examples of characters who fall from "good" status or do questionable things due to lawful constraints.

• As of the League of Legends short story "Child of Zaun", this is Vi's main dilemma. She chooses to follow the law and shut down a potential revolution, but is left wondering whether doing so was really good for the downtrodden people of Zaun. Her parter Caitlyn, meanwhile, has no such dilemma — she's firmly on the side of law.
  Vi: Law. Order. Can you have one without the other? And what does either of them have to do with justice? If you had asked the younger me, she might have had an answer. Ask me now, and I’m not so sure anymore.
• In Overwatch this is something Symmetra, the Token Good Teammate of the otherwise thoroughly corrupt Vishkar Corporation struggles with. Thus far, she's ultimately gone with her employer, sincerely believing their technology and the order they bring can make the world a better place, but she is not without doubts. So far she would only look more Good when dealing with Vishkar's underhanded means, but in the face of Lucio, who's 100% Good and opposing Vishkar, she takes the Lawful route, condemning Lucio basically retaliating to Vishkar's apparent 'legal' activities with thievery.

Examples of characters who Take A Third Option

• Baldur's Gate II: A rare example of a whole organization doing this crops up in the game. The paladins of the Radiant Heart follow a strict code of goodness, but have their organization in a city run by gangsters. They can't oust the criminals (Lawful), but they also can't stand by and do nothing (Good). They resolve this situation by staying out of politics and protecting innocent civilians from internal and external threats. If the Player Character is a paladin (and thus required to be Lawful Good under AD&D rules), s/he's also expected to solve dilemmas in this way in order to use the Radiant Heart headquarters as a stronghold. Two of the three stronghold quests are good examples:
  • A baron requests the Radiant Heart's help to oust squatters on his land. If the PC talks to the "squatters," they claim to be the rightful owners of property that the Baron stole from them. Should you remove them anyway per your orders (Lawful) or refuse to help the baron (Good)? Your superior will accept either answer, but he praises you especially for confronting the baron with the accusations (which turn out to be true). You're forced to kill the baron when he turns on you, but you have iron-clad justification for your actions.
  • The PC is guarding the Sole Survivor of a family that was killed for opposing the slave trade, and your final task is to hand the girl over to her guardian. However, there's a 50/50 chance that the guardian is either the real deal or a convincing impostor. If you hand the girl over to the impostor or refuse her to the guardian, you will lose your stronghold. The girl can't verify whether the guardian is real. Do you hand her over (Lawful) or refuse to take any chances (Good)? The key is to use Detect Evil. When your superior briefed you, he mentioned that the guardian is solidly Lawful Good; however, the impostor will register as Evil.
• Mass Effect:
  • Mass Effect ends with your battle against Sovereign. You can choose to either save the obstructive council for paragon points, clandestinely get rid of them for renegade points, or refocus your energy to save innocent civilians, which nets you both. Take option 3 and the council still dies, but not out of malice.
  • In Mass Effect 3, Samara must kill her beloved daughter because she's a Space Vampire who is now without a cloister. She is given the option to a) kill her as the Code demands (lawful), or b) break her Code and let her go (good). She chooses to kill herself instead. If Shepard intervenes, her daughter will state she's going to stay in what remains of the cloister of her own volition, which allows Samara to let her live and still satisfy her Code.
• The PC in the Neverwinter Nights 2 Game Mod The Maimed God's Saga is a cleric of Tyr, who is the Forgotten Realms god of justice, not merely law. As such, the campaign encourages Good Is Not Dumb, with the PC generally using reasoned arguments of law as a tool for upholding the good.

Characters who end up swinging between options, or are hit by this dilemma twice and are inconsistent on the issue.

• Kyle Garrick in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), who finds that employing tactics best left to one's enemies in order to get results leaves him uneasy about what he's fighting for. However some reasurrance from his CO gives him a better sense of where he stands and his mission.
• Samara from Mass Effect 2 is a bit of an odd bird. Samara is a Justicar, a member of an order of alien warrior-nuns who travel around upholding justice (as they see it) and the Justicar Code (which may or may not overlap with any other legal system in the area where the Justicar operates). The Justicar Code actually has a clause meant to counter this trope; if, solely for the purposes of the greater good, a Justicar must temporarily become a vassal of someone whose moral compass fluctuates between asinine and sadistic, that Justicar must temporarily suspend most of the Justicar Code and follow the principles and code of their new lord, no matter how violent and/or monstrous, for the duration of their contract. In short, the law says to be good by replacing most of the law with someone else's law and then following that law to the letter. During her contract with... Shepard, Samara is willing to twist the Code into a pretzel if she can get better, less destructive results that way, but if forced to choose between the Code and something else, she will always pick the Code, consequences be damned. That said, she will respond to a Renegade!Shepard's psychotic killing spree by casually remarking that she's going to hunt Shepard down for what they've done after their contract expires, even though Shepard is legally allowed to do all this.
• The basis of every moral dilemma in Papers, Please. Just Following Orders is the best way to keep your superiors off your back and you and your family fed, but the game will constantly throw people in need at you to test whether you're willing to bend the rules to help them, even if it means getting penalized for it.
• The player themselves must make this choice in The Reconstruction. After you see a bunch of criminal shra (an oppressed slave class) run out of a city, you have the option of pointing the Nalian Officers in the right or wrong direction. Your answer is filtered through a chaotically good character's mouth, though, which leads to a lampshaded Out-of-Character Moment if you choose to be lawful.
• Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader:
  • The Karma Meter is based around this. "Dogmatic" represents your adherence to the ways and methods used by The Empire: praising the God-Emperor, exterminating heretics (and potential heretics, i.e., collateral damage), Fantastic Racism, etc. "Iconoclast" is your willingness to Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: protecting people, comforting orphans, finding common ground over uncompromising destruction and the like. And then there's the evil option, Chaos.
  • Additionally there's The Paladin Henrik, an Inquisitor whose questline revolves around him facing similar struggles in the Forever War against Chaos. The Player Character's influence ultimately determines which side he falls on.
• Comes up in The Witcher games all the time. The legal system of Geralt's world is chock full of draconian punishments and Deliberate Values Dissonance, but doing the clearly right thing can have unintended consequences which make everything worse.
• A recurrent theme in The Wolf Among Us; Bigby (and thus, the player) must repeatedly choose between upholding the rules and bending them to do what they consider right. The line between the two is often blurry and there’s rarely an unambiguously right answer. If you’re inconsistent in picking between lawful and good, upholding the law one second and breaking it the next, the game notices and characters will call you out on your hypocrisy and inability to pick a side.
• In RoboCop: Rogue City, Robocop is often given the choice between "Upholding the Law" or "Serving the Public Trust". This typically means either throwing out fines for the pettiest of crimes or letting people off with a warning.

Examples of To Be Chaotic or Evil

• This is a dilema for Bishop at the end of Neverwinter Nights 2. Before The Very Definitely Final Dungeon of the game, no matter what you do, he will betray the PC either out of resentment or fear over them becoming an obligation to him. However as you are about to face The Dragon, the PC can convince him to renegade again by pointing out that he had merely switched one master for another. Depending on how that conversation goes, he'll either quit the field (Chaotic) or he'll help the bad guys bring about the end of all life on the Sword Coast (Evil).

---