Would You Have Done the Same?

[Deus Ex Machina]

So, I was thinking about the last three episodes of Season 6 and I had to wonder: If your loved one had been killed/died do you think, if you had the power to, you would try to destroy the world like Willow did?

I think I would, especially if this person meant the world to me. I'm an INTP, and mostly we're pretty locked down on our emotions but when they come out they're very hard to control, so I've read (and have found true for myself). So to me, being unable to control my emotions when in such a state would lead me to believe I would attempt to destroy the world because in that moment I wouldn't be myself.

What say you forumers?

 

[prophecygrrl]

No, I wouldn't. I think I would angry enough to do that, but I wouldn't actually do it. The person I love would never want me to do something like that.

But, who knows. I'm sure Willow thought the same thing...

 

[white avenger]

I don't see much real use in ending the world, but if I could command that kind of power, and I knew who the guilty party was, I would almost certainly make the last week of their life both extremely painful and extremely...painful some more.

 

[zobothehobo]

Keep in mind Willow didn't want to destroy the world until she was basically overdosed with that "good" magic Giles gave her. She felt everything and everyone. Everyone in the whole world and ALL of their pain. If I felt all of that, I'd try to destroy the world.

I would also probably go all psycho revenge "I want to kill ANYONE who had the TINIEST involvement in her death" too. If I had that kind of power... I like to think of myself as a non-violent person... but I'm very impulsive. I often think with my heart and I do things that I feel bad about later because I'm being crazy emotional.

 

[Tome]

It was mostly the black magic that Willow was consuming that took over her. If she had not been using that in the first place, I doubt she'd have even tried to do anything big like that. Probably stopped after killing Warren. But to answer your question, I wouldn't destroy the world, no. Unless I wasn't the one controlling my body anymore, obviously. 😛

 

[Hale Caesar]

No, even if I was in my darkest moment I don't think I would ever consider killing billions

 

[FetalPig]

My guess is that nobody knows themselves that well.

 

[spikecakes]

My guess is that nobody knows themselves that well.

Exactly. There's always some part of us which is hidden, and we don't know what that part is capable of.

So, personally, I can't honestly say whether I'd have done the same. Grief is unpredictable.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

No, I don't think I would. If I had powers, I would maybe, just maybe, destroy the person responsible for the death of my loved one (not as cruel as Willow) but I don't think I would ever try to destroy the world.

 

[sisterofmercy]

No, I despise acts of vengeance. Doing more violence will not take away the pain that you feel, it just makes you look like an idiot and create more suffering for someone else. The only way to stop the suffering is to give it time.

 

[Chosen Enemy]

Pain is such a strong feeling that can cause both good things and bad things. It's about thinking from your head and not from your heart. So I would feel like killing everybody, or even just the person who hurt me and my loved one. But it wouldn't be the right thing to do, because it's not my place to punish them. They will get theirs.

 

[InsaneMystic]

Go on a murder rampage for vengeance? Nope.

Euthanize the world as an act of mercy? Most probably yes.

 

[Kean]

No. Never. Absolutely not.

As hurt as I would be, as much pain I would be feeling, that just isn't something I would do. And I know that. I would absolutely consider harming the person that killed my loved one, but that would be it, a consideration. I'd never act on it.

The mostly likely thing I would do is something reckless towards myself.

 

[InsaneMystic]

FetalPig agrees: LOL it's just coincidental that #2 covers #1 as well

It really doesn't. Willow trying to end the world was an act of kindness, not one born of a vengeful or murderous mind. It's like, giving your incurably cancerous pet the injection that puts it out of its misery, just on a global scale.

Was that kindness severely misguided due to pain clouding her judgment? Hell yes. But still it was without a trace of bad intention. Dark Willow's rampage was successfully ended when Giles infused her with that global empathy mojo; he just underestimated the lengths that Grief!Willow would go through to make the pain, all the pain, end.

 

[Scarlett Blade]

I really have no idea how I would react in a situation like that. I would like to think I could be a bigger person, but who really knows themselves that well, like [MENTION=10617]FetalPig[/MENTION] said. I think that it would be very easy for me to become completely consumed with grief, and become compeletly obsessed with killing the murderer, but I don't think I would want to end everyone's life unless ALL my loved ones were gone.

 

[FetalPig]

Go on a murder rampage for vengeance? Nope.

Euthanize the world as an act of mercy? Most probably yes.

Comments on this post
FetalPig agrees: LOL it's just coincidental that #2 covers #1 as well

It really doesn't. Willow trying to end the world was an act of kindness, not one born of a vengeful or murderous mind.

ok i get that for you #1 and #2 are different, and my comment was a tad flippant.

For Willow though I see it as the same thing. She is basically coming from a place of "I can't stand how i feel, and something out there is responsible so if i can destroy what is out there making me feel bad i will feel better".

The energy Giles passed on to her might have jolted her into a new perspective but it didn't budge Dark Willow an inch. She still had the same solution to her problems. It took Xander to help her find herself again.

 

[brinkster130]

Nope. I would consider doing something to the person who killed the one I loved, but I wouldn't want to destroy the world.Plus, there would still be numerous people in the world that I loved and cared about, why would I want to cause them any harm or make them to suffer?

Going from revenge to trying to destroy the world is a pretty big leap and one that I highly doubt I would ever take.

 

[KellGreen]

Keep in mind Willow didn't want to destroy the world until she was basically overdosed with that "good" magic Giles gave her. She felt everything and everyone. Everyone in the whole world and ALL of their pain. If I felt all of that, I'd try to destroy the world.

Partly, but what do you think she was going to do with her power before the Giles dose? She was still hell-bent on more vengeance even after Warren was dead and was more than willing to go through Buffy and Giles and anyone else to do so. I'm just curious what she was intending before the good magic got her😕

But to answer...I tend (like my parents) toward self-destruction. My experience thus far in life has shown me there are 2 types of people: those who turn their pain inward and those who turn it outward. I would kill myself long before I killed innocent people, though, I would, if i had the power, seek vengeance.

 

[zobothehobo]

Partly, but what do you think she was going to do with her power before the Giles dose? She was still hell-bent on more vengeance even after Warren was dead and was more than willing to go through Buffy and Giles and anyone else to do so. I'm just curious what she was intending before the good magic got her😕

I think she probably would have killed Andrew and Jonathan and then maybe even Buffy and Xander... I think her goal was to kill EVERYONE who had even a tiny little part in what happened. But I don't think she would have tried to destroy the world. She also would have burned out... that's why she took Giles' power... because she was burning out... So I think Buffy could have taken her until she ran out of power. Then I kind of expect Xander to work the same "magic" he did when he talked her down...

 

[Kean]

It really doesn't. Willow trying to end the world was an act of kindness, not one born of a vengeful or murderous mind. It's like, giving your incurably cancerous pet the injection that puts it out of its misery, just on a global scale.

If that is kindness than I truly have no taste for it. Pain and suffering is part of life. Like your boy said, "Life isn't bliss, life is just this. It's living." Willow had no right to do what she did. She wanted to end her pain and was going to take everyone else with her. That is not kind. It is incredibly selfish.