Fair enough. My point was the quests kind of have various flavors. I did like the alignment chart- like I said, wasn't trying to nitpick- just the evil jobs kinda irked me.
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Certainly no ill will towards you on my end. I'm simply enjoying the debate over the character alignment system. It's rare that we can have a discussion on these forums that doesn't instantly delve into bitter arguments or hateful comments without anything to add.....
Well, the reason why they would be neutral as opposed to evil would be because they respect the lives of the primals. Rather than harnessing dark powers, they are purifying controversial bad powers into controlled good. However, they are still neutral as opposed to good because they use that power to get rid of enemies. By killing other beasts, it could be hypocritical, as they are purifying and taming one while killing the other.
BLM, on the other hand, do not purify the black magic. They control the devastations and use it for more destruction, which isn't necessarily bad, but evil in terms of the WoL alignment spectrum of what evil can be.
as brd main :
http://i.imgur.com/91vVSoh.gif
I don't know if I'd consider WHM "good." Lore-wise, I'd put them rigidly at Lawful Neutral.
Reasoning:
They submit to the elementals completely (Law), and that means whatever the elementals say. Including letting people die at their will, or turning another cheek to outside problems entirely, as you see in the 50-60 WHM quests when the "good" option would have been aiding them. They finally snap out of it in the level 60 quest because the Warrior makes them, but it takes basically the entire forest being threatened to even consider action.
Also worth noting:
WHM and BLM are fundamentally similar. White magic caused the an Umbral Era just as much as Black Magic did, White Magic has been used more destructively in the past, just as much so as Black Magic. There's a reason it's banned.
True. In reply to your first argument, however, as stated before, that does not judge good vs evil; that judges lawful vs chaotic. They are lawful, but their obedience to authority does not make them evil. Additionally, WHM and BLM are similar because they are complete opposites, which would further strengthen them as being Lawful good and Chaotic Evil. Plus, good and evil and chaotic and lawful is not a matter of what is good and what is bad, but what is moral in accordance with their ideologies and parallels.