10 Surprisingly Dark Moments In Laika's Missing Link

The Optimates don't just kill unarmed people and those who directly oppose them. They specifically kill over political beliefs. When Piggot-Dunceby orders the death of Lionel Frost, he makes it clear that his motivation is to prevent Frost from providing proof of evolution. It isn't the sasquatch itself that bothers him, but rather the fact that Frost considers the creature to be a link in an evolutionary chain that Piggot-Dunceby wants to hide from public knowledge.

Piggot-Dunceby doesn't stop at evolution, though. When explaining his disdain for unorthodox beliefs, evolution is only third in a list that includes electricity and suffrage. While not stated explicitly, it would be in keeping with his character to assume that he's had people killed for supporting these issues as well.

This would supply Piggot-Dunceby with an unfathomable number of enemies, as women were not the only disenfranchised citizens in the United Kingdom during the 19th century. Voting required a man to hold property worth a certain value, and nearly half of English males failed to qualify. If any of these disenfranchised men and women were to raise their voice enough that Piggot-Dunceby might worry they'd be heard, he would evidently have no problem silencing them.

Probably the darkest part of this is how quickly the dialogue passes. The implied deaths of countless men and women warrants little more than a single line. Since Piggot-Dunceby doesn't always do the dirty work himself, he likely doesn't have much weight on his conscience. Then again, it's already been established that he has no problem killing an unarmed man, so he probably doesn't have much weight on his conscience either way.