Professor Moriarty đ Members
Detectives. From The Final Problem in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle (1893). Professor Moriarty is the Napoleon of crime, a mathematical genius who organises half the evil and nearly all the undetected crime in London through a vast network of agents.
Age and build
Extremely tall and thin
âHe is extremely tall and thin, his forehead domes out in a white curve, and his two eyes are deeply sunken in his headâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Face and hair
Clean-shaven, pale, ascetic appearance with domed forehead
âHe is clean-shaven, pale, and ascetic-looking, retaining something of the professor in his featuresâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Dress
The book is silent here, so we keep this plain and neutral.
Voice and speech
Soft, precise manner of speech conveying sincerity
âHis soft, precise fashion of speech leaves a conviction of sincerity which a mere bully could not produceâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Signature words
Tut, tut
âTut, tut,â said heâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
You must
âYou must drop it, Mr. Holmes,â said he, swaying his face about. âYou really must, you knowâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Well, well
âWell, well,â said he, at lastâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Gait and mannerisms
Rounded shoulders from study
âHis shoulders are rounded from much study, and his face protrudes forward, and is forever slowly oscillating from side to side in a curiously reptilian fashionâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Swaying face side to side while speaking
âYou must drop it, Mr. Holmes,â said he, swaying his face aboutâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Smiling and blinking with unsettling eyes
âHe still smiled and blinked, but there was something about his eyes which made me feel very glad that I had it thereâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Strengths
Phenomenal mathematical faculty and genius intellect
âHe is a man of good birth and excellent education, endowed by nature with a phenomenal mathematical facultyâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Organiser of vast criminal network with numerous agents
âHe is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first orderâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Flaws
Made a small mistake that allowed Holmes to close the net
âBut at last he made a tripâonly a little, little tripâbut it was more than he could afford when I was so close upon himâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Underestimated Holmes's ability to anticipate his movements
âThere are limits, you see, to our friendâs intelligence. It would have been a coup-de-maĂŽtre had he deduced what I would deduce and acted accordinglyâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Traits
Ruthless and willing to use violence to eliminate threats
âIt is necessary that you should withdraw. You have worked things in such a fashion that we have only one resource leftâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Appreciative of intellectual skill even in opponents
âIt has been an intellectual treat to me to see the way in which you have grappled with this affair, and I say, unaffectedly, that it would be a grief to me to be forced to take any extreme measureâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Determined and relentless in pursuit of his goals
âYou hope to place me in the dock. I tell you that I will never stand in the dock. You hope to beat me. I tell you that you will never beat meâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Vengeful and willing to destroy those who threaten him
âIf you are clever enough to bring destruction upon me, rest assured that I shall do as much to youâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Lines in their own words
Commenting on Holmes's physical development
âYou have less frontal development than I should have expected,â said he, at lastâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Threatening Holmes with inevitable destruction
âThat is not danger,â said he. âIt is inevitable destruction. You stand in the way not merely of an individual, but of a mighty organization, the full extent of which you, with all your cleverness, have been unable to realizeâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Expressing regret at being forced to take extreme measures
âIt has been an intellectual treat to me to see the way in which you have grappled with this affair, and I say, unaffectedly, that it would be a grief to me to be forced to take any extreme measureâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Declaring his refusal to be captured
âYou hope to place me in the dock. I tell you that I will never stand in the dockâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Threatening mutual destruction
âIf you are clever enough to bring destruction upon me, rest assured that I shall do as much to youâ (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)
Reference sheet
Film looks we will not copy
- Andrew Scott BBC Sherlock look
- Jared Harris 2011 film look
Always book accurate. Every quote above was checked word for word against our stored copy of the text. Pictures are made with AI from the book's own description and checked by hand for film looks.
