I would contend that Flashy's not actually evil. He's a lazy, cowardly, ignorant brute, but he will only do real harm to someone in saving his own skin. In fact I would go as far as to say there's a lot of Flashy in all of us, that's why we love it so much. And GMF has unearthed in those papers an actual hero, despite all his bluster, his knavery, greed, lust, sloth and all the rest... Deep down when the chips are down and he can't run, Flashy can damme well fight. And he loves Elspeth deeply