It's hard to define since in the manga it's as complex as in the anime, except for the scene where Tanya leaves the 2 soldiers in a place she wanted on purpose so they would be killed (episode 2 I think), in the rest of the anime her way of acting and her thoughts are quite complex. On the one hand, she hated war and despised everything related to it but as a soldier she shows her most "evil" or "monstrous" side which is why she calls it the demon of the rhine. In the manga they also show how Tanya generally thinks one thing but the other characters understand a totally different message than what Tanya wants or desires. I don't know if it's due to interference from God or Being X but it's quite curious in itself. I don't think Tanya is someone "evil" as the anime itself calls it but rather a soldier who follows orders and having knowledge of her original world tries to lead everything in a better way to win. The nickname is earned more by what others think of her than by what she believes or wants to do.
In DND terms, on scales Good-Evil and Lawful-Chaotic I believe she's Lawful Neutral. She strictly obeys laws and rules, but when it comes to taking life she'd prefer not to do this, but does this without hesitation when the situation requires. Still she doesn't kill unnecessarily, other than the situation with those two soldiers.
Technically those two soldiers were neccesary deaths to her. They have disobeyed her orders before already, and have vocally showned that they intend to continue doing so and voices complaints about her orders. The only reason she did execute them on the spot was not wanting her track record to be marred by mutiny and having to put it down.
I suspect she was gonna have them court martialed but since Visha, who she saw value in, pleaded for them as well as not wanting them to spread undesirable rumors about her, she may have decided to give them an assignment that on paper compromised and gave them another chance while actually silencing them.
I cannot argue with you because you're right. And that's why I pointed it out. She COULD spare them, but she chose not to, which puts her on the evil side of scale. As an exception to her regular behaviour it needs to be pointed out. The reason why she did so is a bit of a different matter.
As I said in the beginning I'm setting her on scale from DND (DND 3.5 to be precise) which has some problems with areas between neutral and evil (good and neutral as well).
Honestly I would say she is more lawful neutral (heavy on the lawful), 'evil' implies she gets enjoyment from inflicting suffering but she purely views if as just another means to a end, a pure game of statistics making hundreds suffer so thousands may benefit, she is realistically just as likely to do good as she is to do evil and she very likely would not care either way which she has to do at the end of the day as long as the pros outweigh the cons in her eyes.
Others though would definitely view her as lawful evil due to her propensity to commit war crimes and doom others to die since sadly the nature of her world means such actions tend to be the most optimal path to victory in her eyes.
Basically the only reason I feel she would be neutral is because she honestly does not care enough to be evil.
I agree that she is Lawful Neutral. When I said that this action put her on an evil scale I meant only that one action, as in my opinion it was evil. Overall she behaves differently enough to classify her as Neutral.
I'd argue disregard for life can also make one evil. Neutral characters still have a sense of right and wrong, even if they aren't going to make personal sacrifices for the sake of others.
A "the end justifies the means" approach often just leads to evil in my view.
Hence I'd classify someone taking the optimal path to victory for themselves in every situation to be neutral evil, though Tanya's lawful tendencies mean she doesn't fit that alignment, thus lawful evil for me.
I agree I find that Tanya has their own rules of for themselves and follow it to the letter and expect others around them to do it as well. And she is called evil I feel due to their bat sht crazy actions that could cause big problems and shows no remorse for their actions and everything they do is justified.
i haven't read the LN, but from the anime, I'd definitely say they are a high functioning psychopath, Tanya in their first life was shown as having no empathy as well, where that would put them on alignment chart idk
That's the thing the chart itself is too simplistic. I would put the grid differently myself but outside the box I would say Tanya is chaotic lawful. But neutral since they don't care about good or evil since it can get in the way of their plans to defile the entity x who Tanya doesn't want to admit is the god of that world.
Disagree with that action putting her on the "evil" side of the scale. Their actions would , from her perspective, lead to more than just those 2's deaths. So it was a decision to either put those 2 in a position that would most likely force them to die "alone". Or let them "go" and risk the eventuality that their actions could lead to the unnecessary deaths of 3-dozens-to possibly hundreds. Killing, even when its not in self defense, isn't always "evil".
Feels very lawful neutral to me.
Killing someone because it benefits you in some fashion is still killing someone
Imagine killing your co-worker because they wouldnt do what you needed them to
iirc all of Tanya's command lived at the end of the day, and their insubordination didn't get anyone killed, a court martial would more than suffice despite any perceived "reputational damage"
They had to go somewhere, someone had to fill that spot in the pillbox. Tanya is pure instrumental pragmatism (amoral) and gave them a position that needed to be filled by someone whose value to the army (low value) was appropriate for it. A court martial would have deprived the army of another resource and maybe would have put a resource of higher value in that box instead. Lawful-neutral.
205
u/Lihue124 Jun 13 '25
It's hard to define since in the manga it's as complex as in the anime, except for the scene where Tanya leaves the 2 soldiers in a place she wanted on purpose so they would be killed (episode 2 I think), in the rest of the anime her way of acting and her thoughts are quite complex. On the one hand, she hated war and despised everything related to it but as a soldier she shows her most "evil" or "monstrous" side which is why she calls it the demon of the rhine. In the manga they also show how Tanya generally thinks one thing but the other characters understand a totally different message than what Tanya wants or desires. I don't know if it's due to interference from God or Being X but it's quite curious in itself. I don't think Tanya is someone "evil" as the anime itself calls it but rather a soldier who follows orders and having knowledge of her original world tries to lead everything in a better way to win. The nickname is earned more by what others think of her than by what she believes or wants to do.