Prof, yes it was interesting to see Peter start off as weak in so many ways and sort of grow into or become a ruthless effective Hegemon. Bean is curious because he's not entirely human, something Card explores. How can you not like a runt when he's not acting like Napoleon?
But am I the only one reading those books and thinking Achilles should not have lived as long as he did? Card did not give me enough understanding of how he could continue to charm so many people when there was a bus-load of better-known-quality Battle School graduates to work with.