The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes XII. The Final Problem Summary

Summary

Dr. John Watson opens with sorrow as he records what he believes to be his last account of Sherlock Holmes. He explains that public reports and a recent letter defending Professor Moriarty have forced him to tell the true story of Holmes’s final struggle with the criminal mastermind. Watson describes Holmes’s unexpected visit on 24 April, Holmes’s nervous, pale condition, and his disclosure of the existence and nature of Professor Moriarty — a former mathematician turned the organized central brain of London crime. Holmes explains the months of cat-and-mouse work in which he has woven a net around Moriarty and his organization, only to find Moriarty detecting and countering his moves. Moriarty confronts Holmes in his rooms with veiled threats; Holmes recounts a series of physical attacks that show the danger is real.

Holmes persuades Watson to accompany him abroad for a short interval while police preparations mature. They travel with extreme precautions: secret instructions, disguised appearances, and timed connections. Despite their measures, Moriarty nearly intercepts them at Victoria and pursues them through England to the Continent. Holmes continues to monitor and anticipate Moriarty’s moves, and he is devastated when Moriarty eludes capture though most of his gang are arrested. In the Swiss Alps the two men travel to Meiringen. On 4 May they separate on the path near Reichenbach Falls after Watson is summoned away on a supposed medical errand. Returning, Watson finds Holmes’s walking-stick and a cigarette case with torn notebook pages addressed to him. Holmes’s note explains his acceptance of a final duel with Moriarty and gives instructions about evidence left for the police. Watson concludes that the two men struggled and fell into the abyss; both bodies are unrecoverable, the young Swiss guide is missing, and the gang is later exposed using Holmes’s papers. Watson defends Holmes’s memory against attempts to whitewash Moriarty.

Key events

1. Holmes explains Moriarty’s identity, organization, and their intellectual duel.
2. Moriarty confronts Holmes and issues veiled threats; several assassination attempts follow.
3. Holmes and Watson flee England using elaborate precautions and disguises.
4. Most of Moriarty’s gang is arrested, but Moriarty escapes pursuit.
5. At Meiringen, Watson is lured away; Holmes stays at Reichenbach Falls.
6. Watson finds Holmes’s belongings and a note; concludes Holmes and Moriarty fell to their deaths.

Analysis

This chapter functions as the climactic resolution of the Holmes narrative by shifting Doyle’s tone from episodic detection to tragic closure. It reframes Holmes not merely as an aloof intellect but as a man who confronts moral responsibility: Moriarty is presented as a nemesis of equal genius, the 'Napoleon of crime,' which elevates Holmes’s work to a civilizational contest between order and organized evil. Watson’s voice is elegiac and confessional; his role as narrator shifts here from chronicler of puzzles to mourner and moral advocate. Structurally, Doyle uses the recounting of preparations, the chase across countries, and the alpine setting to build inexorable momentum toward the final encounter. The Reichenbach Falls are symbolic — a sublime, elemental force that swallows both hero and villain, suggesting nature’s impartiality and the limits of human contest. Narrative technique blends detective exposition (Holmes’s accounts of investigation) with suspenseful set pieces (pursuit, disguises) and then an abrupt, emotionally charged denouement. The torn notebook pages serve as a written last testament, giving Holmes agency in his death and preserving evidentiary closure for the plot. Themes of sacrifice, the cost of duty, and the thin line between intellect and obsession dominate the chapter, while Watson’s grief humanizes the detective’s legend and frames Doyle’s defense of Holmes against later critics.

Important quotes

“He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city.”

Sherlock HolmesHolmes explains Moriarty’s central, organizing role in London’s criminal world and why he must be confronted.

“I write these few lines through the courtesy of Mr. Moriarty, who awaits my convenience for the final discussion of those questions which lie between us.”

Sherlock Holmes (in his written note)Holmes’s last written words to Watson, left at Reichenbach, acknowledge the impending final confrontation and instruct Watson about evidence.

“There was Holmes’s Alpine-stock still leaning against the rock by which I had left him. But there was no sign of him, and it was in vain that I shouted.”

NarratorWatson arrives back at the falls, finds Holmes’s walking-stick and realizes Holmes is missing, signaling the chapter’s tragic turn.

Characters in XII. The Final Problem

• Dr. John Watson
• Sherlock Holmes
• Professor James Moriarty
• Mycroft Holmes
• Colonel James Moriarty
• Mrs. Watson
• Peter Steiler
• Inspector Patterson
• the Swiss lad (unnamed)
• the aged Italian priest