This short essay by Isaac Hellman on the idea of “niceness” in The Terror (and how it differs from “goodness”) is a really amazing read, especially the sharp observations towards the end about Hickey’s various failures:  

In lesser stories, the Hickey character would be a fun, subversive villain; cannibalism aside, don’t people love to imagine themselves as anti-authoritarian rebels playing a high-stakes game? But there’s nothing impressive about Hickey. His lack of empathy makes it impossible for him to achieve much, even if most characters didn’t see through him, which they do.