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More than a century after first emerging

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into the fog-bound,
gas-lit streets of Victorian London,

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Sherlock Holmes 
is universally recognizable.

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Even his wardrobe and accessories
are iconic:

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the Inverness cape,

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deerstalker hat,

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and calabash pipe,

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and figures such as his best friend
and housemate Doctor Watson,

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arch-nemesis Moriarty,

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and housekeeper Mrs. Hudson

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have become part of the popular
consciousness,

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as have his extraordinary,
infallible powers of deduction

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utilized in the name of the law,

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his notorious drug use,

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and his popular catchphrase,
"Elementary, my dear Watson."

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And yet many of these most recognizable
features of Holmes

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don't appear in Arthur Conan Doyle's
original stories.

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Doyle's great detective solves
crimes in all sorts of ways,

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not just using deduction.

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He speculates, and at times even guesses,
and regularly makes false assumptions.

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Furthermore, Mrs. Hudson 
is barely mentioned,

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no one says, "Elementary, my dear Watson,"

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and the detective and his sidekick
live apart for much of the time.

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Moriarty, the grand villain, 
only appears in two stories,

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the detective's drug use is infrequent
after the first two novels,

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and Holmes is rarely enthralled
to the English legal system;

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He much prefers enacting his own form
of natural justice

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to sticking to the letter of the law.

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Finally, many of the most iconic elements
of the Holmesian legend

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aren't Doyle's either.

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The deerstalker cap and cape
were first imagined by Sidney Paget,

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the story's initial illustrator.

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the curved pipe was chosen by
American actor William Gillette

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so that audiences could more clearly see
his face on stage,

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and the phrase, 
"Elementary, my dear Watson,"

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was coined by author and humorist
P.G. Wodehouse.

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So who exactly is Sherlock Holmes?

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Who's the real great detective,
and where do we find him?

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Purists might answer 
that the original Sherlock

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inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle's 
university mentor Dr. Joseph Bell

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is the real one.

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But the fact remains that that version
of Sherlock has been largely eclipsed

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by the sheer volume of interpretation,

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leaving Doyle's detective 
largely unrecognizable.

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So there's another, more complex,

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but perhaps more satisfying
answer to the question,

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but to get there, we must first consider
the vast body of interpretations

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of the great detective.

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Since Conan Doyle's first story in 1887,

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there have been thousands 
of adaptations of Holmes,

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making him perhaps the most adapted
fictional character in the world.

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That process began with Victorian
stage adaptations,

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and accelerated 
with the emergence of film.

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There were more than 100 film adaptations
of Holmes

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in the first two decades 
of the 20th century alone.

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And since then, there have many thousands
more in print,

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and on film,

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television,

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stage,

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and radio.

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Holmes has been reinterpreted
by people everywhere,

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in remarkably different,
and often contradictory ways.

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These adaptations demonstrate
both Holmes's popularity

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and his malleability.

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For instance, he featured in a number
of allied anti-Nazi propaganda films

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during World War II.

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And both Winston Churchill
and Franklin Delano Roosevelt

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were avid enthusiasts,

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the latter even joining 
the Baker Street Irregulars,

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a Holmesian appreciation society,

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and nicknaming one secret service
hideout Baker Street.

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And yet, at the very same time,

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Holmes also appeared in various
German-language film adaptations,

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some of which were said to have been
much-loved favorites of Adolf Hitler.

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So let's return to our question.

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Would the real Sherlock Holmes
please stand up?

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The truth is that this world of adaptation
has made him into a palimpsest.

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Sherlock is a cultural text,

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repeatedly altered over time as each new
interpretation becomes superimposed

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over those that proceed it.

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This means that Sherlock 
continually evolves,

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embodying ideas and values 
often far removed

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from those found in Conan Doyle.

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And after each particular story ends,
Sherlock rises again,

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a little changed, perhaps,

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with a new face and fresh mannerisms
or turns of phrase,

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but still essentially Sherlock,
our Sherlock.