#reichenbach theory

[adashofnirvana]

my favourite thing about elementary so far is how different elementary sherlock is from the bbc one. he actually cares about people, and solves cases to help people over getting an adrenaline rush thanks to having solved a puzzle. also he doesn't try to make people feel stupid and actually explains stuff instead of being a know-it-all

[tagitables]

Did Reichenbach propose his own Theory of Relativity? I haven't read any of his works yet

To clarify, Reichenbach did not publish a formal Theory of Relativity per se. Still, it could be mentioned that he has adopted an active yet careful position in his theoretical discussion and abstract formulation when he touched upon the principle of relativity in his Philosophy of Space and Time. If you have a chance to read this book, you could narrow your focus by directing your attention towards his objective mention of 'coordinative definition' as well as the usage of 'rigid bodies' as a tool to propagate the concept of relativity — for a start. While contemporary concerns and responses surrounding the topic of relativity could be pretty much monotonous, I would think that Reichenbach's account of relativity was not so convenient and simplistic like what a reader could expect from Einstein's Theory of General Relativity and Special Relativity. In areas where I should like to credit Reichenbach for his empirical formulations that could be rightfully called his own, Reichenbach's work remains saturated with so much conscience that he would not discredit the distant significance of other intellectuals who have shared similar (although not exactly the same) ideas as him.

[stede-bonnets]

Hearing all the theories about how Aziraphale is gonna escape Heaven/how it wasn't actually Aziraphale in the lift to Heaven feels exactly how it felt when I was in the Sherlock fandom right after the Reichenbach Fall

[thetardisisnotourdivision]

THEORY: SUSAN FOREMAN IS THE ONE WHO WAITS.

And also possibly Ruby's mother. 

And also Mrs Flood. Probably.

The Doctor promised her that he'd come back. And she never stopped waiting. She's been waiting for sixty years. 

THEORY, (it's very specific because it's inspired by “Wait For It” from Hamilton):

So Susan is left on Earth with David, whom she loves. Over the years, they become closer, even when sent to separate battlefields. The pain of being abandoned softens over time, and as she and David grow closer, eventually she allows herself to love him properly. He proposes, and they get married, and have children.

But over time, especially once she finds Ian and Barbara's diary - and possibly, subsequently, their graves - it starts to weigh on her. And, slowly, first her husband, her friends, her son Alex, and then her other children, her grandchildren, their children, start to die around her, and she's powerless to stop it.

And still the Doctor does not come back - she waits and waits for him, but he does not return. 

Until one day she receives summons from Gallifrey - a Time War, and they need her. She's extremely powerful, the only living descendant of the Timeless Child, (EDIT: in canon she had strong telepathic skills that even the Doctor was impressed by, and which almost got them all killed a few times) and one of the most important people they get on their side. Therefore, they also need a way of controlling her, which they don't yet have. During the Time War she spirals out of control - she repeatedly throws herself towards death and danger, only to find out that she cannot die once she's killed for the twelfth time. She starts experimenting with her power, testing her limits, seeing how powerful she can become. And when people ask who she is, she leaves a message for the Doctor - “tell him I'm still waiting for him to come back.” This leads to her being nicknamed "The One Who Waits".

Eventually, this madness manifests as her trying to attract the Doctor to her - creating mysteries, eventually creating fear and destruction amongst her enemies, terrorising the Pantheon - able to predict, via telepathy, every move that the Toymaker will make - in an attempt to lure him in, just so that she won't be alone anymore. (see: that one post about Sherlock post-Reichenbach where John is the murderer to lure Sherlock back to him).

The Time Lords realise that they need a way to control her, PRONTO. 

Now this bit in particular is a bit iffy:

Ruby might have been an orphan that Susan decided to look after, feeling responsible for the deaths of her parents

She may have been created like Jenny in an attempt to make more soldiers to fight, only it went wrong 

Maybe Susan fell in love, and as such has a baby.

Whatever the case, the Time Lords suddenly have their hostage. 

And they take Ruby. 

Doesn't really work. Susan's accustomed to committing war crimes at this point, therefore probably qualifies for President automatically - anyway, she storms the Capital and takes her baby back. But now she has the problem of how to protect her. So she takes Ruby to her own home - Earth. Uses a chameleon arch on herself, to make herself human, and watches over Ruby as Mrs Flood (that's a whole other theory that I'll post very soon)

Either this, OR

While Susan spirals out of control, the Time Lords, in retribution, dump Ruby on Earth, in 2004, just before we first meet the Doctor again (so near the end of the Time War probably is what I'm saying). The Doctor possibly has something to do with it. Susan, furious, burns through space and time in an attempt to find Ruby - which is why we keep seeing Susan Twist. She then - having regenerated - came up with the false identity of Mrs Flood upon finding Ruby living in London and settled down as her neighbour.

(EDIT: I would guess that Susan Twist is a red herring, created and fractured through time by the real Susan in order to find Ruby, but not only that - she's a mystery that the Doctor cannot resist, and he'll follow the trail, and finally "come back", like he promised.)

Whatever happens, Susan begins to blame the Doctor for hers and Ruby's situation, blaming him for taking everyone she loved from her - for abandoning them both on a planet where they would outlive everyone they love. 

There's the theory. Now, even in the Classic series, while Susan is often shown as the typical screaming girl stereotype, this is not the case - often, it's her who tips the balance of power within the TARDIS, she's often violent, quite ruthless, threatening, even, and seems to know more about hers and the Doctor's home, and why they left it, than the Doctor does. Whenever Gallifrey is described, it's Susan describing it - she reacts almost in horror when he says that they'll someday return there - and when Ping Cho asks where her home is, she replies evasively - “that's a very difficult question to answer, Ping Cho”. Usually, she's the one to explain things to others, a role that, when she leaves, the Doctor then takes on. 

I'm writing this out now because in the latest DWM there was an article on The Legend Of Ruby Sunday/Empire Of Death, with no less than SIX REFERENCES to Susan's era, directly using the phrase "unearthly children" to describe the Space Babies. The article also contained the phrase, "it started out as a mild curiosity in a churchyard -" (a play on a first doctor quote, "it started out as a mild curiosity in a junkyard") "- Now it's time to return". I take this as a reference to the line "One day, I shall come back" - and use it as further proof of Susan, who is waiting for him, ending up with the nickname The One Who Waits.

There's a lot more to this theory, including the Mrs Flood side of it, but there's the basics of it. Let me know what you think :-)

[sapphofrog]

why does the sherlock and co fandom love to torment each other with Reichenbach/tfp theories,,,, i cant scroll through the tag for 2 minutes without seeing the most heart shattering angst

[jabbage]

I need to tell Tumblr about my hero Ronald Knox, Absolute Troll.

Here he is sitting on a fireguard like the absolute dreamy goblin that he is:

(Caveat that I don't actually know much about his personal life or politics. He seems ok. )

Facts About Ronald Knox

He invented the use of the term 'Canon' in a fandom context. Yes, that's right, this man is responsible for everyone arguing about canon ever. It's all his fault.

Absolute troll. Wound up fellow Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts with such theories as "Sherlock Holmes died at the Reichenbach Falls and Watson made up all the later stories for the money" and "Mycroft was working for Moriarty all along". He wrote very very deadpan monographs putting forward these theories. They're hilarious.

He wrote his own detective stories and invented the Ten Rules of Detective Fiction, and kind of helped to codify the whodunnit as a genre:

You know that famous War of the Worlds radio play by Orson Welles which portrayed the alien invasion through a series of "We interrupt this broadcast!" messages? He was inspired by a similar satirical radio drama Knox did for the BBC In Knox' piece, there is a revolution in London and Big Ben gets destroyed. Believe it or not, it's very funny.

Translated the whole of the Latin Vulgate Bible by himself.

He's just so photogenic. I'm an aroace, he's a Catholic priest who gives me big aroace vibes the more I find out about him, and yet, and yet...

KNOX STOP IT STOP LOOKING INTO MY SOUL I swear every photograph of him is like this.

Anyway that's Ronald Knox, Father of Canon and Being An Absolute Madlad.

[discordantwords]

20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @khorazir and @raina-at. Thanks so much for tagging me!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 47 (how is it that many?!) 29 for BBC Sherlock 18 for The X-Files

2. What's your total A03 word count? 897,533

3. What fandoms do you write for? Currently only BBC Sherlock

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

(Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea

White Knight

Incidents with Dogs, Curious and Otherwise

Another Auld Lang Syne

The Dead Detective

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try to! I'm not always the best at keeping up, especially lately as my schedule has been erratic and I can only steal a few minutes here and there for fandom activities. But even when I don't have a chance to reply, I do read and treasure each and every comment.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I guess maybe The Pillar upon which England Rests has the saddest ending of anything that I've ever written, but I don't really consider it a sad story. It's set immediately post Reichenbach, told mostly through flashbacks as Mrs Hudson shares the story of how she met Sherlock with John. Sherlock is still "dead" when the story comes to a close, and John and Mrs Hudson are both grieving, though we as the reader know their loss is temporary.

I have a few shorter fics with ambiguous endings that lean in the angsty direction:

Nothing Happened in Belarus deals with accidental time travel, with grief-stricken S4 Sherlock finding himself briefly in the care of S1 John. Alas, the reprieve is a short one, as neither Sherlock nor John become aware of what is happening in time to take advantage of the opportunity.

At the end of Leaves Sherlock and John have either triumphed over the hallucinogenic vines that have invaded 221B… or they haven't. (I have my own theory, but you are free to interpret the ending however you choose.)

In EXECUTE John inadvertently deletes Mary from existence. He gets his happy ending, but has to live with the uncomfortable knowledge of the choices he's made.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Most of my fics have happy or at least hopeful endings. I like leaving the boys in a good place. I guess it depends on the flavor of happy you're looking for. But I'd say that these are probably the happiest:

(Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea

Inscrutable to the Last

White Knight

Another Auld Lang Syne

Whirlwind

8. Do you get hate on fics? Thankfully, no. A few weird comments here and there, but nothing too bad. The vast majority of my interaction with others in the fandom has been absolutely wonderful.

9. Do you write smut? Most of my sex scenes stay in R rated territory. But I tend to roll with whatever the plot demands of me.

10. Do you write crossovers? I've done quite a few fusion fics, but not crossovers. Crossovers aren't usually my cup of tea.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Once, sort of, but I don't believe it was done maliciously and I don't wish to call attention to it.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! I'm always flattered by requests to translate my writing.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? A friend and I used to write together quite a bit in high school, but nothing that has made it out into the world.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? Sherlock & John and Mulder & Scully.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Crime Writer is a Sherlock/Knight Rider fusion that ran out of steam a while back (although it was intended to be episodic and IMO doesn't feel too horribly unresolved where it ends, so don't let the unfinished nature of it put you off if you're inclined to read it).

I'm still optimistic about most of the WIPs in my WIP folder, heh. I guess we'll see what next year brings.

16. What are your writing strengths? I like to think I'm good at writing complicated people with complicated feelings that don't always resolve neatly.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I don't think my smut is particularly inspired. And I have a very hard time writing fluff or domestic situations without having some angst to drive the plot.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I personally wouldn't attempt it. I'm not fluent in any other languages and there's far too much nuance to leave in the hands of Google Translate. :)

19. First fandom you wrote for? X-Files! (Unless you count unrefined and unposted scribblings from my younger years, I definitely went through a phase where I was trying to fix the Terminator time loop in a way that allowed Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese to live happily ever after.)

20. Favourite fic you've ever written? Oh, this is always such a hard question to answer. The Pillar upon Which England Rests is the first fic I wrote for the Sherlock fandom, so it has a special place in my heart. I'm really proud of the cases and complex plot in Out There. (Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea is the one that seems to resonate with the most people. And White Knight is the fic I'd most like to see turned into an episode of the show. :D

I'll tag @thetimemoves @insistentbass @lololollywrites @arwamachine @naefelldaurk @clueless-mp4 @totallysilvergirl and anyone else who would like to play along!

[barachiki]

If Reichenbach theories had happened in Canada.

(not pictured, Jim inside with the heat cranked up and big woolly socks on)

[thats-entirely-too-much-tuna]

this may be my last chance to post this before season 2 airs, so i present to you all: a theory.

okay, i'm sorry to invoke bbc sh*rl*ck, but stick with me, i promise there is a point to this! remember how the empty hearse was peppered with fantasy sequences about how the reichenbach fall was faked? and it was basically the showrunners' way of being like "hey fandom, we see you and your theories! you are ridiculous and wrong, and in the end none of it matters!"

here's what i'm saying. we know that there are dream sequences in season 2. we know from that one review that there are also fandom in-jokes. we know from the promotional stills and the BTS video that both bearded stede and merman stede are likely to make appearances. so what if david jenkins & co have done something similar, but in a fandom-honoring way? my prediction is this: while many of our favorite season 2 theories and tropes might not be canon this season, several of them will nevertheless be featured in stede's (and maybe ed's) dream sequences as a nod to the fans. there will be a dream where the steard is full, alive and well. there will be a dream where stede is a gorgeous gorgeous merman. perhaps there'll be a dream where ed has tentacles! or one where the entire crew bursts into song and dance! the sky is quite literally the limit, and i, for one, will not be remotely functional until november at the absolute earliest.

[secretmellowblog]

so sherlock will be javert, got it!! /pos /j

ba dum tss. Tangentially related, but I do have this theory that part of the reason 2013-era Valjean/Javert fic was Like That is because it came out around the same time as the Reichenbach Fall episodes of Sherlock, the angsty episodes where Sherlock throws himself off a building to his death. I feel like a lot of 2012 Javert/Valjean fic was heavily influenced by the tropes of the far more popular Sherlock/Watson ship, with Javert's characterization often being very Benedict-Cumberbatch-Sherlock-y while Valjean often played a Watson-like role of emotional support. However I have done no research to support my thesis, it is completely vibes-based.

[thetimemoves]

20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @raina-at @discordantwords and @totallysilvergirl, thank you!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

20

2. What's your total A03 word count?

57, 682. Not a lot for 20 works, but 10 of them are 221b ficlets. I only have one fic over 10k (it's just over 11.3k).

3. What fandoms do you write for?

BBC Sherlock

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Never Trust to General Impressions

Abditory

Feel My Heart Banging Like a Gun

Out of Every Nowhere

Forth They Went Together

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, I do. I'm so thrilled to get them and appreciate it when someone takes the time to leave a comment. It makes me giddy, it does!

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I like to end on a happy, or at least hopeful, note but occasionally angst comes out on top. I think it's probably a tie between these two: Paperweight, which is Sherlock's POV when Molly gives him John's letter at the end of TST; and With Regrets, which is John's POV as he says goodbye to Sherlock in the hospital after the beating in TLD.

Both are 221b ficlets, so at least it's a sharp punch of angst and not an extended bout? Not kidding about that punch, though (sorry not sorry).

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

This is a tough one, but I think these are probably the happiest:

bitter, sweet

Feel My Heart Banging Like a Gun

Abditory

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, thankfully. Hopefully that continues.

9. Do you write smut?

I love me some good smut, but I don't write it (yet). Certain bits in Feel My Heart Banging Like a Gun and Steady as They Go are the closest I've come so far, but they're not smutty.

10. Do you write crossovers?

No. I don't. One of my WIPs is a Stand By Me/The Body (Stephen King) fusion, but I'm not interested in writing any crossovers right now.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, which amazes me! Two have been translated into Russian.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

@splix71 and I began to plot out a Sherlock bounty hunter AU I had initially come up with back in 2019. We had so much fun coming up with names and theories and plot points, so much fun. Unfortunately, she had to step back due to health reasons (FUCK CANCER) and afterwards I couldn't bring myself to go back to it. I doubt I ever will, as clever as I think some of the things we came up with were. I don't know that there is a place anymore for Baker Street Bonds, Yarders Bail Service, or Reichenbach Bail, but I will always treasure the time we spent on it together (that she, a most amazing writer, wanted to write something with me, still blows my mind).

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Mulder/Scully and Sherlock/John.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have a Sherlock/John hunt the Bogeyman fic I've been poking at for YEARS. I love a lot of what I've written, but I wrote myself into a corner and haven't quite figured out how to get out. At this point I despair of ever finishing it, but never say never.

16. What are your writing strengths?

221b ficlets. I think I've done well with these in conveying lots of emotion in little moments.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Clever case fic and complicated plots. I can also get a bit wordy in my beginnings sometimes (ironic, considering my ability to write a strong 221b ficlet) and need a gentle nudge to cut to the action.

Also, if I'm going to be brutally honest, I tend to walk away too quickly when I get stuck and don't make myself work out the problem right then. Hence my many languishing WIPs.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I've not done it yet and don't see it happening down the road either.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

For published fic, BBC Sherlock. There might be some self-insert stories with River Phoenix in my very distant past.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Ooof, this is a hard one because every finished fic is a victory for me. That said, I'll always have a soft spot for Abditory. I had been in love with Sherlock since 2011 and devoured fic at an unholy rate, but was never dared write my own until 2017, after the last series. Better late than never, right? I also really loved writing Never Trust to General Impressions, with its slice-of-life looks at Sherlock and John's evolving relationship in relation to canon (with a not-so-canon twist on TRF). Funnily enough, both are 5+1 fics.

This was fun! I have loved reading all of these from everyone too. I'm going to be That Person and tag everyone who wants to do this but hasn't been tagged yet. Please do share!

[its-all-ineffable]

Any favorite Sherlock and Molly moments?

Hello hello! SO MANY OMG! I love them so much, they have so many fabulous moments.

I immediately think of their entire stint solving cases together in The Empty Hearse, because they were amazing, but I'll pick out a few specific moments from there.

There's a moment where they're interviewing clients and Molly asks if she should take notes, since John does and Sherlock says "You're not being John, you're being yourself." and she smiles, and it is the most pure thing. Like yes, in a way, Sherlock is trying to replace John with Molly in this moment because with John, he got used to having a partner, a friend, someone with him. But he also acknowledges that Molly is her own person and brings her own skills and abilities to the table, and works differently from John. And that's quite big, since we all know that Sherlock has had to work on learning how to treat/interact with people and that John has helped him do that.

Another moment from the same episode is when they have a little sarcastic exchange when they're with the client who loves trains. I mean, Sherlock's smirk alone...

And the last one from this particular episode is the scene in the hallway where Sherlock thanks Molly for her help and says the iconic line "Because the one person he thought didn't matter to me at all, was the one person who mattered the most." And when he says that my heart melts, the soft look in his eyes and on his face. And the cheek kiss! Aaaahhhh!!!!! They make me insane.

Another favourite moment has to be the Christmas scene in A Scandal in Belgravia. Just everything about it - Molly's STUNNING outfit, Sherlock actually apologising when he realises he's a) hurt Molly's feelings and b) made light of her feelings for him which he's played on one too many times, the kiss on the cheek...it's the moment I began to ship them when I first watched the show. It's just an absolutely lovely moment between them, and it also shows how much Sherlock's grown. He apologises unprompted and it's clear it's because he CARES about Molly - he still acts asshole-ish with John's girlfriend, someone he doesn't really know, but is immediately remorseful when he hurts Molly.

Of course, the ICONIC 'I love you scene' between the two of them in The Final Problem had to be on here too, because I love it - my Sherlolly heart burst when it happened! Like, he says it the first time so that Molly will say it and won't die, but he says it a second time, and his voice that second time...it's real. He says it once, playing along to try and save Molly's life but the second time...oh the second time is a realisation. Sherlock does actually love her. Now of course, you can read that as platonic or romantic (I like both since I ship both Sherlolly and Johnlock), but Sherlock does love her. And that scene was just expertly filmed and scripted. (Also, why wasn't Molly having a good day, what had happened?? Someone give her a hug!!)

Now for two smaller moments - I adore them when they are at Rosie's christening! The way Molly is clearly comfortable enough around Sherlock to tell him off for using his phone and is stood beside him so confidently, and also she looks stunning!

The second one is in The Reichenbach Fall when Sherlock asks for Molly's help. She asks what he needs and he says "You." I died.

I could put so many more, but I'll finish with this one - the kiss from The Empty Hearse. Now, I know that it was a scene from one of Anderson's theories, but it's fucking canon in my mind so I don't care! It's very badass and sexy and exactly what my Sherlolly heart wanted and deserved!

Right, I'll stop now! Do you have any favourites? Let me know!

SEND ME AN ASK ABOUT BBC SHERLOCK

SEND ME AN ASK ABOUT AMC IWTV/THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES

[garkgatiss]

sigh. gark I miss having hope that this show would actually get another season. but we've passed the really big thing they could have been waiting on (end of Sherlock books copyright), a (beloved) main character's actor has died, the others all seem very busy with other projects that have come along despite Covid-related filming backlogs finally clearing up, and as far as I've heard there hasn't even been a teasing Instagram comment from Moffat in a while. As someone recently pointed out, this show has now been continuously "on hiatus" longer than it was originally on air. I know that one of the theories is that that's kind of the point; they're doing a meta-reichenbach or whatever and if you haven't spent the last six and a half years as faithful as John Watson was for *checks notes* uhhhh, two? you're not a True Believer but like... at what point do we have to accept that despite all the "desperate for more"s and "plot for S5 on the back of a napkin" and "people always give up after three"s in the world it's just not happening and never was?

(Not to be the John Watson allegory in the meta-reichenbach, but I just want to know why... why they would take something that was going so well for them and deliberately steer it into the ground with so many winks and nods and gaping plotholes it can't have been anything but intentional, if they didn't mean to accomplish anything by doing so!?)

The error in your logic is thinking that because S5 hasn't happened, it must not have ever been their plan. For years now I've used the hypothetical of -- not to get grim, and knock on every piece of wood on Earth I am NOT wishing this into being -- what if Ben or Martin died. There's a billion reasons that any given TV show doesn't get an additional season, but the death of a lead actor really puts the nail in the proverbial coffin. That was my high water mark hypothetical scenario at which point I would be like, okay we're really really never getting S5.

And in that scenario, would any of my analysis change? Of course not. It would never be proven right or wrong without S5 being made, but it doesn't change the fact that Moff consulted with John Yorke on Into the Woods, it doesn't change the fact that almost all Moff's DW seasons are structured as 5 acts, it doesn't change the fact that they talked about having ideas for S4 and 5 at the same time. It doesn't change the fact that it sure seems like they were telegraphing as early as S1 that they wanted to make 5 seasons, with the 4th being a Brechtian fucky fakefest. If they had only ever made S1, we probably would never have guessed what they had planned, but it wouldn't have changed the fact that they had planned it.

So while it sucks that realistically they're never going to make S5, the reality is that we have always been one plane crash (KNOCK ON WOOD) away from never having S5, and by plane crash I mean any one of the billlions of things that can stand in the way of a season of television. It doesn't mean they never intended to follow through with what they managed to set up - intent is not the same as result, and that's just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. It is what it is.

[garadinervi]

Hans Reichenbach, (1920), The Theory of Relativity and A Priori Knowledge, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 1965. Designed by David Pauly

[bcass]

With all the theories about why aziraphale did what he did and the uncertainty about season 3 (bcs of the strike and the way amazon works) this is starting to feel like a Reichenbach Fall situation all over again. And trust me if you were there you don’t want to come back to that times.

But in @neil-gaiman I trust and I know he will tell us everything when the time comes 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻