Evil, Darkness, Death, and Chaos
You mean they're not the same thing?!
No, they aren't the same thing at all.
Allow me to explain....
First, let's look at Evil. Evil is basically anything immoral. If it goes against the rules of one's particular creed/religion/laws, it's evil by one's own definition. Note no inclusion of the word "black," and unless you're in a particularly humorless religion I don't think anyone's going to consider bellowing "MWA HA HA HAHAAA!" particularly evil.
(Females screeching, "OHOHOHOHOHO!" similarly don't count as evil, just very, very annoying. Actually, if you can get this technique down, you can get rid of annoying guys very easily.)
Secondly, Darkness. Darkness involves hiding, covering up, illusion, and deceit. Now, if you think darkness is the same thing as evil I sincerely hope your good characters never try to hide in the shadows or disguise themselves for a plan to overthrow the villain. Darkness is simply a thing, like water or parking tickets; it's not inherently good or evil, but it can be used for good or evil ends.
Then there's Death. No, Death is NOT evil. Death isn't really good, either. Death is death. Oblivion. Person's soul (or life-essence or whatever) goes bye-bye. You don't like it if it happens to your friends, but guess what? Death comes to your enemies, too. Death doesn't really care, it just does what it has to do and leaves.
And finally, Chaos. What is chaos? Pure disorder, plain and simple. I understand the compulsion to see disorder as a bad thing, but chaos is also a sort of random creating force. Basically, since it's not limited in anyway, it changes forever. Chaos and Order are far beyond any concept of good or evil. (Actually, if you wanted to be really specific, Order can be considered worse than Chaos. Imagine a world where nothing ever moved, or changed; everything was stuck in the same place. There's no aging and death, but there's no birth and no opportunity to get better. Just one big boring blah place. That's ultimate Order. Well, it spooks me...)
Anyway, Chaos is no more evil than Darkness; it's just there, to be used for good or ill.
So, next time you're thinking on a character power, remember that these four forces are really quite different, and write accordingly. Now, go forth, enlightened one!
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