Character guide

Sherlock Holmes

major

Also known as Mr. Holmes, Mr. Sherlock Holmes

Holmes takes the Agra mystery as a personal duel of intellect, and when the trail goes cold on the Thames he turns feverish, sleepless, and sharp with his own landlady. Watson and Mrs. Hudson watch him chafe against enforced inaction, his keen spirit visibly consuming itself. His restless brilliance drives the investigation forward even when every lead seems to dissolve into fog.

Dr. John Watson

major

Also known as Watson, Dr. Watson

Watson narrates the case while navigating his own feelings for Mary Morstan, torn between admiration and a half-pay surgeon's pride. When she weeps in the cab after the night's terrors, he holds back his affection, fearing she would see him as a fortune-seeker once the treasure surfaces. His loyalty to Holmes and his tenderness toward Mary give the mystery its emotional stakes.

Mary Morstan

major

Also known as Miss Mary Morstan, Miss Morstan, Morstan

Mary Morstan arrives at Baker Street with a decade-old mystery and a string of anonymous pearls, carrying herself with a resolute calm that impresses even Holmes. When suspicion falls on Thaddeus Sholto, she defends him fiercely, insisting his kindness matters more than any treasure. Her dignity under pressure and her refusal to be dazzled by wealth anchor the case's moral center.

Jonathan Small

major

Also known as Small, this Jonathan Small

Small haunts the edges of the Agra mystery as a shadowy figure whose history with the treasure predates everyone now chasing it. His physical loss and long-nursed grievance give him a motive that the drawing-room heirs of London cannot fathom. As Holmes closes in on the river, Small becomes the case's most dangerous and most human antagonist.

Thaddeus Sholto

supporting

Also known as Mr. Thaddeus Sholto, Mr. Sholto, Thaddeus, friend Thaddeus

Thaddeus Sholto lives in a strangely appointed suburban house and greets his guests with trembling eagerness, eager to unburden a conscience weighed down by his father's dealings. When his brother is found dead and the jewels vanish, his nervous manner and his presence at the scene make him the obvious target of Athelney Jones's theory. Mary's insistence on his honor sets her against the official narrative and deepens the mystery of who really took the treasure.

Athelney Jones

supporting

Also known as Mr. Athelney Jones, Mr. Jones, the great Jones, Jones

Jones begins the case as a brusque, masterful professor of common sense, certain that Thaddeus Sholto is his man. When the alibi holds and his net tears open, he arrives at Baker Street downcast and apologetic, his professional credit at stake. His humbled partnership with Holmes on the river chase shows how official method bends, however grudgingly, to genius.

Major John Sholto

supporting

Also known as Major Sholto, Sholto

Sholto was the officer who brought the Agra treasure back from India and kept it for himself, a decision that poisoned his remaining years with dread of discovery. Even Jonathan Small, who admits he would have knifed the old major without a second thought, treats him as the original author of the whole misfortune. His guilty secret is the buried root from which the Norwood tragedy and the entire hunt for the treasure grow.

Captain Morstan

supporting

Also known as Morstan

Morstan vanished years before the story opens, leaving his daughter Mary alone in London and a chain of unanswered questions behind him. His connection to Major Sholto and the Agra treasure is the thread that pulls Holmes, Watson, and Mary into the case. Every clue about his fate sharpens both the mystery and the quiet grief that shadows Mary's composure.

Toby

supporting

Also known as Good old Toby, Poor Toby

Toby is the scenthound Holmes borrows to follow the wooden-legged man's creosote trail across London's southern suburbs. He is fallible — a creosote barrel throws him off and Holmes gently defends him — but his nose carries the pursuit from Norwood to the riverside wharf. His small failure and recovery mirror the case itself: a promising trail, a wrong turn, and a scent that finally leads to water.

Tonga

supporting

Also known as little Tonga

Tonga is Small's silent, deadly companion, the hand that strikes while Small plans. He kills Bartholomew Sholto with a poisoned dart and later nearly kills Holmes and Watson on the Thames, yet Small speaks of him with something like affection. His savagery and devotion make him the story's most unsettling figure — a weapon with a heartbeat, and the reason the Agra treasure leaves bodies behind it.

Mordecai Smith

supporting

Also known as Mr. Smith, Mr. Mordecai Smith, Smith, old Smith

Smith hires out his fast launch to Small's men for good money and asks no questions, which makes him useful and expendable in equal measure. Holmes tracks him through Jacobson's Yard and uses a sentry to watch the Aurora, knowing Smith himself is likely ignorant of the larger crime. His ordinary greed is the hinge on which the river chase turns, and his launch is the reason the pursuit becomes a race.

Bartholomew Sholto

supporting

Also known as Brother Bartholomew, Bartholomew, Mr. Bartholomew Sholto

Bartholomew lives shut away with his chemical apparatus and his share of the Agra treasure, estranged in temperament from his anxious twin. His locked-room death — the grinning face at the peephole, the poisoned dart, the hidden ceiling opening — is the crime that transforms a treasure hunt into a murder investigation. His death also makes his brother Thaddeus a suspect and a wreck, deepening the Sholto family's entanglement with the cursed fortune.

Wiggins

minor

Leader of the Baker Street Irregulars who helps track the Aurora.

Mrs. Hudson

minor

Holmes's landlady at 221B Baker Street.

Mrs. Cecil Forrester

minor

Also known as Mrs. Forrester

Mary Morstan's employer and friend.

Mrs. Smith

minor

Also known as Smith

Wife of Mordecai Smith, who helps run the boat business.

Sherman

minor

Also known as old Sherman, Mr. Sherman

Owner of Toby the dog, who lends him to Holmes.

McMurdo

minor

A boatman who provides information about the Aurora.

Lal Chowdar

minor

A Sikh soldier who was part of the Agra treasure conspiracy.

Abdullah Khan

minor

Also known as Abdullah

One of the conspirators who stole the Agra treasure.

Muhammad Singh

minor

Also known as Muhammad

A Sikh soldier involved in the Agra treasure plot.

Dost Akbar

minor

Also known as Akbar

A Muslim soldier who helped steal the Agra treasure.

Achmet

minor

A merchant who was killed for the Agra treasure.

Mrs. Bernstone

minor

Also known as old Mrs. Bernstone

Housekeeper at Pondicherry Lodge.

Dawson

minor

A police constable who assists in the chase.

Williams

minor

A police constable involved in the pursuit.

François Le Villard

minor

A French detective who admires Holmes's methods.

Jack

minor

A young boy who helps the Baker Street Irregulars.