[dismiss]

On Fanlore, users with accounts can edit pages including user pages, can create pages, and more. Any information you publish on a page or an edit summary will be accessible by the public and to Fanlore personnel. Because Fanlore is a wiki, information published on Fanlore will be publicly available forever, even if edited later. Be mindful when sharing personal information, including your religious or political views, health, racial background, country of origin, sexual identity and/or personal relationships. To learn more, check out our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Select "dismiss" to agree to these terms.

Sebastian Moran

From Fanlore
Jump to navigation Jump to search

This page is about the character. For the doujinshi, see Sebastian Moran (doujinshi).

Character
Name: Sebastian Moran
Occupation: Moriarty's second in command, criminal, card shark
Relationships: Professor James Moriarty (employer, friend)

Sherlock Holmes (enemy)

Sir Augustus Moran (father)
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes
Other:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Colonel Sebastian Moran is a character in the Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He is Professor James Moriarty's second in command, and Sherlock Holmes refers to Moran as "the second most dangerous man in London" after Moriarty.

Canon

Moran is the antagonist in The Empty House and is also referred to in The Valley of Fear and mentioned in two other stories. He is Moriarty's second in command, his chief of staff and also Moriarty's "bosom friend". During the events of The Final Problem, Moran is with Moriarty as they follow Holmes and Watson to the continent. Moran tries to kill Holmes himself twice, in The Final Problem and The Empty House.

Moran was formerly an "honourable soldier" in the Indian Army and served during the Second Anglo-Afghan War, being 'mentioned in despatches', and was also a famous big game hunter, especially of tigers. However, he "began to go wrong". For unknown reasons he was driven to retire and return to London, where he was sought out by Moriarty. According to Holmes, Moran is paid "more than the Prime Minister's salary" by Moriarty for his "brains". He is described as being "as aloof and guarded and inaccessible to the law as [Moriarty]" and was used by him for only "one or two very high-class jobs which no ordinary criminal could have undertaken". Moriarty appears to have protected Moran from arrest or even suspicion of wrong-doing.

He is described as having the "jaw of a sensualist" and a face which is "tremendously virile and yet sinister". He lives in London and is a member of three clubs including the Tankerville Club which while it is not conclusively linked to Moran, is also mentioned in The Five Orange Pips in relation to a card-cheating scandal, which given that Moran is a card cheat does suggest his involvement.

Moran is arrested in The Empty House for the murder of Ronald Adair using an air-gun created by the blind German mechanic, Von Herder. However though Holmes claims that Moran will hang for the crime, he is still alive many years later, mentioned in The Illustrious Client (eight years later) and His Last Bow (1917).

Moran is also the villain in the one-act play by Conan Doyle, The Crown Diamond (1921) on which The Mazarin Stone was later based, except that in that story Moran was replaced by a different villain. In the play he is described as "An intellectual Criminal".

Other texts

Although Moran tends not to be utilised as often as Moriarty, he has still appeared in numerous other texts and adaptations, including as the narrator or co-narrator in some pastiches. Some examples are given below.

Pastiches

  • John Gardner; The Return of Moriarty (1974)
  • Neil Gaiman; A Study in Emerald (2003)
  • Elizabeth Bear; Tiger! Tiger! (2003 - short story in the Shadows Over Baker Street Cthulhu mythos meets Sherlock Holmes anthology)
  • Michael Kurland; The Empress of India (2006)
  • Vernon Mealor; The File on Colonel Moran Volume One: The Lure of Moriarty (2008) and The File on Colonel Moran: Sherlock Holmes Takes a Hand (2011)
  • Kim Newman; Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles (2011 - collected Moriarty novelettes)
  • Anthony Horowitz; Moriarty (2014)
  • Various authors, edited by Maxim Jakubowski; The Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Moriarty (2015)
  • Gareth Rubin; Holmes and Moriarty (2024)

Murder at the Baskervilles (1937)

While Moran does appear very briefly in another of the films which star Arthur Wontner as Sherlock Holmes, his bigger role is in Murder at the Baskervilles, also known as Silver Blaze, where he is shown as Moriarty's sidekick and he uses a concealed weapon, as Moran does in the canon. He was played by Arthur Goullet.

Terror by Night (1946)

Moran is the villain in this film, appearing as a notorious jewel thief who tries to steal a valuable diamond. Plot elements are taken from various different canonical stories and The Crown Diamond play by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle may also have influenced the inclusion of Moran. He was played by Alan Mowbray.

Sherlock Holmes (Granada)

Moran appears in the Granada Studios adaptation of The Empty House, being shown playing cards with Ronald Adair and others and testifying at the inquest into the death of Adair, as well as trying to kill Holmes. He was played by Patrick Allen.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

In Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, sequel to Sherlock Holmes (2009), Moran is portrayed by Paul Anderson. He appears as a somewhat younger version of the character and is said to have been dishonourably discharged from the army, becoming a gun for hire. He is a brilliant marksman who along with a rifle also uses poison darts to discretely murder people for Moriarty. He seems to have a close bond with Moriarty and be very protective towards him, interacting in a friendly manner with him and appearing extremely upset when Moriarty is almost killed by Watson's actions, leading to him being (non-fatally) wounded himself by Watson while in furious pursuit of Watson and Holmes. Towards the end of the film, though he is seen by Watson just after committing a murder, he escapes and disappears from the scene.

Sherlock (BBC)

In the Sherlock (BBC) series a character named Lord Moran acts as a minor antagonist in the episode "The Empty Hearse", but Sebastian Moran was never introduced as Moriarty's close associate. There is also a character named Sebastian Wilkes in the first series episode "The Blind Banker" but that Sebastian appears to be nothing at all to do with Moran. Nonetheless, Sebastian Moran is a very popular character in fandom and is often paired with Jim Moriarty. Many fans have a preferred/headcanon actor who portrays the character, as shown in gif sets on Tumblr and among roleplayers; common fan favorites include Michael Fassbender and Craig Parkinson. Some writers of the character reference Kim Newman's Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles, a pastiche in which Moran is central, for more source material and inspiration for adapting the character into the BBC series. Moran is also a useful character for Jim fans for exploring other sides of Jim's character in fanfiction.

Moran's popularity and usage have led some fans to consider him a fanon character in the context of the BBC show fandom.[1][2]

Elementary

Moran appears in two episodes in the first season of Elementary (2012) as an ex-Royal Marine turned assassin for hire. He is hired by Moriarty to kill various people but does not actually know Moriarty. While imprisoned, he is told via a coded message from Moriarty to kill himself or his sister will die. He then attempts suicide and is not expected to survive the night, though his death was never officially confirmed. He is played by Vinnie Jones.

Yuukoku no Moriarty (Moriarty the Patriot)

Moran is one of the characters working with the three Moriarty brothers in both the Yuukoku no Moriarty (Moriarty the Patriot) manga and anime. He is a veteran of the Afghan war who was wrongly recorded as killed in action, although he did lose one of his hands during an incident when most of his fellow soldiers were killed. He is a very skilful sniper and he appears particularly devoted to William Moriarty. In the manga Moran is shown to be deeply affected by William's 'death' and goes rogue as a result. In the anime he is voiced by Satoshi Hino (Japanese) and Christopher Wehkamp (English). The manga and anime also feature the blind firearms expert Von Herder, based on the creator of Moran's airgun in the canon.

James Moriarty, Consulting Criminal

James Moriarty, Consulting Criminal (2017) is an audiobook written by Andy Weir, read by Graeme Malcolm and published by Audible. Moran is the narrator of the three short stories which form the audiobook, writing them in a similar style to the original Sherlock Holmes stories narrated by Dr Watson. Moran is shown both as Moriarty's criminal associate and as his friend, who initially meets Moriarty when he hires him to solve a problem for him.

Moriarty (podcast)

Moran appears as a main character in both series of the Moriarty mystery drama podcast created and written by Charles Kindinger, Moriarty: The Devil's Game (2022) and Moriarty: The Silent Order (2023). After escaping from prison with Moriarty, Moran becomes both his associate and friend who aids the Professor when he is framed for murder. He is voiced by Billy Boyd (The Devil's Game) and by Ross McCall (The Silent Order).

Influence

Basil of Baker Street

A mouse equivalent of Sebastian Moran named Captain Doran appears alongside Moriarty's mouse equivalent, Professor Ratigan, in the Basil of Baker Street book series by Eve Titus and illustrated by Paul Galdone, specifically in Basil and the Pygmy Cats (1971).

Fandom

Despite being a fairly minor character in the canon and either sidelined or not even present at all in some adaptations, Moran is a fairly popular character to use in fanworks, with over 8,000 works on Archive of Our Own listing him as a character for instance. Fans will often build on canonical elements or sometimes elements from a particular pastiche or adaptation to develop the character further, expanding on both his characterisation and storylines. Something which is hinted at in the canon, with some similarities between their physical appearance, habits and background, is that Moran is the narrative foil to Dr John Watson, with Moran being as important to Moriarty as Watson is to Holmes and this is something that has been played with much more in certain adaptations (including Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) and developed even further in other fanworks.

The majority of fanworks are for the BBC Sherlock fandom take on the character, with there sometimes even being a tendency for some fans of that to assert that they 'invented' the character. This does tend to overlook though that Moran is a canon character and that many elements of his characterisation even within the BBC Sherlock fandom are based directly on canonical details or sometimes on pastiches or other adaptations, and also that despite being the minority, many fanworks do still exist for both the canonical character and other (often other Victorian) incarnations of him, including works created by fans who are not in the BBC Sherlock fandom[3]. There are multiple authors who have each written large quantities of BBC Sherlock-based works involving Moran, including multiple co-authored fics, such as Conduitstreetcat and TheGreenFaerie, fabricdragon and SpeculativeCorvid, and RueRambunctious although one of the most prolific writers of content (both fanfic and meta) for Moran is still Tiger Moran, a fan who only writes canon/Victorian based work or AUs of those.

Shipping

Moran's most common pairing is Moriarty/Moran, since Moriarty is both his employer and friend in the canon, although he is sometimes paired with other characters of various genders. He has no canonical wife or female 'love interest' and this coupled with his closeness to Moriarty and the mysterious circumstances surrounding his retirement from the army as well as some of the physical descriptions of him in the canon may have contributed to him being very commonly portrayed as bisexual and sometimes fairly promiscuous also in fanworks. Due to similarities between the characters and the possibility that the two could have met or known each other during their time in the army, Moran is sometimes shipped with John Watson, with Moran/Watson being one of the most common overall pairings for Moran after Moriarty/Moran on Archive of Our Own. In the BBC Sherlock fandom specifically he is also shipped relatively commonly with Molly Hooper.

Controversies

There has been a tendency often in the wider Sherlock Holmes fandom to either erase Moran completely or to portray him as a character of little significance or importance even to Moriarty, with many adaptations failing to include Moran at all or else relegating him to nothing more than one minor lackey of many. Also sometimes he is shown as being 'more brawn than brains' when he does appear, such as in the film Without A Clue (1988) where 'Sebastian' is little more than a rather dim thug who Moriarty discards without much thought. Such attitudes have appeared both in the overall fandom generally, with Sherlock Holmes fans dismissing Moran as being "simply Moriarty's employee"[4], and amongst the fans who have written about Sherlock Holmes in a more scholarly capacity or have created Sherlock Holmes media themselves. For instance the creators of BBC Sherlock have seemed to dismiss Moran as being of any significance and an actual Sebastian Moran character has never appeared in the show. This is despite much of the textual evidence in the canon suggesting or even in some cases explicitly proving that Moran was both very intelligent and of great importance to Moriarty. Many Moran-centred fanworks, including both fanfiction and meta, thus exist as a direct result of this attitude within the Sherlock Holmes fandom, trying to counter it by portraying Moran as intelligent and capable and as very important to Moriarty, usually both professionally and more privately as Moriarty's close friend or lover, and often drawing on elements of the original canon to do so. For example, the meta essay He's Just Moriarty's Henchman (the title being used ironically) was written in part as a direct response to the broader Sherlock Holmes fandom regularly erasing or demeaning Moran or denying his importance to Moriarty.

Common Tropes and Storylines in Fanworks

  • AU: Moran has commonly been put into alternate universes, particularly a modern AU in some adaptations or fanworks but sometimes in other kinds of alternate universes also.
  • Appearance: often in fanfic and fanart Moran is portrayed with facial scarring, sometimes said to be caused by damage inflicted by a tiger. This seems to connect primarily to him being described in the canon as having a face "scored with deep, savage lines", possibly indicative of facial scarring though the description could refer to nothing more than deep frown lines. Moran also canonically has blue eyes so this tends to appear often in fanworks too. His appearance (both in art and in written descriptions) will often also be inspired by a popular fancast for him (commonly Michael Fassbender in BBC Sherlock related works).
  • Backstory: some details are known about Moran's history and his family in the canon but this is often expanded on considerably in pastiches and fanworks, whether this be in relation to his childhood and family (particularly his father), his army history, his past as a big game hunter, or exploring how he came to work for Moriarty. He is quite often given siblings, sometimes the BBC Sherlock fandom fan-created brother Severin Moran or sometimes utilising a younger brother named Jasper Moran based on an original character in the 1982 Granada Studios TV show Young Sherlock: The Mystery of the Manor House and its novelisation by Gerald Frow.
  • Bisexuality: Moran is commonly perceived to be or portrayed as bisexual.
  • Brilliant marksmanship: canonically Moran is an excellent marksman, described as the "best shot in India" by Holmes who adds, "I expect that there are few better in London" and this element of him is often played up significantly in fanworks with him acting as an assassin (usually for Moriarty) and killing people using a sniper rifle. Often he is explicitly referred to as a 'sniper', sometimes seemingly in the mistaken belief that canonically he specifically had this title either in the army or when working for Moriarty.
  • Darkfic: Moran, being a canonical antagonist and excellent marksman, is often shown in fanworks committing violent crimes, especially murder, usually on behalf of Moriarty. He has sometimes been portrayed as a rapist in some fanworks too but is more commonly perhaps portrayed as having a history of experiencing physical violence or emotional abuse himself, often at the hands of his father, Augustus.
  • Friends to lovers: Moran has often been shown developing a romantic and/or sexual relationship with Moriarty in particular, inspired by him being referred to as Moriarty's "bosom friend" in the canon in addition to being employed by him.
  • Kink: Moran is commonly portrayed as kinky and often as engaging in some form of kink, usually BDSM, with Moriarty in particular.
  • Monikers: Moran is commonly referred to by the nicknames Tiger, Basher Moran or sometimes as Tiger Jack in fanworks and may also be described using tiger imagery. 'Tiger' and the tiger imagery stems from his past as a tiger hunter and him being referred to as tiger-like himself in the canon, 'Basher Moran' comes from Kim Newman's The Hound of the D'urbervilles, while 'Tiger Jack' is the nickname given to him in the book Flashman and the Tiger (1999) by George MacDonald Fraser, which borrows several characters from the Sherlock Holmes stories and features Moran as an antagonist.
  • PWP: fanworks focused primarily on smut are common when Moran is shipped with another character, often Moriarty.
  • Recurring Character: Moran only features as a character properly in one canonical story, although he is referred to and mentioned in several other stories. Despite this he has been used as a recurring character in many fanworks and the implication in the canon that he is to Moriarty what Watson is to Holmes has been expanded on, so that Moran is regularly shown as Moriarty's loyal right hand man and as a recurring antagonist to Holmes and Watson.

Fanworks

Fanfic examples

Canon:

Sherlock Holmes (Granada):

Ritchie Holmes:

BBC Sherlock:

Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles:

Moriarty (podcast):

Meta

Videos

Example Art Gallery

External Links

References

  1. ^ "Speaking as someone who was once heavily into BBC Sherlock [...] and various other fandoms with less intense collective headcanons, I just think it's a neat idea." Reddit comment, Archived version by RustyBucket4745, posted 10 March 2025.
  2. ^ That Time The Sherlock Fandom Invented A Character by Sarah Z
  3. ^ "I'm not asking people to automatically love my work or anything but I am asking them to please at least stop erasing anything beyond the BBC fandom, not just my work but the work of multiple other people too" - Tiger Moran in In Which Tiger Has Thoughts About Sebastian Moran and Fandom (2025)
  4. ^ "he is simply Moriarty's employee. There's no suggestion of friendship or camaraderie" - avidreader_1410 in a comment on a reddit thread about Moran
Retrieved from "https://fanlore.org/w/index.php?title=Sebastian_Moran&oldid=2786168"