Summarising: Sherlock Has Dissociative Identity Disorder
before i start, it’s probably important to note that i’m not a medical professional nor do i have DID, so my knowledge of the technicality of this disorder is very limited.
however, i’ll try to reiterate the points present so far to support the theory that sherlock has had DID as a child, managed to stop relapsing/changing to his alterego (i deeply apologise to people with DID, i don’t know what this is called), loathes himself for being mentally ill growing up, and then making peace with his state of being.
1) i first started to notice TLD setlock where sherlock sported a beard. knowing that sherlock originally has brunette/red-ish hair (as evident from TEH, where his long hair appear browner than his original black curly hair, and HLV, where his younger self has a head full of red curls). so it makes sense to assume that if he ever grows a beard, it will be red, too. therefore, redbeard.
2) i’ve seen countless meta and discussions regarding redbeard’s nature, and one of the most popular theories states that redbeard’s death - the instance that is said to have changed sherlock’s view toward sentiments and caring - is not as simple as it seems. because, hey, you don’t turn off your emotions just because your childhood pet dies. the theory, combined with mycroft’s cryptic “the other one” remark in HLV, explains that perhaps redbeard’s death is sherlock’s way of repressing a sibling’s death, the way henry knight did in THoB.
3) now that we know redbeard is the trigger word, but sherlock is redbeard, then what does this mean? my best friend (who is not on tumblr) suggests that sherlock might have DID, and he is trying to repress the death/the loss of his alter ego.
4) @monikakrasnorada said that moriarty might be a fabrication of sherlock’s mind, which i agree with, because all four of series finale + TAB feature both moriarty and sherlock’s past, together. TGG introduces moriarty as jim from IT, and we become aware that sherlock solved his first case from jim’s murder. TRF deals with sherlock’s fall, orchestrated by moriarty, and moriarty compiles tales from sherlock’s past to publish in newspapers. HLV features moriarty in “miss me” videos and we get to see holmes parents’ house, young sherlock, redbeard the dog. TAB has moriarty in a wedding gown and mentions of “who made” sherlock. TFP has moriarty flying to sherrinford and the existence of eurus the secret sister.
5) @isitandwonder pointed out that moriarty was kept in a padded cell and eurus in a glass case, suggesting that these two represent something sherlock represses. initially, i thought both of them are the alteregos. but now i believe only eurus is the alterego.
6) the same best friend as the one in point 3 pointed out to me that moriarty is not an alterego, but rather a manifestation of sherlock’s guilt and self-loathing. she says that sherlock probably loathes himself for being ill, but i think it goes deeper than that.
7) let’s go back to carl powers. carl powers died of drowning. jim moriarty killed him. sherlock knew he did this, but he couldn’t prove or report moriarty because he was a child with no evidence on hand. while what actually happened was this:
8) sherlock relapsed, as a child, into eurus, and drowned his best friend victor trevor in a well. when he came to himself, he knew he did this, but he couldn’t remember how or when. this left him feeling extremely guilty and self-loathing. as a coping mechanism, he created an image of a boy whom he could tangibly put blame on for victor’s death (i’m assuming he wasn’t all that aware of eurus’s nature at this age). but this boy, instead of helping him to introspect, absorbed his self-loathing and self-deprecation and turned into his worst devil’s advocate, constantly taunting and mocking him.
9) we can see TRF as sherlock’s subconscious telling himself to just fuck off. maybe he felt useless because he could feel his relapse coming back up again after the trigger in THoB? (repressing death as a dog)
10) anyway, i think mycroft knew sherlock’s coping mechanism isn’t healthy, so he gently reminded sherlock of “redbeard” to try and trigger his memory up and force him to deal with his alterego in a healthy way instead of locking stuffs up, lest he relapse due to an extremely emotional enviromment (john getting married and breaking sherlock’s heart).
11) sherlock spent TAB trying to dig up what the hell happened with him - “cherchez la femme” as a freudian slip to mirror “cherchez la chien” in THoB (look for the woman // look for the dog). the ghost is a woman - emelia ricoletti, whose gravestone said “beloved wife, mother, and sister” while she never had a living brother before she died. (i think @wellthengameover pointed this one out.) then - as @monikakrasnorada explained - sherlock always insisted it’s never twin. yet here she is, a twin he lost that is not his twin.
12) returning to point 5, the reason i believe moriarty is not an alter ego is because he serves as an enabler, not an entity. in TFP, we know that he helped eurus with contacts in and out of sherrinford and also breaking out of her glass case. why does he do this if he is an alterego himself? no, i think he is sherlock’s guilt, trying to remind himself that he still has to deal with his illness in a healthy way, that he should remember victor’s death but instead of beating himself up for it he should try to move on and grow to be a better person. moriarty has enabled eurus out since at least ASIB, if my timeline is correct? he tries to tear waves into sherlock’s life as a reminder that there is unfinished business within himself.
13) as eurus is freed, we learn that the reason she did so much damage as a child is because she didn’t know how to contain herself (how to land the plane). sherlock tries to talk to her, helps her to land, and accepts that he has DID and that he will ease his alterego so that she does not disrupt his daily activities again.
14) at the end of TFP, when sherlock has made peace with his past and illness, mycroft says that eurus has “passed beyond our view”, meaning, sherlock’s conscious thought has understood that his alterego subconscious is now under control.
i still don’t know how to incorporate this into the 13-episodes canon, and i’m sure i’ve overstepped boundaries in talking about DID as an illness (please call me out if i do this), but otherwise this is what i’ve got so far.
tags not under cut because i’m always on fucking mobile: @isitandwonder @monikakrasnorada @ebaeschnbliah @tjlcisthenewsexy @loveismyrevolution @gosherlocked @justshadethings (please tell me if you don’t want to be tagged, thank you)
