The Alignment Game — Neutral Good: Robin of Locksley As Seen In Most Depictions Of Him

If Robin of Locksely doesn’t ring a bell his moniker should: Robin Hood. If Robin Hood doesn’t ring a bell then I beg you to come out of the rock you’ve been raised and currently reside under, the world’s not that bad.

It's okay, you don't have to be afraid of his hat.

This man is my definition of Neutral Good.

Wait, I sense a great disturbance on the net, as if millions of gamers suddenly cried foul. I can see where they’re coming from. Heck I remember that Robin Hood was the poster boy of Chaotic Good in good old 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons  (that’s AD&D not ADD).; Robin Hood is a thief so obviously he’s chaotic, he also fights tyranny so he’s obviously good. At first glance I agree he would be the prefect example of Chaotic Good but . . .

The Neutral Part

Robin of Locksely only became a thief because King John was being a dick.

So much so that this was in the third row of images when I googled King John.

Since the rule of law had turned into the rule of a greedy, stupid man Locksley did the only sensible thing and fought it. This is a major part of what made him famous. I doubt many would remember Locksely the Lawful who never rocked the boat. However, what we must remember is that as soon as King Richard came back Mr. Hood became Mr. Rogers, a perfect law abiding nobleman who once again took taxes from his people to support the Monarchy.

This is as best a description of Neutral as you can get. Neutral characters will bend to law or chaos in order to strengthen the other part of their alignment. Robin Hood ditched law only as long as necessary. When goodness (lets let charming fable paint over the atrocities of Richard’s Cursades) returned to the land the Bandit of Sherwood turned in his bow to protect the status quo.

The Good Part

The other thing Robin of Locksley was famous for was robbing from the rich to give to the poor. These days this would make him a left wing, pinko, commie, bleeding heart, liberal but in his day this was considered “Thank you sir, my family and I will no longer starve to death.” In fact, as popular legend tells it, he constantly risked his life for the betterment of his people. This is about as good as you get without being a saint.

In Closing

That’s my case for Robin Hood being Neutral Good rather than Chaotic Good. Most will probalby disagree, if so get your own blog. This one’s mine.

I like comments though. 🙂