The Arcane
Scooby
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2005
- Messages
- 1,686
Anyone who has taken the time to read through the Scythe Matters thread will already know that nerd4hire and myself have been having some ... disagreements about what the ultimate goals of The First were during season seven. I'm not sure that we are ever going to come to any real agreement on the subject so i thought rather than continue to push my beliefs onto his personal theory i'd simply state my own.
Now, i'm not saying that nerd4hire is wrong in his ideas but what i do believe is that he is trying too hard to connect a lot of what i believe to be seperate details, which is confusing the issue and making the end result of his theory flawed. I've done what i can to explain why but ultimately that is only my opinion and he is entitled to disagree with it all he wants. However i'm not willing to waste anymore time or breath (figuratively speaking) pointing out the same problems over and over again.
So, here is my take on season seven and what The First was aiming for.
To begin with, let's state the obvious. It wanted to rule the world. That should go without saying but ultimately that was the final goal. To rule over the planet and turn it into hell on earth. It was evil after all. The real question seems to be how it wanted to do so and why it's plan was any different to that of the Senior Partner's, Jasmine or any other potential world conquerers.
The important thing is to look at the nature of the entity. It wasn't just an evil being, it was evil personified. It was the embodiment (in a manner of speaking) of all the evil in the world and potentially all the evil of the demon dimensions as well. In that respect it already did hold sway over the world. It already was a part of every single human and demon on this planet. The evil inside us all (to some degree at least) created it and gave it consciousness. It was already able to reach out and touch every single being in the world, by the very nature of it's existence.
So why change that now? Why bother doing what it did? Well, the answer there lies in the balance of good and evil. For whatever reason The First had always been forced to maintain the status quo of good and evil in the world. We don't know why or how the forces of good arranged this and whether it goes back to the beginnings of time or to a later date after the demons were forced from our reality but whatever the reason The First had to abide by the balance. That is until the forces of good changed the rules. In the form of a resurrection spell.
When Willow brought Buffy back to life the slayer line was disrupted, giving The First the break it needed and the opportunity to take control. From the start of season six we can assume that it began working towards it's chance to take earth for itself again, allowing itself to achieve something it had never really had before. Status.
See, ultimately that is the one thing it had never been able to achieve. It was the ultimate evil and yet nobody really worried about it because why worry about something that you can't do anything about and that can't actually hurt you. All these young upstarts like Wolfram and Hart, Jasmine, Glory, even insignificant beings like the Mayor and other humans and vampires were getting all the status and power whilst the source of what they were was forgotten and left to exist in the background as a sort of afterthought. Oh yeah, The First Evil, scary ... whatever!
The First wanted status and power. It wanted to be what it was supposedly destined to be. The ultimate evil. Not just in name but in actual fact. To do that it had to effect change. It had to be in control. It already had followers and worshippers like Caleb and the Bringers but all evil beings had minions. The First wanted to hold absolute dominion over humanity. No ifs, ands or buts.
It knew that for that to happen then it would have to be an actual threat. This is where nerd4hire has actually helped me out with this theory. I had considered that becoming physical was at best a side effect of what The First wanted, not something it actually desired. I was wrong in that. It wanted to be solid so that it could enjoy the pleasures of the kill, the lust of destruction with it's own physical form, not just through the actions of it's disciples. It also knew that to become physical it only needed to tip the scales of good and evil on earth towards evil. That it intended to do by unleashing it's army of Turok Han out of the Hellmouth and into our reality. That would be enough to grant it a physical form. However that would bring it's own dangers.
Once physical it could be killed, same as anything else. The First knew that unless it acted very quickly once it was solid then there was the danger that Buffy or someone else could act and annihilate it. It needed to take total control of humanity immediately, the same way it did Caleb, before anyone could stop it. But to do that on such a large scale it would need access to a significant amount of power. Luckily it knew of such a source.
The scythe.
This object contained the essence of the slayer power. Dark demonic energy the likes of which rivalled it's own. It was likely the very presence of this power as a force for the side of good that had kept The First in check for all those years. Now that the power was disrupted it was free to not only act but use the power for itself.
Once solid The First intended to draw the slayer power from the scythe, similar to the way Willow did, but rather than send it out to the potentials around the world it would keep the power for itself. It was demonic energy, based in evil. Basically the ultimate energy drink for The First.
With that kind of power boost The First would have been able to connect and control every single being on the face of the planet, taking control before Buffy or anyone else could even lift a finger to stop it and in the process becoming so powerful that nobody could ever stand against it again. Thus becoming the true ultimate evil that it desired to be.
Anyway, that's how i understand season seven. Hope it makes sense. 🙂
Now, i'm not saying that nerd4hire is wrong in his ideas but what i do believe is that he is trying too hard to connect a lot of what i believe to be seperate details, which is confusing the issue and making the end result of his theory flawed. I've done what i can to explain why but ultimately that is only my opinion and he is entitled to disagree with it all he wants. However i'm not willing to waste anymore time or breath (figuratively speaking) pointing out the same problems over and over again.
So, here is my take on season seven and what The First was aiming for.
To begin with, let's state the obvious. It wanted to rule the world. That should go without saying but ultimately that was the final goal. To rule over the planet and turn it into hell on earth. It was evil after all. The real question seems to be how it wanted to do so and why it's plan was any different to that of the Senior Partner's, Jasmine or any other potential world conquerers.
The important thing is to look at the nature of the entity. It wasn't just an evil being, it was evil personified. It was the embodiment (in a manner of speaking) of all the evil in the world and potentially all the evil of the demon dimensions as well. In that respect it already did hold sway over the world. It already was a part of every single human and demon on this planet. The evil inside us all (to some degree at least) created it and gave it consciousness. It was already able to reach out and touch every single being in the world, by the very nature of it's existence.
So why change that now? Why bother doing what it did? Well, the answer there lies in the balance of good and evil. For whatever reason The First had always been forced to maintain the status quo of good and evil in the world. We don't know why or how the forces of good arranged this and whether it goes back to the beginnings of time or to a later date after the demons were forced from our reality but whatever the reason The First had to abide by the balance. That is until the forces of good changed the rules. In the form of a resurrection spell.
When Willow brought Buffy back to life the slayer line was disrupted, giving The First the break it needed and the opportunity to take control. From the start of season six we can assume that it began working towards it's chance to take earth for itself again, allowing itself to achieve something it had never really had before. Status.
See, ultimately that is the one thing it had never been able to achieve. It was the ultimate evil and yet nobody really worried about it because why worry about something that you can't do anything about and that can't actually hurt you. All these young upstarts like Wolfram and Hart, Jasmine, Glory, even insignificant beings like the Mayor and other humans and vampires were getting all the status and power whilst the source of what they were was forgotten and left to exist in the background as a sort of afterthought. Oh yeah, The First Evil, scary ... whatever!
The First wanted status and power. It wanted to be what it was supposedly destined to be. The ultimate evil. Not just in name but in actual fact. To do that it had to effect change. It had to be in control. It already had followers and worshippers like Caleb and the Bringers but all evil beings had minions. The First wanted to hold absolute dominion over humanity. No ifs, ands or buts.
It knew that for that to happen then it would have to be an actual threat. This is where nerd4hire has actually helped me out with this theory. I had considered that becoming physical was at best a side effect of what The First wanted, not something it actually desired. I was wrong in that. It wanted to be solid so that it could enjoy the pleasures of the kill, the lust of destruction with it's own physical form, not just through the actions of it's disciples. It also knew that to become physical it only needed to tip the scales of good and evil on earth towards evil. That it intended to do by unleashing it's army of Turok Han out of the Hellmouth and into our reality. That would be enough to grant it a physical form. However that would bring it's own dangers.
Once physical it could be killed, same as anything else. The First knew that unless it acted very quickly once it was solid then there was the danger that Buffy or someone else could act and annihilate it. It needed to take total control of humanity immediately, the same way it did Caleb, before anyone could stop it. But to do that on such a large scale it would need access to a significant amount of power. Luckily it knew of such a source.
The scythe.
This object contained the essence of the slayer power. Dark demonic energy the likes of which rivalled it's own. It was likely the very presence of this power as a force for the side of good that had kept The First in check for all those years. Now that the power was disrupted it was free to not only act but use the power for itself.
Once solid The First intended to draw the slayer power from the scythe, similar to the way Willow did, but rather than send it out to the potentials around the world it would keep the power for itself. It was demonic energy, based in evil. Basically the ultimate energy drink for The First.
With that kind of power boost The First would have been able to connect and control every single being on the face of the planet, taking control before Buffy or anyone else could even lift a finger to stop it and in the process becoming so powerful that nobody could ever stand against it again. Thus becoming the true ultimate evil that it desired to be.
Anyway, that's how i understand season seven. Hope it makes sense. 🙂
