Explanation and Acknowledgements

Since my inspiration for the previous story comes from really cool observations that were not mine, I thought I should mention them.

First, there's the novel/biography/thingy Holmes and Watson by June Thomas, in which she mentions the Great Hiatus, and made me realize for the first time how utterly bizarre was the scene in which Holmes looks down "in perfect comfort" at what must have been one of the most horrible moments of his best friend's life.

Still more pointedly, she points out that Holmes' rational for the necessity of this is crp: Holmes at this time had no idea that Moran or anyone besides Moriarty had escaped. He saw Moran only after he was on the ledge and Watson and the police had come and gone.

The other inspiration for this was two online essays by James Chase entitled "Problems with the Final Problem" and "Strange States of Mind" (1999) (ff.n seems not to like web addresses, otherwise I would have given it-- they're in a list of essays on "Foxhound's Sherlockian Page," at any rate.) in which he discusses the strange plot holes of Holmes' contest with Moriarty, a few of which I have endeavored to explain in my story.

Two of the oddities he points out in "Problems with the Final Problem" are 1) that Moriarty's threat to Holmes' life is useless and ridiculous (and belated: why did it take three months?), and he could not possibly have believed that Holmes would answer anything other than what he did answer, and 2) that Holmes' clandestine flight from Watson's house is very silly: if they did not know he was there, hiding the fact that he was leaving was pointless, and if they did know he was there, hiding the fact that he was leaving would be as dangerous to Watson as if he had stayed. I tried to explain both of them by a threat to Watson that Holmes was loath to tell him about, and I hope I made some sense of it.

In "Strange States of Mind," Chase goes on to criticize Holmes' actions when he knew Moriarty was free: why did he hang around in deadly peril rather than return to London, where the man was being actively hunted? Chase eventually explains it all by saying that Holmes was under the influence of a morbid, "world-weary" philosophy: that his hopes of the outcome of the situation were, in order of preference: 1) Holmes lives and Moriarty dies, 2) Both die, 3)M lives and H dies, and 4) Both live. He defends the order of 3) and 4) by pointing out that Holmes staying on vacation was asking to die, and that he had know way of knowing whether Moriarty would come to kill him himself, and they would plan to die together, or whether an agent would be sent to do it, and Holmes would die needlessly. It is persuasive, and up to you whether you think that Holmes had any good reason for thinking Moriarty sporting enough to fight hand to hand or not.

I agree with his world-weary characterization, but I propose that his order for preferences 1) and 2) is mistaken, and that Holmes would rather both of them die than to be the victor. Sad and chilling as this may be, it is the premise that I wrote this with, and I think the story backs it up.

First off, he talks a lot about how happy he would be to rid the world of Moriarty at the expense of his own life, and Watson finds him honestly jubilant about it: but which element is he happy about? He does not talk about his joy in the ridding of Moriarty, and then add 'and if I die, it'll be worth it' as an afterthought: the ideas are very much combined in his head.

In the letter to Watson, he's quite resigned to dying, so much that we cannot tell whether it is resignation or welcome. His regret is not for himself in any way, but only for the friends who would miss him. He goes on to say that "no possible conclusion to my career could be more congenial to me than this," meaning his dramatic death locked in combat with Moriarty. Is he being brave? Is he reviewing all the possible demises for himself, and deciding, among a set of evils, that this one is least? Or is he just barely concealing that he believes his career is over, and this is what he wants to do? Even beekeeping on the Sussex Downs is not preferable to this blaze of glory.

None of that was absolutely conclusive, of course, but what else makes his subsequent actions make sense? I do not believe that Holmes was suicidal in any way, but I do think he was weary of his lonely, often bored existence, perhaps even feeling the strain of overwork, yet, being Sherlock Holmes, unable to rest. I think that he thought of the threat of Moriarty, saw that it would be the greatest challenged he ever faced, and thought of the wonderful poetics of finishing that way. I think that he probably never admitted to himself that he wanted to die, but everything in him was prepared for it, and he was left shocked and rudderless when he did not die. Clearly something terrible was going on in his mind at the time; why else leave his best friend thinking he was dead for the next three years, with no rational reason? I propose that he had been bored and overworked for a while before this, that he had been looking to die at Reichenbach, and that he was lost when it did not happen, and found his only possible option to be to flee as if dead, and find a new direction for a while, while he gets his joie de vivre back.