SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING OF "HIS LAST VOW"
His Last Vow ended with a very familiar face showing up, one we all thought dead.
Admit it, you missed him.
That's right, Jim Moriarty, who we all thought dead, who we all saw commit suicide, has returned to play the game. But how exactly? Well, I have a couple theories.
Theory 1: Richard Brook was a real person.
What if Richard Brook and Jim Moriarty were two different people? They don't have to be twins , but they could be doubles. In The Empty Hearse, we learn that there was a double of Sherlock, so it's not outrageous to propose that there could be a double of Moriarty. Moriarty could have somehow found Brook through his network and manipulated him into going on the rooftop and shooting himself.
Or it could have been the other way around, with Moriarty actually shooting himself on the rooftop, and we saw Richard Brook at the end of HLV. There are some obvious contradictions (Rich Brook meaning Reichenbach in German.) but it's slightly plausible.
Or it could have been the other way around, with Moriarty actually shooting himself on the rooftop, and we saw Richard Brook at the end of HLV. There are some obvious contradictions (Rich Brook meaning Reichenbach in German.) but it's slightly plausible.
Theory 2: Moriarty is still dead, but tricks everyone into thinking he's alive.
Sherlock reveals in The Empty Hearse that he and Mycroft tricked Moriarty into thinking that the latter had the upper hand when he really didn't, but what if Moriarty really did trick Sherlock and co?
What if he had planned a series of videos for his network to release when "the time is right" (or something.) and over the course of Series 4, Sherlock's gang is contacted by Moriarty, who has already recorded these messages before he died. Viewers and Sherlock could be tricked into thinking Moriarty is really alive, only to discover, in a twist, that he's still dead. The Final Game.
What if he had planned a series of videos for his network to release when "the time is right" (or something.) and over the course of Series 4, Sherlock's gang is contacted by Moriarty, who has already recorded these messages before he died. Viewers and Sherlock could be tricked into thinking Moriarty is really alive, only to discover, in a twist, that he's still dead. The Final Game.
Theory 3: Mycroft
A combination of the last two theories has Mycroft hires Richard Brook (Who's a double of Jim Moriarty) to film a video and uses it to keep Sherlock in the country. It's the most plausible of the three theories in my opinion.
At the time of writing, I have yet to rewatch Series 3, nor have I seen any past episodes of Sherlock since His Last Vow. I intend to re-watch all of Sherlock and will make an updated version of this blog post once that is done. Feel free to share your own theories on what the hell is going on with Moriarty in the comments.
