BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / The other brother - my head just exploded

**Posted by TeaTime** January 16, 2014 10:35 pm

So according to head cannon it has to be an older brother? Seems like the show could bend it a little. I just think Gatnis very accurately portrays Mycroft as an eldest child. He's the smart one, the one who has a real job, the one who isn't quite as good looking, and the one who worries about his younger sibbling. Classic eldest. (can you tell I'm also an eldest). Wouldn't it be fun and interesting if the 3rd brother would a youngest brother? Sherlock seems to act like a middle child to me, claiming to be all isolated and "different" when in fact he had what seems to be a rather smothering and indulgent family life.

**Posted by besleybean** January 17, 2014 6:49 am

Oi. I think Mycroft is gorgeous!

**Posted by Jacco111** January 17, 2014 10:37 am

Sherlock Holmes isn't meant to be good looking in the original stories (Conan Doyle even rejected Sidney Paget's drawings at first because he made Holmes 'too hansome'), and Mycroft clearly is an ugly man in the stories.

So the whole Holmes family is not at all fit for a beauty contest

Very much unlike Sherlock appearently.

**Posted by Willow** January 17, 2014 12:42 pm

Jacco111 wrote:
Sherlock Holmes isn't meant to be good looking in the original stories (Conan Doyle even rejected Sidney Paget's drawings at first because he made Holmes 'too hansome'), and Mycroft clearly is an ugly man in the stories.

So the whole Holmes family is not at all fit for a beauty contest

Very much unlike Sherlock appearently.

It has been suggested that the BBC was unhappy with the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch because he wasn't handsome enough; clearly a lot of people disagree, but he is not conventionally good looking.

The dyed long hair and the wardrobe choices make him look good; the coat is inspired since it broadens the shoulders, narrows the waistline and then flares so that his movement is accentuated, making him dominate the environment around him.

This is not very helpful in tracking down a possible third Holmes son, unless by any chance he turns out to be Sherlock's identical twin, in which case we could get him to try the clothes on to see if they fitted

**Posted by Hera** January 17, 2014 1:29 pm

Willow wrote:
This is not very helpful in tracking down a possible third Holmes son, unless by any chance he turns out to be Sherlock's identical twin, in which case we could get him to try the clothes on to see if they fitted

You solved it. The "other one" is an identical twin of Sherlock and is the one that jumped down St. Bart's. So he's already dead and we have the perfect fall solution.

Last edited by Hera (January 17, 2014 1:29 pm)

**Posted by zeratul** January 17, 2014 1:31 pm

Hera wrote:
Willow wrote:
This is not very helpful in tracking down a possible third Holmes son, unless by any chance he turns out to be Sherlock's identical twin, in which case we could get him to try the clothes on to see if they fitted

You solved it. The "other one" is an identical twin of Sherlock and is the one that jumped down St. Bart's. So he's already dead and we have the perfect fall solution.

Hahahaha well that would be tooo easy

**Posted by TeaTime** January 17, 2014 7:46 pm

besleybean wrote:
Oi. I think Mycroft is gorgeous!

Haha. No offense meant. I actually quite fancy Mycroft myself. I mean if he were to ask me out I'd certainly agree! But if Sherlock even walked within my line of site I think I'd forget how to breath. ;)

**Posted by besleybean** January 17, 2014 7:52 pm

Me too.

**Posted by krissylou** January 17, 2014 9:12 pm

silverblaze wrote:
besleybean wrote:
Because he died before Sherlock was born or when he was tiny?

(There is a huge age difference between the actors though. That's a bit confusing.)

There is a ten-year age difference between Mark Gatiss and Benedict Cumberbatch.

In ACD there is a seven-year age difference between Mycroft and Sherlock.

My suspension of disbelief can handle a 46-year-old playing 43.

**Posted by silverblaze** January 17, 2014 9:44 pm

krissylou wrote:
silverblaze wrote:
besleybean wrote:
Because he died before Sherlock was born or when he was tiny?

(There is a huge age difference between the actors though. That's a bit confusing.)

There is a ten-year age difference between Mark Gatiss and Benedict Cumberbatch.

In ACD there is a seven-year age difference between Mycroft and Sherlock.

My suspension of disbelief can handle a 46-year-old playing 43.

That would make sense if they did but their conversation in TEH suggested that there is only one or two years between them.

**Posted by lil** January 17, 2014 9:53 pm

besleybean wrote:
Oi. I think Mycroft is gorgeous!

Mycroft has been buffing the body up for someone...legwork, Mycroft? Nooooo
Sherlock insinuates Mycroft has a goldfish of his very own...Mycroft gets flustered! Mycroft flustered...Noooo
Sherlock insinuates very seriously he has caught Mycroft in a compromising position!
Mycroft is compromising goldfish!

And you become suspect No1.

**Posted by The Doctor** January 18, 2014 10:19 am

TeaTime wrote:
So according to head cannon it has to be an older brother?

We just re-watched SOT on a massive screen and it shows Sherlock giving the elderly vicar a rather telling look while delivering his best man speech.

Unless proven wrong that is my current crack head canon - the oldest brother is not dead but turned religious ;)

**Posted by besleybean** January 18, 2014 10:57 am

But how would that fit in with Mycroft's comment?

**Posted by lil** January 18, 2014 2:55 pm

Think they're teasing us and leave it as a teasy/interesting rumour.

Tho I would like to see their idea of the long rumoured brother.

Mycrofts comments seemed to indicate he wasn't letting sherlock off because he was his brother , because look I did something horrible to the other brother.
Sherlock wedding speach hinted at a family member in the church..but maybe not the brother.

Has me thinking sussex vampyre the vicar and maybe jenine..could be entertaining.

**Posted by Willow** January 18, 2014 3:15 pm

lil wrote:
Think they're teasing us and leave it as a teasy/interesting rumour.

Tho I would like to see their idea of the long rumoured brother.

Mycrofts comments seemed to indicate he wasn't letting sherlock off because he was his brother , because look I did something horrible to the other brother.
Sherlock wedding speach hinted at a family member in the church..but maybe not the brother.

Has me thinking sussex vampyre the vicar and maybe jenine..could be entertaining.

Well, the Sussex vampire story was the archetypal 'things are not what they seem' Sherlock story; apparently incontrovertible eye witness testimony turns out to be completely wrong. That's definitely one which would greatly appeal to the writers, and I'm sure they will use it in some way.

The other brother has long been hypothesised but it would not have made sense for him to be a clergyman; the oldest son would have taken over the estate. Clergy was reserved for the youngest son of the landed gentry, so in canon it would be someone younger than Sherlock. Mycroft's relationship with Sherlock seems to be very much older brother to younger brother, and I'm not sure how to fit 4 sons into that mix.

But Mycroft's comment certainly suggests that another brother existed, and came to a sticky end without, at the very least, Mycroft making any effort to save him from that sticky end. Indubitably a teaser to wind us up, and they may even make something of it in the future...

**Posted by lil** January 18, 2014 3:25 pm

Agree@willow..only the country seat thing isn't relevant now., and we saw his family wasn't landed gentry ..so could easy twist it , I would find it hilarious if he was in the church...so much scope for disdain from sh/mh.
But they are bound to keep teasing us with it...bah.

**Posted by silverblaze** January 18, 2014 3:25 pm

Maybe the other brother did something really terrible and Mycroft didn't save him at all, and rightly so. What M doesn't know is that Mycroft feels different about Sherlock.

**Posted by shezza** January 18, 2014 3:37 pm

Obviously Moftiss are taking Baring-Gould's work as a canon source. Sherlock's full name "William Sherlock Scott Holmes" is B-G's invention, as is the eldest Holmes brother, Sherrinford... sooo, I guess that's his name. According to B-G he was even more intelligent than Mycroft (LOL Sherlock got the short end of the stick )

**Posted by lil** January 18, 2014 3:42 pm

I think the only thing Mycroft would find really terrible is somthing stupid. .hence the family idiot as Sherlock suggests.

**Posted by shezza** January 18, 2014 4:17 pm

Mycroft says something like "You know I'm not prone to outbursts of brotherly compassion. You know what happened to the other one" in a very ominous tone. I think he's clearly implying that at some point he didn't show any "brotherly compassion" to "the other one" (i.e. didn't help him out of whatever sticky situation he found or got himself in).

Judging by the lack of any previous mention on-screen, it seems like both Sherlock and Mycroft agreed at some point to never talk about their other brother again. I can imagine a couple of scenarios:

1) Sherrinford (I'll call him that keeping in mind B-G's work) did something terrible that warranted a full-blown damnatio memoriae, at least according to his siblings; Mycroft didn't cover his back or maybe even actively pursued him, which resulted in either Sherrinford's imprisonment, murder or suicide;

2) Sherrinford estranged himself from his family after a spectacular falling out (possibly over some sticky situation in which Mycroft refused to help), Sherlock sided with Mycroft and both brothers basically act as if he never existed. He's still alive somewhere but is disgraced.