History Fridge / SherlockHolmes

* At the end of the film, look closer at the ring Holmes gave to Mary and Watson... [[spoiler: "Is that the Maharajah's missing Diamond?"]]

** He ''must'' have prepared the duplicate book long before the torture scene, because he'd tried and failed to pull off the switch at Moriarty's hotel. He couldn't have just been trying to steal the book and leave nothing in its place, because Moriarty would probably have noticed its absence too soon for Lestrade and Mary to purloin his fortune.

* Easy to not notice [[RuleOfFunny because it is so funny]], but during the climax of ''Game of Shadows'', Holmes [[spoiler: reveals that he swapped Moriaty's note book with one containing flick picture of a fish eating the fisherman, harkening back to Moriaty's boast in the torture scene. The fridge logic is that Holmes only managed to swap the books]] immediately during that same toture scene. So what, did he know in advance how Moriaty was going to specifically (and so unpleasantly) tease him?

* Minor example combined with ValuesDissonance: In "The Sign of Four", the kennel-keeper from whom Watson acquires the tracking dog Toby keeps a badger and a ferret in his home. Most modern readers will dismiss his remarking on these as a somewhat weak moment of comedy. However, readers in Victorian times and those familiar with the era's customs of "sport" will catch on that the badger is probably there as ''live bait'' for the dogs: possibly to train them what badgers smell like, but more likely so they can practice ''killing'' badgers. Not very horrific when written, but an ugly notion reminiscent of blood sports today.

* It's horrifying enough that Moriarty manipulates a man [[spoiler: into committing suicide]] by threatening to kill his wife and children, who are being held hostage. Then you realize that, given Moriarty's policy of "no loose ends," he almost certainly [[CompleteMonster had the man's family killed ANYWAY]].

* At first it seems anachronistic for guns like the Mauser C96 to be appearing in 1891, and simply an example of a [[CoolGuns cool]] and [[RareGuns rare]] gun being shoehorned into a Victorian story. It's perfectly plausible for Moriarty's weapons business to be involved in advanced weapon design, and the Maxim machine gun that formed the basis of semi-automatic research was almost a decade old at the time of ''Game of Shadows.'' After Moriarty's death and the collapse of his empire, the plans would have been taken and developed into the C96 model half a decade later.

** Even better, Holmes's creator Conan Doyle, specialised as an Opthalmologist (eye doctor) in real life.

* The ChessMotifs throughout the film cast Holmes and his allies as the black pieces, and Holmes takes the black side when he and Moriarty play chess in the GrandFinale. This clashes with the general [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience color-coding of pop culture]], which mandates that LightIsGood and DarkIsEvil. But in chess, white and black have nothing to do with good and evil, but rather with offense and defense. White moves first, and is therefore on offense, while black moves second, putting them on defense. And Holmes is very much on defense throughout most of the movie.

* Every event in The Final Problem happens in some form or another in The Game of Shadows. It is feasible that Watson toned it down into the "marketable" story that was published.

** Actually, I caught a clue that may imply that [[spoiler: Moriarty is indeed alive... The last we see of Sebastian Moran is when Simza's brother dies. He's shown leaving the party. Moriarty hadn't fallen off of Reichenbach Falls yet and wasn't going to for another good 6 minutes. Sebastian most likely was making his way down the mountainside when he would've heard the sound of Moirarty screaming (as the film shows us when it slows down). It's later said that neither body was found. What if Sebastian fished Moriarty out of the river and is revitalizing him somewhere?]]

* At first, many of the weird, steampunk-like things appearing in both films appear to be merely AnachronismStew designed to appeal to fans of 21st century action movies. But when you take a closer look, many of the elements--weird weaponry, concerns over foreign invasions, and stories about phony supernatural events--are exactly the sort of stories Victorian fans of Arthur Conan Doyle's works would have seen in other popular stories and novels of the day. This isn't a case of DidNotDoTheResearch on the VictorianEra, but a careful reconstruction of the tropes found period pulp fiction that eventually inspired our current action movie cliches.

** Mycroft implies that [[spoiler:it's merely a new toy for him. He describes it as his ''personal'' O2 supply.]]

** Alternatively, Holmes actually drew the entire flip book ''during'' the torture scene, in brief moments whenever Moriarty's babk was turned, because Holmes is ''just that good''.

** Alternatively, Holmes actually drew the entire flip book ''during'' the torture scene, in brief moments whenever Moriarty's babk was turn, because Holmes is ''just that good''.