The Duty of Good

This excerpt from the Demon Slayer movie “Mugen Train” is a discussion between a demon-slayer in training and his mother. Mostly it is the mother talking except for the part in italics. Her explanation of her son’s duty is a neat encapsulation of what Good in AD&D is about:

Do you know why it is you were born with greater strength than so many others?

Uh… no, ma’am, I don’t.

It is so that you can protect the weak.

Those who are born blessed with more bountiful gifts than others are obligated to use those gifts for the sake of the world, for all of our fellow brothers and sisters.

You must never use that God-given strength to bring harm to mankind or for your own selfish desires.

It is the duty of those born strong to help those who may be less fortunate, a responsibility you must carry onward with due purpose.

Be sure you never forget that.

Good and Evil in AD&D is framed in the context of the strong and the weak. This can be missed but references to strength and weakness appear in the summaries for Chaotic Evil, Neutral Evil, and Lawful Evil. The Good alignments are not described in these terms but more by what the outcomes should be - “bringing life, happiness, and prosperity to all deserving creature” and similar. But the implications inherent in being the opposite of Evil are clear enough.

We could perhaps imagine a demon mother advising her child:

Do you know why it is you were born with greater strength than so many others?

Uh… no, ma’am, I don’t.

It is so that you can prevent the weak and undeserving from usurping what is rightfully yours.

Those who are born with fewer gifts than others are obligated to use what little they have for the sake of their betters, for the strong.

You must never believe that there is anything wrong with using your God-given strength to bring "harm" to weaklings or for your own desires.

It is the duty of those born strong to keep those who may be less fortunate in their places, a responsibility you must carry onward with due purpose.

Be sure you never forget that.

I think when looked at in these terms, the question of whether Lawful Good is “more Good” than Chaotic Good is shown to be the non-sequeter that it is. The paladin and the CG thief are clear on what Good is trying to do. They differ, essentially, on political grounds about how to achieve that goal.