"The Godfather" and Alignment

[Henry]

EDIT - thinking of the wrogn character. It's been a long time since I saw 'em!

For Vito, I have to go with Lawful Neutral. He's a man who came to his position by violence, but it is violence born of necessity, as we find out later. He has Evil tendencies, because the hardness of his life has instilled this in him, but it is not there to the degree that the Law of the family rides in his life.

For Michael, DEFINITELY Neutral Evil, but with Lawful tendencies imparted by his father. He follows Law, even if it is the law of the Family, but can go outside of it when it suits him. No one ever said an evil person cannot have love for those closest to them. His ability to change as it suits, and to compartmentalize his mind in the fashion he does, shows an evil that is "purer" than that of his father.

 

[Rhialto]

And the answer is:

Depends on who the enemy is.

If a king hires adventurers to take out a marauding red dragon, that's pretty unimpeachable.

Two criminals trying to whack each other is not necessarily an evil act in and of itself, but you have to examine motive. Was St. Corleone looking to rid the world of evil Virgil Sollazzo, or was he trying to protect his business interests? My heart says the former, but my gut says the latter.

And killing for selfish gain is pretty evil in my book, whether or not it's a jerk like Sollazzo.

Are the adventurers the king hired to kill the dragon evil in your book too? They are after all killing for gain...

And this hits the problem we so often reach--mixed motives. The way you set it out, it's an either/or proposistion--Vito wants to kill Sollazzo because he's a treacherous pusher, or Vito wants to kill Sollazzo to keep his family business safe. The thing is it can be both, and in this case, I think it is...

 

[DarkSoldier]

One of these days, I'm going to have to rent the Godfather movies and add the Corleone family to my d20 Modern Net.Book of Fictional Characters.

Or, I could solicit aid from the learned members of this board. Anybody wanna help?