Seems like a bit of a stretch. "Want, take, have," applies to a lot of villains, as does a total disregard for anything but their own interests, and most of them could be said to be trying to find a place in the world -- generally at the top of the heap.
However, there is something to it. The big villains are little villains writ large, points further out on the same spectrum. You can often draw lines from good characters, through petty villains, to the big bads - white shading through grey into black.
Self-confidence becomes arrogance become 'I am invincible' levels of hubris. The desire to help others becomes the desire to guide them becomes the desire for absolute control, for their own good. Etc.
I'd say this is because part of the essence of evil is means grossly disproportionate to ends, and ends are half of characterisation (What does this person want?) so keeping the ends same while writing the means large is an effective way of making the character darker.
Mugging people to get money for an operation to save your mom's life is petty villainy. Killing them so you can use their organs when you do the operation yourself is the same motive, but a larger scale. Sacrificing ten thousand people to a demon lord to get your mother ressurected is still the same motive, but big time villainy. The character is the same each time, but writ larger.
Of course, I do have a slightly idiosyncratic view of the Buffyverse.
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Author of a recent updated Buffy fic, Price of the Wish
Willow sauntered out of the kitchen, gnawing at a lump of raw steak, blood dribbling down her chin.
However, there is something to it. The big villains are little villains writ large, points further out on the same spectrum. You can often draw lines from good characters, through petty villains, to the big bads - white shading through grey into black.
Self-confidence becomes arrogance become 'I am invincible' levels of hubris. The desire to help others becomes the desire to guide them becomes the desire for absolute control, for their own good. Etc.
I'd say this is because part of the essence of evil is means grossly disproportionate to ends, and ends are half of characterisation (What does this person want?) so keeping the ends same while writing the means large is an effective way of making the character darker.
Mugging people to get money for an operation to save your mom's life is petty villainy. Killing them so you can use their organs when you do the operation yourself is the same motive, but a larger scale. Sacrificing ten thousand people to a demon lord to get your mother ressurected is still the same motive, but big time villainy. The character is the same each time, but writ larger.
Of course, I do have a slightly idiosyncratic view of the Buffyverse.
--
Author of a recent updated Buffy fic, Price of the Wish
Willow sauntered out of the kitchen, gnawing at a lump of raw steak, blood dribbling down her chin.