Original artwork, not a still
None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with you. You're locked up in here with me!
— Watchmen ‧ 1986
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It reverses what a cell is for: the prisoners think they have cornered him, and he tells them that they are the ones trapped with something they cannot escape. It sums Rorschach up as a man who carries his own prison wherever he goes, and it is the turn in Dr. Long's chapter, where the psychiatrist's optimism about curing him begins to sour. Fans quote it as a stand-alone tough-guy line, usually without the detail that the cooking-fat attack came first.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for WatchmenShow the scene
In Watchmen #6, 'The Abyss Gazes Also' (February 1987), the vigilante Rorschach is out of costume and in prison, being assessed by psychiatrist Dr. Malcolm Long. Back among the inmates, many of whom he helped put away, he is threatened with death. During lunch in the canteen there is an incident in which another prisoner is badly burned by hot cooking fat. As the guards drag Rorschach away to solitary, he tells the other inmates the line. Long records it in his journal, concluding that his patient is getting worse, not better.
Sources (2)
- Wikiquote: WatchmenDr Malcolm Long quotesReference checked
- Watchmen Wiki: The Abyss Gazes AlsoPlotReference checked
Context reviewed
