shroudofsorrow

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Neutral Evil

"It can't be bargained with. It doesn't feel pity, remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop until you are dead"

-Kyle Reese on the Terminator

The second of the evil alignments, Neutral Evil characters are those who are out for their own personal gain and will cross any moral line to get it. Said personal gain tends to be along the lines of wealth/greed, or possibly revenge in some instances. Neutral Evil characters don't care if they happen to break the rules in the process of doing what they do, and also work within the bounds of the law and authority only for as long as it is convenient and/or beneficial to them. However by the same token they will not commit random violence and cruelty if they see no direct benefit to it and therefore do not just do evil for evil's sake, although notably some people's definitions of Neutral Evil disagree with me on that front. But either way for a Neutral Evil character, their personal goals come first, and while they again, won't usually do evil deeds out of pure sadism or pointless pleasure, they also don't have too many qualms about crossing moral lines and stabbing people in the back to get what they want. Long story short they look out only for number one.

List items

  • The Pirates of the Caribbean version, whose obsessed with preserving his own existence and acquiring immortality no matter the moral cost.

  • Yet another Disney villain who's interested solely in her own personal gain, though here being staying young and beautiful as opposed to material wealth.

  • Obsessed with ridding the world of the superheroes he'd grown to despise, Syndrome was shown to be pretty single-minded in this goal, and comfortably acted without any kind of legal or ethical restraint as he lured the retired supers to their deaths one by one before then plotting to make himself look like the biggest hero of them all. In essence a classic supervillain criminal mastermind.

  • Believing that darkness could not be destroyed, only channeled, Master Xehanort fell very much into full-on villainy, becoming someone who was willing to cross any line in the name of both power and his "research".

  • Determined to get their hearts back, no matter the moral cost. Seems pretty straight forward to me.

  • Considering that he joined Xehanort and became a Nobody in the first place out of a desire to get something others had that he coveted (the ability to wield a keyblade) and also manipulates others to further his own goals, this a yes.

  • One of the Organization's more lazy members who's pretty content to get others to do work in his stead while he pursues his own more selfish agenda that doesn't really include the rest of the Organization.

  • Like Vexen above and Demyx below, Zexion is pretty darn lazy and prefers to get others to do the dirty work. Zexion also seems to enjoy manipulating others in the service of his own agenda.

  • An unrepentantly lazy individual who is generally content to let others do his dirty work. Though outwardly appearing like a dim-witted goofball and maybe even a bit friendly, in reality he is just as (literally) heartless as any other Nobody.

  • As his character description puts it: "Life to him is a just game to be won".

  • At least in Kingdom Hearts anyway. Can't say anything about his original Final Fantasy VII version.

  • A particularly sociopathic and amoral pirate captain who is ever in pursuit of Soul Edge, the cursed sword he once wielded with zeal. Honestly I could maybe argue for his being Chaotic Evil, but I'll keep him as this for now.

  • Yet another ruthless and amoral mercenary character. Considering how greed seems to be one of his chief motivators and he's worked with several other villains from the series big and small just to satisfy said motivator, I think this one needs little else in the way of explanation.

  • On one hand, he does serve as a recurring flunkey to Shao Kahn, but he's also sometimes plotted against him and is really just out for his own personal gain a lot of the time. As such he'll work within the confines of the system that is serving Shao Kahn only for as long as it is actually beneficial to him.

  • Like Shang Tsung I feel he ultimately fits this despite having some Lawful Evil tendencies. Though he is meant to respect Quan-Chi's authority and serve him diligently (which would be more Lawful), Noob has several times stepped outside of Quan-Chi's influence to pursue his own agenda, as seen with the Noob-Smoke alliance.

  • As a mercenary, one who outright he said he "wasn't paid to feel". Honestly given his propensity for destruction I could probably make a case for his being Chaotic Evil, but for now I'll list him as this.

  • As of God of War III, where in his single-minded quest for (selfish) vengeance against the Olympians he mercilessly slaughters them all along with anyone else who dares to get in his way. This winds up mucking up the entire planet and condemning all life on it, but Kratos doesn't really care about that. And to think people still love the guy. Yeesh.

  • Driven by either ambiguous motives or a complete lack thereof, Iago nevertheless sometimes worked within the system to do his evil deeds, and also never really did any evil that was not part of his "master plan". As such I feel he most fits this alignment despite some arguments for his being Chaotic Evil.

  • The fictional vampire version, who is most concerned with sating his (literal) bloodlust and keeping himself sustained. And seducing the occasional female. That too.

  • Near-mindless servants to Sauron who are forever bound to his will. They are most concerned with reclaiming the One Ring for Sauron and much like the Terminator at the very beginning of this list are pretty single-minded in that one goal, not caring what they do along the way of achieving it but also not really setting out to cause chaos or damage either.

  • A dragon who in his quest for wealth drove the Dwarves out of their ancestral home and from there made himself comfortable on top of their great big pile of treasure. The second he thinks this treasure (that he stole) is being threatened by an outside force, he decides to raze an entire innocent city. So long as he's left alone he's not out causing random destruction, but this does little to diminish his existing evil. All it does really is make him Neutral Evil rather than Chaotic Evil.

  • Not all Dark Elves everywhere, but the Dark Elves known as Drow from Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder are typically listed as being of this alignment. Personally I've always found them to be more Chaotic Evil, but I'll list them here anywhere. I mean, it's not like there can't be some Drow who have specific goals rather than just destruction for destruction's sake right?

  • Not always, but I'd say that after leaving Joffrey's service the Hound is either this or Chaotic Neutral. In the books I'd say he's more this, as he really doesn't see Arya as anything but a bargaining chip with which to save his own hide.

  • Pretty much Game of Thrones' resident example of this alignment. Like, a text-book example. Greedy, manipulative, conniving, backstabbing...the whole nine yards.

  • As his last name kind of implies, Goldfinger likes gold, to the point that he was willing to pretty much nuke Fort Knox's storage of gold to make his own more valuable, also being fine with killing quite a few innocent people in the process.