Since there’s a new Ace Detective game (well, new in ENG anyway) coming out, I’ve noticed some people commenting on Herlock Sholmes and asking “Why not just say Sherlock Holmes?”

Well, there’s a story behind that. (Thread)

So: way back in the early 1900s a French dude named Maurice Leblanc started writing a series of stories featuring a “gentleman thief” named Arsène Lupin. If that rings any bells from Persona 5, or the Netflix show, or Lupin III, you’re right on track.

Now: Leblanc had clearly read the Sherlock Holmes stories, and he built Lupin to be like Holmes, but a thief. The Lupin stories became wildly popular in France, just as the Holmes stories were in the UK.

In November 1906, the short story “The Blonde Lady” was published. In it, Lupin and Sherlock Holmes go toe-to-toe after Lupin steals Holmes’ watch.

Arthur Conan Doyle was NOT happy, to say the least. How dare this French thief get the better of THE GREATEST DETECTIVE IN THE WORLD? Lawyers and legalities got involved, and Leblanc was made to remove Sherlock Holmes from his stories.

Leblanc obliged - by altering the character’s name. And not even by a lot: he just moved the “s” in “Sherlock” to the start of the character’s surname. And thus, Herlock Sholmes was born.

Obviously Conan Doyle still wasn’t pleased. So the name was modified again, to the rather ridiculous “Holmlock Shears”. I guess at that point Conan Doyle just threw up his hands and gave up, because as far as I know he didn’t make any legal moves after that.

But the Herlock Sholmes name stuck more than Holmlock Shears, and it’s by that name that Sherlock Holmes appears in the Lupin stories. There’s versions with the Holmlock Shears name, but as I said, Herlock Sholmes is the one that stuck in the collective memory.

And that’s why Herlock Sholmes is a legit thing: it’s a nod to Leblanc and Lupin, and the chaotic energy they brought into the literary world. (End Thread)