Evil: A hostility towards or willfulness to negate what is valuable or good, or the effects of such negation (DP).

A villain is one who will pursue his ends by any means, without regard to who is hurt in the process. ...Your average vampire is a villain, because he is really only interested in feeding. He doesn't care that he's killing people in the process. He may even enjoy the pain he inflicts. Angel, on the other hand, is not a villain ...because he has been unwilling to harm the innocent in his quest to thwart W&H (Humanitas, 26-Jan-01 17:09).

Trends in the evil characters across the seasons:

• Season 1 saw a lot of predatory monsters,
• Second 2, world-destroying demons,
• Season 3 human evil,
• Season 4 of BtVS and Season 1 of A:tS flirted with shades of gray,
• Season 5 of BtVS and season 2 of AtS embraced existentialist angst--the evils inherent in human beings and life itself.
• Season 6 of BtVS and season 3 of AtS deal with facing the challenges of adulthood, including the temptations of power, repression, lust, and vengeance that can corrupt the souls of the good.
• Season 7 of BtVS and season 4 of AtS feature entities more powerful then demons with an agenda to upset the universal balance between good and evil.

AtS seems to have a lot more villains who are evil because they choose evil: Faith, Lindsey, Darla, Lilah, the rip-apart doctor, etc. But there are just as many demons and vampires who are good, like the Karoake Demon and the PregnantLadyProtector demon. While on BtVS people are evil simply because they were born that way - it's not obvious that they could have made another choice (M. Costello, 3:56 pm Oct 25, 2000).

Fan thoughts on evil in BtVS:

• wolfguard's Evil by Any Other Name
• If the acts of demons are in their very nature, and they cannot act otherwise than they do, perhaps the concepts of good and evil cannot by applied to them: Good and evil are abstract "human" concepts, to try to apply or force them on those who are not "human" would be absurd (Christian Hemain, Tue, 15 Jun 1999).
• Vox's Is it right to judge a vampire by our own ethical code?

Predatory evil

Cunning and often deceptive, predators--whether demon, monster, or human--hunt the weak and unwary in order to feed on their lives, their youth, or their beauty. Hunters kill out of need, natural or unnatural, healthy or pathological.

Willow: I don't know if I feel like killing anymore. I'm so bored. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel. Where's the fun? Vampire Minion: With all due respect, boss, the fun would be the eating.                                                                                       --Doppelgängland

Examples of predatory evil on BtVS

| Darla | Natalie French | The Pack | Ampata | Machida | The Gorch Brothers | Oz-wolf | der Kindestod | The Go Fish sea monsters | Mr. Trick | Lurconis | VampWillow and VampXander | Sunday | Tahlmer | Veruca and the morality of the predator | Vlad the Impaler (AKA Dracula) | The Thesulac | The Lei Achs | Yeska | The Queller | The Skilosh | The Lilliad | The Lamprey monster | The Tree Demon | Gnarl | Caleb | Jasmine | The Boretz |

Predatory Evil/mixed with insanity: Andrew Borba | Drusilla | Zachary Kralik

Although modern chaos theory sees chaos as an organizing force that leads to greater complexity, rather than a disorganizing force, In the Buffyverse, the term "chaos" is used in the traditional sense--"a loss of order." This definition still works well on the small scale. Specifically, chaos in the Buffyverse is a tool in the hands of an individual or small disempowered group (demon or human) to create mayhem and disorder. Ethan Rayne, for example, tries to create chaos in Sunnydale from time to time. His goal is not some great evil consequence, but simply confusion and trouble for his victims.

Evil-as-chaos comes out of the resentment evil has for good. This is Satan's sort of evil--after being cast out of heaven, the fallen angel becomes dedicated to ruining what the good have going for them. This is the evil of the weak; complete destruction is not possible against the stronger forces of good, and Satan is forced into terrorism. Examples of Evil as Chaos: the Order of Taraka, Ovu Mobani, the dead boys in The Zeppo, Anyanka, Spike Gachnar, the Gentlemen, Rahmon, Olaf the troll, Glory and her Key, The Hellions, the M'Fashnik, Billy Blim, Sweet, Granoks, The Beast.

Temptation

The corruption of good people often requires disarming them with the delights of evil. Examples: Darla, Moloch the corrupter, Eyghon, The Mayor, The First Evil, The Hansel-and-Gretel Demon, VampWillow, Lilah Morgan, Dracula and his vamp minions, de-ratted Amy, Jenoff. If they succeed, we move on to

The perversion of good

• Moloch the Corrupter
• Drusilla and Pippin's corruption theory of Vampire's personality traits before and after vamping.
• D'Hoffryn, creator of vengeance demons (Something Blue, Selfless)
• Trevor Lockley becomes a corrupt cop
• Adam failed warrior of good.
• Dracula seduces women to vampirism.
• Lilah Morgan tries to incite a young woman into the mindset of an assassin, goes after a weakened and bitter Wesley
• The power of magic may be corrupting Willow
• Is Holtz being corrupted by Sahjhan's darkness?
• What do the Red Girl and her cronies want for Angel?
• What is behind Wolfram and Hart's offer to cede their L.A. offices to Angel Investigations?

Warriors of evil

Temptation does not always get the job done. Sometimes more aggressive measures are required. Warriors of evil are sent on (or pick themselves) individual battles to fight against the forces of good. Examples:

The Three and El Eliminati are "warrior vampires"

the Order of Taraka, Mohra Demons, and Toth are assassins of the Warriors of Good

the Wolfram and Hart law firm defends evil's ability to corrupt. Helping them are assassin Vanessa Brewer and Vocah, warrior of the underworld.

Destruction

People? ...kind of a planetary epidemic.

Several times on the show demons have been depicted attempting to "end the world" (an event also called "the apocalypse" or "Armageddon"). The ingredients for apocalypsy-fun are well established by now. Get some really mean demons (The Master, the Sisterhood of Jhe, the Vahrall), a ritual to force open the Hellmouth, an earthquake to portent the event, put them together, and let wackiness ensue. Unless Buffy can stop it, the demons will emerge from Hell and reclaim the Earthly plane for themselves and the demon "life-style." They will obliterate humans and/or the present human way of life (not obliterating our world completely). But Buffy does always stop it. At least she has so far. The Apocolypses:

• The Harvest was the Master's attempt to create hell on Earth.
• The Judge disdains all that is human and has the power to destroy humanity, bit by bit (Innocence).
• Acathla is a demon who provides a sure means to destroy the Earth as it is.
• The Sisterhood of Jhe have one purpose, to bring about Armageddon.
• The Mohra Demons intend to bring about "The End of Days".
• The Scourge want to bring demon purity by killing mixed-breeds.
• Again??!! Now that Sunnydale High is abandoned, the Hellmouth is a tempting target for demons like the Vahrall.
• Lubber demons seek a messiah who will remove the human pestilence from the Earth.
• An apocalypse is coming. So say the prophecies of Aberjian and perhaps others as well.
• What will the Tro-clon bring to Earth? Is this "the final century"?
• Suvolte demons can be used to rid entire areas of unwanted people.
• Proserpexa's followers tried to end the world in 1932
• Slouching towards Bethlehem: The chaotic evil of The Beast
• From beneath you, it devours: the First Evil
• Illyria, monarch of the Old Ones.

Evil-as-Order is closely related to evil-as-corruption. But while corruption seeks to create a world or environment in which evil can thrive, evil-as-order is the realization of this world or environment, at least on the small scale. Evil-as-order attempts to impose a controlled way of life on human beings (or other sentient beings) that is in contradiction to the way we prefer to live our lives.

Examples of Evil as Order: The Master, the Anointed One, Absalom, Ted, the Bezoars, Ken and his demon cohorts, Ronald Meltzer, the Hacksaw Beast, The Vigories of Oden Tal, Superstar Jonathan, Genevieve Holt, Tara's family, The Queller, Gene the physicist, Warren Mears and the Trio, The Covenant of Trombli, Count Kurskov, Anthony Harris, Jenoff, the Sluks, Willow (ATW, Villains), Wolfram and Hart, The Beast's Master.

Sadism

Pathological sadism is a condition in which a person (or demon) derives pleasure from inflicting pain, discomfort, or humiliation on an unwilling person (or demon). Not all demons are by nature sadistic. Feeling no qualms about causing pain to get what one wants is not sadism. For the sadist, causing pain is an end in itself, not just a means to another end. I wanna torture you. I used to love it, and it's been a long time. I mean, the last time I tortured somebody, they didn't even have  chain saws. --Angelus

Examples of Sadistic evil on BtVS:

• "Is this the work of love?" Angelus is the classic pathological sadist. In some way, all creatures need love, but the sadist is incapable of loving or being loved. In his desperate rage, Angelus can find pleasure only in corrupting love--in bringing sorrow, humiliation, and pain, to the sister mortal Liam adored and the girl Angel loved.

[Angelus'] delight in torture isn't taken in the infliction of terror or pain per se but in the power that it gives him over his victim. The reason why he is so slow, even unwilling, to kill in non-sustenance situations, is because death releases his victim from his control. His desire for control was evident during the unholy triumvirate where he delighted in displays of Drusilla's affection, largely because it infuriated Spike, the opposing dominant male. It established his power over Spike by being able to evoke such strong emotion so easily from him. His mind-games with Buffy, similarly, were power plays abusing her emotional ties to him to establish a dominant position (Vox, Nov 3, 1999).

• Drusilla
• VampWillow and VampXander
• Zachary Kralik
• Russell Winters
• VampMarcus
• Demon Barney
• Elisabeth the vampire
• Billy Blim
• Walter Kindel

Human Evil

| Sociopathy | Greed and selfishness | Arrogance and pride | Weakness/impressionability | Codependency | Repression | Lust | Anger | Unprincipled Vengeance |

Many human beings in the Buffyverse do evil things. Is there a difference between the evil of human beings and the evil of demons and monsters? In Surprise, Giles says (referring to the Judge's touch) "A true creature of evil can survive the process, no human ever has." This implies that no human in the Buffyverse is totally evil.

Sociopathy

However, some humans have hurt others without any apparent remorse. In its extreme form, this sort of behavior is called sociopathy, which basically amounts to having no conscience, due to either genetics ("the bad seed") or an amoral early childhood environment. Examples: | Eric (SAR) | The human members of the Order to Taraka | The Mayor | Ryan Anderson | The Macnamara brothers | Vanessa Brewer | Warren Mears | Lilah Morgan | Corbin Fries |

Human moral weakness

However, human evil on the show is often really moral weakness--people who let desire, fear, or anger get the best of them.

Greed and selfishness are weaknesses that often make humans in the Buffyverse susceptible to corruption and collaboration with the forces of evil.

The Zoo Keeper | Daryl Epps (SAR) | Cain the werewolf hunter | Coach Marin | The blood bank nurse | The slayer-hunters | Gwendolyn Post Watcher-gone-wrong | The Shroud of Rahmon thieves | The Trio | Marcus Roscoe | witchy Willow | Lee DeMarco | Professor Seidel | The Brooks men.

Dealing with the devil: Tom and Richard the Frat boys, the Mayor, Faith, Ethan Rayne, the gun-club guys, Wolfram and Hart, Magnus Bryce, the parole officer, Ben, The Avilas cult boys, The Lucien Drake cult, Gregor Framkin, Charles Gunn, Knox.

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Arrogance and pride:

Pride comes before a fall.

Cordelia | Harmony | Catherine Madison | Coach Marin | Pete (B&tB) | Jack O'Toole and the dead boys | Ethan Rayne | The Initiative | Rebecca Lowell | Colonel Haviland | The Angel Investigations team during summer 2000 | Buffy in FFL | The Wolfram and Hart Special Projects Division | Willow and Magic | Nazi scientists.

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Weakness/impressionability: Moloch's teen-aged minions Fritz and Dave | Harmony | The vampire wanna-be cult (LTM) | Debbie (B&tB) | Lily in Anne | Rachel | Andrew Tucker.

Fan thoughts on BtVS/AtS depiction of victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse.

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Codependency: Chris Epps (SAR) | Debbie (B&tB) | Faith | Ben the intern.

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Repression, AKA "the selective memory thing" (or just the refusal to deal):

People have a tendency to rationalize what they can and forget what they can't --Giles, The Harvest

Most people, they don't even acknowledge the evil, let alone try to fight it. --Virginia Bryce

Repression is turning one's back on evil and ignoring it, hoping it will go away. Examples: The deeply stupid Sunnydale police | Billy in Nightmares | The adults of Sunnydale (Joyce and Principal Snyder among them) | Buffy in WSWB | Maude Pearson | Seth and Paige Anderson | Kate Lockley | Genevieve Holt | Riley | The Sharps |

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Lust: Xander in Teacher's Pet | Buffy and Angel in Surprise | Liam of Galway (mortal Angel) in B1 | Xander and Willow's "clothes fluke" | Angel and Buffy in Revelations | Oz in WAH | Parker Abrams | David Nabbit (War Zone).

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Anger

Everyone is entitled to get angry over injustices committed on themselves or others, however, some anger is simply unjustified and some anger is counter-productive, even to the person's own ends.

The Kiddie League coach in Nightmares | Marcie Ross the Invisible Girl | Buffy in Ted and Homecoming | Giles in Passion | James in IOHEFY | Tucker Wells in The Prom | Faith | Bethany Chaulk | The police chief (TTDL) | Willow (TL).

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Unprincipled Vengeance

"Every mal-adjust has his reasons!" --Buffy, The Prom

Unprincipled vengeance is revenge

• committed against people who did not, strictly speaking, do anything wrong or illegal against the person seeking revenge, or
• out of proportion to the wrong committed.

It is not the same thing as Retributivism, (the "eye for an eye" philosophy) but arises out of an emotional desire to make oneself feel better: Catherine Madison | Marcie Ross the Invisible Girl | Xander in BBB | Cordelia in The Wish | Tucker Wells (The Prom) | Lenny | Willow in WAH | Little Tony | Daniel Holtz | Willow in Villains/TTG/Grave | Fred in Supersymmetry |

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All the recurring human characters have had moments of moral weakness: Buffy | Giles | Xander | Willow | Cordelia | Joyce | Oz | Faith | Wesley | Jenny Calendar | Jonathan | The Watcher's Council | Doyle | Riley | Kate | Forrest | Tara | Lindsey | Gunn | Lilah | Dawn | Fred | Connor |

Buffy can fight the monsters and beat them, but she can never entirely win against evil. Often her solutions aren't necessarily permanent (Marcie, Catherine), or the monster has had time to reproduce, thus evil keeps one step ahead of the Slayer, held in check but never defeated (Chrissy, Jun 16 07:15 1998).

Other bad guys who could still return:

• Praying mantis eggs
• Times Buffy had a real opportunity to kill Spike and didn't: School Hard, Halloween, WML2 (at least that time she tried), B2, Lover's Walk, and at just about ANY point in Seasons 4&5: Buffy could have so staked Spike when he turned his back on her to talk to VampHarmony in The Harsh Light of Day. And what's with this "we won't kill a harmless creature" philosophy of the gang? Should chipped Spike be staked?
• Most of the Order of Taraka disappeared back into the woodwork.
• How many Bezoar eggs are still out there?
• Times Buffy had the opportunity to kill Angelus and didn't: Innocence, Passion, Killed By Death (or, the Scooby Gang could have tried), IOHEFY.
• The Go Fish Monsters are still out to sea
• The slaves in Anne
• First Evil... I'd call it a stalemate so far (Angel did live, but?...) But first evil certainly didn't lose in my book (Clattering, Mar 10 20:57 1999).
• Anya was made human, but in Doppelgängland she says, "When I get my powers back you will all grovel before me!"
• Faith is still alive and no longer debilitated. Is she rehabilitated?
• The Mohra Demons and the Scourge are still a threat to humanity.
• Darla was dust. Now she's back
• Wolfram and Hart are still weilding power in Los Angeles
• Buffy staked him in the heart, twice, but he still reformed a third time. Will Count Dracula return?
• Angel set Darla and Drusilla ablaze, but they doused it in time. Later, Angel let Darla escape. Now Darla's dust. But look for more vampy evil from Dru.