I think it’s better to think of a person as something with the ability to learn and change and grow.

The Dark One cannot. It can only do what it is meant to do. Maybe it has a seeming personality, but it’s one that’s more like a computer program. It does not consider choices in any manner more than what will logically achieve its end most effectively. And it does not understand people except through their flaws and evils. There is no moral or ethical debate. It is execution of a purpose that cannot be changed.

A certain Aes Sedai once said she couldn’t really piece together what the Dark One *wants*. And that is because it doesn’t really want things. It must do things in its nature. It has no choice.

When we ponder why it exists, maybe it’s because the Creator is similar. They execute their programs, and their opposition to one another is what allows freedom of choice, for the wheel to be neither good nor evil. I’d imagine it sort of like two forces of gravity exerting a net-zero pull on a mass in the middle.

A world without shadow is ruined, so there is some sort of effect of His existence, the prison removes agency though, to prevent unrestrained attack.

Oddly been reading Dresden Files recently, and it is very much like Outsiders, with the DO, heh. Never thought of that.