I can't say I can shed any light, but I admire your diligence!

Or could it, perhaps, link with the story of Snow White? In this she sleeps, appearing to be dead and is mourned as such, until wakened by the kiss of a prince. It is the poisoned apple administered by her step-mother that 'kills' her. Just a thought. How does Ashenputtel (Cinderella) fit? Can you be more explicit with examples? I'm intrigued.

I still see a stronger connection to Snow White because of the "poisoned" apple (poisoned by Moriarty's message) and the seeming but not being dead.

I meant I see a stronger connection to Snow White than to Cinderella. Hansel and Gretel is of course very strong. I still have to think about the twelve brothers.

Yes, the Grimm Cinderella includes three nights at the ball, step-sisters mutilating their feet to fit into the slipper, and birds doing Ella's bidding - including the act of pecking out the step-sisters' eyes at the wedding... several things that have been removed from most other versions.

Well, going along with your premise that the "U" refers to the original Cinderella story, here's my idea after just reading it (at http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/grimm/bl-grimm-cinderella.htm) about how it could tie in:

I propose that Cinderella is Sherlock.  Wait!  Hear me out.     Cinderella is stuck in a situation not of her own making, just like Sherlock.  She is beautiful and pure but surrounded by mean and nasty people, one might almost say evil creatures.  Perhaps Richard Brook and Moriarty are the two step-sisters.  Sherlock is good and true to his ideals--on the side of angels--but is surrounded by mendacity and betrayal, especially when he goes undercover to both hide himself and pursue criminals.  Sherlock is hiding in plain sight--disguised, he is unrecognized by those in his former life.

Cinderella goes to the King's festival, dances with the Prince, but departs without leaving a trace.  Perhaps Sherlock goes to London, associates with Scotland Yard or some other governmental department--maybe he is secretly doing work for Mycroft?--and disappears before people can find out who he is.  (Who IS that masked man?!) 

All the attempts by the evil-doers to pretend to be the right lady for the prince are in vain and the truth finally comes out.  Likewise, all Moriarty's efforts to frame Sherlock are in vain because eventually, finally, the truth about him and about Sherlock is revealed. 

Moriarty is punished for his deeds (he dies), just like the two step-sisters were punished by having their eyes plucked out.  They are reduced to nothing, like Moriarty.  However, vestiges of their former selves remain--they aren't yet dead and still have the potential to inflict harm on Cinderella.  Just as Moriarty's web hasn't yet been sundered and still has the potential to harm Sherlock.

But, mostly, they all lived happily ever after.

Hello! I am new to the forum and, frankly to Sherlock. I have only just now (in the last few days) finished watching both series. wow. what have i been missing?! I love it and am now obsessed with the theorizing of how and why and what happened in TRF.

I have read your theory and i like it. I have a little twist on it. I think I have read your theory elsewhere too. And, I have read this similar theory as well but i cannot post link yet because i am new. sorry. it is on tumblr and its called pretty things & monsters. basically, it states that the I O U referes to the elements in the periodic table and their coinciding numbers refer to Grimm fairy tales.

I agree with you and with the woman who wrote the above: i think that I O U is a riddle. To me it is pretty clear based on what Moriarty ("M") said to SH while visiting his flat:

Sh: I don't like Riddles
M: well, you better start because I O U a fall.

my theory/idea is a variation of yours and the above. I think that the "hansel and gretel" case that M set out for SH has two purposes: 1) it works to set him up as a fraud and to plant that idea in the public and in Lastrade's head; and 2) it gives SH clues to the Final Problem.

M leaves secret messages for SH in linseed oil at the school, including his foot print. SH says the foot print will tell them exactly what the kidnapper was up to because the linseed oil will preserve everything on the shoe. First, why would the contents of the warehouse be on the kidnappers shoe BEFORE he took the kids there? the kidnapper napped the kids and THEN took them to the warehouse. So, why would he have all the identifying elements on his shoes DURING the kidnapping? [this question has been asked by other fans before].  I think that what can be deduced is that M wanted SH to find the kids and thus gave him the information he needed preserved in linseed oil and in his footprint. We, of course, know that this was M's plan b/c the whole purpose of the kidnapping was to set up SH as a fraud.

So, M gives SH "elements" to decipher in order to find the kids. He also gives him the Grimm Fairy tales book. And, he sends crumbs (just like in hansel and gretel). While SH is in the St. Bart's lab deciphering the elements preserved in the footprint, he mumbles "I O U."  Why would he be mumbling this now? while in the lab? while working on the kidnapp case, deciphering the location of the children? I think because he realized that M's clue was to look at the elements.

the element table has numbers associated with each chemical element and the chemical elements – iodine, oxygen, and uranium have letter symbols of I, O, U and each respective number assigned is 53, 8, 92.  These numbers coincide with the Grimm FT's of: Little Snow White, The Strange Musician and The King of Gold Mountain.

Soon after SH solves the kidnapp case, he receives a burnt gingerbread man and says "burnt to a crisp." JW asks what it means and SH does not reveal.

In The Great Game, M tells SH at the pool that he does not want to kill him, he is saving that for a very special occasion which he will get to later. But, he will "burn him. burn the very heart of him." SH replies that he does not have a heart and M says, but we both know that is not true. In TRF, SH asks M during their tea together if M knows yet how he is going to burn him, recalling back to their midnight meeting at the pool. 

Thus what may be deduced from all this is that M has begun to "burn the heart" of SH because he sent the burnt gingerbread man. The bread crumbs are an indicator that M is leaving SH clues to the burn. both the crumbs and the burnt to crisp gingerbread man refer to and relate to the Grimm Fairy Tales. The Hansel and Gretel kidnappings, as mentioned before, function to both set up SH as a fraud and to give him clues to the burn M has in store because they clue SH into the I O U riddle.

the elements of I O U refer to the "very heart" of SH that M will burn - Mrs. Hudson, John Watson, and Inspector Lastrade. Mrs. Hudson is the little snow white. The Strange Musician refers to JW. That story, in short, is about a fiddler who is looking for a companion, and finally finds one he likes who saves his life. Recall what JW was willing to do for SH at the pool; he was willing to die for him and M noted that JW showed his hand and the sniper quickly moved his mark to SH. And, The King of Gold Mountain refers to Lastrade. In the fairytale that M wrote for SH in the cab about Sir Boast-A-Lot, he refers to Lastrade as the king - "soon even the king becomes suspicious." Also, the King of Gold Mountain includes a snake who solves people's problems for a price - like SH does for Lastrade. 

connecting Mrs. Hudson to snow white is more difficult than the other two. But, I still think it fits. Maybe because she is pure and gets saved time and again. She is the epitome of a happy ending.

When SH figures this out, he is then capable of going to Molly, who is not targeted by M to help with faking his death. I think that Mycroft is also in on it. Both Molly and Mycroft worry about SH, but he shows very little esteem for them. Key word is shows- SH shows very little esteem for them. M is certainly watching too. And, the thing that Mycroft and Molly have in common is that SH seems to not care about them, despite their adoration for him. 

The conversation at St. Bart's between SH and Molly is very relevant here. She sees that he is worried. He is in fact worried and does not want to let on to JW. SH is in the midst of the "big burn" and he knows that M knows that JW is at the heart of SH. She tells him that she "does not count," and that he can have her for help (not in the indelicate way).  SH has a very confused look on his face when Molly says she does not count. SH himself does not see things that way M does with regard to who goes to his very heart. He does care for Molly and Mycroft. But, he does not show it and so he realizes what M is after- his landlady/mother figure, his work (lestrade) and his one friend, JW. Once SH figures out who the 3 targets are, he goes to Molly and tells her that he needs her - "I need you." I believe this is a clue that SH has cracked the I O U riddle.

Of course on the roof, M confirms who the 3 targets are, and he does it only when SH pushes the issues, to say the least.

The reason that SH needed to know who was targeted is obviously because killing them is burning the heart of him. And, the Final Problem is "staying alive."

In The Great Game, there were 5 pips, meaning 5 problems. But only four were played out. The fifth was partially started at the midnight pool meeting. M said at that meeting that he had no intention of killing SH just yet. And, yet, he comes back in allegedly changing his mind. But, I think he comes back in only so that his phone would ring and the ring tone would play- staying alive. The person who called is of course Irene Adler. I do not think this was a mere coincidence. I think M left the room to arrange for the call. Irene Adler was probably already looking to get in touch with him and he decided to take her call at that very moment so that 1) the phone would ring in that tone and 2) because its sexy that way since Irene's call basically starts the ball rolling to burn SH.

staying alive IS the final problem and a continuation of the the great game. additionally, in A Study In Pink, wherein M first came into the picture it was over a suicide pill. murder by suicide. SH called it a game of chance, but the cabbie, i.e. M, said it was chess. the key was to stay alive.

So, coming full circle, M set up the big burn for SH- your friends die or you do. and the final problem is staying alive. I am unclear as to how SH deduced that the conundrum would pit his life against his friends. Maybe it is in the fairy tales as well?

the thing that is out of character for SH, i think, is that he was being sentimental, so to speak. As he said in Scandal, you usually find sentiment on the losing side. But, this time, it is because he cared about the people M wanted to kill, it gave him an advantage. Being sentimental- or at least thinking in terms of sentiment- allowed him to figure out how M was going to burn the heart of him and thus plan in advance his own fake death to stay alive.

I also think that SH forced M's hand and thus forced him to commit suicide. this calls back to a Study in Pink. But, I cannot full work that out yet.

sorry for the long post. anyway...yeah. that is what i think. and it is probably ALL wrong.

hypergreenfrog wrote:

I must say I have been following this thread with interest, and I find it amazing how many connections you all have found.
A lot of hard work goes into this kind of analysis, and it is pretty impressive.

Nonethless, I personally think the theories are too far fetched, sorry. I am not saying I am right and you are wrong.
But for me, while the fairly tale links are obviously there, they are not meant to be interpreted in such detail. Writers love using children's rhymes and fairy tales to create a scary environment, to remind us of the things we feared when we were little. The way the children's kidnapping reminded us of Hänsel & Gretel, and the apple of Cinderella are beautiful examples of this method. But to me, that is really all it is.
Again, I am not saying that the numbers of the grimm fairy tales or the elements starting with I, O and U are definitely a dead end, it's just that I personally doubt that the writers would go to such lengths for a handfull of devoted (or obsessed  )  fans.

I understand, and you are probably right. But, then again, they did the same thing in The Blind Banker. The ancient numbers had to be deciphered and then coded from the AtoZ London book (written by the same man writer of TRF). the only difference is that it was in one episode and not a cliff hanger, which allows fans to speculate. they do not write the story with the intent for the fans to figure out, as much as to watch. some fans like to figure it out. with time between seasons, it is allowed but not expected.

Definitely agree that it's a bit far fetched. It is common enough to find connections in anything if you look hard enough. Also the creators have stated everything we need to know is on the screen.

My #1 criticism of this theory also would be that it would be a creative suicide to use the same method of code in another episode; there are millions of codes & ciphers out there, to repeat the use of one kind is something you would only find in children's shows.

I wouldn't give the birds in this scene a greater importance because there are many pigeons around St. Bart's anyway.
(And the film crew didn't change hardly anything from what I experienced on location.) And for the Cindrella motif they are too weak. A lost shoe for example would have been much more obvious if the authors had had the intention to hint at that very fairytale.