Talk:James Ironwood/@comment-30975241-20191212081157/@comment-2406:E003:ACB:D901:9CDB:F64A:8AC2:9EBA-20200119142848

Alignment? I'd go Lawful Neutral or maybe even True Neutral. I wouldn't say Evil as that suggests he acts only for his best interests, or against the best interests of a vast majority, if we're talking D&D. He thinks what he's doing is right, but just keeps making bad decisions spurred on by paranoia to the point of being willing to sacrifice an entire kingdom for the sake of the world. While definitively pushing him over the edge into the Antagonist camp, I wouldn't call him Evil, just catastrophically misguided. He's become robotic and binary in his decision making, so if I had to pick one of the two I'd vote True Neutral.

If I was still at university I'd write a whole character dissection on Ironwood. I always liked him since he was introduced, but now he's become possibly the most complex and utterly morally grey individual in the series and I think now my favourite character. To be honest I never took the bait that we're supposed to see Ozpin as this morally grey character now; sure he has secrets, but the delivery's just not been convincing enough for me to really agree with his status. Ironwood, on the other hand, has had a brilliant, fluid, believable character arc toward moral ambiguity. He feels like a real person, not an anime character like everyone else, and Volume 7 has portrayed the tail end of his mental changes near-flawlessly. I have mad respect for the amount of thought that must have gone into writing his character - a careful if bullheaded military man shown just how powerless his "most advanced army in the world" really is, then spiralling down through PTSD-fuelled dodgy decisions to protect people in a vain attempt to compensate for his defeat, then very briefly coming to his senses before completely breaking down and making the choice that tips him over the edge - Bravo, Rooster Teeth. Bravo I say!