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Heroes: Civilians
Sherlock Edward Holmes, Esq.
- Death Seeker: Played with - there are times that he does not want to die, and then there are times that he craves death.
- Disney Death: Twice. The Reichenbach Falls, of course, but the middle of Mortality also counts.
- Honorary Uncle: The Lestrade children consider him to be this. Yes, that is as ironic as it sounds.
- In Harm's Way: So often that Wiggins actually calls him out on this 'several times]].
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: It may be Adaptational Attractiveness, but Holmes is definitely this in the author's illustrations. He is also 6'2", a nod to Jeremy Brett.
- You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: Culverton Smith and Colonel Moran have to find this out the hard way. It's really not a good idea to make the Great Detective mad at you.
John Hamish Watson, M.D.
- Deadly Doctor: Eep, do not mess with Sherlock Holmes. You'll be very sorry you did.
- Determinator:"Porlock, there is no use in arguing the point. I shall search for Holmes. Whether you help me or not is your choice, but you shan't stop me — you have my word on that."
- Enemies with Death: He's a doctor. It's his job.
- Fake Nationality: In-universe. Watson speaks and acts like a Londoner but is a full-blooded Scot.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Never explicitly stated but heavily implied when he interrogates and then kills a Mook.
Mycroft Tristan Holmes, Esq.
- Aloof Big Brother: In terms of plot, only. In characterization, he has a definite...
- Big Brother Instinct: He's actually quite protective of Sherlock.
- Not So Stoic: Mycroft experiences nearly a full range of emotions in Mortality alone.
Baker Street Irregulars
David "Davy" Jonathan Wiggins
- Calling the Old Man Out: Does to Holmes regarding his recklessness with his own safety. several times.
- Establishing Character Moment: Wiggins's first scene neatly establishes him as a sardonic, concerned Hyper-Competent Sidekick.
- The Lancer: To Holmes's, then Watson's, leadership.
- Promotion to Parent: Had to step up to be the man of the house and the father-figure to his siblings when his father abandoned them.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Davy is just 22, but he tends to act older (and, in some cases, wiser than his own employer). Though he has a mother and a home, he worked as a beggar and pickpocket before being hired by Holmes.
Peter Wiggins
- The Lancer: To his brother's leadership of the Irregulars.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Approximately 19 or 20, his backstory is the same as his brother's, barring Davy's Promotion to Parent.
Supporting Women
Mary Watson neé Morstan
- Establishing Character Moment: Mary's first scene sets and cements her sibling-esque relationship with Sherlock.
Rose Hudson
- Love Hurts: When her characterization finally starts coming through in Mortality, it's when she's acting very much like a surrogate mom to a very damaged Sherlock Holmes.
- Team Mom: Very much on the sidelines, but still there.
Annie Rebekah Lestrade neé Rhys
- Brainy Brunette: Annie is incredibly well-educated for a working-class woman, having largely taught herself through books. She can speak several languages aside from her native ones: French, German, Italian, and Breton, as well as classical Greek and Latin.
- Breakout Character: Annie was intended to be used extensively as the series progressed, but the unexpectedly enthusiastic response to her initial minor appearances in Mortality led to more scenes than originally planned.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Dark hair, dark eyes, and fairly brown skin.
- Odd Couple: Not exactly a "fire and ice" deal with Geoffrey, but it's not far from the truth, either.
- One-Steve Limit: Played with. "Annie" is revealed to be the name of Sherlock Holmes's deceased fiancee.
- Yiddish as a Second Language: Subverted. Yiddish was her first language alongside English.
Heroes: Scotland Yarders
Geoffrey Michael Lestrade
- Consummate Professional: Or, in Holmes's own words, the "best of professionals."
- Dark Is Not Evil: Like Holmes, Lestrade is often described as "dark".
- Deadpan Snarker: Oh so much. The narrative from his Point of View tends to be very dry...Watson: (concerning Moran) I think you'd know him if you saw him, Lestrade. The man has a presence.
Lestrade: Well, then, that limits our man to half the men in that room. Come along, let's get you back out there. - Deuteragonist: As an Ascended Extra - Lestrade is one of the three major POV characters.
- Establishing Character Moment: The scene that introduces all of Mortality's Yarders (excepting Sean Youghal) establishes Lestrade as a dry-witted, Older and Wiser, generally world-weary Team Dad and Only Sane Man.
- Fake Brit: Another in-universe example, as Lestrade is a London-born Breton.
- Genre Savvy: When you've Seen It All, it's a little hard not to be Genre Savvy.Lestrade: I mayn't be a genius — I may even be an imbecile, as Sherlock Holmes is always so kind to point out — but I do know how criminals think.
- Heroic BSoD: When he believes Holmes to be dead - he suffers it again later on, in the aftermath of the raid.
- The Kirk: To Patterson's Spock and Gregson's McCoy.
- Odd Couple: As mentioned in the folder above, not exactly a "fire and ice" deal with his wife Annie, but not far from the truth, either.
- Older and Wiser: Combine Seen It All, Only Sane Man, and Team Dad, and you've very much got this.
- Only Sane Man: Whether he's interacting with the rest of the "Five-Man Band" or his own colleagues, he is so very much this (even when Watson's around).
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Lestrade is fairly short at 5'7", but he's also known to be a holy terror to his subordinates and colleagues alike when he's worked up.
- Not to mention the fact that his dry wit is a superpower all of its own.
- The Quiet One: Another of Lestrade's superpowers - he's incredibly long-suffering.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Just watch his interactions with Wiggins.
- Seen It All: He's been on the London Met for over two decades, longer than most of his colleagues.
- Team Dad: He even considers himself something of a father-figure to Holmes.
- Tranquil Fury: He's The Stoic that you wouldn't like when he's angry.
Tobias Gregson
- Deadpan Snarker:Gregson: (concerning Patterson) Have to admit, I've always wondered what it would be like to have Sherlock Holmes as One of Us. Now I don't have to wonder, and I don't like it one bit.
- Dumb Blond: Inverted. Gregson is the Sherlock Holmes-acknowledged smartest man at the Yard.
- Establishing Character Moment: He is quickly established in his first scene as a smart, snarky Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- Friendly Rival: Is this to Lestrade, who doesn't reciprocate the "rival" bit anymore.
- Insufferable Genius:Lestrade: Come off it, Tobias — you look like a thunderhead about to erupt.
Gregson: Volcanoes erupt, Ferret Face. Thunderheads burst.
Lestrade: What's going on in that bright head of yours, other than the incessant need to demonstrate your superior knowledge?
- The McCoy: Surprisingly so, but Patterson seems to bring out the trait in him. (Canonically, Lestrade and Gregson are more like The McCoy and The Spock, respectively - even in Mortality, they go back and forth as needed.)Gregson: [Patterson] could have had enough consideration for the poor Doctor to make his announcement less abruptly.
Daniel Patterson
- Ascended Extra: From one mention in "The Final Problem" to supporting character.
- The Cynic: Then again, he's rather entitled to it, after all the years he's spent undercover in the underbelly of Victorian London.
- Establishing Character Moment: Patterson's is the most concise, introducing him as cynical, sarcastic, cold, and something of an in-universe Expy to Sherlock Holmes. In other words, a true Knight in Sour Armor.
- Foil: Patterson to Holmes, rather as a deconstruction of the popular image of Sherlock Holmes, in-universe but also in Real Life.Word of God: I think that by Patterson living the image Holmes attempts to project, it makes Holmes that much more human.
- Hero of Another Story: He's spent most of his career - fifteen years at least - investigating Moriarty.
- Icy Blue Eyes: Often described from Lestrade's Point of View as icebergs or chips of ice, with just as much emotion.
- Insufferable Genius: So much so, in fact, that Sherlock Holmes actually decides to cut back on his own arrogance whilst around Watson and Lestrade in the future!
- Sherlock Scan: He can do this just about as well as one of the Holmes brothers.
- The Spock: To Lestrade's Kirk and Gregson's McCoy, as far as team dynamics go... Really, he's just The Spock, period.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gets this from Lestrade and Gregson a few times in Mortality alone.
Roger Bradstreet
Harold Morton
Stanley Hopkins
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!":Hopkins: (solemnly) "Sherlock Holmes, detective genius forever and ever, world without end, Amen." (winks at MacDonald)
Athelney Jones
Alec MacDonald
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Lestrade holds that MacDonald and Hopkins are Sherlock Holmes's biggest fans, John Watson aside.
Sean Youghal
- Ascended Extra: Word of God states that Sean is actually the Inspector Youghal mentioned in "The Mazarin Stone". Mortality takes place twelve years before MAZA.
Villains
Professor James Richard Paul Moriarty
- The Corrupter: He wanted to be this for Sherlock Holmes. Fortunately for the world, Holmes was rescued by The Cavalry.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He calls out Culverton for killing his step-nephew.
- Evil Genius: He's not just a Diabolical Mastermind - he's an astrophysicist as well, one far ahead of his time.
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: Even from his own brother.
- The Man Behind the Man: To the Red-headed League, Culverton Smith, and purportedly many others.
- Odd Friendship: Played with. He trusts Moran more than anyone else of his subordinates, but he makes it very clear that Moran is a subordinate. Their dynamics are pretty much as "fire and ice" as it gets.
- The Syndicate: He's not just the Diabolical Mastermind - he IS The Syndicate.
Colonel Sebastian Moran
- Even Evil Has Standards: Turns out that Moran does have some respect for the holiness of Christmas.
- Refuge in Audacity: How he survives after disobeying Moriarty...Moran: “Professor, I do not enjoy disobeying your orders. But I could not, in good conscience, carry that one out. Not at that time.”
Moriarty: “And what does that make you, Colonel? A soldier with a heart?”
Moran: “I hope so, sir. It would be deucedly difficult to live without one.”
Culverton Smith
- Ambiguously Brown: Undoubtedly from so much time in the tropics - Holmes thinks that he could almost pass for a native of Sumatra due to his coloring.
- Deadly Doctor: Played with, as he has all the knowledge of a Ph.D. without actually having acquired his doctorate (or even an M.D.) due to financial difficulty.
- Evil Uncle: Out of Greed for his half brother's estate. Called out on this by the Big Bad, himself.
- Serial Killer: Officially called a "multiple murderer" and unofficially labeled a monster by Holmes himself.
- You Have Failed Me: Gets a verbal, non-lethal form of this from Moriarty, along with a second chance. He blows it.
Minor Characters
Fred Porlock
Major Dick Sharon
- Tranquil Fury: Upon learning of Holmes's captivity and Moran's hand in it, Sharon is described as being quietly outraged.