Complete Monster: There are several truly despicable characters here, but probably the worst are Hellebore's two sons- biological son Anton, who is the fairy equivalent of a sociopathic Mad Scientist, and the adopted Terrible Child, who, as his name suggests, is pretty much an avatar of pure evil.
Harsher in Hindsight: Williams was tempted (possibly pressured) to remove the initial attack by the dragons because of something that happened during writing: 9-11-01. The similarity is striking and, for some, unpleasant.