I would like to have an interesting conversation regarding LOST.

[TheMightyFavog]

OK, I want to know, in your opinion, if the castaways from the TV show Lost were Dungeons & Dragons characters, what alignment would they be?

If you're unfamiliar with the concept of Alignment in the game Dungeons and Dragons, it's basically categorization of the ethical and moral perspective of people, creatures and societies.

Courtesy of Wikipedia, here is a brief summary of the nine alignments.

Keep in mind, it is possible for one to change their alignment through their actions.

Lawful Good

Lawful Good is known as the "Saintly" or "Crusader" alignment. A lawful good character typically acts with compassion, and always with honor and a sense of duty. A lawful good nation would consist of a well-organized government that works for the benefit of its citizens. Lawful good characters include righteous knights, all paladins and most dwarves. Lawful good creatures include the noble golden dragons.

Lawful Good characters, especially paladins, may sometimes find themselves faced with the dilemma of whether to obey Law or Good when the two conflict - for example, upholding a sworn oath when it would lead innocents to come to harm - or conflicts between two orders, such as between their religious law and the law of the local ruler.

Dick Tracy and Indiana Jones are cited as examples of Lawful Good characters. In the real world, the Scout Oath of the Boy Scouts of America also expresses a Lawful Good ideal.

Neutral Good

Neutral Good is known as the "Benefactor" alignment. A neutral good character is guided by his conscience and typically acts altruistically, without regard for or against Lawful precepts such as rules or tradition. A neutral good character may cooperate with lawful officials but does not feel beholden to them. A doctor that treats soldiers from both sides in a war would be considered Neutral Good.

Examples of Neutral Good characters include Zorro and Spider-Man.

Chaotic Good

Chaotic Good is known as the "Beatific" or "Rebel" alignment. A chaotic good character favors change for the greater good, disdains bureaucratic organizations that get in the way of social improvement, and places a high value on personal freedom. Most elves are chaotic good, as are some fey.

Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica, Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly, and Robin Hood are examples of Chaotic Good individuals.

Lawful Neutral

Lawful Neutral is called the "Judge" or "Disciplined" alignment. A lawful neutral character typically believes strongly in Lawful concepts such as honor, order, rules and tradition, and often follows a personal code. A Lawful Neutral society would typically enforce strict laws to maintain social order, and place a high value on traditions and historical precedent. Examples of Lawful Neutral characters include a soldier who always follows orders, a judge or enforcer that adheres mercilessly to the word of the law, a disciplined monk, and the Dungeon Master of a D&D game.

Characters of this alignment are neutral with regard to Good and Evil. This does not mean that Lawful Neutral characters are amoral or immoral, or do not have a moral compass; but simply that their moral considerations come a distant second to what their code, tradition or law dictates. They typically have a strong ethical code, but it is primarily guided by their system of belief, not by a commitment to Good or Evil.

James Bond, Odysseus, and Sanjuro from Yojimbo are Lawful Neutral.

Neutral

Neutral alignment, also referred to as True Neutral, is called the "Undecided" or "Nature's" alignment. This alignment represents neutral on both axes, and tends not to feel strongly towards any alignment. A farmer whose only concern is to feed his family is of this alignment. Most animals, lacking the capacity for moral judgement, are of this alignment.

Some neutral characters, rather than feeling undecided, are committed to a balance between the alignments. They may see Good, Evil, Law and Chaos as simply prejudices and dangerous extremes.

Druids frequently follow this True Neutral dedication to balance, and under older rules were required to be this alignment. In an example given in a D&D rulebook from this time period, a typical druid might fight against a band of marauding monsters, only to switch sides to save the monster's clan from being exterminated.

Lara Croft, Lucy Westenra from Dracula, and Han Solo in his early Star Wars appearance are Neutral.

Chaotic Neutral

Chaotic Neutral is called the "Anarchist" or "Free Spirit" alignment. A character of this alignment is an individualist who follows his or her own heart, shirks rules and traditions. They typically act out of self-interest, but do not enjoy seeing others suffer. Many adventurers are of this alignment.

An unusual subset of Chaotic Neutral is "strongly Chaotic Neutral", describing a character who behaves chaotically to the point of appearing insane. Characters of this type may regularly change their appearance and attitudes for the sake of change, and intentionally disrupt organizations for the sole reason of disrupting a Lawful construct.

Captain Jack Sparrow, Mad Max, Al Swearengen from the TV series Deadwood, and Snake Plissken from Escape from New York are verifiably Chaotic Neutral characters.

Lawful Evil

Lawful Evil is referred to as the "Dominator" or "Diabolic" alignment. Characters of this alignment show a combination of desirable and undesirable traits: while they typically obey their superiors and keep their word, they care nothing for the rights and freedoms of other individuals. Examples of this alignment include tyrants, devils, organized criminals, those with samurai-like aspects, and soldiers who follow the chain of command but enjoy killing for its own sake.

The game rules devote the most detail to this alignment, since it frequently creates interesting mastermind villains:

He is loath to break laws or promises. This reluctance comes partly from his nature and partly because he depends on order to protect himself from those who oppose him on moral grounds. Some lawful evil villains have particular taboos, such as not killing in cold blood (but having underlings do it) or not letting children come to harm (if it can be helped). They imagine that these compunctions put them above unprincipled villains.

Artemis Entreri is a prime example of Lawful Evil, as are Boba Fett of Star Wars and X-Men's Magneto.

Neutral Evil

Neutral Evil is called the "Malefactor" alignment. Characters of this alignment are typically selfish and have no qualms about turning on their allies-of-the-moment. They have no compunctions about harming others to get what they want, but neither will they go out of their way to cause carnage or mayhem when they see no direct benefit to it. A villain of this alignment can be more dangerous than either Lawful or Chaotic Evil characters, since he is neither bound by any sort of honor or tradition nor by obvious powerlust.

X-Men's Mystique and Sawyer of Lost as Neutral can be considered Neutral Evil characters.

Chaotic Evil

Chaotic Evil is referred to as the "Destroyer" or "Demonic" alignment. Characters of this alignment tend to have little respect for rules, other peoples' lives, or anything but their own selfish desires. They typically only behave themselves out of fear of punishment.

Otis, Baby, and Captain Spaulding from The Devil's Rejects, Marv from Sin City, and Riddick from Pitch Black are Chaotic Evil.