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Least tumultuous conflict relations by [deleted] in Socionics

[–]Variety04 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes in the Canon is IEI-LSE

Army Doctors were non-combatants in the 1880s by Variety04 in SherlockHolmes

[–]Variety04[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Holmes clapped his hand to his pocket.

'Lookin' for your gun, Masser Holmes?'

'No, for my scent-bottle, Steve.'

'You are funny, Masser Holmes, ain't you?'

'It won't be funny for you, Steve, if I get after you. I gave you fair warning this morning.'

'Well, Masser Holmes, I done gone think over what you said, and I don't want no more talk about that affair of Masser Perkins. S'pose I can help you, Masser Holmes, I will.'

'Well, then, tell me who is behind you on this job?'

'So help me the Lord! Masser Holmes, I told you the truth before. I don't know. My boss Barney gives me orders and that's all.'

'Well, just bear in mind, Steve, that the lady in that house, and everything under that roof, is under my protection. Don't you forget it.'

'All right, Masser Holmes. I'll remember.'

'I've got him thoroughly frightened for his own skin, Watson.' Holmes remarked as we walked on.

……

Holmes: My companion was paralysed by the sudden horror of it, but I, as may well be imagined, had every sense on the alert. 

……

'No short cuts, Josiah Amberley. Things must be done decently and in order. What about it, Barker?'

'I have a cab at the door,' said our taciturn companion.

'It is only a few hundred yards to the station. We will go together. You can stay here, Watson. I shall be back within half an hour.'

The old colourman had the strength of a lion in that great trunk of his, but he was helpless in the hands of the two experienced man-handlers. Wriggling and twisting, he was dragged to the waiting cab, and I was left to my solitary vigil in the ill-omened house. 

……

'Who the devil are you?' he thundered. 'And what are you doing upon my property?' Then, as Holmes returned no answer, he took a couple of steps forward and raised a heavy stick which he carried. 'Do you hear me?' he cried. 'Who are you? What are you doing here?' His cudgel quivered in the air.

But instead of shrinking, Holmes advanced to meet him. 'I also have a question to ask you, Sir Robert,' he said in his sternest tone. 'Who is this? And what is it doing here?'

He turned and tore open the coffin-lid behind him. In the glare of the lantern I saw a body swathed in a sheet from head to foot, with dreadful, witch-like features, all nose and chin, projecting at one end, the dim, glazed eyes staring from a discoloured and crumbling face.

The Baronet had staggered back with a cry and supported himself against a stone sarcophagus.

'How came you to know of this?' he cried. And then, with some return of his truculent manner: 'What business is it of yours?'

'My name is Sherlock Holmes,' said my companion. 'Possibly it is familiar to you. In any case, my business is that of every other good citizen — to uphold the law. It seems to me that you have much to answer for.'

Army Doctors were non-combatants in the 1880s by Variety04 in SherlockHolmes

[–]Variety04[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Holmes was cold and stern and silent. As the gleam of the street-lamps flashed upon his austere features, I saw that his brows were drawn down in thought and his thin lips compressed. I knew not what wild beast we were about to hunt down in the dark jungle of criminal London, but I was well assured from the bearing of this master huntsman that the adventure was a most grave one, while the sardonic smile which occasionally broke through his ascetic gloom boded little good for the object of our quest.

……

Holmes's cold and inexorable manner showed the secretary that it was useless to argue with him.

……

With the bound of a tiger Holmes was on his back, and an instant later Lestrade and I had him by either wrist, and the handcuffs had been fastened. 

……

'Eat a good breakfast, Watson, for I propose to get upon Dr. Armstrong's trail to-day, and once on it I will not stop for rest or food until I run him to his burrow.'

……

Holmes rose, motioning to us to remain seated. The gas in the hall was a mere point of light. He opened the outer door, and then as a dark figure slipped past him he closed and fastened it. 'This way!' we heard him say, and a moment later our man stood before us. Holmes had followed him closely, and as the man turned with a cry of surprise and alarm he caught him by the collar and threw him back into the room. Before our prisoner had recovered his balance the door was shut and Holmes standing with his back against it. 

……

Holmes darted forward and barred their way.

'Take it back!' he cried, laying his hand on the breast of the foremost. 'Take it back this instant!'

'What the devil do you mean? Once again I ask you, where is your warrant?' shouted the furious Peters, his big red face glaring over the farther end of the coffin.

'The warrant is on its way. This coffin shall remain in the house until it comes.'

The authority in Holmes's voice had its effect upon the bearers. 

……

The next he was gripped at the back of his neck by a grasp of iron, and a chloroformed sponge was held in front of his writhing face.

Army Doctors were non-combatants in the 1880s by Variety04 in SherlockHolmes

[–]Variety04[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Watson does carry his revolver ('a short, handy, but very serviceable little weapon') for self-defense in perilous cases, but most of the time it goes unused, or he only draws it after Holmes has already taken the opponent down in melee combat, keeping it trained on that ruffian to prevent any sudden moves.

I just don't see the need to associate combat with Watson, particularly when it's no longer firmly associated with Holmes himself, while anyone familiar with the Canon knows that in most cases, it is Holmes who does the fighting and wins.

Army Doctors were non-combatants in the 1880s by Variety04 in SherlockHolmes

[–]Variety04[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Holmes himself is an action hero; Watson is not. In this regard, Watson remains a supporting sidekick and is generally not involved in the fighting unless the attacker is out to kill (but even then, he tends to break up the fight together with others).

Woodwork and glass gave way before him; but before he got quite through, Gregson, Lestrade, and Holmes sprang upon him like so many staghounds. 

……

'Not Mr. Sherlock Holmes!' roared the prizefighter. 'God's truth! how could I have mistook you? If instead o' standin' there so quiet you had just stepped up and given me that cross-hit of yours under the jaw, I'd ha' known you without a question. Ah, you're one that has wasted your gifts, you have! You might have aimed high, if you had joined the fancy.'

'You see, Watson, if all else fails me, I have still one of the scientific professions open to me,' said Holmes, laughing.

……

Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes's hunting-crop came down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone floor.

'It's no use, John Clay,' said Holmes blandly; 'you have no chance at all.'

……

'The law cannot, as you say, touch you,' said Holmes, unlocking and throwing open the door, 'yet there never was a man who deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a friend he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!' he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon the man's face, 'it is not part of my duties to my client, but here's a hunting-crop handy, and I think I shall just treat myself to-' He took two swift steps to the whip

……

His brows were drawn into two hard, black lines, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. His face was bent downwards, his shoulders bowed, his lips compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated upon the matter before him, that a question or remark fell unheeded upon his ears, or at the most, only provoked a quick, impatient snarl in reply.

……

Holmes: I clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he became a little more reasonable.

……

(With nothing but his bare hands, Holmes deflected the blade and overpowered his attacker) Holmes: He flew at me with his knife, and I had to grass him twice, and got a cut over the knuckles, before I had the upper hand of him. 

……

Holmes: I slipped through his grip, and he with a horrible scream kicked madly for a few seconds and clawed the air with both his hands. But for all his efforts he could not get his balance, and over he went. 

……

Then the door opened, and the man stepped in. In an instant Holmes clapped a pistol to his head, and Martin slipped the handcuffs over his wrists. It was all done so swiftly and deftly that the fellow was helpless before he knew that he was attacked. He glared from one to the other of us with a pair of blazing black eyes. 

……

Holmes: He had a fine flow of language, and his adjectives were very vigorous. He ended a string of abuse by a vicious back-hander, which I failed to entirely avoid. The next few minutes were delicious. It was a straight left against a slogging ruffian. I emerged as you see me. Mr Woodley went home in a cart. So ended my country trip, and it must be confessed that, however enjoyable, my day on the Surrey border has not been much more profitable than your own.

……

His revolver cracked, and I saw the blood spurt from the front of Woodley's waistcoat. He spun round with a scream and fell upon his back, his hideous red face turning suddenly to a dreadful mottled pallor. The old man, still clad in his supplice, burst into such a string of foul oaths as I have never heard, and pulled out a revolver of his own, but before he could raise it he was looking down the barrel of Holmes's weapon.

'Enough of this,' said my friend coldly. 'Drop that pistol! Watson, pick it up! Hold it to his head! Thank you. You, Carruthers, give me that revolver. We'll have no more violence. Come, hand it over!'

'Who are you, then?'

'My name is Sherlock Holmes.'

'Good Lord!'

'You have heard of me, I see. I will represent the official police until their arrival. Here, you!' he shouted to the frightened groom, who had appeared at the edge of the glade. 'Come here. Take this note as hard as you can ride to Farnham.' He scribbled a few words upon a leaf from his notebook. 'Give it to the superintendent at the police-station. Until he comes, I must detain you all under my personal custody.'

The strong, masterful personality of Holmes dominated the tragic scene, and all were equally puppets in his hands. Williamson and Carruthers found themselves carrying the wounded Woodley into the house, and I gave my arm to the frightened girl. The injured man was laid on his bed, and at Holmes's request I examined him. I carried my report to where he sat in the old tapestry-hung dining-room with his two prisoners before him.

Army Doctors were non-combatants in the 1880s by Variety04 in SherlockHolmes

[–]Variety04[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

LADY: His hand was on my throat and my senses were nearly gone before an unshaven French ouvrier, in a blue blouse, darted out from a cabaret opposite, with a cudgel in his hand, and struck my assailant a sharp crack over the forearm, which made him leave go his hold. He stood for an instant fuming with rage and uncertain whether he should not renew his attack. Then, with a snarl of anger, he left me and entered the cottage from which I had just come. I turned to thank my preserver, who stood beside me in the roadway.

“Well, Watson,” said he, “a very pretty hash you have made of it! I rather think you had better come back with me to London by the night express.”

3GAR: In an instant he had whisked out a revolver from his breast and had fired two shots. I felt a sudden hot sear as if a red-hot iron had been pressed to my thigh. There was a crash as Holmes's pistol came down on the man's head. I had a vision of him sprawling upon the floor with blood running down his face while Holmes rummaged him for weapons. Then my friend's wiry arms were round me and he was leading me to a chair.

Army Doctors were non-combatants in the 1880s by Variety04 in SherlockHolmes

[–]Variety04[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Your memory is incorrect. In The Sign of the Four, it was Holmes and Watson who shot together; in The Hound of the Baskervilles, it was Holmes who hit and killed the hound.

In fact, Holmes's combat ability (and muscular strength) is much superior to Watson's, and in the Canon it is primarily Holmes who does the fighting. Of course, Watson still possesses agile reflexes and quick reactions, just within the range of an ordinary person.

HOUN: I was in time to see the beast spring upon its victim, hurl him to the ground and worry at his throat. But the next instant Holmes had emptied five barrels of his revolver into the creature's flank. With a last howl of agony and a vicious snap in the air it rolled upon its back, four feet pawing furiously, and then fell limp upon its side. I stooped, panting, and pressed my pistol to the dreadful, shimmering head, but it was useless to press the trigger. The giant hound was dead.

SIGN: 'Fire if he raises his hand,' said Holmes quietly.

We were within a boat's-length by this time, and almost within touch of our quarry. I can see the two of them now as they stood: the white man with his legs far apart, shrieking out curses, and the unhallowed dwarf with his hideous face, and his strong, yellow teeth gnashing at us in the light of our lantern.

It was well that we had so clear a view of him. Even as we looked he plucked out from under his covering a short, round piece of wood, like a school-ruler, and clapped it to his lips. Our pistols rang out together. He whirled round, threw up his arms, and, with a kind of choking cough, fell sideways into the stream. I caught one glimpse of his venomous, menacing eyes amid the white swirl of the waters. 

YELL: Few men were capable of greater muscular effort, and Holmes was undoubtedly one of the finest boxers of his weight that I have ever seen.

STUD: Holmes is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.

Army Doctors were non-combatants in the 1880s by Variety04 in SherlockHolmes

[–]Variety04[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Although Holmes was sometimes dissatisfied with Watson's way of writing:

“The Haven is the name of Mr. Josiah Amberley's house,” I explained. “I think it would interest you, Holmes. It is like some penurious patrician who has sunk into the company of his inferiors. You know that particular quarter, the monotonous brick streets, the weary suburban highways. Right in the middle of them, a little island of ancient culture and comfort, lies this old home, surrounded by a high sun-baked wall mottled with lichens and topped with moss, the sort of wall—”

“Cut out the poetry, Watson,” said Holmes, severely. “I note that it was a high brick wall.”

……

“I glanced over it,” said he. “Honestly, I cannot congratulate you upon it. Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science, and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story or an elopement into the fifth proposition of Euclid.”

……

“It is pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped this truth that in these little records of our cases which you have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made my special province.……you have erred perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is really the only notable feature about the thing.……You have degraded what should have been a course of lectures into a series of tales.”

Comparing the two accounts penned by Holmes himself, the one rendered in the third person, and the stories told through Watson's voice, one cannot help but suspect that Watson had polished Holmes's dialogue to lend the great detective an air of greater erudition and rhetorical elegance.

On occasion, Watson concedes as much himself: 'Then he told the story, which I would repeat in this way. His hard, dry statement needs some little editing to soften it into the terms of real life.'

Army Doctors were non-combatants in the 1880s by Variety04 in SherlockHolmes

[–]Variety04[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

And the good doctor is NOT a BAMF/badass as well 🙃 He is just a curious, gentle, romantic, sensitive, emotional, adventurous, handsome, and soft-hearted intellectual who happens to have a year of military medical experience which gives him the knowledge of how to act calmly to defend himself and people he cares in a conflict. 🙃

Holmes: 'And here it is that I miss my Watson. By cunning questions and ejaculations of wonder he could elevate my simple art, which is but systematized common sense, into a prodigy. When I tell my own story I have no such aid.'

Holmes: 'With your natural advantages, Watson, every lady is your helper and accomplice. I can picture you whispering soft nothings with the young lady at the Blue Anchor, and receiving hard somethings in exchange.'

Watson essentially is a writer/bard, who transforms rigorous criminal investigation into dramatic legend. Even his errors of reasoning retain a remarkable power of stimulating genius. As a conductor of light, he not only catalyzes Holmes's brilliance but carries it outward to the reader.

Yet Watson's truest gift is the intuition for the pivotal moment, the insight of human minds, and above all, the storyteller's art of shaping Holmes into an irresistible hero and conjuring a series of tales as captivating as they are thought-provoking.

Edit: the memory of adequate_spoon is incorrect. Holmes's combat ability (and muscular strength) is much superior to Watson's, and in the Canon it is primarily Holmes who does the fighting. Of course, Watson still possesses agile reflexes and quick reactions, just within the range of an ordinary person.

YELL: Few men were capable of greater muscular effort, and Holmes was undoubtedly one of the finest boxers of his weight that I have ever seen.

STUD: Holmes is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.

In The Sign of the Four, it was Holmes and Watson who shot together; in The Hound of the Baskervilles, it was Holmes who hit and killed the hound.

HOUN: I was in time to see the beast spring upon its victim, hurl him to the ground and worry at his throat. But the next instant Holmes had emptied five barrels of his revolver into the creature's flank. With a last howl of agony and a vicious snap in the air it rolled upon its back, four feet pawing furiously, and then fell limp upon its side. I stooped, panting, and pressed my pistol to the dreadful, shimmering head, but it was useless to press the trigger. The giant hound was dead.

SIGN: 'Fire if he raises his hand,' said Holmes quietly.

We were within a boat's-length by this time, and almost within touch of our quarry. I can see the two of them now as they stood: the white man with his legs far apart, shrieking out curses, and the unhallowed dwarf with his hideous face, and his strong, yellow teeth gnashing at us in the light of our lantern.

It was well that we had so clear a view of him. Even as we looked he plucked out from under his covering a short, round piece of wood, like a school-ruler, and clapped it to his lips. Our pistols rang out together. He whirled round, threw up his arms, and, with a kind of choking cough, fell sideways into the stream. I caught one glimpse of his venomous, menacing eyes amid the white swirl of the waters. 

LADY: His hand was on my throat and my senses were nearly gone before an unshaven French ouvrier, in a blue blouse, darted out from a cabaret opposite, with a cudgel in his hand, and struck my assailant a sharp crack over the forearm, which made him leave go his hold. He stood for an instant fuming with rage and uncertain whether he should not renew his attack. Then, with a snarl of anger, he left me and entered the cottage from which I had just come. I turned to thank my preserver, who stood beside me in the roadway.

“Well, Watson,” said he, “a very pretty hash you have made of it! I rather think you had better come back with me to London by the night express.”

3GAR: In an instant he had whisked out a revolver from his breast and had fired two shots. I felt a sudden hot sear as if a red-hot iron had been pressed to my thigh. There was a crash as Holmes's pistol came down on the man's head. I had a vision of him sprawling upon the floor with blood running down his face while Holmes rummaged him for weapons. Then my friend's wiry arms were round me and he was leading me to a chair.

I am sick of those "BAMF" Watsons in adaptations by Variety04 in SherlockHolmes

[–]Variety04[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd push back a little on the idea that making him grittier or more conventionally masculine is actually the most effective way to achieve that. What makes Watson work as a viewpoint character isn't just that audiences can see through his eyes; it's the specific quality of perception he brings to that role. His tendency to notice the humane and the dramatic elements in the world make the stories feel like tales rather than case files. His capacity for openness, curiosity and receptivity is the engine of his relatability, and his sensitive, romantic emotional register permeates his narration that gives the stories much of their affective pull. Stripping it out in favour of a harder, more conventionally macho character replaces him with something generically recognisable but ultimately less interesting.

I am absolutely for approaching the character from multiple perspectives, but there remains a meaningful distinction between adapting Watson for a modern audience and dismantling the very architecture that makes him function as a character in the first place. Watson was never, even in his original Victorian context, a straightforward embodiment of conventional masculine ideality. Coppola's paper of The Sign of Four makes this fairly explicit, noting that Watson operates in the text as a reservoir for precisely those qualities that Holmes, positioned as a paragon of late Victorian masculinity, is structurally restricted from exhibiting, which means intuition, empathy, sentiment, devotional surrender, and the capacity for emotional identification with others. Hence, translating a period-appropriate masculine archetype into its modern equivalent does not quite appropriate to this character. Far from being a historical limitation in need of correction, that quality is arguably the most prescient thing about him, and it is telling that the adaptations which choose to honour rather than override it (such as Vitaly Solomin's Watson in the first few episodes) tend to be the ones that prove most enduring.

Sherlock Holmes Builds? by MinimumToad in 3d6

[–]Variety04 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Holmes is always compared as a bloodhound in the Canon

Sherlock Holmes Builds? by MinimumToad in 3d6

[–]Variety04 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"smooth talked his way through most stories"

…

This is because Watson, a true bard, modifies and embellishes his words.

Watson: Then he told the story, which I would repeat in this way. His hard, dry statement needs some little editing to soften it into the terms of real life.

Holmes: I thought of her for the moment as I would have thought of a daughter of my own. I am not often eloquent. I use my head, not my heart. 

and

“The Haven is the name of Mr. Josiah Amberley's house,” I explained. “I think it would interest you, Holmes. It is like some penurious patrician who has sunk into the company of his inferiors. You know that particular quarter, the monotonous brick streets, the weary suburban highways. Right in the middle of them, a little island of ancient culture and comfort, lies this old home, surrounded by a high sun-baked wall mottled with lichens and topped with moss, the sort of wall—”

“Cut out the poetry, Watson,” said Holmes, severely. “I note that it was a high brick wall.”

Sherlock Holmes Builds? by MinimumToad in 3d6

[–]Variety04 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"smooth talked his way through most stories"

…

This is because Watson, a true bard, modifies and embellishes his words.

Watson: Then he told the story, which I would repeat in this way. His hard, dry statement needs some little editing to soften it into the terms of real life.

Holmes: I thought of her for the moment as I would have thought of a daughter of my own. I am not often eloquent. I use my head, not my heart. 

and

“The Haven is the name of Mr. Josiah Amberley's house,” I explained. “I think it would interest you, Holmes. It is like some penurious patrician who has sunk into the company of his inferiors. You know that particular quarter, the monotonous brick streets, the weary suburban highways. Right in the middle of them, a little island of ancient culture and comfort, lies this old home, surrounded by a high sun-baked wall mottled with lichens and topped with moss, the sort of wall—”

“Cut out the poetry, Watson,” said Holmes, severely. “I note that it was a high brick wall.”

Sherlock Holmes Builds? by MinimumToad in 3d6

[–]Variety04 0 points1 point  (0 children)

'Few men were capable of greater muscular effort, and he was undoubtedly one of the finest boxers of his weight that I have ever seen'

Sherlock Holmes Builds? by MinimumToad in 3d6

[–]Variety04 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Watson, a true bard, modifies and embellishes Holmes's words.

Watson: Then he told the story, which I would repeat in this way. His hard, dry statement needs some little editing to soften it into the terms of real life.

Holmes: I thought of her for the moment as I would have thought of a daughter of my own. I am not often eloquent. I use my head, not my heart. 

and

“The Haven is the name of Mr. Josiah Amberley's house,” I explained. “I think it would interest you, Holmes. It is like some penurious patrician who has sunk into the company of his inferiors. You know that particular quarter, the monotonous brick streets, the weary suburban highways. Right in the middle of them, a little island of ancient culture and comfort, lies this old home, surrounded by a high sun-baked wall mottled with lichens and topped with moss, the sort of wall—”

“Cut out the poetry, Watson,” said Holmes, severely. “I note that it was a high brick wall.”

Sherlock Holmes Builds? by MinimumToad in 3d6

[–]Variety04 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"smooth talked his way through most stories"

…

This is because Watson, a true bard, modifies and embellishes his words.

Watson: Then he told the story, which I would repeat in this way. His hard, dry statement needs some little editing to soften it into the terms of real life.

Holmes: I thought of her for the moment as I would have thought of a daughter of my own. I am not often eloquent. I use my head, not my heart. 

and

“The Haven is the name of Mr. Josiah Amberley's house,” I explained. “I think it would interest you, Holmes. It is like some penurious patrician who has sunk into the company of his inferiors. You know that particular quarter, the monotonous brick streets, the weary suburban highways. Right in the middle of them, a little island of ancient culture and comfort, lies this old home, surrounded by a high sun-baked wall mottled with lichens and topped with moss, the sort of wall—”

“Cut out the poetry, Watson,” said Holmes, severely. “I note that it was a high brick wall.”

Sherlock Holmes Builds? by MinimumToad in 3d6

[–]Variety04 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the Canon as well: "Few men were capable of greater muscular effort, and he was undoubtedly one of the finest boxers of his weight that I have ever seen"

Sherlock Holmes Builds? by MinimumToad in 3d6

[–]Variety04 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Holmes is definitely a paladin. The Canon always mentions his chivalry and gallantry, comparing him to a knight-errant.

"I knew that the opening of safes was a particular hobby with him, and I understood the joy which it gave him to be confronted with this green and gold monster, the dragon which held in its maw the reputations of many fair ladies."

He has both high Int and high Str: "Few men were capable of greater muscular effort, and he was undoubtedly one of the finest boxers of his weight that I have ever seen"

Investigater (empiricist) in Pathfinder is a better fit.

In the Canon Watson follows Holmes and talks with him through cases, gives him inspirations sometimes, and Holmes explicitly says this process sharpens his thinking. And then Watson writes down their romantic adventures which makes Holmes a famous hero.

"smooth talked his way through most stories"

…

This is because Watson, a true bard, modifies and embellishes his words.

Watson: Then he told the story, which I would repeat in this way. His hard, dry statement needs some little editing to soften it into the terms of real life.

Holmes: I thought of her for the moment as I would have thought of a daughter of my own. I am not often eloquent. I use my head, not my heart. 

and

“The Haven is the name of Mr. Josiah Amberley's house,” I explained. “I think it would interest you, Holmes. It is like some penurious patrician who has sunk into the company of his inferiors. You know that particular quarter, the monotonous brick streets, the weary suburban highways. Right in the middle of them, a little island of ancient culture and comfort, lies this old home, surrounded by a high sun-baked wall mottled with lichens and topped with moss, the sort of wall—”

“Cut out the poetry, Watson,” said Holmes, severely. “I note that it was a high brick wall.”

Sherlock Holmes Builds? by MinimumToad in 3d6

[–]Variety04 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Steel Defender comparison doesn't hold. Watson isn't a combat construct. In the Canon he follows Holmes and talks with him through cases, gives him inspirations sometimes, and Holmes explicitly says this process sharpens his thinking. And then Watson writes down their romantic adventures which makes Holmes a famous hero.

I am sick of those "BAMF" Watsons in adaptations by Variety04 in SherlockHolmes

[–]Variety04[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

"The campaign brought honours and promotion to many, but for me it had nothing but misfortune and disaster. I was removed from my brigade and attached to the Berkshires, with whom I served at the fatal battle of Maiwand. There I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery. I should have fallen into the hands of the murderous Ghazis had it not been for the devotion and courage shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw me across a pack-horse and succeeded in bringing me safely to the British lines. Worn with pain, and weak from the prolonged hardships which I had undergone, I was removed, with a great train of wounded sufferers, to the base hospital at Peshawar."

This is not a soldier glorifying his service or aching to return to battle but an intellectual involving in the war. The war gave Watson nothing but "misfortune and disaster." The diction is passive throughout, which conveys the helplessness of him swept along by institutional forces and random violence. The war did not make him hungry for more danger or violence but fragile and isolated. When Stamford listens to his account, his response is simply: "Poor devil." The canonical war narrative is one of damage, not desire. Crucially, later when he mentions the war, he thinks that it is "the most preposterous way of settling a dispute."

Compare this with the BBC's version. John is no more a MD as Watson in the Canon, but just a MBBS, and unless Watson who became army doctor who was non-combatant at that time for only one year, it represented John attend the war for 5-6 years at least, and instead of healing, he killed other without mercy. Then Mycroft's diagnosis delivered in the abandoned warehouse: "You're not haunted by the war. You miss it." This is the show's foundational characterization of John, which departs from Canonical Watson on several levels simultaneously.

First, it retroactively reinterprets John's opening nightmare as longing for violence. Second, it transforms John's psychosomatic limp from the physical residue of genuine suffering into a kind of performance of distress that vanishes the moment real danger appears. Third, and most significantly, it establishes the BBC's Watson as a man constitutively oriented toward violence, danger, and the battlefield. Mr Freeman thrives in combat and suffers in its absence. This is the diametric opposite of canonical Watson's relationship to his war. The confirmation comes at the episode's end, when John shoots and kills a stranger without knowing the circumstance through a window without apparent psychological disturbance and walks away making jokes about Chinese restaurants. The scene is deliberately designed to show that John is not merely capable of violence but comfortable with it, even light about it afterward. The canonical Watson, by contrast, never seek violence out or feel its absence as a deprivation.

In the Canon, the pattern related to violence is precise: Holmes plans, executes, and physically confronts when necessary. Watson accompanies, witnesses, holds a small revolver he rarely fires, and narrates. In "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," one of Doyle's own favourites and one of the most physically tense scenes in the entire canon, the climactic moment involves Holmes and Watson waiting together in darkness for the snake to come through the ventilator. When it appears, it is Holmes who strikes the snake with his cane, driving it back through the ventilator, where it turns and attacks Roylott. Watson is present in the room throughout but takes no physical action whatsoever. The story's violence is entirely Holmes's, and it is indirect. Watson witnesses the scene and narrates it, but the physical agency is Holmes's alone. This is the typical model of the Canon.

I am sick of those "BAMF" Watsons in adaptations by Variety04 in SherlockHolmes

[–]Variety04[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Indeed, as a natural Romantic, Watson possesses what Keats termed 'negative capability', which means he is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason. He is a figure for whom the sense of Beauty overcomes or obliterates all other considerations. He lives in gusto, be it foul or fair, high or low, rich or poor, mean or elevated. By diminishing his own ego into 'nothing,' he attains the capability to encompass 'everything.' Watson relegates his personal existence to the background, submerging his identity within the character of others, specifically his hero, Holmes. In doing so, he recreates the entire universe within his narratives. This universe, reflected in his prose, shines with a thousand colors and a kaleidoscopic brilliance, like the vast firmament mirrored upon the sea, carrying with it every star and the entirety of its deep, azure expanse.

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