The world loves balance – we find it everywhere: religion, mythology, politics, etc. It’s fundamental to all our basic concepts of being: happy and sad, hot and cold, full and hungry, alive and dead, and of course, good and evil. It’s easy to argue that without balance nothing exists. Chinese philosophy makes this argument in the concept of yin and yang. How do we define good without knowing evil? If there is light there must be dark. Can you recognize the truth if you’ve never heard a lie? One concept cannot exist without the other and so this interdependence of aspects is vital to our perception of what makes the world seem whole and right.

Balance has also been an essential element of the Buffyverse, most especially in dealing with the concepts of good and evil. In Season 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it seems apparent that although The First Evil did once subscribe to the concept of balance in the universe, it is no longer interested in doing so. It tells us "Fact is, the whole ‘good and evil, balancing the scales’ thing? I'm over it. I'm done with the mortal coil." Why? Maybe as a reaction to "good" going offside in the first place. In "Sleeper" we’re told by The First that the "Slayer’s not in order" which can be interpreted to mean that more than one Slayer upsets the balance of good and evil.

Beljoxa’s Eye tells Giles and Anya that "The mystical forces surrounding the Chosen line have been irrevocably altered. Become... unstable. Vulnerable". And who caused this? "The Slayer." What’s happened that’s irrevocable? The most likely answer is that Buffy’s original short brush with death and the subsequent double Slayer scenario is the root of the instability.

So the balance between good and evil is shown to be a critical component of the Buffyverse. Going beyond the big picture and season/series arcing themes, I believe that this balance is a major part of what makes the Buffy characters so compelling. For a snapshot of balance in a single episode look at everyone’s favorite Xander episode – "The Zeppo". He starts out as his geekiest self, but then gets to save the gang single-handedly, and finally is cool enough not to brag about it. We know that tomorrow he’ll seem to be the same old Xander, but we also know that he got a chance to step out of that role and prove himself a man. More specific to the concept of balance between good and evil you have Spike, Angel, Anya, Willow, Giles, Faith and even Andrew. Each in some measure charts a path that takes them to dark and light places . All of these characters have taken a human life, and yet they consistently top the polls when we talk about favourite characters.

Dawn on the other hand was a character that just barely got to step out from the caricature of the teenage brat sister. When she discovered that she was the Key, Dawn worried that she might be evil, but the monk in "No Place Like Home" quite clearly stated that she was "an innocent". Dawn had her klepto phase in Season 6, but that wasn’t a sign of evil, just neediness. In Season 7 she does gets to grow up a little, fight, do some magic, and has some nice moments in "Potential". ME never really got a chance to fully develop her character and give us what we need to really take her to heart: substance and balance. Dawn was made up of mystical power, but we never saw her exploit that for any purpose, good or evil. She remained an innocent.

Finally, Buffy. We know the Slayer is good, but she has evil in her also. Literally, as the Shadow Men tell us in "Get it Done". They put the energy of the Demon in the First Slayer. But we rarely see that in Buffy. (Joss saves that for Faith where he can safely explore the evil power of the Slayer without tarnishing his hero.) In the high school years we can identify with Buffy because Joss gives us another kind of balance between the "normal girl" and the "superhero". But as Buffy grows up she takes on more of the mantle of the hero and as she becomes more isolated from her friends and family she becomes more isolated from us. We still love her, admire her, hope and wish for her, but she’s above us.

There can’t be any doubt that the need for balance is finally being paid off in Season 7. The First didn’t like the fact that the Slayer line had doubled. "Good" wasn’t playing by the rules anymore and so "Evil" was raising an army. War was declared. But now Willow has sent the essence of the scythe out to all the Potentials in the world and made them Slayers. If we can draw any conclusions about the future from the theory of the balance between good and evil, it’s that the scales are now tipped way out of line. There are Slayers everywhere. If good doesn’t exist without evil how much evil is it going to take to counter this new imbalance? We’re in for the mother of all apocalypses I’d say. What could be more compelling to us, the audience?