BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Redbeard theories post TAB

**Posted by ukaunz** January 16, 2016 11:49 am

I know there are a few posts about Redbeard in other areas, but I'd like to hear everyone's theories now that we've seen TAB. Or, this can be moved to a more appropriate forum/thread if mods wish (there are three threads in the HLV forum, and one in the Character Analysis forum - but this is more about theories than analysis).

One that popped into my head just now - Redbeard was Sherlock's childhood friend Victor Trevor! The boys were playing some dangerous pirate game which ended in Victor's tragic death. Plenty of angst in that. Not sure why he would appear as a dog in Sherlock's mind palace though... Just a crack theory

The most compelling one I've read is that Redbeard is the Other One, a Holmes sibling that died when Sherlock was a child. I would love to read meta about this if anyone can link some.

Are there any others?

**Posted by Yitzock** January 16, 2016 3:01 pm

Yours is quite intense. I don't have anything that radical...

If it relates to drug use in anyway, which I am not certain about despite what has been discussed, it could be that he has used Redbeard as a code word for something. Or maybe he needed to think about Redbeard after having too dangerous a high, and so that's why he also thought of him when he needed to relax after being shot. Or maybe it's in Mycroft's notes because the grief for Redbeard compiled with something else drove Sherlock to drugs and that's why there's an association?
I'm not sold on Redbeard not being his dog, so it's kind of hard for me to think of anything plausible that builds upon what we've seen already. Since we saw that again in Mycroft's notebook I have a feeling it will come up again in the show anyway.

**Posted by besleybean** January 16, 2016 3:37 pm

Maybe Sherlock will show John photos of himself with Redbeard, from when he was a kid.

**Posted by Mothonthemantel** January 16, 2016 4:12 pm

I do not really understand why so many Redbeard ideas.
From what the writer said , Redbeard was Sherlocks dog and when it died, they lied to Sherlock saying it was in a doggy heaven or something, and what upset Sherlock was the lie. and probably Mycroft made the whole thing into a caring is not an advantage lesson
In tsot I think Mycroft used it during the wedding phone call to warn Sherlock that maybe John wasn't going to a better place and that Mary would hurt them.

When John's asking Mycroft about feelings in tab , Sherlock lies pretending he has none , playing the sociopath , but that's not true because of his sentiment over Redbeard.
I think in tab it's not Mycrofts health that is declining , but Sherlocks opinion of Mycroft as his never wrong hero big brother and his not caring motto , Sherlock realises Mycroft is wrong.
Redbeard is just proof and a reminder for both brothers that Sherlock is not a sociopath and is hurt by sentiment.

Last edited by Mothonthemantel (January 16, 2016 4:14 pm)

**Posted by besleybean** January 16, 2016 4:16 pm

Well said.

**Posted by Mothonthemantel** January 16, 2016 4:22 pm

I think in Mycrofts note book the references are to deaths that affected Sherlock , Redbeard his dog , Vernet his grandmother , the red herring as Irenes faked death and Sherlocks faked sentiment over that, and then the puzzling mathematical matrix which maybe -the other one.

**Posted by besleybean** January 16, 2016 4:23 pm

Interesting.

**Posted by Yitzock** January 16, 2016 5:19 pm

Mothonthemantel wrote:
I think in Mycrofts note book the references are to deaths that affected Sherlock , Redbeard his dog , Vernet his grandmother , the red herring as Irenes faked death and Sherlocks faked sentiment over that, and then the puzzling mathematical matrix which maybe -the other one.

Or the math could be something unrelated that is written on the same page.
But your idea makes sense.

**Posted by SusiGo** January 16, 2016 8:39 pm

I am still not sure what to think. Of course a child may be strongly attached to a dog and devastated when it has to be put down, but that this is still resonating so strongly after decades, having somehow forced Sherlock to distance himself from any feelings up to a point that it may be used as a pressure point against him … I do not really believe that there is not more behind it than his childhood dog.

I could imagine that there has been a traumatic experience that was in some way connected to the dog - a sibling dying, Sherlock himself being hurt or threatened, and in his mind it has become inextricably linked to Redbeard. The fact that it has been mentioned in three episodes in a row might point to something bigger buried in the past.

**Posted by besleybean** January 16, 2016 8:47 pm

I'm thinking of Redbeard in Sherlock's Mind Palace, in HLV.
Sherlock sees him, when Mycroft instructs him to find a happy memory.
We see young Sherlock calling his dog to him.
Then Sherlock says : they're putting me down too, now.
So when Sherlock goes off in the plane, does he feel he's being put down again?

**Posted by SusiGo** January 16, 2016 8:52 pm

Well, we should think about the moment in which Sherlock mentions Redbeard:

WATSON: As your friend – as someone who ... worries about you – what made you like this?
(Holmes has opened his eyes and looks at his friend almost sympathetically.)
HOLMES: Oh, Watson. Nothing made me.
(From somewhere to his left, scrabbling claws can be heard together with a sound of a dog whimpering anxiously, or as if it is in pain. Holmes turns his head in the direction of the sound.)
HOLMES: I made me.
(The scrabbling and whimpering continues. Holmes frowns in confusion.)
HOLMES: Redbeard?
(ArianedeVere)

We know that Redbeard symbolises Sherlock's emotional attachments. Think of Mycroft's warning not to get emotionally involved. Here in TAB Sherlock think he hears his dog in a situation that is very personal, intimate, in which he is urged to talk about his feelings.
But this is in his mind so he is analysing his own emotions. There is not Watson questioning him. This is Sherlock himself. And all this makes me believe that this is about more than a dog.

**Posted by besleybean** January 16, 2016 8:58 pm

See I took that as meaning : I made me, because the only one I ever loved let me down, or was taken away from him, or insert whatever trauma it was.
He was separated from what he loved and needed.
Now for adult Sherlock, that could be seen as John, or his work.
But emotional attachment would have to be John.

**Posted by SusiGo** January 16, 2016 9:09 pm

Yes, I would agree with that. And this feeling of loss is reflected in mind.

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** January 16, 2016 9:15 pm

I always imagined Redbeard to have been a real dog, but I do also think it's a great symbolism for Sherlock's repressed feelings.

I think Sherlock lost his dog, maybe his only friend in the world at that time... he got 'too attached' in the eyes of Mycroft and Mycroft used it as a lesson to teach his younger brother what he had already learned himself... caring not being an advantage. All hearts are broken... even your childhood dog you think is always going to be there dies...

**Posted by besleybean** January 16, 2016 9:17 pm

Yes,

**Posted by Yitzock** January 16, 2016 11:41 pm

I think so, too, Phantom. That the story of Redbeard that we are given did happen, and Redbeard has come to represent Sherlock's feelings of attachment more broadly and presently.

**Posted by Mothonthemantel** January 16, 2016 11:53 pm

Yes. Heartbreak and loss , which in turn equals danger nights and Mycrofts concern over deaths that might affect Sherlock , as we saw with Irene. That's what led me to cast her as the red herring. Wasn't a real loss or danger night.Sherlock knew.

**Posted by Schmiezi** January 17, 2016 6:35 am

I still haven't made up my mind on that matter. From what I know about psychology, those theories about Redbeard being linked with the death of a sibling or a close friend are plausible. Sherlock turning to Redbeard in his MP when needing to calm down is no contradiction, it is just how people's minds work.

**Posted by besleybean** January 17, 2016 7:26 am

Though it's not unusual for people to have memories of their lost loved one.

**Posted by Schmiezi** January 17, 2016 7:34 am

besleybean wrote:
Though it's not unusual for people to have memories of their lost loved one.

That is elementary, don't you think?