Joaquin Phoenix D&D Moral Alignments Of His Film Characters

Joaquin Phoenix: D&D Moral Alignments Of His Film Characters

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Joaquin Phoenix has proven himself to be a diverse actor, which means several of his films’ characters have different Dungeons and Dragons alignments.

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Joaquin Phoenix D&D Moral Alignments Of His Film Characters

From the Golden Globes to the Academy Awards, no one cannot deny the dizzying acting range of Joaquin Phoenix. The man certainly has an affinity for portraying tormented or unstable souls on the silver screen. In that regard, one of his most prominent roles is the Crown Prince of Crime himself, the Joker, which quite possibly surpassed Heath Ledger’s version– a topic for another time.

Meanwhile, Joaquin Phoenix’s other roles have no shortage of love and dedication poured into them. Even though they are mostly gloomy or brooding, they are still varied enough to be categorized in Dungeons and Dragons’ moral alignment system. So, we’re here to dissect and deconstruct his Hollywood movie roles in the most tabletop RPG way possible.

10 THEODORE (HER) – TRUE NEUTRAL

Joaquin Phoenix D&D Moral Alignments Of His Film Characters

Compared to some of his more intense roles, Joaquin Phoenix’s somber and lonely Theodore is mostly just an empty shell of what he once was. He’s a character who’s suffering from the fallout of a failed marriage and turned to an A.I. for a rebound.

Throughout the film, we see Theodore often struggling with the reality of dating a computer and the familiar comfort of a physical person. He’s also quite a blank slate here. This makes the character fall on a true neutral on the alignment– people who can be summed up as undecided.

9 EMPEROR COMMODUS (GLADIATOR) – NEUTRAL EVIL

Joaquin Phoenix D&D Moral Alignments Of His Film Characters

Now on to more villainous roles. Joaquin Phoenix is no stranger to playing bad guys, and one of his most memorable villains prior to Joker was Emperor Commodus from Gladiator back in 2000. He’s quite a handful here too.

Commodus was a volatile and mentally unstable emperor of Rome who killed his own father and betrayed his best general out of spite. He also goes out of his way to cause damage to Maximus by murdering his family. This makes him a rather selfish and malignant neutral evil character.

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8 JOE (YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE) – LAWFUL NEUTRAL

Joaquin Phoenix D&D Moral Alignments Of His Film Characters

You don’t usually see Joaquin Phoenix playing as the “good guy” in psycho-thriller movies. That’s why his role in You Were Never Really Here is a change of scenery. He plays as Joe there, a hired gun with principles who specializes in rescuing trafficked girls.

Right off the bat, this puts Joe in a benevolent spotlight. However, how he exacts punishment on human traffickers is nothing short of cruel– often putting the law on his own hands. For that, Joe deserves the designation of lawful neutral, the judge, the jury, and the executioner.

7 FREDDIE QUELL (THE MASTER) – CHAOTIC NEUTRAL

Joaquin Phoenix D&D Moral Alignments Of His Film Characters

In another troubled character for another troubling movie about troubling characters, Joaquin Phoenix graces us with an award-worthy performance as Freddie Quell in The Master. Quell was initially a photographer here who was suffering from PTSD as a veteran.

After being accused of causing many unfortunate events, as well as battling his own PTSD, Quell ends up continuously running away from everything. As a character who mostly looked out for himself and caused a lot of trouble along the way, Quell is a chaotic neutral.

6 JOHNNY CASH (WALK THE LINE) – CHAOTIC GOOD

Joaquin Phoenix D&D Moral Alignments Of His Film Characters

Compared to some of the more bittersweet Joaquin Phoenix characters on this list, his Johnny Cash in Walk the Line manages to turn his life around from all his issues. It’s a biopic, and Phoenix gets the honor of being the famed rockstar himself.

Cash’s life, as depicted in the film, has no shortage of alcohol and drug-induced problems that ruined his marriage and nearly killed him. Still, Cash was able to redeem himself with his music and his legendary prison concerts. Turns out he’s a decent guy, after all, making him chaotic good.

5 MERRILL HESS (SIGNS) – NEUTRAL GOOD

Joaquin Phoenix D&D Moral Alignments Of His Film Characters

In the paranormal thriller Signs, we get to see Joaquin Phoenix in quite possibly his tamest and most vanilla role ever. He plays the young lad Merrill Hess, brother of Reverend Graham Hess, played by Mel Gibson.

Hess is more of a side character here and doesn’t get as much screen time as Mel Gibson’s character, but nevertheless, his willingness to protect his family at all costs, even resorting to unconventional means, makes him a neutral good person.

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4 JESUS (MARY MAGDALENE) – LAWFUL GOOD

Joaquin Phoenix D&D Moral Alignments Of His Film Characters

Well, there’s no debate with this one, most people will regard the Son of God as a lawful good character which is fitting. That’s what Jesus is believed to be for the most part, and he’s also portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix spectacularly enough in Mary Magdalene.

Of course, this film is mostly about Mary Magdalene herself, but Phoenix still takes the spotlight with his dramatic performance as Jesus as he straddles the line between chaotic good and lawful good, the latter being the more dominant alignment.

3 DOC SPORTELLO (INHERENT VICE) – CHAOTIC NEUTRAL

Joaquin Phoenix D&D Moral Alignments Of His Film Characters

In what appears to yet another Joaquin Phoenix role about a borderline deranged persona, he stars as Doc Sportello in Inherent Vice. Sportello is a private investigator who gets entangled in all sorts of life-threatening predicaments comprised of hippies, blood, and psychological issues.

In the end, Doc was out for himself amidst all the chaos and betrayals he had to endure throughout the movie. Though the movie might be confusing and can lack coherence, Doc’s alignment isn’t that hard to see as he is a chaotic neutral here, someone who values his own freedom a little too much.

2 KENAI (BROTHER BEAR) – CHAOTIC GOOD

Joaquin Phoenix D&D Moral Alignments Of His Film Characters

Surprisingly, most of us wouldn’t have recognized that Kenai, the lead character in Brother Bear, was voiced by Joaquin Phoenix. He certainly disappears into every role he does, even if it’s just voice acting.

Anyway, Kenai is a strong-headed troublemaker in Brother Bear. Being the youngest among all three brothers, he’s stubborn and free-spirited as heck. That doesn’t diminish his values, although his penchant for being rebellious has done as much harm as good, making him a chaotic good character.

1 JOKER (JOKER) – CHAOTIC EVIL

Last but not least, we have the pinnacle of Joaquin Phoenix’s insane characterization, the Joker himself. Phoenix showed us a fresh new take on the Joker’s origin story as a downtrodden man in society’s underbelly who had no other choice but to go madder than the mad world he lives.

True to the source material, the Joker’s method is madness; he has no plan and is a mastermind at the same time. One thing remains the same regardless of who plays him: he will destroy anything he touches. This makes the Joker the evilest out of all evil alignments in D&D, which is chaotic evil; the Joker deserves no less.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/joaquin-phoenix-characters-dungeons-dragons-alignments/

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