- "Let me tell you a story, John. There was a sculptor. He found this stone, a special stone. He dragged it home and he worked on it for months until he finally finished it. When he was ready he showed it to his friends. They said he had created a great masterpiece, but the sculptor said he hadn't created anything. The statue was always there, he just chipped away the rough edges. You're always going to be tearing away at yourself until you come to terms with who you are. Until you come full circle. "
- ―Colonel Sam Trautman to John Rambo.
"Coming Full Circle" is when a disturbed combat veteran with PTSD comes to terms with who they are: a warrior.
Rambo III[]
Rambo III was the moment in the series when the filmmakers introduced the fact that John Rambo was not an ordinary soldier and began to slowly create the idea that Rambo needed to realize his inner self before he could stop fighting his inner demons. Colonel Sam Trautman, Rambo's mentor and friend, encounters Rambo working at a Buddhist monastery in Thailand, desperately attempting to find inner peace. Trautman asks for Rambo's assistance. Rambo refuses, stating that "My war is over". Trautman follows Rambo into one of the temples and informs Rambo that he is a full-blooded combat soldier and must come to terms with that or else he will forever be miserable because he thinks that he's something he's not. Rambo understands this but can't bear to accept it yet, not ready to handle it. Rambo told Trautman that he was sorry that he was unwilling to help him deliver missiles to Afghanistan, claiming that "It's got to end for me sometime".
Rambo IV[]
Rambo IV is the point in the series when Rambo has become so angry at the world that he has lost all faith in humanity. Rambo, although he does good deeds from time to time, leads a quiet existence and prefers to stay out of matters where he does not belong, such as the genocide in Burma. Rambo believes that violence is inherent in human nature, and trying to stop it with more violence achieves nothing. Rambo just wants to be left alone, believing he wasted his life fighting for what he thought was right. Although he has almost come full circle by avoiding a peaceful existance, he still hasn't come to terms with why he killed. It is also the point when he completely ditches trying to lead a peaceful existance and realizes that he never killed for his country; he killed for himself. Rambo realizes that killing is the one thing he does well and he hates himself for it. However, he has accepted the fact that God won't forgive him for that, according to Sylvester Stallone, and he is going to do whatever it takes to appease that lust for violence. At the end of the film, he is at peace with himself and finally happy.