(Lawful) Good But Not Nice

[Pex]

A hopefully fun little exercise, what fictional characters can you think of that would/could be considered Lawful Good but are not nice. If not Lawful Good then at least Neutral Good. Personal opinion I think Chaotic Good has an easy time not being nice, but if you care to make a claim that the Law/Chaos axis is irrelevant for this premise go ahead.

Brigadier General Letheridge-Stewart from Doctor Who.

John Reese from Person Of Interest.

Obligatory Batman mention.

Major Margaret Houlihan from tv show MASH after Frank Burns left.

[Zweisteine]

Killing chaotic evil people.
Hurting chaotic evil people.
Imprisoning petty criminals.
Fining someone more than they can pay (but less than the maximum legal fine).

Sure, maybe it's deserved, but hurting people is never "nice." (well, masochists...)

Asking what mean things a lawful good character can do it a very good way to start an alignment debate.

[Kazuel]

I would argue that hot lips got a lot nicer after burns left.

[TuggyNE]

Superman is the worst (http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=28%3Asuperdickery&id=29%3Afathers-day&Itemid=54) LG character ever.

</hyperbole>

[Astral Avenger]

Boromir, he thought he was acting for the good of the people and he was the primary scion of the steward of gondor, yet not exactly mr. nice guy.

[Elricaltovilla]

Sam Vimes, Carrot Ironfoundersson, Angua, everyone in the Ankh-Morpork Night's Watch really (except Sergeant Colon and Nobby Nobs)

[Manly Man]

Sam Vimes, Carrot Ironfoundersson, Angua, everyone in the Ankh-Morpork Night's Watch really (except Sergeant Colon and Nobby Nobs)

This. If we can count Neutral Good characters as well, then Granny Weatherwax pretty much tops all of them.

[rmnimoc]

If we are going to do this on the GitP forums might as well mention Miko. She fit into the whole lawful good thing rather well pre-meltdown and I think even the most impressive lawyers would have trouble arguing that she is "nice".
I was going to type out a whole list of them, then I remembered this:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoodIsNotNice

[hymer]

Boromir, he thought he was acting for the good of the people and he was the primary scion of the steward of gondor, yet not exactly mr. nice guy.

Pippin disagrees with you. He thought Boromir's manner 'lordly but kindly', and he liked him 'from the first' (something mentioned when he first sees Faramir and compares the two brothers). Boromir spends some time arguing with those in charge, because he is ambitious, has a fierce personality ('masterful' as Gandalf puts it) and he is also not daunted easily by Gandalf and Aragorn; but he goes out of his way to be kind to the Hobbits.

[Astral Avenger]

I'll agree that in the books he is nicer, but I was thinking more of the movie version when I posted that.

[Elricaltovilla]

I was going to type out a whole list of them, then I remembered this:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoodIsNotNice

I'm not sure if this is cheating or winning the thread... but in either case, you're not likely to get a more complete list than this.

[Zweisteine]

Knights Templar (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KnightTemplar) is a good example list as well, though many are actually evil, even if they believe themselves to be working for the side of Good. Miko might qualify, though, and many others as well.

[Alleran]

I was going to type out a whole list of them, then I remembered this:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoodIsNotNice
There should be a rule or something against posting TVTropes links. Or something (http://xkcd.com/609/).

[Slipperychicken]

Gandalf was brutally honest in a pretty mean way.


Fellowship of the Ring, chapter 2:

[Frodo] 'Why was I chosen?'

Such questions cannot be answered,' said Gandalf. 'You may be sure that it was not for any merit that others do not possess: not for power or wisdom, at any rate. But you have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.'

He was also content to leave Bilbo and the 13 Dwarves to wander Mirkwood and starve for weeks while he dealt with the necromancer, IIRC offering no apologies for their hardship.

[TheMonocleRogue]

I've actually made an alignment for such a situation: Lawl-ful Good

I usually reserve this for Paladins that uphold their strict moral code by trolling peasants with promises of gold and brutally murdering a thief in the name of justice.

You don't need to ask for permission before befriending an evil character. You don't have to atone for hoarding treasure from the party only to donate it all to a charity. All you need to do is act good with no regard for due process of law.

[Uncle Pine]

It's probably been covered by the various TVTropes links, but I'll mention him anyway: I always considered Light from Death Note as a definitely not nice Lawful Good character (especially before he started to kill all those who were getting in his way, although he was still doing it for the greater good so it may be considered as a "good" act).

[SterlingAvenger]

A good presentation of Lawful Good but not Nice are the knights in David Eddings Elenium/Tamuli series. They are good people but well the order that the main character is from spread so many rumors of their skill with and willingness to torture that more they question usually answer after only a few threats. But they're still truly on the good side.

[Mando Knight]

It's probably been covered by the various TVTropes links, but I'll mention him anyway: I always considered Light from Death Note as a definitely not nice Lawful Good character

If he's Lawful Good, then so is the Neighborhood Watch Alliance in Hot Fuzz.

The greater good. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnqPrDN77Xg)

[Coidzor]

Sam Vimes, Carrot Ironfoundersson, Angua, everyone in the Ankh-Morpork Night's Watch really (except Sergeant Colon and Nobby Nobs)

Carrot? He's impossibly nice. He gets to know everyone, and people behave better than they actually are because they don't want to disappoint him because he believes in them. :smallconfused:


If we are going to do this on the GitP forums might as well mention Miko. She fit into the whole lawful good thing rather well pre-meltdown and I think even the most impressive lawyers would have trouble arguing that she is "nice".

I'd always thought that she was one of the biggest points of divergence between the Giant and his audience, whether she was actually Lawful Good seemed to be quite the contentious point until she became irrelevant due to having been dead for so long.

[Slipperychicken]

I always considered Light from Death Note as a definitely not nice Lawful Good character (especially before he

So basically until roughly five minutes after he acquires the Death Note.

[hymer]

I think Coidzor has a point. 'Good but not nice' should not mean any good character capable of doing something hard or mean. I think it points more to those who rarely or never show niceness.
Which, in addition to Carrot, would rule out Gandalf, btw.

[Devronq]

Slightly off topic but I was just thinking about a character that is clearly CE and a very very nice person. I can't remember her name but the last season of reboot the super virus girl Daemon or whatever her personalty and how she treated people as in general very very nice and polite and loving.

[hymer]

@ Devronq: There's a trope for that too (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AffablyEvil).

[DustyBottoms]

A good presentation of Lawful Good but not Nice are the knights in David Eddings Elenium/Tamuli series. They are good people but well the order that the main character is from spread so many rumors of their skill with and willingness to torture that more they question usually answer after only a few threats. But they're still truly on the good side.

A fellow Eddings fan! HUZZAH!

But yes, I would agree with that.

[Isamu Dyson]

"Good Is Not Nice" characters in a D&D setting should actually have the Good alignment, and not merely think of themselves as good...