[spoilers] Lucas Discussion 2

[Byatil]

(29-03-2011 01:51 PM)HellsBells Wrote:  Something has been bothering me and I can't remember if we have already discussed it.

On the roof top in 9.8 with Harry and Lucas, Lucas says he can't go back to prison 'because he would die there'. Do you think he means physically die and if so does he think someone will kill him or that he would kill himself? Or does he mean emotionally die? For someone you had spent 8 years in a Russian prison without any idea of if/when he would be released, wouldn't prison in this country be easier, torture and solitary confinement are not part of British prison system.

I assumed he meant that he would literally die there (life imprisonment/suicide) as well as figuratively die (emotionally). When he was in Russia, he had "hope"; a reason to continue, and something to look forward to when he was released. If he was imprisoned in the UK, he would literally lose everything. His dignity and reputation would be permanently ruined, and he wouldn't have that same "hope" which had kept him alive in Russia.

In the end, it was easier for him to jump off a building rather than face up to a life completely void of hope or redemption. And to be honest, by the end of 9.8, Lucas-is-John really didn't seem to have anything to live for anyway.