Friday, August 9, 2013

Chapter 16: Good vs. Evil

While watching a TV show recently, and remembering a comment that a friend made a while ago, I have come to the conclusion that whenever there is a fight between good and evil, it is never a one-on-one fight.
Good never fights alone, and Evil never has friends. Let me also say that I am arguing with the assumption that Good has multiple primary heroes, whereas Evil generally has only one primary villain.

If you think about it, you realize I am right. Let me elaborate with examples from a few classic books. Harry Potter had his friends Hermione and Ron and Hagrid (to name a few). Sure, Voldemort had his Death Eaters, but were they really his friends? They were more like his slaves. Also, think back to the last book, where Harry and Voldemort were duking it out and Voldemort "kills" Harry and they end up in what Harry describes as the train station. Harry had Dumbledore (who for the sake of argument I will say represented all of Harry's friends), but Voldemort was alone.

Next example: Chronicles of Narnia. In the first book, the White Witch kills Aslan. Lucy and Susan were nearby. However, when Aslan returns the favor, she dies alone.

Next: Lord of the Rings. The primary heroes are the Nine Walkers, and the primary villain is Sauron. You can argue that Saruman was a primary villain, and I will (somewhat) allow it, because they were in different parts of the world with different purposes.

Now I come to the comment that a friend made to me once. This friend had made the observation that in every book/movie is...I believe the word I am searching for is archetypical... of Jesus Christ, in that everybody needs a Savior, or in other words, someone (a hero) to do what nobody else can.

To elaborate this point, I return to the previous examples. Harry Potter was "the Chosen One". Frodo was the Ringbearer. Aslan died to save a traitor. All of these characters did something that nobody else could do.

I conclude this chapter by saying that there may be flaws and gaping holes in this theory of mine, but I don't really care. It is nothing more than the interesting ramblings of an interesting mind.