Exploring My Mythic Identity

I would say that if I identify with any mythic figure, it would be Sherlock Holmes' best friend, John Watson.  John Watson likes to surround himself with brilliant people, especially Sherlock Holmes and his brother Mycroft, but also in the medical community.  I have attempted to do the same on this campus.  Watson and I share a fascination with the world of crime, without the often-attendant desire to become practicing criminals.  We both apprentice ourselves to brilliant detectives -- he to Sherlock Holmes in life, I to Holmes and his spiritual descendents in literature.  This allows us to experience adventure and intrigue while also remaining morally on the side of right.  Holmes, though reticent socially, makes a better friend than an enemy.  Eventually, I hope that the brilliance of my colleagues and the observational powers of the mythic detectives will rub off on me, as it did on Watson, who went on to solve a number of cases himself.

I see shades of Watson in my past.  Both Watson and I were once physical, athletic young men.  We shared a similar squat build and surprising quickness.  These traits served me well in football and track, while Watson was a rugger.  Much to both our inconvenience, a leg injury robbed each of us of our former quickness.  Watson took a jezail bullet in the leg, and I tore the patellar tendon in my knee.  Following the injuries, Watson and I both suffered significant weight loss, and as their results, both of us walk with a slight limp.  Thus far, the limp has effected neither my writing nor Dr. Watson's, preserving at least one of our shared hobbies.

I would venture to guess that the professors for whom I have written papers on Sherlock Holmes know that I identify with Dr. Watson.  I doubt anybody else is aware.

I have an affinity for epic sidekicks.  I wouldn't mind meeting Enkidu or trading places with Ron Weasley.  I also wouldn't mind trading places with Richard Cypher, the world's only fantasy-novel detective (as far as I am aware) and epic hero of the Sword of Truth series.

I was, at one point, something of a mythic figure.  I used to play a text-based online game, and was well-enough known by other players that I was referred to only by the initials of the alias I used on the game.  Some people were intimidated by me.  Others built themselves up by exaggerating or fabricating stories of my exploits and placing themselves in them.  I would make up new words to describe in-game actors or actions, to see if other people began using them as well.  They did.  I still get the occasional email asking me to come back or begging to know my secrets.  I answer only when it suits me, mostly because I'm not exactly that proud of having spent so much time playing an online game.