Oscar Dzundza

Oscar Dzundza
Vital statistics
Sex:	Male
Nationality:	Czech
Occupation:	Contract Assassin
Behind the scenes
Appearances:	"The Great Game"
Portrayed by:	John Lebar

"He has a very distinctive appearance. He has to hide somewhere where tongues won't wag. Much."

―Sherlock Holmes

Oskar Dzundza, also known as The Golem, is a mysterious contract assassin hired by Jim Moriarty.

Dzundza is over seven feet tall, forcing him to sleep where he will not be easily noticed. He is an imposing bald Caucasian man with enormous physical strength. He is seen wearing a black suit and gloves when he confronts Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.

Personality and skills

Golem is a highly intelligent, elusive, mysterious and extremely efficient assassin. Although he appears only once throughout the series, his callousness and borderline ruthlessness is his most distinguishing trait, aside from his admittedly incredible physical strength and reflexes. He has no qualms about who he kills or how much agony he causes his victims, only, it seems, that he gets the job done. The Golem is very resourceful, as he hides with the homeless people so that he is not recognised, but has a getaway car waiting for him when Sherlock and John pursue him. It is unknown what happened to the Golem after Moriarty's 'death', but it can be assumed that he moved on.

The Golem's modus operandi is strangling. He squeezes the life out of his victims with his bare hands. He is surprisingly agile for his size and has good reflexes, and is seen kicking a handgun out of Watson's hand. He is a formidable hand to hand combatant and was easily able to overpower Holmes and Watson in a short battle.

Biography

Golem is hired to kill Alex Woodbridge, a security guard working for an art museum called the Hickman Gallery. An amateur astronomer, Woodbridge had realised that one of the paintings at the museum, supposedly an original Vermeer, was a fake. Woodbridge's corpse is discovered by Greg Lestrade and his team near the River Thames. Sherlock, after some research, recognises the Golem's trademark kill. He uses his "Homeless Network" to discover his location in Vauxhall, where he has been sleeping rough. Before he and Watson can confront Golem, however, Dzundza escapes them in his car. They pursue him to an astronomy research centre, where he kills Professor Cairns, who had corresponded with Woodbridge about the possibility of the painting being a fake. Sherlock and John follow him there, but are both easily overwhelmed by him in a brief fight, wherein Watson holds Golem at gunpoint before being disarmed. As he flees again, Sherlock tries and fails to shoot Dzundza, who escapes.

Notes

• The name golem comes from ancient Jewish folklore. The word (גולם) means "amorphous" or "my unshaped form" in Hebrew. It refers to a massive creature resembling a man, crafted from mud or clay, or any inanimate matter, by a person of power, and brought to life. Initially created to protect its creators from harm, the Golem becomes a mute and unstoppable engine of vengeance, carrying out orders to the letter and killing all who dare stand before it. The Golem is a popular figure in the Czech Republic, where the assassin originates from.^{[citation needed]}

Trivia

• Dzundza's plight, characteristics and behaviour is similar to Dredger, the secondary antagonist of the 2009 film adaption. He is incredibly strong, extremely tall and his signature attack is strangling.
• Despite his enormous stature, Golem is shown to be remarkably agile.
• He is also adept at hand-to-hand combat, being aided by his formidable size and strength.