#m.o.

This is the big comprehensive post to go over my muses and the tattoos they have! I have linked photos that are similar in style or content to the corresponding character’s tattoos but not an exact match!

My favorite junko persona.

The Omen & The Exorcist

I think that one of the reasons for the exchange between Mary and John about Rosie being possessed by the devil vs the child of the devil is to tell us that Mary is, despite appearances, bad.  Basically how can Rosie be both (possessed by) the devil and also the spawn of said devil?  Because Rosie is two people, there are two Rosamund Marys: mother and child.  If Rosie can’t both be the devil and the chid of the devil, then maybe they can be one each.  Since Rosie Jr is the daughter or Rosie Sr then we can give her the, ‘spawn of satan’, role leaving us with Mary as actual satan.  (I got a post about this plus Mary has devil horns here).

Love vs Bitterness

So, as of ASiP we have love being a vicious motivator.  Let’s see baby Sherlock tell us that, 

So, the show establishes a dichotomy early on between, ‘love’, and, ‘bitterness’.  So, the opposite of love is bitterness.  

Vivian is accused of leading a life of crime because of, ‘jealousy’.  We can see that as form of bitterness, a type of resentment.  Except as I’ve discussed here, this is a misnomer: what Sherlock is describing in her case is actually, ‘envy’, not, ‘jealousy’.  But, who may have been motivated by jealousy in shooting Sherlock in HLV?  (*eerie HLV whisper*) Mary.

So, things that are the opposite of love according to the show: bitterness, envy, jealousy.  And maybe bitterness is not such a paralytic after all.

Mary has been established as John’s false romantic lead and also a type of Sherlock facsimile, like the Vermeer in TGG: a very close copy but a fake.  

Amo

Now, we see Vivian and Mary closely associated to, ‘amo’, either one of them might have been, ‘the english woman’, who betrayed AGRA.

Here we’re told that Vivian is amo,

But, during the rescue in Georgia it really seems like Mary might be amo.  The ambassador implies she has something up her sleeve: amo.  Then Mary gets there, gives her an outstretched hand and the ambassador gives her a smile and implies she’s been waiting for her.  Sure, there’s ambiguity as to whether she was just waiting for a rescue but to me it seems like there’s a bit of emphasis on a possible connection between them.  Is there recognition in the ambassador’s eyes?  Is she specifically waiting for Mary/amo?  Does Mary know her and is there to save her for personal reasons?  Ones that trump her loyalty to AGRA?  Is amo Mary’s personal code to betray AGRA?  Is it a more essential identity than the R in AGRA?

Mary’s love

Something that’s been discussed in fandom tons is whether on not Mary loves John.  Does she love him?  Is she in love with him?  Is she capable of love?  Or does she love him in her own special sick way: with a possessive love, not a kind love.

What if Mary’s love for John is an unkind type of love that’s like the opposite of love?  Her love is backwards, it’s selfish, it’s evol (evil).  It’s oma, something evil, like in the movie The Omen that John references in TST.  

(Mary as the antichirst, the anti-Sherlock was discussed here, yesterday).

Love is the ammo: it keeps you going, it gives you the power to fight, to survive

Now, love can be a vicious motivator meaning that it’s the thing that motivates you, the thing that fuels you.  It’s the ammo you have against adversity, the raison d’être for us all.  (But, it can also be used as ammo against you as we’ve seen with Moriarty’s threats against Sherlock’s heart and with Magnussen’s pressure points system).  

We have seen Sherlock survive torture in Serbia in TEH (all for the promise of returning back to Baker Street/John) and we’ve seen him will himself to live after flatlining in HLV.  All because amo is his ammo.

Your love is the ammo others use against you: caring is a disadvantage

If you don’t love anybody nobody has any love ammo to use against you.  This is a fine argument for Mary not really loving John or having any true affectionate bonds: it creates too much of a weakness for a spy.  Maybe this is exactly the type of lesson that Mycroft has been trying to teach Sherlock his whole life: if you don't have any amo people won’t have any ammo against you.  Or love makes you weak.

AMO is A’s M.O.

The idea of a modus operandi or M.O. is brought up by Sherlock in HLV.  It’s a reference to Magnussen's pressure points power system.  Now if, ‘amo’, is someone’s M.O., conceivably it cold be the m.o. of someone whose first initial is a.  

Now, who’s A?  Well, we’ve thought of Mary as, ‘Agra’, for a long time now.  Mary said those were her initials in HLV, after all.  So, Agra’s M.O. seems to be, ‘we die’, aka, ‘I die’.  It also seems to be similar to Magnussen’s: using other people’s love against them/to manipulate them.

Mycroft

Now why Mycroft appears with the word, ‘omma’, written next to him opposite Sherlock’s image with the word, ‘ammo’, is not really clear to me.  Is it about Sherlock becoming the anti-Mycroft?  Mycroft tells Sherlock that he’s becoming sentimental and Sherlock’s like, ‘yeah, so what?  That’s me’.  That’s quite a breakthrough.