Alignment Changes

[Craft (Cheese)]

What sorts of events could lead a Lawful Evil character to becoming Chaotic Good?

The reverse?

(The Lawful Good <-> Chaotic Evil thing is up for discussion too but I personally find it less interesting.)

[Jormengand]

Equipping a helm of opposite alignment. *Nods.*

[Captnq]

I did it all for the nookie.

[erikun]

There are two things that you want to consider: the reason for switching perspective on life (evil -> good), and the reason for switching methodology in life (lawful -> chaotic).

I suppose the simplest reason for the switch would be living in a LE society, and suddenly have that society threaten the character - or more likely, something the character cares about. A person who is generally callous but cares about their family, about an organization, and so on would likely change how they look at everything if their society suddenly makes it a point to threaten or attack that one thing they care about. If the person rejects their society, they'll likely switch over to a Chaotic alignment in doing so - and if they can be convinced it is better for their family/etc., then can end up switching to Good to want to protect it.

Other than that, there are dozens of individual reasons for tons of characters to change alignments, in any direction. Just look at Belkar in the comic, who is certainly shifting away from Evil over a cat.

[Flickerdart]

I'm imagining your typical "noble savages" story working well for this - a member of your favourite evil empire is injured or knocked unconscious or otherwise rendered incapable in hostile territory, and when he comes to, he's being helped by the very same native population he was busy conquering last week. Shocked by their kindness, he starts seeing them as real people and while he is recovering at their village, eventually adopts their way of life.

[HylianKnight]

How bout a Buddha-esq path?

The story of Buddha is one that is fairly archetypical throughout fiction. The royal prince has everything he wants in life, living comfortably within society and caring for nothing but himself. But when an event occurs that somehow brings him face to face with the injustice and ugliness of the outside world. This life changing revelation changes his whole outlook on life, leading him to abandon his position and to go out in the world to find the good. This same story is also that of Moses (yay Archetypes!).

A LE to CG conversation could occur by playing up the extremes. The prince (anyone in a a position of privilege in the current system) isn't just selfish or naive. He's totally self-serving and cares for nothing but himself - Evil. When he has his life-changing revelation and is disabused of those notions, he devotes his life to making amends and bettering himself. However, in the process, the entire Lawful code he used to live by becomes tainted in his mind as an associated evil. His Lawful self was the one that was horrible and selfish, his society was the one that produced him in addition to all the injustice and horribleness that he encountered. He could devote himself to overthrowing the system and/or prescribing that view/mission to lawful society as a concept, adopting a chaotic ethos entirely.