BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » John and Harry

ukaunz · February 27, 2016 1:42 pm

I came across this idea on tumblr a while ago, it would be so cool if it turned out to be canon. So where is the evidence that John and Harry might be twins?

We have a comment on John's blog entry for January 29th (2010, if you go by air dates):
Notice the repetition of the age, as though they want us to pay attention to this fact!

Later the same year, on August 12th, John posts about him and Sherlock appearing in the newspaper.
Here's a screencap of one of the clippings that also appears in ASIB:
The writing is a little fuzzy, here is what the second paragraph says:
"Little is known about Sherlock himself but John, 37, is believed to have been a war hero in Afghanistan. Now, the brave soldier has turned from fighter to writer. His blog, www. johnwatsonblog.co.uk, has become an overnight sensation. It details the cases he and Sherlock have solved n [sic] and also reveals the salacious truth about their home life!"

So in January Harry is 36 and in August of the same year John is 37. That's a pretty small age gap, if there is one. In canon, John Watson has an older brother named Harry. Who knows if Moftiss will stick to canon on this point, but it just might be possible that Harry is the older twin. It will certainly make the "secret twin" scene in TAB even funnier

Anyway, I really want to see Harry in s4 so we can find out for sure!

Whisky · February 27, 2016 1:57 pm

This would be cool.
But I'm never sure how accurate the Blog really is.

Them being twins would make sense, imo.

kgreen20 · February 27, 2016 6:01 pm

Something does not compute here. According to John's CV, he got his A levels and entered Kings College, where he attended medical school, in 1999; we can safely assume that he was 18 at the time. That would have been followed by 5 years in medical school, 2 years as a house officer, and then--according to John himself, in "The Sign of Three"--3 years in Afghanistan. That would have made him either 30 years old or going on 30 when he was invalided out in 2009. That being the case, there is no way he was 37 years old when that newspaper article was written! I know that 7 years have not passed for John between the time he was discharged from the army and the time he and Sherlock got the media's attention. Somebody goofed.

http://wellingtongoose.tumblr.com/post/56726002080/explaining-john-watsons-cv

Last edited by kgreen20 (February 27, 2016 11:18 pm)

Vhanja · February 27, 2016 6:27 pm

To be honest, I'm not sure if Moftiss have spent too much time with John's history, age and CV. I might be wrong, but any discrepancies here I would pass off as "continutiy errors".

Liberty · February 27, 2016 6:43 pm

Must mean it's mind palace!

besleybean · February 27, 2016 7:16 pm

It would be quite cool and I suppose if John had mentioned the fact to Sherlock and Mary, we wouldn't necessarily have been party to the conversation.

Yitzock · February 27, 2016 8:33 pm

Interesting theory, but I am not sure how well it holds up since Moftiss don't write the blog. Unless there's information we are missing, which is possible.

But it would make the secret twin joke an extra layer!

besleybean · February 27, 2016 8:34 pm

Yes, I still chuckle at 'It's never twins'.

ukaunz · February 27, 2016 10:57 pm

I agree there are a lot of continuity errors between the show, the blog and "printed" materials that were probably made by the props team. And it would be weird if John hadn't mentioned the fact to either Mary or Sherlock. It's just a fun theory I wanted to put out there in case it comes true

Yitzock · February 27, 2016 11:06 pm

it is a fun theory. I don't know how much competition there is between the two of them (though I think there is some in every sibling relationship, from what I have observed of friends who have brothers and/or sisters), but it could heighten theirs if there's any indication of it (I can't recall exactly). Twins are also often considered to have a special bond, which could explain the giving of a phone as a gift (even if it's a used one) and John's sadness at not having her at his wedding (he seems sort of wistful when he thinks about the fact that she didn't make it).

Or maybe I'm just spouting nonsense.

ukaunz · February 27, 2016 11:16 pm

Not nonsense at all. For some reason I think of something Steven Moffat said once (in the DVD commentary of ASiB): "If you watch this show carefully, there is a subtext about John drinking." Could have something to do with Harry being an alcoholic, perhaps?

Last edited by ukaunz (February 27, 2016 11:24 pm)

Yitzock · February 27, 2016 11:18 pm

That's where there'd be friction between the two of them, so them being twins could potentially add another layer to it if that were the case. I have not looked specifically for that subtext you referenced, but I am sure you could find it if you watched it with it in mind.

ukaunz · February 27, 2016 11:20 pm

Now this is really crack, and I don't think John shows signs of alcoholism, I'm just following a thread of thought from the above quote.

"One study comparing alcohol and addiction in identical (monozygotic) and non-identical (dizygotic) twin pairs found that genetics definitely play an important role in addiction. The study found that when one person in a pair of identical twins is addicted to alcohol, there is a high probability that the other will also be addicted to alcohol. For non-identical twins there is also a correlation in alcoholism, but it is not as strong as between identical twins."
http://alcoholrehab.com/addiction-articles/addiction-and-twin-studies/

ukaunz · February 28, 2016 12:18 am

Yitzock wrote:
That's where there'd be friction between the two of them, so them being twins could potentially add another layer to it if that were the case. I have not looked specifically for that subtext you referenced, but I am sure you could find it if you watched it with it in mind.

There's not many scenes in the first two series that show John drinking alcohol, so I'm not sure if that is the sort of subtext Moffat was talking about. However we do see John drinking whiskey in Many Happy Returns, and there's the bit in the pub crawl scenes of TSOT where he secretly drinks two shots. I don't really think this is enough to hint at alcoholic tendencies though.

Yitzock · February 28, 2016 1:11 am

No, I wouldn't say so either, but it could make John nervous about alcohol sometimes, unless he's already drunk or something.

Liberty · February 28, 2016 7:46 am

Of course John and Harry can't be identical twins (different sex, so non-identical). And I get the impression that the "subtext" comment was just a joke. Maybe it's just that I don't want to see John having a drink problem to go along with Sherlock's drug problem!

Last edited by Liberty (February 28, 2016 8:32 am)

mrshouse · February 28, 2016 8:04 am

I never thought of this that way, but you're right, Liberty. Drinking and other drugs would be a nasty combination. But from what we got so far I never had the impression that John is more than the occasional drinker.
I wonder about this thread though: does it add anything to the story if we get Harry and John as twins? What would we get which we don't if they are "normal" siblings?

Last edited by mrshouse (February 28, 2016 8:07 am)

besleybean · February 28, 2016 8:16 am

I see your point, but I think it would just be a fun twist on the twins thing.
But if it's going to come as some kind of big reveal, it would beg the question of why they'd been hiding it from us.

mrshouse · February 28, 2016 8:22 am

Ah, okay, forgot about the twins domestic in TAB....

ukaunz · February 28, 2016 8:35 am

Liberty wrote:
Of course John and Harry can't be identical twins (different sex, so non-identical).

See above, "For non-identical twins there is also a correlation in alcoholism, but it is not as strong as between identical twins." So if he was Harry's twin, he still could have a (weaker) tendency to addiction.

And I get the impression that the "subtext" comment was just a joke. Maybe that it's that I don't want to see John having a drink problem to go along with Sherlock's drug problem!

I don't want him to have a drinking problem either, and I don't think he does anyway. He has only been shown to have the occassional drink in the show so far. Having already been close to someone with an addiction (his sister, twin or not), it will be interesting to see in s4 how he deals with Sherlock's continued drug use; we've obviously already seen how he reacted in HLV and TAB.

If Harry turns out to be John's twin and Sherlock doesn't know, that will be another thing that he didn't deduce! Poor Sherlock, there's always something