#as well as its humanity doesn't automatically mean its evil or good deeds are mundane

[thunderboltfire]

I took part in a discussion on the humanisation of 'evil' creatures and in the process I've made this little alignment chart of fantasy creatures to illustrate my point, which is that the removal of an entity from human motivations makes it easier to characterise it more as a fantastical embodiment or a symbol of something, than as a fully fleshed out character.

Familliar-strange axis is how understandable is a creature in its behavior and motivations, how similar to humans in a sense of having understandable feelings, ambitions, motivations and instincts. Is it completely beyond comprehension, just a guy, or something in the middle?

Positive-negative axis relates to how is the creature characterised by the narrative, which may be irrelevant to the entity's personal sense of morality (or lack thereof).

Idk how useful it is, but I think it might be helpful to conceptualise the role some fantasy minions, goons or magical helpers play in a story, and whether or not their characterisation as such is intended. Or You could just doodle on it. Have fun!