History Literature / SherlockHolmes

** Some qualification: Mycroft is better at observation and reasoning, but stinks as a detective. His manner of handling the Greek Interpreter case [[tips off the bad guys big time, who then come back and try to torture the client to death.]] The point of the story seemed to be that figuring out someone's profession by their left pinky is a cute trick, but it does ''not'' a detective make.

** For reference, the above is from ''The Man With the Twisted Lip.'' Holmes has concluded that a young man has most certainly been killed, and arrives to deliver the bad news to his widow, in his most businesslike and sympathetic fashion. Then he learns [[spoilers: that she just received a letter from him.]] His whole reaction is justified (and priceless). Also a case of NotSoStoic.

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: in "The Adventure of the Empty House", Holmes explains his apparent [[IGotBetter return from the dead]] and escape from Moriarty as due to his knowledge of "[[HandWave Baritsu]], or the Japanese system of wrestling". No such word exists in Japanese. It is either an accidental misremembering or purposeful misspelling of [[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Bartitsu Bartitsu]], a briefly popular style during the turn of that century. Unfortunately, said style was invented several years after 1891 and furthermore relies heavily on the use of ''[[DeadHatShot walking sticks]]''.

** Also inverted with Sherlock Holmes. He starts out as a guy so focused on only detective work that he gets rid of useless knowledge. Later on the character plays violin, boxes, and does drugs.

* HilariousInHindsight: In 'The Creeping Man,' the professor ordered some 'medicine' through the mail that promised to {{IfYouKnowWhatIMean restore his 'virility.'}} He heard about it through some hilariously-badly spelled and poorly-worded letters from some guy in Eastern Europe claiming to be a doctor, who made medicine out of special animal extracts. Arthur Conan Doyle frequently predicted the future in race relations, detective techniques and human nature, but this would be downright creepy if it weren't so freakin' hilarious.

*** Unless you consider the effects of the 'potion' to be psychosomatic.

* HilariousInHindsight: In 'The Creeping Man,' the professor ordered some 'medicine' through the mail that promised to [[{{IfYouKnowWhatIMean restore his 'virility.'}}]] He heard about it through some hilariously-badly spelled and poorly-worded letters from some guy in Eastern Europe claiming to be a doctor, who made medicine out of special animal extracts. Arthur Conan Doyle frequently predicted the future in race relations, detective techniques and human nature, but this would be downright creepy if it weren't so freakin' hilarious.

*** Unless you consider the effects of the 'potion' to be psychosomatic, and the man himself a theatrical lunatic. Incidentally, ScienceMarchesOn is a part of the story. The 21st Century reader will be amused to notice the professor has basically fallen for a 19th Century equivalent of those E-Mails offering pills to make you more... ahem, ''virile.'' Doyle even correctly predicted the hilariously bad spelling[!]

** Irene Adler's claim to fame, canonically, is that she actually noticed Holmes' ploy, saw through his disguise, deduced who he was - and then, just to be sure, disguised herself as a man, sped to his address in time to watch him laughing his way up the steps into 221B Baker Street, still in the disguise he'd just used on her. She then walks past, wishing him good night and using his name. Holmes himself, still drunk on how smart clever he is, fails to realize he's in disguise and a stranger on the street just called him by name. By morning, she's skipped town, leaving a classy, yet undeniably smug good-bye letter to him, stating, basically "Wow, you're good. But then, so am I." The whole story, which basically involves a greedy Holmes signing on as a henchman for a spoiled, narcissistic king in a plot to defraud a poor, single woman all alone in the world, leaves Holmes looking not only shallow and sleazy, but kinda dumb, too. By a woman, no less, who he had (up til then) little respect for. A fandom was born.

** Pretty much the only remarkable feat Irene Adler actually performs, canonically, is to see through Holmes's disguise (she bests him purely by virtue of having the good sense to skip town once she knew who was after her). It was enough to impress Holmes. For fandom, it elevated her to his near-equal.

fThe literary canon of SherlockHolmes consists of the fifty-six short stories and four novels written by ArthurConanDoyle. See '''Main.SherlockHolmes''' for more information about the character and the various adaptations of SherlockHolmes.

*** Unless you consider the effects of the 'potion' to be psychosomatic, and the man himself a theatrical lunatic. Incidentally, ScienceMarchesOn is a part of the story. The 21st Century reader will be amused to notice the professor has basically fallen for a 19th Century equivalent of those E-Mails offering pills to make you more... ahem, ''virile.'' Doyle [[OlderThanSteam even correctly predicted the hilariously bad spelling[!]]]

** As it was by Doyle himself almost straight away. Despite apparently having nil knowledge of literature, Holmes is able to quote {{Goethe}} in the original and is familiar with Thomas Carlyle.

*** Unless you consider the effects of the 'potion' to be psychosomatic, and the man himself a theatrical lunatic. Incidentally, ScienceMarchesOn is a part of the story. The 21st Century reader will be amused to notice the professor has basically fallen for a 19th Century equivalent of those E-Mails offering pills to make you more... ahem, ''virile.'' Doyle [[OlderThanSteam ''even predicted the hilariously bad spelling[!].'']]

*** Unless you consider the effects of the 'potion' to be psychosomatic, and the man himself a theatrical lunatic. Incidentally, ScienceMarchesOn is a part of the story. The 21st Century reader will be amused to notice the professor has basically fallen for a 19th Century equivalent of those E-Mails to make you more... ahem, ''virile.'' Doyle ''even predicted the hilariously bad spelling[!!!].''

The literary canon of SherlockHolmes consists of the fifty-six short stories and four novels written by ArthurConanDoyle. See '''Main.SherlockHolmes''' for more information about the character and the various adaptations of SherlockHolmes.

** Moriarty is the King of unfair. He doesn't do anything himself, instead dispatching an army of professional killers to pick off his victims in the most sudden, unexpected, and painful ways. Until, of course, in [[the final scenes of 'The Final Problem' when he's lost everything. He just lunges at Holmes - no weapon, no nothing - with the sole intention of taking Holmes, and probably himself, over the Falls]].

* CombatPragmatist: An interesting case: Holmes, who has a general screw-the-rules mentality completely, averts this trope, but Watson who only breaks society' rules in extreme scenarios (which, living with Holmes, has made them not that rare) will just grab a chair or a fire poker and threaten, with complete intent to use it, his opponent with it.

* HoYay: One must keep in mind that this is the nineteenth century, but Holmes and Watson use the word "intimate" to describe their relationship no fewer than three times between "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes." (Once when Watson describes his time with Sherlock as "the years of our intimacy", once when Sherlock calls Watson his "intimate friend"-to a client!-and another time by Watson, though I can't remember the exact wording.)

* GeniusBonus: Holmes calling Maths Professor Moriarty "The Napoleon of Crime" gets a whole new dimension when you know that the real Napoleon Bonaparte was a gifted mathematician.

[[/folder]]

The literary canon of SherlockHolmes consists of the fifty-six short stories and four novels written by ArthurConanDoyle.

!!''The Return of Sherlock Holmes''

!!''His Last Bow''

!!''The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes''