"Don't make people into heroes, John: heroes don't exist, and if they did I wouldn't be one of them."
BBC's Sherlock is a modern adaptation to the original, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, and as such, there are quite a bit of similarities between the original and the adapted Sherlocks, except approached through a more modern perspective (for example, like the nicotine patches instead of the pipe, texting instead of telegrams, taxi cabs instead of carriages, and on).
Sherlock Holmes is crude, erratic, arrogant and cold. At least, on the surface. Which is usually all that he really shows and due to his behaviour around others, all anyone cares to see. He is a man who really doesn't appear to be in tune with emotional aspects of a case, or event, or interaction. In the first episode, "A study in pink", quite early on, we see Sherlock be called a psychopath. I think the fact that Sherlock himself corrects Anderson ("I'm not a psychopath, Anderson. I am a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research") speaks volumes about him. First, not only does he acknowledge the fact that he has antisocial tendencies, that he isn't exactly normal by societal standards, but it's also clear that he doesn't care. He does not care how others perceive him, a fact which is apparent in several cases throughout the two seasons. In fact, his flat mate John Watson seems to care more about Sherlock's reputation than the consulting detective himself.
But this brings us to the next point. Sherlock Holmes is unbelievably antisocial. Which is to be expected, seeing as modern day, sociopathy is closely related to ASPD (Antisocial Personality Disorder). There are probably other medical terms to perhaps label Sherlock with, though without getting a scan of that brain, it's honestly difficult to say for sure. My point stands. He doesn't seek interactions with others. He acknowledges the fact that most people are deeply unsettled by him ("who'd want me as their flat mate?") due to his blatant and tactless announcements.
Sherlock Holmes, all social discrepancies aside, is truly brilliant. His mind is always working, and he is one who is driven by challenge, by the puzzle, and the harder the puzzle, the more pushed he would be to solve it; so much so that he will not stop until he finds a solution. He has a clear pattern of deduction that he follows when he looks at someone. He doesn't simply see them; he observes and from his observations, can sum up facts most people would never be able to see. He observes, notes the smallest details, gets the facts and draws the conclusions. He eliminates the impossible and then "whatever is left no matter how improbable must be truth".
But with such a mind, he needs to keep it occupied. But with his brilliance comes arrogance, and the thought that the rest of society is all quite boring. Most cases that come to him become obvious even before the potential client finishes their first sentence; he needs to be challenged; it has to be interesting, there has to be no obvious solution at first. But this doesn't happen often, and as such, Sherlock is prone to extreme cases of boredom. As said by his Robert Downey Jr.-played counterpart, his "mind rebels at stagnation". But with this said, he isn't the one trying to go out there and find the cases- everything must come to him. Otherwise he sits in the flat in nothing but his pajamas, shooting a gun at a smiley face on his wall. Literally. And then there are his experiments -- they're quite unique, and a bit odd, and at times, destructive to the kitchen, appliances, or flat. Sometimes, he will not speak for days on end, and sometimes, he picks up the violin to play (quite the good) tune. But the main point is -- if he doesn't have anything interesting to occupy himself with, he will become reclusive. Perhaps a bit manic.
He also refers to his mind as a hard drive, from which he just "deletes" the information he doesn't consider useful. He has learned it once, yes, like the fact that the earth revolves around the sun, but seeing this information as completely useless to what he does, he has completely forgotten about that fact. It was John who informed him of it again, after which Sherlock explained that that was extraneous knowledge. He doesn't concern himself with trivia. He arranges the information he acquires in an odd, particular way, and when the situation calls for it, he delves into his "Mind Palace", a place where, theoretically, you can store all the details you once saw, and through a chain of facts, if you find your way back to this 'palace' (or any location you may chose), you can remember everything. With that, Sherlock Holmes has a very good memory, as well as a very good attention span to details. Even if he doesn't seem like he is listening to what someone is saying, or acts like he doesn't care, all the information is observed, and if the need be, will be recalled.
The thing about him is that he knows he's brilliant. His mind operates much faster than an average person's and thus, he often has to dumb things down, explain the step by step of his train of thought. And that's where his arrogance and pride comes in. He is proud, and he does have something of a loaded god complex. He knows he's smarter than the majority of the population, though he doesn't always make a point of declaring himself smarter than everyone else in the room. However, he will berate and belittle someone who fails to see his line of reasoning. It's simply how he works; he is easily annoyed by those of lesser IQ (like, Anderson, for example), and if that's the case, they will be the target of more insulting truth. His arrogance also comes out when he is dealing, or rather, consulting, the police on a case. He will almost admonish the inspectors for not seeing some simple and obvious fact, and he can allow himself much more blatant, and perhaps rude comments, simply because he knows the police need his help. Sherlock is used to being right. Used to making the right conclusions, and drawing out the truth. So it's not often that he experiences doubt, let alone the doubt of his own abilities. But that said, he is extremely grounded -- in that, everything has a scientific explanation; there are no miracles. When he does experience doubt, when there is that conflicting mix of emotion, he doesn't know what to do with it. He doesn't know what it means, and as such, his behavior will be a bit erratic, and even unpredictable.
Emotionally, Sherlock Holmes is a very difficult person to understand, let alone be around. He feels an almost limited range of emotion himself: excitement, adrenaline, pleasure, pain (which he will most likely disregard). Every other emotion, like love, he knows of, understands, but in medical terms, in chemical reactions that happen in the brain and body. It's purely scientific to him. He views sentimentality, caring as an unnecessary concept that will only serve to get in the way of finding the solution, rather than helping. So he doesn't care. Not exactly, not usually. On numerous occasions, he was told he doesn't have a heart. But his humanity comes out when John is strapped to an explosive. This situation shows several things: that it takes quite a bit to actually push Sherlock to show emotion on some level, and that, again, when pushed, Sherlock is fiercely loyal. The thing is, he doesn't have friends, "he's only got one". John. And I think at first, he had John figured out like an open book - an ex-soldier with PTSD with a shabby relationship with his sister - just a normal and boring roommate. But when John shot a serial killer through two windows and a far distance, it was at that point when Sherlock realized that perhaps he had underestimated John. Somehow, he warmed up to him. As much as someone like Sherlock Holmes could, anyway.
Emotional understanding, and understanding the fact that everyone else operates on sentimentality more than he does, it makes Holmes a bit manipulative. He knows what to play on and when, if only to get the desired reaction; he isn't afraid to push people to their limit and will have no qualms or remorse about doing so. "His depravity knows no bounds". He is also completely tactless; he will say what he sees, or blatantly ask about a certain event in a person's life after only speaking with them for mere minutes. He will act excited at a gruesome crime scene simply because the case finally got interesting, or that there was a twist in the great puzzle.
Next: Sherlock has an addictive personality. In his past, he is known to have smoked, and to have used addictive drugs that somehow have stimulated his thought process, or simply, because he is bored. Or because he enjoys the particular high. But I'm guessing in the past, he was a pretty heavy user, considering that both his brother and John have to watch him if he wants a cigarette- its his 'danger days', and mean that something is severely bothering him; either the case, or the need to understand something (or someone, like moriarty, and their plans).
Whatever personal ties Sherlock has with people, they are always complex. He has known Lestrade for over five years, yet the DI claims that John knows Sherlock better than him. John Watson is Sherlock Holmes' one very true friend. Lestrade is, after everything, a friend also, as seen when he calls John to warn them that the police were coming for Holmes. And Lestrade was one of the people threatened by Moriarty if Sherlock didn't jump. Last on the list is Mrs Hudson. Their relationship is an odd one to interpret as well -- it's almost like a mother-son relationship, if you squint. What is unquestionable is the fact that Sherlock respects the older woman. She deals with him, with the severed heads in the fridge, and the fingers; she is a strong lady and over the course of the two knowing each other, it's evident that Sherlock has that respect, and loyalty to her. Thats the thing. No, he doesn't have a lot of friends. He only truly sees John as one. But the few people he does have, he is, ultimately, fiercely loyal to. Said loyalty isn't always clear. It's usually subtext, well hidden, and only comes out in dire situations. But it's there, and serves as a reminder that Sherlock is, indeed, purely human.
Sherlock's family, and past, are all quite vague. He has an older brother, Mycroft. And the two are at odds with each other constantly, though Sherlock does acknowledge the fact that out the two of them, Mycroft has the stronger mind. He has a lot of potential, Sherlock claims, if he only didn't succumb so much to laziness. That said, his older brother is very protective of Sherlock, so much so that he constantly bothers and takes John to discrete locations to ensure that there is someone looking out for Sherlock. Though Sherlock does screw things up for big brother at one point, big brother screws things up for Sherlock too, and in the end, plays a major role in having Sherlock jump of a building. Indirect role, of course, but a role none the less. He simply feeds Moriarty Sherlock's personal details for exchange of some government sensitive information. Moriarty then uses that against Sherlock.
So, Sherlock Holmes. A brilliant mind, and a tactless, arrogant and crude man. His 'soft side' is somewhat hard to see, even when it does come out, it comes out at a kind of backwards way. At times, he's reckless and unpredictable. He can see right through people, whilst people typically can't see through him. He is used to unsettling people by his statements, simply because that that's the reaction he is used to seeing. He himself, however, is not easily unsettled. Though, push the right buttons, and you will see that he can have quite a temper. He doesn't really have bounds, and isn't easily intimidated. In fact, it's actually quite hard to even try and intimidate him, because while someone may be stronger than him, he has already figured everything out about that person, and will gladly announce all their secrets. He doesn't have much of a filter, and doesn't really understand the definition of tact. At least, not in practice. His behavior sometimes borders on the slightly manic, erratic. He can be loyal, and he DOES care, though it might not always be evident.
There are a lot of things that make up the man Sherlock Holmes. Most importantly, after all the things said, he is an enigma.
Powers & Abilities: Sherlock Holmes is a hundred percent human. He can be injured, bleed and die like the rest of them. So in that respect, he doesn't have any supernatural powers or abilities. That said, he has a few things up his sleeve.
First, it's his intelligence. He has a brilliant mind; he is a quick thinker, able to determine say, a password in under ten seconds, or weed out a weakness in a plan, or see a lie. He pays attention, and his mind, his process of deductions turns what he observes into facts; facts that are usually right. He was able to tell some major aspects, and even details, of John's life after a single glance at him, hearing him speak, and holding his phone in his hands to text. That's all it took and Sherlock was able to say that he was an ex-soldier with a pat injury and PTSD, his sibling was an alcoholic (though he thought brother, not sister), and that the phone was a present from said sibling, and that said sibling was going through a divorce; that John didn't like asking or accepting help, and that the reason why John was there in the first place was because he was interested in finding a flat mate. And this Sherlock and do to most anyone he meets, with only a very, very few exceptions. People are simly open books to him, and the devil is always in the details. It's the little things that reveal the truth.
Next, Sherlock is also quite the actor. He can cry on command, can turn emotional, can fake being afraid, fake his identity; he can put on a believable disguise, pretend knowing someone for an entire lifetime.
He has a refined memory. He remembers maps from a single glance, is able to reconstruct events down to the smallest note. He is also resourceful, using the homeless as his eyes and ears? He can speak several languages, including French, German, and Latin.
He is also a skilled fighter and a good shot. He can defend himself well, and despite in the past being a smoker, he has notable stamina and endurance. He can and will scale a building or jump from rooftop to rooftop if on a case. He can sprint very well, and is good at improvisation. He sees an opportunity, and he will take it. He isn't above fighting dirty, and in fact, he will. That said, he has gotten himself beat up on few occasions, so this isn't saying that he is so skilled at combat tht he won't get hurt. He's good, yes. But not master-assassin-good.
personality + abilities
BBC's Sherlock is a modern adaptation to the original, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, and as such, there are quite a bit of similarities between the original and the adapted Sherlocks, except approached through a more modern perspective (for example, like the nicotine patches instead of the pipe, texting instead of telegrams, taxi cabs instead of carriages, and on).
Sherlock Holmes is crude, erratic, arrogant and cold. At least, on the surface. Which is usually all that he really shows and due to his behaviour around others, all anyone cares to see. He is a man who really doesn't appear to be in tune with emotional aspects of a case, or event, or interaction. In the first episode, "A study in pink", quite early on, we see Sherlock be called a psychopath. I think the fact that Sherlock himself corrects Anderson ("I'm not a psychopath, Anderson. I am a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research") speaks volumes about him. First, not only does he acknowledge the fact that he has antisocial tendencies, that he isn't exactly normal by societal standards, but it's also clear that he doesn't care. He does not care how others perceive him, a fact which is apparent in several cases throughout the two seasons. In fact, his flat mate John Watson seems to care more about Sherlock's reputation than the consulting detective himself.
But this brings us to the next point. Sherlock Holmes is unbelievably antisocial. Which is to be expected, seeing as modern day, sociopathy is closely related to ASPD (Antisocial Personality Disorder). There are probably other medical terms to perhaps label Sherlock with, though without getting a scan of that brain, it's honestly difficult to say for sure.
My point stands. He doesn't seek interactions with others. He acknowledges the fact that most people are deeply unsettled by him ("who'd want me as their flat mate?") due to his blatant and tactless announcements.
Sherlock Holmes, all social discrepancies aside, is truly brilliant. His mind is always working, and he is one who is driven by challenge, by the puzzle, and the harder the puzzle, the more pushed he would be to solve it; so much so that he will not stop until he finds a solution.
He has a clear pattern of deduction that he follows when he looks at someone. He doesn't simply see them; he observes and from his observations, can sum up facts most people would never be able to see. He observes, notes the smallest details, gets the facts and draws the conclusions. He eliminates the impossible and then "whatever is left no matter how improbable must be truth".
But with such a mind, he needs to keep it occupied. But with his brilliance comes arrogance, and the thought that the rest of society is all quite boring. Most cases that come to him become obvious even before the potential client finishes their first sentence; he needs to be challenged; it has to be interesting, there has to be no obvious solution at first. But this doesn't happen often, and as such, Sherlock is prone to extreme cases of boredom. As said by his Robert Downey Jr.-played counterpart, his "mind rebels at stagnation". But with this said, he isn't the one trying to go out there and find the cases- everything must come to him. Otherwise he sits in the flat in nothing but his pajamas, shooting a gun at a smiley face on his wall. Literally. And then there are his experiments -- they're quite unique, and a bit odd, and at times, destructive to the kitchen, appliances, or flat. Sometimes, he will not speak for days on end, and sometimes, he picks up the violin to play (quite the good) tune. But the main point is -- if he doesn't have anything interesting to occupy himself with, he will become reclusive. Perhaps a bit manic.
He also refers to his mind as a hard drive, from which he just "deletes" the information he doesn't consider useful. He has learned it once, yes, like the fact that the earth revolves around the sun, but seeing this information as completely useless to what he does, he has completely forgotten about that fact. It was John who informed him of it again, after which Sherlock explained that that was extraneous knowledge. He doesn't concern himself with trivia.
He arranges the information he acquires in an odd, particular way, and when the situation calls for it, he delves into his "Mind Palace", a place where, theoretically, you can store all the details you once saw, and through a chain of facts, if you find your way back to this 'palace' (or any location you may chose), you can remember everything.
With that, Sherlock Holmes has a very good memory, as well as a very good attention span to details. Even if he doesn't seem like he is listening to what someone is saying, or acts like he doesn't care, all the information is observed, and if the need be, will be recalled.
The thing about him is that he knows he's brilliant. His mind operates much faster than an average person's and thus, he often has to dumb things down, explain the step by step of his train of thought. And that's where his arrogance and pride comes in. He is proud, and he does have something of a loaded god complex. He knows he's smarter than the majority of the population, though he doesn't always make a point of declaring himself smarter than everyone else in the room. However, he will berate and belittle someone who fails to see his line of reasoning. It's simply how he works; he is easily annoyed by those of lesser IQ (like, Anderson, for example), and if that's the case, they will be the target of more insulting truth. His arrogance also comes out when he is dealing, or rather, consulting, the police on a case. He will almost admonish the inspectors for not seeing some simple and obvious fact, and he can allow himself much more blatant, and perhaps rude comments, simply because he knows the police need his help.
Sherlock is used to being right. Used to making the right conclusions, and drawing out the truth. So it's not often that he experiences doubt, let alone the doubt of his own abilities. But that said, he is extremely grounded -- in that, everything has a scientific explanation; there are no miracles. When he does experience doubt, when there is that conflicting mix of emotion, he doesn't know what to do with it. He doesn't know what it means, and as such, his behavior will be a bit erratic, and even unpredictable.
Emotionally, Sherlock Holmes is a very difficult person to understand, let alone be around. He feels an almost limited range of emotion himself: excitement, adrenaline, pleasure, pain (which he will most likely disregard). Every other emotion, like love, he knows of, understands, but in medical terms, in chemical reactions that happen in the brain and body. It's purely scientific to him. He views sentimentality, caring as an unnecessary concept that will only serve to get in the way of finding the solution, rather than helping. So he doesn't care. Not exactly, not usually. On numerous occasions, he was told he doesn't have a heart. But his humanity comes out when John is strapped to an explosive. This situation shows several things: that it takes quite a bit to actually push Sherlock to show emotion on some level, and that, again, when pushed, Sherlock is fiercely loyal.
The thing is, he doesn't have friends, "he's only got one". John. And I think at first, he had John figured out like an open book - an ex-soldier with PTSD with a shabby relationship with his sister - just a normal and boring roommate. But when John shot a serial killer through two windows and a far distance, it was at that point when Sherlock realized that perhaps he had underestimated John. Somehow, he warmed up to him. As much as someone like Sherlock Holmes could, anyway.
Emotional understanding, and understanding the fact that everyone else operates on sentimentality more than he does, it makes Holmes a bit manipulative. He knows what to play on and when, if only to get the desired reaction; he isn't afraid to push people to their limit and will have no qualms or remorse about doing so. "His depravity knows no bounds".
He is also completely tactless; he will say what he sees, or blatantly ask about a certain event in a person's life after only speaking with them for mere minutes. He will act excited at a gruesome crime scene simply because the case finally got interesting, or that there was a twist in the great puzzle.
Next: Sherlock has an addictive personality. In his past, he is known to have smoked, and to have used addictive drugs that somehow have stimulated his thought process, or simply, because he is bored. Or because he enjoys the particular high.
But I'm guessing in the past, he was a pretty heavy user, considering that both his brother and John have to watch him if he wants a cigarette- its his 'danger days', and mean that something is severely bothering him; either the case, or the need to understand something (or someone, like moriarty, and their plans).
Whatever personal ties Sherlock has with people, they are always complex. He has known Lestrade for over five years, yet the DI claims that John knows Sherlock better than him. John Watson is Sherlock Holmes' one very true friend. Lestrade is, after everything, a friend also, as seen when he calls John to warn them that the police were coming for Holmes. And Lestrade was one of the people threatened by Moriarty if Sherlock didn't jump. Last on the list is Mrs Hudson. Their relationship is an odd one to interpret as well -- it's almost like a mother-son relationship, if you squint. What is unquestionable is the fact that Sherlock respects the older woman. She deals with him, with the severed heads in the fridge, and the fingers; she is a strong lady and over the course of the two knowing each other, it's evident that Sherlock has that respect, and loyalty to her. Thats the thing. No, he doesn't have a lot of friends. He only truly sees John as one. But the few people he does have, he is, ultimately, fiercely loyal to. Said loyalty isn't always clear. It's usually subtext, well hidden, and only comes out in dire situations. But it's there, and serves as a reminder that Sherlock is, indeed, purely human.
Sherlock's family, and past, are all quite vague. He has an older brother, Mycroft. And the two are at odds with each other constantly, though Sherlock does acknowledge the fact that out the two of them, Mycroft has the stronger mind. He has a lot of potential, Sherlock claims, if he only didn't succumb so much to laziness. That said, his older brother is very protective of Sherlock, so much so that he constantly bothers and takes John to discrete locations to ensure that there is someone looking out for Sherlock. Though Sherlock does screw things up for big brother at one point, big brother screws things up for Sherlock too, and in the end, plays a major role in having Sherlock jump of a building. Indirect role, of course, but a role none the less. He simply feeds Moriarty Sherlock's personal details for exchange of some government sensitive information. Moriarty then uses that against Sherlock.
So, Sherlock Holmes. A brilliant mind, and a tactless, arrogant and crude man. His 'soft side' is somewhat hard to see, even when it does come out, it comes out at a kind of backwards way. At times, he's reckless and unpredictable. He can see right through people, whilst people typically can't see through him. He is used to unsettling people by his statements, simply because that that's the reaction he is used to seeing. He himself, however, is not easily unsettled. Though, push the right buttons, and you will see that he can have quite a temper. He doesn't really have bounds, and isn't easily intimidated. In fact, it's actually quite hard to even try and intimidate him, because while someone may be stronger than him, he has already figured everything out about that person, and will gladly announce all their secrets. He doesn't have much of a filter, and doesn't really understand the definition of tact. At least, not in practice. His behavior sometimes borders on the slightly manic, erratic. He can be loyal, and he DOES care, though it might not always be evident.
There are a lot of things that make up the man Sherlock Holmes. Most importantly, after all the things said, he is an enigma.
Powers & Abilities:
Sherlock Holmes is a hundred percent human. He can be injured, bleed and die like the rest of them. So in that respect, he doesn't have any supernatural powers or abilities. That said, he has a few things up his sleeve.
First, it's his intelligence. He has a brilliant mind; he is a quick thinker, able to determine say, a password in under ten seconds, or weed out a weakness in a plan, or see a lie. He pays attention, and his mind, his process of deductions turns what he observes into facts; facts that are usually right. He was able to tell some major aspects, and even details, of John's life after a single glance at him, hearing him speak, and holding his phone in his hands to text. That's all it took and Sherlock was able to say that he was an ex-soldier with a pat injury and PTSD, his sibling was an alcoholic (though he thought brother, not sister), and that the phone was a present from said sibling, and that said sibling was going through a divorce; that John didn't like asking or accepting help, and that the reason why John was there in the first place was because he was interested in finding a flat mate. And this Sherlock and do to most anyone he meets, with only a very, very few exceptions.
People are simly open books to him, and the devil is always in the details. It's the little things that reveal the truth.
Next, Sherlock is also quite the actor. He can cry on command, can turn emotional, can fake being afraid, fake his identity; he can put on a believable disguise, pretend knowing someone for an entire lifetime.
He has a refined memory. He remembers maps from a single glance, is able to reconstruct events down to the smallest note. He is also resourceful, using the homeless as his eyes and ears? He can speak several languages, including French, German, and Latin.
He is also a skilled fighter and a good shot. He can defend himself well, and despite in the past being a smoker, he has notable stamina and endurance. He can and will scale a building or jump from rooftop to rooftop if on a case. He can sprint very well, and is good at improvisation. He sees an opportunity, and he will take it. He isn't above fighting dirty, and in fact, he will. That said, he has gotten himself beat up on few occasions, so this isn't saying that he is so skilled at combat tht he won't get hurt. He's good, yes. But not master-assassin-good.