Remember when Voldemort said,"There is no good and evil, there is only power...and those who wish to seek it." (1) Well, I think he is only half right. Take a look at the characters in comics, books, and movies and apply this quote. The members of the two groups of seekers and non-seekers don't change much. Don't confuse having power with seeking it. One is desire, the other possession.

Those with power can be split into two groups: those who didn't want it but had it thrust upon them and those who wanted it and got it. The first group is all heroes, the second consists of villains. A third grouping also applies here: those who didn't want power, got it, then looked for more. This group is where things get fuzzy and represents the corruption of power.

So, based on this, one can define good and evil through the relationship with power. Here are the broad definitions of someone according to these traits:

Good- does not want power and does not look for it, but may have power nonetheless.

Evil- wants power and will do anything to get it, uses current power to get more.

I realize that these definitions are incomplete as they are general and only involve the possession of power. Assuming what is above, I will further define these two as applied to the actual use of power. Evil is listed first as it is easier to define.

Evil- uses power in a way that is selfish and harmful to others, ignores consequences other than those to self.

Good- uses power in a way that benefits others, is fully responsible for consequences and prevents harm towards others.

There is also a third category that has been so far unrecognized. This category is complicated as it is often more than one thing, but I'll call it Absolute Neutral.

Neutral- does not care about the possession of power in any way while possessing much of it. Does not use this power at all, letting whatever happen as it will.

Neutral rarely exists as itself, usually leaning towards one or the other. The Watcher is an example of this. While predominantly neutral, he leans towards good when interfering, which does not apply to Absolute Neutral.

These three categories solely apply to those with power, i.e. the heroes and villains we spend so much time thinking about. Parts of all of these definitions may apply to this final category, but that is because of its nature. This final category consists not of the super-powered beings, but of the people who give them reason and purpose. This group is normal people, who I shall label as Potential. This group has the least amount of power and make up most of the world. THese are everyday people who are neither good or evil, while generally thought of as good, because by the first definitions it seems that way.

Potential- without power other than over their own actions, but with that power readily available, should the occasion occur causing polarization.

To further define this, I'll use an example. Young Bruce Wayne was Potential until his parents' deaths, where he took power available to him to become Batman, polarizing to good. Inversely, a robber starts out as Potential, but circumstances lead him to take the power available to get more power through robbing. Many people can remain Potential while accumulating power by being successful with their lives.

That is all for now, I hope I made you think a bit and feel free to comment. I may be adding more to this later, approaching the topic from different aspects.
-Magma Fyre




(1)When I originally wrote this, that is what I thought the quote was, as I hadn't read the book or seen the movie in years. the real quote is "There is no good and evil, there is only power...and those too weak to seek it." I avoided changing the quote at the beginning as that would require rewriting much of the paper.