Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He is a 'consulting detective'.

Bookverse
Holmes is most famous for his amazing feats of deductive reasoning, which were fueled by his keen observations. He had profound knowledge of chemistry and criminal cases, solid understanding of British law, anatomy, poisons, and practical geology. He was also very good with disguises, such that Watson failed several times to see through them. He was an excellent violin player.

In the physical realm he was an expert single stick fighter, bare knuckle boxer, and swordsman. He was a good shot with a pistol, and knowledgable in a form of martial arts called in the books, baritsu. This was a misspelling of an actual English self defence system, bartitsu, based on martial arts from Japan. Bartitsu is still practised in England and has made a recent come back.

He was also a recreational user of morphine and a cocaine addict. He injected the cocaine from a seven percent solution. He was canonically not only disinterested in women, but actively and rather vehemently distrustful of all women. Watson states that Holmes had an "aversion to women" but "a peculiarly ingratiating way with [them]." Holmes stated, "I am not a whole-souled admirer of womankind"; in fact, he found "the motives of women ... so inscrutable ... How can you build on such quicksand? Their most trivial actions may mean volumes ... their most extraordinary conduct may depend upon a hairpin." The only woman to ever garner interest from Holmes beyond the immediate case they brought to him was Irene Adler, and even then, Holmes never went beyond a few passing mentions of her. The author, Conan Doyle, remarked to muse Joseph Bell, "Holmes is as inhuman as a Babbage's calculating machine and just about as likely to fall in love". Sherlock Holmes head over heels in love with anyone is a chargeable offence.

Holmes retired to Sussex Downs around 1903-1904 and took up beekeeping.

He was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a Scottish author and physician. He first appeared in publication in 1887 in A Study in Scarlet. The short stories and serialized novels were published until 1927. He appeared in four novels and fifty-six short stories. The period covered by the written works ranges from about 1880 to 1907, with a final case in 1914. All but four of the stories are told by John H. Watson. Two of those are narrated by Holmes himself, and the other two are in third person. The original novel A Study in Scarlet includes a long section written in omniscient that neither Holmes nor Watson knew.

Conan Doyle said that his inspiration for Holmes came from Dr. Joseph Bell, who was the first to apply science to the detection of crime, and taught his students The Method, which was to make accurate observations, logical deductions, and finally, to find concrete proof. He would astound his students by accurately diagnosing his patients' ailments, occupations, histories, and nationalities after only a short period of observation.

Some believe that Doyle based Watson on himself, and every film and television adaption of Sherlock Holmes has included a Watson that at least somewhat resembled Doyle. Watson was portrayed in the books as competent, intelligent, physically capable, and a better shot than Holmes. He was married to Mary Morstan in 1887, but when Holmes returned from his 'death' in 1894, the doctor spoke of sad bereavement and moved back into Baker Street. Hints in the stories may indicate that Watson was married up to two more times. He was also referred to as quite the ladies man, reporting in The Sign of Four of his "experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents".

Adaptions
The Guiness Book of World Records has consistently listed Sherlock Holmes as the "most portrayed movie character" with 75 actors playing the part in over 211 films. A few of the adaptions are detailed below.
 * Basil Rathbone played Sherlock Holmes with Nigel Bruce as Watson in fourteen films from 1939-1946. Nigel Bruce's portrayal of Watson as a heavy set bumbler, marked the character for many years.


 * The Granada adaption: This is considered the definitive modern adaption (1984-1994) with Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes and David Burke and Edward Hardwicke playing Watson. This version largely tells the stories from the books, but details frequently differ, enough so that it should be noted whether the author of a story used the book verse or the Granada verse before charging.


 * 2009 movie: This movie had Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes, and Jude Law as Watson. This version is an original story by Lionel Wigram, and focuses on Holmes more anti-social eccentricities and his martial abilities. No explicit reference to his use of cocaine is made, but it is referred to obliquely in the "You do realize that what you are drinking is meant for eye surgery?" remark made by Dr. Watson. A historical use for cocaine is as a local anesthetic for eye surgery. The Dr. Watson in this movie is very physical, a good shot, a ladies man, and a gambler. The last is taken from a reference in "The Adventure of the Dancing Men", in which Holmes states that he has Watson's checkbook locked in his drawer for safe keeping.

Non-canonical works
There are many, many instances of non-canonical works based on Sherlock Holmes. Each of these should be considered as their own canon, influenced by the Sherlock Holmes canon, but unable to direct their influence back onto the original.

Notable works that largely disregard canon

 * The Seven Percent Solution by Nicholas Meyer wherein Holmes is a severe cocaine addict whose drug addled mind created the super villain Moriarty. "The Final Problem" and "The Empty House" (the stories that include Holmes supposed death and his return to London) are said in this verse to be complete fiction. Holmes was actually a patient of Sigmund Freud discovering the mommy issues that fueled his addiction during his three year absence. The introduction by Watson to this work also states that "The Lion's Mane", "The Mazarin Stone", "The Creeping Man" and "The Three Gables" (all Arthur Conan Doyle-written adventures from 1927's The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes) are forged "drivel". It also includes a nearly random cameo by the main character from The Prisoner of Zenda.


 * Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century which is a 26 episode animated television program from 1999-2001. The show based some episodes from original Holmes cases, and others had very little to do with the original canon. In this story, Moriarty has been brought back to life by cloning and Holmes is brought back by cellular rejuvenation, possible because his body was preserved in honey in the basement of Scotland Yard. Watson is a compudroid owned by Beth Lestrade, a New Scotland Yard Inspector and descendant of the original Inspector Lestrade.

Notable works that sought to expand canon

 * By focusing on other characters
 * Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock's elder brother) in Enter the Lion by Michael P. Hodel and Sean M. Wright
 * Dr James Mortimer (character from Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles) in books by Gerard Williams
 * Irene Adler (character from Doyle's "A Scandal in Bohemia") in the Irene Addler Adventures series by Carole Nelson Douglas. The first book, Good Night, Mr. Holmes, retells "A Scandal in Bohemia" from Irene's point of view. The series is narrated by Adler's companion, Penelope Huxleigh, in a role similar to that of Dr. Watson.


 * By introducing new characters
 * The Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King recreates Sherlock Holmes (starting with The Beekeeper's Apprentice), set during the First World War and the 1920s. Her Holmes is (semi) retired in Sussex, where he is literally stumbled over by a teenage Russell. Recognising a kindred spirit, he gradually trains her as his apprentice. As of 2009 the series includes nine full length novels and a novella tie-in with a book from her Kate Martinelli series, The Art of Detection.
 * The Final Solution is a 2004 novel by Michael Chabon. The story, set in 1944, revolves around an unnamed 89-year-old long-retired detective (who may or may not be Sherlock Holmes but is always called just "the old man"), now interested mostly in beekeeping, and his quest to find a missing parrot, the only friend of a mute Jewish boy.


 * By expanding on cases-either those mentioned in canon, but never written by Doyle or new ones that attempt the same tone as the originals.
 * The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes by Conan Doyle's son Adrian Conan Doyle with John Dickson Carr
 * The Lost Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Ken Greenwald, based rather closely on episodes of the 1945 Sherlock Holmes radio show that starred Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce and for which scripts were written by Dennis Green and Anthony Boucher.
 * Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective contains 5 new Holmes stories by Andrew Salmon, Van Allen Plexico, Aaron Smith and I.A. Watson.
 * Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra (mentioned in "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire") has been used as the basis for at least six novels


 * By exploring periods in Holmes' life unexplored in canon
 * The film Young Sherlock Holmes explores youthful adventures of Holmes and Watson as boarding school pupils. The two did not meet in canon until they took rooms together at Baker Street, so this could arguably be included in the disregards canon section.

Bookverse (and Granada verse)
Book verse and Granada verse (which is posted in the book section at FFnet) is subject to the standard array of slash, love interest to the asexual character of Holmes, and "fell through time" story lines, although none of them stand out as particularly prevalent. Compared to many fandoms, the overall quality of writing on FFnet's Sherlock Holmes book section is unusually high.

2009 film
The 2009 film stirred up the slash writers. The "fell through time" plot is pretty common, also, usually with the girl that went back in time being a love interest to Holmes.

Missions in this Continuum

 * Agents Kilauea and Sydney (DF)
 * Let There Be Books
 * Twas the Night before Harry Potter Book 6