The Thousand-and-First Hero

By Bob Byrne

Being an examination of the themes of Joseph Campbell’s “hero’s journey” contained in the Canon

Author’s Note: Many writings on the Heroic Cycle involve terms such as “metaphysical” and “transcendence.” Even such a basic concept as “Jung’s archetypes of the collective unconscious” can glaze eyes (although Poul Anderson broached it skillfully in “The Archetypical Holmes”). Here is a sentence chosen at random from Dorothy Norman’s “The Hero:”

“Preoccupation with the significance of ancient initiation and related rites, with the possible meanings of the sign of the zodiac, alchemical concepts, animals and human body parts – as well as such other categories as colors, trees, flowers, minerals – tends more often than not to strike the modern mind either as meaningless, or even worse, dangerously based on superstition.”

It is my intention to present the concept of the hero adventure, as characterized by Joseph Campbell, in a layman’s way using modern fantasy and classical mythology as references. I hope that the reader of this article will have a fresh view of Sherlock Holmes as a hero in the tradition of Theseus, Moses and the Buddha.

The Hero’s Journey; the Call to Adventure; the Monomyth. Anyone familiar with Joseph Campbell’s works recognizes these terms. The concept of a recognizable pattern in the stories of cultural heroes dates from long before Christ to our civilization today. What are fantasy and science fiction but hero adventures set in magical worlds or fantastic futures? A hero battles evil with swords and sorceries or phasers. But can a modern fictional character wielding a magnifying glass and utilizing deductive powers incorporate Campbell’s definition of the nuclear unit of the Monomyth: the adventure of initiation, separation and return? Robert Jordan’s Rand Al Thor and Michael Moorcock’s Prince Corum Jhaelen live in worlds of magic and multiple gods. Can a classic hero come out of Victorian England as a single-stick expert? Why, it’s elementary!

THE DEPARTURE

The Call to Adventure

The cycle of the hero saga always begins with the call to adventure. The hero is immersed in the mundane of society. We know Holmes went to University. Was it Oxford, as Brend (My Dear Holmes) asserts? Or was he a Cambridge man, forwarded by Dorothy Sayers (Holmes’ College Career)? Or perhaps even both, a tidy solution offered by Baring-Gould (Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street)?

It doesn’t matter. What is important is that he was in fact following the traditional course of the bright-minded and pursuing higher education. The only course-work referenced were some “experiments in organic chemistry” (The Gloria Scott). It seems safe to assume he was training for some type of career in the scientific field. Regardless, the hero is ensconced in society’s norm.

There is usually a herald that brings the adventure to the hero’s attention. Often a triggering event is involved as well. For Sherlock Holmes, the herald is Victor Trevor. The triggering event occurs when Trevor’s dog bites Holmes in the ankle, lying him up in bed for ten days. A friendship between the two men ensues and Holmes visits Trevor’s home in Donnithorpe for a month. It is there that he meets Trevor’s father and startles the senior Trevor with his deductions. The old man then makes a statement that will have a profound effect upon Holmes’ life: “I don’t know how you manage this Mr. Holmes, but it seems to me that all the detectives of fact and fancy would be children in your hands. That’s your line of life, sir, and you may take the word of a man who has seen something of the world.” (Gloria Scott)

As Holmes tells Watson years later: “And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me Watson, the very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby.”

The scene is set for the Call to Adventure. An old associate of Victor’s father arrives and the senior Trevor is found passed out dead drunk within the hour. Holmes is embarrassed for his friend and returns to school the next day. As the vacation term was ending, he received a telegram from Victor requesting advice and assistance from his friend. Holmes immediately returned to Donnithorpe. Trevor meets Holmes at the station and drives him to the manor. By the time they arrive Victor’s father is dead.

It is this return to Donnithorpe that begins the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Had he not gone back to the house and deduced meaning from the cryptic message that caused old Trevor to die of heart failure, someone else might have become the world’s first consulting detective. For not only was Victor Trevor’s request for help the call to adventure on a micro level, it led to Holmes’ vocation. That plea for advice was the call to adventure after which Holmes’ entire career makes up the hero’s journey, not just the single case of The Gloria Scott. Victor Trevor was a herald of epic proportions. Having established the Adventure of The Gloria Scott as the start of Holmes’ career, we shall look at the characteristics of the hero’s journey in light of Holmes’ entire body of work.

It is interesting to note that “young Stamford” (A Study in Scarlet) is famous for introducing Watson to Holmes, but it is Victor Trevor who put Sherlock Holmes onto the path of becoming the world’s greatest detective.

The Refusal of the Call

We know that many classic hero myths involve the hero refusing to heed the call. The hero does not want to leave society and embark upon the adventure. Refusal of the call leads to stagnation. The next case we know anything about was The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual. Baring Gould dates it five years after the Gloria Scott case, and it is the third case since he took rooms at Montague St. in London. He tells Watson he spent most of his leisure time at the British Museum studying those things he thought would help him in his calling (Musgrave Ritual). So, we can reasonably ascertain that he turned his mind to a detecting career since he quit school, moved to London and researched subjects useful to becoming a detective. He did not fear to follow an unconventional path. Campbell tells the story of how King Arthur’s knights stood at the edge of the dark forest. Each knight entered the forest where there was no path, for to enter upon someone else’s path is to not realize your own potential. Holmes did not refuse the call, nor did he follow a path that had been trod by others (imagine how different the tales would be if he were an inspector of Scotland Yard). He cut his own path into the forest and became a private enquiry agent.

Supernatural Aid

Also known as “the boon,” once the hero accepts the call he starts to embark upon the journey and receives assistance from some outside force. This element is much easier to identify in classical mythology and fantastic literature. However, we do have one possible candidate for this element in the Canon. Holmes was living on Montague St. He desired new lodgings but could not afford them. It is possible that his lodgings discouraged customers, or were too cramped for his experiments. It was Watson’s decision to go half on the digs at 221B Baker St. that led to their famous collaboration. Baring Gould states it was only a few months after moving in that they embarked upon A Study in Scarlet (SH of Baker Street). From then on it seemed that Holmes’ career as a consulting detective was no longer in doubt. If Watson had not agreed to share lodgings with Holmes, might he have continued to struggle, barely scratching out a living financially? Watson’s appearance upon the scene certainly seemed fortuitous in light of subsequent adventures. Perhaps it was that which we call fate that left the ex-army doctor living beyond his needs and searching for a roommate.

The Crossing of the First Threshold

The hero has chosen to embark upon the adventure and received assistance that has prepared him to do so. The first threshold now appears. It must be crossed and that which is known is left for the unknown. In Terry Brooks’ The Sword of Shannara, Shea Ohmsford flees the evil Skullbearers after being warned by the Druid, Allanon. He and his half-brother Flick are forced to flee in the middle of the night and leave the safety of their village, Shady Vale. They decide to head towards Leah, where their friend Menion resides. This is a physical example of crossing the first threshold: they depart the known society for an outside destination. They do not know what dangers lie between their cozy inn and the castle at Leah.

For Sherlock Holmes, the first threshold was not a physical barrier to be crossed. That threshold was to be a challenge entitled A Study in Scarlet. Holmes had visits from several clients in the early days of his rooming with Watson, and Lestrade had made several visits for help (perhaps someday we will be able to read about those cases). However, Watson did not yet know what Holmes’ profession was. To live with a man yet not know what he does for a living seems a bit odd. I infer that while he did have some business activity, he was not yet well established. The fact that Inspector Lestrade was consulting him does indicate that he was on his way, however. And he had already published an article on the uses of deductive reasoning, entitled The Book of Life.

A telegraph from Gregson (note, it is not Lestrade that calls on him for his first major case) describing a murder sends Holmes off to investigate, with Watson in tow for the first time. This is an interesting scene, as Holmes is almost pithy in his attitude towards the Scotland Yarders and considers not going because he is too lazy!

However, Holmes investigates the case. Gregson is off on the wrong foot, even though Holmes points out that the word etched upon the wall in blood, “Rache,” is German for “revenge.” Holmes and Watson, that partnership that lives on over a century later, make progress. The police were baffled and on the wrong track. Holmes solves the case for its own sake, as he receives no remuneration. It appears simple to him and he explains to Watson the particulars after it is over. This is a pattern that would oft be repeated in the stories told by the good doctor. In essence, the remarkable career of Sherlock Holmes as it is commonly viewed, began with this case. The threshold was crossed. It is amusing to note that the papers credited Gregson and Lestrade with solving the case, mentioning Holmes as an amateur who could learn from the two inspectors. I would argue in this case he learned how not to jump to erroneous conclusions, something the two inspectors never seemed to learn themselves.

The Belly of the Whale

The Monomyth usually involves the hero becoming totally immersed in the crossing of the threshold. He then returns from the land of darkness. This is often depicted by the emergence from the belly of the whale. The biblical Jonah is the best-known example of this.

The Campbell hero pattern is not followed exactly. This characteristic isn’t really present in the Canon. Holmes entered the scientific deduction atmosphere and solved the case. His capture of Jefferson Hope is his rebirth into the normal world. His calling to be a detective is now established by virtue of his crossing the threshold. One could argue that he entered the darkness of a mysterious case and emerged with the solution. However, “the belly of the whale” is among the least recognizable of the Initiation elements in the Monomyth.

THE INITIATION

The Road of Trials

The hero has undergone his first test and emerged to once again stand firmly upon the ground. A series of adventures now lie before the hero. Why adventures? What is being sought that drags Holmes along the road? It is a search for justice. But this is not simply a pure quest for law. It is a personal definition of justice that the great detective pursues. We will see more of this in the latter part of his career. He summed it up best by saying “Once or twice in my career I feel that I have done more real harm by my discovery of the criminal than ever he had done by his crime. I have learned caution now, and I had rather play tricks with the law of England than with my own conscience.” (The Abbey Grange).

He would defeat the evil machinations of Grimsbey Roylott (Speckled Band). Conversely, he would be too slow to prevent the Ku Klux Klan from killing John Openshaw (Five Orange Pips). The mighty Holmes outsmarted nobility with the capture of John Clay, grandson of a royal duke (Red Headed League).

The atmosphere of the exotic was present in The Sign of the Four. A mystery from over a decade before is presented to Holmes by a visit to Thaddeus Sholto. Perhaps the most popular of Holmes’ stories had a twist of the supernatural. In the fall of 1888 Holmes and Watson solved the curse of the Baskervilles. No other story contains more of the characteristics of the classic adventure than The Hound of the Baskervilles. Watson “cases the scene” while Holmes observes, hidden upon the Moor. Haunting sounds ring out: “a long, low moan, indescribably sad, swept over the moor.” And of course, a huge, spectral hound is hunting its prey. Holmes’ mental and physical abilities were both tested in this case.

Every case Holmes investigated can be seen as part of the Road of Trials. By eschewing the mundane, he usually undertook each case to solve a mystery of some type that presented singular features. A more cynical Sherlockian would add dealing with Scotland Yard to the list of difficulties that Holmes faced.

The element of the female is present in different ways as he progressed down the road of trials. That presence is frequently seen in Campbell’s cycle.

Meeting With the Goddess

Women as Temptress

These are two elements of the hero cycle. The goddess mother and evil sorceress figures are common throughout fantasy and myth. Lanfear, from Jordan’s Wheel of Time Series, may be the personification of the woman as temptress. She has power and beauty and is seductive, but evil.

The most basic representation of the goddess image is of the earth mother Rhea, who saves the baby Zeus from his Titan father, Kronos, in Greek mythology. The earth goddess as mother figure is one of the most common in mythology.

To say Holmes had an unusual relationship with women is an understatement. A few examples of his comments towards the fairer sex:

· “Women are never entirely to be trusted – not the best of them.” (The Sign of the Four)

· “He used to make merry over the cleverness of women…” (A Scandal in Bohemia)

· “He disliked and distrusted the sex…” (The Dying Detective)

· “I am not a whole-souled admirer of womankind” (The Valley of Fear)

· “Woman’s heart and mind are insoluble puzzles to the male.” (The Illustrious Client)

Holmes himself wrote The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier. In that tale he says “The good Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I can recall in our association. I was alone.” The faithful doctor was no longer living in a Holmes-centric universe. To imply that for a man to take a wife is a selfish action, well, not all of Holmes’ characteristics were admirable. One can almost see him tending the fire at Baker Street, muttering imprecations against the new Mrs. Watson.

However, Holmes did have one meeting with the goddess. I refer, of course, to The Woman, Irene Adler. In The Five Orange Pips Holmes tells Openshaw “I have been beaten four times – three times by men, and once by a woman.” Irene Adler, former opera singer from New Jersey, proved to be more than a match for the King of Bohemia and Sherlock Holmes. Movies and pastiches (and William Gillette’s play) have speculated on a Holmes-Adler affair. It has even been asserted that they produced a son: the culinary expert, Nero Wolfe.

A Scandal in Bohemia was one of those strange cases where Holmes had more sympathy for the “villain” than for his client. He rejects the offer of an emerald ring, instead accepting a photo of Miss Adler as his payment. He then departs the room, leaving the king’s outstretched hand hanging in the air. Rarely has his contempt been more obvious. The Granada episode of this story has a quick-thinking Watson grabbing the king’s hand to cover for Holmes.

To Sherlock Holmes, most women are inferior beings. However, he has an amazing ability to assuage them: “Holmes, when he liked, had a peculiarly ingratiating way with women, and that he very readily established terms of confidence with them” (The Golden Prince-Nez). Those females who dare to interfere with his orderly universe are evil temptresses. He never allowed any to get close to him, so we see his attitude towards the impositions of Watson’s wives in requiring him to spend time with them (instead of with Holmes). But, he does have one encounter with the goddess: For Watson tells us: “In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex.”

Nicholas Meyer’s Seven Percent Solution certainly had an interesting explanation of Holmes’ issues with women. Regardless, we do see his interactions with women in the Canon containing elements of the hero cycle.

Atonement With the Father

The father image is prevalent throughout classical mythology. The father figure plays many roles in mythology. Perhaps the best known is as the benevolent creator, just about even with that of the vengeful god. An image that fits Holmes’ worldview is that of the higher power. To Holmes, this entity is the higher power of logic: of cold, analytical deduction, observation and reasoning. If we had to pick a church for the sleuth, we would say he worshipped at the altar of the intellect. Holmes is most pleased when he can show moments of pure deduction. Holmes’ lecture to Watson in A Scandal in Bohemia regarding the number of steps up to their sitting room is legendary among Sherlockians (if you need to see it again to recall the quote, you should get out your copy and reread the story).

Examples of his pursuit of deductive nirvana abound:

· “I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.” (A Scandal in Bohemia).

· “My Life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little problems help me to do so.” (The Red-Headed League).

· “Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others overlook” (A Case of Identity).

· “Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.” (The Sign of the Four)

· “The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes” (The Hound of the Baskervilles)

· “Detections is, or ought to be, an exact science and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner.” (The Sign of the Four)

· I never guess. It is a shocking habit – destructive to the logical faculty.” (The Sign of the Four)

There are many more quotes. An entire article could be written that weaves all of the Canon’s quotes into a tapestry on Holmes’ pursuit of this science. But that isn’t the purpose of this piece.

Suffice to say Holmes’ goal was to raise the science of deduction to an art form. In The Abbey Grange he told Watson it was his intention to write a treatise called The Whole Art of Detection. This tome would have been Holmes’ life work turned into a bible. There is no evidence he wrote this book after retiring to his bee-keeping tasks on the Sussex Downs.

Holmes worshipped the god of logic. His investigations were exercises to use his deductive powers and achieve “at-one-ment” with pure reason.

I leave you with a little-quoted line from The Priory School which should be one of his most famous quotes: “It is impossible at I state it, and therefore I must in some respect have stated it wrong.” I believe that this quote defines Sherlock Holmes as well as any other given to us by Doyle and Watson.

Apotheosis

Rand Al Thor becomes the Dragon Reborn as the Wheel of Time Cycle continues. The Canon does not elevate Holmes to a deity-like stature. Such a move would be heretical in Victorian times. However, Holmes does clearly rise above his contemporaries at Scotland Yard. He becomes the most celebrated detective in all of Europe. Governments from France to Holland call upon him. The Pope himself asks for help. And we know he provided his assistance to the throne and government of England upon several occasions. His fame is spread far and wide, and he is called upon both by the authorities and individuals. Among detectives, his achievements are almost god-like. The Holmes brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft, serve the crown. In Victorian times, there was no nobler calling than “God and country.” Holmes becomes the ablest, noblest detective, serving not only the common man, but also the highest personages in Europe. That is as close to a god as one could come in those conservative times.

The Ultimate Boon (Part I)

This is a focal point of the hero myth. A life-transforming trophy is obtained. The quest is fulfilled. The desired object is obtained. In the case of Sherlock Holmes, we can look at one specific moment that can be identified as such. However, the quest momentarily fails, we proceed to another stage (the magic flight), and then the boon is received.

Who can forget this phrase from The Final Problem: “I tell you Watson, in all seriousness, that if I could beat that man, if I could free society of him, I should feel that my own career had reached its summit, and I should be prepared to turn to some more placid line in life.” The highest praise Holmes ever gave another came later in this soliloquy: “…I was forced to confess that I had at last met an antagonist who was my intellectual equal.” If I may be so brash as to quote Holmes’ words in my own work, Sherlock Holmes & The Season of Terror:

“Ah Watson, that is a man whose genius, I fear, may equal my own. Our orbits have remained separate, but soon they must intersect. And at that time, I will be tested to my limits to remove him from London society. I will not tell you his name now. The less you know of him, the safer you will be. Would that he would leave England and take his evil elsewhere. But he shall not, and the two of us will face off in a duel of wits that, should I survive, will be the greatest achievement of my career.”

Holmes’ boon is to remove the most evil man in London from Victorian England. The trophy is not life transforming. Instead, it is society transforming. The detective will put his hand upon the man who is “the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city.” The great evil will be vanquished. The quest will reach its highpoint. The hero will settle into a non-adventurous existence if he can but succeed (according to Holmes. We know he didn’t actually retire after vanquishing the evil Moriarty).

I am not the first to wonder at the tactic Holmes employed in acknowledging to the professor that on the coming Monday (three days away) Moriarty will be snared in a trap. If Moriarty was in fact the greatest criminal genius of this time, this warning seemed a bit too sporting. Holmes is not needed for the arrest, although he must be present in order to obtain a conviction. So, he convinces Watson to escape Moriarty’s grasp with a trip to the Continent. Watson, ever the faithful companion, immediately agrees.

THE RETURN

Refusal of the Return (Part I)

Things get a little out of whack here. In the classical pattern, the hero has completed the quest and must return to society bearing the gift. Often the hero does not want to return to the world he left, but wants to stay in the “nirvana” that accompanied achievement of the quest. Since the Ultimate Boon hasn’t actually yet been bestowed, we’re not ready for a refusal by the hero.

The Magic Flight

We return to the pattern (briefly). Scholars (Brend, Blakeney, Roberts, et al) have commented on the various aspects of the Holmes-Moriarty conflict. Albert and Myrna Silverstein had quite an explanation in Concerning the Extraordinary Events at the Reichenbach Falls. We know Holmes and Watson fled London, with Moriarty in hot pursuit on a special. Nowhere else in the Canon do we find Holmes on the run as he is in The Final Problem. The evil professor arrives at the station as the train is pulling away. Then his special roars past Holmes and Watson as they “hide behind a pile of luggage” at Canterbury station. The duo continues on to Brussels and Strasbourg. There, Holmes discovers that Moriarty escaped the trap. I’m a bit surprised that Holmes didn’t expect this since Moriarty had already left London by chasing the detective and Watson.

He mistakenly states: “They have secured the whole gang with the exception of him.” I believe this phrase is the single biggest inconsistency when The Empty House is read as part two of this adventure. He “goes underground” because it is a rare opportunity to have two of Moriarty’s henchman (who escaped the police net) slip-up, believing the great detective is dead. Of course, that seems to ignore the confederate who was throwing rocks down at Holmes after Moriarty went over the falls. Watson certainly left some holes when he recounted these two tales. But we do know that Moriarty is still at liberty. This leads us to completion of the quest.

The Ultimate Boon (Part II)

Holmes has eluded Moriarty, who likewise has escaped the trap set for him. The encounter at Reichenbach Falls looms. We have already seen how it is Holmes’ goal to remove the Professor from society. Though he smashed the evil leader’s organization, the ultimate boon, freeing London of Moriarty, has not yet been achieved.

After a false victory, Holmes achieves the real goal. Watson is deceived by a fake message and returns to the hotel. Holmes grapples with Moriarty on the precipice of the Falls. Due to his knowledge of the Japanese art of baritsu, he sends the Professor plunging to his death. Holmes then climbed the wall, avoiding the aforementioned boulder attack.

Moriarty is dead. The most cunning villain in the world has been killed by Holmes. He has achieved the ultimate boon. As stated above, it is a society-transforming event. Surely all that now remains is to return in glory to his people. We know better. Odysseus set a pattern in The Odyssey. Of course, he wanted to return home, it just didn’t go too well.

Rescue From Without

As Campbell states “the world may have to come and get…” the hero. The clearest example of this I can recall from my readings is at the end of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Frodo and Sam have, against all odds, destroyed the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. At this point, they’re kind of screwed.

As Frodo says, “Well, this is the end, Sam Gamgee.” However, the heroes were to be rescued. Gwaihir, Lord of the Eagles, shows up, swoops down and they were “borne far away out of the darkness and Fire.”

Holmes was called back into the world of London. There have been many articles written of “the lost years” after he fled the Falls. Oddly enough, Colonel Moran didn’t seem to dedicate his life to avenging his lost leader. Perhaps there was no money in it for this practical man. He was too busy making money as Ronald Adair’s card partner (The Adventure of the Empty House).

According to Holmes, he traveled to Tibet and visited Persia, Mecca and Khartoum. He then did some research into coal-tar derivatives in France. Finally, it was the death of young Ronald Adair that brought him back to London. This “call” brought him back and allowed him to bring closure to his adventure by capturing Moran in The Adventure of the Empty House. Basically, Holmes was brought back from the external world to London. He was rescued from without.

The Crossing of the Return Threshold

Holmes probably took a train back to England. The return threshold wasn’t really a physical barrier. After killing Moriarty, he roamed the world for three years. His threshold was really the decision to return to London and resume his role as a consulting detective. Why did it take him three years? He gives no indication of working to bring Moriarty’s remaining gang members to justice while abroad. Likewise, they didn’t seem to be searching for him. A non-religious Englishman visited Mecca. That’s not exactly what you would expect of the sleuth. He learned of “The Park Lane Mystery” while in France. Was the lure of his profession calling him? Was the thrill of the hunt missing in his life as a laboratory researcher (I still don’t know what coal-tar derivatives are)? Holmes tells Watson he knows it was Moran who killed Ronald Adair. This is enough to bring him back and end his sojourn. He can bring Moran to justice. It seems a bit far-fetched that Holmes so feared Moran he stayed away from London for two full years. However, that is his story. So, we see that he felt he had an opportunity to capture Moran, and that is enough to cause him to cross the return threshold.

Master of the Two Worlds

This concept stands outside the Canon. It is the most esoteric element of the hero cycle, and involves a mortal transcendence to the immortal world. It is probably the hardest piece to understand, and the least relevant to Sherlock Holmes. I won’t even try and tie it in here. He didn’t become the Buddha, or travel to Mt. Olympus and drain nectar with the gods.

Freedom to Live

Holmes has killed Moriarty, brought ruin on his gang and captured his top aide, Moran. After two years “of hiding,” he is once again master of London. He resumes his career as a consulting detective. He would never have a villain like the Professor to battle again. About the master blackmailer, Charles Augustus Milverton, Holmes would say (he is) “the worst man in London.” But one doesn’t have the same impression as he gets from the descriptions of Moriarty.

In an aside here, Moriarty was based on a real person: Adam Worth. He was a criminal mastermind in Victorian England with an organization working for him.

Holmes would practice for nearly another decade after putting away Moran. His fame continued to spread, and he worked on his magnum opus, The Whole Art of Detection in his retirement. In the Canon, it is only during the Great Hiatus that we see Holmes “defeated” by another. For two years, he could not return to London and practice his art. Any evildoer in London at the time would certainly consider anyone who drove Holmes away from them for that long to be the victor in the battle. However, with the arrest of Moran, the great Sherlock was free to serve the ends of English Justice. His travels as Sigerson, his chemical laboratory studies, all must be set aside and he returns to what is now truly “his city.”

SUMMARY

While writing this article, I reread what I consider to be the greatest hero saga in all of literature: The Iliad. There is no more grand, sweeping epic of war and heroism. I looked for the elements presented here, and found them rather easily. I finished the article, and as I reread it, I felt that Sherlock Holmes was, in fact, a hero in the great tradition. Elements of the adventure can be found in his individual cases (especially The Hound of the Baskervilles), but taken as a whole, his career followed the hero cycle. At a first glance, initiation, separation and return don’t sound like elements of Holmes’ career. However, I think this article shows that the great detective was in fact the literary successor of Beowulf and Achilles.