Have we found the RAT? (Mary Watson name anagram)

[perma-nerd]

Hi everyone! I hope this is in the right place (and that I haven't accidentally posted it three times as the Internet here is terrible and keeps dropping out). I've been lurking this forum for a while but I realised something. 

 

While I have a hunch that Mary's not (or is no longer) evil, I noticed that you can make the word RAT from both MARY MORSTAN and MARY WATSON. People say that the writers said the word "rat" is significant and nobody can figure out why. 

 

I thought that might just be a coincidence, but then I mixed the other letters around just a bit and realised that

 

MARY WATSON

 

is a complete anagram of

 

MAY: RAT'S WON

 

Mary marries John (and thus becomes Mary Watson) on the 18th of May.

 

Thoughts?

[Caya]

Hello perma-nerd (aren't we all ) and welcome to the forum!

 

I've moved your thread to the Series 3 forum for now, as we're still somewhat careful with spoilers and, well, there's one in the title.

 

As for your anagram, I think it's perfect and makes a lot of sense. However, I am sure someone will be along to disagree shortly .

[perma-nerd]

I don't necessarily take the anagram to be pointing out or suggesting that Mary's actually, currently evil.

 

I mean, given that the name Mary Watson is, as far as I know, Conan-Canon, it's not like Mofftiss invented it for Sherlock. But it could be that that's what RAT refers to, as in, they noticed this and made up the RAT thing as an Easter egg. Or it's possible it's ALL just a coincidence, and RAT just refers to Mary shooting Sherlock and whatever past she's divulged on her USB stick, and there's no future betrayal/revelations to come.

 

What would be interesting is if anyone could come up with an anagram for Mary Morstan? 

[Caya]

Army smart? No.

 

Which, come to think of it, describes John's behaviour around her rather well .

[besleybean]

So glad this topic came up...I'd been pondering this, too.

Tho of course Moran is referred to as the rat.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

And in "The Empty Hearse" all of the people Sherlock was keeping track of on his evidence wall he called "rats" Moran being the biggest one of them all.

[besleybean]

Quite.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Hello, perma-nerd -- welcome to Sherlock Forum! 

 

Like a couple of other people, I assume that Moran is the "rat" -- Sherlock referred to him several times that way.  And, as you say, Mary's name (except for the "Elizabeth") is canon.  Plus, "rat" is a fairly easy anagram (I've got all three letters in my full name, for example, and obviously so does Martina).

 

But I love anagrams, and your Mary anagrams are interesting.  Care to try for any with her middle name included?

 

Now I'm trying to think how many of the other continuing Sherlock characters have a "rat" in their names:

 

William Sherlock Scott Holmes, no  Oops!  Arcadia points out that 's a YES!

John Hamish Watson, no

Martha Hudson, YES, don't even need to look up the rest of her names

Greg Lestrade, YES

Molly Hooper, not with just those two names -- though Molly can be a nickname for Mary, which gets us closer

Sally Donovan, again, not with those two names -- though Sally can be a nickname for Sarah, which helps

Phillip (?) Anderson, not unless his middle name has a T

James Moriarty, YES, OF COURSE!

Irene Adler, not unless her middle name has a T

Mike Stamford, YES

Harriet Watson, YES

(Have I forgotten anyone?)

 

By the way, if we were currently on full spoiler alert (which we are not), we wouldn't allow spoiler titles anywhere on the forum, since the titles of all new threads go out on our newsfeed, and are also visible on our homepage.

 

[Arcadia]

Charles Augustus Magnussen, yes.

[Ruthyone]

Eeeeeeeeeek!!! I have 'rat' in my name too!!!

 

Mary Morstan = Or nasty marm     (sounds about right!!)

[Arcadia]

Waitaminnit .... WilliAm SheRlock ScoTt Holmes, YES!

OMG, that explains everything!!!!!!

 

Mary Watson = straw anomy

[perma-nerd]

I forgot about the rats in The Empty Hearse... I guess this anagram is kind of fun but not necessarily pointing anywhere.  

 

I noticed you can get ROAST MANY from Mary Morstan (there's an R and M left over) - perhaps interesting given her former profession and Moriarty's many... er... creative nicknames for the act of assassination.

[aely]

I associated the Rat thing with "Sumatra Street" station...

[Carol the Dabbler]

... especially since there is no Sumatra Road in London.

[besleybean]

Wasn't that one of the abandoned stations?

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Which probably doesn't exist in the real world.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Yes, there are abandoned and unopened stations....none named Sumatra.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Right.  As I understand it, there really are abandoned stations, some of which have been re-used as parts of newer or expanded stations (which presumably explains some of those interminable corridors).  So what we saw in "Empty Hearse" is realistic.

 

However -- not only was there never a Sumatra Road tube station (planned, abandoned, or otherwise) -- there isn't even a street named Sumatra Road anywhere in central London.  So that name was clearly an in-joke reference to the unexplained "giant rat of Sumatra" (one of the cases that Watson never got around to writing up).

 

[Ruthyone]

There are many abandoned London tube stations, deep underground http://www.abandonedstations.org.uk/

[The Rani]

Hmm... Maybe she's from Ballarat. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

There are many abandoned London tube stations, deep underground http://www.abandonedstations.org.uk/

 

 

Thanks, Ruthy -- that's a cool website!

 

The two abandoned stations that John mentions below are on the list -- but the ones that Sherlock mentions are not (not that I'd expect Sumatra Road to be).  Odd.

 

JOHN: Look – this whole area is a big mess of old and new stuff. Charing Cross is made up of bits of older stations like Trafalgar Square, Strand ...

SHERLOCK: No, it’s none of those. We’ve accounted for those.

(He looks closer at an old map.)

SHERLOCK: St Margaret’s Street, Bridge Street, Sumatra Road, Parliament Street ...

[aely]

When John says Strand, I'm wondering if he means Aldwych, which was one of the stations known as Strand, though I think John means the Charing Cross Strand (that also has lost bits which were used in the episode along with Aldwych where the platform stuff was filmed). Aldwych is used a lot in media, has also recently been in Mr Selfridge and also another Sherlock-related  production V for Vendetta.

 

Funnily enough, none of the stations Sherlock mentions actually exist, or have ever existed, as London underground stations that I can find.

 

http://underground-history.co.uk - another interesting link