#deerstalker

Let’s talk about this scene for a bit, shall we?

So Sherlock tries on this hat. This is called deerstalker hat, a 19th century British tweed hunting cap.

In original books this is a very significant part of Sherlock Holmes’s outfit which he’s rarely spotted without.

So naturally, this is what catches Sherlock’s eyes at the shop and he tries it on. James interrupts him saying “If you start wearing a hat like that, I will no longer be friends with you.”

As seen such.

So they settle on brown bowler hat picked by James himself, and Sherlock is loving it too.

So It’s like a symbol of their friendship, a touch of James to him. Very Oxford-y, 19yr old vibe to it too. And in the intro too, it ends with him putting on the hat with his signature move.

SO I’M GONNA MAKE A VERY OBVIOUS GUESS AS TO,

Sherlock will get rid of it once James betrays him and going back to his original pick, the iconic deerstalker.

The bowler hat was what James was to him, his newfound identity as a “consultant detective” as he later calls it; the first genuine friendship he made (in Cordelia’s words as well, that he never brings any friends.) ; and if we’re daring enough, his first love as well.

So it’s only natural he removes the James shaped hat from his life. And unlike the books, this Sherlock is lively, not as anti-social, not a hermit yet who shuts down everyone else and he’s not emotionally constipated yet. I believe it’ll all come to him with the deerstalker.

Stentor roeselii

Written for the @jilymicrofics Mystery Microfic May 2026!

Read on AO3 (100 words) or under the cut:

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