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The literary canon of [[Sherlock Holmes]] consists of the fifty-six short stories and four novels written by [[Arthur Conan Doyle (Creator)|Arthur Conan Doyle]]. See '''[[Sherlock Holmes]]''' for more information about the character and the various adaptations of [[Sherlock Holmes]].
 
=== Novels ===
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* [[Arc Words]]: "The Second Stain" was mentioned several times before its publication.
* [[Asexuality|Aromanticism]]: Holmes is considered the archetypal aromantic character; as mentioned by Watson in "A Scandal in Bohemia", the famous detective "as a lover...would have placed himself in a false position. He never spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer."
* [[As Long Asas It Sounds Foreign]]: in "The Adventure of the Empty House", Holmes explains his apparent [[Unexplained Recovery|return from the dead]] and escape from Moriarty as due to his knowledge of "[[Hand Wave|Baritsu]], or the Japanese system of wrestling". No such word exists in Japanese. It is either an accidental misremembering or purposeful misspelling of [https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Bartitsu Bartitsu], a briefly popular style during the turn of that century. Unfortunately, said style was invented several years after 1891 and furthermore relies heavily on the use of ''[[Dead Hat Shot|walking sticks]]''.
* [[Asshole Victim]]:
** The title character of "Charles Augustus Milverton", who is so unsympathetic that Holmes and Watson allow his killer to get away; also seen in "Black Peter" with a victim who was abusive towards his family and an all around nasty piece of work. The rest of the stories provide plenty more examples. This shows up in "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", "The Cardboard Box", "The Crooked Man", "The Resident Patient", and "The Abbey Grange", not to mention the {{spoiler|first story, ''A Study In Scarlet''}}.
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* [[Batman Gambit]]: Holmes continually employs these on criminals and clients alike to get what he needs. He's even done it to Watson, counting on the good doctor's sincerity and guileless nature to lure a murderer into a trap in ''The Adventure of the Dying Detective''.
* [[Beam Me Up, Scotty]]:
** In the original novels, Holmes ''never'' actually uttered the exact phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson". He uses the phrase 'elementary' on occasion, and often refers to Watson as 'my dear Watson' but never combines the two. The phrase actually comes from a [[PGP. WodehouseG. (Creator)Wodehouse|PG Wodehouse]] novel.
** Nor did he ever cry, "Quick, Watson, the needle!" That phrase originates in Victor Herbert's comic operetta ''The Red Mill'', where it's used by a character who's ''impersonating'' Holmes.
** Likewise, the [[Memetic Outfit|deerstalker cap and Inverness coat]] are never mentioned in the stories proper, and while Sidney Paget did at times draw him wearing one or the other<ref>a deerstalker in "Silver Blaze", an Inverness coat in "The Blue Carbuncle"</ref>, he never put them both together. Nor would Holmes, despite his recurrent flakiness, have worn such a countrified outfit in the middle of London.
** Lampshaded in the recent [[Sherlock Holmes Versus Jack the Ripper]] game, in which at one point Sherlock asks Watson to "bring [him] that old deerstalker [he] never wear[s], but everyone seems convinced [he] wear[s] all the time".
** And [[Playing Withwith a Trope|played with]] in the second season of ''[[Sherlock (TV)|Sherlock]]'' BBC, where Sherlock {{spoiler|pulls on a deerstalker cap in an attempt to avoid paparazzi, and merely ends up with the press considering him the "man with the funny little hat" with pictures to back it up.}}
* [[Berserk Button]]: Don't compare Holmes to any other detective, even a fictional one. And more [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|heartwarmingly]], don't even attempt to do any harm to Watson in front of Holmes. Holmes also appears to really, ''really'' despise blackmailers; most of the [[Asshole Victim]] characters whose murderers he refused to expose unless he needed to save an innocent were blackmailers, the remainder mostly being abusive drunks.
* [[Big "What?"]]: "Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been galvanized. "What!" he roared."
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* [[Book Ends]]: ''The Sign of Four'' begins and ends with Holmes injecting himself with a seven-per-cent solution of cocaine.
* [[Brain Fever]]: Used in several Sherlock Holmes stories, including "The Copper Beeches," in which a girl's stepfather pesters her about her inheritance until she gets brain-fever; "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty," in which a man is ill for ''nine weeks'' after a treaty is stolen from under his nose; and "The Crooked Man", where the dead man's wife is conveniently rendered insensible after witnessing her husband's sudden death.
* [[Break in-In Threat]]: In "A Study in Scarlet", John Ferrier is being threatened by a Mormon cult, and walks up one morning with their sign painted on his chest.
* [[Breakout Character]]: [[Brilliant but Lazy|Mycroft Holmes]] and [[Promoted to Love Interest|Irene Adler]] come up more times in adaptations than they ever do in the actual stories: Mycroft only appears in three (''The Greek Interpreter'', ''The Final Problem'' and ''The Bruce-Partington Plans'') whereas Irene only appears in ''A Scandal in Bohemia'' and is referenced indirectly in a [[Continuity Nod]] in ''The Five Orange Pips''.
* [[Breakout Villain]]: Professor Moriarty is a classic.
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* [[Dirty Coward]]: The true criminal in ''The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle'' is scared enough of the consequences of his theft that when an innocent man is accused of the crime he's willing to let the man go to prison. Holmes later exploits this by letting the man go, noting that the case against the innocent man will collapse now that the carbuncle has been found and the true thief is too frightened to ever commit a crime again.
* [[Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe]]: Sherlock frequently smokes a pipe.
* [[Doing It for Thethe Art]]: Holmes' approach to his work. Monetary rewards are unimportant, and he often allows the official police to take the credit. What he loves is having a challenge to his skills and intellect. However, he is on occasion paid very handsomely for his work. In "The Adventure of the Final Problem", he states that he could comfortably retire on the payments he had received from the government of France and the royal house of Scandinavia.
* [[Don't Sneak Up On Me Like That]]: In "The Valley of Fear", McMurdo's girlfriend sneaks up on him while he's writing a letter:
{{quote| If she had expected to startle him, she certainly succeeded; but only in turn to be startled herself. With a tiger spring he turned on her, and his right hand was feeling for her throat.}}
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* [[Females Are More Innocent]]: This could be the [[Trope Codifier]], Sherlock Holmes never brought any woman to justice. He would always either allow them to escape or make sure no charges were filed against them. He would also come up with sometimes ludicrous explanation on why it was not her fault like something must have hit her hand causing the load stone of a structure to collapse killing her ex-fiancé and she just took is money because she might be pregnant. This courtesy was sometimes extended to men if they had a female accomplice.
* [[Femme Fatale]]: Somewhat true of Irene Adler; also, in both "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb" there is a female character involved with the villain who ends up helping the heroes.
* [[Finger in Thethe Mail]]: "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box" has a pair of ears placed in a box but delivered to the wrong person.
* [[Flanderization]]: Inverted in the sense that the official police detectives were often portrayed as inept bunglers in the early stories, but later cases recognized their own merits and otherwise had them contribute to the case in their own ways. Sadly, many adaptations reverse this process, especially on poor Lestrade.
* [[Follow the Leader]]: Many later detective characters -- [[Hercule Poirot]], [[Nero Wolfe]], [[Inspector Morse]], etc. -- were influenced by Holmes in one way or another. Of course, Holmes himself was inspired in no small measure by Poe's Dupin. This is even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] by Watson in the first novel, although Holmes dismisses the resemblance with characteristic smugness. There's also a possible [[Shout-Out]] in the new movie, where Watson's fiancée mentions that she likes detective novels and lists Poe as one such author.
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== H-N ==
* [[Had to Come Toto Prison Toto Be Aa Crook]]: Mentioned in "The Blue Carbuncle", when Sherlock decides to release the man who stole the title gem: "This fellow will not go wrong again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to jail now, and you make him a jail-bird for life."
* [[Have a Gay Old Time]]:
** Watson ejaculates in a couple of the books. Back then it just meant to interject a comment into a conversation.
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* [[Historical In-Joke]]: The second half of ''A Study In Scarlet'' (which is itself a completely different story explaining the motive for the murderer from the first half) takes place around the time the Mormons were migrating to Utah. In real life, this is because they were chased out of every other part of the country (and, considering the size of America at the time, several places besides) by non-Mormons who didn't want them around.
* [[Historical Villain Upgrade]]: {{spoiler|Brigham Young}} in "A Study in Scarlet" is a mild case. He doesn't serve as an antagonist for Holmes, but he's portrayed as a crazed religious zealot with zero sympathy for anyone outside of his devoted group of followers, {{spoiler|and he turns out to be directly responsible for the events motivating the sympathetic vigilante who commits the murders in the book}}.
* [[Hoist Byby His Own Petard]]:
** In ''The Adventure of the Speckled Band'', Dr. Grimesby Roylott is {{spoiler|bitten by the poisonous snake he intended to murder his stepdaughter Helen.}}. Holmes plays an indirect role in Dr. Roylott's death, but notes that he's unlikely to feel much remorse over it.
** In ''The Adventure of the Copper Beeches'', when Jephro Rucastle is {{spoiler|maimed by the starved mastiff he releases to kill his imprisoned daughter}}. Particularly appropriate, as {{spoiler|he was the one who ordered the dog starved and imprisoned the girl}}.
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** Worse, as the story had been written at some time in 1888, the former King of Bohemia (date of death 1875, who enjoyed royal residence, wealth and prestige even as the royal title had been removed from him) was the "imbecile Emperor" [[wikipedia:Ferdinand I of Austria|Ferdinand of Austria]], while the description of the King and the fact he had a female artist as a lover matches [[wikipedia:Ludwig I of Bavaria|Ludwig I of Bavaria]], who had a scandalous relationship in the late 1840s. For [[Victorian Britain]] readers, [[In Joke|the double irony was easier to understand]].
** Watson is relieved when the client's unexpected inheritance is lost in ''Sign of the Four'' because it caused this to be averted.
* [[Intercontinuity Crossover]]: ''And how!'' The first time was before Holmes became a [[Public Domain Character]] with [[Arsène Lupin]]. However, Conan Doyle's lawyers complained so Maurice LeBlanc was allowed to use the name Sherlock Holmes only once, but went on to use the character many more times, changing his name to Horlock Sholmes or Herlock Shears (depending on the publisher) Recent English editions usually change it back to the original name, but never in the French editions. Also notable are Holmes' crossovers with detective, scifi and Gothic characters such as Dracula, [[Doctor Who]], Batman both in comic and animated form (in the latter he and Watson suffered through many layers of Flanderization), C. Auguste Dupin, Eugine François Vidocq ([[Real Life]] detective), the [[HPH.P. Lovecraft]] mythos, Professor Challenger, [[The War of the Worlds]], Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, etc. and sometimes pitted against real life [[Serial Killer|Serial Killers]] like [[Jack the Ripper]] or H.H. Holmes. And of course his brief appeareance but tremendous influence in [[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]].
* [[In the Blood]]: Holmes states that his amazing deductive skills and genius is hereditary, he and brother both possessing them. He theorized it might have been because they were descended from the famous Vernet line of French painters. Interestingly, Vernet really did have a sister, who did have a few children, one of which would've had to have been a Holmes parent, legitimately or otherwise.
** Holmes also believes that Moriarty turned out evil because of "hereditary tendencies of the darkest kind" magnified by his incredible natural genius. The villain of the ''Hound of the Baskervilles'' has a similar theme going on.
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* [[It Will Never Catch On]]: In the first Holmes story, ''A Study In Scarlet'', Watson praises Holmes for having brought detection "as near an exact science as it ever will be brought in this world". Even leaving aside the current flood of forensic advancements, ''Scarlet'' was written when fingerprinting was just starting to come into use as an identification method: a technique Holmes, himself, wouldn't make use of until ''The Norwood Builder''.
* [[Insistent Terminology]]: ''Private Consulting '' Detective.
* [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold]]: He keeps it well hidden behind a cold, logical exterior, but Holmes isn't entirely without a heart; it usually expresses itself through his friendship with Watson. Just look at ''The Three Garridebs''.
* [[Karmic Death]]: Many throughout the stories, but notably the murder of {{spoiler|the blackmailer Charles Augustus Milverton. Both Holmes and Watson saw it happen and decided to protect the murderer, who was one of Milverton's victims}}.
* [[Kuudere]]: Holmes is sometimes [[Alternate Character Interpretation|interpreted]] as one.
* [[Leave Behind a Pistol]]
* [[Let Off Byby the Detective]]: Holmes sometime does this, reasoning that his job is simply to find a solution to a crime. Since he's not technically a member of the police or the courts, he doesn't feel obliged to turn someone over if he thinks their motive was noble.
* [[Living Emotional Crutch]]: Watson to Holmes, according to some interpretations.
** Reversed, in the very first novel. Watson spends much of ''A Study In Scarlet'' a physical and emotional wreck after his disastrous experiences in Afghanistan (he clearly would've been diagnosed with PTSD by modern standards), alone, penniless, depressed, and miserable. His adventure with Holmes can be viewed as a much-needed re-introduction to the land of the living.
* [[London Town]]: 221B Baker Street did not exist at the time (the house numbers only went up to 100 there). Later 221 would be assigned to the Abbey National Building Society (who had to hire a full-time clerk specifically to deal with Sherlock-related fanmail), which has now vacated that office. 221B is allocated to the museum, located between 237 and 241 Baker Street.
* [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane]]: ...or maybe just karma. Either way, the murderers of "The Five Orange Pips" meet an sudden end, shortly after Holmes vows revenge.
* [[Magnum Opus Dissonance]]: Conan Doyle respected Holmes enough to avert [[Dropped a Bridge Onon Him|dropping a bridge on him]] in ''The Final Problem'', feeling the character deserved to go out with a bang. He did, however, resent that the character was so large that nothing he, Doyle, ever wrote would ever be able to crawl out from under Holmes's shadow.
* [[Mainstream Obscurity]]: Not many people have read the novels themselves. However, everyone has a general idea who Sherlock is.
* [[Master of Disguise]]: Holmes often disguised himself for his investigations, and in most instances not even Watson recognized him. Notably, Watson {{spoiler|can't see through Holmes's disguise when he first returns to London after pretending to be dead. Watson faints when Holmes takes off his disguise.}}.
** Irene Adler's claim to fame, canonically, is that she actually noticed Holmes' ploy, saw through his disguise, deduced who he was - and then, just to be sure, disguised herself as a man, sped to his address in time to watch him laughing his way up the steps into 221B Baker Street, still in the disguise he'd just used on her. She then walks past, wishing him good night and using his name. Holmes himself, still drunk on how smart clever he is, fails to realize he's in disguise and a stranger on the street just called him by name. A fandom was born.
** Note that Holmes' ability to see through ''other peoples''' disguises wasn't always consistent with his usual perceptiveness. Many fans choose to believe that he did see through disguises, every time: he just didn't let on unless it suited his plans to do so.
* [[Minion Withwith an F In Evil]]: In the Valley of Fear, Morris is a member of the Scowrers, but only joined because he was discovered to be a Freeman once he moved to the Vermissa Valley. He is the only member who tries to tone down the amount of killings and bloodshed the gang commits, and warns the protagonist John [[Mc Murdo]] to find a way out.
* [[Money, Dear Boy]]: One of the reasons Doyle eventually brought Holmes back was because of the enormous sums of money editors were offering him.
** Also, Holmes' primary motivation for becoming the King of Bohemia's henchman, in 'A Scandal In Bohemia.' God knows there wasn't a shred of honor in it.
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* [[Mysterious Past]]: Sherlock Holmes himself. Watson often wondered what set of circumstances could've produced Holmes, and Holmes never gave away anything about his history, larger family (except his brother), or education. We only know he's descended from French artists and British country squires, he went to University for two years, and has a brother, which doesn't even ''begin'' to explain all his weirdness. Then again, we actually learn even less about Watson - but then again, Holmes has way more strangeness to account for. Explaining Holmes' mysterious past is a common topic in pastiche and fanfiction.
* [[Never Found the Body]]: ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'', ''The Final Problem'' (both Holmes and Moriarty).
* [[Nice Hat]]: Contrary to what now is popular belief, Holmes did wear a deerstalker. But never in the city, always in the country. In the city he sometimes wore a Top Hat, when not undercover of course. This is according to the original Sydney Paget illustrations, that Sir [[Arthur Conan Doyle (Creator)|Arthur Conan Doyle]] approved himself (and he usually requested Paget as his artist), so it's canon, or at least more canon that interior illustrations tend to be.
* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: In his tongue-in-cheek biography, William S. Baring-Gould suggests that The prince of Bohemia from "A Scandal in Bohemia" was actually Albert Edward, then Prince of Wales. A common theory also names Edward as the title character of "The Illustrious Client".
** A more certain one: Charles Augustus Milverton is based off of a real life (alleged) blackmailer, Charles Augustus Howell.
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{{quote| ''(Holmes speaking)'' "You're not hurt, Watson? For God's sake, say that you are not hurt!"<br />
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. }}
* [[Not Withwith Them for Thethe Money]]: Watson to Mary Morstan in ''The Sign of the Four''--to the point where he resolves not to even bother wooing her if the money Holmes is searching for turns up, not wanting to be thought of as a [[Gold Digger]]. {{spoiler|He doesn't tell her his true feelings until the treasure box is found, empty}}.
 
 
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* [[Orgy of Evidence]]: In ''The Adventure of the Norwood Builder'', there is already considerable evidence incriminating the suspect in the eyes of the police, but the clincher is a bloody thumbprint of the suspect on the wall. Holmes finds this suspicious, especially as he had carefully searched that hall the day before, and there had been no bloody thumbprint there, making the clue in his eyes proof that it was a setup.
* [[Our Vampires Are Different]]: ''The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire'' involves a client who thinks his wife has become a vampire after seeing her suck the blood of her newborn son. Holmes dismisses the notion as ridiculous, and soon ferrets out the truth.
* [[Overshadowed Byby Awesome]]: Watson, who is intelligent and capable in his own right; he just pales in comparison to Holmes.
* [[Paranormal Investigation]]: ''The Hound Of The Baskervilles''.
* [[Perma Shave]]: In Hound of the Baskervilles.
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* [[Rail Enthusiast]]: Watson can recite the rail schedules off the top of his head.
* [[Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic]]: Of the Spontaneous Eloquent Monologue type.
* [[Retcon]]: Remember that for seven years after "The Final Problem" was published, Holmes was dead, then the fandom bugged [[Arthur Conan Doyle (Creator)|Arthur Conan Doyle]] enough that he wrote "The Empty House"
* [[Ripped from the Headlines]]: A few stories were based on actual crimes, such as "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton"
* [[Roman Nose]]: In one of the [[Basil Rathbone]] movies, Holmes decoys an assassin by using a bust of Julius Caesar to produce a similar silhouette in his window. He quips: "Throughout history, Watson, prominent men have had prominent noses."
* [[Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training]]: In the first story, it's revealed that Holmes has no literary knowledge beyond modern crime literature, and when Watson explains the makeup of the solar system to him, he is interested, but immediately comments that he will "do his best to forget it." Why? Because Holmes reasons that there is only so much you can hold in your head, and he needs only what is required for his profession. This tends to be ignored by other writers.
** As it was by Doyle himself almost straight away. Despite apparently having nil knowledge of literature, Holmes is able to quote [[GoetheJohann (Creator)Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]] in the original and is familiar with Thomas Carlyle. Perhaps Holmes just had one of those "famous quote each day" novelty calendars?
* [[Scare'Em Straight]]: This trope is [[Lampshaded]] by Holmes when he lets James Ryder go in ''The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle''. Holmes notes that Ryder is already a nervous wreck after everything he's been through, and that he's too scared to ever commit a crime again. Putting Ryder in jail would only making him a jailbird for life, but letting him go after very nearly being ruined will keep him from ever doing wrong again. In any event, the greater good would be served since Holmes would be able to ensure the man Ryder framed would be found innocent of the crime.
* [[Science Marches On]]: In "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle", Sherlock determines that a man is intelligent by his hat size, reasoning that a man with a big head has a large brain, and therefore is smarter than averge. We now know that there is no connection between brain size and intelligence.
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* [[Sharp-Dressed Man]]: Holmes liked to dress well and, as noted above, in the books would ''never'' wear countrywear in the city.
* [[Sherlock Scan]]: The [[Trope Namer]], - Sherlock's favorite marketing shtick, a perfect means to impress potential clients as to his skills.
* [[Shipper Onon Deck]]: (''The Adventure of the Copper Beeches'')Watson has brief hopes for his friend and [[Awesome McCoolname|Violet Hunter]], [[Spirited Young Lady|an independent-minded governess]] with a remarkable knack for observation. He's disappointed when Holmes loses all interest in the woman after the case is solved.
* [[Show the Forehead]]: Holmes in the Paget illustrations.
* [[Snakes Are Evil]]: Holmes compares Moriarty's shifty gaze to that of a snake.
* [[Spanner in Thethe Works]]: ''The Adventure of the Naval Treaty'' features Joseph Harrison, the brother of Percy Phelps' fiancee stealing an important treaty. He hides it under the floorboards in his bedroom, intending to sell it to the French or Russian Embassies later, but before he can Percy comes home after suffering a nervous breakdown over the treaty's theft. Joseph ends up kicked out of his own room, where Percy goes to rest, and the treaty remains hidden under the floorboards where Joseph can't reach it. This prevents the treaty from being sold long enough for Percy to recover from his fever and enlist the help of Holmes.
* [[Spin-Off]]: Recurring characters Mycroft Holmes, Irene Adler and Lestrade all have their own authorized series of non canonical books, with varying degrees of success.
* [[Stealth Insult]]
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* [[Unwitting Instigator of Doom]]: The Swiss messenger who lures Watson away in "The Final Problem" was formerly the trope namer.
* [[Victorian London]]: the setting for most of the original mysteries.
* [[Villain Withwith Good Publicity]]: No one could believe Moriarty was a Master Criminal even by the time The Final Problem was published. According to Watson he only published an account of his dear friend's death because, thanks to Moriarty's brother, people still didn't believe he was guilty. Moriarty was described by an Inspector as being "a very respectable, learned, and talented sort of man" and even went as far as saying that "When he put his hand on my shoulder as we were parting, it was like a father's blessing before you go out into the cold, cruel world." Holmes couldn't help but chuckle at the irony.
* [[The Von Trope Family]]: Von Bork of ''His Last Bow''.
* [[The Watson]]: The [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Watsonian Versus Doylist]]: Another [[Trope Namer]].
* [[We Help the Helpless]]: Holmes sells his services to anyone and everyone, from the poorest pawnbrokers to the wealthiest kings. Helping some of his university classmates with their dilemmas inspired Holmes to do it for a living.
* [[What Happened to Thethe Mouse?]]: The Baker Street Irregulars are called on in the first two novels, and are never seen again.
** Toby the dog, whose tracking abilities Holmes valued above the skills of all Scotland Yard, appears only once.
* [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue]]: At the end of "The Adventure of the Copper Beaches".
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