Magnificent Bastard: Professor James Moriarty turned to a life of crime after being appalled at the stupidity and lack of organization of London's criminal underworld, amassing many followers. When American crime lord Clarence Devereux tried to take over his organization, turning Moriarty's followers against him, Moriarty faked his death at the Reichenbach Falls and adopted the identity of American detective Fredrick Chase in order to gain Scotland Yard's assistance. In the novel proper, Moriarty, as Chase, manages to lead Athelney Jones and the rest of Scotland Yard to Devereux without Jones even realizing it, and when Devereux is finally caught, Moriarty reveals his true identity, kills Jones, and escapes with Devereux. At a wide-open park, Moriarty reveals to Devereux that he intends on taking over America's criminal underworld since England's is no longer a possibility. Combining an intellect to match Holmes' with a healthy dose of ruthlessness, Moriarty shows why he is labeled as the "Napoleon of crime".
Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: The ending of the book reveals that the reader has all along been reading about the clash of two ruthless crime lords and Jones, the genuinely good detective ends up dead at the hands of the man he thought was his friend. Even if Chase/Moriarty is better than Devereux - and we only have his word for it - he does some truly terrible things to get back on top.
Comic Book
Complete Monster: Tartarus, real name Gottfried, is a masked anarchist and terrorist who worships chaos. Tartarus manipulates the organization the Black Hand into assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, which kickstarts World War I. Funding the creation of the powerful Dark Chamber which creates psychoactive visions of the future, Tartarus uses it to drive the Black Hand members insane and kill themselves in order to get rid of them after they've outlived their usefulness. To tie up loose ends, Tartarus frames Moriarty for a murder and bombing and has the scientist who created the Dark Chamber starved. Tartarus reveals that his ultimate aim is to release a version of the Dark Chamber to destroy London by driving it insane before selling it to all sides in the coming war and watching as Europe crumbles, after which he will rule the ashes as a god.
Magnificent Bastard: Professor James Moriarty is an intelligent and soft-spoken mastermind and the only man whose intellect rivals Sherlock Holmes himself. Moriarty is able to discover and ascertain details using his deductive ability in order to foil his opponents and rents these skills out to other criminals for a profit. After Holmes' apparent death, Moriarty helps to take down the vile terrorist Tartarus and runs rings around the competition as he brings himself back on top. As noble as he is villainous, Moriarty will order a massacre to take control of a shipping port only to also free the slaves the shipping port was using. In another endeavor, Moriarty helps rally the prostitutes of a crime lord into rebelling against him for their freedom and helps clear the name of a friend. A man who lives by his own rules and desire for freedom, Moriarty is a man who will stop at nothing to put himself on top and truly earns the title of being the "Napoleon of Crime".
