BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Sherlock´s character in season 3 - same or different?

**Posted by saysomething** September 14, 2012 8:47 pm

I wonder if the incidents of TRF, the fall of the roof top of St. Bart´s , the long and painfull seperation from John ( & Mycroft, Mrs Hudson, Lestrade), the long travel around the world and the hunt after Moran and other members of Moriarty´s criminal web will inflict some character changes upon Sherlock?
Maybe he will be afraid of heights after the fall. ( He who had loved standing at roofs and cliffs.)
Supposed to be dead by his friends he is (almost? except Mycroft) on his own - alone and desolate.
He maybe will have to kill someone, to destroy people.
He probably will travel round the world, will see many different countries ( as he does in ACD canon).
All this may harden or soften his character.

Last edited by saysomething (September 14, 2012 9:25 pm)

**Posted by saturnR** September 14, 2012 9:28 pm

It's true that you can't come back from the dead without some change in your personality but I don't think they will change him too much. In the interim, he would probably be very different, but after he comes back (once everyone accepts that he's not a suicidal maniac ), he would probably slip back into his old ways - people do that when they get comfortable

I haven't read enough of the original stories & certainly not in the right order (have always read the stories in jumbled order) so wouldn't know if there were any major character changes in the original stories (probably not, as Sir Arthur Connon Doyle didn't really care for much in terms of continuity - probably why it didn't matter that I didn't read them in the right order )

I love your take on his being afraid of heights - that's actually a really good suggestion.

**Posted by saysomething** September 14, 2012 9:36 pm

saturnR wrote:
I love your take on his being afraid of heights - that's actually a really good suggestion.

Yes? Really? I really thinks he was jumping himself ( not throwing Moriart´s body from the roof or so).Maybe being afraid from heights will inflict a future reaction of him / a future case ...

**Posted by NW16XE** September 14, 2012 11:48 pm

Good question! The Boss has said we may see the character mature some across the series...I think that is likely after RF. He has realised he does have people he cares for and needs; he has chosen to be 'on the side of the angels,' if not one of them; and perhaps realised that his 'games' may have consequences for himself. He may be coming closer to the 'good man' Lestrade believes he could be.
Or am I sentimentalising?

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** September 15, 2012 9:20 am

I've often thought about this too, and imagined his experiences during the Hiatus to harden his character rather than the other way round, in order to do the job we are assuming he is doing ie. Going after Moriarty's criminal web, he will have to be even more emotionally detached and cold than he normally is, he will almost certainly have moments where he needs to use violence, interrogation methods, fights that possibly result in the other person getting killed, all whilst on his own without the humanising influence of John.

Having said that, I don't think we will actually see any of this in the series, we will just have to imagine what he was like when he was away and draw our own conclusions. I think, once he makes his return, he will very quickly and easily slip back into his old ways, and it will be John that will take a while longer to adjust.

**Posted by kazza474** September 15, 2012 10:00 am

I believe he will be older & wiser, the same as we do get as time goes on.
He has experienced more things in life recently (before his death) and will have time to think back & process some of those things during his 'death'. He will come back with more of an understanding of things, I doubt he would have any phobias like a fear of heights etc as that to him is an irrational thing.
I very much doubt he will be killing anyone at all.
He will mature to having a better idea of tact at times, but don't think he will be polite at all times. He cannot change that much as that is part of who he is.
He is developing into an updated version of the Holmes we see in the canon. We just have to project what that image would be like to see how he will be.

**Posted by NW16XE** September 16, 2012 2:17 am

kazza474 wrote:
I believe he will be older & wiser, the same as we do get as time goes on.
He has experienced more things in life recently (before his death) and will have time to think back & process some of those things during his 'death'. He will come back with more of an understanding of things, I doubt he would have any phobias like a fear of heights etc as that to him is an irrational thing.
I very much doubt he will be killing anyone at all.
He will mature to having a better idea of tact at times, but don't think he will be polite at all times. He cannot change that much as that is part of who he is.
He is developing into an updated version of the Holmes we see in the canon. We just have to project what that image would be like to see how he will be.

Well said.

**Posted by erunyauve** December 30, 2012 1:29 pm

I had a couple of general 'trope' thoughts. One was the 'hero alone against the world', in which he decides that his friends are a liability for him and that he is a danger to them. In order to protect himself and John, he is determined to go back to being the solitary man he used to be.

I don't like this idea, partly because it's overdone (Buffy, many times; Harry Potter), and partly because the relationship between Sherlock and John is so important to the series. Obviously, John would eventually prove to Sherlock that he needs him, but again, the whole plot lacks imagination.

The other thought would be Sherlock as only partially redeemed - legally, he's cleared, but public opinion is much more tricky. The papers would hardly bother with the story of his exoneration. That would bring a new twist to the next series, as he finds himself often hampered by people who still think he's a fake. I think he would actually prefer that to the adoring public prior to his 'fall'.

**Posted by kazza474** December 30, 2012 1:52 pm

I think you are on the right track there.

Following along the lines of the canon Holmes (which is afterall who Sherlock is developing into according to the creators), I think he will accept having John in his life still. He may be more wary & keep John at arm's length whenever danger is about, but he'll be happy to have John as his 'sidekick' again.
The canon Holmes never cared much for the opinions of public & press, so I can see that being the case here too, he won't be completely exonerated but he won't care really. Let's face it even before 'Reichenbach' he had 'doubters' within the ranks of the police so things will be back to where they were. He prefers to NOT to be out in the open, to not have people constantly contacting him. Having that air of 'possibly dangerous' about him will be handy.
If Moftiss continue their 'slap in the face' for the British media (which is what they deliberately did with this episode) they will show us how, after all that fanfare & carry on, the media will quickly forget him, treating him as a washed up hasbeen. Which would suit Sherlock right down to the ground.