sketchbook: the final problem - part 9
Before I get to THE DRAMA, Nate and I will be in France this February on a book tour!
Content warning for this update, which contains spoilers (click here for details)
okay I wanna talk about writing this a little bit!
-In the last lines of the comic, Holmes is recalling this conversation.
-For that drawing of Watson standing looking out at the Falls, I kept thinking of a line from Lord of the Rings. It's when Samwise thinks that Frodo has died. He leaves the body, determined to carry on his mission, but stops for a moment to look back. "He peered out at that high stony place where all his life had fallen in ruin." There may be one or two commonalities between the things I like okay?!??
-Also for that drawing, that canon line "who was to tell us what had happened then?" shook me to my core when I first read this story. I knew I had to work it in somehow. What happens to the narrator when his protagonist dies?
-More canon lines - Moriarty talking about an "engine tearing itself to pieces" and "the days of the great cases have passed" are things that Holmes says himself.
-There's an instinct to drawing comics that makes me love making them more than any other medium. When a character is going to go through something complex, first I make sure that I can draw them experiencing that emotion. If I can't draw it, then there's probably something wrong and I need to write a bit more. Here are some sketches I did as I was ideating (which ended up being used in the comic):
-I was agonizing a few months ago about how to do this story, how to bring Holmes to the brink of the cliff and then bring him back. Sometimes when I'm stuck I just freewrite to see what comes up, trying to step through things from the character's perspective and see what makes sense. Here's some of this that I kinda think slaps:
When he survives…
He didn’t expect it. He was fully prepared to die. And he almost steps over that cliff, he does. Because he’s written himself into the end of the story. He’s written John the perfect ending.
But he doesn’t. Some animal part of his starved and neglected body, the part that kept him from falling in the first place, that kept him fighting. Is it the part that was loved and nurtured by watson? Some lingering love keeps him from following Moriarty. Hands that touched him in tenderness and love, now holding him back.
So everything since then has been trying to portray that in the most effective way possible. thank you for reading!
Oh my GOD.
Moriarty’s “engine tearing itself to pieces” speech! Playing to Holmes’s deepest flaws and insecurities, as a fellow genius who understands him in a way that even Watson doesn’t! Such a chilling narrative foil…
Holmes actually listening to him… it’s so painful but all of his characterization has been building in this direction, he needs this persona of a detective legend because he doesn’t trust himself to live a rounded life or relate to others as a normal person… and Watson could have maybe reassured him, but he’s not here…
Moriarty’s jump off the cliff - that is a heck of a twist! I was on the edge of my seat and my jaw dropped, and it works so well! Because Moriarty understands Holmes, so of course he does the worst thing: depriving Holmes of his epic victory showdown by just… yeeting himself into the Falls!
HOLMES WANTING TO FOLLOW HIM ARGGEHGAGHRGHAGGAAA
And earlier I said that Watson maybe could have reassured Holmes if he was there, but he’s not… (and Holmes PURPOSEFULLY letting Watson be lured away, so that he doesn’t have a voice of reason to stop him from making these decisions…) except Watson DOES reassure Holmes! The hands, the memory of Watson and Watson’s reassurances have rubbed off, on some subconscious level, at least a little bit! (and side note, that’s super impressive that your character designs are distinct and detailed enough for me to recognize Watson just by his HANDS) 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
But Holmes is still going to fake his death, because Watson’s influence can only do so much…
oh my god. sorry for getting ranty and character analysis-y in the comments, but your stories just… bring that out of me. effervescent job. 15/10
That’s lovely, Molly. Really elevates a “between the lines” applicability, which is always fun, to a YES, it was always this way.