What alignment is Baltar?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

One of my group's player characters is modelled on Baltar, from the modern run of Battlestar Galactica (although I think the wizard is more interesting than the TV character) and has a similar self-interested way of doing things.

I (as DM) think he's slipped into being evil (Neutral Evil, to be precise) and he thought he was Chaotic Neutral (the I Can Do Anything I Want alignment). And the discussion has come back to Baltar several times.

So what alignment is Baltar in Battlestar Galactica? For the benefit of those watching the show on DVD, please use the SPOILER tag when citing specific examples from the show.

 

[wedgeski]

I would go with CN as well. I find it hard to see Baltar as Evil, as such.

While he might be a complete moron, self-obsessed to the point of insanity and unable to see beyond the end of his own... erm... grandma filter, if he was truly evil he would be more like the one-dimensional Baltar from the original series, who handed his entire race to the Cylons for no discernible reason that I could see. Baltar as a whole is a character I find very hard to come to grips with; he is complex, but irrational, and easily swayed by those around him. Fun to watch, even funner to imagine slapping round the head.

 

[GSHamster]

I think Gauis Baltar is Chaotic Neutral. He's a coward, narcissistic, and rather unstable, but for the most part he is not Evil.

The rest of this is Spoilered.

Spoiler

The only thing in the show that he has done that I would really class as Evil is giving the Nuke to the cylon, which I thought was out of character, especially contrasted to his actions in the superb Admiral Cain episodes.

(Personally, I really disliked that episode, and thought it marked a "jumping of the shark" for that series.)

In fact, you could make an argument that Baltar is Good, in that he is the only one who sees the Cylons as more than machines, as people.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would go with CN as well. I find it hard to see Baltar as Evil, as such.

While he might be a complete moron, self-obsessed to the point of insanity and unable to see beyond the end of his own... erm... grandma filter, if he was truly evil he would be more like the one-dimensional Baltar from the original series, who handed his entire race to the Cylons for no discernible reason that I could see.

Of course, in being that guy, he has willfully put the lives of the entire (remaining) human race in jeopardy when he

Spoiler

rigged the Cylon detector to show everyone as human, even if they're Cylon assassins and saboteurs

. To me, that crosses the line into putting others lives in immediate risk for his personal gain, which would be evil. (And, not coincidentally, the player character in my campaign has done something ethically very similar.)

 

[painandgreed]

CN with high INT and low WIS. Chaotic is obvious as he is always spinning deceit and does not even have any internal codes he even attempts to hold to. I'd have to give him N alignment because he doesn't actually act very evil. He may do some evil acts but he never seems really comfortable with them, just weak willed and constantly trying to protect his web of lies. On the line graph of good/evil, he's on the evil side of N, but I'd still say he's in the grey area that is considered N.

Of course, I would say he is sliding towards E as he is consistantly preforming evil acts and rarely if ever preforming any good ones. Then there is my personal theory, that he is one of the unknown models of cylon, possibly even the high commander. He just doesn't know it and most of his actions are programed in.

 

[Umbran]

Baltar is not a single alignment for the entire series - he's the "slippery slope" character. I think of him as a good example of a character sliding from neutrality into evil.

He starts out caring about very little other than himself. But he has no intention, desire, or stomach for harming anyone else. He has a bit of greed and lust that leads him to do something really bad.

From that time on, he slowly shifts. More and more frequently he is more willing to do things that really hurt others for his own benefit. He still struggles and balks at particularly nasty bits on occasion, but he's sauntering generally downwards into the netherworld.

 

[Delta]

You're both right. He doesn't care about other people (evil) and his motivations are rather random from week-to-week (chaotic). He's an excellent example of a character who's charming, compelling, beautiful, and CE.

I bet this actor could slip into a "Lareth the Beautiful" role seamlessly.

 

[WayneLigon]

To me, that crosses the line into putting others lives in immediate risk for his personal gain, which would be evil.

I have to agree with you here. He's evil, probably all the way over into CE. He just hasn't admitted it to himself.

 

[painandgreed]

You're both right. He doesn't care about other people (evil) and his motivations are rather random from week-to-week (chaotic). He's an excellent example of a character who's charming, compelling, beautiful, and CE.

See, I think he cares, but just never acts on that. In a situation such as hearing that there is a bomb that is about to blow up lots of children, he'd be horrified, but when faced with any risk in saving them, he would hesitate to inaction and cover it up because he feared retribution for doing nothing. An evil character just simply wouldn't care or posibly even find it entertaining or amusing and then cover it up because he wanted to see it happen. Baltar is certainly not a hero, but I wouldn't call him evil in a D&D game if for no other reason that it would cheapen evilness in the said game. Once you call his actions evil, you end up calling every commoner who never stood up to his lord, every merchant who chose to be rich instead of a saint, every fighter who eneded up figthing for the wrong country evil. Personally, I'm not afraid to label them neutral and reserve my evil tag for those who are truely evil.

 

[delericho]

There's a critical question which must be asked when evaluating alignment in Battlestar Galactica: are the Cylons alive, or are they machines? If they're alive, then spacing one because doing so is convenient is an Evil act. If they are just machines, then spacing one is no different to smashing up a microwave - it has no inherent moral value.

None of which really reflects on the alignment of Giaus Baltar, but it does make the alignment of some other key characters interesting.

I peg Baltar as classic CN, sliding slowly into Evil as the show progresses. For me, the point where he makes the change is the point where

Spoiler

he gives the nuke to the Cylons, thus consciously betraying humanity.

Incidentally, I place both Laura Roslin and Commander Adama (of the Galactica) as LG, despite some questionable acts on both their parts.

Spoiler

Notably, Roslin's spacing the Cylon was neither Lawful nor Good, but it was an isolated incident.

What I find most interesting in this is that despite this, they are not always allied with one another, which shows quite clearly just how two LG forces can come into opposition.

Another interesting thing regarding the alignments of characters in BSG is the extreme seriousness of the situation facing humanity. This allows them to show characters wrestling with their own consciences, and doing things that they hold to be wrong (

Spoiler

Notably, Roslin's abortion decision

), because they see no other choice.

I really, really like that show.