Ok. I really want a nap so I will now start the paladin rang so that it is, god willing, a self-limiting proposition.
Mute thread as needed. Ahem. *clears throat*
Ursula's Paladin Rant, or "Crapsack Jedi With Guilt Issues"
D&D, which basically underlies huge swaths of the modern fantasy genre, was really broken when it came to Alignment.
And the absolute pinnacle of that brokenness was the Paladin class.
If it had just STAYED to D&D, we wouldn't have to worry about it, but that super-broken thing translated into aforementioned vast swaths.
With the end result that books influenced by games influenced by other books influenced by a game still have broken goddamn Paladins.
Priests don't have this problem. You can have good priests, bad priests, compassionate priests, young idealist priests, etc, etc.
The minute you give them plate mail, though, they turn into crapsack Jedi.
All of a sudden it's like "if I commit a single sin or get mad or think a bad thought I SHALL FALL TO THE DARK SIDE."
D&D was terrible about this because it assumed the gods were rules lawyers.
"Yeah, ok, you did free all those prisoners of war, but you pickpocketed a key to do it, Tyr says no stealing, sorry, you're now Bad."
More recent writing kinda dispensed with that on account of stupid, but they kept the whole "constantly on the edge of damnation" schtick.
This is Dumb.