Copy and pasted straight from TVTropes. (I wrote most of this anyway.) WARNING: DONT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN HIS LAST VOW. You know how people say that your life flashes before your eyes when you die? Well. What does Sherlock have? - Molly and Anderson, people who he constantly dismissed, manipulated and lorded over, telling him what to do (so theyre superior to him). - Mycroft, his own brother, telling him that hes very stupid (an attack upon Sherlocks mental acuity, the one thing that he values the most) and Mummy and Daddy are very cross (that hes a disappointment to his family). - Mary, in her wedding dress - the one who took his happy life with John away from him, taking his one connection to normal society and his moral compass, then shot him (she could have killed him, for pitys sake!). - Redbeard, probably the first loss young Sherlock has ever experienced. Judging by their conversation in The Sign of Three, its not the first time that Mycroft has practically rubbed it into Sherlocks face as an example for why you should not care about people, because caring only hurts you in the end. - And finally, Jim, symbolic of Sherlocks darkest, unfeeling, truly sociopathic tendencies. If Sherlock gives in, if he doesnt have John, hell become Moriarty. - The fact that, of all those faces who appear to Sherlock, the ones that could probably provide him the most comfort and encouragement - John, Mrs. Hudson, Lestrade and his parents - are nowhere to be seen. Irene - The Woman, the one who he feels something akin to admiration/attraction, the one who visited him in hospital and left him a red rose (according to Arwel Wyn Jones) - only gets a brief mention by Jim, and said mention is meant to hurt Sherlock. - So, to sum up - in his ostensibly last moments, Sherlocks subconcious informed him that hes not as smart as he think he is, hes a disappointment, hes a lonely pathetic man and without John he might as well become a despicable, monstrous criminal, and that he shouldnt care because it only hurts him and people he cares about. This man may be an irascible genius with lots of outer swagger, but this says a heck of a lot about how low Sherlocks self esteem actually is.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 14:45:28 +0000