Harry: Sir, when you look into the mirror, what do you see?
Dumbledore: I see my little sister, alive and well, not having died at the hand of my choices that I made when I fell in love with a man so evil he made Voldemort look like a walk in the park. I see Grindelwald facing the dichotomy of his views and choosing me over them. I see-
The first time you see it, it can hit you really hard, especially since Sherlock is on a total roll and John delivers the line “please God, let me live” in a way where you can be forgiven for not being sure if it’s serious or snark. It apparently has the same effect on Sherlock, as well.
We never do get any details on how Captain John Watson of the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers was wounded in action. But from this exchange alone, it’s clear the situation was extremely serious. He was badly wounded, nearly died, and developed PTSD- Sherlock had himself earlier pointed out that the original circumstances of John’s injury must have been ‘traumatic’, and he meant emotionally traumatic, not just violent and painful. The blunt earnestness of John’s response even trips up Sherlock for a second or two, and he’s just been ranting and raving about not understanding why a woman would care about her stillborn baby after fourteen years. This also works as a tearjerker in hindsight if you recall ‘Please God, let me live’ whenever John is genuinely in physical danger elsewhere in the series.
Pretty much everyone in the room agrees that in your last moments, you would think about the people you love the most. John apparently had no one to think about when he was close to dying. He really must have been lonely even before he returned from Afghanistan.
I hate you for making this post because it’s the best I’ve read on this subject and it hurts.
I also love how in this moment Sherlock is jarred out of his arrogant “oh how cheesy John, thanks for living down to my expectations, God you’re so average, just as I suspected” mindset by John’s quiet “I don’t have to.” He was not expecting that, and he begins to see John as the fascinating enigma he is. 💖
Just had a little “what-if” moment of “what if Chip and Dale actually went through the portal in Disney Castle and found their old racing hero?” and wanted to do a short comic for it!
Stop talking and start doing: My Fallout Shelter for my Tumblr blog 