Question: Is Ethan evil or just naughty?

[lucy_ash]

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

Comments

[beccaelizabeth]

C H A O S
not good, not evil, just chaos
stuff happens

...'presumably' died? Why? why not figure injuries turn back into paint at the end of the spell? Without being shown, either could be so.

The hardest thing to explain isn't Band Candy or Halloween, it's A New Man. The Slayer turns up hunting demon and Ethan tells her demon!Giles killed Giles. Figuring out how that isn't attempted murder on Giles takes a lot of figuring.
... 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* *gets caught by Riley* *fixes demon thing*

Possibly he didn't think that one through. And possibly it was as bad as it looked.

Possibly it was all as bad as it looked. But we didn't tend to see the bodies, if it was.

I think Ethan is much more interesting if he has his own agenda. Ethan in my writing was trying to wake the world up, because they're suffering under false consciousness and so demons are eating them. Which needs fixed. Show them all the power of magic and they can be players, not just food.
But Ethan in the TV series could well be doing it all for the LOLs. Does that make a difference?

[beccaelizabeth]

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]

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]

...'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.

[mireille719]

... 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!

*cracks up* Yeah, more or less, that's how it goes in my head too.