The Dark Knight: D&D Moral Alignments Of The Main Characters

The Dark Knight is often considered the greatest superhero film ever made. This is mostly due to the solid plot, the fascinating action sequences, and Heath Ledger’s extraordinary performance as the clown prince of crime. But the other thing that makes the movie stand out is the character development.

All the characters have some depth to them. Their actions are instrumental to the plot in one way or the other. Their moralities and mannerisms are also very unique. This makes them perfect to analyze under the Dungeons & Dragons Moral Alignment System. Here is where each main character fits in,

10 Lucius Fox – Lawful Neutral

As the CEO of Wayne Enterprises, Lucius is more than aware that Bruce Wayne is Batman. But despite being a generally good person, he doesn’t feel obligated to share this information with anyone. Additionally, he goes the extra mile of providing Bruce with the coolest gadgets.

While everyone else has their opinion about whether a vigilante like Batman is needed in Gotham, Fox feels really doesn’t have a strong opinion about him. He just sees him as a friend. This makes him lawful neutral. He doesn’t care what Batman does with the gadgets, so long as he doesn’t use them for something evil.

9 Scarecrow – Chaotic Evil

Scarecrow sells a faulty drug to The Chechen without caring about the effects it will have on his customers. And when confronted about it, he wittily says: “Buyer beware. I told you my compound would take you places. I never said any places you wanted to go.”

He is clearly only motivated by profits and not the quality of his product. Shortchanging clients is no big deal to him. This makes him a chaotic evil character. Such people are only ought to satisfy their own desires and have no respect for rules or honor.

8 Rachel Dawes – Chaotic Good

Rachel is Gotham’s Assistant District Attorney as well as Bruce Wayne’s on-and-off lover. She is excellent at bringing down criminal elements but she is a chaotic god character because of the way she perceives Bruce. Rachel is aware that Bruce is Batman.

However, she refuses to marry Bruce because she doesn’t like that vigilante life, even though she knows it’s for the greater good. She chooses to date her boss Harvey boss instead yet its clear Harvey is a lesser man. Chaotic good characters go to the extremes to get things right, even when there are more reasonable routes to follow.

7 The Chechen – Lawful Evil

Lawful evil characters normally seek to exploit the system rather than abide by it. He is one of the numerous Gotham mobsters who have taken advantage of the city’s poor measures to combat crime. His main goal is to make money by dealing drugs.

When The Joker offers to kill Batman, The Chechen is the only one among the other mobsters who agrees to this idea. He later comes to regret it when The Joker burns the reward money and captures him because he isn’t fond of lenient criminals like him.

6 Commissioner Gordon – Neutral Good

Due to his good work, Gordon was promoted from a lieutenant to a commissioner after the existing commissioner got killed. The fact that Gordon also happened to be a good friend of Batman who other police officers considered to an outlaw makes him neutral good.

On the few occasions that doing the right thing requires breaking a couple of rules, neutral good characters are normally not reluctant to do so. Gordon is one of the only few clean cops in Gotham but he is also willing to do whatever it takes to clean up the city. Even if it means teaming with an outlaw,

5 Lau – Lawful Evil

Despite portraying himself as a law-abiding citizen, the CEO of Lau Security Investments Holdings is secretly working with Gotham’s mobsters. Lawful evil characters know how to exploit the system for their own benefit and Lau does this perfectly.

He is portrayed as more intelligent too. He takes all the mob’s money and puts it in a secret location in Hong Kong to prevent it from being seized by Gotham’s Major Crimes Unit. He does this since he knows that the GCPD has no jurisdiction in Asia.

4 Harvey Dent/Two-Face – Neutral Evil

Neutral evil characters normally have reasons for their actions. Their reasons might not make sense but they abide by them. As for Harvey Dent, he was a good villain but being a bad guy was never in his plans from the beginning. He was a respected District Attorney who managed to put nearly half of Gotham’s criminals behind bars.

He then got captured together with Rachel and put in a warehouse full of oil drums. When the explosion happened, half of his face got burned. Rachel died too. Seeking revenge, he chose to go bad. He also turned on allies (fellow cops), another trait that makes him neutral evil.

3 Alfred Pennyworth – Lawful Good

Lawful good characters believe in doing good and also making those around them feel good. Alfred channels this characteristic better when he decides not to give Bruce the letter from Rachel in which she reveals she’s going to marry Harvey Dent.

Alfred wants Bruce to not get hurt, He wants him to know that Rachel always loved him. Lawful good people also taking pride in having a sense of duty. Alfred enjoys his duty to his master Bruce Wayne and always does whatever is asked of him.

2 Batman/Bruce Wayne – Neutral Good

Batman is generally good but he is a vigilante. Despite the fact that he helps eradicate crime in Gotham, the police consider him a vigilante who doesn’t follow proper procedures. This disqualifies him from being lawful good and makes him neutral good.

Neutral good people value the law but they don’t feel obligated to follow all the traditional bureaucratic rules and regulations. They prefer to solve problems their own way so long as the outcome is good. Bruce doesn’t mind being blamed for killing Harvey Dent because unlike everyone else, he knows Harvey was bad.

1 Joker – Chaotic Evil

The Joker showed just how little he valued peoples’ lives when he planned to blow up two ships (one full of convicts and another full of civilians). The ability to kill without batting an eyelid, and for no good reason at all, is mostly associated with chaotic evil people.

Blowing up hospitals? Throwing people out of buildings? Robbing banks? The crimes were plenty and they were mercilessly executed. There was never a real motive behind the Joker’s crimes. He just enjoyed doing it so that he’d get to ‘play’ with Batman once more.

About The Author

Philip Etemesi
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Philip Etemesi is an author, journalist, screenwriter and film critic based in Nairobi. Kenya. As a child, he preferred watching movies like The Goodfellas instead of Home Alone. His girlfriend constantly has to pull him from the front of the TV but he just keeps returning. Stubborn dude! An animal lover, Philip also has a pet giraffe called Refu.

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