Based on the comic book series (of the same name) by Dark Horse Comics, Netflix's The Umbrella Academy debuted on the streaming platform in February of 2019, stealing the hearts of action-hero enthusiasts everywhere. But it wasn't just the heated shootout scenes and the expertly choreographed fights that caught viewers' attention.
It was the characters themselves. "Relatable superheroes" is an almost oxymoronic phrase, but that's what fans of The Umbrella Academy have found in the story of this supremely dysfunctional family of adopted siblings. How dysfunctional? Let's investigate by digging more deeply into their Dungeons & Dragons moral alignments, and those of the people around them.
Cha-Cha: Lawful Evil
Cha-Cha is a time-traveling assassin who works for Temps Commission, an organization that exists to preserve the timeline, which includes ensuring that the apocalypse happens. Unlike Hazel, when Cha-Cha gets the order to eliminate Hazel, she enters their motel room and fires lethal shots into the shower, fully believing Hazel is in the shower, just because the company told her to.
Later, after they reconcile, Cha-Cha still believes in the company even after Hazel tries to convince her that they've been betrayed and will be left to die in the apocalypse. Loyal to her evil masters to the end, Cha-Cha dies in the apocalypse because she continued going after Five and Diego even after Hazel abandons her.
Hazel: Lawful Neutral
From the moment he orders his first donut, it's clear that Hazel is not your average time-traveling assassin. He questions things, like why he's killing a specific person and what his future will look like, in a way that his blindly-devoted and truly evil partner doesn't.
Not much is known about his past, but it's possible that Hazel had never met a kind person he didn't have to kill before he met Agnes, and it's clear that his relationship with her changes him from someone who had been living a lawful evil lifestyle, to someone on the way to embracing the idea of being good.
Leonard Peabody: Chaotic Evil
Even though it seems that Leonard may have caught feelings for Vanya just before she hit him with the debris of everything in his living room, Leonard's motives remain unclear. Did he intend to cause the apocalypse? Or did he simply want The Umbrella Academy to suffer? Either way, the fervor with which he infiltrated Vanya's life, manipulated her, and stole her away from her family can only be described as chaotic, if not desperate.
Leonard was a normal person messing with supernatural forces he didn't fully understand. His insecurities and anger drove him to create chaos and disorder for the Hargreeves family and, ultimately. the world.
Klaus Hargreeves: True Neutral
Klaus Hargreeves is a complicated character who can be separated into two distinct Dungeons & Dragons moral alignments: the first being neutral evil, and the second being true neutral. All characters in every story exist on a spectrum, but after Klaus stole Hazel and Cha-Cha's briefcase and time-traveled to the Vietnam war, he returns a changed man.
In a plot that nicely mirrors Hazel's, Klaus fell in love while in Vietnam. Even though the man he loved died, when Klaus returns to the present, he is driven by the thought of conjuring his lost love. He gives up drugs first, but other changes in his personality become apparent as he becomes more and more involved in saving the world with his siblings.
Ben Hargreeves: True Neutral
Much of Ben Hargreeves character remains a mystery to fans of The Umbrella Academy tv show. Ominous themes abound in the tales told about his powers in early episodes, which are described as dark and terrifying, and shown to us as eldritch tentacles that expand from Ben's chest to attack his enemies. Viewers know his death was caused by his ability, thanks to an ominous etching on his memorial statue.
Because he's dead, Ben only appears to Klaus, who can summon and contact the dead. Generally, he spends his time on-screen giving Klaus good advice but doesn't seem very affected by the events of the living world outside of what happens to his family.
Allison Hargreeves: Neutral Good
Generally, controlling other people's actions and minds is considered an evil act, and Allison Hargreeves seems to know that. Before the events of the show, Allison used her abilities freely to get what she wanted. She never purposely hurt people, but people did get hurt. After using the ability on her daughter and being caught by her ex-husband, Allison vows to never use her superpower again.
The thing that makes her truly neutral good is that she keeps that promise as long as she possibly can. She doesn't use it to help Diego when the cops surround them, or to find Vanya faster. Even though her superpower might be able to help, she knows it could cause harm, and she seeks to reduce that harm at all costs.
Luther Hargreeves: Lawful Good
To question whether or not Luther Hargreeves is Lawful Good is to question if the show is titled The Umbrella Academy. He got over Reginald sending him to the moon for no reason very quickly. Their father lied to Luther just as much (if not more) than he lied to Vanya, and Luther still defended him in the season one finale, claiming their father sacrificed everything so that they could stop Vanya.
It clearly hurt him to think of harming his sister, but even after Allison protested repeatedly, Luther still attacked Vanya as she played her white violin because he believed it was the right thing to do.
Diego Hargreeves: Chaotic Good
Potentially one of the most entertaining characters on the show, this fighter with a knack for throwing knives may be so fun because of his chaotic good status. Just as likely to start a fight with you as he is to save your life, Diego packs a heavy punch either way. Despite his standoffish behavior, Diego's main priority is protecting his family and loved ones.
Throughout the first season, he remains deeply hurt by Vanya's memoir and the lens through which she portrayed their family. In the end, Diego's family can usually count on him to do the right thing... but a few people might get hit with some knives along the way.
Number Five: Chaotic Neutral
When it's finally revealed how Number Five became stuck in the future, it makes a lot of sense. His father Reginald Hargreeves told him not to time travel, so, of course, he did. That theme is pretty constant in Number Five's decision-making process: whatever he's told to do, he'll find some way to do the opposite.
He loves his family, so he doesn't particularly want the world to end, but it's hard to say what he would have done if he had no family at all. Luckily, his family brings some much-needed balance to his chaotic neutral default setting—but what more could you expect from a natural-born time traveler?
Vanya Hargreeves: Chaotic Neutral
In an odd mirror to Number Five, Vanya Hargreeves is also chaotic neutral. The only difference? Vanya doesn't believe her family cares about her. It's ironic that the two share an alignment, as it's noted several times throughout the first season that Number Five and Vanya were particularly close. They both disobeyed Reginald, and we later learn that Vanya also displayed powers that she could not control, like Number Five.
Vanya would sneak down after curfew and make Number Five peanut butter and fluff sandwiches, which is the first thing Number Five makes himself when he returns home. Vanya shows extreme remorse after she hurts Allison, the only member of her family with whom she remains close, but ultimately gives into chaotic neutral nihilism when her brothers attack her during her concert.