An interesting thought struck me today as my mind was churning in the background without any particular direction. The conflict between “good” and “evil” is the conflict between accountability based on personal choice and coercion or limitation based on the choices of others. Put another way, it is the difference between an opt-in situation and an opt-out situation. This seems to be true whether you are talking about the religious good vs evil (Christ vs Satan for example) or literary good vs evil (The Rebel Alliance vs The Empire from Star Wars for example).
Admittedly my thinking here is not fully developed, but I thought it would be worth putting out for feedback, and as a reminder to myself to pursue the topic further in my own thinking.