#the unnamed sherlock!phan au | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jestbee · 7 years ago

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I honestly pictured Phil as Sherlock and Dan as John! Not exactly sure why lol

Okay, I have a lot of opinions on this (a strange thing to have opinions on I know, but there we go) I was really deep in the Sherlock fandom before this and wrote fic over there so I definitely have like, clear pictures of how I interpret the characters of Sherlock and John and, well, let me tell you those interpretations have to disagree with you. And with Phil in the latest gaming video where he insists he’s Sherlock.

I’m going to put all of these opinions below a cut so as not to flood your dash with my nonsense. It’s really incoherent and rambley so I apologise.

Also, can I just point out that this is just my interpretation. I’m in no way starting an argument over it, its just a really fun discussion.

Everyone is allow their own interpretation of fictional characters and I would like to again reiterate that any allusions I make to the ‘characters’ of Dan and Phil are to the fictional ones I write about in phanfic based on the people they present to us, I in no way want to assume I know everything about them as they are real, complex human beings with many many facets to them.

That being said, here are my rather rambley and long-winded reason as to why Dan is Sherlock and Phil is John.

Phil maintains he’s Sherlock because of his ‘cumberbatchy’ cheekbones. and yes, our Phil has some wonderful cheekbones and I never tire of looking at them in the same way I never tire of looking at Benedict’s. However, that is where the similarities stop.

I was going to base this entire ramble on their personalities rather than physical attributes but since Phil brought it up, I’ll chuck in some of that too.

Dan obviously has the curls which, well, so does Sherlock and Phil has a haircut left over from an old era (emo) and so does John (his time in the army).

Sherlock tends to dress in designer gear and clearly maintains a sort of aesthetic as does own very own Howell, while John dresses in things he just likes, but he’s always tidy and put together but doesn’t seem to be trying to make any big fashion statements.... this was a flimsy way to start my argument. Let’s move on.

Okay, Sherlock spent his younger years smart yet socially distant. With a family that loved him but who were perhaps not too close, who maintained an insistence that he conform to a place in society, a normal job, a degree in Chemistry at university. He didn’t have any notable friends we know of until later on in his life when he meets John. suddenly he has a best friend and he’s chosen a career that his parents hadn’t heard of, one he’d made up, one they’re always worried about. sounding familiar?

John grows up fairly ‘normal’ surrounded by friends and family and generally is the epitome of well rounded. Though he doesn’t seem to talk about any particular people from that time save a few friends he made at university (mike etc) but it isn’t until all of that is finished he meets Sherlock, and then yes, he has a best friend. John studies alot, trains in medicine, surgery & battlefield medicine all by the time he’s in his late thirties/early forties and is ‘very good’ according to his own words. Much like our Phil with his linguistics degree and dual honours masters, right?

also, John is older than Sherlock by around 4 years. but Sherlock ends up being the bigger, louder personality and John is sometimes made out to be the ‘sidekick’. They joke about it in the show but clearly they’re equals, Sherlock isn’t his commanding officer and it’s John who is the creative blogger weaving their adventures into over-romanticised stories. similarly, Phil is often (incorrectly) billed as being secondary to Dan because Dan is the one with the higher subscriber count. they’re both creative, obviously, but i firmly believe Phil is a creative genius and that they are definitely definitely equals in all sense of the word.

The face Sherlock shows to the world is one that is social inept, arrogant, clueless about people and it is the more social and jovial John that helps him navigate his way through the world. Dan is often introverted, can be slightly pretentious upon occasion and has this huge, domineering personality that Phil tempers down by being his perfect counterweight. Phil is always described by everyone as being an absolute delight and Dan has complained in the past that he’ll often make conversation with cashiers in shops which he hates because it means he has to engage in small talk too. so in this sense, it’s definitely Dan who is socially restricted and Phil that helps him navigate that.

however, as we’ve seen countless times, Sherlock is so so emotional. like Dan. Dan would have us believe that he’s only interested in cold hard facts, he’s a sceptic and cynic, sardonic in his humour and makes jokes about death and sees nothing wrong with that. but the reality is, Sherlock is the type of guy that gets choked up at his friends wedding so that he has to leave, so jealous when John goes on a date that he tags along and sabotages it with crime fighting. Dan is the type of guys that gets jealous when Phil jokingly offers to move in with a celebrity on the radio and cries over sad movies whenever Phil is away. Tell me these two men are not similar.

John on the other hand is softer, yes, brightness in the world like our lovely Phil but also quite restrained in his emotions. He holds it together when he loses all his friends to war, clenches his jaw in the face of Moriarty holding a gun to his head. Phil is similarly restrained, the man has perfected the art of the poker face and hides alot of his emotions from the world (the internet anyway) in the same way John does. He’s careful in what he shows us, hiding all of those darker elements of his personality just as John does when he tries to convince himself he wants a wife and a baby and not to be running around London solving crimes with Sherlock as a way to curb his insatiable appetite for danger. Much like Phil hides the dirty sense of humour I’ve convinced he has.

I really have a hard time picturing Phil as the secluded loner genius. Dan is much more suited to the logical, analytical detective, ignoring coincidences and fate and destiny and any allusions to anything magical or fantastical. he won’t believe in anything unless there are cold hard facts. But at night, it’s these wild supernatural elements that torture him into not sleeping. like Sherlock’s mind-palace does with images of a definitely-dead Moriarty.

Equally, I can’t see Dan as being the one that is the easy, heroic doctor and a hopeless romantic. Phil is the quiet hero, one who’ll do anything for his friends, shoot someone because they’ve threatened someone he’s only just met but already feels a connection to. It’s Phil I can see reminding Dan that not everything has to have a complicated solution, that sometimes the answer lies in the human element.

Dan Howell will solve your murder, but Phil Lester will save your life.

I suppose this is similar to when people see punk!phil and pastel!Dan. I just don’t get it. But, it’s quite popular so...

anyway, I think that’s enough of my opinions. I’m totally down for discussing this at length with anyone that wants to, I still have so much swirling around in my brain I probably haven’t been as coherent as I could have been in this answer.

I’m going to write a fic, that will probably be able to depict it better than I could in this. I’m always better as expressing myself through fiction than I am here. (eg ask me about my social anxiety and I won’t be able to describe it, read Ships and Phil is basically me haha)

Let me know if I’ve managed to convince you yet!

#jane answers #jane rambles #the unnamed sherlock!phan au #warning this is really incoherent #Anonymous

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