saturnR wrote:

I love your take on his being afraid of heights - that's actually a really good suggestion.

Yes? Really?  I really thinks he was jumping himself ( not throwing Moriart´s body from the roof or so).Maybe being afraid from heights will inflict a future reaction of him / a future case ...

I've often thought about this too, and imagined his experiences during the Hiatus to harden his character rather than the other way round, in order to do the job we are assuming he is doing ie. Going after Moriarty's criminal web, he will have to be even more emotionally detached and cold than he normally is, he will almost certainly have moments where he needs to use violence, interrogation methods, fights that possibly result in the other person getting killed, all whilst on his own without the humanising influence of John.

Having said that, I don't think we will actually see any of this in the series, we will just have to imagine what he was like when he was away and draw our own conclusions. I think, once he makes his return, he will very quickly and easily slip back into his old ways, and it will be John that will take a while longer to adjust.

kazza474 wrote:

I believe he will be older & wiser, the same as we do get as time goes on.
He has experienced more things in life recently (before his death) and will have time to think back & process some of those things during his 'death'. He will come back with more of an understanding of things, I doubt he would have any phobias like a fear of heights etc as that to him is an irrational thing.
I very much doubt he will be killing anyone at all.
He will mature to having a better idea of tact at times, but don't think he will be polite at all times. He cannot change that much as that is part of who he is.
He is developing into an updated version of  the Holmes we see in the canon. We just have to project what that image would be like to see how he will be.

Well said. 

I think you are on the right track there.

Following along the lines of the canon Holmes (which is afterall who Sherlock is developing into according to the creators), I think he will accept having John in his life still. He may be more wary & keep John at arm's length whenever danger is about, but he'll be happy to have John as his 'sidekick' again.
The canon Holmes never cared much for the opinions of public & press, so I can see that being the case here too, he won't be completely exonerated but he won't care really. Let's face it even before 'Reichenbach' he had 'doubters' within the ranks of the police so things will be back to where they were. He prefers to NOT to be out in the open, to not have people constantly contacting him. Having that air of 'possibly dangerous' about him will be handy.
If Moftiss continue their 'slap in the face' for the British media (which is what they deliberately did with this episode) they will show us how, after all that fanfare & carry on, the media will quickly forget him, treating him as a washed up hasbeen. Which would suit Sherlock right down to the ground.