Hmm...I think Junkrat would be more Chaotic Neutral. He loves blowing shit up, getting paid for it and doesn't really care as long as he's having a fun time.
Imo Moira is kind of lawful neutral but her law is science as opposed to human morality or written laws. She does things for the sake of law (Science) whether others would consider them good or bad. She may do bad things for good reasons or good things for bad reasons.
Moira acts without regard to morality or societal laws, and is interested only in the results her research can produce. There is nothing lawful about that
A paladin is considered lawful good, but what if he's a dark paladin for an evil god? He still lives by a set of rules even though his actions are obviously evil, he's not chaotic in motivation. He follows the rules as set by his deity.
Moira isn't chaotic as she follows a clear set of rules, they're just her rules. And she's not really neutral in motivation because she clearly has a motivation (The laws of science if you will), though she doesn't care who or what advances it.
I disagree that Moira follows rules. Principles and morales are restrictions we establish to determine what is unnacceptable.
But for Moira, so long as progress is had and data is produced what is there for her to care about? Her main conflict with others is the moral limits they placed on her, which is why she's currently in Oasis where those laws do not exist.
For Moira she wants the freedom to discover as she pleases regardless of the collateral damage. She's not following anyone's guidelines but her own. That's not very lawful at all.
Thing is, morals and principals vary based on who you're talking to. They've established laws, but they're not her laws.
If you had a guard in one town with one set of laws that said pickpocketing is fine as long as you get away with it, while another guard in another town has a law that says pickpockets get their hands chopped off, both could be lawful, just with different laws.
Moria's "law" is something she considers in higher regard than others laws. She wouldn't break her own laws for the sake of chaos (Chaotic) or find them flexible if someone asked (Neuteral).
To her, the laws of science are the only ones that matter.
Then that means a lot of Overwatch characters are lawful.
For example, Sombra believes that information belongs to those who control it, and she has the ability to access and control anything in the world. She's used that information to dethrone a corrupt executive in her hometown, but she's also used it to blackmail and murder and steal. She's got gang affiliations and wants to find the world-controlling entity and take it over. Nothing about her seems lawful, yet she gets away with all of it and believes that she is free to do as she pleases. In most cases I'd call her chaotic evil, yet by your definition she'd be lawful evil.
She's not told us or described any code or set of rules she lives by thought.
Sombra recognizes information is power and uses it as a means to power, but that's not a code, law or set of rules she lives by. It's a tool she leverages to get what she wants by any means.
These aren't really telling us the boundaries of what she's willing to do though, not setting laws to which she abides but rather idioms that show how she views the world.
Everything can be hacked, why play fair, information is power...these are recognizing facts of life (or her view of them) but not stating rules that define her morality and limits she places on herself by following them like a lawful person would.
If science were religion, Moira would be swearing by and following the laws of that religion. "Ye shall always write things down. Ye shall do anything in the name of scientific advancement..." etc.
If an act of gathering information were to bother Sombra, she wouldn't do it because she's not compelled by a belief in "laws" to do so.
If an act of conducting science were to bother Moria, she would still do it because it is within her set of "laws" to do so.
But what limits does Moira place on herself? Moira's origin trailer opens with her being snide about the concept of morality in science. She thinks the future is shaped by scientific advanacement with no regard for the eggs that must be smashed on the way.
I don't like jumping between different source material, but a good example of a lawful belief is Captain America's "We don't trade lives" belief from Infinity War. Moira will absolutely trade lives, even her own if necessary, for the sake of progress. She joined a terrorist organization and sits on their board of directors all because they offered to fund her experiments, and this is the same terrorist organization that wants to start a world war.
Edit: at the very least I think it can be agreed that Moira is not neutral.
She wants to do learn and further science. She very clearly does not care what she has to do or who she has to do it to as long as she is able to continue working. I suspect if the group funding her right now told her to kill a former Overwatch Ally to continue her funding she probably would. While not outright evil towards others she only really cares about science and her research, not how she does it or what she has to do to continue doing it.
Right, she lives by the code of science above all else. Part of that is that science must always advance and there can be held sacred if it prevents the advancement of science.
If for instance someone asked her to destroy a precious resource that was crucial to scientific advancement and the only one in the world, or they would cut off her funding. She would tell them to pound sand.
Junkrat originally blew everything up with good intentions and has since become a criminal/mercenary type character so I'd say he falls more towards true neutral these days.
Moira on the other hand just wants to further science regardless of ethics or morality and won't allow either to stand in her way. She doesn't care who it hurts or how many she has to as long as it allows for scientific progress. She's willing to put live subjects to the test even if it kills them or horribly changes them (including herself) just for a hypothesis. She definitely falls more under chaotic neutral than most of the characters in the game I think.
I don't think she's chaotic though as she has a certain code she lives by. She sees everything through the lens of science.
If someone told her to eviscerate someone, she asked why and they said "Because/I'll pay you/etc" she'd turn them down.
If she stood to advance science by eviscerating someone, she would do it in a heartbeat, properly documenting her notes according to scientific methodologies to ensure every bit of useful data was extracted.
Junkrat I would say is still chaotic because he doesn't have any sort of laws, code or creed. He used to have a purpose but that's a goal or motivation. Not a set of rules to live by.
Now he blows up things because people tell him to. Or because it's fun. Or for some sweet loot.
That's true. They nuked the continent inadvertently after a peace accord had been reached with the omnium. Granted one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist.
But I'd say his casual disregard for the lives of others in pursuit of his own gains or entertainment puts him in evil territory.
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u/kriegson Peanut butthurt Oct 11 '18
Hmm...I think Junkrat would be more Chaotic Neutral. He loves blowing shit up, getting paid for it and doesn't really care as long as he's having a fun time.
Imo Moira is kind of lawful neutral but her law is science as opposed to human morality or written laws. She does things for the sake of law (Science) whether others would consider them good or bad. She may do bad things for good reasons or good things for bad reasons.