{"id":6847,"date":"2012-02-14T14:00:47","date_gmt":"2012-02-14T19:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/?p=6847"},"modified":"2012-02-10T17:05:44","modified_gmt":"2012-02-10T22:05:44","slug":"trope-tuesday-lawful-evil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/trope-tuesday-lawful-evil\/","title":{"rendered":"Trope Tuesday: Lawful Evil"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>If the term “villain” applies to anyone, it applies to the Lawful Evil<\/a>. \u00a0Whether the evil overlord<\/a>,\u00a0his trusted right-hand man<\/a>, or one of his devoted minions<\/a>, these characters are dedicated wholeheartedly<\/a> to their cause, whether they believe it will lead to a better world<\/a> or not<\/a>. \u00a0Taking over the world<\/a> is often a major obsession, because hey, someone’s got to do it<\/a>. \u00a0A staple of the evil empire<\/a>, these guys often turn their country into an industrialized wasteland<\/a>, though they often have\u00a0propaganda machines<\/a>\u00a0to take care of any bad press<\/a>. \u00a0Bonus points if they can transform into a freakish monster in battle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From the easydamus character alignment page<\/a>:<\/p>\n

A lawful evil villain methodically takes what he wants within the limits of his code of conduct without regard for whom it hurts. He cares about tradition, loyalty, and order but not about freedom, dignity, or life. He plays by the rules but without mercy or compassion. He is comfortable in a hierarchy and would like to rule, but is willing to serve. He condemns others not according to their actions but according to race, religion, homeland, or social rank. He is loath to break laws or promises.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While Lawful Evils believe in following rules<\/a> and keeping their word<\/a>, they’re not above emotional manipulation<\/a>, negotiating unfavorable contracts<\/a>, or following the law in letter only<\/a>. \u00a0Even so, they tend to suffer from genre blindness<\/a> and bureaucratic stupidity<\/a> (as well as megalomania<\/a>–but hey, that’s part of the job description<\/a>).<\/p>\n

According to tvtropes, Lawful Evils come in four types:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The supreme ruler<\/a>, dedicated to establishing and maintaining a civic order<\/a>\u00a0that is itself evil. \u00a0A good example of this would be Sauron from The Lord of the Rings.<\/li>\n
  2. A zealot<\/a> or\u00a0\u00fcbermensch<\/a> whose moral code falls outside of established social norms. \u00a0Khan from The Wrath of Khan is a pretty good example of this, as is Tyler Durden from Fight Club (though your mileage may vary<\/a>).<\/li>\n
  3. The Dragon<\/a> or other minion who may have their own goals, but answers to the big bad<\/a>. \u00a0Darth Vader is probably the most well-known example.<\/li>\n
  4. A complete monster<\/a> who is dedicated to the destruction of free will and liberty<\/a>. \u00a0The Mormon conception of Satan fits this perfectly.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The scary thing about this trope is that it actually exists in real life. \u00a0In fact, outside of our sheltered middle-class, liberal democratic existence (a relatively recent and unusual development in the eyes of history), this type of overlord tends to be the rule and not the exception. \u00a0You don’t have to look any further than North Korea, Burma, or Syria for examples of this–which is to say nothing of the Soviet Union, the Third Reich, or the British Empire.<\/p>\n

    My favorite example of this trope is probably Darth Vader, not just because of how badass<\/a> he is, but because of his heel face turn<\/a> at the end of Return of the Jedi. \u00a0Ignoring how bad episodes I, II, and III were, his character arc really is the thing that makes that story. \u00a0And while we’re on the subject of history, let’s not forget this epic showdown between Stalin and Hitler<\/a>. \u00a0Seriously, click that link.<\/p>\n

    In my own work, the best example of a Lawful Evil would probably be Qasar from Bringing Stella Home \/ Sholpan<\/strong>. \u00a0He’s more of the affable<\/a> type than a true evil overlord, though; that would be Tagatai, who doesn’t really come to power until Stars of Blood and Glory<\/strong>. A much more sinister example would be Emile from Heart of the Nebula<\/strong>, or the villain I have planned for Edenfall<\/strong>–I’d better finish those! \u00a0And of course, there’s Sheikh Sathi from Desert Stars<\/strong>, though he’s mostly a type 3 Lawful Evil under the thumb of his Neutral Evil<\/a> wife.<\/p>\n

    Perhaps one of the reasons I haven’t done a truly despicable Lawful Evil yet is because I’ve been kind of sheltered here in the states. \u00a0It will be interesting to see how my writing changes after spending some time in Eastern Europe; Georgia, after all, is the homeland of Stalin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Darth Vader helmet taken from this site<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    If the term “villain” applies to anyone, it applies to the Lawful Evil. \u00a0Whether the evil overlord,\u00a0his trusted right-hand man, or one of his devoted minions, these characters are dedicated wholeheartedly to their cause, whether they believe it will lead to a better world or not. \u00a0Taking over the world is often a major obsession,… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Lawful Evil<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[68,44,509,460,541,569],"tags":[112,690,574,1007,458,456,435,700,686,414,694,306,100,641,565,626,522],"class_list":["post-6847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bsh","category-ds","category-edenfall","category-hn","category-sholpan-novella","category-sbg","tag-character","tag-character-alignment","tag-character-arcs","tag-gaia-nova","tag-good-and-evil","tag-history","tag-honor","tag-lord-of-the-rings","tag-order-and-chaos","tag-politics","tag-star-trek","tag-star-wars","tag-the-hameji","tag-trope-tuesday","tag-tropes-and-cliches","tag-tvtropes","tag-villains","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iXK-1Mr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6847"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7021,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6847\/revisions\/7021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}