True Neutral

"What makes a man turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?"

"I stick my neck out for nobody."

—Rick Blaine, Casablanca

The best known Character Alignment system has two axes: Good—Evil and Lawful—Chaotic. But some characters just don't fit either end of either axis: they're not selfless enough to be Good, not exploitative enough to be Evil, not rule-abiding enough to be Lawful, and not arbitrary enough to be Chaotic. They could be described as morally bland. These characters are True Neutral, also known as "Neutral Neutral" or just "Neutral".

A True Neutral character or organization can be introduced as a Wild Card, neither aligned with the Hero nor the Big Bad. On the other hand, they may well be on one side or the other, at least nominally. Perhaps they care little for the conflict and have their own goals, which are neither particularly good or evil. A True Neutral scientist may work for the good guys because it furthers their research, but they may also work for the bad guys for the same reason. They could also be on whichever side their friends are, just because of that. True Neutral characters can seem somewhat selfish, but they can also seem rather happy-go-lucky in comparison to more responsible characters.

True Neutral is the base alignment of animals, which prompts Druids to be of the True Neutral alignment in RPGs, although this is only 'neutral' if you do not consider the animal world and nature elementals a side of their own. Robots that do not come with an ethical system are also True Neutral (though this doesn't stop them having a personality). Muggles and Punch Clock Villains are often the "don't care" variety of True Neutral. Many Byronic Heroes fit True Neutral as well. A True Neutral is somebody whose first solution to any dilemma is 'what would a bear do?'. However, non-sapients and Blue and Orange Morality may be described as not being even True Neutral; this is done when one wants to emphasize that something can't be judged or described by our moral terms at all.

True Neutral makes a good 'transition' alignment—if a Neutral Evil character is going through some serious Character Development, they may reach a point where they're not doing so much evil, but not consistently doing good just yet either, and similarly when they do have something they want done, have no particular preference on whether to do it by obeying rules or breaking them. This can make for a particularly ruthless Wild Card character.

Some True Neutral characters subscribe to neutrality or "balance" as an active philosophy, which taken far enough is a form of Blue and Orange Morality (and Stupid Neutral). This is not very realistic, though, and usually Neutrals are just indifferent or uncommitted. As such, few are neutral enough to be okay with knowingly working for an evil cause. However, they are prone to seeing actual Good alignments as zealotry, at least when they make demands of the Neutral—except if the Neutral character in question is a self-acknowledged coward or similar and admits that there is a better way to live than how she actually does. Further, a Neutral character or organisation may work with an Evil party more easily than a Good character could, because the Neutral cares less and can more easily dismiss things that are only wrong "in principle" according to those overzealous Good characters for some silly reason, ie. where the nasty stuff happens somewhere out of sight or to someone the Neutral doesn't care about. These same reasons are among why they can easily refrain from taking any sides at all. True Neutrals may still Default to Good, because often it's just blatant how nasty the evil side is. See also Neutral No Longer, which is about finally taking sides.

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If you have a difficulty deciding which alignment a neutral-aligned character belongs to, the main difference between Lawful Neutral, True Neutral and Chaotic Neutral is not their lack of devotion to either good or evil, but the methods they believe are best to show it:

• Lawful Neutral characters believe the best way is to have a specific, strict code of conduct, whether self-imposed or codified as a law. Their first impulse when making a moral decision is to refer back to this code; those with externally imposed systems (codes of laws, hierarchies, etc.) will try to work within the system when those systems go wrong. They will refuse to break the code even though it would hurt someone.
• True Neutral characters are indifferent to Order Versus Chaos, and their only interest is in living their own lives. They simply live their lives, whether that means tearing down a code of laws, following a code of laws, creating an orderly society, causing the breakdown of some kinds of order, or staying away from society altogether. They have no particular objective. This may be observed that true neutral characters are completely different from either lawful neutral or chaotic neutral: While one believes in a "orderly" society, the other believes in free will or choice above all, the desire of the individual to pursue self-interest. In the true neutral point of view, these are both extreme axis of the "balanced" view of the true neutral character, whereas both are more of a defensive sort of world view whereas the true neutral is content in simply being, being more of a supportive version to characters or what-not.
• Most Chaotic Neutral characters don't constantly break the law, but they cannot see much value in laws. They believe that their own consciences are their best guides, and that tying themselves to any given code of conduct would be limiting their own ability to do what they want. They do not get along with anyone who tries to instill any kind of order over the Chaotic Neutral character, believing these people to be restricting their freedom. Chaotic Neutral characters often focus very strongly on their individual rights and freedoms, and will strongly resist any form of oppression of themselves.

Compare Crowning Moment of Indifference. For the different types in which this alignment may manifest, check True Neutral/Analysis.

No real life examples, please; this is a trope about how characters are depicted in media. Real people are far more complex than fictional characters, and cannot be pigeonholed this way. (For that matter, many if not most fictional characters cannot be pigeonholed this way, either; see below for the standards on whether to use this trope at all.

Examples of True Neutral include:

When dealing with the examples of specific characters, remember that assigning an alignment to a character who doesn't come with one is subjective (and, at All The Tropes, discouraged). If you have a problem with a character being listed here, it probably belongs on the discussion page. There will be no Real Life examples under any circumstances; it just invites an Edit War.

On works pages: Character Alignment is only to be used in works where it is canonical, and only for characters who have alignments in-story. There is to be no arguing over canonical alignments, and no Real Life examples, ever.

Anime and Manga

• Kevin Mask in Ultimate Muscle entered the stage as Neutral Evil (beating up or killing humans and superhumans alike for kicks and joining the dMp to spite his overbearing father), but soon left for the True Neutral camp (only beating up worthy adversaries in the ring, but not shying away from dirty tricks and killing opponents). Come the Demon Seed arc, he appears to have completed the switch to Neutral - or at least Chaotic Good (challenging the Devil Superhumans to save Meat, all for the good of humanity).
• Fred Lou from Outlaw Star. His business policy is "Don't ask questions" and (with exception to Gene, who he's in love with) "Don't take credit." There's even a scene where Fred calls in to alert Gene about the Kei Pirates' arrival. How does he know they're on Sentinel? Because he sold them their weapons. Twilight Suzuka also falls into this trope, mainly due to her wavering between Lawful Neutral and Chaotic Neutral in the series and her apathy. She adheres to strict codes about assassination, but is willing to twist the letter, if not the spirit, of her code when it suits her purpose. She travels with the Outlaw Star and is a loyal crew member in crisis, but in everyday life walks alone from the others, neither contributing money towards the expenses, nor racking up further expenses.
• Guts from Berserk is so burned out with all the political maneuvering and demonic atrocities that mark his world that he no longer cares about good, evil, law, chaos, or anything outside his own survival and the well-being of his True Companions. Back when he was with the Band of the Hawk, he was closer to Lawful Neutral due to his respect for Griffith, but that's long gone now thanks to the events of the Eclipse. In addition to all of that, he also has to contend with a Chaotic Evil Super-Powered Evil Side that acts as his Enemy Within
• Aoshi Shinomori of Rurouni Kenshin.
• Spike Spiegel of Cowboy Bebop, who doesn't really care about much of anything besides his crew, what's to eat, and where he'll get his next bounty. This is a direct contrast to his previous personality as a criminal working for The Syndicate, when he was much more aligned with Neutral Evil than anything.
  • He gradually becomes closer to Chaotic Good or Neutral Good as the series progresses and he finds himself inadvertantly helping people while on bounty hunts.
• Kino of Kino's Journey is interested in traveling and observing the world. Period. She's pretty adamant about not interfering; it takes some pretty special circumstances for her to do so. She once listened to a man explain to her how he killed a woman's family and then decided to become The Atoner and protect her... Kino then passively watched as said woman shot him dead. She makes company with villains and heroes, and contemplates what drives both. Do not, however, think that this means she's submissive; she will kill anyone who attacks her or stops her travels without hesitation and without remorse.
• The Data Overmind from Suzumiya Haruhi, which seeks the maintain the status quo so that it can monitor the series' eponymous character. Yuki, the android interface which it uses to interact with the show's characters initially follows this alignment as well, but as she develops a more independent personality, she drifts more towards Neutral Good.
  • Also, Sasaki from the same series. How close she is to becoming Neutral Evil is anyone's guess.
  • And then we have Kyon of course. Sure he saves the world and genuinely cares about the Brigade members, Yuki the most. But then again, he also likes to be a cynical jerk. Above all of course is his sheer apathy to everything.
• Dracule Mihawk from One Piece doesn't seem to really care about anything short of finding someone who can surpass him in swordsman skills. He takes a passing interest in Zoro and Luffy, which is why he doesn't kill the former after their hopelessly one-sided duel; as for Luffy, during the Whitebeard War saga he decides to attack him without holding back just to see if fate will really somehow miraculously save his life despite his best efforts.
  • Crocodile starts out somewhere in the Neutral Evil range: posing as a legitimate businessman and government-sanctioned "hero" of a country his secret organization is working to overthrow, so that he can found a new military regime (also, superweapon). After his defeat, he passes on an opportunity to escape prison out of sheer disinterest, only to escape later on by joining our heroes to fight in the War of the Summit, wherein he was on the side of exactly no one: He started out wanting to take Whitebeard's head, rebuffed an offer to join forces with Donquixote Doflamingo, and then saved both Ace and Luffy, just to spite the Marines. What he's up to next is anyone's guess.
• Shizuru from My-HiME started out as a Type 2 Neutral, taking a relaxed approach to everything (her official bio states that one of her pet peeves is "being rushed") but eventually became Neutral Evil when she received her powers and felt that violence was the only way to keep her from being separated from Natsuki.
• The Gundam series has many great examples.
  • Anaheim Electronics is probably the quintessential example. THE mobile suit manufacturer in the UC-verse, they sell their products to anybody willing to pay for them, and often end up supplying multiple opposing factions in the same conflict.
  • Oliver May of MS Igloo is probably an example, too. In spite of being a sentient, aware young man toward everything happening in the forces of Zeon, he could do very little to change the course for them.
  • Lalah Sune counts as a Type 7 True Neutral.
  • Wu Fei Chang in Gundam Wing, after a Freak-Out, starts attacking everybody in space who possesses weapons regardless of what side they're on. Treize Kushrenada is probably another good example, though he uses one assassination or the other to serve his purpose, he mainly uses his charisma and intellect to legally governing the OZ organization and whose ultimate plan was to start a war so terrible that would make both Earth and the space colonies give up war forever while giving up his own life in the process.
  • The ORB Union from the Cosmic Era timeline established themselves as a neutral nation. They allow naturals and coordinators to live in their country, and they have a non-discrimination policy to ensure coexistence. Their national motto also reflects their global-political standings;

"ORB will not attack another nation, will not allow another nation to attack them, and will not intervene in the conflicts of other nations".

• • Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is filled with this. There's Celestial Being, a paramilitary organization created to eradicate war, they will attack any nations or factions who they see causing tensions. CB founder Aeolia Schenberg and members Lockon Stratos (the first), Sumeragi Lee Noriega and Feldt Grace are true neutrals of types 5, 13, 9 and 6 respectively. Regene Regetta of the Innovators is a type 2 & 13. Then there's Ordinary High School Sweethearts Saji Crossroad and Louise Halevy. They spent most of the first season as Type 10 True Neutrals being Innocent Bystanders until their heart-breaking Wham! Episode. Lastly, Azadistan first princess Marina Ismail. Being an Actual Pacifist, she spent the whole second season as a Type 7 True Neutral.
  • Asemu Asuno, whose main concern as a young soldier is to become stronger so that he can defeat his X-Rounder former friend in battle, even disregarding the rules of his father's military at times.
• Near from Death Note. Although he tries to emulate the Lawful Neutral L, it is obvious that he doesn't have anywhere near as much of a sense of justice. Indeed, he's only chasing after Kira because he's the guy who chases after Kira, and ethics and motivations have nothing to do with it.
  • Ryuk, and apparently the Shinigami in general. He leans a little towards Chaotic Neutral due to him dropping the title Artifact of Doom into the human world just because he's bored and wants to see what will happen. Other than that, though, he just watches what happens, and makes it clear that he has no sense of loyalty or emotional attachment to the person who finds the notebook (Light, in this case), and rarely interferes with anything. Still, Ryuk doesn't seem to be evil or overly malicious, and he has enough decency to call Light out when he's emotionally abusive to Misa.
• Genkai of Yu Yu Hakusho holds a tournament to determine her successor, and is willing to train whoever wins, even if it is an assassin or a demon. In the Dark Tournament, she admits that she is not a champion of justice, but she fights against those she dislikes, which includes her former teammate Toguro.
• In Code Geass, there's Lloyd Asplund, C.C and Diethard Reid.
• Nathan Mahler from Blood Plus is Diva's chevalier but he is completely apathetic to her organisation's plan to replace humanity with chiropterans. Not only does he refuse to take orders from Amshel, he often prevents other villains from killing Saya despite the fact that Saya is the major threat to Diva's plan. The only thing he is concerned with is the happiness of Diva, which in the end turns out to be completely irrelevant to her plan to turn all humans into chiropterans. Throughout the series, Nathan remains as a distant observer to how the two queens of vampires struggle against each other and where that struggle leads to.
• Golgo 13. Duke Togo seems to live by one single rule: if someone meets his hefty fee and explains their motives for wanting another person dead, Golgo 13 will put a bullet in said person's head in a laughably improbable manner. As long as you do NOT double-cross him, of course
• Benny from Black Lagoon. Ultimately, he isn't willing to cross the line entirely into the villain territory occupied by most of the rest of Roanapur, but he's certainly no charity case either and merely associating with Revy is probably soul-staining enough to keep him off the straight and narrow.
  • Rock, as of El Baile de los Muertos, has become this.
  • Roberta fits this before and after her breakdown.
• So Touma from Q.E.D., who prefers to laid back than getting involved in cases. But Kana makes him do it anyway.
• Record of Lodoss War has the fourth variant down pat in the form of Karla, whose goal seems to be the preservation of balance—when two kings clash in the battlefield and one falls, she quickly blasts the other from afar.
• Fai D. Flowright, or however you choose to spell it from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. While he bears no actual malice to any of the main characters—and, indeed, repeatedly demonstrates that he's grown close to all of them—the fact remains that he knows a hell of a lot more than they do about what's on from the very beginning of the series and doesn't say anything because he's technically working for the Big Bad. He becomes Neutral Good when all of his dirty secrets come out and his friends help him move beyond his many, many personal issues.
  • Clone!Syaoran belongs here too. It's true that he does a large number of absolutely horrible things once he appears on the scene, but this is less due to him being "evil" and more because he's a moral-free construct programmed to complete the task he was made for by any means necessary. He also performs a Heroic Sacrifice-slash-Heel Face Turn for the protagonists when he attacks his creator Fei Wong Reed, demonstrating that he's developed a heart of his own.
• Hei and, in fact, most Contractors in Darker than Black.
• Haku of Naruto typically defines his existence as serving as the Neutral Evil Zabuza's tool and assisting in his evil doings, but unlike Zabuza, has a conscience and has, on at least one occasion, rendered his opponents unconscious to avoid having to kill them.
  • Also, to the untrained eye, Sasuke seems to change alliances as often as he changes his wardrobe (the two actually seem to be somewhat connected anyway, as in the case of the Akatsuki robes), but it's more the result of this trope, which drives him to work with anyone as long as it furthers his own goals (and, by extension, betray them if simply leaving isn't an option), which basically means he's on his own side and no one else's, falling between type 2 and 9.
    • Konan of the Akatsuki fits True Neutral as well.
• Lambdadelta from Umineko no Naku Koro ni seems to be the fourth variety seeing as she does whatever she can to make sure both sides are equal or close to it like in episode 6 where she throws popcorn to prevent one character form killing/denying another
• Most of the characters in Ranma ½ are Chaotic Neutral (with the more villainy-inclined being Neutral Evil), but Cologne is True Neutral, after an initial stint of behavior that can be seen as Neutral Evil. While initially entering the series in an attempt to make Ranma marry Shampoo, she basically gives up after that first story and more or less settles for watching the madness with every sign of joy at the entertainment, occasionally chipping in with aid for either Ranma, Shampoo or Ryoga Hibiki. Kasumi Tendo is generally considered to be Neutral Good, mainly because she is totally non-violent and very docile (not to mention Word of God describing her as a "saint" because of her lack of violent behavior and active malice). However, niceness does not equate goodness (hence the existence of the Affably Evil (where someone manages to be very nice despite being a villain), Faux Affably Evil (where someone is a villain, even a Complete Monster, yet still manages to be good-humored and pleasant) and Good Is Not Nice (where someone is unpleasant, yet still a fundamentally decent person) tropes) and it's legitimately possible to see her as a sweet-hearted and gentle True Neutral of types 2, 10 or 12.
• Simon starts off as this in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Perhaps because his big brother actually sweats Chaotic Good, it doesn't last very long.
• Anti Villains Coyote Starrk and Tia Harribel from Bleach.
  • In the Soul Society Arc, Mayuri Kurotsuchi is Obviously Evil. Being either Neutral Evil or Chaotic Evil. He {{[[[Abusive Parents]] beat his daughter}}, killed his subordinates, and taunted his foe. However, after the Soul Society he has yet to repeat any of these actions. He's saved Renji and Uryu, healed them, has yet to beat his daughter, given Uryu weapons to use in future battles, and even gave his Squad time to leave the Fake Karakura Town before closing it. His stance as a Neutral character is further shown by his willingness to order the deaths of 28000 souls to preserve the balance.
• Switzerland and Liechtenstein from Axis Powers Hetalia. Switzerland is a Type 12 (shoots and yells at people when they disturb him, mostly, and hides his care for others except for his younger sister) and Liechtenstein is a Type 2 (sweet and gentle like a Neutral Good, but doesn't necessarily go out of her way to help others).
  • This actually becomes a plot point in Paint it White where their very neutrality (among other things) actually saves them from the Alien Invasion going on elsewhere. They even spend an intimate, seemingly quiet picnic for most of the movie, totally unaware of the mess outside.
  • Some fanworks portrays Austria post-WW 2 as a reluctant example of this trope. In the series themselves, he seems to be more Lawful Neutral: he objects to Maria Theresa's orders and isn't thrilled when Germany comes for him under instructions, but follows them anyway.
• Sesshomaru from Inuyasha falls here after his Heel Face Turn.
• Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion. While he saves the world on a regular basis, he has no idealic reason for doing so (like the Neutral Good Misato or Chaotic Good Kaji). He's only interested in being an EVA pilot because his father told him to and he sees it at a way to get recognition from both his dad and the people he works with. He very nearly quit the job twice for no other reason then the fact that the terror of being a pilot wasn't worth such a long-shot of a reward. In spite of having very selfish motivations, he manages to keep a layer of sympathy by having a truly terrible life and having not even wanted to be an EVA pilot in the first place.
  • Pretty much all of the Angels fall into True Neutral. They don't express any malice or sadism towards humanity, they simply follow their one objective: to unite with Lilith. The fact that it will destroy the world is merely a byproduct of that union. Kowru Nagisa, especially, holds no malice.
• Truth, the closet thing that the Fullmetal Alchemist-verse has to a deity, is best understood as this alignment. He has no active involvement in human life, neither rewarding the good or punishing the bad. However, if an alchemist infringes upon the laws of nature and comes before Truth, he upholds the laws of Equivalent Exchange by taking an organ or limb from them (which he does with sadistic glee) but in exchange, they gain the ability to do alchemy without a transmutation circle. Finally, while he's certainly a jerkass, Truth ultimately shows just enough benevolence to not fit any evil alignment.
  • As is stated in the series, his purpose is to discourage the humans to try to enter the domains of God.
  • He can also be seen as the Anthropomorphic Personification of the world (which is how he describes himself if asked). Neither good nor evil, but a representation of the natural laws of the universe, which of course take no sides.
  • Yoki, a former Corrupt Bureaucrat is also True Neutral, but in a different way. He's a coward that initially acted cruelly to subordinates, but ends up being brought low and eventually figures out that he won't get his ass kicked so often if he acts like less of a jerk. He's not evil, good, lawful, or chaotic enough to be anything but True Neutral.
    • Hohenheim, Lust and Sloth of the first anime also count.
• Re-L Mayer and later on, Raul Creed of Ergo Proxy.
• Thorfinn of Vinland Saga.
• Chloe & Mirelle of Noir.
• Apparently Shiki Ryougi of Kara no Kyoukai: fame,as a strong type 3 and 12.
• Perky Goth and Knowledge Broker Undertaker from Black Butler.
• Charden Flamberg of Black Cat. Unlike his comrades, he has genuine reasons for hating Chronos and follows the Big Bad to do so. But, he leaves when he realizes that Creed's ego has taken over.
• Papillion of Busou Renkin. He doesn't want to kill humans and burn the world to ash, but, he's not going to help anyone out unless he gets something out of it.
• Yuko Ichihara, the Dimension Witch of xxxHolic and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.
• Wild Card Kai Hiwatari of Beyblade.
• In Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Kyubey is one of these. Despite behaving in an extremely creepy manner at all times, he's only watching for the wellbeing of the universe, even though during the main plot that causes a huge amount of death and suffering. After the finale it can be seen that he keeps the same personality, but behaves in a much friendlier manner. But that's not because he changed, he still has the same goal, it's just that in the new universe the most straightforward way of achieving it looks friendlier.
• Roger Dunstan, his doji Milleiu and Fushimi Agari from Karakuridouji Ultimo.
• The eponymous Lain Iwakura from Serial Experiments Lain.
• Also, Ai Enma, the titular Hell Girl.
• Two from Texhnolyze: Ichise, who has an obsessive drive to survive and doesn't care who's side that he's on & Doc, who wants to research and experiment with Texhnolyzation.

Comic Books

• Wormy the dragon is true neutral in increasingly complex ways.
• Metron of The DCU's New Gods is more concerned with seeking out knowledge than taking part in the huge cosmic war that the rest of his people are engaged in, and has aided both sides over the years.
  • Metron though has a very definite role as a mediator in the Cold War between Apokolips and New Genesis, which is dependant on both sides being convinced of his neutrality. If he crossed the line to help New Genesis one too often Darkseid would no longer use him, which increases the chance of another outbreak of violent conflict. Metron is closer to Lawful Neutral or even Lawful Good, as he generally sides and sympathises with heroic characters, and less so with the local God of Evil who is rather up front about his ultimate ambition to enslave or kill everything in the universe, including Metron himself.
• Doctor Manhattan from Watchmen, to the absolute screaming extreme. He's just stopped viewing life from a human perspective, and cares almost nothing for anything else than observing pretty physics.
• Marvel's Civil War arc had characters that fell firmly in the number 7 group. In particular, Ben Grimm (The Thing) - who ran off to France rather than choose a side and end up fighting one teammate (Mr. Fantastic, Pro-Reg) or the other two (Sue and Johnny Storm, Anti-Reg).
• Namor of Marvel Comics doesn't quite qualify; at any given time he can fall into any of the alignments by virtue of having drastically different motives from most of the Marvel Universe and a disorder that manifests as drastic character changes due to his Half-Human Hybrid biology. He goes here because he averages out as True Neutral, and he's the only person who can effectively have a reputation as both good and evil without anyone giving him lip about it (if only because he could kick the Hulk's ass).
  • Just in case anyone doubts Namor's position as True Neutral, take this into account: he's a member of Professor X's Illuminati (good) and Norman Osborn's Cabal (evil), at the same time. And he's not acting as The Mole for either group, since neither knows that he's a member of the other.
• The Sandman; Death, Desire and Despair are True Neutral.
• Marvel's Taskmaster has Awesomeness By Analysis powers; that being the case, he trains anyone who will pay him, be it villain or hero. He'll happily work for a Complete Monster like Red Skull one second and then take a job from SHIELD the next.
  • It has been recently revealed in his own miniseries that Taskmaster was originally a SHIELD agent thus a good character. The reason why he's neutral now is because of his ability's drawback of overwriting his personal memories due to the sheer amount of moves he memorizes causing him to forget who he was.
• Galactus is beyond your petty morality and insipid human judgement: He is what he is. And what he does is hunger.
• The Watcher watches. That's it! (That and host all the "What If?" comics, but still.) His job is the universe's biggest voyeur!
• Newspaper comic example: Wally from Dilbert. Very much a Just Don't Care type. As are most of the others after overexposure to management; when someone died while working in the office, Dilbert did nothing because that way someone else has to do the paperwork.
• Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge. Carl Barks noted that their ability to serve as either the hero or villain of a story made them infinitely more interesting to write for, as opposed to the generally moral Mickey Mouse.
• The Qaron from Empire come across as Type 2. Their agenda is alien to the characters they're dealing with, and their ability to see the future causes them to behave in a way that seems totally amoral.
• Frau Totenkinder from Fables. She's kind to those who show her respect and good manners, but more than willing to crush her enemies or those who treat her rudely. She also gains power from the blood of babies. Ultimately, she's on no one's side but her own.
• The Sandman fits the trope very well. So do a bunch of the other endless, such as Death, Destruction and Delight/Delirium. And how could I forget, Destiny. If he was any more neutral, he'd just sit there and do nothing... wait- He does.
  • The rest of the endless are arguably also neutral, but Desire and Despair, if judged by human standards, might tend to sadism.
    • Despair is neutral (if not very pleasant for others) as she only cares about her work and hoping the family will be nice (although she is easily swayed by Desire). The others tend to good (Death and Destruction) or evil (the actively malicious Desire).
      • Destruction actually abandons his role as Destruction largely because he can no longer carry it out in a neutral fashion - his feelings get in the way.
• Deaths Head, Freelance Peacekeeping Agent. He'll do anything as long as he's paid, and paid well.

...I didn't care about their cause in the slightest. If the king had hired me, I'd have happily killed the rebels!

• The Punisher is a Vigilante Man and Anti-Hero, though many may consider chaotic neutral is not really known for being a "free spirit."
• Peter Parker starts out as a Type 11 True Neutral, and continues to be this even after acquiring the special ability as Spider-Man, up until the death of his dear uncle because of his own indifferent attitude toward the villain who killed him. Afterwards, he became the Neutral Good Spider-Man we know today.
• Spawn likewise switches between this and Neutral Good, Depending on the Writer. Understandably so; caught between the Lawful Evil Knight Templar angels and Chaotic Evil Legions of Hell, it's something of an in-universe Darkness Induced Protagonist Apathy. He still helps people but mostly wants to be left alone.

Fan Fic

• Andy of Calvin and Hobbes The Series doesn't really care much about good or evil, mostly just playing video games and going along with Calvin's misadventures.

Film

• The Aliens.
• The Kaminoans from the Star Wars prequels seem to pretty much not care about the rest of the galaxy. They just want to clone, and research new ways to clone, and raise their clones, and...
• Agent Sands (Depp's character) in Once Upon a Time In Mexico. He actually says "restore the balance" when he explains his purpose. It includes summarily executing cooks who are too good.
• Captain Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean. He has enough respect for the traditions of piracy in the third film to cement his place in non-chaotic ground.
• Most of John Anderton's temporary allies in Minority Report fall under this heading: Rufus Riley and Dr Solomon Eddie are grey-market salesmen who are only interested in Anderton's money, while Dr Iris Hineman has no interest in anything outside her Garden of Evil.
• Rick Blaine starts out like this in Casablanca.
  • Captain Renault may be a better example. He seems to be having just as much fun when he's collaborating with the Nazis as when he's resisting them. He even flat-out says at one point that he "blows with the wind."
• Due to never receiving instructions on anything from their state legislature, the New York delegates in 1776 never vote on anything, always abstaining. Courteously. In the end, they decide to sign the Declaration anyway.
• Han Solo in his first Star Wars appearances. Some people might consider him Chaotic Neutral given his status as a Lovable Rogue; however he seems to really be putting profit ahead of everything else.
  • Luke Skywalker, as with many other young heroes in fictions, also starts as a True Neutral - a typical youngster serving his family at home until he meets Obi-Wan Kenobi.
  • Anakin Skywalker. He just as easily makes friends with the Neutral Evil Chancellor as the Neutral Good Obi-Wan. While he dislikes restrictions and laws, he still follows orders because it's all he's known. The only people he cares about are his immediate friends, and his goals are related only to solving an immediate problem (saving Padmé, avenging his mother, becoming the most powerful man in the galaxy). He skirts between good and evil, law and chaos, before finally settling on Lawful Evil.
• Godzilla in some timelines is True Neutral, the Heisei series most clearly, simply wants to survive, then when he has his son, take care of him. However, invade his turf or hurt his son and you're in trouble.
• The Terminator is Type 10, a machine whose decisions are severely limited by its programming.
• Jules from Pulp Fiction can be seen as both Type 2 and Type 5.
• Martin Blank, the Hitman with a Heart from Grosse Pointe Blank.
  • And by extention, Brad Hauser of "War, Inc."".
• Benny of The Mummy 1999 personifies the coward type. He sticks like glue to O'Connell in the opening until he can't guarantee his safety anymore (he then shuts him out of his hiding place in order to save his own life). When he returns to Haminaptra, he does so only for profit, caring nothing about the people who have brought him there. When his life depends on being spared by Imhotep, his loyalties shift again and he helps him hunt down the very people who he was just working for - all for the promise of gold. In the end, he tries to cling to O'Connell again when Imhotep is gone and unable to save his life as Haminaprtra crumbles.
• Jill Tuck, from the latter half of the Saw franchise. It's made clear that she at least knew what her husband was doing to those he judged as "unworthy of life". Though she never aided him in his tests, she didn't do much to stop him, either, or try to turn him in to the police.
• The Genre Savvy Handsome Lech Graverobber of Repo! The Genetic Opera. He's a drug-dealer who opts to stay out of the main conflict throughout the movie and is probably the smartest character to do so. He even comes out alive at the end.
• Broken Bird Shoshanna Dreyfuss of Inglorious Basterds.
• The Driver of Drive.
• Kick-Ass - and notably even his arch-nemesis Red Mist - are both True Neutral, with Kick-Ass himself as Type 8, and Red Mist Type 12.
• Dom Cobb of Inception. A fugitive who is on the run from authorities for apparently murdering his wife (and arguably did by manipulating her into waking up from the dream world and driving her insane). He readily accepts work from Lawful Evil Corrupt Corporate Executives, and breaks into peoples' dreams for a living, but is a thief because circumstances force him to be. During the Inception mission, he wasn't motivated by a desire to see justice done in stopping a powerful international monopoly from controlling the world's economy; he just wanted to see his children again, and the business deal he made with resident Noble Demon Saito would have allowed him to see his children again. He is also quite manipulative, but genuinely cares about the people he loves, and watches out for his Fire-Forged Friends.

Literature

• Mundungus Fletcher of the Harry Potter series.
  • Also Peter Pettigrew, AKA Wormtail, who pretty much follows and obeys without question whoever he feels is best capable of keeping him safe. At first this was James Potter, who was more of a Neutral Good (maybe leaning more towards Chaotic Good, what with his frequent disregard for rules), but ultimately ends up on the side of Voldemort himself (likely Neutral Evil or even Lawful Evil, considering how he uses the laws to try and restrict Harry's movements in book 7).
  • Goblins, who regard the main conflict in the series as "a wizard's war" and therefore not concerning them. Centaurs as well, who are only concerned with predicting the future and refuse to go against what has been foretold, although one centaur, Firenze, says My Species Doth Protest Too Much and gets kicked out of the herd.
    • In the case of goblins and centaurs though, their perceived neutrality on wizarding matters is really more a case of Blue and Orange Morality. Bill Weasley's remarks on goblin ideas of ownership even provide the page quote.
  • As The Atoner, Severus Snape is this combined with Knight in Sour Armour.
• Death of the Discworld is sometimes this, and sometimes... not. Really, he's all over the place. He tends to go from a friendly Type 3 True Neutral to an odd combination of Lawful and Chaotic Good. For example, he has rules he has to follow, but nothing stops him from, say, "hinting" to his granddaughter that something ought to be done, or twisting a rule to do the right thing. In the early books he would sometimes "have a talk" with the gods.
  • The justice system in Ankh-Morpork is a somewhat haphazard affair. The Guilds punish offenders against their rules, and the Guild of Lawyers sells its services to anyone with cash. At least the police force is severely low on corruption. Vetinari is the court of the last appeal for those too poor to afford a lawyer, or who ran afoul of someone more powerful, or those no-one cares about. And surprisingly often he decides in their favour, as a moral lesson to everyone.
    • Well, what about Vetinari? Possibly inclining a little more towards Lawful at times, but in some of his appearances he's about as Neutral as it's possible to be.
  • Also from Discworld, Rincewind, the Cosmic Plaything Chew Toy of the Disc, tries to be a prime example of the "doesn't care about Good or Evil" variety, despite having saved the world about half a dozen times (against his will, mostly). He is by no means a bad person either, but would love it if the world just decided to forget all about him. However, the number of times that he's disregarded his overwhelming cowardice in the pursuit of the greater good (even ending a magical war that could have destroyed the Disc with a half-brick in a sock) indicate that despite his best efforts, he retains some Neutral Good impulses. His enemies, funnily enough, probably percieve him to be more Chaotic Good, whether he likes it or not.
  • Death from Good Omens might be an even better example than his Discworld counterpart.
• Raistlin of the Dragonlance saga started out as this, as signified by his red robes but wasn't exactly content to stay that way...
• Titania & Thomas Raith from The Dresden Files.
  • Mother Winter and Mother Summer are either Type 2 with hints of 6 and 9, or are merely so bound by Law that they can't really do much without risking the balance of pretty much everything. Or both.
  • The Erlking is also considered to be of this alignment. He's explicitly stated as not being evil, but as the embodiment of the ideal of the hunt, while he's after prey the Erlking is merciless and vicious. Later on in Changes, he's actually quite friendly and polite and gracious when Susan and Harry burst into his castle-cave. On the other hand, the Erlking is the ruler of goblins, who are most definitely not this alignment.
  • The White Council of Wizards is also officially of this alignment. Their primary goal is the regulation of magic as a whole, to ensure that wizards do not abuse their power by breaking one of the Seven Laws of magic. Justice and morality does not factor into the regulation of magic, only whether or not the wizard has violated one of the Laws. Harry and Luccio actually engage in a bit of a debate on this in Turn Coat, where Luccio makes a good case for why wizards as a whole stay out of mortal affairs, noting that Grey and Gray Morality complicates efforts to determine who is right and who is wrong. On the other hand, the Council is quite willing to violate the same Laws in the defense of itself and humanity, as evidenced by the office of the Blackstaff, which serves as the Council's assassin and wetworks specialist.
  • Bob the Skull, who is explicitly a morally blanks slate defined by his current owner when they take possession of him. In Harry Dresden's possession, Bob is snarky, insubordinate, and obsessed with sex, but ultimately pretty harmless- but when he belonged to Heinrich Kemmler, he was cold-bloodedly malevolent and deeply creepy. Were Bob to change hands again well, in Ghost Story Butters got him, but since he first met Harry's Bob, Butters' Bob is almost identical, he would get a new, likely completely different, personality.
• The Dealy Lama AKA Gruad the Grayface from The Illuminatus Trilogy. His philosophy is summed up best by an old koan which tells about a duckling that is placed in a glass bottle and allowed to grow until it is too big to fit through the bottle neck, and asks how to remove it without breaking the bottle. The answer, of course is to let it continue to grow until it is big enough to break out of the bottle on its own. However, he denies being uninvolved in world affairs, stating that "someone needs to feed the duckling while it grows".
• Redwall's Asmodeus could fall into either this trope or Neutral Evil. He eats good and bad characters alike, bears no grudge or sympathy to either side, and doesn't actively try to make his victims suffer (in fact, his habit of hypnotising them beforehand could be seen as making them suffer less). He's definitely dangerous, but a snake's got to eat something.
• Tuf Voyaging by George R. R. Martin stars Haviland Tuf, a quiet, modest space trader/ecological engineer who just happens to be sole owner/operator of a 30-km-long 'seedship' filled with all manner of Lost Technology. He hires out indiscriminately, but if your ecosystem is out of balance, he'll co-operate with your demands in finest druidic style by ensuring that whatever you're doing to destabilise it will eventually be corrected. By him. His character development via his interactions with humanity leads to him, in the last story in the book, enforcing a peace by dispassionately saying "I go now to destroy your respective homeworlds. Rest assured, I hold no ill will against you.". Then, just after that, he reveals that the new wonder plant that will feed an overpopulated world that he had helped earlier also induces widespread sterilisation. He compares it to neutering cats.
• A Song of Ice and Fire: Jaime Lannister, after he becomes POW Character seems to show signs of a type 9 True Neutral. He has challenged the will of his father to join the Kingsguard, then "betrayed" his king. Faced with scorn for his oathbreaking ways, he embraces the arrogant and amoral personality people seemed to expect from him, but now tries to make amends.
  • The Guild of the Faceless Men's philosophy seems close enough of True Neutrality.
• The B'omarr Monks in Tales From Jabba's Palace have absolutely no interest in anything besides achieving their own form of enlightenment and putting their brains in jars when they do. Even having their monastery converted into a palace and occupied by crime lords doesn't matter to them- until the ending, in which they reclaim it following Jabba's death.
• Tom the Merchant in Deltora Quest is a happy shopkeeper to both the Evil Overlords forces and the Resistance members, giving different discounts and preferential treatments to both (only discriminating against the neutral adventurers).
• Though she's a benign character in the movie adaptation, the original novel The Neverending Story gradually reveals the Childlike Empress to be an inhuman and almost unfathomably neutral entity, with her sole concern being the preservation of Fantasia's existence. Atreyu attempts to invoke her authority to save Falkor from a monster, only for it to reply that, since she transcends good and evil, the Empress would never forbid it from acting on its own evil nature. Later, he's shocked to learn that, now that Bastian's served her purpose in saving Fantasia, she has no further interest in his well being. Being heroically good himself, Atreyu renounces his loyalty to her and swears to help Bastian anyway.
• In The Worm Ouroboros by Eric Rücker Eddison, there is a character who seems to be the ultimate expression of 1st Edition AD&D's definition of True Neutral, Lord Gro. He is pathologically obsessed with 'the Underdog' - to the point where he even switches sides to the losing side in the middle of a battle. He's also a bit of a Combat Pragmatist, even to the point of suggesting to his (temporary) liege that he attack under a flag of truce to ensure victory. He also is the most nuanced and otherwise fully developed character in the book.
• The oracles in The Belgariad are supposed to cultivate being on the fence so they can make an unbiased decision between good and evil. Though traveling with the good people and being courted by and eventually marrying one of them might just possibly have influenced her decision.
• The Ents in The Lord of the Rings. "I am not altogether on anybody's side, because nobody is altogether on my side," quoth Treebeard.
• Tom Holt's The Better Mousetrap has Frank Carpenter, who limits himself to this alignment because he knows the kind of havoc that would result if someone who Only Wants To Make The World A Better Place or Someone Who Only Wants To Screw People Over had the time-travelling Portable Door he inherited. He uses it to save people...thereby making himself 10% of the money an insurance company would have had to pay out if they were dead. (Most other Holt protagonists are either this or a particularly screwed-up variant of Neutral Good).
• Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM! is an obvious Type 2, keeping up his image as a hero just to keep himself out of trouble, which usually turns out to be something that he just doesn't have the luck to avoid anyway. Jurgen would count as a Type 6 if it wasn't for his unwavering loyalty and sense of duty putting him pretty solidly in Lawful Neutral territory.
• An example of this alignment is found in one of the most famous books of Italian literature, The Betrothed, in the character of Don Abbondio. He is a cowardly priest who, threatened by the men of Smug Snake Don Rodrigo, refuses to marry the two protagonists, coming across the Punch Clock Villain of the first chapters. Throughout the whole book he is painted as a basically decent, but spineless and mediocre old man whose only purpose in life is avoiding troubles.
• From the Star Trek Novel Verse, specifically Star Trek: New Frontier, there's the Boragi. They're infamous for their lack of concern for anything but their own needs. Always neutral, they have a habit of stirring up trouble, setting other races against each other (all the time remaining suspiciously uninvolved) and then coming in to pick up the pieces once their neighbours have blown each other to smithereens. Any alliance with a Boragi is nothing of the kind- they honour only their own needs and will always, always, turn away when it bests suits them.
• The Witchers have a professional code of neutrality. Geralt, in any media, seems to suffer just as much for breaking it as maintaining it.
• The Ekumen as a whole. They do persuade inhabited worlds to join them, but they're mostly interested in observing, and almost never interfere, even if a member planet does something against Ekumenical code. If that happens, the Ekumen will usually just withdraw and wait (for hundreds of years if necessary) for the planet's inhabitants to sort it out themselves.
• Irial from Wicked Lovely.
• Hawk from the Spenser series by Robert Parker. Early on the series, Hawk appears (at a casual first glance) to be an Affably Evil legbreaker. However, Spenser's evaluation of Hawk in the book "Hush Money" identifies him positively as a True Neutral character: "You're completely pragmatic...you don't care what people call you...you don't care about color. You don't get mad, you don't get sentimental. You don't hate anyone. You don't love anyone. You don't mind violence. You don't enjoy violence." (As an aside, Hawk responds only to disagree with the "you don't love anyone" statement, remarking that he "kind of like[s]" Spenser's girlfriend, Susan.)
• Meursault, from L'Etranger.

Live Action TV

• This is apparently why George was picked to be a reaper.
• Hades, as portrayed on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess, considers himself above the petty squabbles of god and man, and pays little attention to them one way or the other. This sort of indifference makes him a sometimes-ally, sometimes-foe to the heroes.
• The Ferengi from Star Trek would seem to be the 'Just Don't Care' version. They'll happily do business with anyone.
• The Vulcans of Star Trek are famous for their impartiality, as exemplified in their mantra "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one" (which includes the individual Vulcan himself or herself).
• Although Wesley from Buffy/Angel starts out as Lawful Good, he drifts into Neutral Good territory after undergoing Character Development—however, some of that Character Development then takes him down a darker path into this area.
  • Another possible example would be Lorne, who often seems to see himself as morally obliged to lend his powers to anyone who asks, even if they're very evil, on the grounds that he's just an instrument of fate.
• The True Ancients in Farscape: being godlike aliens that live in another dimension, they have no interest in the affairs of the main characters. In fact, the only reason they took an interest in John Crichton was due to his wormhole knowledge, which could endanger the very fabric of reality if used incorrectly- one of the reasons they honestly considered killing him to save time.
• Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory could have been mad efor this archetype; he's occasionally actively malicious or well-intentioned, but usually just does whatever will help him achieve his own goals or improve his personal quality of life. Although at first glance, with his fondness for complicated contracts and numerous personal rules and quirks he appears Lawful Neutral, all such agreements are written specifically to benefit him, and he is willing to obey or disobey Federal, State and scientific ethical conduct laws depending on what brings him the most short-term benefit.
• Firefly's River Tam is ordinarily Chaotic Good, but she becomes the fifth form of this when a certain advertisement for Fruity Oaty Bars comes on.
  • Depending on who you ask, Jayne Cobb could be considered True Neutral, showing surprising loyalty to Mal (even when he could make more money betraying him) and to the rest of the crew, and only turning on River and Simon when both offered a lot of money and River attacks him and presents a danger to the rest of the crew.
  • Zoe. She's fiercely loyal to her crew and isn't entirely cold-blooded; however, she has demonstrated a ruthless sort of pragmatism on various occasions. She very much dislikes the Alliance, and displays contempt for bureaucracy and authoritarian order, while at the same time respecting and enforcing Mal's brand of order on board the ship. This potentially makes her a mixture of types 11 and 12, depending on how much of her past you're taking into account.
• Frankie from Lip Service.
• The Rock of Ages in the Merlin miniseries, who spends most of his time sleeping and being mistaken for a mountain. Since he's one of the few immortals that don't require human belief to survive, he isn't troubled by Christianity's arrival in Britain, and only helps Merlin because his role requires the least amount of work- holding Excalibur.
• Possibly John Locke from Lost, although it's a tough call. He's definitely not a bad guy, but he commits several acts that are apparently selfish and even amoral. He seems to alternate between law (doing everything the Island says) and chaos (he has a long history of losing his faith, changing his mind, shifting allegiances...). He's also something of a Wild Card.
  • Given the Gray and Gray Morality of almost every conflict of the series, one could argue most of the characters are some shade of Neutral or another. Most think they have good intentions (or once did and are now past caring) and almost all end up doing pretty morally ambiguous things, but their actions are rarely outright evil.
• Hank Moody, The Anti-Hero of Californication.
• Cameron from The Sarah Connor Chronicles is a sapient machine, but nonetheless is bound by her programming to protect John Connor, no matter the cost. Or her programming to kill him, no matter the cost. This tends to result in her doing terrible things to people her programming dictates are threats, or being apathetic toward others' plights if they do not concern her. In the second season, she even discusses her blank morality with John, pointing out that even though Terminators like her are killing machines, that "we aren't cruel."
• Dr. Smith from Lost in Space occasionally falls into this alignment. For example, in one episode he travels back in time to avoid going on the Jupiter II, but upon learning that by staying behind he'll condemn the Robinsons to death, he can't quite bring himself to stay behind - he's self-interested, certainly, but not a straight-out bastard.
• Deb from Drop Dead Diva is an airhead model who dies in the pilot episode. The angel who evaluates her status as a "good person" tells her that "you've never done a single good deed or bad action in your life, you're just shallow."
• The Observers in Fringe seem to clearly fall into this category. True to their name, they merely observe and refuse to interact except under very specific conditions, in which case the goal also appears to be unknown.
• Gaius Baltar in 21st-century Battlestar Galactica Reimagined, whose changes over the course of the show can be seen as maintaining a constant alignment, but becoming more philosophically conscious and compassionate as he moves from True Neutral selfish to True Neutral "philosophy of balance".
• The Cleaners in Charmed are this alignment as their sole objective is to clean up any mess created by other magical beings in order to prevent the existence of magic from being revealed to the mostly unaware human population. They will not hesitate to take any and all measures they deem necessary to pursue this objective regardless of who they come into conflict with or what alignment those others might be. Not that they did anything before their formal introduction to the series, even in situations where their intervention would have been warranted...
• Edmund Blackadder in his 1st, 2nd and 4th incarnations.
• Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood.
• The Replicators of Stargate SG-1 are a rare example of a True Neutral Big Bad. One can quite easily classify them as Type 4, as their only concern is self-replication. Unfortunately, they're so good at it (and at improving on existing technology) that they become a bigger threat than the half-ascended Omnicidal Maniac Anubis ever was.

Oral Tradition

• Anthropomorphic personifications of Death are usually True Neutral (or Lawful Neutral; see that alignment page), although a rare few are actively malicious. A lot of fiction doesn't pick up on this.

Professional Wrestling

• In Pro-Wrestling fandom, these characters are called "Tweeners" (as in "between a Heel and a Face. Traditionally, Kevin Nash's Diesel character is viewed to be the first modern version of the character, though they became increasingly popular during the Attitude era.
  • Ur-example: The Undertaker. He goes by the rules, but he doesn't mind breaking it if he needs to. He doesn't hold back in beating-up wrestlers who are on his way, but will leave them alone unless they piss him off.
• When a Power Stable is feuding another Power Stable, the chances are fairly good a True Neutral character will be in there somewhere. Everybody wants them on their side but they're not really willing to pick a side for whatever reason. Christian Cage was this during the beginning of the Main Event Mafia-Frontline feud. Usually, said character will eventually slide to one side of the fence or another.
• A face will sometimes become a Neutral character by default if they're feuding with a bigger face and haven't officially turned heel. Examples include the Rock at Wrestlemania X-7 against Stone Cold and Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania XXIII against John Cena.

Tabletop Games

• In 1st and 2nd editions of Dungeons & Dragons, druids had to be true neutral, implied to be of the balance-keeping rather than the dispassionate variety.
  • In Second Edition all True Neutral people were stated to be type 4, and the player's guide definition explains that they always side with the underdog, and sometimes swap sides when one is winning. It goes on to explain that "Clearly, there are very few true neutral characters in the world". This may because of the enemies they've also wiped out killing them when they show up at the door and claiming they want to swap.
    • They presumably had to change this after the sheer absurdity of cases analogous to Jaheira and Faldorn in the Baldur's Gate series, having the same alignment despite having mutually exclusive philosophies of nature and society (with Jaheira as the calm, benevolent-but-paying-lip-service-to-balance Nature Hero and Faldorn making the average Knight Templar look calm).
  • In Third Edition, druids have to be no more than one step away from True Neutral, supposedly to retain at least some of "nature's dispassion".
  • In the 2nd Edition setting of Planescape, each alignment had a race that exemplified it (appropriately, called "exemplars" in the fan community). The rilmani were the type-3 True Neutral exemplars, and have whole castes dedicated to preserving the Balance by any means necessary. Mentioned once and then never again were also the kamerel, the type-2 True Neutral exemplars who were displaced by the rilmani when their apathetic isolationist tendencies proved detrimental.
  • Mordenkainen, the Lord Mage of Greyhawk, has a philosophy of either aiding or sabotaging the forces of both good and evil to ensure that neither side wins supremacy, which he believes would lead to a devastating war (like the Greyhawk Wars, which he was unable to prevent). The Omniscient Council of Vagueness which he founded, the Circle of Eight, works along the same lines. This led to an angry schism between him and his former companion, the Lawful Good archmage Tenser, who blames Mordenkainen for the deaths of several of their friends.
  • Replacing the rilmani in Pathfinder are two races of True Neutral examplars. The aeons are mysterious beings spawned by the universe like antibodies to balance dualities (creation and destruction, freedom and fate, logic and emotion, etc.). The psychopomps, rather than worrying about balance, instead enforce the natural flow of souls into the afterlife on behalf of the goddess of death.
  • Lizardfolk. Extremely territorial and ferocious when provoked (and will sometimes eat their fallen enemies), but not malicious like orcs or goblins. They mostly just want to be left alone. They have a high number of druids (see above) as religious leaders.
• The Tyranids of Warhammer 40,000 are a Cosmic Horror-grade swarm of alien bugs guided by a Hive Mind that is so far beyond human comprehension that its raw psychic presence is lethal to telepaths across the span of light years. Probably a particularly nightmarish Type Five.
  • The Orks are arguably type 5 also, all inevitably violent and bloodthirsty... but when one particular Ork is strong enough to keep all the other Orks in line and become Warboss, they typically are able to form a "Waagh!" horde which is large and strong enough to rampage throughout the galaxy. Of course, that doesn't mean there are no Orks that are willing to try to take down the current Warboss and take control from there...
    • Specifically the Blood Axe clan, who not only learned human-style tactics such as retreating and camouflage, but also do mercenary work as well. Considering the rest of the race, this is what makes them neutral.
  • The Eldar qualify for this alignment for many reasons. They're not evil, since they are pretty much only focusing on their own survival in the galaxy. That said, they swing back and fourth between Lawful and Chaotic so much that it is hard putting the whole race under either label. Their internal politics are definitely Lawful, especially the craftworld Alaitoc. However, this has the consequences of many eldar embracing the path of the ranger, leaving their craftworlds to seek adventure and freedom, putting many eldar in a chaotic light too. Point also goes to the Harlequins, who doesn't really associate very much with the craftworlds, but are technically still allies.
• The Wood Elves of Warhammer Fantasy Battle are distinctly of the Type 5 variety, Wild Hunt and all. They are described as true forces of nature, they don't get involved in anything unless it directly threatens their forest.
  • The Tomb kings are generally feared by many because of their undead natures, but most of the time, they just want to be left alone and have nothing to do with the wars of the living.
• Magic: The Gathering has a few characters that fit this alignment. Urabrask the Hidden could be considered this due to his passive (even apathetic) attitude towards the Mirrans. Sorin Markov (pre-Innistrad) seems to fit this as well, trying to save Zendikar simply because he had an obligation to.

Video Games

• Geralt from The Witcher at least claims to be this, as part of "The Witcher's Code"; however it is impossible to truly live up to it in the game.
• Bill, from Left 4 Dead, fits the bill best. While he genuinely cares for his fellow survivors and sticks his neck out for them on a regular basis, on one of the many occasions where the team was escaping to a rescue vehicle (in this case, a train) he deliberately refuses to so much as stop for two seconds to save a hapless doctor behind them from being eaten alive. Zoey chews him out on this later. His response? "We look after our own!"
  • Justified since the doctor had possibly zero combat experience against the infected (Zoey, Bill, Louis, and Francis had been engaging the infected for 2 weeks) and would become The Load to the team. On top of this, it would be likely that Bill or someone else would be yanked off the train by the incoming horde if the train had slowed down or stopped. Bill had also said to the doctor and two other people earlier that if they fell behind, they were on their own.
• Archer's alignment in the Fate/stay night Visual Novel is listed as simply "Neutral". Though summoned as a Servant in the game, his typical role is a Guardian, a heroic spirit periodically summoned by The World to slaughter any humans, good or bad, who pose a threat to humanity's existence as a whole. This (un)living hell has left him bitter and uncaring towards humans.
  • Shirou himself in Heaven's Feel shifts into this, discarding his ideal of hero of justice for a chance to save Sakura. This Sakura, however, has turned into a world-destroying monster and would kill many people. Shirou's response was basically, "Screw them. I'll sacrifice some to save my beloved!"
    • Kiritsugu Emiya, Shiro's adoptive father from Fate/Zero fits this alignment. This brings him into conflict with his Lawful Good Servant Saber.
• The Silencer, of the Crusader games, just doesn't care about the morality of his allies' cause or the ethics of killing indiscriminately anyone who works for the WEC. He kills out of a desire for vengeance against those who betrayed him, and that is all.
• The sniper from Team Fortress 2}} fits this trope accurately. In battle, he is either a "crazed gunman" as his father tells him in his meet the team video, and he claims to be a "professional with standards" and an "assassin". He isn't concerned in killing or changing sides when the possibility arises, he doesn't play with neither one team specifically, and states on his Meet The team video that: "sniping is a good job" and "as long as two people are left on a planet, someone is going to want someone, dead."
• Gen from Street Fighter. Except for maybe Dorai and Chun-Li, he shows no attachment to anyone, and if you annoy him enough, he'll kill you without an ounce of remorse.
  • Crimson Viper comes off as a mix between a Type 13 and a Type 2.
• Planescape: Torment has three interesting variants of True Neutral:
  • As a blank slate, the Nameless One, the amnesiac protagonist, starts out True Neutral, with his actions in-game determining his alignment.
  • The Lady of Pain, despite her evil sounding title, is completely apathetic towards morality and is utterly inscrutable. The only motive she seems to have is that of protecting Sigil's existence.
  • The Transcendent One is also True Neutral, which is an unusual alignment for a Big Bad. All he wants is to be left alone, but so long as the Nameless One seeks his true identity, that is impossible.
• The daedra of The Elder Scrolls are True Neutral of various types. Canonically, they're type five; too different from humans for our understandings of good or evil to be meaningful, and neither able to create new things nor particularly lawful by nature. Sheogorath is a type one, too insane to really go good or evil, and crazy enough to play lawful just to shake things up or when he becomes the lawful-seeming Jyggalag. Hermaeus Mora is For Science! personified. Azura tends to look like a 'good' daedra through most of The Elder Scrolls III and IV, but Word of God has stated her to be a type five, and that particular delusion to be very, very unhealthy.
• Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider was True Neutral in Warcraft III. His only aim was the survival of his people, no matter the cost.
  • On a similar note, Orgrim Doomhammer, the warchief of the Horde during the second game of the franchise, has been Retconned into this alignment. He wished to save his people, the orcs, by conquering Azeroth from the humans, knowing that their own home could no longer support their numbers. To achieve this goal, he betrays his own chieftain to assume command and lead his people.
  • Goblins in general are of this alignment, neither favoring the Horde or the Alliance when selling their goods, and tend to mostly stay out of conflicts enough to profit them as much as possible. However, they are usually found more associating with the horde due to past alliances with them, and are commonly seen working for the horde with their maintaining of the zeppelins they use for travel, not to mention the playable goblin faction of the Bilgewater Cartel joining the Horde in Cataclysm. In general, however, they really only care for money and profit in the most lucrative way possible, as exemplified with the Steamwheedle Cartel of goblins that are usually seen in World of Warcraft.
• Several of the characters who can join your group in the Baldur's Gate series:
  • Jaheira, a Type 4 balance-preserving Druid, who becomes more Type 6 throughout her storyline.
  • Yoshimo, who initially comes across as just a 'screw alignments, I'm just in it for myself' type, but is in actual fact a baffling mishmash of contradictions that about average out at True Neutral.
  • Also, Cernd, a werewolf-druid who spends most of his time speaking in Ice Cream Koans; as Minsc put it "You talk in circles, Cernd, but that's okay. Boo runs in them."
  • It is possible for Viconia deVir to change her initial evil alignment to this. If this happens, she'll be of the "Don't bother me and I won't bother you" variety.
• In the Dragon Age setting, the Grey Wardens as an order are like this, with certain individuals like Duncan seeming to actually be True Neutral on a personal level, while other Wardens can be worse or more decent folk depending on the individual. They take no sides, obey no kings, and every action they take somehow must make progression towards reliving the world of the threat of Darkspawn. In the first game it's difficult to pick this, as most of the tasks you have to do to stop the Blight end up saving people or quelling chaos in Ferelden anyway, but in the sequel you directly run across a group of Grey Wardens during the Quanari's assault on Kirkwall. Though they help you briefly, they immediately admit their primary goal is basically to cut themselves free of the chaos surrounding the city so they could go back to doing their job, namely hunting darkspawn: they even give the same line of "a greater menace then the Qunari threatens the world", despite the most recent Blight being over, reinforcing that literally every goal they ever have somehow is geared towards this. Helping people is a happy accident, if it happens at all.
• The AI Thoth in Marathon 2 always try to help the underdog. This means he helps you from the point where you reactivate him, and then turns on you and Durandal when you're winning against the Pfhor. Thoth isn't very successful when trying to stop you though, as the Pfhor completely ignore his offers of assistance.
• Rouge the Bat from the Sonic the Hedgehog games; morally ambiguous but trustworthy enough to work for the Lawful Neutral G.U.N, and seems to care about her allies and is willing to work in a team, but her goals of gathering jewels are her top priority in the end.
  • Big also qualifies, generally wanting to be alone. When he does fight, it's because of Froggy, curiosity, or for survival.
  • And also Wave and Storm.
• Beckett in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines a deeply sarcastic vampire scholar with no allegiance to any side in the Jyhad, and motivated entirely by his archaelogical interests.
  • Also, the PC can choose to become True Neutral close to the end of the game, when Cain offers you "the path of legends and pariahs." In this decision, you assassinate Ming-Xiao, slice the Prince to ribbons, and give Nines Rodriguez a middle finger before strolling off into the night.
• Amarant from Final Fantasy IX. He doesn't care about things. His battle strategy involves letting his opponents kill each other.
  • Toss Quina from the same game here. His/her only concern is literally where the next meal is coming from.
• Squall Leonhart in Final Fantasy VIII was raised as a mercenary and, as a result, doesn't particularly believe in the concepts of "good" and "evil." He accepts that any given side of a conflict has their own reasons, and believes that one's stance on any subject is shaped by one's point of view. Accordingly, when he gets involved in stopping The End of the World as We Know It, he does so less out of any moral impulse and more as a means of ensuring the safety of the girl he loves - and because the government of Esthar is paying him to do it. By the end of the game he has arguably developed more towards Neutral Good, but his personal morality is still defined more as "Always Save the Girl" than anything else.
  • This is extended into Dissidia, where he will fight anyone who interferes with his mission of "get crystal, go home," but never initiates a battle unless provoked.
• In Final Fantasy Tactics, which deals predominately with the effects the machinations a Corrupt Church and an evil aristocracy are having on the general populace, the only neutral characters are two robots. In fact, they are so neutral, their particular alignment has been transmuted into a Standard Status Effect.
• Cloud initially holds this position in Final Fantasy VII, going on record as saying that he doesn't care about Shinra, SOLDIER, AVALANCHE or the Planet, he's just here to get paid. This doesn't last all that long, however, and proves to be rather more complicated than it first appears: Subtle mind control and multiple personalities are involved. And much of it is a plot version of Guide Dang It.
• Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider franchise is described in the D&D supplement Complete Scoundrel as True Neutral.
• Vincent in Silent Hill 3. He wants nothing to do with Claudia's plans to unleash a Cosmic Horror on the world, but neither does he care enough to intervene directly, preferring to manipulate a seventeen-year-old into doing it for him. Perhaps as a result, he is by far the most cheerful and well-adjusted character in the entire series (although that isn't particularly difficult).
• Garrett of Thief is one type; the Keepers who trained him another. The Keepers are True Neutral because they strive to preserve neutrality, via the balance of power between the lawful Hammers and chaotic Pagans. Garrett is neutral because he doesn't care about the Balance, or any 'ideal'. A loner and a cynic, he's a selfish, almost-amoral criminal motivated by profit who feels neither pleasure nor remorse when killing and avoids it where possible out of professional pride. Strangely enough, he's also therefore the only one who can be relied upon to save the world: because it's what he happens to be living on, and he'd like to keep living, thank you very much.
• Jack Cayman could certainly be considered True Neutral, for reasons similar to Guts above. He seems to work for the government, is sent to rescue a well-to-do in danger and, when it turns out she was taking part in orchestrating Death Watch, Jack may have struck her, but he notably didn't kill her (although he expressed regret at sparing her). However, the brutality of his kills certainly don't fall under any "Good" category I care to think of, he claims "I don't work for justice, and I'm certainly not its bitch", and he has a habit of doing things his own way when the situation calls for it. In short, Jack's the living proof against True Neutral being a wuss or wishy-washy class: if he's on the fence, it's probably so that he can decide how to kill you with it.
• This is the alignment of choice for Niko Bellic of Grand Theft Auto IV. He doesn't really care about gang wars, drugs, mobs, or anything, and will kill anyone or steal anything as long as you pay him. The only things he really does care about are the few friends whom he keeps close to himself and settling the score with the man who had his mercenary buddies sold out. You just better make damn sure you don't cross him or anybody he cares about, or he will make you pay.
• Several of the ghosts encountered in The Suffering. For example, the ghosts of Torque's family seem unable or unwilling to interfere with the plot; Horace Gage swings wildly between lashing out in pain and providing rudimentary assistance; finally, the utterly amoral Dr Killjoy has taken it upon himself to cure Torque of his insanity by any means necessary.
  • Sergei, one of the corrections officers on Carnate, has decided to spend what will probably be the last hours of his life as happy and stoned as possible. As such, he's a type 1.
  • Kyle is a darker variant on the average type 1: he's a teenage heroin addict with almost no objective besides surviving the invasion of Baltimore long enough to find his next fix. In fact, he only follows the PC because he appears to believe that Torque is his father.
  • Torque himself can be a True Neutral if he wishes.
• Travis Touchdown is a brutal Blood Knight, but he's too pathetic to be called evil. Mostly, he's just unable to separate reality from fantasy; he lives for the fight, to reach the next rank in the UAA, and is utterly oblivious to the repercussions of his actions. He won't kill any woman he'd like to have sex with, but otherwise is completely fine with finishing off his enemies. He doesn't enjoy killing, as he tells Bad Girl, he just likes the battle. It's all a great big game to him, one that he doesn't even try to understand.
  • He grows out of this in the sequel, where he begins to realize that the people he's killing are real people, some of whom just want to get out of the UAA. He decides that he'll destroy the UAA by killing its leader, who just happens to be the #1 assassin in this game.
• Saya, the eponymous Eldritch Abomination in the extremely gory visual novel Saya no Uta. While obviously sentient, she doesn't seem to even have a clear concept of morality, and even at her worst, she comes across as Obliviously Evil. Her only real goal is to understand her own purpouse and propagate her species. And, well, her love for Fuminori is heart-wrenching.
• Rachel is a vampire that acts out of boredom rather than any real malice. She has Neutral Good tendencies, however.
• Pete Wheeler from Backyard Sports. Because he's too stupid to think otherwise.
• M.A.R.Go.T. the transit system CPU in Fallout 3: Broken Steel. She is the only robot in the game (besides John Henry Eden) who seems to know that a war happened 200 years ago, and humanity is struggling today, but is solely concerned with making the trains run on time. She only helps the player because you help her.
• Cothineal in Shogo: Mobile Armor Division is Type 3 as a force of nature. While it is technically responsible for starting a terrorist movement on Cronus and brainwashing Toshiro, it only does so to protect itself as the source of kato, and doesn't seem bound by human standards of morality.
• Altair from Assassin's Creed only kills the templars, but won't hurt the innocents, based on his tenets.
• The colossi from Shadow of the Colossus. They're just there, attacking only in self-defense. It's possible that they're living manifestations of the land itself.
• The Touhou Project has Yukari who actively tries not to get involved in things unless the situation is too out of balance.
  • Hermits like Ibara Kasen are usually staying away from the mundane affairs.
  • Cirno and other faeries are exemplars of Type 7-- being True Neutral by the non-virtue of being extremely dumb.
• One of the Fraternities of Enchanters in Dragon Age, known as the Isolationists, holds the belief that mages should separate themselves from civilisation altogether and live as hermits in the wilderness, where they can practise magic without fear of collateral damage and witch-hunts. Niall is one such mage- probably the only Isolationist met in the entire game.
• John Marston is a mixture of type 2 and type 12. His only goal through the game is to capture or kill the surviving members of his former gang so that his family will be released. He has few other moral stances; he just wants his family back and to live his life peacefully on his ranch, and he's willing to do anything including helping the local town marshal clean up crime to helping the local dictator root out La Résistance to achieve that goal.
  • It should be noted that he does display a clear disapproval of some of the more morally objectionable things he's made to do throughout his quest, however.
• Huitzil/Phobos in Darkstalkers. His only duty is to protect the human boy he encountered.
• The Pkunk from the Star Control universe attempt to be this in an effort to avoid becoming so good they flip right around to evil. They do this by playing pranks and being insulting sometimes. This turns into a form of Gameplay And Story Integration, as their way of recharging energy is to toss out mild insults.
• Nemesis plays this trope straight in the fact that during the war of the gods, she sided with the darkness just because they were outnumbered. Even though her name and her title "Goddess of Revenge" would suggest otherwise.
• Augustus Sinclair in BioShock (series) 2, who cares mostly only about his own profits but nevertheless shows sincere generosity to you (yes, YOU!) over the entire game.
• NOVA from 'Milky Way Wishes' in Kirby Super Star. All he does is grant wishes, no matter what they are.
• The players' Virtuaroids in Virtual On could be considered as Type 10, as they are designed solely for players to control and is not capable of independent thoughts.
• From the Metal Gear Solid series, Naomi Hunter, a Type 3 True Neutral who tried to kill Solid Snake by injecting the FOXDIE virus to avenge her "brother" Frank Jaeger, but later showed regret for what she has done. She also defected from Otacon to Ocelot in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots by her own will in order to eliminate the Vamp to atone her own sin.
• Word of God has stated that the Von Neumann of Sword of the Stars are merely nonsentient expert systems that exist to catalogue systems and harvest resources. When they go after your ships, it is not out of malice. Unfortunately for all involved, if their motherships fail to report back, they will clear obstacles with extreme prejudice.
• The Norgard faction in Brigandine is Type 12. The ruler Vaynard is merely a pragmatic opportunist warlord, he's not as goody-two-shoes as Lance of New Almekia or Cai of Caerleon or Lyonesse from Leonia, but he cares about his people, more than Dryst of Iscalio (or of course Zemeckis of Esgares), and wants to build a strong nation under his rule. Vaynard himself has some genuine Pet the Dog moment and is quite fond of his sister Esmeree... who's in Esgares.
• Scorpion from Mortal Kombat is essentially this. He's seen as the series' icon for an anti-hero. He'll usually end up doing things in unethical and questionable ways, that may involve tackling an evil and assisting the greater good, but it's usually for his own personal gains. First time we see him, he has no allegiance and rises from hell to simply out to avenge his previous death by killing the murderer from a rival clan (who he also believed murdered his family and clan), then when he reckon his killer appears again he returns back from hell to finish the job. His non allegiance continues as he serves as a wild card in future battles whe he's accidentally released from hell a third time. He's recruited the fourth time by the evil forces, not because he was evil or opposed good, but because the evil side promised him his life restored as a reward. When the same evil is revealed to have killed his wife and son (as well as his clan), Scorpion switches allegiances and turns on that evil instead, but not because he wants to adhere to the good side, rather a personal vendetta. Afterwards he is recruited by the Elder Gods to tackle a force that threatens to destroy all the realms, in which he works for the greater good, but only in return for the promise to restore his family and clan. Later he joins the forces of darkness in the final battle of armageddon, but only so he can get closer to the evil that originally killed his family and clan in the first place, again for his own personal reasons. In regards of law vs chaos, he may seem at first glance to be a hot headed and free spirited individual, that will only ever do his own thing, but he has been seen to take orders when offered rewards, and remains loyal to the tradition and honour of his clan. Scorpion passes as a True Neutral, because he's logically too difficult to place in any of the other catagories.
• Ethan Mars in Heavy Rain is this when he doesn't care if his life is endangered by the Origami Killer's trials, but only saving his son.
  • Captain Perry appears to care the press more than the investigation of the Origami Killer.
• From Neverwinter Nights 2:
  • Neeshka is listed as True Neutral, but acts like archetypal Chaotic Neutral.
  • The Construct, being a non-sentient golem, is Type 10.
• The Necromancers in the Diablo franchise are a clan of magi dedicated to the principle of maintaining the Balance Between Good and Evil. In practice, this usually means they fight on the side of good, only because evil seems to always have the upper hand.

Webcomics

• Roy Greenhilt's sister, Julia, from The Order of the Stick. She goes both ways.
  • Their father Eugene Greenhilt comes off this way as well. He's nominally Lawful Good, but has done very little to show it.
  • V is also argued to be this alignment- not so much out of apathy but devotion to hir goals: Saving the world and gaining magical power. V also has a habit of Cutting the Knot, whether it's ethical, legal, or otherwise, as long as it gets the job done.
  • The Oracle sells information to anyone who asks, to the best of his ability, whether it helps or hinders the OOTS. Silly humanoids think the story revolves around them.
  • Also Therkla, who in one strip claims she's "fed up with good guys and bad guys" and just wants everyone to be safe.
  • The Monster in the Dark is probably this as well.
• Ronson from The Gods of Arr-Kelaan, who manages to be both the don't care type and the balance type. He's the God of Apathy (and Beer), and because he's the leader of the gods his attitude manages to temper the other gods and prevent them from twisting the mortal world in their image.
• Antimony Carver from Gunnerkrigg Court. She's respectful towards the school staff even when she disagrees with them and she won't break rules needlessly, but she doesn't hesitate to break them when the need arises, either. She seems to hold to the philosophy that "It's not breaking the rules if you don't get caught", yet she criticizes Eglamore for suggesting the same. She's capable of great selflessness (see her entire career as a spirit medium) as well as petty selfishness (such as cheating on a test or stealing from her best friend's parents). Overall, it seems Annie's neutrality isn't really a choice on her part; rather, she's young and confused, and her moral compass simply hasn't stabilized.
• In Dungeon Crawl Inc. the Archdruid, and later, the Archdryad are major opposition to the main characters because the forces of good, in his opinion, have grown too strong.
• Spoofed in The Non-Adventures of Wonderella, when the title character says she has no "evil" twin because "The opposite of neutral is still neutral!" She's supposed to be a good guy, but falls into the "Just Don't Care" variant, above... or rather slumps apathetically into it.
• Red Mage of 8-Bit Theater is a combination of type 5 (amoral) and type 2 (indifferent to the good/evil conflict), concerned only with maximising his stats. It also helps that, despite few characters being anywhere near stable, he is by far the most insane character in the series, actually attempting to benefit from being lit on fire.
• Sluggy Freelance:
  • Chaz, in spite of its Evil Weapon vibes. "I am neither good nor evil. I am just a sword. Wield me as you will, master."
  • Dr. Schlock, at least until about 2007. He wasn't evil or willing to take too much advantage of others, and he could certainly feel sorry for them, but he primarily cared about his on skin and wasn't keen on heroics, preferring to run away or think it was Somebody Else's Problem. His later actions may certainly have moved him over to evil , though there's still some speculation about his motives, and at times he still seems to be the same as always.
  • Father Time. "I only care that time runs smoothly. Beyond that I am indifferent." Also parodied with a nonsensical qualification: "...Except for the Dutch. They tick me off. You're not Dutch, are you?"
• Rocky and Lenny from Our Little Adventure. Rocky doesn't seem to care about good and evil or law and chaos, and though Lenny's a nicer person than Rocky, his drive on the adventure centers around protecting and helping his wife.
• Rose Lalonde of Homestuck actually ends up here by the time Act 4 closes. She gives the middle finger to the rules of Sburband doesn't really give a shit about any of the conflicting factions in the game except for herself and her friends. She's also willing to consult with Eldritch Abominations and use some seriously powerful Black Magic in order to find the answers she wants.
  • Karkat qualifies by simply being a jerk instead of the murdering kind of evil his teammates often display.
• Sinfest's Dragon, being the embodiment of Chinese philosophy, is one. At one point when God and the Devil are campaigning for Slick's support, he just tells him to play both sides against each other.

Web Original

• Cro-Marmot from Happy Tree Friends.
• Bladedancer, in the Whateley Universe, is 'The Handmaiden', the one chosen by The Tao to uphold balance no matter what. She might have to kill a demon. She might have to slay a superhero. Whatever it takes to maintain 'balance'. Several of her teammates have figured out the consequences of this, in terms of their own health, should they ever unbalance things by being too successful as Big Damn Heroes.
• Dr. Horrible likely drifted into the Just-Don't-Care variant after Penny's death. He is seen robbing banks and attending Evil League of Evil meetings, but his heart isn't in it.
• Rather Vocalized Illusion has several episodes praised as being objective and fairly looking at both sides of an issue. Bhaalspawn even made a two parter to analyze the good traits and negative traits of Bronies (a group he admittedly hates).
• Tropes. They are neither Good nor Bad.

Western Animation

• The Neutral Planet from Futurama is a spoof of the Just Don't Care type.

"If I don't make it, tell my wife... hello."

• • Scruffy the Janitor. Mmm-hmmm.
• Zuko in the first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender would count as either this or Lawful Neutral.
  • Mai is a candidate for this as well. Despite working for Azula at least until "The Boiling Rock", she really doesn't care what happens as long as she's not bored.
  • Also Wan Shi Tong from the great Library. Thoroughly nonpartisan and supportive only of knowledge for knowledge's sake... and please don't be stupid and lie to him. Bad idea, that.
• Charles Foster Ofdenson from Metalocalypse. Sure, he rules a lawful business empire, but he also associates with the Chaotic Neutral Dethklok, and is not above using them achieve his own ends. And ultimately, the only rule he lives by is that no one fucks with his bread and butter.
• Gaz of Invader Zim is a self centered, uncaring version rather than apathetic, so unconcerned with anything not directly related to her that she casually dismisses an alien obsessed with enslaving and/or incinerating Earth (who while admittedly Lord Error-Prone is still capable of causing massive death and destruction), and the only time we see any real emotion from her is when she tries to have dinner with her father, something that happens once or twice a year for their family. Gaz's entire life revolves around empty threats directed at people, playing video games and desperately trying to get her father to pay attention to her. Word of God has it she uses video games to shut out reality because reality sucks. She's not a good character, but she's not necessarily bad either. She tries to get everything that she wants, but she'll let go of the person that takes her stuff after they give it back to her (i.e. Iggins).
  • In the "Bloaty's Pizza Hog" episode, she gives a reason why she ignores Zim's efforts:

Dib: Don't you care that Zim is trying to destroy all mankind? Huh?
Gaz: But he's so bad at it.

• Red X from Teen Titans essentially spells out this alignment in one word, when asked whose side he was on.

Red X: Mine!

• • That also serves as a particularly awesome pre-asskicking one liner.
• In The Lion King, Timon and Pumbaa start off as the "Don't Care" type of True Neutral, with their motto of "Hakuna Matata" (No Worries). They manage to convert Simba into this temporarily before he decides to recognize his duty as a king.
• Equinox from Batman the Brave And The Bold is a rare Type 4 True Neutral, seeking to balance the conflict between good and evil. In his first appearance he had Gorilla Grodd and The Question suspended on a gigantic scales, intending to kill both, stopping only when Batman interferes.
• Merklynn, from the short-lived Merchandise-Driven 80s cartoon Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, definitely falls under Type 2. He would repeatedly rescue the bad guys from jail after the good guys had won. Of course, he gave both sides their powers so they'd be able to carry out tasks for him, so he was probably just protecting his investment.
• Adventure Time:

Dark Wizard: For your final test... Slay this 'unaligned ant!'
Finn: ...An unaligned ant? Is it evil?
Dark Wizard: Well, no... But it's not good either!

• Arguably Vanessa from Phineas and Ferb, overlapping with Selfish Neutral---she clearly finds her Punch Clock Villain father's plans annoying, but she never really actively helps his nemesis Perry stop him either. She seems to becoming closer to Chaotic Neutral as time goes on, though, despite expressing at least some misgivings:

Ferb: Well, sometimes if you love somebody, you have to meet them halfway.
Vanessa: Halfway, huh? Hmm... You mean like, maybe I should take an interest in his work? I would, but it's actually evil. I just can't---Ferb?

• On Jimmy Two-Shoes, Samy cares very little whether the people of Miseryville are suffering like his boss does, he's only intrested in two things: his acting career and, according to Word of God, overthrowing Lucius.
• Shifty Dingo from Blinky Bill is this sometimes.
• Gwen from the Total Drama series
  • Noah was this in Total Drama Island.
  • Heather becomes this in Total Drama World Tour.
• Magnificent Bastard David Xanatos (Post Heel Face Turn) and Anti-Villain Macbeth of Gargoyles fame.
  • Anubis, a spirit of death in this series, pretty much defines himself as a Type 3 example when the Emir tries to force him to resurrect his dead child.
• Eustace in Courage the Cowardly Dog, though he occasionally slides towards Neutral Evil when he's after Courage.
• Agents Frances and Epsilon from The Secret Saturdays are the epitome of this trope.
• Aeon Flux is this trope incarnate.