![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineAlexa Adams, at her generally excellent blog, recently posted a "P&P mashup" -- no, not monsters, just an "ideal cast" drawn from all the adaptations. Since she's a firm fan of the 1995 mini-series, which I dislike more than not, I disagreed on a number of points (but not on the awesomeness of Sabina Franklyn's Jane!) and thought, "hey, I should do one of those. Because it would be fun."
Shortly thereafter, I discovered that TV Tropes has -- alas! -- dropped the demotivator page images for alignment. I don't care if it's a dead meme, I liked them. Woe! Then I thought, "hey, I should make some. Because it would be fun."
Then, in the spirit of current events in Austen ... stuff, I decided to mash up these two ideas into one thing. D&D alignment demotivators via P&P characters! (And, er, two from other works to fill the evil quota.) And using my favourites for the pictures. (Except the one who tragically has never appeared onscreen.) Yay!
So, for my own enjoyment and that of my fellow nerds, here they are:
Lawful Good/Elizabeth Bennet (Elizabeth Garvie, 1979/1980)
Neutral Good/Fitzwilliam Darcy (David Rintoul, 1979/1980)
Chaotic Good/Charles Bingley (Osmund Bullock, 1979/1980 ... hm, noticing a pattern here?)
Lawful Neutral/Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Judy Parfitt, 1979/1980)
True Neutral/Mr Bennet (Edmund Gwenn, 1940)
Chaotic Neutral/Mrs Bennet (Priscilla Morgan, 1979/1980)
Lawful Evil/Mrs Norris (Anna Massey, 1983)
Neutral Evil/Lady Susan Vernon (Nicole Kidman, 'cause it would be awesome)
Chaotic Evil/George Wickham (Rupert Friend, 2005)
Afterwards, it occurred me that I could one for LOTR in my copious spare time. It would be fun. Funner, because I wouldn't use any movie versions at all! Just pictures! Bookverse pictures! (I may still get around to that someday.) Then I hit a ... not a snag, but a distraction.
First, I made the really, really obvious one:
Lawful Evil -- Morgoth just wanted to blow things up; Sauron wanted to bring absolute order to the world. By, y'know, subjugating all life under his heel.
And then the one that's really obvious for me.
Neutral Good -- Lawful Good might be more obvious, but it doesn't really fit. Faramir tries to comply with the law when he can, but when push comes to very forceful shove, he has no problem with breaking the law because it's the Right Thing To Do. Apparently it's not the first time either, given Denethor's rant about he takes his own way in the face of authority. (Something Denethor never, ever did himself, of course!)
Huh, thought I.
Normally, my favourite characters fall into the same type: proud, hard and abrasive, but also articulate and 'true as steel,' to borrow from The Horse and His Boy. You'd never confuse them for each other, but the underlying similarity is pretty obvious.
When they're implicitly contrasted against a nicer character, as they usually are, I'll almost always prefer the difficult Hero(ine) to the sweet, gentle oppositeespecially if it's Dickon ZOMG am I the only person who didn't like him and his friend of all living things Magical Disadvantaged Person ways?
So I find it mildly odd when I develop a mad passion for a Faramir or Aziraphale or Freddy Standen. Only in the most generic way do they fall into Group A -- that is, yes, they're also deeply noble people with some sharp edges, but sweet and gentle and charming, so ... uh, different.
Then, wondering if I had chanced upon the Explanation of This Strange Phenomenon In My Head, I peered sidways at my favourites off the top of my head.
Aravis, Mary Lennox, Susan Sto Helit and DEATH, Sir Percy Blakeney, Aziraphale, Edmund Pevensie, Edmund of Gloucester, Lady Susan Vernon, Henry V/the Prince/Harry/Hal, Zakath, Roshaun ke Nelaid, Fitzwilliam Darcy, Willard Phule, Freddy Standen and Lord Carlyon, Lord Vetinari --
Not all are Neutral Good, of course. Edmund (G) and Ly Susan are Eeeeevil. Lord Vetinari is profoundly Neutral. All are far too, well, orderly to be Chaotic. They try to work within the laws if they possibly can and value structure to at least some degree. Yet they can break laws, mores, traditions, whatever, without a moment's hesitation -- if they consider the situation to call for it. And most of them are Good.
Faramir calmly defies the law, sends the Ring to Mordor, and keeps doing his duty. Darcy tries to convince Lydia that, really, she's better off single than married to Wickham, never mind that she's been living with him for two weeks, he'll make it work somehow. Aravis isn't remotely Chaotic, but drugging servants, masquerading as your dead brother, fleeing an undesirable marriage and reporting your prince's plans to his enemies doesn't exactly scream "Lawful" either. DEATH (and Susan, chip off the bone that she is) works within the laws and is very big on THE DUTY. But if it's the Right Thing he doesn't just slip through loopholes, he bores his way through and brings the wrath of the Auditors upon his skull.
So, yeah. Alignment = path to readerly self-knowledge! I must add it to my nerd creds.
With Neutral Good FTW! scribbled on the back.
Shortly thereafter, I discovered that TV Tropes has -- alas! -- dropped the demotivator page images for alignment. I don't care if it's a dead meme, I liked them. Woe! Then I thought, "hey, I should make some. Because it would be fun."
Then, in the spirit of current events in Austen ... stuff, I decided to mash up these two ideas into one thing. D&D alignment demotivators via P&P characters! (And, er, two from other works to fill the evil quota.) And using my favourites for the pictures. (Except the one who tragically has never appeared onscreen.) Yay!
So, for my own enjoyment and that of my fellow nerds, here they are:
Lawful Good/Elizabeth Bennet (Elizabeth Garvie, 1979/1980)
Neutral Good/Fitzwilliam Darcy (David Rintoul, 1979/1980)
Chaotic Good/Charles Bingley (Osmund Bullock, 1979/1980 ... hm, noticing a pattern here?)
Lawful Neutral/Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Judy Parfitt, 1979/1980)
True Neutral/Mr Bennet (Edmund Gwenn, 1940)
Chaotic Neutral/Mrs Bennet (Priscilla Morgan, 1979/1980)
Lawful Evil/Mrs Norris (Anna Massey, 1983)
Neutral Evil/Lady Susan Vernon (Nicole Kidman, 'cause it would be awesome)
Chaotic Evil/George Wickham (Rupert Friend, 2005)
Afterwards, it occurred me that I could one for LOTR in my copious spare time. It would be fun. Funner, because I wouldn't use any movie versions at all! Just pictures! Bookverse pictures! (I may still get around to that someday.) Then I hit a ... not a snag, but a distraction.
First, I made the really, really obvious one:
Lawful Evil -- Morgoth just wanted to blow things up; Sauron wanted to bring absolute order to the world. By, y'know, subjugating all life under his heel.
And then the one that's really obvious for me.
Neutral Good -- Lawful Good might be more obvious, but it doesn't really fit. Faramir tries to comply with the law when he can, but when push comes to very forceful shove, he has no problem with breaking the law because it's the Right Thing To Do. Apparently it's not the first time either, given Denethor's rant about he takes his own way in the face of authority. (Something Denethor never, ever did himself, of course!)
Huh, thought I.
Normally, my favourite characters fall into the same type: proud, hard and abrasive, but also articulate and 'true as steel,' to borrow from The Horse and His Boy. You'd never confuse them for each other, but the underlying similarity is pretty obvious.
When they're implicitly contrasted against a nicer character, as they usually are, I'll almost always prefer the difficult Hero(ine) to the sweet, gentle opposite
So I find it mildly odd when I develop a mad passion for a Faramir or Aziraphale or Freddy Standen. Only in the most generic way do they fall into Group A -- that is, yes, they're also deeply noble people with some sharp edges, but sweet and gentle and charming, so ... uh, different.
Then, wondering if I had chanced upon the Explanation of This Strange Phenomenon In My Head, I peered sidways at my favourites off the top of my head.
Aravis, Mary Lennox, Susan Sto Helit and DEATH, Sir Percy Blakeney, Aziraphale, Edmund Pevensie, Edmund of Gloucester, Lady Susan Vernon, Henry V/the Prince/Harry/Hal, Zakath, Roshaun ke Nelaid, Fitzwilliam Darcy, Willard Phule, Freddy Standen and Lord Carlyon, Lord Vetinari --
Not all are Neutral Good, of course. Edmund (G) and Ly Susan are Eeeeevil. Lord Vetinari is profoundly Neutral. All are far too, well, orderly to be Chaotic. They try to work within the laws if they possibly can and value structure to at least some degree. Yet they can break laws, mores, traditions, whatever, without a moment's hesitation -- if they consider the situation to call for it. And most of them are Good.
Faramir calmly defies the law, sends the Ring to Mordor, and keeps doing his duty. Darcy tries to convince Lydia that, really, she's better off single than married to Wickham, never mind that she's been living with him for two weeks, he'll make it work somehow. Aravis isn't remotely Chaotic, but drugging servants, masquerading as your dead brother, fleeing an undesirable marriage and reporting your prince's plans to his enemies doesn't exactly scream "Lawful" either. DEATH (and Susan, chip off the bone that she is) works within the laws and is very big on THE DUTY. But if it's the Right Thing he doesn't just slip through loopholes, he bores his way through and brings the wrath of the Auditors upon his skull.
So, yeah. Alignment = path to readerly self-knowledge! I must add it to my nerd creds.
With Neutral Good FTW! scribbled on the back.
\O/
on 2010-05-20 07:24 am (UTC)Re: \O/
on 2010-05-20 02:54 pm (UTC)Re: \O/
on 2010-05-20 03:00 pm (UTC)