another moment from requiem just jumped at me.
during leon and sherry's conversation, we know raccoon city isn't just something he thinks about from time to time, goes "darn it im still pretty hung up on it...oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" and moves on.
he thinks about it every. single. day. it's like a wound that doesn't heal because you have HIV (wow what a beautiful analogy.)
anyway, if you think about it for a moment, you'd realise that, huh, if he married a raccoon city survivor, some of that pain and guilt would be eased, right?
if his wife did know him during that disaster and knew what it entailed, and assuming they have a healthy relationship where they share things about themselves, plus leon thinks about it EVERY day, then this conversation must have come up between them.
im not even suggesting that his trauma must be resolved if he married an RC survivor. im suggesting that leon would probably feel lighter, more comforted than he did if he had shared it with his spouse.
the rip of the band-aid wouldn't hurt as much, because you've ripped it off a few times before.
however, the way that trauma hit leon leaves no indication that he had opened up this part of him in a really long time, maybe ever. it still hurt like a bitch. it hurt and he kept it so close to his heart, even sherry didn't know the depth of his pain.
raccoon city isn't something he talks about with his wife, even though he thinks about it every day is what i'm concluding.
and what i'm proposing is the reason why he does not is because his wife is someone who does not know about it. she had no substantive understanding of it, she had no ties to it, it did not affect her or her family in any meaningful way.
which...would be none other than ashley (again.)
ashley would not comfort him, would not ease his pain, would not be able to give him her perspective, would not be able to recall silly stuff with him, because she cannot speak on things she had no idea about.
these are things claire and ada can both do at varying capacity with leon, but ashley can only wipe the tears of the man's face.
and think about it, there's no good reason why leon wouldn't open up about RC if he married claire or ada. like what, are they gonna shame him, belittle his pain, when they know perfectly well how something like that fucked people up, especially when you have such a strong moral compass and sense of justice.
remember, leon's monologue about saving ashley being a difference to all those deaths in RC is a just that, a monologue. ashley didn't understand saving her in spain means that way to leon. he internalised his small victory the way he internalised his immense lost.
and even if ashley understands it now, it would be the only thing she does. "well hey, you have me." is realistically the only thing she could have said to him whenever he has an episode.
and that's not enough, and it could never be enough, when elliot and marvin and ben and kendo and hundreds of thousands of people are still dead, and the ones who did survive are also now dead.
so yes, if you think about it, his unresolved pain and agony do lead back to ashley being his wife too.
