Friendship Quotes in Here Be Monsters! An Adventure Involving Magic, Trolls, and Other Creatures; The Ratbridge Chronicles Volume 1

After Arthur's run-in with Snatcher, he finds shelter in Willbury's home, and the boxtroll who brings him in to meet everyone, Fish, seems to take a liking to Arthur. We don't speak boxtroll (and neither does Arthur) so we don't know exactly how Fish responds to Willbury, but we get the sense that it's an enthusiastic reply.

What is a retired lawyer doing with monster friends? We're not entirely sure, but Willbury seems to be a kind-hearted fellow who knows what's up. If he's friends with underlings, they must be okay. Knowing who's friends with whom seems to be one way to get a handle on whether someone's a good person or not, sort of like a vetting system.

This is one big difference between Snatcher's camp and our crew of unlikely heroes. The villainous types don't see underlings are friend-material, while Willbury and Arthur clearly do. Snatcher and his dudes clearly don't care if they're acting in a way that totally dehumanizes the boxtrolls and cabbageheads, while Willbury sees them as close enough to human to be friendly with.