The Harvest – the temptation of Willow

Power corrupts. Look at the modern politicians going to Washington DC with modest portfolios and leaving millionaires. Those career bureaucrats have great salaries but that alone does not a rich man make. You name it and they got their fingers in it: from insider trading to discount loans, anything goes. The symptom is rampant tax fraud and evasion – hiding the ill-gotten gains.
The MAN does not need to do anything except get Willow involved in witchcraft and then step back. Human nature does the rest. We want to think the best of our fellow man; reality often does not support it. Stanford prison and Milgram experiments revealed the potential for darkness that lurks inside people, even those who by any standard and test are normal and mentally stable.
The witch wields the power over life and death. The MAN does not care about Willow’s happiness or her future; he knows the pursuit of Buffy is fruitless but it serves his needs and motivates her. The original, while going about it wrong and preachy, nonetheless showed that Tara was incapable of influencing Willow once she got going. Buffy and the Scoobies Gang was all for it until it blown up in their faces. Power corrupted Willow; she was not strong enough to resist the temptation.
The fault does not lie with magic but the user. There is great good when the craft is used to protect and promote life. Yet anything that can grow can also destroy. If you know how to create something, you have valuable insight into its destruction. The duality is plain; it is how you apply yourself that matters.
The sad part is that Willow is following her yearning heart. The young ones don’t know better; they throw their passion and commitment into love endeavors with willful blindness that only experience can remove. Romeo and Juliet is classic for that reason and a clear warning.
In truth, Willow is a driven and ambitious young woman, excelling in areas she applies herself towards. The abandonment of social life was a choice and so is its resumption. She should have picked a different girl, but Buffy is Willow at her best – attempting the impossible and believing she can win. Discuss in FORUMS.