Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Goes Through Hell and High Water
So I wrote a few thousand words about Williamâs fire motif, and in it, I mentioned Sherlock being associated with water. I got some pushback on this, which I found interesting, but I can easily find it in me to write as many words about Sherlock, Williamâs other half and foil, and fireâs equal and opposing element, water. So letâs do it.
While fire and water are typically put in opposition to each other for obvious reasons, their symbolic meanings probably overlap as much as they differ. Theyâre both powerful, necessary, dominant forces in human life and have beenâŚoh, what, for the entire existence of the species? So it makes sense that humans can see so many different things in them, and that fire and water are both associated with the deadliest dangers and the most necessary sustenance.
What I especially like about the motifs in Yuukoku no Moriarty is that these two characters, associated with these two things, are opposites in so many waysâthe authors even discuss making choices for each to be in opposition to the otherâbut equal matches that are really much more similar than it would appear, just as their elemental motifs are.
On a related note, I also like that both are Symbols of London, the light and the dark, the crime and the justice, the Thames and The Great London Fire (of which there wereâŚwell, more than one of). So both are also strongly associated with their rainy, rainy, entirely too flammable home, and the Thames isâŚpretty well known for being filthy and polluted, as much as London needs it to survive. Hm, I wonder who that sounds likeâŚ
But Iâm a few hundred words in already and have not even started my argument for Sherlockâs elemental motif as water. So letâs dig into the good stuff. Unlike with William, it seems Iâll have to prove myself a bit this time. Williamâs is omnipresent and obvious, but perhaps, as is the way of water, Sherlockâs is a tad more subtle.
We could start with Sherlockâs first proper introduction, but I think itâll be fun to go even further back, to that first page again, with that waterfall obscuring Sherlockâs features in mist while William nearly falls from the slippery, wet rock to his death. Although itâs not obvious back then, William is trying to give in to the water and let it kill him (the way heâd like Sherlock to, in fact).
That page is a nice big splash panel, although not as big as the later one that chapter with William, his brothers, and fire, but itâs a strong association drawing Sherlock and water together from the beginning and itâs a flash forward, too, so the impact is pretty strong for a one-off scene thatâs not really dealt with for a while. And itâs just about all we know of Sherlock for the first volume and a half: Wiliam in conflict with him, Sherlock shrouded and hidden by water. William is in danger from that torrent, just as Sherlock appears to be one.
Water has long been thought of as unknowable, the holder of mysteries of the deep. One of the least explored and difficult to access places on Earth. An often calm, easy surface hiding depths and danger below it. Thereâs a million idioms about it. âHidden depthsâ itself is oneâand Sherlock is certainly full of those, as much as he tries to throw his personality on display. Thereâs a lot to him that takes quite a lot of light and time to explore.
This brings us neatly to his âproperâ introduction to the series: when he meets William on a cruise ship isolated in deep water. Where William pierces right through Sherlock and seesâŚnot everything, but far more than most.
The mysterious, watery depths that can swallow a man whole (Enders) arrived with Sherlock (who did much the same to William). The water is dangerous, but perhaps William can still make use of it, no? He can blaze a bright beckoning path of flame and the water will follow, as its purpose is to put out fires.
Itâs not a coincidence that Sherlock shows up on a cruise ship in the middle of deep water that way. The Noahtic is a fun setting, but itâs also wildly in contrast toâŚmost of the series. Itâs not as if, âOooh, play on a boat,â even makes a lot of sense. The reason Sherlockâs even on the damn thing is given extracanonically, because thereâs no clear reason for it. The only other times we see anyone on boats in the series are: the steamship escaping London for America (Sherlock), the chase on the Thames in The Sign of Mary (Sherlock) and, very briefly, Moran and Moneypenny on their way home from India.
Similarly, despite the series taking place largely in the rain, wet, gloomy city of LondonâŚthereâs not actually a lot of rain in the series. But there is in A Study in âSâ. And, yeah, okay, drawing rain all the time is a pain in the ass, but they still made the point of including it there.
Sherlock doesnât really shield himself from it. He kind of just throws his jacket over his head. Sure, thatâs also about showing what a disaster man he is and how little he cares about social norms, but itâs more than that, too: heâs exposing himself to the rain and accepting that itâs just part of his life.
Thereâs two different sections it rains during in that arc, and theyâre not actually attached. Thereâs a period of dryness between them. It rains when he first meets John and they meet up with Hudson, and it rains later after Fred shows up to claim Hopeâs ring. Interestingly, it does not rain when Sherlock is in jail, investigating the scene, or even when he then announces his deductions and finishes off the case. It only rains when Sherlock is pursuing his own ends and meeting people he builds bonds with.
The water isnât The Great Detective. The water is Sherlockâand we know after the time skip especially that they arenât one in the same and that Sherlock is more than just the guy who solves mysteries, as he says himself. Sherlockâs personality reflects a lot of traits of water: deep, unknowable, insightful and clear of purpose, relentless, turbulent, moody, inclined to reflection and sadness. Dangerous, cold, but curiously soothing and helpful. He longs for the unknown adventure, to explore and discover abroad.
Williamâs personality erupts in a purposeful, intentional inferno. Sherlockâs comes in as a force of nature. Water isnât easily controllable, and rain the least of all. Itâs simplyâŚundeniably there. And everyone is soaked by it whether they want to be or not. Drowning in it. Thriving off it. Really annoyed by it. You know. How rain is, how Sherlock is.
And then Adler shows up in A Scandal in the British Empire.
Adler is the one who jumps into the Thames to rescue a kid, not SherlockâŚand yet, when Adler becomes Bond and switches over to Williamâs side, thereâs a very similar scene, in which Bond ducks in, smeared with fiery ash, to save a kid from danger from fire. Theyâre basically parallel scenes indicating which side the character is on, and Adler is firmly aligned with Sherlock when she jumps into the Thames.
In fact, itâs with that water rescue between the two of themâpulling a kid from danger, and pulling a friend from danger, that finally starts to bond them and gives them a new start on their relationships. Itâs an extremely revealing scene for Sherlock and Adler both and gives them both pure insight into each otherâs goals and values. The turbulence of the river washes away the trappings theyâve put on around each other and their relationship is renewed and rebornâboth of which are associated with fire, but equally with water and baptism.
And âAdlerâ supposedly meets her end in the river and finds her final resting place permanently on Sherlockâs side.
Now letâs talk a bit about The Sign of Mary. Most of the plot was adapted pretty straight from the novel, Iâm told, so Iâm not going to say they obviously chose the setting and the Thames for Motif Reasons. They didnât. But it still serves a purpose in this story, too.
Thereâs something so high adventure about Sherlock standing at the peak of a boat, water flying into his face as they rush forward and he calls out to the others. Something so adventurous about the tense shootout and rapid action. Something that calls to mind âadventureâ novels about young boys and men flirting with danger at sea. Something adventurous and fun that William tends to be missing. William can be dramatic, but he doesnât have fun killing people and taking down enemies. Fire is dramatic, but itâs not adventure. Water has always been Here Be Dragons to humans, and Sherlock has always wanted to seek out, find, and know those dragons.
I noted in Williamâs essay that the Jack the Ripper murders flee from Williamâs fire to water, which held no safety for them and Sherlock closes the book on their story even being known. And itâs not the only time something like that happens: Milverton also assumes Sherlock will be the water on Williamâs fiery rage and that involving Sherlock would handle it for him, and instead meets his end in a watery grave. His plan was for fire to boil away water and water to drown out fire and he would be rid of both and the dangerous Lord of Crime would no longer be targeting him. But, well: Sherlock is just as dangerous as William in his own way. Water isnât necessarily a safe harbor. The open ocean is dangerous.
It's also interesting that Sherlock sets things on fire in The Two Criminalsâthe entire arc is about him being able and willing to use Williamâs methods as well as his own. Yet even when Sherlock murders someone, he uses a gun instead of a sword as is Williamâs preference, and water is the thing that hides the evidence of his crimes, not the fire William typically usesâfire hid the evidence of Milvertonâs crimes.
 Sherlock sends Milverton to the deep and leaves everything about Milverton undiscoverable. He doesnât kill with drama, passion, or flare: he kills cold and still like an unassuming pool of water. He washes away Milvertonâs harm to allow Mary and John to start their life anew.
And that brings us to The Final Problem, the ultimate clash of water and fire, of the Thames and the Fire of London, of the Detective and the Lord of Crime. William sets all of London ablaze knowing it will be put out by the water from the Thames, the same way he anticipates Sherlock putting an end to him. That water, from the Thames and from Sherlock, will wash away not only his sins and his life, but restore, renew, and bond all of London. It will heal and soothe its wounds and clean out the rot William has all this while been trying to burn out. Sherlock is the cool head to negotiate a true change.
Of course, Sherlock chases William directly into the river to save him, and that river and the land across an ocean brings William peace, and rest, and clarity at last.
And itâs across that entire ocean that Sherlock manages to build a new life in a new world, restoring Williamâs health. Just as the Thames washes away the worst of William, it washes away the worst of Sherlock, too. Sherlock is the cool, steady, unrelenting presence in New York that William can and must rely on.
And in the end, after William has come to his own realization about himself, itâs water that he finally washes away his doubts with and steels himself with to chase after Sherlock, and water that he cools his head with to temper his fiery anger into something strong and relentless.
And when William refers to himself like fire, Sherlock accepts it and turns it back on William: William keeps a flame stoked, but Sherlock is amongst the stormy sea and needs to know where to turn. William has always thought Sherlock is his light, but perhaps it was that mirror character Sherlock is to him he was seeing, that brilliant water in a dark night reflecting Williamâs own bright light back at him, allowing William to finally see himself for who he is.
