I was forbidden from watching Braveheart when I was little because of the (attempted) rape scene, and TBH I've only seen bits and pieces of it since. I will always wonder what my mother was thinking banning me from watching Braveheart when a few years later we were all sitting around watching A Clockwork Orange.

My problem is that I want everybody to sympathize with all my characters to some extent, and it's for the basic reason that I want people to understand that even "bad guys" are people with families and difficult choices, and furthermore, that you (general you) could be a bad guy too. But in a short story, I really have to pick and choose.

I'm really happy to hear you say that re: Pugelbone, cuz that's exactly what I was trying to do, haha.