Complete evil must almost prevail to enter the historical pantheon of demons

Evidence

And the swarm of mosquitoes — born from the ashes of the blood-drinking monster — flew off into the world. And they carried with them the monster’s old craving: the hunger for the blood of human beings. … The lesson, the storytellers say with a rueful smile as they slap at a mosquito, is partly just a clever and funny explanation for why these annoying insects exist and why they crave our blood — but it carries also a deeper, wiser note: that great evils, even when defeated, are not always so easily disposed of; that in destroying a great harm, we may accidentally scatter it into many small ones; and that some troubles, once loosed upon the world, can never be entirely gotten rid of, but must simply be endured. — , A Year of World Stories, 10132 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Defeating a great evil can merely disperse it into many smaller persistent ones — , A Year of World Stories, 10132; A villain is judged evil partly by whether their evil nearly succeeded — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4042

Broader Connections

• Defeating a great evil can merely disperse it into many smaller persistent ones #complicates (0.75) — , A Year of World Stories, 10132