What alignment is House?

[Delta]

My votes, like many others:

House - CN
Foreman - N
Chase - N
Cameron - NG
Wilson - NG
Cuddy - LG

Foreman and Chase are for me definitely not NE. They've done some dastardly actions, but they grapple with them afterwards. The arc at the end of this season where Foreman wants to quit specifically because he feels his moral base slipping away says "N fighting to avoid something worse". He can be selfish, but doesn't actually pursue the suffering of others.

If anything, Wilson's the hardest for me. I could see NG, or N, or CG. Lots of broken marriage vows, secretly sleeping with a patient of his, secretly drugging House on the last episode I saw... pretty Chaotic, frankly.

If the 1E rules pegged Elric as Chaotic Evil, I can definitely see an argument for House being CE. He's immensely selfish, secretive, and almost every episode turns to a "if we cause them excrutiating pain it will help us" as nearly his first trick every time. He's kind of like a CE genius who just happened to target disease as his archenemy, to the accidental advantage of all of us. I could see House as CE and Wilson as CN and be at peace with that.

 

[Frostmarrow]

In d20 Modern alignment is not used. Instead there are allegiances. House has but one allegiance: Save Life. Everything else is second.

Every episode comes down to House's goal to save life versus something else.

Save life vs law
Save life vs money
Save life vs colleagues
Save life vs management
Save life vs futility

And so on. I'm waitning for Save life vs House's life. I think we will get that in the very last episode because so far Save life has won every single time.

 

[Glyfair]

In d20 Modern alignment is not used. Instead there are allegiances. House has but one allegiance: Save Life. Everything else is second.

Every episode comes down to House's goal to save life versus something else.

Save life vs law
Save life vs money
Save life vs colleagues
Save life vs management
Save life vs futility

And so on. I'm waitning for Save life vs House's life. I think we will get that in the very last episode because so far Save life has won every single time.

I disagree. It's "solve medical mystery." He has shown no interest in saving lives if the illness isn't mysterious or intriguing in some way. Even when a patient is forced on him, he doesn't give much effort until something unusual happens.

 

[hbarsquared]

Saw last night's episode, and I definitely agree with Foreman's LN alignment, and can even see him leaning toward LG. He may has shown tendencies toward Evil in the past, but overall I've seen him with more tendencies toward Good (the homeless woman with rabies, for example). Of the entire cast, I would be willing to say that Foreman is the one most interested in helping people. House wants to solve the puzzle, Chase does it for no real reason, Cameron is more interested in making people feel better.

Regarding House, his first priority is definitely "the puzzle," but he has shown many many times his willingness to sacrifice himself in order to help a patient. The episode with the career woman who turned out to be bulimic. He asks her, "Do you want to live? Because I don't know." When she says yes, he puts his career on the line to get her a transplant.

House does not only "flaunt the social order." He also lies constantly, a strong sign of Chaotic tendencies. And to those that say he follows the "Law" of logic, or science, or medicine... He often flaunts that. House is always using untested treatments, alternative solutions (again, last night: using 'shrooms to cure cluster headaches?), and focuses on the needs of that specific patient as opposed to the established "Law" of medical science. Another mark in favor of Chaotic.

Damn, it's such a great show.

 

[zen_hydra]

...and just to disagree with everyone, I believe that Dr. House is Neutral Evil.

His actions are the epitome of selfish behavior. The fact that he saves lives is incidental. He does what he does for the pleasure of solving the mystery and proving to himself how intellectually superior he is. He takes every opportunity to punish those around him that he feels are happier, or more satisfied than he is. He constantly uses and manipulates others for his own selfish ends. He will lie, cheat, and steal to get his way, but he will also use the system to his advantage. House is no mustache-twirling black-hat, but he is without a doubt evil on the D&D scale. His evil actions may be relatively minor, but he has few (if any) good actions to balance them out.

 

[Delta]

I disagree. It's "solve medical mystery." He has shown no interest in saving lives if the illness isn't mysterious or intriguing in some way. Even when a patient is forced on him, he doesn't give much effort until something unusual happens.

QFT. Consider about 3 episodes ago where Foreman lost the patient. When it was confirmed that she was definitely going to die, House wasn't merely disinterested... he wanted to start cutting into her right now, because the need to identify the ailment outweighed her remaining life quality. Only Foreman's intervention forced him to do it post-death.

 

[Zimri]

...and just to disagree with everyone, I believe that Dr. House is Neutral Evil.

House is no mustache-twirling black-hat, but he is without a doubt evil on the D&D scale. His evil actions may be relatively minor, but he has few (if any) good actions to balance them out.

To misquote Colonel Jessup
His existence while grotesque to you save lives.

Deep down in places you don't like to talk about at parties you want him in that hospital you NEED him in that hospital.

We are looking (in my opinion) at this all wrong. We are looking at a microcosm of people who are good and judging them against other good people. Calling any of them "evil" is like calling the person in mensa with the lowest IQ "stupid".

 

[Glyfair]

QFT. Consider about 3 episodes ago where Foreman lost the patient. When it was confirmed that she was definitely going to die, House wasn't merely disinterested... he wanted to start cutting into her right now, because the need to identify the ailment outweighed her remaining life quality. Only Foreman's intervention forced him to do it post-death.

In fact, watching last night's episode I had my own comment reinforced. While his patient is possibly dying (being attended by nurses, etc.) he is completely focused on the chess game he was playing with the patient, and the position he was in.

 

[hbarsquared]

I think it's interesting to take a look at any incident in which House is ignoring patients, or dismissing them, or is otherwise disinterested.

It is always a situation in which there is no need for him. In the example above, from last night's episode, there is no reason for House to get involved since the nurse's have a handle on it.

There's no reason for him to investigate cancer cases: the patient's going to die and there's nothing he can do.

It's why he hates clinic duty: there's no point for him to be there since A) other doctors could fulfill the same function, and B) he's not having any lasting effect, ie: not saving lives.

If he is in a position where he is useful, he will do it. If someone else can do it just as well, then he sees no point in getting involved.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

If he is in a position where he is useful, he will do it. If someone else can do it just as well, then he sees no point in getting involved.

This seems like just a nicer way of saying helping people is below him if he isn't enjoying [challanging] himself at the same time. It's a reasonable veiw for a neutral character, but not a good one, imo.