my mom and i were talking about harvey dent after we watched the dark knight on friday and something that she said really stuck with me. he was less crushed by rachel’s death than he was the fact that he didn’t die.
harvey wanted to be a martyr. he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory for a cause that he believed in, and when rachel was killed instead of him that was “stolen” from him. the quote “you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain” isn’t some great examination of the human condition, it specifically refers to harvey. it’s his own personal philosophy.
he lost his chance of dying like a hero, so he was damn well going to take his revenge and become the villain.
i think you’re thinking of gary sinise in forrest gump, LMAO
harvey was totally and absolutely devoted not only to rachel, but to being a public servant. losing rachel + being emotionally and physically scarred is supposed to be the psychological breaking point of the nolan trilogy’s HD. i mean, how they execute it is super sloppy and frankly out of character, but what breaks him isn’t him being robbed of martyrdom - it’s the fact that he was genuinely more prepared for his death than for rachel to die.
the ramifications and the loss of it all, from having everything to having nothing, is his motive force.