As for Willow, she's more desperate than anything else. And she's so focused on saving her wife that she's not really thinking beyond that. It's the same fault that Buffy had through most of the Angelus arc and it's the same fault Xander has shown in spades at different times for different reasons.
As I pointed out above to someone else, no one here really thinks in black-and-white terms. The only one who does is Xander, and that's only because he's the only one who can afford to think like that, in large part because his choices are so limited.
Xander's big problem (as you've nailed) is that he does get off on the power, but he doesn't particularly want to admit it. Willow's actions have (paradoxically) made it easier for him to avoid owning that aspect of himself. If he'd been able to do it, he then might be able to start dealing with what his soulless version did. So, in a lot of ways, Willow (inadvertently) left him in a state where he can't go forward or back because his choices about his future are so limited.
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As for Willow, she's more desperate than anything else. And she's so focused on saving her wife that she's not really thinking beyond that. It's the same fault that Buffy had through most of the Angelus arc and it's the same fault Xander has shown in spades at different times for different reasons.
As I pointed out above to someone else, no one here really thinks in black-and-white terms. The only one who does is Xander, and that's only because he's the only one who can afford to think like that, in large part because his choices are so limited.
Xander's big problem (as you've nailed) is that he does get off on the power, but he doesn't particularly want to admit it. Willow's actions have (paradoxically) made it easier for him to avoid owning that aspect of himself. If he'd been able to do it, he then might be able to start dealing with what his soulless version did. So, in a lot of ways, Willow (inadvertently) left him in a state where he can't go forward or back because his choices about his future are so limited.