BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Every Fairytale needs a good old-fashioned villain

**Posted by sherlockian111** January 27, 2013 10:57 pm

Ok, there's no denying it, Fairytales are mentioned a lot in TRF. And Moriaty even says "every Fairytale needs a good old-fashioned villain".
Anyway, it got me wondering, what villain would Moriaty be? I personally think he would be Rumpelstiltskin. There's the name thing, and also Rumpelstiltskin's downfall was because of his own, somewhat massive opinion of himself(just like Moriaty). What do you guys think?

**Posted by The Doctor** January 28, 2013 7:16 am

sherlockian111 wrote:
What do you guys think?

That I will never quite understand how 'Rumpelstilzchen' was translated to 'Rumpelstiltskin'. Though Wiki suggests:

The same story pattern appears in numerous other cultures: Tom Tit Tot in England (from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs), Whuppity Stoorie in Scotland (from Robert Chambers's Popular Rhymes of Scotland), Gilitrutt in Iceland, Joaidane جعيدان in Arabic (he who talks too much), Khlamushka Хламушка (junker) in Russia, Rampelnik in Czech Republic, Martinko Klingáč in Slovakia, Ruidoquedito (meaning "little noise") in South America, Pancimanci in Hungary (from A Csodafurulya by Kolozsvari Grandpierre Emil), Cvilidreta (whine-screamer) in Croatia, Tremotino in Italy, Ootz-li Gootz-li עוּץ-לי גוּץ-לי in Israel (a compact and rhymy touch to the original sentence and meaning of the story, "He advised me and then turned me into a joke"), Daiku to Oniroku (daiku means "a carpenter", to means "and", and Oniroku is an ogre's name), or "大工と鬼六" in Japan.

**Posted by Davina** January 28, 2013 8:30 am

I reckon it is that hard to pronounce (for English speakers) combination of 'zchen' in German. The nearest many English speakers will get it 'sk' and then an 'i' substituted for an 'e' making a recognisable/pronouncable English word 'skin' at the end. I like the sound of the whine-screamer of Croatia.

**Posted by Mell92** January 28, 2013 12:01 pm

In Dutch, we call him 'Repelsteeltje', so that's even more wierd, I guess. Especially since our language sounds a bit like German. Of course it's very different in a lot of ways, but I'm sure they could have translated that name to something closer to the original About Moriarty: YES, he would be Rumpelstiltskin He's a consulting criminal: He helps others, but only if he himself benefits from it or because he just wants to cause trouble. That's like making a deal with Rumpelstiltskin, if you ask me