#hamish watson holmes

[caspirarps]

Hello world,

It's been a long time since I've been on tumblr. For the last few years, most of the ways I've engaged in fandom has been through roleplaying on omegle. Now that omegle no longer exists, I don't really know where to go. I'm hoping to find a few people to roleplay with either here or on another platform.

I'm 27 years old, nonbinary. I've been roleplaying on for 12 or 13 years predominantly through omegle and email. I like hurt/comfort and cozy vibes for the most part lately, but am not necessarily limited to that.

I'm going to work on making this blog something, I'm just not sure what yet. I don't want to be a blank profile forever.

Anyways, I'm hoping to find more people to connect with and roleplay with. If you're interested or know where else I could look I'd greatly appreciate it! Ty!

[mouse-of-mischief]

Since Watson is canonically an unreliable narrator, anything could have plausibly happened behind the closed doors of 221B. He doesn't tell us readers everything. Any sort of twist could have happened during a case that he couldn't write for the public... Like all those times he kissed Sherlock Holmes.

[hopelesslyprosaic]

A Different Kind of Queen of Crime- five ways that Dorothy L Sayers changed the way we see Sherlock Holmes

For my first Holmesian post- a crossover with one of my more usual subjects on my other blog! For when one is talking about Sherlock Holmes, in particular Sherlock Holmes scholarship, there are nor many more pivotal names than Dorothy L Sayers. Sure, Christopher Morley may have had a greater impact on Sherlockian culture, and Richard Lancelyn Green on Holmesian scholarship, to name only a few- but Sayers's contributions to scholarship and "the game" were early and underratedly pivotal.

If you're a Sherlock Holmes fan who is unfamiliar with Sayers's influence, or a Sayers fan who had no idea she had any interest in Holmes, keep reading! (And if you're a Sherlock Holmes fan who wants to know what I think about Sayers, check out her tag on my main blog, @o-uncle-newt. Or, more to the point, just read her fantastic books.)

There's a great compilation of Sayers's writing and lecturing on the topic of Holmes called Sayers on Holmes (published by the Mythopoeic Press in 2001), though some of her essays are also available in her collection Unpopular Opinions, which is where I first encountered them. It's not THAT extensive, and it's from an era in which Sherlock Holmes scholarship, such as it was, was still very much nascent. While a lot may have happened since Sayers was writing and talking about Holmes, she got there early and she made an immediate impact- and here's how:

She helped create and define Sherlockian scholarship: Don't take this from me, take it from the legendary Richard Lancelyn Green! At a joint conference of the Sherlock Holmes Society and Dorothy L Sayers Society, he said that "Dorothy L. Sayers understood better than anyone before her the way of playing the game and her Sherlockian scholarship gave credibility and humor to this intellectual pursuit. Her standing as an authority on the art of detective fiction and as a major practitioner invigorated the scholarship, and her...Holmesian research is the benchmark by which other works are judged. It would be fair to say, as Watson said of Irene Adler, that for Sherlockians she is the woman and that …she 'eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex.'" We'll go into a bit more detail on some specific examples below, but one important one is that, as Green notes, Sayers was not only a mystery writer but an acknowledged authority on mystery fiction, whose (magisterial) introduction to The Omnibus of Crime, a then-groundbreaking history of the genre of mystery fiction, included a highly regarded section on the influence of Holmes on mystery fiction. She was able to write not just literate detective stories but literate critiques of others' stories and the genre (as collected in the excellent volume Taking Detective Stories Seriously), and as such, the writing she did on Holmes was well received.

She cofounded the (original iteration of) the Sherlock Holmes Society of London: While the current iteration of the Society lists itself as having been founded in 1951, a previous iteration existed through the 1930s, founded as a response to the creation of the Baker Street Irregulars in New York and run by a similar concept- the meeting of Sherlock Holmes fans every so often for dinner at a restaurant. Sayers, who seems to have been much more clubbable than Mycroft Holmes, helped run the Detection Club on corresponding lines as well. (Fun fact, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was invited to be the first president of the Detection Club! However, he refused on grounds of poor health and, either right before or right after he died, the Detection Club met for the first time with GK Chesterton as president.) While the 1930s society didn't last, and Sayers didn't decide to join the newly reconstituted club in 1951, her presence from the beginning was key to the establishment of Holmesian scholarship.

She helped define The Game: Sayers didn't invent The Game, as the use of Higher Criticism in the study of Sherlock Holmes came to be called. (The Game now often refers to something a bit broader than that, but it's a pretty solid working definition to say that it is the study of Holmes stories as though they took place in, and can be reconciled with, our world.) Her friend Father Ronald Knox largely invented it almost by accident- as Sayers described it, he wrote that first essay "with the aim of showing that, by those methods [Higher Criticism], one could disintegrate a modern classic as speciously as a certain school of critics have endeavoured to disintegrate the Bible." This exercise backfired, as instead of finding this analysis of Holmes stories silly, people found it compelling and engaging- and this style of Sherlockian writing lives on to this day in multiple journals. Sayers, with her interest in religious scholarship as well as Holmes, was well equipped to both understand Knox's original motivations as well as to carry on in the spirit in which further Game players would take his work, as we'll see. She also wrote the line that would come to define the tone used in The Game- that it "must be played as solemnly as a county cricket match at Lord's; the slightest touch of extravagance or burlesque ruins the atmosphere." While comedic takes on The Game would never vanish, her establishment of tone has lingered, and pretty much any in-depth explanation of The Game will include her insightful comment.

Some of Sayers's ideas became definitional: Here's a question- what's John Watson's middle name? If you said "Hamish," guess what- you should be thanking Dorothy L Sayers. (When this middle name was used for Watson in the BBC Sherlock episode The Sign of Three, articles explaining its use generally didn't bother to credit her, instead saying that "some believe" or a variation on that.) She was the one who speculated that the reason why a) Watson's middle initial is H and b) Mary Morstan Watson calls Watson "James" instead of "John" in one story is because Watson's middle name is Hamish, a Scottish variant of James, with Mary's use of James being an intimate pet name based on this nickname. It's as credible as any other explanation for that question, but more than that it became by far the most popular middle name for Watson used in fan media. Others of Sayers's ideas include that Watson only ever married twice, with his comments about experience with women over four continents being just a lot of bluster and him really being a faithful romantic who married the first woman he really fell for (the aim of this essay being to demolish HW Bell's theory of a marriage to an unknown woman between Mary Morstan and the unnamed woman Watson married in 1903, mentioned by Holmes in The Blanched Soldier); that Holmes attended Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (she denied that he could have attended Oxford, having gone there herself- fascinatingly, Holmesians who went to Cambridge usually assert that he attended Oxford! Conan Doyle of course attended neither school); and reconciling dates in canon (making the case that one cannot base a claim for Watson's mixing up on dates on poor handwriting as demonstrated in canonical documents, as it is clear from the similarity of different handwriting samples from different people/stories that they were written, presumably transcribed for publication purposes, by a copyist).

She wrote one of the only good Holmes pastiches: Okay, fine, I'm unusually anti-pastiche, and genuinely do like very few of them, but this is one that I love- and even more than that, it's even a Wimsey crossover! On January 8 1954, to commemorate the occasion of Holmes's 100th birthday (because, of course, he was born on January 6 1854- Sayers was more in favor of an 1853 birthdate but thought 1854 was acceptable), the BBC commissioned a bunch of pieces for the radio, including one by Sayers. You can read it here (with thanks to @copperbadge for posting it, it's shockingly hard to find online), and I think you'll agree it's adorable. The idea of Holmes and Wimsey living in the same world is wonderful, the way she makes it work is impeccable, and it's clearly done with so much love. Also you get baby Peter, which is just incredibly sweet!

I got into Dorothy L Sayers, in the long run, because I loved Sherlock Holmes from childhood and that later launched me into early and golden age mysteries- but it was discovering Sayers that brought me back full force into the world of Holmes. Just an awesome lady.

[honorary-evil-genius]

Sherlock Holmes is not actually cold and emotionless he is relentlessly passionate and loves his work and his life so much and anyone who tells you otherwise is a filthy liar. yes including Watson who he also loves

[nanowatzophina]

Amelia just likes being comfortable. 😤 And that means open shirt.

But she’s also terrified of Adler and so buttoned it is—

[thank you @doriana-gray-games for giving me feedback on H’a expression. I strive for accuracy. (Or close enough to it) 😘]

[thegreatmousebafoon]

John: And where are you going?

Sherlock: To either annoy Lestrade or save the British government. I’ll decide in the cab. You coming?

John: So long as we can pick up a cheesecake on the way.

Sherlock: Cheesecake? What for?

John: Desert and a show, obviously. I doubt you’ll need my help with either of those things, so I might as well enjoy myself.

[rinriya]

Oh wow Mr Holmes, what are you doing to them? I also want to be able to drive men crazy like that. I need to learn that from my Sherlock.

[migraine-haver1]

one thing i love about bbc sherlock holmes' traits is that he normalizes having enemies. like hell yeah i can be a hater. a certified one even.

[ineffablejaymee]

im never getting over the gloria scott btw

the writing was immaculate sherlock's character especially

and they managed to make a villain, irredeemable antagonist who turned out to be a victim and still be irredeemable and hated by everyone

[mayhasopinions]

sillies gonna investigate a case

[el-on-mars]

smooches

[milesobrein]

why does Hugh Laurie look like BBC Sherlock Holmes and John Watson’s son.

”this is John and I’s son, Hugh Laurie the haunted eyes are mine, the nose and hair are entirely my dear John’s.”

And! As per my previous post, if ya wanna make a difference you can reblog this to get the word out/ donate, it has two links one is to Critical Roll Foundation which is currently donating to help with the LA wildfires and the Latino Community Foundation https://critrole.com/foundation/ in addition, here’s a link to the Sunrise movement which I’m a part of for young people to have a voice in politics that’s fighting against our current “President” and for us have a green Earth for a future https://www.sunrisemovement.org/. Lastly this is a link from the ACLU for people who are undocumented immigrants to know their rights when it comes to ICE, because often ICE counts on people not knowing their rights, so they can unlawfully find/ deport them. But this information is good for anyone to know, because if you are an ally and know someone in danger from ICE this talks about ways you can safely stand for those people in danger too. It’s not nearly enough, but it’s a start and I think these resources are importabt for people to know/ get the word out. So if ya can’t donate, I really hope you guys can reblog this and thank you all again!!

[moonlightandpalmtrees]

I’m always so fascinated by how Watson accidentally became an interesting character. He was supposed to be a blank slate! Narratively he’s just there to follow Holmes around and ask questions

and then stuff just. Kept being added and we slowly start getting the outlines of an interesting character seemingly by accident. His army time ptsd, his war wound, his relationship with his brother, his want to follow Holmes around and solve crimes with him + his insistence that he’s not that interesting and he’s sooo normal, him canonically telling us he’s an unreliable narrator in the sense of changing names and then all of ACD’s story inconsistencies accidentally creating ‘the game’, “three continents Watson” + how the hell many times has this been man been married, him canonically being a hunk, his gambling problem, the fact that the fanon of his middle name being ‘Hamish’ is so well accepted because ACD forgot his first name, the list goes on

[beatophonecalls]

WE AT THE HOTEL, MOTEL, HOLIDAY INN 🗣️🔊

[mouse-of-mischief]

Hear me out... Sherlock Holmes adaptation that takes place in the 1920s. Sherlock Holmes getting to wear, and absolutely slay a flapper dress. John Watson getting to take his detective out on a lovely little drive in their new Bently.

[sarkylittlemonster]

So I'm not the only one who thinks John's type in men is tall with a posh accent, am I? I'm not, right?