True Neutral

(Captain) Jack Sparrow

True Neutral is a rare alignment that sits in between the law–chaos and good–evil axes.

As it sits neutral with regards to law and chaos, True Neutral is willing to work within power structures and systems of authority to achieve its end, but it is also willing to operate outside of them. It does not seek to undermine them.

Its neutrality with regards to good and evil is where things get a bit confusing, at least for me. Personally, I see Lawful Neutral as the conflation of order with good, and Chaotic Neutral as the conflation of freedom with good. Thus, I see True Neutral as the conflation of operability inside and outside of power structures with good.

Meta examples

The only example of True Neutral I can think of is (Captain) Jack Sparrow. Is he a good guy? No, he does some wicked things. Is he a bad guy? Well, he does a surprising number of good things. He's certainly not Lawful Neutral, but I don't think he's Chaotic Neutral, either: he is perfectly willing to strike a deal with the navy, the East India Company, and the crown to get what he wants. The fact that I can't imagine him being unwilling to cooperate with authority to achieve his ends indicates to me that he's True Neutral, not Chaotic Neutral. Now contrast that with someone like Deadpool, whom I believe is certainly Chaotic Neutral.

Known True Neutral mortals

• Mordenkainen

Alignment
	Law	Neutral	Chaos
Good	Lawful Good	Neutral Good	Chaotic Good
Neutral	Lawful Neutral	True Neutral	Chaotic Neutral
Evil	Lawful Evil	Neutral Evil	Chaotic Evil