“The Napoleon of Crime.” Holmes’s supreme adversary and the architect of a vast criminal organisation. Despite his legendary status in the Canon’s mythology, Moriarty appears directly in only one canonical story (The Final Problem, FINA), is discussed at length in The Valley of Fear, and is referenced retrospectively in The Empty House (EMPT) — but does not appear directly there, as he is dead by that point.
Biographical details (from the Canon)
- Full name: Professor James Moriarty
- Academic background: mathematics; wrote The Dynamics of an Asteroid, a monograph of “pure mathematics” so advanced it was beyond criticism; held a Chair at a provincial university
- Age: described as elderly, with an oscillating head (“like a reptile”)
- Network: commands a web of agents across London and internationally; Fred Porlock is one of his agents who occasionally leaks to Holmes (Valley of Fear)
Holmes’s characterisation of Moriarty
In The Valley of Fear, Chapter II, Holmes delivers the Canon’s most extended portrait:
“He is the Napoleon of Crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city… He sits motionless, like a spider in the center of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them.”
Holmes compares Moriarty to Jonathan Wild (the 18th-century criminal organiser), emphasising his role as coordinator rather than hands-on criminal.
Role in ingested texts
| Work | Role |
|---|---|
| Valley of Fear | Named and characterised at length (Ch. II); behind the murder; his agent kills John Douglas in the epilogue; never appears directly |
Moriarty across the ingested Canon
- The Final Problem (FINA, Memoirs): first and only direct appearance; Moriarty confronts Holmes at Baker Street, then pursues him across Europe to the Reichenbach Falls, where both apparently die — see The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
- The Empty House (EMPT, Return): Holmes returns and recounts surviving Reichenbach; Moriarty is dead throughout; Colonel Moran is the active antagonist — see The Return of Sherlock Holmes
- The Valley of Fear (VALL): Holmes describes Moriarty at length in Chapter II; Moriarty never appears directly but orchestrates the murder from off-stage — see The Valley of Fear
Significance
Moriarty is the Canon’s great absent presence — his reputation exceeds his page time by an enormous margin. Holmes’s need for a worthy opponent of equal intellect drove Doyle to create him specifically to kill Holmes off (FINA). The fact that Doyle later resurrected Holmes but never brought Moriarty back (except in retrospect) reinforces his role as permanent absence.