Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom!

Ghosts are obsessive by nature. It is what keeps them rooted to this plane of existence; what gives them a purpose. Full ghosts lack the ability to experience life, so they are forced to settle for a pale imitation of life. To do this, their obsession is focused on what they feel brings them closer to experiencing the sensation of life. The exact nature of the obsession varies from ghost to ghost; since each had different experiences during life, each finds a different object or concept that reminds them of their lives.

For example, the Box Ghost spent his life working with boxes. He haunts boxes because they are the strongest reminder of what his life was like. Walker was a warden during life, so he obsesses over rules. Rules bring him closer to the sensations he experienced during life. The same goes for Technus and technology, Ember and her music, and Skulker and the hunt.

The above is simple deductive reasoning, and does not pose much difficulty in pondering. The problem arises when one considers half-ghosts.

Half-ghosts share an obsessive nature with full ghosts because obsession is what allows ghosts to exist in the first place. However, they don't need to spend their afterlives filling every waking moment with a single object or idea in order to palely imitate life because two rings of light later they can lead a true life. Though biologically it's more of a half-life, psychologically they are capable of performing every known human interaction to its fullest extent. They don't need to obsess over something to experience life because they already can experience it.

What, then, does a half-ghost obsess over? My guess is something that they feel to be lacking in their lives, something that would make their lives even fuller than they already are.

For one of the two known halfas, we already know what the object of obsession is. Vlad Masters was in love with his friend Maddie for some time before the lab accident. Afterwards, the ghostly part of his mind twisted that love and warped it into an obsession. Really, it's not his fault that he's a fruit loop. The fault for his behavior lives in his ghost half for transforming an innocent human emotion into a malevolent ghostly one.

The other halfa is more difficult to interpret. My brother hasn't shown any marked fascination with one person, object, or idea. Well, he has for stuff that's space-related, but that's been going on for as long as I can remember and, to my knowledge, hasn't escalated into an obsession rivaling Vlad's with my mom.

Perhaps we should take a cue from Vlad, then, and look into Danny's love life. Sam gripes that he's obsessed with Paulina, but that's just hormones. If he was obsessed with her to the degree that other ghosts are to the objects of their obsession, he would have exposed his secret identity to her in the hopes of her accepting (and loving) him as both Fenton and Phantom. Valerie, then? Nah, that looked to me like nothing more than a shy liking. He's persistent about getting her to accept the fact that he's not evil, but as of yet, no signs of obsessing over her person.

Well, who else is there in Danny's love life? Ah, yes, who else but Sam? Don't get me started on his cluelessness, because that's not the purpose of this discussion. Simply accept as fact that she loves him and he loves her, so we can move on. The question is whether or not he is obsessed with her. I'm willing to discount the Ember incident because he was under a spell, or so Sam told me after the fact.

Let's see, then…he rescued her from the Ghost Zone after that stupid pageant, but that

could have just been his hero complex kicking in, not necessarily an obsession for her.

Wait just one ghost-hunting second! (Geez, my parents can be such loons, it's rubbing off…) Tucker told me that Danny had used his powers to spy on Sam when she was dating that exchange student. What was his name again? Gregor? Elliot? Anyway, I can't worm my way out of that one. That definitely qualifies as jealousy, which, thanks to Danny's ghostly self, easily translates into obsession. I would be worried about that right now save for the delicious irony that Danny apparently obsesses over Sam but can't admit that he loves her.

Well, this was a productive session of peering into the mind of a half-human, half-ghost hybrid. I should go celebrate with Bearbert. If only I could find him…Danny had better not have hidden him in the floorboards again…

Yes, there will be a part 2 to this. I'm planning on exploring Danny's obsession with ideas, rather than material things, in that part. I'll try to update soon!