Jim Moriarty

Jim Moriarty
Vital statistics
Sex:	Male
Nationality:	Irish
Occupation:	Consulting Criminal
Behind the scenes
Appearances:	"The Great Game" "A Scandal in Belgravia" "The Hounds of Baskerville" "The Reichenbach Fall" "The Empty Hearse" (flashback) "His Last Vow"
Portrayed by:	Andrew Scott

"Every fairytale needs a good old-fashioned villain. You need me, or you're nothing."

―Moriarty to Sherlock ^[src]

James "Jim" Moriarty was the world's only "consulting criminal"; a stark contrast to his nemesis', Sherlock Holmes' similarly unrivaled "consulting detective" occupation.

Biography

Early history

In 1989, Moriarty murdered Carl Powers, whom he claimed "laughed at him", suggesting that he may have been unpopular.

Series One

Moriarty is responsible for all of the crimes in the three episodes of the first series, acting as a sponsor, an informant and a mastermind. He is shown to have an interest in Sherlock that borders on obsession, though he does not hesitate to try to kill him when he loses interest. In his operations, there is never any direct contact between Moriarty and his clients.

Jeff Hope, one of Moriarty's clients, attempts to murder Sherlock, but is shot dead by Dr John Watson, Sherlock's friend and flatmate. Hope had previously revealed that he had a sponsor, but refused to tell Sherlock his name. Only when Sherlock stamps on Hope's bullet wound does he eventually scream, "MORIARTY!"

Later, Moriarty assists in smuggling the Black Lotus criminal organization into Britain. Sherlock and John thwart their plans, though. The leader of the organization, General Shan, has a brief conversation with Moriarty over her laptop, and is shot by one of his snipers so that she cannot reveal his identity.

Jim and Sherlock at the pool.

Moriarty eventually decides to play a "game" with Sherlock, forcing him to solve mysteries within a time limit and taking hostages to ensure that Sherlock is properly motivated. He also disguises himself as Molly Hooper's boyfriend Jim and visits Sherlock in his lab when he is trying to solve a mystery. Sherlock, unaware he is Moriarty, "deduces" that he is gay (though this was a plot by Moriarty), which upsets Molly.

When Sherlock has solved every mystery, he finally meets Moriarty at a swimming pool. Moriarty has taken John hostage and wired plastic explosives to him, while having a sniper aimed at him. In an intense showdown, Moriarty warns Sherlock to back off, saying he will "burn the heart out of [him]" if he does not. Moriarty then leaves, and Sherlock rips the explosives off John and tosses them away. However, Moriarty then reappears along with dozens of snipers, saying they cannot be allowed to continue. Sherlock aims at the explosives he took off John, intending to detonate them and take Moriarty with him.

Series Two

Continuing from the last episode, Moriarty's phone rings, interrupting them. After a few words with the caller, Moriarty leaves for good and calls off the snipers.

The caller is revealed to be Irene Adler. Moriarty constantly gives her advice on how to manipulate the "The Holmes Boys", having given them both nicknames. It is also mentioned that he asked for nothing in return, becoming involved just to cause trouble, suggesting his obsessions are deepening.

It is also alluded to that he might have an independent rivalry with Mycroft. At some point, he was captured and interrogated by Mycroft, but was released, the information he gave coming at a personal price to Mycroft. As he is leaving, it is shown he has repeatedly scratched the name Sherlock into the concrete walls of his dungeon, as well as in reverse on the two way mirror.

Moriarty broke into the Crown Jewel safe to prove a point to Sherlock.

Later, Moriarty is seen outside Tower of London dressed as an ordinary civilian, and after walking into the room where the Crown Jewels are kept, he then puts on his earphones and begins listening to Rossini's "A Thieving Magpie." Taking out his Droid Incredible S, Moriarty presses a button bearing the emblem of the Crown of England. From there, it is shown that the Bank of England, Pentoville Prison, and the Tower of London's security systems have all been breached at the same time. As London's police force, including Lestrade and Sally Donovan, drive hastily to the scenes, the alarm in the room begins to activate, and as the nearby guards tell everyone to leave, the whole of the room is emptied of visitors and guards. As the door closes, a guard asks Moriarty to leave but before he can speak, Moriarty sprays a canister of sleeping gas at him.

Later in the episode, Sherlock and John investigate the disappearance of two children of a U.S. ambassador from a private school in London. It is revealed that the day the kids disappeared was the same day the school term ended. So, with numerous parents and children surrounding the school, it was incredibly easy for Moriarty's man to blend in with the crowd and become unnoticeable and enter the school. Waiting until nightfall, the kidnapper walked towards the room where the children slept, armed with a gun. As a result of spending the majority of his school life in private education, the boy had become acquainted with all the shadows of all the people who passed the door. After grabbing hold of the two children, Moriarty's man held them at gunpoint and led them out of the school. From there, he transported them to an abandoned warehouse in Addlestone. The kidnapper then locked the terrified children in a cage in a cold, dark room. The cage was filled with hundreds of sweets. The wrappers of the sweets were lined with a deadly poison (mercury) that was gradually killing the children.

Moriarty had traumatised the girl, so upon meeting Sherlock, she would scream and become terrified of him, which was meant to convince DI Lestrade that Sherlock was the potential kidnapper. Lestrade was then ordered by his superior to arrest Sherlock for kidnapping and John for punching Lestrade's superior in the face. After escaping from the police, Sherlock and John were now fugitives. After Sherlock and John break into the house of a journalist, they discover Moriarty. Seemingly terrified and shaking with fear, he tells Sherlock and John to keep away from him and begs John not to hurt him.

Whilst posing as Richard Brook.

Reporter Kitty Reilly states that there never has been a man named James Moriarty and accuses Sherlock of inventing him, as well as all his crimes as a way of becoming popular with the media and building up a reputation of himself as a Private Detective. John refused to believe this, arguing that Moriarty had only recently been on trial for attempted burglary, and that Moriarty intended to detonate explosives to kill Sherlock and himself. Reilly countered by saying that Moriarty was actually an actor named Richard Brook that Sherlock paid to act as a master villain. Still in denial, John asks to be shown proof, from there the journalist shows him numerous papers about Richard Brook including various headshots and an actor's profile. Moriarty then claims to be playing the role of a storyteller to young children on television. Sherlock then shouts at Moriarty, demanding him to stop this lie. Advancing on him, Sherlock and John chase Moriarty as he escapes through a nearby window.

Later, at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Sherlock texts Moriarty, who meets him on the roof. Sherlock claims that, with the code, he can completely delete all evidence of Richard Brook from the world. Moriarty says that there is no code, and the tapping rhythm that he did at Sherlock's flat was actually the beats to Bach's Partita No. 1. Moriarty said to Sherlock that his weakness was that he always wants everything to be intelligent and complex, so then he can solve it and brag about his intellect to others.

Moriarty explains that for the past 24 hours, he has convinced the general public that Sherlock Holmes is a fraud and a liar, therefore making Sherlock's once great reputation completely shattered, and the only person who still trusted him was John. When asked by Sherlock how he managed to break into the prison, the bank, and the Tower, Moriarty replied that he simply bribed security guards to collaborate with him in his scheme. Moriarty's final plan was to drive Sherlock to the point where he would commit suicide to escape his shattered life, but as Sherlock had no wish to do so, Moriarty explained that he'd hired three assassins, strategically located around London, each one ready to shoot Sherlock's only three true friends; Lestrade, Mrs Hudson and John. One was disguised as a police officer outside DI Lestrade's office, another was disguised as a repairmen inside the Baker Street flat, and the final one was located in a tower building opposite St. Bart's hospital.

Moriarty is then revealed to know a word that only he could say, that when spoken, would call off the assassins. Sherlock and Moriarty then spoke to each other, and Sherlock coldly stated that, although Mycroft would just lock up Moriarty, he would most likely kill him, and that even though Sherlock seemed to be a kind person and "on the side of the Angels", Moriarty should never assume that he is one of them. Sherlock says that he is willing to do anything to activate the fail-safe. After acknowledging that he and Sherlock are alike (in the sense that Sherlock has a dark side), Moriarty realises that as long as he is alive, Sherlock can activate the fail-safe and save his friends, so he produces a handgun from his coat pocket and shoots himself in the mouth.

Series Three

Moriarty's image appearing on TV screens all over the UK.

Two years after Sherlock's 'death' it was concluded by police that the actor Richard Brook was in fact an alias created by Moriarty and that Sherlock was innocent in fabricating Moriarty. Moriarty appears in numerous flashbacks and imaginary sequences when concerning how Sherlock possibly faked his death.

Moriarty was also in Sherlock's mind palace, in solitary confinement and wearing a straightjacket. He taunted Sherlock but when John was mentioned, he gave Sherlock the strength he needed to recover from a serious bullet wound when he nearly succumbed to it. Moriarty's face was later broadcast all over England and he spoke the words "Did you miss me?" forcing Sherlock to return from his exile early to work on the case.

Personality

Sherlock: "People have died."

Moriarty: "That's what people DO!"

―Holmes and Moriarty

An intellectual and criminal genius, Jim Moriarty appeared to others as an insane and psychopathic individual. 

Moriarty was arranging the deaths of others from a young age. In 1989, he killed schoolboy Carl Powers by poisoning his eczema medication and the boy was presumed to have drowned in a swimming pool. This shows him to have been surprisingly vengeful in his youth. However, Moriarty kept Powers' trainers almost twenty years until he used the shoes as part of his plan to meet Sherlock Holmes and had them planted in the disused flat at 221C Baker Street.

Just like Sherlock, Moriarty was vastly intelligent. He was also highly skilled at manipulation and even Sherlock found it hard to predict Moriarty's next move. He also appeared Machiavellian, astute and hot-tempered.

"No. Sorry... Wrong day to die!"

―Moriarty walking away from Sherlock Holmes at the start of A Scandal in Belagravia.

Moriarty was obsessed with Sherlock Holmes and enjoyed his role as a villain, showing a callous indifference for other people's lives. He happily murdered or organised the murder of innocent people simply because he enjoyed it. Moriarty considered life to be pointless and like Sherlock, he was willing to do anything to stop himself from getting bored. He did not hesitate to commit suicide when he felt that he had defeated Sherlock Holmes, because he felt that his role as Sherlock's arch-enemy was his only reason for living, and he was convinced that if he killed himself, he would be taking Sherlock down with him.

Although this shows him to be unbelievably self-confident, it shows extreme hubris and arrogance. Moriarty is considered an incredible opponent for Sherlock Holmes, as well as being an excellent strategist and intellectual genius. A fully fledged megalomaniac, Jim displays immense lack of social connection as well as extreme psychopathy and egomania. He was incredibly ruthless and revealed that his lack of empathy made him Sherlock's direct and invincible equal. He had a sarcastic, sardonic and sadistic sense of humor and often spoke in a tone that would intimidate or annoy his opponents. He had complete mastery of terrorist techniques and intimidation strategies.

Relationships

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes appears to be the only character in the series so far who can keep Moriarty entertained. Moriarty reveals several unstable musings of his to Sherlock: he ponders suicide because he is bored with the world, and he is obsessed with the consulting detective until he believes Sherlock is just "another ordinary person". When Sherlock spots the hole in Moriarty's plan, Moriarty seemingly kills himself so as to have the last laugh. In their interactions (and in his interactions with any character so far), Moriarty persists to play his games on his own terms.

Moriarty nicknames Sherlock "the virgin," and continuously interferes with his life, if only to watch him dance. On the few occasions they meet, Moriarty usually speaks to Sherlock casually while issuing threats to his friends. He displays a sick and twisted demeanour in Sherlock's company, and will do anything to win a game once he starts to play.

Irene Adler

Irene Adler was one of Moriarty's clients. He is one of few people in the series that have openly threatened her and it appears as though he is the only one who got away with it. He threatened to "skin her" and "make [her] into shoes" if she lied to him, and at the same time, he also gave her advice on how to manipulate Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes.

Mycroft Holmes

Mycroft interrogates Moriarty near the end of the Hounds of Baskerville.

While posing as Richard Brook, Moriarty used the information he'd gathered on Sherlock to defile the consulting detective's name in the media. It is revealed that he gained this information from Mycroft Holmes, whom he nicknamed "The Iceman." Mycroft was the only person who could elicit any sort of response from Moriarty when he had him imprisoned secretly. When Moriarty returns, Mycroft displays signs of intimidation that he has only revealed when Sherlock mentions Charles Magnussen and when Irene Adler is presumed dead.

Molly Hooper

Whilst posing as Jim from IT.

Molly and Moriarty dated briefly during "The Great Game". She describes their meeting as an "office romance," although Moriarty was posing as an IT worker at the time. He did this to get close to her and, through doing so, meet with Sherlock Holmes. She is furious when Sherlock says Jim's gay, although she seems a lot more angry at Sherlock for saying so, as opposed to Jim for flirting with him. They break up some time afterwards. Sherlock then finds Moriarty, who mocks him for falling for the gay act.

Molly was not told until "The Reichenbach Fall" that Jim was Moriarty, as she is flustered when Sherlock brings up her old boyfriend when he and John Watson approach her as fugitives. Although they separated and Moriarty was taken to court for committing the "crime of the century," it appears she remained in the dark until this moment.

Neither of the two mention each other after "The Great Game". Although most of their interactions take place off-screen, Moriarty chose to spare her life when targeting Sherlock's closest friends in the Season Two finale. It is clear that Jim was not aware of Sherlock and Molly's recent revelations, which is exactly how Sherlock wanted it.

It's also possible that Moriarty was aware of their friendship, and that she was to be the target of the fourth assassin – the one killed.

Molly's blog has shed some light upon their brief relationship.

Jeff Hope

The serial killer, Jeff Hope, was sponsored to kill by Moriarty, who made it so the more people he killed, the more money his children would receive upon his death. Hope refused to speak his name until Sherlock stomped on his bullet wound before he died. This was the first incident that alerted Sherlock to Moriarty's interference.

Carl Powers

Moriarty knew Carl in his childhood and murdered him by poisoning him with botulinum, causing him to have a fit in a swimming pool and drowning.

Clients

Jim Moriarty is a consulting criminal who plans out and arranges for crimes to take place. People contact him and pay him in exchange for planning out "perfect" crimes for their personal benefit. His area of expertise ranges from faking one's own death to art forgery. He is cautious to never communicate to his clients directly as to avoid being identified, often just leaving them with his name as the only thing they know about him.

• Sponsored Jeff Hope to start killing
• Helped smuggle Black Lotus agents into London
• Faked the death of Ian Monkford
• Supplied poison to Raoul de Santos to help in the murder of Connie Prince
• Helped Miss Wenceslas in faking the authenticity of the Vermeer painting
• Advised Irene Adler on how to manipulate Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes
• Leaked information to a terrorist cell about a US/UK counter-terrorist operation

Gallery

• Jim Moriarty in A Scandal in Belgravia

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Quotes

"Jim Moriarty. Hi!"

―Moriarty introducing himself in "The Great Game".

"I've given you a glimpse, Sherlock, just a teensie glimpse of what I've got going on out there in the big bad world. I'm a specialist, you see? Like you."

―Moriarty in "The Great Game".

"No one ever gets to me...and no one ever will."

―Moriarty in "The Great Game".

"The flirting's over, Sherlock, daddy's had enough noooooow."

―Moriarty to Sherlock in "The Great Game".

"That's what people DO!"

―Moriarty to Sherlock in "The Great Game".

"If you don't stop prying...I'll burn you. I'll burn the HEART out of you."

―Moriarty to Sherlock in "The Great Game".

"No you won't!"

―Moriarty teasing Sherlock before leaving the pool in "The Great Game".

"Sorry boys, I'm sooooooo changeable!"

―Moriarty to Sherlock and Watson in "The Great Game".

"You can't be allowed to continue. You just can't. I would like to convince you but...everything I have to say has already crossed your mind!"

―Moriarty quoting his literary counterpart in "The Great Game".

"If you have what you say you have, I'll make you rich. If you don't, I'll make you into shoes."

―Jim Moriaty to Irene Adler, "A Scandal in Belgravia".

"No rush."

―Moriarty to the police force in "The Reichenbach Fall".

"Every story needs a good old fashioned villain"

―Moriarty to the police force in "The Reichenbach Fall".

"In a world of locked rooms, the man with the key is king, and honey you should see me in a crown!"

―Moriarty to Sherlock in "The Reichenbach Fall".

"I want to solve problems... our problem. The Final Problem. It's gonna start very soon, Sherlock... the Fall. But don't worry: falling's just like flying, except there's a more permanent destination."

―Moriarty to Sherlock in "The Reichenbach Fall".

"I owe you a fall, Sherlock. I. Owe. You."

―Moriarty to Sherlock in "The Reichenbach Fall".

"Well, here we are at last. You and me, Sherlock. And our problem, our final problem...STAYING ALIVE!!! SO BORING, ISN'T IT??!! Just staying...all my life I've been looking for distraction. You were the best of distraction and now I don't even have you. Because I've beaten you. And you know what? In the end, it was easy. Yeah...t'was easy...now I have to go back to play with the ordinary people...turns out YOU'RE ordinary, like all of them! Oh well..."

―Moriarty to Sherlock in "The Reichenbach Fall".

"No...you're not ordinary...you're me...you're me!! Thank you, Sherlock Holmes. 'Thank you! Bless you. As long as I'm alive, you can save your friends. You've got a way out...well good luck with that!"

―Moriarty's 'last words' before shooting himself in "The Reichenbach Fall".

""You're insane." "You're just getting that now?""

―Sherlock to Moriarty in "The Reichenbach Fall".

"Did you miss me?"

―Moriarty in "His Last Vow".

Trivia

• Moriarty can be seen wearing a fox pin on his tie on several occasions. In Grimm's Fairy Tales, there is a story about a fox who fakes his own death. He also showed Sherlock an envelope with Grimm's Fairy Tales.
• His ringtone is "Stayin' Alive", by the Bee Gees.
• Moriarty's favourite composer is Bach.
• The song playing while Moriarty is robbing The Tower of London is "La gazza ladra" by Gioachino Rossini.
• While Moriarty claimed his initial appearance to Sherlock was a ruse to fool him in believing he was gay, the character's true sexuality is never conclusively established.