It is entirely possible that you were walking down the street recently anywhere in the world and passed by something that looked like the picture above. And maybe you noticed it and stared for a while. Maybe you shrugged and moved on. Maybe you didn’t see it at all. It could have been a weird post-it note stuck to a parking meter or a bathroom stall door:
“Richard Brook was a fake.”
“I fight John Watson’s War.”
“We know the truth. I believe in Sherlock.”
It looks as though the world is taking up the banner of the Reichenbach Hero. (For a full explanation of why, read our spoiler-heavy recap of the ending of Sherlock season 2.) There’s a movement on the streets, already sweeping through your town or city, and it’s a cause worth fighting for.
#BelieveinSherlock
Warning: IMMEDIATE SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2 of SHERLOCK.
It started the way these things often do—one voice on the sea of the world (or the internet). After the end of Sherlock‘s season 2 our hero was in disgrace and appeared dead to the world. And one fan imagined: what if you lived in their universe? What if you followed John Watson’s blog, you read all the cases, you loved Sherlock and his intrepid blogger the way the kids love pop music and bad fashion trends and movie stars? And what if, one day, some shitty tabloid told the whole world he was a fake and your hero appeared to commit suicide? You wouldn’t stand for it, that’s what. You would know the truth.
And you would pass it on.
In honor of John Watson’s unwavering loyalty to his departed friend, #BelieveinSherlock has begun. In barely two weeks, this fan-created viral campaign has spread all over the world. (No joke. There’s a map.) People are creating art, printing up signs, posting them in coffee shops, on subway platforms, and university bulletin boards. They’re making t-shirts, writing it on their arms, pinning buttons to their winter coats.
“Don’t believe the lies.”
“Moriarty was real.”
“Sherlock Lives.”
The resonance that Sherlock’s apparent departure has with fans across the globe should perhaps not be surprising at all: when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote “The Final Problem” with every intent of killing off his most famous creation, fans wore black armbands to mark his passing and sent angry letters to the author. And that was over a century ago. Today, the power of the internet has ensured a wildfire of protest and a groundswell of love and support.
Not only that, it’s connecting people around the world. Fans are finding posters in their schools and hometowns and realizing that they’re not alone. People are reaching out to one another: many of these printed-out posters have tabs at the bottom that simply read “I Believe.” They’re not being ripped off because they have a number for a babysitter or a good gardening service. It’s a vote—I believe too. We’re all out here. We’re not going away. You may think it’s silly, but it’s also sort of beautiful. It’s homespun and proud; many pictures on Tumblr accounts show fans holding up their drawn or fingerpainted posters in front of their faces so that only their eyes show, anonymous protests of the masses at work.
There is some debate as to whether this is a marketing campaign stemming from the BBC and the possibility remains that this is exactly how this started. The show may be over in the U.K. but it has yet to debut in the rest of the world, and the folks at the BBC are most likely canny enough to know that television with an active fanbase crosses national barriers quite easily.
But however the origin, such a movement could not have become so visible if the excitement and devotion to Sherlock wasn’t already there. We might have to wait a year (or more) for the next season, but who knows what will grow up to fill the detective’s brilliant, arrogant shoes by then? The Sherlockians have mobilized, and the internet is proving what we’ve known all along: together, the ranks of fandom are an unstoppable force.
Check out the #BelieveinSherlock Tumblr! Hashtag it on Twitter!
Emmet Asher-Perrin is the Editorial Assistant for Tor.com. She believes in Sherlock. She also believes in fans. #Moriartywasreal
I really love this series. There is so much depth in so many characters
Gandalf facing the Balrog at the Bridge: “%#$%, I _should_ have brought Glorfindel.”
“for [he] knew that a flood would come down”
The flood was commanded by Elrond, who has not been to Valinor yet. So I’m not sure that there’s any intercession with the divine involved in that.
Ironically–and if I had more space I would’ve mentioned this in the article–Glorfindel was part of the Fellowship in the very beginning, but Tolkien almost immediately took him out! Then it became Gandalf and like 5 hobbits, if you can imagine that…
Luckily for me I am used to language like ‘diapered with celandine’ thanks to Walter Scott and E.R. Eddison.
When in one of The Hobbit movies we see the Eagles leave the expedition on top of a really high rock in the middle of a plain, my sister said, “So that’s why the Eagles didn’t fly the ring to Mordor: they’re kind of jerks.”
Very cool essay, thanks for it.
Jeff Daniel’s line in The Martian – “If we are going to have a secret project called “Elrond”, then I want my code name to be ‘Glorfindel'” makes much more sense after reading the above article. Teddy is clearly a Tolkien super-fan and understands in an instant the important background role played by the big G leading up to Elrond’s Council. He wants to play the same type of big behind the scene role in Mark’s rescue. Brilliant.
Wow, this is awesome. I must admit I never paid too much attention to Glorfindel. As for his exclusion from the movie, I do understand it – it definitely is cutting out a lot of thematic awesomeness, but it’s the kind of thing that in a movie would have required a lot more setup, and movies, I think, need a litlte more economy of storytelling than a book.
That said, this is sooooooo good :) Do you think Tolkien would have been familiar with the shamanic connections – my knowledge is mostly in our shared Catholcisim which doesn’t quite have the same concept of ‘shamans’ (although some of the symbolism/concepts exists in other ways). But, I know he was also interested in a lot of Norse/northern mythologies, so I’m wondering if that same type of symbolism exists there.
That said, I really love your symbolism of the eagles and what it represents in terms of spiritual transformation (ecstacy and agony reminds me very much of Bernini’s statue of The Ecstacy of St. Teresa), and how they are only sent once the soul is at its limit – which is in line with, I think, Tolkien’s ideas on grace and his words about the ending of LotR where Frodo gives everything he can and it’s still not enough (but it still works out).
@@.-@: elrond is descended from earendil amd elwing, thus he is by nature divine, having a maia for a great–grandma.