Name: Lausanne.
Age: 30.
Contact: blackspire

Character Name: William Sherlock Scott Holmes.
Canon: BBC's Sherlock.
Canon Point: "The Reichenbach Falls" (post-fall).
Appearance: Tall, slim, quite pale. Dark, curly hair. Blue eyes.
Age: 31.

Character snapshot: Sherlock Holmes is a man of many, oftentimes strange, layers. He's antisocial, introverted, stubborn, and unapologetically blunt, but he surrounds himself with people who are open, loving, and emotionally responsive. He abhors the ordinary but rejects the consequences of his abilities, he is outwardly careless but dresses immaculately. His contradicting personality and way of life add up to make one uniquely peculiar personality profile, one that Sherlock himself has yet to figure out. He's a man who hides from his own demons and faults by turning the attention on everyone, and everything. By building a wall of First Impressions and brashness, he knows that the only people who get in are the ones he deems deserving enough of seeing who he really is.

World description: London, England, circa 2011. The iPhone 4S had just been released, Instagram was a year old, and people still preferred blogging over vlogging. All in all, not really any different than the world we know today. There's nothing magical or paranormal. It's all just painfully normal.

History: Coming from a family of genius-level-intellect people, Sherlock's whole life has never been the average life. Yes, he went through the motions of school and growing up, but a trauma at a very young age set him on a path of being emotionally closed off. He's always been looking for the things everyone misses, which has not made him very popular, but it's made him incredibly useful. In his twenties, Sherlock found drugs (life is very boring and unstimulating when you're Sherlock Holmes), which has gotten him into trouble with the law on at least one occasion. Eventually, he invented the job of Consulting Detective as a way to use his skills and keep his mind occupied. Then came John Watson, and with that, a certain degree of fame. That fame brought its own dangers.

What are your character’s mental/emotional strengths?

First and foremost is Sherlock's intellect, which is easily his biggest mental strength. As shown time and time again, Sherlock is able to recall a large amount of facts, from scientific to mathematical to what some might call trivial (identifying certain muds from certain regions). He can solve equations and decipher codes within seconds - for example, in The Scandal In Belgravia, Sherlock unscrambles the code of the airline plot in under a minute.

Sherlock is very methodical. His way of thinking is logical and based in facts, meaning he doesn't entertain "theories" unless everything points in that direction. He's very adamant about this on crime scenes, like in the Blind Banker when the police are ready to say it was a suicide but Sherlock looks at all the evidence and deems it a murder. He doesn't act unless he's positive of the results.

Because of the aforementioned "think with the head, not with the heart", Sherlock doesn't have much an emotional response to things. This is absolutely a strength when you're involved in the line of work that Sherlock is, as it allows him to stay calm under immense pressure (see The Great Game, when Sherlock had ten seconds to save a young boy by identifying why a painting was a fake). Sherlock wouldn't be able to solve as many of his cases as quickly or as effectively if he couldn't separate himself, and the subject matter of his cases would linger with him a lot longer.

Yet somehow, one of Sherlock's strengths is that he is deeply loyal. Because he keeps himself at an emotional distance, he's very selective about the people he lets into his close circle, and those are people that he will do anything to protect and keep safe, literally the point of "dying" to ensure nothing will happen to them.

What are your character’s mental/emotional weaknesses?

He has a tendency towards addictive mannerisms. The substance addiction is obvious, but he is also heavily addicted to the rush of adrenaline and, in a way, the validation of others. Sherlock has never really been "cured" of his addiction. He uses solving crimes and puzzles as a substitution for drugs or nicotine, only turning to cigarettes when he's got nothing on. He has "danger nights" when he's in serious downswings, as seen in Scandal In Belgravia when Mycroft warns John about it and has John make sure the flat is clean. And, of course, he loves to show off (he even says as much), because he likes people to take notice of him.

Sherlock is very tactless. He has no filter, because he doesn't quite grasp the idea of empathy. This means he'll tell a person exactly what he sees and deduces about them, without any regard for how they might be offended or hurt by it. (He's frequently chastised by John about this habit, or will ask John if what he said was good or not.) This also means that Sherlock lacks any real remorse regarding his actions. For the most part.

For all that Sherlock thinks through his actions, he is incredibly impulsive and reckless. It's likely a trait born from his arrogance and his knowledge that he's (almost) always right. Whatever the case, Sherlock has little care about the consequences of his actions, or the danger that he frequently puts himself into willingly (such as gladly engaging in a game of Guess Which Pill Is Poison). Beyond that, he doesn't think about the way his brash decisions will affect others, which more often than not sees John Watson in particular in the line of fire. Sherlock seems to have developed a sense of indestructability and doesn't comprehend his own mortality until it's practically too late.

What events or circumstances in your character’s past have impacted them the most?

The disappearance of Victor Trevor. Victor was Sherlock's childhood best friend, and very likely his first friend outside of his siblings. Unfortunately, Victor died, though Sherlock had never known that - assuming that his best and only friend had gone missing, Sherlock shut himself off from the world. As Mycroft states in a far later episode, Sherlock, up until then, had been an emotional child. The loss of Victor clearly is a large influence on Sherlock's emotional behaviours in his adult life.

Everything about John Watson. In a lot of ways, John filled the void in Sherlock's life that was left by Victor Trevor. In John, he recognizes all the traits that make someone a good person, and while Sherlock is quick to insult it, he clearly admires it - perhaps because Sherlock knows he will never be that way. But he tries, and he tries because John makes him want to. It's this friendship that starts to bring Sherlock back to a more "human" sense of living. Bit by bit.

The events of The Great Game, and, subsequently, the arrival of James Moriarty. With Moriaty came a reality check for Sherlock. He's always know he's not necessarily the smartest (reluctantly, that title befalls Mycroft), but in many ways Moriarty knew how to make Sherlock feel inferior. Sherlock was nearly expertly played by the man, and Moriarty exposed Sherlock's vulnerabilities in a way that no one had ever before. This rivalry pushed Sherlock to face his own mortality, but also push the boundary of his morals and see what kind of man he was versus what kind of man he wanted to be.

Irene Adler, aka The Woman. The entrance of Irene in Sherlock's life marked another turning point in his growth. Like Moriarty, Irene was nearly impossible for Sherlock to pin down, but rather than create conflict, Irene behaved more as a colleague. In her, Sherlock seemed to have truly found an equal. She was able to put Sherlock to the test in an almost light-hearted way, and, while Sherlock outwardly seemed to not care much for her, her apparent death was enough to drop him into a depressed state of mind. Even after Sherlock "won" after she revealed she'd played him, he still went out of his way to ensure her execution wouldn't happen. For as brief as their time spent together was, her impact was clearly a great one.

What impressions do others tend to have of your character and how do those impressions differ from who your character truly is?

The first impressions of Sherlock are usually unflattering ones. Oftentimes, people (correctly) assume he's rude or arrogant, and their awe of his gifts usually doesn't last long. People are often unnerved by his personality. And while much of that is very true, Sherlock is actually something of a sensitive person underneath it all. This sensitivity isn't necessarily manifested in the way we typically think of it. Scientific studies have shown that musicians exhibit higher sensitivity due to the way their brains react more quickly and accurately to certain emotional content. This is obvious in the way that he's effected during events that happen in series two, such as when he becomes under the influence of an unknown substance at Baskerville. Sherlock also doesn't handle criticism well. From most people, the effect of their words is minimal, but when it comes from those he trusts, the hit is evident in how his petulance flairs up. While it's not apt to say that Sherlock is soft, he feels things far more than he would ever let on to the world.

What motivates your character?

At a surface view, Sherlock is motivated by a need to be constantly stimulated. Because his mind operates at a higher level than the majority of the population, every day life is incredibly mundane for him. He is constantly searching for things that will capture his attention. In a deeper sense, Sherlock's motivations can be found in his desire to be validated by others. He likes when people notice him, particularly the people that he deems as Important, and he frequently makes conscious efforts to try and correct his actions for them. Seeing the humanity in the people he surrounds himself with pushes Sherlock to try to be a better man himself.

How does your character handle crisis or adversity?

Quite well, actually. Because Sherlock chooses to lay out all the facts before forming a plan of action, he's able to remain quite calm and composed under pressure. Despite time crunches and dire situations, Sherlock's mind has been trained to not be effected. Even when he's feeling more emotionally distressed than usual, such as when he's standing on the roof of a hospital with the option of dying himself or having his friend's die, Sherlock still has a knack for approaching the situation at hand.

Skills, abilities, and physical weaknesses:

Genius level intellect.

Multi-lingual.

Superior skills in deduction.

Incredible memory with a wealth of seemingly trivial and highly specific facts.

Variety of combat skills, both armed and unarmed.

Violin playing, along with music composition.

Inventory:

One (1) purple shirt, Dolce & Gabbana.

One (1) dark charcoal suit, Spencer Hart.

One (1) pair black leather oxfords, Yves Saint Laurent.

One (1) navy blue coat, Belstaff.

One (1) blue striped scarf, Hugo Boss.

One (1) stainless steel watch with leather band, Rotary.

What aspects of your character are you most interested in exploring in a horror setting?

Obviously I want to rip him apart, mentally and emotionally. One of my favourite points in the series is when Sherlock's been subjected to the drug in the fog at Dewer's Hollow and experiences a sense of fear that he's never had. It shook him up quite badly, and I'd love to find a way to explore that more in the game.

What is your character’s mental state upon entering the game? Thoroughness is appreciated here.

Sherlock's mental state is fairly stable throughout. He has to maintain a degree of mental clarity to be able to see things through the way he does, but given that people have turned on him and his reputation has been ruined, this is probably one of the more mentally vulnerable points. Not long before the events of his canon point, he was severely doubting everything he thought was true, but he's pulled himself together. Sherlock is, however, at the most emotionally compromised we've seen him up to this point.

What unsettles and frightens your character? What sort of encounters would chip away at your character’s psychological stability?

The unknown, for one thing. Not in a paranormal sense, since that's out of the realm of feasible science for Sherlock, but when he can't see a solution or a reason for things. As mentioned above, feeling a new sense of fear was largely distressing for him, and he went a bit manic in trying to explain how or why it had happened. Then, of course, the fear of losing those he holds dear. As seen time and time again, Sherlock is truly shaken when the lives of his friends comes into play. The fear isn't necessarily them dying, but rather them dying because of something he did or didn't do.

For unsettling encounters, you only have to look to the ways Moriarty affected him. A lot of it was mind games, planting seeds of doubt or false trails. Setting Sherlock up to purposely fail or run him around in circles. Teasing at questions regarding Sherlock's outlook of the world, that's how to get under his skin.

What horrifying events or genre elements would you like to see utilized in the game?

I love the psychological stuff. I also love possession plots, or things like not being able to sleep / experiencing intense nightmares upon sleeping, ghosts (a solid classic), and phobias.

Test Drive: Sample.
Log Sample: Sample.
Log Sample: Sample.