I'm kind of intrigued by Liliaeth's point about The First and perversion/corruption. I suppose that W&H could be accused of the same thing, but I always had the feeling that W&H believed that humanity was wicked on its own. All they had to do was allow for opportunities. The First, on the other hand seemed to find whatever pleasure and incorporeal entity can find in forcing people to do things that weren't in line with their wants or their best interests. It convinced Andrew to kill his only friend. It forced a souled vampire to kill against his will. It talked young girls into suicide, etc. It seemed primarily about destruction -- of person, sanity, or will. It is destructive to inspire creatures to their own self-destruction, which could lead to The First ending up at odds with W&H.

For some reason the ideas bubbling in my head cause me to think of Farscape. I could see W&H as a form of ordered evil not entirely different from The Peacekeepers or Star Wars Empire, in as much as their true pursuit was their own power, exploiting whatever they came across in order to increase that powerbase, and having a certain appeal to certain factions of the masses in that they offer order, profit, and a -- albeit repressive -- safety as opposed to anarchy and fear.

I think the Farscape feel for me is coming from the concept of Crichton/Aeryn/Moya Crew standing between two opposing, evil forces -- The Peacekeepers and the Scarrans. Not that W&H and The First are Peacekeepers and Scarrans, but just that set up of our heroes as outlaws of a kind stuck in an impossible position between a rock and hard place, two equally unacceptable options.

And I'm too tired now to make much sense of my ideas. Hope this post makes some sense.