Dedicated to the definitive superhero non-team.


Sunday, November 22, 2015

True Neutral: Libra

The old-school Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide described True Neutral not as an alignment of detachment (characteristic of Uatu the Watcher) but rather as an alignment that actively enforced balance between opposing sides. Libra from the android version of the Zodiac embodied this take on True Neutral.

Morally complex, Libra closely observed the well-matched battle between the villainous Zodiac and the heroic non-team to evaluate whether his intervention was necessary (Defenders #50).

Later, when a television documentary prompted numerous heroes to temporarily join the Defenders, Libra sensed an imbalance between the scales of law-and-order and chaos. To restore the equilibrium, Libra joined teammate Sagittarius in recruiting a throng of super-villains to to commit crimes while calling themselves Defenders (#64).

  Lawful Good    Neutral Good    Chaotic Good  
  Lawful Neutral    True Neutral    Chaotic Neutral  
  Lawful Evil    Neutral Evil    Chaotic Evil  

1 comment:

Cease said...

Interesting! Gemini ends up my favorite of the Scorpio-incarnated bunch, all designed by Keith Giffen. I think balance is a pretty normal desire, though the Libra with whom I live makes a particular point about balance often.

I hadn't visited in a while, but I've had such great conversations with David Anthony Kraft about the Defenders in the past year. I imagine the Netflix incarnation will bring you lots of traffic!