History WMG / SherlockHolmes

Going back to Watson being an unrealiable narrator, Watson knew that Holmes didn't go over the falls. Let's not pull punches. Sherlock Holmes murdered Moriarty by throwing him over, whether in self defence or otherwise. Watson actually got there in time to see it happen. The two devised a plan to make sure Holmes escaped trial and Moriarty's henchmen. Watson wrote that Holmes went over Reichenbach Falls too allowing his friend to flee to europe. No one would question the Doctor's interpretation of events what with him being Holmes' biographer and all. When Holmes returned three years later (with a less than air-tight alibi) no one questioned Holmes' story out of sheer suprise, all the evidence of foul play at Reichenbach Falls was long gone and there was no offical enquiry. All Watson had to do is pretend to be shocked, and polish ''The Empty House'' for publication.

Watson made the later stories up. Their (generally percieved) lesser quality is because he didn't have actual facts in front of him. Much more difficult to string a coherent mystery together with no frame of reference, after all. As to why, could have been anything from needing the money to having a breakdown and wanting to pretend it was real.

Which explains why, [[UnreliableNarrator according to the books]], Watson has never seen Moriarty. They are both a doctor, and there is much to be said with regards to diguise for a limp, tightening up your facial expression from its usual genial, confused, or vaguely worried look, and ObfuscatingStupidity when the only person who ''needs'' to fall for the "disguise" both utterly trusts you beyond any other human and will lose his only friend if he ever admits to himself that he can see through it. Watson's wife called him James not because James and John can be nicknames for each other, but because she met him as James Moriarty and slipped up on the personal name. It's merely fortunate that that was a valid explanation, though not a coincidence as it is why Watson chose whichever name was the false one.

He made a journey to Mecca (a city where only Muslims are allowed to go) as told in "The Return," he frequently sat in an anti-Occidental fashion, and he would have greatly admired the ancient Islamic scientists who were busy discovering the truths about the world while most of Europe was stuck in the Dark Ages.

----Moriarty is an Irish name, though.

----

*** Correction: Moriarty being crime mastermind was a figment of Holmes' imagination. Professor Moriarty was real and Holmes' former teacher.
*** ...who slept with Holmes' mother and caused his father to go insane.

** Going with the above thread, this troper would like to pose that Moriarty was ([[NotQuiteDead is?]]) an ex-member of VFD, explaining his massive intelligence and cunning in creating detailed crimes. This would explain why Holmes was so keen on catching him, as it was an assignment given to him by his superiors who wanted Moriarty either caught or dead.
** This theory is bolstered by the fact that Moriarty attacks Holmes in FINA by ''setting his rooms on fire''. Also -- we know that the VFD recruit new members at very young ages and train them in skills of observation. Who else are the Baker Street Irregulars, then, but a group of neophytes Holmes is training to become full members of the organization? Perhaps they disappeared after the first couple of stories because their training had been completed...

** The Jeremy Brett adaptations also played on this possibility. Both the Burke and the Hardwicke Watsons were ''much'' smarter than they were letting on in their publications, even managing to pull off the occasional SherlockScan; similarly, the interplay between Holmes and Watson made it clear that Watson was gussying up his material for sensational (or romantic!) effect. Holmes specifically complains about such in, if memory serves, "The Copper Beeches."
** And it almost goes without saying that there are plenty of events that Watson never viewed first-hand, so where Watson reported Holmes doing some fantastical deduction, it's just as plausible that Watson was paring down a lot of boring investigating into a single "A-Ha!" moment. "Holmes, your account of boring interviews with witnesses goes on too long. I'm going to say that you asked me to step out of the room, and then when you came out, you had the crime solved, all right?"
** Going with the above, it makes sense that Watson would exaggerate details in order to make a good story. Lots of stories that sold or were given the most attention in Victorian times were either fictional or exaggerated to the point of being so (e.g. Sweeeney Todd and Jack the Ripper respectively). Also, it seems strange that Holmes would complain about Watson blowing their adventures out of proportion when one of Holmes' canonical fields of expertise is that of sensationalist literature.

** One tangent to this would be the idea that Mrs. Hudson has seen the good that Holmes has done through his works and has effectively [[BecomingTheMask Become The Mask]], going about her usual duties while either feeding the police blatant lies or breaking off her deal with them altogether.
** Another is that Holmes has known about this all along and opted to FeedTheMole, basically playing along with Scotland Yard since he regards them to be somewhat beneath him anyway.

* The problem is that none of those are certain indicators of being a believer: Orientalism was very popular in the Victorian world even among non-converts, and taking the pilgrimage to Mecca was seen as being the ultimate test of an Orientalist regardless of religious belief (in short, because you had to know enough in order to disguise yourself enough and avoid suspicion), and indeed particularly for non-Muslims (because for them the stakes were far higher).

** Factual error: Moriarty was not a doctor, he was a professor of mathematics.
*** We don't know that he's NotThatKindOfDoctor, just that he has a doctorate in mathematics.
** Factual error #2: Watson ''has'' seen Moriarty. During "The Final Problem", when Watson and Holmes are fleeing from London on the train, Moriarty comes shoving his way through the crowd just as the train departs, both Watson and Holmes seeing him.

** Two marriages, no children? Maybe Watson was hit somewhere a little more dear, if you follow me.

** Going with the above thread, this troper would like to pose that Moriarty was ([[NotQuiteDead is?]]) an ex-member of VFD, explaining his massive intelligence and cunning in creating detailed crimes. This would explain why Holmes was so keen on catching him, as it was an assignment given to him by his superiors who wanted Moriarty either caught or dead.

[WMG: Watson wasn't shot in either the shoulder or the leg; he was shot in the ass]]

** This here, ladies and gentlemen, has just been [[spoiler:confirmed.]] SoYeah.

[[WMG: Homes didn't survive ''The Final Problem'']]

Because it never happened. The whole thing was cooked up by Holmes and Watson, in order for Holmes to take a much needed vacation from those who wanted him to solve cases for them... or his cocaine addiction left him in debt and he needed to lie low for a while till he could pay off his debts.

* The fact that Holmes was a successful prizefighter, and openly recognized as such by a fellow boxer, would tend to debunk this WMG. Why? Because boxers fight ''bare-chested'', even in Victorian times.

** And neither Holmes nor Mycroft, both of whom read the newspapers and Watson's publications religiously, never noticed this discrepancy? Watson's connection to Holmes makes him enough of a celebrity himself that his wife's death should've at least rated a mention.

* The "can't" comes from the EU novel ''Strangers from the Sky''.

* P.G. Wodehouse theorized this, partly tongue-in-cheek. He believed that this could be why Holmes had enough money to live comfortably and to pay the Irregulars without having an actual paying job.