Professor Moriarty 🔒 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.

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Professor Moriarty, drawn from the book

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Age and build

Extremely tall and thin

“He is extremely tall and thin, his forehead domes out in a white curve, and his two eyes are deeply sunken in his head” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Face and hair

Clean-shaven, pale, ascetic appearance with domed forehead

“He is clean-shaven, pale, and ascetic-looking, retaining something of the professor in his features” (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

“His soft, precise fashion of speech leaves a conviction of sincerity which a mere bully could not produce” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Signature words

Tut, tut

“Tut, tut,’ said he” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

You must

“You must drop it, Mr. Holmes,’ said he, swaying his face about. ‘You really must, you know” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Well, well

“Well, well,’ said he, at last” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Gait and mannerisms

Rounded shoulders from study

“His shoulders are rounded from much study, and his face protrudes forward, and is forever slowly oscillating from side to side in a curiously reptilian fashion” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Swaying face side to side while speaking

“You must drop it, Mr. Holmes,’ said he, swaying his face about” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Smiling and blinking with unsettling eyes

“He still smiled and blinked, but there was something about his eyes which made me feel very glad that I had it there” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Strengths

Phenomenal mathematical faculty and genius intellect

“He is a man of good birth and excellent education, endowed by nature with a phenomenal mathematical faculty” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Organiser of vast criminal network with numerous agents

“He 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 order” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Flaws

Made a small mistake that allowed Holmes to close the net

“But at last he made a trip—only a little, little trip—but it was more than he could afford when I was so close upon him” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Underestimated Holmes's ability to anticipate his movements

“There are limits, you see, to our friend’s intelligence. It would have been a coup-de-maître had he deduced what I would deduce and acted accordingly” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Traits

Ruthless and willing to use violence to eliminate threats

“It is necessary that you should withdraw. You have worked things in such a fashion that we have only one resource left” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Appreciative of intellectual skill even in opponents

“It 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 measure” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Determined and relentless in pursuit of his goals

“You 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 me” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Vengeful and willing to destroy those who threaten him

“If you are clever enough to bring destruction upon me, rest assured that I shall do as much to you” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Lines in their own words

Commenting on Holmes's physical development

“You have less frontal development than I should have expected,’ said he, at last” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Threatening Holmes with inevitable destruction

“That is not danger,’ said he. ‘It 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 realize” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Expressing regret at being forced to take extreme measures

“It 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 measure” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Declaring his refusal to be captured

“You hope to place me in the dock. I tell you that I will never stand in the dock” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Threatening mutual destruction

“If you are clever enough to bring destruction upon me, rest assured that I shall do as much to you” (Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, part 12)

Reference sheet

Front, side and back views

Film looks we will not copy

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.