Doing undercover work against the Germans during World War I (His Last Bow), Holmes prophesizes the coming of an east wind: "...such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast." But as Michael and Mollie Hardwick note, in their book, The Sherlock Holmes Companion, "We cannot think that either Holmes or Watson withered before it. Nor east wind nor age can wither them, though they are now into their second century. As they are immortals, there is no particular need to search too closely for their epitaphs..." Holmes is also the first Super-Hero, emerging in the late 19th Century; his mental powers and abilities more than make up for his lack of physical prowess. He and his companion Dr. Watson set the stage for Twentieth Century hero-teams to come. "My life," Holmes comments in The Red-Headed League, "is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence." And by escaping the commonplaces of existence, the world's first consulting detective plays the fourth role of The Big Six, helping to reinstate myth and pop culture as a central focus of modern life, and establishing the return of the more-than-human hero.
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Sydney Paget illustration for A Study in Scarlet.
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