very beginning, yes.
(Spoiler warning for B5)
But the Shadows wasted the puny humans and the Minbari pretty good, even subverting the Earth government at one point or another.
(Spoiler ends)
Sauron pressured the free nations very good, nearly devastating the good guys. And Vader cut Luke's hand off, and was superior to him even in Return of the Jedi.
Similar in Battlestar Galactica: The Cylons are an overwhelming enemy, which cannot be beat by brute force, only bested by cunning.
None of the good guys (usually) have any kind of super-powers, while the antagonists have. (Exception: Luke Skywalker, but he has no training in the Force at the beginning.)
Ender's Game repeats that pattern, as well as many Discworld novels (Guards! Guards!, for example).
Hm, that's an overall theme: The good guys usually win because they are more cunning than the bad guys, and more adaptable, rather than relying on brute force. |
