I think we are all fascinated by greatness and long to see it. It doesn't matter if it's greatness in chess, baseball, basketball, track and field etc...
Whenever someone comes onto the scene that appears to be truly great at his chosen path, we get really excited. When he quits long before his potential is fully realized, we continue dreaming and fantsizing about what could have been and how great he could have been. That's what Fischer did and that's why we continue to discuss him.
These last few posts have been very thoughtful and I'll reread them in the morning (it's 230ish am where I am now) before jumping in too deeply. I will say however that I disagree with the notion that part of the reason we still obsess/talk about fischer is because there is so much material. I'd say quite the oppositie is true. Fischer lived much of his life as a recluse, even during his playing days he was quite the solitary figure. Frankly it reminds me of Howard Hughes...such a great success who essentially vanished from the public eye. Fischer did the same thing for 20 years and only really resurface to play Spassky in the second match...