Sherlock Holmes is a consulting detective and the protagonist of the reboot continuity of the Adventure of Sherlock Holmes video game series by Frogwares. He's a distinct iteration to the version of Holmes seen in previous games.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Sherlock Holmes was born the second child of Siger and Violet Holmes in 1859, ten years after his older brother Mycroft was born. When a young child Siger passed away, leaving Mycroft to take responsibility for the family, while the increasingly lonely Sherlock created an imaginary friend named Jon.
In 1869 the family moved to Cordona and lived in Stonewood Manor due to Violet suffering a severe case of mental distress from the death of her husband. While Violent was given experimental treatment by Dr. Otto Richter, Sherlock had many experiences and at times traumatic adventures with Jon. During one stroll in the garden, Violet became enraged when Sherlock informed her that Siger had passed away and she tried to drown her son in a pond, who blacked out. When he came to, he saw his mother dead while Richter stood over her with a knife, Mycroft arriving soon after and pointing a gun at Richter.
Following this Sherlock's memory, in order to cope with the trauma, was slowly altered and he started to believe that his mother died from tuberculosis instead. He also forgot the events of the garden and the existence of Richter, though Jon seemed to recall everything and kept it hidden to protect Sherlock. Overtime Sherlock's relationship with Mycroft soured due to their many differences and Mycroft's career with the British government.
Chapter One[]
In 1880 Sherlock decided to return to Cordona, wanting to visit his mother's grave. While there however he meets the mysterious and eccentric gallerist Verner Vogel, who encouraged Sherlock to question everything he had previously known about his mother's death. Returning to Stonewood Manor, Sherlock discovered that he couldn't enter certain room due to mental blocks in his mind and further investigations caused him to realise that there were holes in the story he had believed, with Richter having been accused of murdering a mentally unwell Violet.
During his investigation into his mother's death Sherlock and Jon discovered and solved several other mysteries that exposed the corruption in Cordona, often at the suggestion of Verner. Sherlock also recalled certain traumatic memories he had repressed as a child, started solving crimes for the police, and was gifted a violin which he started to learn. During this time he also discovered that existence of a mysterious criminal known only as "M" and a thief named Arsène Lupin. Mycroft also arrived in an attempt to convince Sherlock of returning to England and to move on from what happened.
After all these adventures Sherlock was able to unlock all the mentally blocked room in the manor and go into the garden, where he was finally able to recall the truth of his childhood and how Violet had tried to kill him. Shocked and horrified, Sherlock gathers all the information he had uncovered about Violet's death and comes to one of four conclusions, affecting his relationship with Mycroft and Jon as well as his future:
- While he had wanted to protect Sherlock, Richter had murdered Violet who he had drove into having a mental breakdown with his experimental and torturous treatment. Sherlock blames Mycroft for keeping the truth from him but accepts what happened and after leaving Cordona does work with Mycroft for a few months until another argument between the brothers makes him leave, while Jon departs due to Sherlock not needing him anymore.
- Richter had been trying to save Sherlock and accidentally killed Violet, meaning he didn't deserve to be accused of murder by Mycroft and have his life ruined. This angers Sherlock and causes the issues between him and Mycroft to become worse, the latter worrying that Sherlock is becoming more reckless and obsessive, while Jon again leaves due to Sherlock not needing him anymore.
- Sherlock comes to the conclusion that Violet had drowned in the pond after suffering an allergic reaction to her medication, believing it happened due to him giving her a sedative earlier and that Richter was attempting a desperate tracheotomy to save her life. Wrecked by guilt, he decides he must turn himself in for his crimes even if he was a child, despite Mycroft and Jon trying to convince him otherwise. Jon again leaves due to Sherlock knowing the truth while Mycroft simply ensures that Sherlock is exiled from Cordona, leaving him to solve cases in an attempt to atone upon returning to London.
- Sherlock realises that Jon had been the one to suggest giving Violet a sedative and blames him for Violet's death, fearing that he had inherited Violet's mental illness and Jon was a symptom of his sickness. Needing to be freed from this sickness, Sherlock "killed" Jon while Mycroft watched indifferently and told him it was time to move on with his life, with Sherlock solving cases upon returning to London to keep his mind active and avoid the same fate as his mother.
While visiting Violet's grave one last time, he is greeted by Verner who Sherlock had deduced was in truth Richter's brother Klaus. Despite Sherock's clear anger towards Verner and initially assuming that he had wanted revenge, Verner instead claimed that he had spurred on Sherlock's investigation to transform him from a Sisyphus to an Ozymandias, gifting him a painting before parting ways. Sherlock then returned to London and enrolled at the University of Cambridge, developing an interest in chemistry and starting his occupation in criminal investigation.
One night at the mortuary of Bath Hospital, Holmes was attempting to determine how long after a death a body can still be bruised when he was greeted by man who had recently returned from Afghanistan and had heard that Holmes was looking for a new flatmate. Sherlock was surprised by his slight resemblance to Jon and further shocked when the man introduces himself as Dr. John Watson.
The Awakened[]
In 1882, Holmes and Watson have been living together at 221B Baker Street for some time, the latter attempting to establish a writing career while helping Holmes with his investigations. On day in September, Holmes becomes briefly convinced that there is a conspiracy where his newspaper was stolen to stop him figuring out a pattern of robberies and poison him, but eventually realises that he had simply seen patterns that didn't exist and was being paranoid. Watson however suggests him another case involving a client of his named Captain Stenwick, whose maori servant Kimiha had gone missing.
Holmes concludes Kimiha was drugged, kidnapped and taken to the Port of London, where further investigation caused Holmes and Watson to find out several foreign workers have been disappearing after taking work from a smuggler known as "Dirty" Sommers. The duo search a warehouse Sommers operates out of and, during the search, Holmes is struck by visions of impossible, otherworldly environments. After Watson helps Holmes overcome these visions, the pair find a cult's ritual site underneath the warehouse, where an American private investigator who'd been looking into Sommers was killed in a human sacrifice and the kidnapped victims were packed into crates and shipped off out of the country. A review of the evidence leads Holmes to conclude that the victims were transported to the Black Edelweiss Institute, a psychiatric hospital in Switzerland.
In Switzerland, Watson confesses how while in Afghanistan his commanding officer had ordered him to flee a hopeless battle, believing that Watson would be able to help more people. He ended up lost in the desert and almost died until a passing group of British soldiers had found him, but the experience had left him feeling that he was a coward despite Holmes insisting otherwise. When arriving at the Institute, Watson procures a meeting with the Black Edelweiss' director, Professor Gygax, by pretending to be interested in studying the asylum's treatment techniques. Meanwhile, Holmes poses as the murdered American investigator to try to force his way into an inspection of the premises, though as planned Gygax sees through his ruse and has him drugged before imprisoning him. After regaining consciousness, Holmes picks the lock on his cell and begins investigating the building; discovering that Gygax has been performing unethical, mind altering procedures on the people kidnapped by Sommers and shipped to her institution at the behest of a cult led by a British aristocrat. With the aid of Maurizio, a patient who believes himself to be Napoleon, and another, Gerda, whose doll Heidi orders her to kill people, Holmes gets a message to Watson about what he's uncovered. Further investigations however lead him to encounter a mysterious man who seemingly enters Holmes' mind telepathically before vanishing, and upon reuniting with Watson he discovers that Gygax has been murdered by Gerda, who had escaped due to Holmes' actions. Going over the evidence him and Watson had found, Holmes concluded that they must go to New Orleans next as Gygax and Sommers were paid by their client through an auction house there.
Unsettled by everything he had seen, Holmes confessed how his mother had gone mad and how according to some a doctor had been responsible for her death. He then asks Watson to intervene if he ever felt that Holmes was slipping and starting to lose his mind. Shortly after arriving in New Orleans, the duo are hindered in their investigation by Sheriff Grubb, the corrupt local police chief. Nevertheless, with the assistance of Lucy, a local madame, and Champagne, an informant, Holmes and Watson find out the man delivering the precious stones to the auction house was Ashmat, the butler of a local business man called Errol Arneston. Holmes and Watson travel to Arneston's mansion where, after meeting a young black woman named Eulah, discover that a massacre had occurred in the mansion, with only Eulah's younger brother Davy surviving. After saving Eluah, who had been lynched as a threat by Grubb, she convinces Davy to help the duo by providing information. Holmes is able to figure out that Ashmat had killed everyone and kidnapped Arneston, taking him into the swamp, and has been working for a cult Arneston had been investigating under the belief they were just a group of criminals. He also figures out that Arneston had been in a relationship with Lucy, who tells them more about what Arneston had been doing.
Holmes and Watson travel into the bayou with a boat borrowed from Champagne and, after avoiding an ambush by the Sheriff and his posse, they discover the ritual site. Going on ahead of Watson, Holmes has another vision of impossible underwater structures and has to be rescued by Watson after he nearly has a mental breakdown, while also finding a book bound in human skin. However they are also able to find Arneston, who is alive though greatly traumatised by what he had been through. After leaving the ritual site Holmes has another vision where he speak to a seemingly dead corpse and almost killed, but Watson saves his life. The pair return Arneston to a grateful Lucy, who promises to help nurse him back to health and also begins plotting with Champagne to take revenge on the Sheriff.
The investigators return to London where they are met by Mycroft at Baker Street, who dismisses Watson's desire for help to deal with the seemingly supernatural events they've witnessed and instead complains how their actions had disrupted a complicated political situation. He then leaves, though not before commenting how Holmes has found yet another John as he drifts further away from sanity. While Holmes tries to recover and deal with what had happened, Watson sought the help of bookshop owner and occult researcher Barnes, eventually returning to inform Holmes that he had figured out that the cult's leader is Lord Rochester, who is preparing a ritual of mass human sacrifice at the Ardnamurchan Lighthouse in Scotland to awaken an ancient deity known as an Old One. Still shaken by what he had witnessed, Holmes confesses how he's terrified that he's losing his mind due to being unable to provide a rational explanation for all that he has seen, but Watson convinces his friend that they must continue with the investigation because they are the only ones who can, with Holmes being comforted by Watson's friendship and loyalty.
Holmes and Watson travel to the lighthouse in the middle of a violent storm, where they mind Ashmat had mutilated himself to death after being driven mad by visions and are soon after confronted by "Dirty" Sommers, whom Watson either kills or manages to subdue. They discover that atop the structure, Rochester is conducting a ritual involving obsidian crystals that keep the brainwashed kidnapped victims hypnotized, whom he directs to sacrifice themselves to the Old Ones by jumping from the lighthouse. Holmes distracts Rochester while Watson destroys the crystals to free the entranced victims, partly out of a desire to find out the truth of his visions. Rochester however tries to persuade Holmes to accept that his visions were the truth instead of hallucinations or signs of madness, while also mentioning how another Holmes and Rochester had stood atop this lighthouse many years ago. Despite admitting to himself that everything he had seen had been real, he also argues against Rochester's belief that these events are inevitable as Watson destroys the last of the crystals and frees the victims. Distraught at his ritual being disrupted, Rochester throws himself into the sea as a giant tidal wave approaches. Holmes stands before the approaching wave, insisting he must see if Rochester's proclamations were true, but he is dragged inside the safety of the lighthouse by Watson.
Weeks later, Holmes and Watson are back in London. The pair rescued all the surviving victims but Holmes is still haunted by nightmares. Watson tries to write about the case, but Holmes insists that word of Rochester's actions should not be made public, believing it would destroy both of their professional reputations. Watson then gives Holmes a sedative to help him sleep, despite his protest as it reminds him of what happened to his mother, but soon calms down and asks whether Watson felt safe living with a madman. When Watson says he does, Holmes replies that is lucky before falling unconscious while Watson burns his manuscript about their adventure.
Appearances[]
- Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One
- Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened (2023)
Trivia[]
- This version of Holmes was born in 1859, making him five years younger than his book counterpart who was born in 1854. He's also younger than his previous Frogwares counterpart, who was a consulting detective by 1875 while this version of Holmes would only have been 16 at the time.
- This version of Holmes was intended to be one and the same as the one from previous games, but the 2023 remake of The Awakened confirmed that this was a separate version of the character.
- It's implied that Violet was regularly abusing Sherlock, with Mycroft in a flashback stating he "won't let her hurt Sherlock" and in one of the ending Jon claim "she was hurting us" and that he "took the hits" for Sherlock.