Post Your Moriarty Theories (Spoilers)

[Carol the Dabbler]

In the story, "The Valley of Fear" which chronologically happens before "The Final Problem" but was published after, Holmes tells Watson that Professor Moriarty has never married and has younger brother who is a station master.....not a switch man.....sorry about that...but anyway. If "The Valley of Fear" was written before "The Final Problem" then this younger brother could have just as easily joined the military and by the time Holmes and Moriarty disappear in Switzerland, could have risen through the ranks as a Colonel to write the letters defaming Holmes to protect the reputation of his elder brother, the Professor.

 

As I recall, by the time of "Final Problem," the Professor was somewhat elderly.  Also, "younger" covers a wide field.  So the brother could be old enough to have been formerly in the military, risen to the rank of Colonel, then retired to a second career as station master, while still using his military title.  So yes, could be the same brother -- or not.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Exactly.

[Caya]

Whoever did that mass Moriarty broadcast must've been awfully adept with technology, though. Now of course there were no computer hackers in the original stories for obvious reasons, but does any Victorian equivalent of such a villain exist, like, dunno, a brilliant but megalomanic engineer? Posting this here because I know how well-versed some of you are in canon.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Well, there was a certain brilliant professor of mathematics.....

 

[T.o.b.y]

Brilliant mathematician... You don't think it was Sherlock's mother who staged that reappearance to bring her son back, do you?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Wow -- no, that never occurred to me, but you may be right.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

That's an interesting theory.

[501610]

How do you think Moriarty faked his own death? (If he has at all.) I'm interested to hear some theories...

Edited February 4, 2014 by Caya
Welcome 501610! Moved you to the right place :).

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

There are a couple of threads here already discussing these points, like this one. Take a look around and have fun reading all the different theories that have already been posted.

[Janie]

Brilliant mathematician... You don't think it was Sherlock's mother who staged that reappearance to bring her son back, do you?

 

Interesting theory but I don't think she knew that Mycroft sent Sherlock on a death mission. She would probably turned absolutely monstrous if she knew about it and Mycroft would be in quite a big trouble.

[Caya]

 

Brilliant mathematician... You don't think it was Sherlock's mother who staged that reappearance to bring her son back, do you?

 

Interesting theory but I don't think she knew that Mycroft sent Sherlock on a death mission. She would probably turned absolutely monstrous if she knew about it and Mycroft would be in quite a big trouble.

 

 

Well maybe that *is* her turning absolutely monstrous .

 

"You know, Mikey, I've never interfered with you playing government, it's so droll, though you really should've taken some time off to visit your old parents every now and then. But sending your brother off to his death, now that's a bad boy, Mikey. Mummy can't let you do that. Now go to your room and think about what you've done, and if you can tell me what you've done wrong and tell Sherlock you're sorry, then maybe Mummy will let you have your government back."

 

(no, I don't mean that, even as a crackpot theory - but wouldn't it be great if that happened? )

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

 

"You know, Mikey, I've never interfered with you playing government, it's so droll, though you really should've taken some time off to visit your old parents every now and then. But sending your brother off to his death, now that's a bad boy, Mikey. Mummy can't let you do that. Now go to your room and think about what you've done, and if you can tell me what you've done wrong and tell Sherlock you're sorry, then maybe Mummy will let you have your government back."

 

 

    Crackpot or not, that actually sounds a bit chilling. Monstrous indeed.

[Carol the Dabbler]

To paraphrase what Laura told Anderson, it's no more crackpot than some of the stuff they've already used!

 

[T.o.b.y]

If Moriarty is alive, then why did he sit by for two years and just let Sherlock take apart his entire network? Was he bored with it?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Good question.  Maybe he's been busy building a new, even nastier network.  So Sherlock was actually doing him a favor by disposing of the old one.

 

[T.o.b.y]

Sherlock never checked whether Moriarty really was dead, did he? I'm fairly sure you can survive a head shot, depending on what part of the brain was hurt and what wasn't. So maybe the explanation is simple and Moriarty was simply lucky (or he is a disciple of Mary's particular school of "surgery").

[Carol the Dabbler]

We don't know whether he checked or not -- we didn't see the whole continuous thing from Moriarty's shot through Sherlock's fall.

 

A shot to the head can be survivable, yes (though I think there's usually considerable damage of some sort, similar to what you might get from a stroke).  But apparently shooting yourself in the mouth aims more or less at the part of the brain that's necessary for basic life functions.

 

Of course, there's always: the gun wasn't loaded, the noise was some kind of sound effect, it was fake blood.  But I do hope it isn't that -- that's so two years ago!

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

At the end of "His Last Vow" Mary is asking John about how was it possible that it could be Moriarty. She says something like:You told me he was dead. John's reply: "Absolutely, he blew his brains out."

 

  The only way John could know that is if they had found Moriarty's...or who ever it was....body on the roof of Bart's and the death confirmed.

[T.o.b.y]

We don't know whether he checked or not -- we didn't see the whole continuous thing from Moriarty's shot through Sherlock's fall.

 

A shot to the head can be survivable, yes (though I think there's usually considerable damage of some sort, similar to what you might get from a stroke).  But apparently shooting yourself in the mouth aims more or less at the part of the brain that's necessary for basic life functions.

 

Of course, there's always: the gun wasn't loaded, the noise was some kind of sound effect, it was fake blood.  But I do hope it isn't that -- that's so two years ago!

 

Oh, me too. But if he really shot himself and survived that, then maybe the reason he didn't do much for the last two to three years and didn't interfere with Sherlock dismantling his organization was that he was in recovery from the kind of damage you describe.

 

We never heard what happened to Moriarty's body, although if it had gone missing, I'd have expected Mycroft to have made some kind of reference to that in conversation with Sherlock.

 

[wildwoodflower]

Sherlock never checked whether Moriarty really was dead, did he? I'm fairly sure you can survive a head shot, depending on what part of the brain was hurt and what wasn't. So maybe the explanation is simple and Moriarty was simply lucky (or he is a disciple of Mary's particular school of "surgery").

 

I have an artist associate/friend who was actually shot in the head (by the man she was living with whom she discovered had maxed out all her credit cards). She survived, but then he didn't stick the gun in her mouth and blow the back of her brains out. I know we can't base our assumptions on anything we thought we saw or anything we thought Sherlock must've seen. Sometimes Moffat's laissez-faire attitude about the permanence of death is annoying:-)

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

John's reply: "Absolutely, he blew his brains out."    The only way John could know that is if they had found Moriarty's...or who ever it was....body on the roof of Bart's and the death confirmed.

 

Well, that's one way.  Or Sherlock could have told him.

 

As far as I recall, the news reports about "Richard Brook" being a fake invented by Moriarty do NOT refer to him as "the late James Moriarty" -- and please correct me if I've overlooked anything like that.  So for all we know, the official story is that Moriarty is still alive, and has presumably been in hiding for the past two -- no, wait, it'd be three years now, since Series 3 covers early November through late December.

 

... if he really shot himself and survived that, then maybe the reason he didn't do much for the last two to three years and didn't interfere with Sherlock dismantling his organization was that he was in recovery from the kind of damage you describe.

 

We never heard what happened to Moriarty's body, although if it had gone missing, I'd have expected Mycroft to have made some kind of reference to that in conversation with Sherlock.

Come to think of it, we really don't KNOW very much, do we?    For one thing, the Holmes brothers were probably in touch now and then over the two year hiatus, and presumably discussed a number of things behind our backs!

 

I know we can't base our assumptions on anything we thought we saw or anything we thought Sherlock must've seen. Sometimes Moffat's laissez-faire attitude about the permanence of death is annoying:-)

Only "sometimes" ???      (Well, OK, we're all willing to make an exception for Sherlock -- but we already knew he wasn't really dead.)

 

[T.o.b.y]

I really don't have a clue why Moriarty would think it a good idea to plaster his face and announce his return all over London. What good could that possibly do him? It seems directly opposed to his original style of working from behind the scenes and manipulating others to do the dirty work while he remained almost invisible.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

 

It seems directly opposed to his original style of working from behind the scenes and manipulating others to do the dirty work while he remained almost invisible.

 

  That's a very good point.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I think that's a very good point in favor of its being someone else's publicity campaign.  Then the question would be who, and why?

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I guess that's what passing for this Season's cliff hanger and what is will probably keep the fandom busy until Season 4 rolls around to answer those two burning questions.