# Professor Moriarty — The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes character guide

> Professor Moriarty in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Moriarty

**First appearance:** 0011-the-final-problem

## Snapshot

A former mathematics professor who orchestrates half of London's undetected crime, sitting motionless at the center of a vast criminal web.

## Who they are

Moriarty is a man of good birth and brilliant mathematical faculty whose hereditary criminal strain turned his gifts toward organizing evil. He does little himself, only plans, and his agents are numerous and splendidly organized; Holmes calls him the Napoleon of crime. His presence transforms the memoirs from a series of puzzles into a war, and Holmes admits that to beat this man would be the summit of his career—the one adversary worth risking everything for.

## Relationships

### [Sherlock Holmes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_memoirs_of_sherlock_holmes_se/characters/sherlock_holmes)

_rivalry_

Professor Moriarty is Holmes's arch-nemesis, a criminal mastermind locked in a deadly intellectual battle with him.

### [Sherlock Holmes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_memoirs_of_sherlock_holmes_se/characters/sherlock_holmes)

_rivalry_

Professor Moriarty is Holmes's arch-nemesis, a criminal mastermind locked in a deadly intellectual battle with him.

### [Sherlock Holmes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_memoirs_of_sherlock_holmes_se/characters/sherlock_holmes)

_rivalry_

Professor Moriarty is Holmes's arch-nemesis, a criminal mastermind locked in a deadly intellectual battle with him.

## In the story

### [The Final Problem](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_memoirs_of_sherlock_holmes_se/chapters/the-final-problem)

Introduced as Holmes's arch-nemesis; a mathematical genius turned criminal mastermind; confronts Holmes at Baker Street and later pursues him to Switzerland.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_memoirs_of_sherlock_holmes_se/characters/professor_moriarty
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_memoirs_of_sherlock_holmes_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_memoirs_of_sherlock_holmes_se/characters