Share Your Head Canon!

[Boton]

OK, I thought of another thing we could discuss while we are waiting out the hiatus.   (I almost added "to keep us sane," but, really, that ship has already sailed.)

 

There are lots of lists of head canon for Sherlock out there, but I'm curious to hear what our illustrious forum members think.  (Head canon, for those who don't know the term, just means something in your own mind that you've never explicitly gotten from the show but that you believe must be true.)

 

Any head canon is worthy of discussion, but I'm particularly curious to see what people have imported from other versions of Sherlock Holmes or from their own twisted minds  ;) that has little or no support from the show but that you can't stop yourself from believing anyway.

 

(Standard disclaimer for starting a topic:  This is not an excuse for "head canon-shaming."  It's all fine, even if it flies in the face of not just Sherlock but of every version of Sherlock Holmes that has been written or filmed.)

 

*****

 

I'll start:

 

For whatever dumb reason, I can't escape the head canon that Sherlock always showers at night but John always showers in the morning.  I don't know quite where I get that.  We do have that one (lovely, lovely) scene of John with wet hair in his dressing gown reading the paper in the day time, but as far as I can remember, we've never seen any info on Sherlock's shower habits.  Yet, I find that when I refer to shower habits in my fan fictions, it's always Sherlock at night and John in the morning.  

[besleybean]

My head canon would defintely be Sherlock as a shower man...yet we only hear him bathing(in HLV).

[Boton]

My head canon would defintely be Sherlock as a shower man...yet we only hear him bathing(in HLV).

 

I understand that we need the sounds of bathing in that scene so you can tell that he and Janine are interacting without the clutter of shower noise, but I never can get over the idea of spending the night in a shooting den and then wanting to sit in your own bath water while you scrub the grime off.

 

So, yes, Sherlock has got to be a shower man!

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

My head canon is the milk bath. If not sure that they are always out of milk, but it seems that way.....or just my head canon. That he has family somewhere in the South of France, After John has gone to bed, Sherlock takes to prowling the streets and back alleys of London. It is always changing and he is always upgrading his hard drive and internal GPS and also keeping in contact with his Homeless Network.

[Carol the Dabbler]

For whatever dumb reason, I can't escape the head canon that Sherlock always showers at night but John always showers in the morning.  I don't know quite where I get that.  We do have that one (lovely, lovely) scene of John with wet hair in his dressing gown reading the paper in the day time, but as far as I can remember, we've never seen any info on Sherlock's shower habits.

  

My head canon would defintely be Sherlock as a shower man...yet we only hear him bathing(in HLV).

That bath was in the morning, wasn't it? Not first thing, exactly, but pretty clearly not evening.

 

In my one and only (to date) Sherlock-based fanfic, John showers in the morning.  Dunno why, he just does.  (Only once or twice, though, so could be a coincidence.)  And that's not based on my own personal habits, since I'm a devout bath-at-bedtime person.

 

[besleybean]

See you're like my hubby: bath at bedtime...so I wonderdd if Sherlock was normally the same.

Definitely shower in the morning for me...does that make me more like John?!

[Boton]

 

That bath was in the morning, wasn't it? Not first thing, exactly, but pretty clearly not evening.

 

In my one and only (to date) Sherlock-based fanfic, John showers in the morning.  Dunno why, he just does.  (Only once or twice, though, so could be a coincidence.)  And that's not based on my own personal habits, since I'm a devout bath-at-bedtime person.

 

 

Yes it was.  At about 8am, if I had my time cues right.  Now I'm not sure if I'm remembering, but I thought his meeting with Magnussen was at 11am, in 3 hours, so that would make the bath at 8.  But heck, maybe I just invented that and its another head canon.

 

Nonetheless, I keep thinking of it as a one-off, and I keep thinking he showers in the evenings.  No idea on where that came from.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

 

 

That bath was in the morning, wasn't it? Not first thing, exactly, but pretty clearly not evening.

 

In my one and only (to date) Sherlock-based fanfic, John showers in the morning.  Dunno why, he just does.  (Only once or twice, though, so could be a coincidence.)  And that's not based on my own personal habits, since I'm a devout bath-at-bedtime person.

 

 

Yes it was.  At about 8am, if I had my time cues right.  Now I'm not sure if I'm remembering, but I thought his meeting with Magnussen was at 11am, in 3 hours, so that would make the bath at 8.  But heck, maybe I just invented that and its another head canon.

 

Nonetheless, I keep thinking of it as a one-off, and I keep thinking he showers in the evenings.  No idea on where that came from.

 

 

Your cues are right for the meeting with Magnussen and when that bath occurred.

 

Maybe Sherlock was temporarily a bath person for his whole persona with Janine but in reality he is the shower at night person.  Wouldn't surprise me if he was the 2 am shower person because that just suited his fancy just like the playing the violin at all hours and not talking for days.

[T.o.b.y]

I definitely have this idea of Sherlock as someone with a very irregular sleep cycle and eating habits, the kind of person who just eats when he's hungry and naps when he's tired without regard for time, place or custom. But there isn't really very much evidence to support that. For all we know, he might have a very fixed routine.

 

I also believe that Irene is alive and they have regular contact, I think she sends him cryptic, teasing messages every once in a while and sends him off on wild goose chases.

 

What else? Hmm... I think Mrs Hudson has a thing for Lestrade and that Lestrade is interested in Molly, who hasn't noticed because she's so focused on Sherlock. I like the idea of Mycroft being the person who bought most of Sherlock's fancy clothes and I definitely think Sherlock still occasionally takes drugs without being very strongly addicted or impaired by the habit.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Here's the set-up for Sherlock's bath:   He and John have just gotten back to Baker Street after the drug-den incident, by way of Bart's, and John has just kicked Mycroft out:

SHERLOCK: What time is it?

JOHN: About eight.

SHERLOCK: I’m meeting him in three hours. I need a bath.

 

So maybe, as Boton said, he just wanted to scrub off the drug-den residue, somewhat akin to "disinfecting" himself after dealing with his homeless network.  But I disagree with you on one point, Boton -- I will sometimes shower if I'm in a hurry and more sweaty than dirty, but otherwise I prefer baths, especially if I'm really grubby and feel the need to soak the dirt off.  (If the water turns brown, I just drain it after scrubbing myself and run another tubful for rinse water.)

 

[J.P.]

The way he looked like - he definitely needed a bath, no matter his usual habits. :D

BTW, a morning and a evening showerer are good solution for flatmates. Spares you some conflicts, especially when - as Janine says - Sherlock needs ages in the bath. Well, he has to twist and diffuse his locks every time.

[Boton]

I definitely have this idea of Sherlock as someone with a very irregular sleep cycle and eating habits, the kind of person who just eats when he's hungry and naps when he's tired without regard for time, place or custom. But there isn't really very much evidence to support that. For all we know, he might have a very fixed routine.

 

I also believe that Irene is alive and they have regular contact, I think she sends him cryptic, teasing messages every once in a while and sends him off on wild goose chases.

 

What else? Hmm... I think Mrs Hudson has a thing for Lestrade and that Lestrade is interested in Molly, who hasn't noticed because she's so focused on Sherlock. I like the idea of Mycroft being the person who bought most of Sherlock's fancy clothes and I definitely think Sherlock still occasionally takes drugs without being very strongly addicted or impaired by the habit.

 

Co-sign almost all of this, especially the part about the erratic schedule, the continuing relationship with Irene, and the persistent sub-addiction-level drug habit.

 

I think all the women have a thing for Lestrade.  Or at least all the women with eyes.   :D

[Arcadia]

As I was remarking elsewhere (I forget where) in my "head canon", I think Sherlock was having the time of his life during the hiatus, not suffering. He was out catching bad guys, what more could he ask for? Getting beat up by Serbians was just part of the holiday fun! Oh, and I think Irene, at the very least, contacted him, just to make sure he wasn't really dead.

[besleybean]

I don't go with that Irene contact...though we know she sent flowers to the hospital.

My head canon is that she won't return in S4, but the media love the prospect of her returning.

[Boton]

As I was remarking elsewhere (I forget where) in my "head canon", I think Sherlock was having the time of his life during the hiatus, not suffering. He was out catching bad guys, what more could he ask for? Getting beat up by Serbians was just part of the holiday fun! Oh, and I think Irene, at the very least, contacted him, just to make sure he wasn't really dead.

 

He does seem rather gleeful when he wants to explain what he was doing to John.  I'll buy that head canon.

 

And maybe he and Irene occasionally had dinner.   ;)

[besleybean]

Oh stop it!

For those of you who don't know me very well, I can't bear even the thought of any woman being anywhere near Sherlock ever.

I must defend his virtue!

[J.P.]

You mean - his virginity! :P

 

But Boton said: dinner

[Van Buren Supernova]

I think all the women have a thing for Lestrade.  Or at least all the women with eyes.   :D

I have eyes but....

 

 

I always think Sherlock is nocturnal, night crawler, with collar up and perching on top of various high places, something like what he did in Unair Pilot, HoB and TEH.

He also climbs the London Eye and perches there just to enjoy the hateful peacefulness.

Very similar to Batman actually. Hopefully Lestrade purchases a batlight one day to shine his silhouette to the night sky.

 

He roams around in the street, plotting an elaborate google map in his mind palace.

He meets, updates and recruits his homeless network, when the dawn breaks, he goes home to disinfects himself and showers for two hours.

[J.P.]

I always read the title of this thread as: Shave your Head Canon.

[besleybean]

Love it!

[Arcadia]

I don't go with that Irene contact...though we know she sent flowers to the hospital.

My head canon is that she won't return in S4, but the media love the prospect of her returning.

 

But only if she's naked again, I'll bet. :p

[T.o.b.y]

As I was remarking elsewhere (I forget where) in my "head canon", I think Sherlock was having the time of his life during the hiatus, not suffering. He was out catching bad guys, what more could he ask for? Getting beat up by Serbians was just part of the holiday fun!

 

I think he was having the time of his life right until the Serbians caught him and it got ugly from there. Sherlock isn't a real masochist, I don't think (although Miss Adler might be able to prove me wrong, who knows), and he didn't give me the the impression of enjoying himself very much while being tortured. (I totally buy that Mycroft liked that part, though. Creep. Worst brother imaginable.)

 

I certainly have this idea that a few things when through his head when he was in that hellhole and that part of his vulnerability when he comes back and being so desperate to get back into John's good graces have to do with that. I'd write a fan fic about it if I could, but I can't. It would come out way too sentimental and weak. I can't write Sherlock as tough and male as he really is, I'm just a silly whiny little woman... :lol:

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I'd write a fan fic about it if I could, but I can't. It would come out way too sentimental and weak. I can't write Sherlock as tough and male as he really is, I'm just a silly whiny little woman... :lol:

If you want tough and male, read Mickey Spillane. Sherlock Holmes never has been a hard-boiled detective.  And yes, you most assuredly can write good fanfic, T.o.b.y (though perhaps not that particular one).

 

[Arcadia]

For some reason I've been thinking about "head canon" lately (sorry, don't really like the term, but I like the concept, so what the heck) ... so I thought it would be fun to revisit this thread.

 

So here's some of my head canon, more or less by episode, starting with ASiP:

 

Mike Stamford is a very perceptive man who understands both Sherlock and John far better than either of them would be willing to believe.

 

Sherlock thinks well of Mike and trusts his opinion.

 

Lestrade is a pretty shrewd guy too. He's also decent, level-headed, has a good sense of humor and is confident enough to believe that he doesn't have to prove himself to anyone.

 

Sherlock thinks he has to prove himself to everyone.

 

John doesn't miss the war, he misses the comradeship, and being essential. Mycroft was being poetic, not literal.

 

Sherlock isn't unsociable; on the contrary, he enjoys companionship, as long as, like most of us, it's on his own terms. His terms include being the dominant party in all relationships.

 

Molly and Sherlock haven't known each other that long. She knows almost nothing about him, and he doesn't realize she's interested in him. But he does realize she's meets a certain standard of beauty, which is one reason he's so dismissive of her (if she's pretty, she must be silly.....)

 

"High functioning sociopath" was meant to be a laugh line, not a diagnosis.

 

Sherlock enjoys shocking people.

 

John enjoys Sherlock shocking people.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Nice.

 

I want to add something that has been in my head too.

 

Sherlock is really similar to Mycroft, John notices but Sherlock doesn't realize and even likes to mock Mycroft. Example, when he says to John that Mycroft enjoys being dramatic or something along that line, and when he adjusts the door knocker.