Impressions - and a little bit more - from Sherlock BBC, The Blind Banker, The Reichenbach Fall, The Sign of Three, The Six Thatchers
‘The pots were her obsession. They need urgent work. If they dry out, then the clay can start to crumble. Apparently you have to just keep making tea in them.’ TBB
‘Caught in five minutes. “Oh, hi, we just thought we’d come and have a wander round your top secret weapons base.” “Really? Great! Come in – kettle’s just boiled.” That’s if we don’t get shot.’ THOB
‘Most people knock. But then you’re not most people, I suppose. Kettle’s just boiled.’ TFR
‘If Moriarty has risen from the REICHENBACH CAULDRON, he will seek you out.’ TAB
‘Cauldron was a careful choice of words’
This wrote longsnowsmoon5 in her post about that topic back in 2016. I couldn’t agree more, then and now. There is indeed no definition of that word that links it to a ‘swirling pool of water found at the base of a waterfall’. The term ‘cauldron’ isn’t even canon. It occurs neither in The Final Problem nor in The Empty House. Doyle always used the word ‘chasm’ when he refered to the Reichenbach Falls. So, why decided the creators of Sherlock BBC to choose this particular and rather archaic word in their story?
Time to play again with names, synonyms and translations:
CAULDRON (Middle English: caudron, from Anglo-French cauderon, from calidus ‘warm’, from calēre ‘to be warm’):
a large kettle, boiler or metal pot with a lid and handle, used for cooking over an open fire
a situation characterized by instability and strong emotions.
POT: usually a rounded metal or earthen container used for domestic purposes like cooking or for holding liquids
KETTLE: a covered container with a handle and a spout, used for boiling water
BOILER: a vessel or arrangement of vessels and tubes, together with a heat source, in which steam is generated from water to drive turbines or engines
‘Rich Brook in German is Reichen Bach …
… the case that made my name’. (Sherlock about Jim Moriarty’s alias name Richard Brook in TRF)
Maelstrom inside a cauldron …..
‘It’s nearly all about the wallpaper’ (X) and the wallpaper in Magnussen’s bedroom, the place where Sherlock gets shot, is called ‘Vortex Spirals’ (X).Avortex is a powerful spinning current of air or water that pulls everything down. Synonyms for ‘vortex’ are … whirlewind, whirlepool, maelstrom.
‘Oh, what a night! … I was never gonna be the same … I felt a rush like a rollin’ ball of thunder spinnin’ my head around n’ takin’ my body under’ … The song that plays at the end of TSOT
‘Sometimes, to solve a case, one must first solve another … An old one. Very old. I shall have to go deep.’ ……. ‘These are deep waters, Watson. Deep waters. And I shall have to go deeper still.’ ……. ‘You’re in deep, Sherlock, deeper than you ever intended to be.’ ……. ‘Too deep, Sherlock. Way too deep.’ TAB
‘When does the path we walk on lock around our feet? When does the road become a river with only one destination? …’ TST
‘I’m burning up. I’m at the bottom of a pit (or a pot/kettle/cauldron?) and I’m still falling and … I’m never climbing out.’ … TLD
Each story consists of words. Some words may have been chosen with more meaning than others and some authors put maybe more emphasis on words and names than others, when they are telling their story. And maybe Jim’s statement in TGG … ‘the clue’s in the name’ … is indeed meant to be read verbatim. Maybe … :)
Interesting,@ebaeschnbliah. The choice of word is surely deliberate and I love your associations. They fit the whole field of water/fall /depth/vortex/pit, etc. that permeates the show as a whole. A cauldron also reminds me of witches brewing some potion. Witches again lead to fairytales which are an important element in the show as well and point to the often fantastic quality of the story.
Oh yes, the fairytales @gosherlocked there are so many of them interwoven in Sherlock BBC. A striking number indeed. :) And ‘boiling with emotions’@possiblyimbiassed as you describe it on this thread, is just the metaphor I would use as well. :)
