Sherlock vs Moriarty: Who Is The Most Intelligent Character

Sherlock saw a constant battle of wits between the title character and his biggest enemy, Jim Moriarty, but who was the most intelligent between them? Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes made his debut in A Study in Scarlet in 1887 and quickly built a big fanbase that didn’t even let him die. The Great Detective went on to appear in a total of 56 short stories and four novels, covering all types of mysteries with Sherlock Holmes always accompanied by his friend and partner Dr. John Watson.

Sherlock Holmes is one of the most popular and beloved characters in literature and has been adapted to all types of media for over 100 years, with recent adaptations reigniting interest in the source material. Among those is the BBC’s Sherlock, created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat and led by Benedict Cumberbatch (as Sherlock Holmes) and Martin Freeman (John Watson). The series brought Conan Doyle’s characters to the modern world, and it didn’t forget about some of the most memorable characters from the books, including the detective’s biggest enemy, Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott).

Moriarty made his first appearance in Sherlock in season 1’s finale, “The Great Game”, where he posed as Molly’s (supposedly gay, according to Sherlock) new boyfriend before revealing his true identity and plans at the end of the episode. After that, Moriarty became a big presence in the series, serving as a “consulting criminal” and developing an obsession with Sherlock, who he tried to destroy in season 2’s finale, “The Reichenbach Fall”. Moriarty came up with an elaborate plan to end Sherlock’s reputation and push him to commit suicide in order to save those closest to him. While Moriarty’s plan was impressive and Sherlock seemed to have no other option, he realized that as long as Moriarty was alive there was another way out, so Moriarty killed himself so Sherlock had to do the same.

This raised the question of who was the smartest genius between these two, as Moriarty is described as the villainous counterpart of Sherlock, with his intelligence matching that of the famous detective. However, Sherlock managed to outsmart him and even faked his death, something that Moriarty definitely wasn’t counting on. In the source material, Moriarty and Sherlock are intellectually equal, but in the series, it could depend on the audience’s perspective. While some argue that Sherlock was intellectually superior to Moriarty, simply because he was able to fake his death without Moriarty even suspecting it and Eurus could have been the real mastermind behind many of Moriarty’s plans, others believe that Moriarty was the most intelligent of the two and Sherlock outsmarted him because he had the help of his brother, Mycroft.

Perhaps what has made this discussion continue for years is that Sherlock and Moriarty had opposite ways of using their intelligence and skills: while Sherlock is more organized and methodic, Moriarty was all about chaos, and he had the advantage of being one step ahead. Sherlock and Moriarty’s intelligence being at the same level is what made their rivalry so interesting, but this has inevitably changed in every adaptation of the characters, depending on the narrative the writers look for, and in Sherlock’s case, they might have been equally smart, but they had different ways of using their extraordinary skills.

About The Author

Adrienne Tyler
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Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. She was also a contributor for FanSided’s BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings.

When she’s not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs!), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round.

Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once. It was great.

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