When I first set out to record the forgotten and unknown adventures of Sherlock Holmes and his fabulous, famous friends, my first thought was how could I possibly have enough years to put them all down on paper.
I have never known such a rich plethora of men and ideas in all my life. They range from incredibly bright scholars, to wild adventurers, famous magicians, exceedingly brave sea captains, and even a few monsters of hairy and invisible kinds.
Such a diversion of characters is bound to intimidate the lesser talented, or more abstracted writer, because most of us prefer to focus on one or two characters at the most.
But the rich history and parallel elements of the Bake Street Universe demand and command that I take all thrift of time and hurl it aside, allowing the mountainslide of adventure, mystery, fantasy and hope to tumble down where it may.
Last week I focused on Hyde, a very notorious character, first embodied in the personality of Doctor Jekyll on your world, but then later released to terrorize the parallel world of the Baker Street Universe.
But it seems that character demands further clarity and justice. For any being, even the least of them must have some motive for life, even as banal as just taking life might seem.
The horror of taking another man's life is only exceeded by the terror of it being your own. Perhaps that is why we cluster about accident scenes, slow down like long lines of cattle to watch the cars that are crashed along side the road, knowing that some day that could be us.
Fear of death is a mighty champion and takes no prisoners.
Hyde embodies all that is worst in man, and yet at the same time offers redemption, for that which is dark can be removed...we pray and hope...in time with the advent of Light.
What makes our Hyde so unique is that he doesn't just seek to take life to sustain his...or is it a he...life, but to also conquer those whom he slakes his thirst upon.
In many ways this horrible creature is also symbolic of power mad governments that slaughter innocents and enslave them to take their riches and wealth and gain domination. He also is a dark star in the sky of selfisness...showing all that man can fall prey to...lust, envy, greed, power, terror, murder. He embodies the seven sins.
What he does when placed in a story is to counterpoint that aspect of man which must strike out against the darkness in his own soul, fling off the possessions that strive to control his mind, heart and body, as well as soul, and move fully into the Light of pure determination and kindness.
Not kindness which is weak and easily slaughtered, but a kindness born of strength and determination to not give into the darkness, for any price!
One thing that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's father realized as he separated himself from his family of loved ones, was that sometimes we must sacrifice all that we hold dear and love to protect a higher cause.
And so it is that we honor the soldiers who go into battle...sometimes wrongly...but do so to clear the path of darkness for those who seek a Greater Comfort and Light in their lives.
Thus the Baker Street Adventurers are a New Age team, captained by Sherlock Holmes, to right injustice, fight against evil, and to stop the perpetuation of darkness upon the world by those blind to the good that dwells in their very own hearts.
And one day Conan of the Baker Street Universe, will not only have helped the greatest mind of crime detection, but also have found a place for himself wherein he can find peace at last. For though dead to his old world, he has risen like the Phoenix to be born to a longer, fuller life in the new.
