Comments | rayne_n_chaos: Question: Is Ethan evil or just naughty?

lucy_ash in rayne_n_chaos

Question: Is Ethan evil or just naughty?

Feb 09, 2010 15:31

OK, I have a question for the group. Is Ethan evil? At first I thought he wasn't because, in Bandy Candy, he shudders when Mr. Trick kills one of the workers. So I was thinking he wasn't big with the killing. But then I thought back to the Halloween episode, where he turned everyone into their costumes. Presumably some people died in that ( Read more... )

Comments 25

mindragon February 9 2010, 20:40:43 UTC

Ethan has never really struck me as evil. He is into power and amusement. If someone happens to die *whoops.* He is kinda like a kid who never grew up and he's interested in making things chaotic for people, particularly Giles. Ethan even knows he's doing something he shouldn't but he just can't help it, its who he is.

mireille719 February 9 2010, 21:19:05 UTC

I'm not sure if I go with "evil" as much as "amoral." I don't see him as the type to intentionally kill someone (that is, with that person's death being the point of his actions), but if doing what he wants to do means that someone gets killed (via the Halloween costumes, or trying to divert Eyghon's attention to Buffy, or the very real possibility that Buffy might have killed Giles-as-Fyarl-demon, etc.), well, too bad for them.

lucy_ash February 10 2010, 00:30:09 UTC

I like the idea of amoral rather than evil but, based on some of the comments below, I'd also add that he's very attached to his own skin. If putting someone else in harm's way (like tattoing Buffy) will save him, he had no obvious problem with it.

Not someone I'd really want to hang with but an interesting character.

mireille719 February 10 2010, 19:53:47 UTC

That was, to me at least, implied in my comment, as well. I just lumped "saving his own skin" in with "doing what he wants to do"--obviously, that was why he tattooed Buffy to try to get Eyghon to go after her instead of him (what an incredibly stupid demon Eyghon must have been!). He doesn't mind, I would say, that Eyghon was dealt with another way, because killing Buffy wasn't his goal, but if that was what had to happen to keep himself safe, then oh well, hard luck for her.

And I'd have to agree with you--Ethan's not someone I'd want to spend time with, definitely, but he's one of my favorite characters to play with fictionally.

seldomifever February 9 2010, 21:51:21 UTC

I think Ethan is amoral and he does intend to have Eyghon kill Buffy instead of him when he tattoos her in The Dark Age. I found that scene pretty disturbing. He's not being impish, he's violating her. Does that make him evil? He's a sadist, at the very least.

beccaelizabeth February 9 2010, 23:03:41 UTC

If Ethan wanted to get someone killed instead of him, why pick the only person who could fight back? He could have put the mark on anyone, but he chose the Slayer. It could be a murder attempt, but it could be more ambiguous.

antennapedia February 9 2010, 23:08:18 UTC

I always thought of that move as clever and completely self-centered. He redirects the demon's attack away from himself and toward the only person who can realistically fight it, as you say. He does assault Buffy to do so. The funny thing is that Buffy, being who she is, might have consented to the plan if it were explained to her in advance. But Ethan is not the sort to worry about consent.

beccaelizabeth February 9 2010, 23:27:57 UTC

*nods*
I think he's not worried about informed consent, but the sort where people ask for it without knowing what they're asking for, that's a lot more fun.
... He is not a nice man.

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snogged February 9 2010, 22:50:09 UTC

I feel a bit like a D&D nerd by saying this, but I believe Ethan would be best described under the alignment chaotic neutral.

Based on what we've seen of him, he follows his own whim, he doesn't go out of his way to protect other people, but he isn't downright "evil."

mireille719 February 10 2010, 20:51:19 UTC

More or less, yeah, I'd agree. I don't think he cares much either way, as long as he gets what he wants, but I don't think that (at least not as a rule) his intent is to kill people.

beccaelizabeth February 9 2010, 23:01:31 UTC

C H A O S ( ... )

beccaelizabeth February 9 2010, 23:06:35 UTC

When it's not Ethan in my head doing the answering, I'd have to say, getting people killed and setting up conditions for a baby sacrifice and tattooing Buffy and getting demon to attack her and transforming Giles and getting Buffy to attack him is all... well, you have to look hard to even find a grey area, and it's in the region of 'actually a bit stupid'.

A dose of enlightenment would a very different Ethan make.

mireille719 February 10 2010, 20:54:51 UTC

well, you have to look hard to even find a grey area, and it's in the region of 'actually a bit stupid'.

...Yeah. This is true. (Of course, I keep having fic where one or more of the Scoobies points out that Ethan may possibly have learnt his villainy from Saturday morning cartoons, so.)

lucy_ash February 10 2010, 00:34:29 UTC

...'presumably' died? Why? I think I got that from some fanfiction where Xander was dressed as a vamp that Halloween and killed Larry.

Ethan in my head explains it has to do with long and complicated this and that and by the way it's hard to kill a Fyarl and look! Shiny thing! *runs away* *Laughs*

And oooh, I love your Ethan's motivation. That's a totally fascinating idea.

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