The Character Alignment System

“Whether they are aware of their fictitious natures or not, fictional characters are as complex in personality and perception as any of us in the real world.” – N. R. Eccles-Smith

When it comes to stories (in books, movies or games), a character’s moral aptitudes are as complex as our own. As such, they can be sorted into personality and alignment systems the same way we can. Whether using the Myers-Briggs method, or the more basic Four Temperaments (sanguine, melancholy, phlegmatic, choleric), properly developed fictional creations can be effectively sorted into select categories, as any “real” person.

And what fun it is to delve into characters and work out their standing in personality and moral charts!

Naturally, I wanted a piece of the character personality sorting cake, and stared working on placing some of the characters from my Dragon Calling series into set categories.

I decided to work off the Dungeons and Dragons inspired Alignment System. This system is divided into nine categories, and focuses primarily on the inclination of a character’s morality (Good vs Neutral vs Evil). As such, the categories are named in a transitional way, and characters placed in those categories have some or all of the assigned traits associated with that particular alignment:

LAWFUL GOOD
– Trustworthy, friendly, honourable, scrupulous, courteous, sensitive, loyal, helpful
NEUTRAL GOOD
– Self-reliant, helpful, friendly, respectful, altruistic, sensitive, protective
CHAOTIC GOOD
– Unpredictable, independent, free-spirited, easy going, anarchic, merciful, optimistic
LAWFUL NEUTRAL
– Reliable, responsible, truthful, orderly, loyal, methodical, structured, rigid
TRUE NEUTRAL
– Diplomatic, judgmental, aloof, indifferent, self-reliant, fair, enigmatic
CHAOTIC NEUTRAL
– Unreliable, independent, self-centred, free, individualistic, greedy, disorderly
LAWFUL EVIL
– Cruel, vengeful, proud, callous, calculating, organised, plotting, respectful of authority
NEUTRAL EVIL
– Wicked, corrupt, hateful, insensitive, unkind, self-reliant, manipulative, vicious
CHAOTIC EVIL
– Violent, cruel, malicious, unpredictable, deceitful, heartless, volatile, capricious

*For a more comprehensive look into the Alignment categories, you can check out this D&D information site.

You may have seen Alignment Charts during your internet wanderings, similar to the chart below. They are known as Alignment Charts, and are surprisingly popular and widespread across the various mediums of the entertainment world. You could probably google any story with a decent fan following (Harry Potter, Star Wars, Dragon Age, Naruto), and find that someone has created an Alignment Chart of selected characters from that story.

This is a standard Alignment Chart

 

SO, without further ado, I present you with my own
DRAGON CALLING ALIGNMENT CHART!

 

 

For those who have read the books, you may notice a couple of characters you don’t recognise. TRUE NEUTRAL and CHAOTIC NEUTRAL are characters you will meet in the third book of the series, DUAL DESTINY, which is set for release MARCH 12TH!

Are you excited? You know I am!