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May 31, 2013 10:27 pm  #1


A few silly UMQRA theories I just thought up.

Hello, I'm new to this forum but I just had to register just to get these crazy theories out there! :D

So in the Baskerville episode, we see Watson decipher a morse code that spells out UMQRA. Later it turns out that it was completely insignificant (in a hilarious way I must add!), but the whole thing has just been nagging me after seeing the season 2 finale. Could it really be just meaningless?

The following theories are pretty wild, but give them a chance...

So the morse spells out UMQRA. A meaningless letter combination. But what if the person signalling this code was repeating the code in a cycle, and John Watson just got the letters in a wrong order?

Here are all the possible combinations, if the letters U, M, Q, R, and A are repeated in a cycle:
UMQRA
MQRAU
QRAUM
RAUMQ
AUMQR

Now, I did some research. The only letter combinations that make any sense would be QRAUM and RAUMQ: a quick Wikipedia search lead me to this page on Wikipedia, about a mathematical theory of complete metric space, in German. Whether the mathematical theory itself is significant, I will address later.

Now, "raum" in German means "space", "area", "room". But what about Q? I'm not an expert in the German language (I can say lederhosen and that's pretty much it) but the Source Q theory of the Bible came to mind - "source" or "spring" in German is "quelle". (Also means "well".)

I came up with two wild theories. SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE SECOND SEASON OR READ THE ORIGINAL STORIES

So let's say "raum" was meant to mean "room" and Q, standing for "quelle", means "source". Could this be a signal to someone, maybe Sherlock himself, that the "key to open all doors", the absolute source of all knowledge and wealth, can be found in Sherlock's room? The hitmen in the Reichenbach episode we know about were Russian and Albanian, but could there have been a German one? Did Moriarty want to give Sherlock a clue about what is about to come?

The second theory, which kind of melts my heart.

Let's say "raum" means "area" or "place", and "quelle" means "fountain" or "well". Let's assume for a moment that Sherlock knew about the events of the Reichenbach fall at this point already. Let's assume that Sherlock was behind the morse code, and WANTED John to see it (remember, he asks about it later in the episode while apologizing to John).

What would be the meaning of this?

In the canon, Sherlock visited several places during his faked death hiatus: Florence, Lhasa, Mecca, Khalifa, and Montpellier. I started wondering if there are any significant wells or fountains in these places.

Florence, The Fountain of Neptune.

Footage of the musical fountain in Lhasa, Tibet. (look it up on google, I can't link stuff since this is my first post.)

A well located in the holiest place in Islam, the Zamzam well in Mecca (see above).

The Burj Khalifa fountain. This is pretty dodgy one though since it's located in Dubai.

And finally, in Montpellier, France, the Place de la Comédie with the Three Graces Fountain.

Was Sherlock trying to signal out to John to keep in mind the Places with Fountains or Wells, to let him know, on some level, where he would be going to after the events of the Reichenbach Fall? Remember, he says in the season 2 finale: "You cannot kill an idea once it's planted in your head". He was telling John to observe instead of just seeing. Was UMQRA, or, "raum Q", an idea he wanted to plant into John's head, to let him know that he is alright? "I will be where the fountains are."

So what about the mathematical theory mentioned earier? Augustin-Louise Cauchy, the father of the Cauchy sequence mentioned in the article, spent some time in exile in Fribourg, Switzerland. This is parallel to the Sherlock Holmes stories in two ways: Sherlock had to spend time in "exile" after his faked death, and the Reichenbach Falls are located in Switzerland.

If you made it this far (without banging your head to the keyboard more than 5 times), I thank you. I'm still engulfed by #All The Reichenbach Feels, not thinking clearly, and seeing conspiracy theories everywhere. But I'd love to hear your opinions on these crazy theories of mine!

 

May 31, 2013 10:43 pm  #2


Re: A few silly UMQRA theories I just thought up.

Wow. That is a theory and a half. You've really done some work on that.


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June 1, 2013 9:51 pm  #3


Re: A few silly UMQRA theories I just thought up.

Lots of research done but not sure of its real validity or relevance.


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June 1, 2013 10:01 pm  #4


Re: A few silly UMQRA theories I just thought up.

To be honest, the theories remind me of a book I once read. It was called something like "My conspiratory bike". The author first explained in detail the reason why some people believed that the pyramids or stonehenge were build by aliens. He referred to mathematical oddities, like this line being exactly the nth time the length of the way between Earth and sun and so on. 

Then he used the measures of an ordinary bike to create the same kind of relations, sarcastically concluding that either his bike was created by aliens OR you could find those relations everywhere if you only look long enough.

Please don't get me wrong, I love all kind of conspiratory theories and enjoyed reading yours!


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June 2, 2013 12:35 pm  #5


Re: A few silly UMQRA theories I just thought up.

Hi,
I can totally relate to you because I myself got a bit lost in "Sherlock"-theories.
You are right to try and find out what is going on but your theory is perhaps a bit too clever aka too complicated.  A Sherlockian weakness according to Moriarty.
The UMQRA was explaned with "dogging"; just some silly joke. I don't see that Sherlock is behind what people do in these cars at all.

 

November 2, 2013 11:40 pm  #6


Re: A few silly UMQRA theories I just thought up.

Whatever the significance of it, I can't help but think that the writers were influenced in picking the letters UMQRA by the infamous US mind control program MK ULTRA

 

March 4, 2014 3:32 pm  #7


Re: A few silly UMQRA theories I just thought up.

U must quit researching acronyms.

 

March 5, 2014 1:59 pm  #8


Re: A few silly UMQRA theories I just thought up.

I read a nice theory how to decipher „U.M.Q.R.A.“:
 
U (You) M (may) Q (kiss) R (roomate) A (already).
 
Works fine with me!
 


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I cannot live without brainwork. What else is there to live for? Stand at the window there. Was there ever such a dreary, dismal, unprofitable world? See how the yellow fog swirls down the street and drifts across the dun-coloured houses. What could be more hopelessly prosaic and material? What is the use of having powers, Doctor, when one has no field upon which to exert them?

 

March 5, 2014 2:37 pm  #9


Re: A few silly UMQRA theories I just thought up.

I don't see where Q should mean Quelle in German. I also am not aware of Quelle meaning well.
Raum would be understood as room mostly, maybe space but rarely...


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July 24, 2014 11:34 pm  #10


Re: A few silly UMQRA theories I just thought up.

You have just blew my mind!
If they bring to light that your theory is correct I will make you a cake


-Robyn x
 

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