#umqra

[inevitably-johnlocked]

hi hi, I was wondering if you had any meta on hotb that isn't too long and/or has a tldr (i have awful focus and bad eyesight lmao)

Hey Nonny!

Ah, I do have a collection of THOB Meta, but I can't guarantee all of them are short :P I totally understand! I'll check each link on this masterlist I'm about to make and will put a ⭐️ next to them if they seem shorter to me LOL. You can check out the other links if you'd like, they're all under 2000 words it seems.

THoB META

[THOB META BLOG TAG]

MY META / COMMENTARY

Why Comment on the Cheekbones if Not Gay ⭐️

Henry’s Assumption at “Mates”

The Aluminium Crutch ⭐️

See A Man About a Dog ⭐️

UMQRA: UMQRA and the Vignère Cipher

UMQRA: Was There A Secret Meaning to that Scene? ⭐️

UMQRA: Why Was that scene even in there ⭐️

Was Sherlock Actually Scared? ⭐️

“Look at me John, I’m Afraid”: Is it a Metaphor? ⭐️

Conductor of Light ⭐️

Sherlock’s Timing About Drugging John

John’s Face Journey re: the Coffee (My Additions) ⭐️

H.O.U.N.D. and the Unknown Drug

Melioidosis

What’s a Double Room

Double Room: Was Really Just a Setup for the Only One Bed Trope ⭐️

The Tea Scene in THoB

If the Hound Isn’t Real, why was Henry Knight Still Scared? ⭐️

They Both Looked good in THoB ⭐️

Sherlock “I Don’t Beg” Holmes begged John for Cigarettes ⭐️

The Nighthawks Meta by SageStreet ⭐️

====

If anyone has any meta they can rec regardless of length, let me know. Always open to discovering new writings years and years later :)

[backcornerdwarfer]

BBC Sherlock hounds of Baskerville rant bc they fucked up a perfectly good story

[Thespian's Note: this is 30% rant 30% text ramble 30% reaction video in text and 100% shitshow I literally napped my way through getting these and woke up to a nuclear bomb. Don't expect coherency please]

They could’ve had a really good episode where some client was convinced of ghosts or something. John and Sherlock couldn’t gone ghost hunting. That would’ve been so fun

They could still keep the original story with Stapleton and his whole thing with being estranged from the Baskerville family and desperate for the estate. THAT would’ve been EXCELLENT.

Maybe Stapleton in this fix-it could’ve been manipulated by Moriarty bc next episode is richenbach.

None of this bullshit of ‘oh your trauma as a kid was caused by a drug in the air only in the moor because of this genetic sort of experiment by the government’. WTF WAS THAT.

GENUINELY

WHAT

THE

FUCK

Should I write a fix-it fic? How do you do one of those?

I could keep it closer to the original story by for the modern day

The government-run army base. Really, Moffat? That’s the best you got?

Of all stories why this one 😭😭😭

John, mate, keep an eye on your boyfriend. He’s deprived of nicotine, try to keep him off the cocaine, and now he’s convinced he can go into a secret army base just because. HE IS LIKE A CHILD. YOU NEED TO KEEP A CONSTANT FUCKING EYE ON HIM

Sherlock be like ‘imma just go impersonate Mycroft and go infiltrate an army base. Coming?’

Why the rabbit? It’s utter BULLSHIT

ALEXANDER MYCROFT HOLMES WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘NOT AGAIN’?!?!?!?!?

An email from a child about a rabbit that glowed in the dark.

UMQRA

UMQRA 😂

The master detective is now having a crisis. Lovely. Just what we need.

WILLIAM SHERLOCK SCOTT HOLMES YOU ARE HUMAN JUST AS MUCH AS THE NEXT PERSON. YOU CANNOT DIVORCE YOURSELF FROM YOUR OWN EMOTIONS. YOU KEEP INSISTING YOU ARE A HIGH FUCTIONING SOCIOPATH BUT YOU ARE NOT. YOU CANNOT KEEP DOING THIS TO YOURSELF. LISTEN TO JOHN.

John Watson, now is not a good time to go chatting up women.

Sherlock, dont go poisoning John. He’s already pissed with you and poison isnt going to help things.

Nononono not again not breaking into the military base again.

Don’t give them permission Mycroft - oh wait TO LATE

Whywhywhywhy do all this, Sherlie? John is not a lab rat.

JOHN IS TERRIFIED FOR HIS LIFE STOP THIS, SHERLOCK IT IS NOT FUN TO EXPERIMENT KN YOUR BOYFRIEND LIKE THIS

drugs, really? What is this story?

My reactions to this episode: 😫😭😖😠😭😭😭

The singular redeeming quality is how Henry knight’s memory of his dad’s death as a child had the attacker replaced it with a dog. This foreshadows Sherlock having no memory of Eurus.

I’m doing a fix it fic. I’m angry about what they did and I I want to make that story better

[birr-die]

just looked up the Dream Tiger plot (pic) and got flashbacked to... it was abt twelve years ago, when The Reichenbach Fall came out, and everyone in ru-net gone crazy bout Jonlock & othr, and so Mormor became a thing as well. we never saw Sebastian Moran as character, as you remember, so people were free to imagine anyone in his role. therefore Moran existence was more of a concept of a being than a living human, and because every character was associated with some animal, Moran became a tiger. and so one of our writers, Undel (mother of unique Mormor fics style, ngl) wrote a fic, where Sebastian were a... Being... with black fur and tiger ears and tail. and it's name was Umqra (it came as idea from The Hounds of Baskerville, when John get a morse u.m.q.r.a, i don't think there was any deep idea behind this)... so yeah, it reminded me. fandom golden era...

[anonymousewrites]

A Study of the Heart and Brain (Book 2) Chapter Ten

Father Figure! Sherlock Holmes x Teen! Reader

Chapter Ten: Forested Sightings

Summary: Sherlock, John, and (Y/N) follow Henry into the woods where he saw the dreadful hound, and Sherlock has a strange experience.

            “Hi,” said Henry, greeting the detectives at the door of his house.

            “Hi,” said John. Sherlock didn’t greet him, but (Y/N) raised a hand. Finally back in their usual sweater, they felt more comfortable.

            “Come in, come in,” said Henry, gesturing to his home.

            (Y/N) and Sherlock walked in, instantly casing the joint while John chatted. Once they were down, they sat down across from Henry with cups of tea. He had contacted them, saying he had more information, so even though it was dark out, they had come.

            “In my dreams, I keep seeing something. It’s-it’s a couple of words. It’s what I keep seeing. ‘Liberty’ and ‘in,’ ” said Henry, and John copied it down onto a notepad.

            “Mean anything to you?” asked John, looking to (Y/N) and Sherlock.

            “ ‘Liberty in death. The only true freedom,’ ” murmured (Y/N). “Isn’t that the expression?” Not really sure if that has anything to do with this, but that’s the first thing I think of.

            “What now, then?” asked Henry.

            “Sherlock’s got a plan,” said John, sounding more confident than he felt.

            “Yes,” assured (Y/N). Pretty sure we’re winging this.

            “Right,” said Henry.

            “We take you back out onto the moor and see if anything attacks you,” said Sherlock matter-of-factly.

            So we’re definitely winging this, thought (Y/N).

            “What?!” cried John.

            “That should bring things to a head,” said Sherlock.

            “At night?! You want me to go out there at night?!” squeaked Henry nervously.

            “That’s your plan?” questioned John. “Brilliant.”

            “Do you have another plan?” asked (Y/N).

            “That’s not a plan,” said John.

            “Listen, if there is a monster out there, John, there’s only one thing to do—find out where it lives,” said Sherlock, smiling with false-confidence at Henry.

l

            In the dead of night, Sherlock, (Y/N), John, and Henry headed out to Dewer’s Hollow. They used flashlights to guide their way along the uneven ground. The darkness of the woods crowded around them. John paused for a moment before turning away from the path.

            “John?” whispered (Y/N).

            “I heard something,” said John.

            (Y/N) turned to follow, but Sherlock reached out for them. “It’s dangerous off the path,” he whispered.

            “I’ll be with John. He has a gun,” said (Y/N), shrugging.

            Sherlock didn’t like it, but their logic was sound. “John, watch them.”

            “’Course,” said John, nodding. He’d protect them.

            (Y/N) followed John after the sound he heard. They shone their flashlights around for signs of people, but the only thing that emerged from the bushes was a hooting owl. Likely the source of the sound, John and (Y/N) sighed. It seemed to be a bust until something flashed in (Y/N)’s peripheral vision.

            They turned and saw a light flashing up on the hillside. “John,” they murmured. “Morse code.”

            John followed their gaze and grabbed for his notebook. (Y/N) illuminated the page so he could write.

            “U…M…Q…R…A,” said John as he translated the message. He looked up for more, but that was it. “Umqra. Mean anything to you?”

            “No, doesn’t sound familiar. Might be a code on top of a code, but it could be something else too,” said (Y/N). “We should head back to Sherlock and Henry.”

            John and (Y/N) backtracked to the path they’d been on and continued after Sherlock and Henry. An eerie thrumming sound echoed through the forest.

            “Is that what you heard earlier?” asked (Y/N).

            “Yes,” said John.

            They shone their flashlights in the direction of the sound, and this time they found an abandoned metal contained resting on the ground. Water droplets collecting on the leaves above from the mist were dripping onto it. That was the sound echoing around.

            Weird place to dispose of a container, thought (Y/N). They moved to get a closer look when something dark and large flashed past them and John in a flurry of movement.

            John turned to follow, but an anguished howl pierced the air. (Y/N) and John didn’t have to speak; they instantly ran in the direction of the cry. Another scream pierced the air as they arrived at where Henry and Sherlock were standing by Dewer’s Hollow.

            “Sherlock!” cried (Y/N). “Are you alright?” No response, but he did not sharply.

            “We saw it. We saw it,” mumbled Henry, panicked.

            “What?” asked John.

            Sherlock turned and walked back towards the village. “No. I didn’t see anything.”

            “What? What are you talking about?!” cried Henry.

            “I didn’t. See. Anything,” repeated Sherlock shortly, almost angrily. He sped up, and (Y/N) and John were left to glance at each other questioningly.

            What happened? thought (Y/N).

l

            (Y/N) and John opened the door to Henry’s home and guided him to his bedroom. Well, John did, (Y/N) hung back. There was something so off about his behavior that a primal fear in them was forcing them to stay put and just watch. They had yet to identify precisely what it was this situation reminded them of, but (Y/N) would figure it out. It was important; they knew it.

            “Look, he must have seen it. I saw it—he must have. He must have. I can’t…Why? Why?” rambled Henry nonsensically. “Why would he say that? It-it-it was there. It was.” He was close to tears, and his breath came in short bursts.

            “Sit down, Henry,” said John firmly. “I’m gonna give you something to help you sleep, alright?” He held out a bottle of water.

            Henry smiled. “This is good news, you know. It’s-it’s good. I’m not crazy. There is a hound. There…there is. And Sherlock—he saw it, too. No matter what he said, he saw it.”

l

            At the inn, Sherlock sat in an armchair, staring intently into the fire warming the room. (Y/N) and John sat down across from him as they entered. (Y/N) looked him up and down. There was an agitation to his movements that he usually lacked. Something was off, just like with Henry. (Y/N) didn’t think fear of a hound could do this to Sherlock, but they were have trouble figuring out what it was that was setting their anxiety off at the same time it did so to Sherlock and Henry. There had to be an answer

            “Well, he’s in a pretty bad way. He’s manic, totally convinced there’s some mutant super dog roaming the moors,” said John with a sigh. Sherlock didn’t respond, instead lacing his fingers and staring contemplatively at the fire.

            (Y/N) furrowed their brow. “But there can’t be, can there? Genetic manipulation isn’t at that point, and even if it was, the government wouldn’t let such an experiment just run around like that.” Sherlock still didn’t move.

            “Er, listen,” said John, trying another tactic. “On the moor, (Y/N) and I saw someone signaling with a flashlight. Probably morse, but the letters didn’t make any sense. ‘U, M, Q, R, A.’ Does that mean anything?”

            (Y/N) frowned as Sherlock blinked rapidly and pulled in a sharp breath. Did he figure something out? “Sherlock?”

            “Henry’s right,” said Sherlock shakily.

            “What?” asked John.

            “I saw it too,” he said in a shaky voice.

            Something is really wrong with Sherlock, thought (Y/N).

            “Just…wait a minute. You saw what?” asked John.

            Sherlock’s face was twisted as he looked up at John and (Y/N). “A hound, out there in the Hollow. A gigantic hound,” he said through gritted teeth, jaw tensed. He blinked rapidly, trying to keep tears from his eyes.

            (Y/N) shivered, severely offput by how shaken Sherlock was. “But…that doesn’t make sense. There has to be an explanation.”

            Sherlock shook his head. “Once you’ve ruled out the impossible, whatever remains—no matter how improbable—must be true.”

            “What does that mean?” asked John, eyes widening.

            Sherlock picked up his drink, hand shaking. “Look at me. I’m afraid. Always been able to keep myself distant…divorced myself from feelings. But look, you see…body’s betraying me.” He slammed his glass down, and (Y/N) jumped, tensing.

            “Yeah, alright, Sherlock, just…take it easy,” said John, trying to calm him down. “You’ve been pretty wired lately, you know you have. I think you’ve gone out there and got yourself a bit worked up.”

            “Worked…up?” Sherlock switched quickly from self-pitying to angry at John.

            (Y/N) glanced warningly at John, but he continued. “It was dark and scary—”

            “Me? There’s nothing wrong with me!” said Sherlock, laughing sarcastically. He began to hyperventilate before groaning and holding his head in his hands.

            “Sherlock…?” asked John hesitantly.

            “There is nothing wrong with me! Do you understand?!” cried Sherlock angrily.

            (Y/N) felt their chest constrict as panic overtook him. “Sherlock…”

            “You want me to prove it, yes?” Sherlock stared savagely at John. “We’re looking for a dog, yes, a great big dog, that’s your brilliant theory. Cherchez le chien. Good, excellent, yes, where shall we start?” He pointed to a man and woman sitting in the corner of the bar. “How about them? The sentimental widow and her son, the unemployed fisherman. The answer’s ‘yes.’ ”

            “Yes?” asked John in confusion.

            “She’s got a West Highland terrier called Whiskey. Not exactly what we’re looking for. Look at the jumper he’s wearing. Hardly worn. Clearly he’s uncomfortable in it. Maybe it’s because of the material; more likely the hideous pattern, suggesting it’s a present, probably Christmas. So he wants into his mother’s good books. ‘Why?’ Almost certainly money. He’s treating her to a meal, but his own portion is small. That means he wants to impress her, but he’s trying to economize on his own food,” said Sherlock, rapidly in a single breath.

            He's right, of course, and I see what he did, but his actions are weird. (Y/N) shivered. I don’t like it…He feels so off…and with how erratic he’s being…he reminds me of Moriarty.

            “Well, maybe he’s just not hungry,” said John.

            Sherlock scoffed. “No, small plate, starter, practically licked clean. She’s nearly finished her pavlova. If she’d treated him, he’d have had as much as he wanted. He’s hungry all night, and not well off, you can tell that by the state of his cuffs and shoes.

            “‘How’d you know she’s his mother?’ Who else would give him a Christmas present like that? Well, it could be an aunt or elder sister, but mother’s more likely. Now, he was a fisherman. Scarring pattern on his hands, very distinctive, fish hooks. They’re quite old now, which suggest he’s been unemployed for sometime. Not much industry in this part of the world, so he’s turned to his widowed mother for help.

            “ ‘Widowed?’ Yes, obviously. She’s got a man’s wedding ring on a chain round her neck, clearly her late husband’s and too big for her finger. She’s well dressed, but her jewelry’s cheap. She could afford better, but she’s kept it, it’s sentimental. Now, the tiny little dog hairs all over the leg from where it gets a little too friendly, but no hairs above the knee, suggesting it’s a small dog, probably a terrier. In fact it is, a West Highland terrier named Whiskey.

            “ ‘How the hell do you know that, Sherlock?’ ‘Cause she was on the same train as us, and I heard her calling it’s name, and that’s not cheating, that’s listening. I use my senses, John, unlike some people, so you see, I am fine, in fact I’ve never been better, so just leave. Me. Alone.’ ” Sherlock was breathing heavily as he finished, glaring at John.

            “Sherlock…What’s wrong with you?” whispered (Y/N), staring at him.

            “Nothing’s wrong with me!” shouted Sherlock, turning to (Y/N). As soon as they flinched and tensed, Sherlock froze. He took a step back, realizing finally something was wrong. “I…I have to go.”

            John and (Y/N) didn’t move to stop him.

l

            Sherlock ran his hands through his hair as he paced back and forth. Seeing (Y/N) anxious around him had snapped him back. He knew something was wrong with him, then. But he hadn’t necessarily done anything violent or threateningly, but something in his behavior had freaked out (Y/N).

            Oh.

            Sherlock stopped. Erratic behavior, frantic emotions, the agitation, seeing the hound—it all made sense. He was high. Sherlock had been drugged. It explained everything. It even explained (Y/N)’s reaction. They disliked drugs and drug use because of their mother’s death, and even though they’d been young when she died, there was a subconscious awareness and fear surrounding people on drugs. That’s why they’d become anxious around Sherlock.

            His phone buzzed, and he instantly picked it up. He relaxed when he saw it was (Y/N). Clearly, he hadn’t ruined anything between them.

Henry’s therapist is here. Should I interview her? -(Y/N)

Let John. -SH

            Sherlock wanted to text them that he was calming down, that they could come up to the room, but he refrained. He’d let them relax first. (Y/N) would decide when to come up.

           Now what was left was to figure out how he had been drugged. He’d need to investigate further. Sherlock couldn’t tell John or (Y/N) yet, though—John because Sherlock could use him, lightly, as a test subject, and (Y/N) because he couldn’t afford their mind to be blinded by the anxiety surrounding drugs. They hadn’t been affected like him, so they still had a clear mind. Not to mention, he really didn’t want them to be worried about the drugs. Sherlock didn’t want them to be hurt.

Taglist:

@stilesstilinskiforlife-blog

@im-making-an-effort

@ilse235

@schrodingers-intelligence

[therealsaintscully]

i bet they're umqraing right now. get it, sherlock.

when john and sherlock umqra for the first time then you all will see

[the-haunted-office]

Cube listen intently and chuckles at Thursday. "That's good to hear Thursday. Kids a truly wonderful are they not? Speaking of which Oliver is doing well. The ASF offers a wonderful daycare program for its personnel which has been saving me from the stress of leaving him by himself at home. His magic is growing stronger by the day which I must say makes me proud... Would you care for some tea dear friend?" Cube says calmly.

"Yes, please!" Thursday accepts cheerily. Cube always brings over the best tea - of course Thursday can't say no!

"I'm glad to hear about Oliver! I forgot that he can do magic, that's amazing! But of course he can, he's your kid," Thursday laughs. "But what's the ASF again? I forget what it stands for, sorry! I hear so many initials all the time - USB, OSHA, AFV, UMQRA, ahahaha, you know how it goes, if you've heard one part of the alphabet, you've heard it all, haha."

[ebaeschnbliah]

The thing with the ACRONYMS ...

Mycroft loves acronyms. All the best secret societies have them, he says. The creators of Sherlock BBC seem to love them as well, because several have found a way into their story. Reason enough to throw a brief glance at some of them. :)

TBC below the cut ...

UMQRA & HOUND

On the way to Dewer’s Hollow John notices flashes of light on the nightly moor. He interprets them as morse code signals for the letters U,M,Q,R,A and informs Sherlock about his discovery. When John follows those flashes of light, some hours later, he discovers a place where people engage in car-sex. What John expected to be morse code signals turns out to be just randomly blinking headlights of rocking cars. “Don’t be alarmed. It’s to do with sex” ...

Sherlock apparently doesn’t know about John’s second discovery and the rather trivial explanation for the mysterious flashlights on the moor. He experiments with the UMQRA letters, adds dots behind each one and suddenly has a revelation. He calls John ‘conductor of light’ and explains his idea. “What if it is individual letters?” Sherlock’s thoughts though are now focused on HOUND rather than UMQRA.

In a nutshell: UMQRA is linked to secret sexual activity in a car (body). By adding dots, Sherlock draws the connection from UMQRA to HOUND. 

The monstrous HOUND, who allegedly haunts the Baskerville moore, changes into a simple dog. 

H.O.U.N.D. turns out to be the name of a secret government project that got stopped a long time ago and had been now taken up again, illegally, by a doctor who is a virologist. 

Affected by the HOUND-aerosol (love is in the air) ‘doctor’ and ‘virus’ - Frankland & Jim (’say hallo to the virus‘) - merge into one another in Sherlock’s mind. The ‘good’ doctor kills the dog. The ‘bad’ doctor dies in an explosion. Then Mycroft (the government/brain) releases Jim (’I’m Mr Sex’) from his prison. Big brother himself lets the HOUND off the leash ...

More on the same subject:  UMQRA by @bug-catcher-in-viridian-forest  -  Are you attempting to make a point? by @221brainstorming (deleted)  -  Follow the Dog Part 2 by @sagestreet  

AGRA & AM(M)O

Mary tells Sherlock and John that the letters on her memory stick - AGRA - are meant to be her initials. Later it turns out that AGRA is an acronym, connected to a team of four agents - Alex, Gabriel, Rosamund Mary (alias Mary) and Ajay. This group was once employed by the government and Mary is still secretly working for Mycroft (TAB).

A code word is linked to the AGRA acronym, uttered by an anonymous voice on a phone. First Sherlock interprets that word as AMMO, short for ‘ammunition’. Some time later Sherlock realizes that this secret code word doesn’t mean ‘ammo’ but ‘amo’ ... Latin for ‘I love’. 

Regarding the dots that accompany the AGRA acronym, there are some noticable irregularities:

The memory stick Mary puts on the table in 221b (HLV) ... A.G.RA

John shows Mary her memory stick before he throws it into the fire at the Holmes cottage (HLV) ... A.G.RA

The memory stick in the fire (HLV) ... A.G.R.A

Ajay’s memory stick, revealed from inside the Thatcher bust (TST) ... A.G.RA

AGRA acronym at the beginning of the Tiblisi scene (TST) ... A.G.R.A.

And when Sherlock first mentions AGRA in Mycroft’s presence his brother instantly brings up the Indian city of Agra. No dots at all. 

“Agra? A city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is three hundred and seventy-eight kilometres west of the state capital, ...”

THE CITY OF AGRA

 This city plays a key role in AC Doyle’s novel The Sign of Four. 

"The city of Agra is a great place, swarming with fanatics and fierce devil-worshippers of all sorts. Our handful of men were lost among the narrow, winding streets. Our leader moved across the river, therefore, and took up his position in the old fort at Agra. I don't know if any of you gentlemen have ever read or heard anything of that old fort. It is a very queer place,—the queerest that ever I was in, and I have been in some rum corners, too. First of all, it is enormous in size. I should think that the enclosure must be acres and acres. There is a modern part, which took all our garrison, women, children, stores, and everything else, with plenty of room over. But the modern part is nothing like the size of the old quarter, where nobody goes, and which is given over to the scorpions and the centipedes. It is all full of great deserted halls, and winding passages, and long corridors twisting in and out, so that it is easy enough for folk to get lost in it. For this reason it was seldom that any one went into it, though now and again a party with torches might go exploring.”

The old fort of Agra is the place where the theft of the great treasure takes place, around which Holmes’ case in The Sign of Four revolves. Somehow Doyle’s description of that fort ... fortress, palace and residence of rulers ... almost sounds like a description of a vast and convoluted mind palace. 

The great Agra treasure

This treasure gets stolen by a group of four men. They are bound by an oath - a vow - written down on paper and signed. 

In the left-hand corner is a curious hieroglyphic like four crosses in a line with their arms touching. Beside it is written, in very rough and coarse characters, “The sign of the four” ... 

A heavy iron box, made of Benares metal-work, contained the great treasure that consisted of ‘the most precious stones and the choicest pearls’:

There were one hundred and forty-three diamonds of the first water, including one which has been called, I believe, 'the Great Mogul' and is said to be the second largest stone in existence. Then there were ninety-seven very fine emeralds, and one hundred and seventy rubies, some of which, however, were small. There were forty carbuncles, two hundred and ten sapphires, sixty-one agates, and a great quantity of beryls, onyxes, cats'-eyes, turquoises, and other stones, the very names of which I did not know at the time, though I have become more familiar with them since. Besides this, there were nearly three hundred very fine pearls, twelve of which were set in a gold coronet. By the way, these last had been taken out of the chest and were not there when I recovered it.

The ‘Sign of Four’ and also Captain Morstan (Mary’s father) were later betrayed by Major Sholto, who took the treasure and ran off with it to England. And here the great treasure from the banks of the river Yamuna gets lost forever, submerged in the waters of the river Thames. 

Great treasure from the banks ... lost ... the waters ...

At this point inevitably the Waters Gang from The Sign of Three comes to mind. This episode starts with three bank robbers, masked as clowns, who commit five thefts at almost quite regular intervals before they ..... get caught?

18 MONTHS AGO - “Bank gang leave cops clueless”

12 MONTHS AGO - “Who stole our two mill?”

6 MONTHS AGO - “Police are no closer to Waters Gang conviction”

3 MONTHS AGO - “Waters Gang walk free, again!”

YESTERDAY - Apparently no good day for the Waters family ... but then Sherlock phones, calls for help and Greg leaves his post ...

Is the Waters Gang able to escape again or do they get finally caught? That’s still an open question. And Mary’s secret A.G.R.A. identity will only be revealed in the next episode ... His Last Vow.

Points or no points ... or both?

Sherlock solves the Baskerville case by adding dots behind each letter of the word: HOUND ... H.O.U.N.D. The supernatural monster-hound disappears and turnes into a man-made project instead. Strictly speaking, however, both versions - the acronym H.O.U.N.D. as well as the word ‘hound’ - are important and have meaning and both are linked to Jim ‘Mr Sex’ Moriarty. Maybe this method applies also to AGRA?

AGRA without the dots

As Mycroft explains in The Six Thatchers, Agra is ‘a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India’. In AC Doyle’s novel The Sign of Four it is the old fort of Agra that plays the key role. The construction of this fortress - palace and residnece of rulers - was commissioned by emperor Shah Jahan (meaning: king of the world). Years later, Shah Jahan was put under house arrest in the Red Fort by one of his sons until his death in 1666. He found his final resting place in the same mausoleum he’d commissioned for his favourite wife Mumtaz Mahal. For eight years Shah Jahan looked out from the Red Fort at the place where his most favourite empress, his inseparable comanion, the great love of his life, had been laid to rest. 

Agra’s most prized and best-known monument isn’t the old fort ... it is the Taj Mahal ... the worldwide renowned symbol of undying love. 

The corners have been placed so that when seen from the center of the plan, the sun can be seen rising and setting on the north and south corners on the summer and winter solstices respectively. This makes the Taj a symbolic horizon. The planning and structure of the Taj Mahal, from the building itself to the gardens and beyond, is symbolic of the garden of Paradise. The sky has not only been incorporated in the design through the reflecting pools but also through the surface of the building itself.

It is said that the white symbolizes the purity of real love. The planning of the entire compound has been split into two - representing earthly life and afterlife. The plan of the worldly side is a mirror image of the otherworldly side, and the grand gate in the middle represents the transition between the two lives. 

AMO ... I love ...

A.G.R.A. or Agra - both versions finally lead to ‘love’ - just like H.O.U.N.D. and hound lead to ‘sex’. A virologist who is employed by the government but secretly works on his own project and a secretary, cleverer than most, who is also employed by the government and also does her own thing. Under the influence of the hound-aerosol the virologist merges visually with Jim and when the secretary’s secret amo-identity is unmasked, she uses - word for word - Jim’s line from TGG. Coincidence? 

Lady Smallwoods codename is ‘love’ while Vivian Norbury calls herself ‘amo’ (I love). ‘Amo’ worked undercover, betrayed the government and used AGRA as her private assassination unit. 

“Why did you betray us?” ..... “Why does anyone do anything?”

September, 2022

Thanks for reading and thanks @callie-ariane​ for the scripts.

Sources (incl. Agra pics): Agra Fort  Taj Mahal  Shah Jahan  The sign of four by ACDoyle

[waitedforgarridebs]

UMQRA could have something to do with the Q code used initially in radiotelegrapgy and later radio communications. QRA is code for What is the name of your vessel (or station)?

Oh, that’s a nice idea! I don’t think I’ve heard that one before. What do you think “UM” stands for in this context?

Although I have to admit I kinda like the solution @bug-catcher-in-viridian-forest came up with: If you use SHERLOCK as the key for a mixed alphabet cypher, UMQRA translates to TORCH. – As far as I know, this has so far been the only approach using a cypher to decode UMQRA to produce an actual word. (x) (x)

[msclaritea]

~John’s Seven Lamps: A Shakespeare Sonnet Meta~

In HOUND, John goes through a lot while sorting through his feelings. This episode is as much about him as it is Sherlock. Even as they seem to make timid steps towards one another, there is so much left to sort and unfortunately, they again misunderstand each other, and as John leaves his tense conversation with Sherlock, he walks out of Cross Keys and straight into Fair Youth Sonnet #7.

Lo, in the orient when the gracious light

Lifts up his burning head, each under eye

Doth homage to his new-appearing sight,

Serving with looks his sacred majesty;

And having climb'd the steep-up heavenly hill,             resembling strong youth in his middle age,           yet mortal looks adore his beauty still,                      attending on his golden pilgrimage;

But when from high-most pitch, with weary car,

Like feeble age, he reeleth from the day,

The eyes, 'fore duteous, now converted are

From his low tract and look another way:

   So thou, thyself outgoing in thy noon,

   Unlook'd on diest, unless thou get a son. 

Synopsis:

“Each day for the sun is like one lifetime for man. He is youthful, capable, and admired in the early stages of his lifetime, much like the sun is admired in the early day.

 But as the sun sets and a man's aging gets the best of him, he is facing frailty and mortality, and those once concerned with man and sun are now inattentive. 

At night the sun is forgotten. At death man is forgotten, unless he leaves a legacy.

This sonnet introduces new imagery, comparing the Youth to a morning sun, looked up to by lesser beings. But as he grows older he will be increasingly ignored unless he has a son to carry forward his identity into the next generation.

The poem draws on classical imagery, common in art of the period, in which Helios or Apollo cross the sky in his chariot - an emblem of passing time. The word "car" was also used classically of the sun's chariot.”

Further study of this Sonnet reveals that it touches not just on Metaphysics, and Philosophy, but also tinges of Imperialism.

Read also @mathildalocks​  Morana, the Slavic goddess of Death, Fertility and the Underworld for Metaphysical perspective

@asherlockstudy​ Why the THoB fight is much sadder than it seems at first for emotional perspective

@sarahthecoat​ @ebaeschnbliah​ @artfulkindoforder​ @fellshish​

X

[late-to-the-party-221]

Again, John's perspective. We see the umqra letters again, like in Sherlock's perspective. But I'm questioning if the letters stayed umqra in Morse code or there were other letters too (or non letters like numbers or apostrophes). If it was flashing bc a couple was screwing in their car, it wouldn't consistently be umqra

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Why was that U. M. Q. R. A. scene even in that episode THOB? It literally didn't add anything to the plot or the characters lmao.

It just felt someone from writing team shitposting.

Hey Nonny!

Yeah, in hindsight, the UMQRA scene seems really pointless, to be honest, though back in the day there were plenty of interesting discussions about it. I actually forgot I did a meta about it, so check that link there, pretty fun! There's a couple more meta attached to that link. I think nowadays, though, yeah, it just feels like it was a plot point to get John to do something, heh. BUT THOB is one of my fave episodes, so I enjoy it for what it is.

[mbtidetective]

[safedistancefrombeingsmart]

The 3rd one. 😆😆 #UMQRA

Martin Freeman as John Watson in every episode of Sherlock

S02E02: The Hounds of Baskerville

[writingwife-83]

Sherlock: In hindsight, I think it's all your fault.

Thanks for waiting! Hope you enjoy! 😉

“In hindsight, I think it's all your fault,” Sherlock said, pulling the keys out of the ignition after having tried three times without success.

“That is absolutely not true!” Molly countered indignantly. “I didn’t turn the keys to ‘on’ or switch the headlights on.”

“At the very least, you significantly distracted me when we’re supposed to be keeping a watchful eye out for the suspect passing by,” he insisted, taking his mobile out to reluctantly phone Lestrade for backup.

“Were you ‘keeping a watchful eye’ when you started snogging me twenty minutes ago?” Molly asked with a little snort of laughter. “Might be a good idea to wait till the proverbial honeymoon is over before you start taking me with you on stakeouts!”

**prompts closed**

[keepsbooksinherpocket]

Beautiful.

Sherlock (TV series) - UMQRA = TORCH

ENCRYPTION TECHNIQUE: MIXED ALPHABET CIPHER AND CAESAR CIPHER Mixed Alphabet Cipher is an encryption technique in which the letters of the plain alphabet are substituted by the letters of a cipher alphabet. The cipher alphabet is obtained by writing down the letters of a key in the order of their first appearance and then rest of the letters of the English alphabet following their usual order. For example, if the key was the word “key”, the cipher alphabet would be: KEYABCDFGHIJLMNOPQRSTUVWXZ The cipher alphabet can be compared with the English alphabet or one of its rotations: Cipher Alphabet:  KEYABCDFGHIJLMNOPQRSTUVWXZ ROT 0 Alphabet:  ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ  

In this example, if I wanted to encrypt the plaintext ABCDEF, the ciphertext would be KEYABC. Rotating the alphabet is called the Caesar Cipher encryption technique, which can be used on its own or in conjunction with other methods, like the Mixed Alphabet Cipher. Cipher Alphabet:  KEYABCDFGHIJLMNOPQRSTUVWXZ ROT 1 Alphabet:  ZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY    

In this example there has been a rotation of 1 place, so if I wanted to encrypt the plaintext ABCDEF, the ciphertext would be EYABCD.

ONE POSSIBLE SOLUTION The ciphertext has been given to us both visually and vocally.

The key could be the name of the show.

We can create the cipher alphabet with the key SHERLOCK following the rules of the Mixed Alphabet Cipher.

We can compare the cipher alphabet with the plain alphabet or one of its rotations, in this case a rotation of one place gives us some results.

To each letter of the mixed alphabet corresponds a letter of the ROT 1 alphabet.

Which gives us a solution.

THE MEANINGS OF THE WORD From Oxford English Dictionary

As far as Sherlock is concerned the relevant meanings are:

The traditional torch (fire);

The electric torch;

The victorian torch;

A source of light;

To feel (especially unrequited) love.

AN EXPLANATION OF THE PLAINTEXT If this is the solution, UMQRA could be just a visual joke on the electric torch or have a double meaning regarding Sherlock and John’s feelings for each other.

Every scene in which UMQRA is discussed is connected with one or more of the above meanings. John is holding a torch before, while and after writing UMQRA.

Also the signal itself comes from a source of light. 

UMQRA is brought up again while Sherlock and John are in front of a fire (a source of light) upon which reigns a heart (feelings of love) and are surrounded by candles (other sources of light). Soon after they have a conversation about John not being Sherlock’s friend (unrequited feelings), which upsets John.

Just after Sherlock declares that he doesn’t have friends, he’s holding a torch again before finding the UMQRA cars.

Again, we have the signal as a source of light.

The morning after Sherlock brings UMQRA up again and thanks to it deduces HOUND is not a word but individual letters. For this reason he says John is his “conductor of light”.

SHERLOCK: You’ve never been the most luminous of people, but as a conductor of light you are unbeatable.

During this scene Sherlock also admits that the friendship is requited.

Keep reading

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi Steph ! It's me again ;O So I have a question about the scene in "Hounds of Baskerville" when John sees what he thinks is someone sending him a morse code but it's actually... people... coUGH ANYWAYS ! I was wondering if there was any secret meaning to that scene ? I feel like there probably is but I'm also not sure lolol ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Thanks !!

Hi Lovely!

ACTUALLY, we had an interesting discussion awhile back here about the UMQRA code! It’s not much, but I like discussion from people more clever than I, LOL. I’ve also a “codes and ciphers” tag you can check out as well, which goes into tinhat territory but has a lot of interesting posts that covers all the seasons and some Tinhat stuff for S4. :) Oh! and my “IOU” tag as well. They’re all mildly connected, we think :)