Excavating the cranial vault

The fact that Eric blew his brains out - he put the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger - must tell us something.

Dylan shot himself in the head, but there was enough left of it for the family to conduct an open-casket funeral. They were able to mask the gunshot wounds with Beanie Babies.

But even if Eric's family had wanted to give him a proper funeral, there's no way that they would have been able to look at him during the service. There weren't enough Beanie Babies in the world to make what was left of his head look even halfway decent.

Eric told us that he held himself in the highest regard: he was God and the rest of us were worthless nothings. But he chose to obliterate his brain, and the "magnificent mind" that it contained, so that there would be precious left of it for anyone to find.

Is that not an act of extreme self-hatred, of unyielding self-loathing?

Again: It's one thing to shoot yourself in the head. It's another to blow your brains out. Dylan did the former; Eric did the latter.

I don't know.  I think that perhaps Eric just wanted to do things the "right way" if that makes sense.  If I decided to kill myself, it would be without a doubt the way that Eric did.  I would prefer instant death over possibly aspirating on my own blood and suffering.  I know that sounds morbid.....but I just think that if I ever got to that point I would prefer my death to be quick and over with rather than to lie on the ground suffering for who knows how long.

Freezingmoon wrote:

I don't know.  I think that perhaps Eric just wanted to do things the "right way" if that makes sense.  If I decided to kill myself, it would be without a doubt the way that Eric did.  I would prefer instant death over possibly aspirating on my own blood and suffering.  I know that sounds morbid.....but I just think that if I ever got to that point I would prefer my death to be quick and over with rather than to lie on the ground suffering for who knows how long.

That is a good point. He wanted to make sure that he would die instantly.

But, still, that's a grisly way to go.

One thing I wish I knew was what the final words they said to each other were. I wish Patrick Ireland was conscious to see and hear them. I also wonder if Dylan watch Eric kill himself and how soon after he pulled the trigger on himself. I know it wasn't long but seeing your best friends head being blown apart like a watermelon must stun you for a short amount of time.

I think Eric killed himself the way he did for a practical reason; he wanted to be sure he'd finish the job.
But I also agree that there were psychological reasons behind it.
The despair and hopeless you have to feel to take your own life is overwhelming. And even though it makes no sense, some people care enough about their selves and their image to make sure they leave behind a "pretty corpse."

No matter what one thinks of Eric, the raw fact is to kill yourself the way he did takes real guts.
And people will never acknowledge this. Instead he along with Dylan is always called a coward.

I agree, he wanted to make sure he would die instantly without any suffering, or without the possibility of him being saved and prosecuted.

I read it as the ultimate alpha male power move. Go extreme. That's how he did everything.

LPorter101 wrote:

The fact that Eric blew his brains out - he put the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger - must tell us something.

Dylan shot himself in the head, but there was enough left of it for the family to conduct an open-casket funeral. They were able to mask the gunshot wounds with Beanie Babies.

But even if Eric's family had wanted to give him a proper funeral, there's no way that they would have been able to look at him during the service. There weren't enough Beanie Babies in the world to make what was left of his head look even halfway decent.

Eric told us that he held himself in the highest regard: he was God and the rest of us were worthless nothings. But he chose to obliterate his brain, and the "magnificent mind" that it contained, so that there would be precious left of it for anyone to find.

Is that not an act of extreme self-hatred, of unyielding self-loathing?

Again: It's one thing to shoot yourself in the head. It's another to blow your brains out. Dylan did the former; Eric did the latter.

Perhaps Eric killed Dylan first?


I kid.. I kid:)

Beanie babies?

x5000x wrote:

Beanie babies?

At Dylan's funeral, his parents put a bunch of beanie babies around his head to try and cover up the gunshot wound to his temple.

I think it was (like mentioned) to do things the right way. So there was minimal chance for failure and having to live with the consequences and injury of what he'd done.