Sherlock Holmes (novel)/Heartwarming

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  • A Case of Identity
  • A Scandal in Bohemia
  • A Study in Scarlet
  • His Last Bow
  • Silver Blaze
  • The 'Gloria Scott'
  • The Adventure of Black Peter
  • The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton
  • The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
  • The Adventure of the ''Gloria Scott''
  • The Adventure of the Abbey Grange
  • The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
  • The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
  • The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
  • The Adventure of the Cardboard Box
  • The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
  • The Adventure of the Crooked Man
  • The Adventure of the Dancing Men
  • The Adventure of the Devil's Foot
  • The Adventure of the Dying Detective
  • The Adventure of the Empty House
  • The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
  • The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez
  • The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter
  • The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter
  • The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual
  • The Adventure of the Naval Treaty
  • The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
  • The Adventure of the Norwood Builder
  • The Adventure of the Priory School
  • The Adventure of the Red Circle
  • The Adventure of the Red-Headed League
  • The Adventure of the Reigate Squire
  • The Adventure of the Resident Patient
  • The Adventure of the Second Stain
  • The Adventure of the Six Napoleons
  • The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist
  • The Adventure of the Speckled Band
  • The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk
  • The Adventure of the Three Students
  • The Adventure of the Yellow Face
  • The Boscombe Valley Mystery
  • The Crooked Man
  • The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
  • The Final Problem
  • The Five Orange Pips
  • The Greek Interpreter
  • The Hound of the Baskervilles
  • The Man with the Twisted Lip
  • The Musgrave Ritual
  • The Naval Treaty
  • The Red-headed League
  • The Reigate Puzzle
  • The Resident Patient
  • The Sign of the Four
    • Chapter 1
    • Chapter 10
    • Chapter 11
    • Chapter 12
    • Chapter 2
    • Chapter 3
    • Chapter 4
    • Chapter 5
    • Chapter 6
    • Chapter 7
    • Chapter 8
    • Chapter 9
  • The Stock-broker's Clerk
  • The Valley of Fear
  • The Yellow Face
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• The Sign of the Four: Holmes plays Watson to sleep with his violin.
  • Watson and Mary holding hands outside Pondicherry Lodge, and confessing their love for each other, also after they open the jewel-box, with an especially touching speech by Watson:

"Because you are within my reach again," I said, taking her hand. She did not withdraw it. "Because I love you, Mary, as truly as ever a man loved a woman. Because this treasure, these riches, sealed my lips. Now that they are gone I can tell you how I love you. That is why I said, 'Thank God.'" "Then I say 'Thank God,' too," she whispered as I drew her to my side. Whoever had lost a treasure, I knew that night that I had gained one.

• The Three Garridebs: When Watson is shot, we see what may be the only instance in the canon of Holmes truly shaken. "You're not hurt, Watson? For God's sake, say that you are not hurt!"
  • Watson's commentary clinches it:

It was worth a wound -- it was worth many wounds -- to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation.

• • And, just to wrap it all up, we have this:

"By the Lord, it is as well for you. If you had killed Watson, you would not have got out of this room alive..."

• The Devil's Foot: Holmes loses his composure after Watson has saved them both from the titular drug/nerve gas and admits that he should never have subjected his friend to it.
• The ending of The Yellow Face when Grant Munro decides to accept his wife's biracial daughter into the family. This is even a CMOH in-universe; Watson prefaces it by saying that just thinking about it gives him warm fuzzies.

It was a long ten minutes before Grant Munro broke the silence, and when his answer came it was one I love to think. He lifted the little child, kissed her, and then,still carrying her, he held his other hand out to his wife and turned towards the door. "We can talk more comfortably at home," said he. "I am not a very good man, Effie, but I think that I am a better one than you have given me credit for being." Holmes and I followed them down the lane, and my friend plucked at my sleeve as we came out. "I think," said he, "that we shall be of more use in London than in Norbury." Not another word did he say of the case until late that night, when he was turning away, with his lighted candle, for his bedroom. "Watson," said he, "if it should ever strike you that I am getting a little over-confidant in my powers, or giving less pains to a case than it deserves, kindly whisper 'Norbury' in my ear, and I shall be infinitely obliged to you."

• The Empty House: Holmes explains that part of the reason he chose to reveal himself now is because he learned of the death of Watson's wife, and "Work is the best antidote to sorrow, my dear Watson."
  • The entire first half, where Watson tries his own detective work. Just... bless him.
  • Another The Empty House example: Holmes and Watson's conversation after Watson woke up from fainting due to Holmes' sudden reveal of being, y'know, alive. It's an incredibly sweet moment, as they're both concerned for the other's wellbeing in their own sorts of ways...
• The Six Napoleons where Lestrade and Holmes are finally reconciled.

"'We're not jealous of you at Scotland Yard. No sir, we are very proud of you, and if you come down tomorrow, there's not a man from the oldest inspector to the youngest constable who wouldn't be glad to shake you by the hand.' 'Thank you!' said Holmes and as he turned away it seemed to me that he was more nearly moved by the softer human emotions than I had ever seen him.

• • Not to mention Holmes getting all soft-hearted when Watson and Lestrade heartily applaud after he presents the pearl.
• The Solitary Cyclist: Carruthers throws the entire evil plan away out of love for Violet in his confession
• At the end of The Blue Carbuncle, which takes place during Christmastime, Holmes and Watson finally corner the man who stole the jewel. After admitting everything and falling completely apart for guilt, Holmes, seeing that jail would ruin his mental state completely, lets the culprit go free.
  • It only gets more heartwarming upon further reflection, as Holmes makes it very clear he could and would utterly destroy the villain if he wanted to, just before letting him go, and he only relented in doing so because he realized the culprit got the message loud and clear.
• A Scandal in Bohemia: Holmes tells Watson, "I am lost without my Boswell."
  • In The Lion's Mane, Holmes is on his own, having retired and moved to the country while Watson stayed in London. They see each other on weekends, but it's clear that the detective misses his Boswell.
• In The Man with the Twisted Lip, where Watson goes to retrieve a patient from an opium den and runs into Holmes there. It's quickly revealed that Holmes was only working a case, but Watson's initial freakout shows how much he cares about his prickly partner.
• John Farrier and Lucy in A Study In Scarlet. He looked after her in terrible conditions, even adopting her once they were rescued and settled with the Mormons. And he was willing to kill, and to die, to protect her. The fact Doyle took the time to establish that Lucy had grown into a happy young woman and that her father was a decent man made the whole business even worse.
• In The Dying Detective, we see Watson ready to go to any lengths to save his friend's life, even if it means catching Holmes' disease and possibly dying himself. For his part, Holmes has a Freak-Out when he sees Watson touching a box on his mantlepiece; we later find out that the box contained the disease and would have killed him.
• The moment in The Bruce-Partington Plans when Holmes and Watson discuss breaking into a house; also a Moment of Awesome.

"I don’t like it, Holmes." "My dear fellow, you shall keep watch in the street. I’ll do the criminal part. It’s not a time to stick at trifles. Think of Mycroft’s note, of the Admiralty, the Cabinet, the exalted person who waits for news. We are bound to go." My answer was to rise from the table. "You are right, Holmes. We are bound to go." He sprang up and shook me by the hand. "I knew you would not shrink at the last," said he, and for a moment I saw something in his eyes which was nearer to tenderness than I had ever seen. The next instant he was his masterful, practical self once more.

• Bit of Fridge Brilliance and the series' famously inconsistent continuity here... but in The Blue Carbuncle Holmes says Watson is his only friend. His letter to Watson in The Final Problem mentions regretting the pain his death will cause his friends, implying Character Development.

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"If the detective should suffer overmuch from the artistic temperament, and his fellow lodger should dwell overlong upon the fairness of a wrist or the timber of a femenine voice, so much the better for us. Literature never produced a relationship more symbiotic nor a warmer and more timeless friendship." -- Loren D. Estleman