Character page for characters that appeared in the the Sherlock Holmes (Frogwares) series.

Original Continuity

Sherlock Holmes

^{Click here to see him in The Devil's Daughter}

Voiced By: John Bell (2002), Rick Simmonds (2004-2009), Kerry Shale (2011-2014) and Alex Jordan (2016)

Appearances: The Mystery of the Mummy | Secret of the Silver Earring | The Awakened | Versus Arsène Lupin | Versus Jack the Ripper | The Testament of Sherlock Holmes | Crimes & Punishments | The Devil’s Daughter

The Great Detective who lives in 221B Baker Street, solving crimes with the help of his close friend Dr. Watson.

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• Action Dad: In The Devil's Daughter Holmes is now a father, having adopted Katelyn, but has Took a Level in Badass compared to previous games and now uses Awesome by Analysis skills to win bar fights and accomplish impressive feats of skill.
• Abled in the Adaptation: Holmes' cocaine addiction is Adapted Out.
• Alternate Self: The 2023 remake of The Awakened reveals that he's this to his counterpart in the reboot continuity.
• Arch-Enemy: Moriarty was this for him and the games revealed that he survived their last encounter at the Reichenbach Falls.
• Awesome by Analysis: His ability to Sherlock Scan people already made him this, but in The Devil's Daughter, being inspired by the 2009 film, gives Holmes a few more action scenes where he uses his deductive abilities to determine in second the best move to win fights and protect Kate at the end of the game.
• Badass Long Coat: In The Devil's Daughter he wears a black coat as part of his new updated look.
• Batman Gambit: Holmes uses one on Watson to fool the enemy in The Awakened, not quite trusting Watson's acting ability.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Despite the many tragedies and horrors he experienced in the 1890s, along with the difficulties of his original literary adventures, Sherlock’s life is a relatively happy one where he lives with a close friend, has a loving relationship with his adopted daughter Katelyn, and still has time to solve cases here and there. Testament also confirms with the ending that Katelyn grows into a very happy woman with a great education and has a family of her own, making Holmes a grandfather, and Holmes and Watson remain good friends for the rest of their lives.
• Experienced Protagonist: Except for Versus Jack the Ripper, all the games are set after Holmes' final confrontation with Professor Moriarty in The Final Problem and subsequent return after faking his death. This means that this version is a very accomplished and experienced crime solver who has solved all of the famous mysteries from the books and is highly respected for his many accomplishments, with The Devil's Daughter confirming that he's been solving crimes as early as 1875.
• In Spite of a Nail: With the reveal that he is an Alternate Self to the reboot continuity's version of Holmes, both of them experienced the events of The Awakened, though at different stages in their careers.
• Master of Disguise: Holmes has a wide range of clothing, fake facial hair and make up to appear as a completely different person and blend in with any other social class.
• Mistaken for Gay: It's not exactly an honest mistake, but the Madam of the New Orleans brothel suggests that Holmes and Watson, being together, are not entirely out of options if they can't afford the services offered at her establishment.
• Older Than He Looks: In The Devil's Daughter Holmes looks much younger than he did in the earlier games, having the appearance of someone in their early to mid thirties. However he's had a 20 year career as a consulting detective and the game is set in 1896, suggesting that he's in his forties.
• Sherlock Scan: Is able to do this like usual, deducing someone's entire life story through a few physical items or how they're dressed. Meanwhile Crimes & Punishment" making the "Sherlock Scan" from Sherlock a gameplay aspect where Holmes can observe things to get more detail, while The Devil's Daughter'' occasionally gives the player a choice between two options what a certain aspect of a person means.
• Took a Level in Badass: The games mainly made him a calm man of logic, but The Devil's Daughter made him a Badass Bookworm who is Awesome by Analysis much like the recent film version.

Dr. John Watson

^{Click here to see him in The Devil's Daughter}

Voiced By: John Bell (2002), David Riley (2004-2012) Nick Brimble (2014) and Andrew Wincott (2016)

Appearances: The Mystery of the Mummy | Secret of the Silver Earring | The Awakened | Versus Arsène Lupin | Versus Jack the Ripper | The Testament of Sherlock Holmes | Crimes & Punishments | The Devil’s Daughter

Holmes' close companion and friend, who joins him in his adventures.

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• Deuteragonist: As usual he is this, though it varies from game to game as in some he's just there to help Holmes occasionally.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Testement ends with a "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, revealing that Watson and Holmes spent the rest of their lives being close friends, with Watson helping him in raising Katelyn.
• Mistaken for Gay: It's not exactly an honest mistake, but the Madam of the New Orleans brothel suggests that Holmes and Watson, being together, are not entirely out of options if they can't afford the services offered at her establishment.
• Took a Level in Badass: Initially Watson was portrayed as being more of a buffoon who always states the obvious, but later games will treat him as a more equal partner to Holmes that he can bounce ideas off of and who's military background often comes into use. Of course given the Anachronic Order of the series, this is more likely a case of Took a Level in Dumbass In-Universe.

Chapter One Continuity

Sherlock Holmes

Voiced By: Alex Jordan

Appearances: Chapter One | The Awakened

The Great Detective at the start of his impressive career.

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• Abled in the Adaptation: Holmes' cocaine addiction is Adapted Out. The ending for The Awakened shows that Watson is giving him medication to help him sleep, suggesting that his trauma from that game will push him towards drug addiction.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
  • Compared to the books and the original game continuity, Sherlock's past has a lot of tragedies. His father died of a heart attack and then, his mother suffered from a mental breakdown. Mycroft, who was still a young adult at that time, had to move the family to Cordona where he would take care of his ailing mother and his little brother. But his mother's behaviour grew worse to the point of becoming abusive towards her sons. The breaking point was when Violet tried to drown Sherlock and depending on the evidence, she either died from an allergic reaction from an overdose of her medication given by Sherlock or was euthanized by Dr. Richter. Afterward, the Holmes brothers left Cordona and Mycroft sent Sherlock to boarding school, hoping that he wouldn't remember that tragic event.
  • So far this version of Sherlock can't catch a break, with his adventures pushing him to his emotional limit by having him confront truths that slowly break him. In Chapter One he discovers that his mother was abusive because of her mental illness and tried to kill him, with him potentially coming to the conclusion that he was to blame or that he had inherited the same illness which Jon was a symptom of. Regardless the result is him losing Jon now that he knows the truth and having an even worse relationship with Mycroft. Then two years later, The Awakened has him be forced to confront genuine supernatural threats that brings up his fears of inheriting his mother's mental illness, since he can't come up with a rational explanation for anything he's seeing except that he's going mad while the alternative is that all of it is true which would make the scientific facts he clings to essentially worthless. In the end Watson helps him through his Heroic BSoD, but Sherlock is left traumatised by the adventure and despite telling Rochester that deep down he believes everything he has seen to be true, he later implies to Watson that he thinks he's mad for believing it. To make matters worse, he's now being medicated by Watson to help him deal with his nightmares, further reminding him of what happened to his mother.
• Adaptational Upbringing Change: In The Devil's Daughter it's implied that Sherlock was raised by his father while his mother died when he was young. In the reboot canon, his father died when he was young while his mother passed away when he was 11, leaving him to be raised by Mycroft.
• Affectionate Nickname: Sherlock is called "Sherry" by his childhood friend, Jon. It turns out that his late mother called him that.
• Age Lift: Chapter One is set in 1880 while Sherlock is confirmed to be 21 years old, placing his date of birth in 1859. In the original books it was stated that Holmes was born in 1854, making him five years younger than his book counterpart. This also applies to his original game counterpart who had been solving crimes and being a consulting detective since 1875, implying he was the same age as his book self.
• Alternate Self: The Awakened reveals that he's this in regards to the Holmes of the original continuity.
• The Aloner: Sherlock has never had real friends and was so lonely as a child that he created Jon to be his Imaginary Friend, who remained with him for years.
• Amateur Sleuth: In Chapter One, Sherlock isn't yet a consultant detective and just starting his career, instead getting involved in mysterious out of curiosity and to solve the mystery about his mother's death.
• The Atoner: Sherlock will become this in one of the endings for Chapter One if he decides that he was solely to blame for his mother's death, with his decision to solve crimes being motivated to make up for what happened and how Mycroft prevented him from facing justice for his crime.
• Batman Gambit: Holmes uses one on Watson to fool the enemy in The Awakened, not quite trusting Watson's acting ability.
• Combat Pragmatist: Can take down gangs single-handedly, but if you want to take them down nonlethally as encouraged, he has to stun enemies to render them vulnerable to melee take downs. All enemies have some sort of weakness on their body that can shot at to distract them like a bottle of alcohol strapped to their back or a hat that can be shot off surprising them into trying to surrender which counts as a stun-state. There are also plenty of environmental hazards that can be shot at in combat arenas like pipe valves that can blow steam at foes, or hanging objects that can be sent crashing onto a thug's head. And if all else fails, he also carries around a Snuffbox that he uses solely as a means of blinding thugs for a take down with the only downside being that it has to recharge between uses.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: The events of The Awakened, combined with his trauma from Chapter One cause him to fear he's losing his mind like his mother since he can't explain anything that he's seeing rationally. This terrifies him further since the alternative is that everything he's witnessed is absolutely true.
• Heroic BSoD: Sherlock does not handle being in the space of (or imagining) the old ones well. He's always a barely functional mess by the time Watson finds him.
• Hourglass Plot: At the start of The Awakened, Holmes is shown to be very logical and certain about himself, while Watson's Dark and Troubled Past makes him a Classical Anti-Hero full of doubts in regards to his abilities and bravery. However, the traumatic and horrific discoveries they make as the pursue the conspiracy across the world and Holmes' visions of an Eldritch Location impact them greatly: Holmes becomes more distraught and panicked by his inability to logically explain everything he's seeing, largely motivated by the fear that he could inherit the same mental illness his mother had, and Watson finds that despite his doubts, he is indeed a brave and capable man able to confront whatever evils he encounters. It's noteworthy that when Watson confesses the events of his traumatic past Holmes reassures him that he wasn't a coward, but near the end of the game Watson does the same for Holmes when he admits that he fears he is going mad.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: It's suggested more than once that his usual arrogance hides a lot of insecurities about himself and how empty and lonely he actually is underneath his great intelligence.
• In Spite of a Nail: With the reveal that he is an Alternate Self to the original continuity's version of Holmes, both of them experienced the events of The Awakened, though at different stages in their careers.
• Man Hug: Sherlock and Jon are very affectionate to each other particularly towards the ending where they embrace each other. In one of the endings, Sherlock also embraces Mycroft after he tells him that Jon is gone and he is free from him.
• Master of Disguise: Holmes has a wide range of clothing, fake facial hair and make up to appear as a completely different person and blend in with any other social class.
• The Mentally Disturbed: It's implied that Sherlock might be this and that Jon could be a symptom of it. If Sherlock comes to the conclusion that he caused his mother's murder, he becomes terrified that he might have inherited his mother's mental illness and accuses Jon of being an Enemy Within, with his decision to solve crimes in London being motivated to keep his mind active. The Awakened brings up his fears about being this due to his inability to explain anything that he's seen rationally, admitting to Watson that he thinks he's going mad.
• The Power of Friendship: The bond between Sherlock Holmes and John Watson becomes very important during The Awakened, since John becomes the one to support Sherlock during his Heroic BSoD and convince him to continue with the case. Sherlock even says so himself by revealing to Lord Rochester that Watson is the reason his plans have failed.
• Practically Different Generations: There's a ten year age difference between Mycroft and Sherlock.
• The Promise: Sherlock asks Watson to promise to take charge if his mental state reaches the brink, reflecting on his mother's mental deterioration. It comes into play towards the end of The Awakened, which helps Sherlock regain sanity and finish the case.
• Sherlock Scan: Like with the original game canon he can do this, and it largely works the same as it does in The Devil's Daughter.
• Split-Personality Team: Jon doesn't handle a specific aspect of Sherlock's personality or skill, but he acts as The Watson and someone Sherlock can share ideas with despite just being an Imaginary Friend.
• Technical Pacifist: Prefers to leave violent opposition alive and is encouraged to do so by Jon, the Cordonian Police Department, and Mycroft. That said, his nonlethal takedowns sometimes involve shooting his foes in the foot to incapacitate them. Even his carefully placed knock-out strikes often involve audible crunch noises.
• Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Sherlock realizes that he has blocked many memories associated with his mother and his childhood on Cordona. This amnesia is even given physicality in the form of locked doors to certain rooms in his childhood home; as Sherlock remembers the truth, those rooms become available for him to explore.
• Younger and Hipper: In comparison to his original canon counerpart, which is justified since Chapter One is an Origins Episode about Holmes when he was 21 years old, in contrast to the previous games where Holmes was an Experienced Protagonist with decades of adventures. However in the game he is far more a man of action, taking down gangs in Cardona, and has a more "edgy" outfit. The Awakened however has him wearing something more akin to what the original game and book versions would wear, which makes sense since it's set during the early years of his partnership with Watson.

Jon

Voiced By: Wil Coban

Appearances: Chapter One

Sherlock's imaginary childhood friend.

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• Affectionate Nickname: Exclusively refers to Sherlock as "Sherry".
• Canon Foreigner: Jon doesn't exist in the original books.
• Imaginary Friend: Sherlock created Jon because he was a lonely little boy and he needed a friend, and in Chapter One he essentially acts as The Watson. However it's implied that after all these years, he's become a full blown split personality of sorts.
• Inexplicably Identical Individuals: His overall facial features and build make him look extremely similar to John Watson with the only real differences being that he's clean-shaven and has darker hair like Sherlock. A particularly odd example as he looks like this in Sherlock's imagination before he even met the real John Watson. Emphasized in the ending when Sherlock finally meets Watson and even hears Jon say "Sherry" in his head for a moment.
• Inner Child: Subverted as Jon is shown to be the same age as Sherlock and is mature enough to understand adult issues, but he seems to represent Sherlock's lost childlike wonder and innocence. It turns out that he actually hides Sherlock's trauma from him, making sure he only remembers the good things about his time in Cordona.
• Man Hug: Sherlock and Jon are very affectionate to each other particularly towards the ending where they embrace each other. In one of the endings, Sherlock also embraces Mycroft after he tells him that Jon is gone and he is free from him.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted as the ending of Chapter One shows Sherlock reacting to John Watson's name.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Much more laid-back than Sherlock with a playful personality that adds a more light-hearted energy to Sherlock's investigations especially when the atmosphere gets grim. That said, there are times when he too can be somber in certain scenarios regarding victims or more often Sherlock himself.
• Split-Personality Team: Jon doesn't handle a specific aspect of Sherlock's personality or skill, but he acts as The Watson and someone Sherlock can share ideas with despite just being an Imaginary Friend. When Sherlock has to visualize what happened during a crime scene, Jon is the one you control to help Sherlock put a crime scene together.

Dr. John Watson

Voiced By: Andrew Wincott

Appearances: Chapter One | The Awakened

Sherlock's flatmate who joins him in his adventures.

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• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Watson's military history has left him traumatised, now having a backstory of being a Sole Survivor which leaves him feeling worthless about himself and believing that he's a Dirty Coward. However he slowly regains his confidence during The Awakening and finds the courage to stand against the horrors he is witnessing.
• Adaptational Badass: In the original game canon his level of skill varied from game to game, at times being little more than Holmes' sidekick, while this version is firmly portrayed as an intelligent and skilled doctor and soldier. He's even shown to be able to Sherlock Scan, albeit not to the same extent as Sherlock and from a medical perspective specifically, which isn't a skill his original canon or literary self had.
• Classical Anti-Hero: He's this because of his Dark and Troubled Past, being unsure about himself and doubting his own abilities immensely. However he raises to the occasion and becomes much more confident, helping Sherlock through his Heroic BSoD and convincing him to continue the case to stop the conspiracy.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Watson's time in the army was much more traumatic in this version, and he explains to Sherlock how at one point he confesses how he became the Sole Survivor when his superior ordered him to flee a losing battle, arguing that as a doctor he would be able to help more people. He then became lost in the desert and almost died, only to be found by British soldiers just in time.
• Dirty Coward: Believes himself to be this due to surviving when the soldiers he was with died in an ambush, but Sherlock points out that since he was primarily a doctor, his combat training meant he would have been of little help. His captain, who ordered Watson to run, knew this and believed he would save more people by surviving. While he is understandably horrified and frightened by the nightmarish things he encounters in The Awakening, he very quickly proves himself to be very brave and loyal.
• Deuteragonist: He experiences the same amount of Character Development as Sherlock in The Awakened, but in the opposite direction.
• Hourglass Plot: At the start of The Awakened, Holmes is shown to be very logical and certain about himself, while Watson's Dark and Troubled Past makes him a Classical Anti-Hero full of doubts in regards to his abilities and bravery. However, the traumatic and horrific discoveries they make as the pursue the conspiracy across the world and Holmes' visions of an Eldritch Location impact them greatly: Holmes becomes more distraught and panicked by his inability to logically explain everything he's seeing, largely motivated by the fear that he could inherit the same mental illness his mother had, and Watson finds that despite his doubts, he is indeed a brave and capable man able to confront whatever evils he encounters. It's noteworthy that when Watson confesses the events of his traumatic past Holmes reassures him that he wasn't a coward, but near the end of the game Watson does the same for Holmes when he admits that he fears he is going mad.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted as the ending of Chapter One shows Sherlock reacting to John Watson's name, since Jon was the name of his Imaginary Friend.
• The Power of Friendship: The bond between Sherlock Holmes and John Watson becomes very important during The Awakened, since John becomes the one to support Sherlock during his Heroic BSoD and convince him to continue with the case. Sherlock even says so himself by revealing to Lord Rochester that Watson is the reason his plans have failed.
• The Promise: Sherlock asks Watson to promise to take charge if his mental state reaches the brink, reflecting on his mother's mental deterioration. It comes into play towards the end of The Awakened, which helps Sherlock regain sanity and finish the case.
• Sherlock Scan: Unlike his original game counterpart, The Awakened shows that this version of Watson can do this. However he does this in an entirely different way to Sherlock, able to deduce things from a medical perspective specifically.
• Survivor Guilt: He suffers from this, as soldiers had him escape a losing battle to help more people as a doctor while they lost their lives.
• Took a Level in Smartass: Watson gets a lot snarkier the further the game goes as he gets more used to the situation.
  Watson: Oh, I get it - we need fresh blood! And no I'm not volunteering.