The Final Problem

UPDATED TO INCLUDE POSTS THROUGH MARCH 1, 2012
Need something more recent? Check the archive.

Note: This remains very much a work in progress. However, I thought it might be more helpful to give you something less-than-perfect now than to make you wait until I have the time to get it all just right.

And speaking of getting it all right… I never, ever claim to be right about any of this. I’m just telling you what my opinions are based on the available evidence. You should always use your own best judgement and observations when deciding how much to believe anyone’s theories.

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My Four “Big” Theories

• The fall
• The killers
• The scream
• The final problem

Please keep in mind that the above are not intended to be my final word on how I think those things happened. Especially in the cases of the last two. Those were ideas I never intended to have, but they snuck up on me and made me believe them before I’d even had time to actually look for all the relevant evidence. So they will probably undergo serious revisions in the future. (And if you find more evidence that relates to those theories, I’d certainly like to hear about it. If this stuff’s remotely true, it’s really too big for one person to figure out completely.)

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Theories & Theory Discussions by Subject

Characters are indexed by their last names. (It’s all Anderson’s fault.)

1895

• Could the hit counter being stuck on 1895 in Scandal be a clue for Reichenbach?

Adler, Irene

• Did Irene Adler help Sherlock fake his death?
• Was Irene helping Jim in The Great Game?
• Does John’s reaction to Irene’s fake death in Scandal tell us how he’ll react when he finds out Sherlock’s alive?
• Did Irene help Sherlock disappear?
• Did Irene call Jim at the pool to save Sherlock?

Aluminum Crutch, The

• Was there any significance to John’s Aluminum Crutch blog entry being mentioned more than once?
• The aluminum crutch in canon

Anderson

• Why did Sherlock ask for Anderson to be called in?
• Is Anderson an assassin?

Assassins
(See also: Gunmen)

• Assassins vs. Gunmen: sorting out all the killers
• Who hired the various killers?
• Was one assassin/gunman working for Mycroft?
• Is the cleaner at Scotland Yard Ludmila the assassin?
• Were the assassins even that essential to Jim’s plan?
• How did the assassins fit into Jim’s plan?

Baritsu
(See also: Fall)

• Did the mention of Baritsu in A Scandal in Belgravia’s commentary track mean anything?

Biker (aka BMX Bandit)
(See: Homeless Network)

Blood

• Where did the blood come from?
• Actually, maybe let’s not get too specific about where the blood came from
• My Reichenbach A to Z: all the steps in Sherlock’s fake death put together
• How did Sherlock get the blood on himself and on the ground?
• Was there blood on the ledge?

Body swap
(See also: Phone box)

• Sherlock wasn’t the one on the trolley as it was wheeled into St. Bart’s
• Sherlock’s fake death was a series of magic tricks
• The button says it all
• My Reichenbach A to Z: all the steps in Sherlock’s fake death put together
• Did the girl scream at Sherlock because the kidnapper wore a Sherlock mask or had plastic surgery to look like him?
• The only body swap was at the very last moment before Sherlock was wheeled into the hospital
• Why it was really Sherlock who fell and was on the sidewalk, version 1
• Are these continuity errors?
• Did Sherlock swap places with someone? If so, why bother?
• How did Sherlock switch places with the man on the trolley? Impossible to say. But it wasn’t a mistake.
• How could Sherlock switch places with someone on the trolley if there was a risk John would’ve followed him into the hospital?
• Why would Sherlock switch places with someone on the street instead of inside St. Bart’s?
• Behind-the-scenes photos of Sherlock on the trolley
• Wouldn’t it have been a bit unnecessary for Sherlock to pull off a last-minute body swap?

Brook, Richard
(See: Moriarty, Jim)

Bruhl, Claudette and Max
(See: Kidnapping)

Confession

• Did Sherlock use his phone or the wireless camera to record Jim’s confession?
• There is no “there is no key”
• What was going on with Sherlock’s hands on the roof? Was he holding the rubber ball, or a camera to record Jim’s confession?
• Why would Sherlock have Jim explain himself?

Crack theories (Not real theories. Just for fun.)

• Carrier pigeons
• Feral giraffes
• Reichenbingo: Theory Edition
• Sherlock summoned a horde of angels
• Sherlock’s disco vengeance
• Sherlock was practicing (And no, physics doesn’t really work that way.)
• The magic traffic cone that loves Sherlockians
• There were Babel fish involved
• Dimmock would have such a hard time with the Richard Brook case

Credits

• Have you checked the credits to see if any of the characters were the same?

Dummy in 221B
(See also: Fishguard, Henry)

• The dummy in the Empty House

Fairy tales

• What did the gingerbread man mean?
• Was the German name Mrs. Hudson referred to “Grimm”?
• Was the German name Mrs. Hudson referred to actually “Hans Christian Andersen”?
• Why would the kids eat mercury if it tastes bad?
• The “I.O.U.” messages and the rule of three
• Is the answer in a fairy tale?
• Isn’t it too convenient that the kidnapped boy did something right out of Hansel and Gretel? Did the kidnapper leave the linseed oil footprints instead?
• Complete text of a Hansel and Gretel translation that appears to match the Sherlock version
• Was the line “And pretty grim ones, too,” a reference to Grimm’s fairy tales?
• Was it out-of-character for Sherlock to know the Hansel and Gretel story?
• Will the fairy tale theme continue?

Fall, and how it was broken
(See also: Truck)

• Sherlock’s fake death was a series of magic tricks
• The Pink Suitcase Theory
• Laundry bin, rubbish bin, or anything else that fits the evidence—the Pink Suitcase Theory welcomes them all
• Did they use Jim and editing to give us a hint?
• My Reichenbach A to Z: all the steps in Sherlock’s fake death put together
• How did Sherlock ameliorate the negative effects of the impact force?
• Could the plan have worked if Jim hadn’t committed suicide?
• Video from the filming of the fall stunt
• If he hadn’t died, wouldn’t Jim have seen Sherlock break his fall?
• Did the mention of Baritsu in A Scandal in Belgravia’s commentary track mean anything?
• How much nothing can you find? Looking for anything we missed at the scene
• Is there a clue in the shot we see from the sniper’s viewpoint after the fall?
• What’s that big rectangle on the sidewalk? Would the thing that broke Sherlock’s fall have been there?
• What’s that snapping sound when Sherlock lands?
• Would Sherlock have trusted the Homeless Network to get something in place to break his fall that quickly?
• Sherlock was wearing a purple shirt on the roof, so what’s with the white shirt when he was falling?
• Sherlock had no intention of jumping the first time he stepped up on the ledge
• Could Sherlock have been wearing some sort of brace during the fall?
• My headcanon version of what was happening at the end of the phone call
• Could Sherlock have jumped off a different side of the building?
• Is it possible Sherlock went ahead and accepted that he’d have to break a few bones to save his friends?
• How could Sherlock have known where the sniper would be positioned in order to block his view of the fall?
• Photos from filming of the fall stunt
• More photos from the filming of the fall stunt

Final problem

• The Theory of the Final Problem: the “final problem” was the end of the same game they were playing in Series 1—Jim never stopped playing, not even for a minute
• What did Jim mean when he said “I did tell you. But did you listen?”

Fishguard, Henry
(See also: Dummy in 221B)

• Who is Henry Fishguard?

Footprints
(See: Kidnapping)

German

• Assassins vs. Gunmen: the last gunman may be German
• Was the German name Mrs. Hudson referred to “Grimm”?
• Was the German name Mrs. Hudson referred to actually Czech?
• Was the German name Mrs. Hudson referred to actually “Hans Christian Andersen”?
• What’s with all the German stuff?
• How did Mrs. Hudson even get the German name from the deliveryman?
• Did Jim’s gunman deliver the cookie to Mrs. Hudson and give a German name as a clue?

Gunmen
(See also: Assassins; German; Kidnapping)

• Why was Sherlock focusing so much on tricking John instead of the sniper?
• Why would Sherlock choose to meet on a roof if he knew Jim hired gunmen?
• Assassins vs. Gunmen: sorting out all the killers
• Loose Threads: the gunmen were the kidnappers, and why that made the girl scream at Sherlock
• Who placed the wireless camera in 221B?
• The kidnapper/gunman was there just before “I.O.U.” appeared on the windows
• The kidnapper/gunman was there when they found the kids at the sweet factory
• If the kidnapper/gunman works at Scotland Yard, what if the kids had seen him after they were rescued?
• Why would the kidnapper/gunman risk showing up when the kids were rescued?
• Who hired the various killers?
• If one of the kidnappers/gunmen looks like John, why doesn’t everyone suspect him as well?
• The kidnapper/gunman was at the school, talking to Sally
• Did Jim’s gunman deliver the cookie to Mrs. Hudson and give a German name as a clue?
• Was one assassin/gunman working for Mycroft?
• Would the sniper have been someone close to John?
• What if the sniper wasn’t one of Jim’s gunmen?
• Is there a clue in the shot we see from the sniper’s viewpoint after the fall? Could the sniper have shot Jim?
• The kidnapper/gunman may have used the girl’s chalk and set up the footprint trail just before Sherlock arrived at the crime scene
• Have you checked the credits to see if any of the characters were the same?
• The second kidnapper/gunman may have been shown at the sweet factory with the kids
• Could Sebastian Moran have been the sniper?
• Did one of the gunmen appear in A Study in Pink?
• How could Sherlock have planned ahead so the sniper’s view of the fall was blocked?
• But if John could start to catch on that Sherlock’s alive, and the sniper looks kind of like Sherlock… crap.
• How could Sherlock have known where the sniper would be positioned in order to block his view of the fall?
• How did the sniper know when John would be coming back to St. Bart’s? And didn’t Jim say he’d have “people” watching?

Holmes, Mycroft

• How could Molly have managed a complete cover-up? Wouldn’t someone have had to identify the body?
• Was the BMX Bandit Mycroft?
• What if Sherlock’s texts were actually sent to Mycroft?
• Was one assassin/gunman working for Mycroft?
• Discussion question: What’s with Mycroft and Sherlock’s stuff?
• Why did Mycroft let Jim go? Did he know there wasn’t really a key code?
• Why did Mycroft let Jim go? Because Jim was manipulating everything the entire time.
• Isn’t Mycroft too smart to believe in the key code?
• Did Mycroft really abduct Jim between Scandal and Hounds?
• Could Sherlock and Mycroft simply have wanted to believe the key code was real?
• Is it significant that Sherlock and Mycroft weren’t communicating in Reichenbach even though they’d talked to each other in the past two episodes?
• Was Sherlock expecting his “fan” to make a move in The Great Game? Had Mycroft given him information about Jim?
• Why would Mycroft sell Sherlock out to Jim so easily?
• Could Mycroft have abducted Jim after the tower/bank/prison heist?
• Was Mycroft in on Sherlock’s fake death?

Holmes, Sherlock
(See also: basically everything on this page, so I’m not going to link it all here; Out of character moment)

• Could Sherlock do that? The theory at the heart of all theories
• Why did Sherlock have to let everyone believe he was a fraud?
• Why did Sherlock jump back when Jim pulled a gun?
• Why weren’t Sherlock’s birth and death dates on his gravestone?
• Did Sherlock ever go to see a man about a dog?
• Why did Sherlock hold the gun he stole from the police officer in his left hand?
• Why would people believe Sherlock is a fraud?
• In the graveyard, was Sherlock standing where John couldn’t see him?
• What was going on with Sherlock’s hands on the roof? Was he holding the rubber ball, or a camera to record Jim’s confession?
• Was Sherlock expecting his “fan” to make a move in The Great Game? Had Mycroft given him information about Jim?
• Who arranged for the call to John about Mrs. Hudson having been shot? Sherlock or Jim?
• If Jim killed Carl Powers and that was Sherlock’s first case, why wasn’t Sherlock more prepared to face Jim?
• Was “liberty in death” a clue? Did Sherlock want to die?
• Is the “Sherlock as fraud” idea based on the original stories? And how will Sherlock clear his name when he returns?
• Where did Sherlock go after the fall?
• Did Molly figure out Sherlock was going to die before he did?

Homeless Network

• The BMX Bandit
• The person on the third bench
• Where did the blood come from?
• The Chief John Wrangler
• My Reichenbach A to Z: all the steps in Sherlock’s fake death put together
• Fake!Doctor’s job
• Was the BMX Bandit Raz from The Blind Banker?
• Was the BMX Bandit Mycroft?
• Would Sherlock have trusted the Homeless Network to get something in place to break his fall that quickly?
• Do too many people know Sherlock’s still alive?

Hooper, Molly

• What was Molly’s role?
• My Reichenbach A to Z: all the steps in Sherlock’s fake death put together
• Why did Sherlock need Molly? Wouldn’t Molly have told John?
• How could Molly have managed a complete cover-up? Wouldn’t someone have had to identify the body?
• Why didn’t Sherlock mention Molly when Jim says his friends will die?
• Did Molly help by doing an autopsy?
• Did Molly figure out Sherlock was going to die before he did?

Hospital
(See: St. Bart’s)

Hudson, Mrs.

• Did Sherlock arrange for the call about Mrs. Hudson to get John out of the way?
• Did someone grab Mrs. Hudson at the cemetery?
• Was Mrs. Hudson looking/walking towards Sherlock at the cemetery?
• Was the German name Mrs. Hudson referred to “Grimm”?
• Was the German name Mrs. Hudson referred to actually Czech?
• Was the German name Mrs. Hudson referred to actually “Hans Christian Andersen”?
• How did Mrs. Hudson even get the German name from the deliveryman?
• Did Jim’s gunman deliver the cookie to Mrs. Hudson and give a German name as a clue?
• Does Mrs. Hudson know Sherlock’s alive?
• What’s “the Mrs. Hudson clue”?
• Who arranged for the call to John about Mrs. Hudson having been shot? Sherlock or Jim?

Hyperventilation
(See: Out of character moment)

I.O.U.
(See also: Moriarty, Jim)

• Could you explain why the “I.O.U.” thing was repeated throughout the episode?
• The kidnapper/gunman was there just before “I.O.U.” appeared on the windows
• The “I.O.U.” messages and the rule of three
• Behind-the-scenes photos of the winged I.O.U. (Baker Street)

Juror

• Was the cabbie from A Study in Pink’s ex-wife on the jury during Jim’s trial?

Key code

• Who is Henry Fishguard?
• Did Sherlock use his phone or the wireless camera to record Jim’s confession?
• There is no “there is no key”
• Why didn’t Sherlock mention Jim had touched the tea cup?
• Any chance there really is a key code after all?
• Why didn’t Sherlock mention the knife Jim left behind?
• Does Jim’s tapping even match the song?
• Why did Mycroft let Jim go? Did he know there wasn’t really a key code?
• Isn’t Mycroft too smart to believe in the key code?
• Could Sherlock and Mycroft simply have wanted to believe the key code was real?
• How could the key code be something Jim would “want back”?
• More on wanting the code back
• But didn’t the audience already know the key code was only in Sherlock’s head when he sent the text to Jim about wanting it back?

Kidnapping

• What did the gingerbread man mean?
• Did the girl scream at Sherlock because the kidnapper wore a Sherlock mask or had plastic surgery to look like him?
• Why choose mercury poisoning?
• Loose Threads: the gunmen were the kidnappers, and why that made the girl scream at Sherlock
• How much did the scream matter to Jim’s plan?
• The kidnapper/gunman was there just before “I.O.U.” appeared on the windows
• John and the kidnapper are different heights, I acknowledge this
• Did the girl scream because the kidnapper wore a deerstalker?
• If there were two kidnappers, why was there only one set of footprints? Also, is it possible the girl screamed at someone outside the room?
• The kidnapper/gunman was there when they found the kids at the sweet factory
• The kids didn’t have to be traumatized, but you can bet they were
• Why would the kids eat mercury if it tastes bad?
• What if the kidnappers forced the girl to scream at Sherlock?
• If the kidnapper/gunman works at Scotland Yard, what if the kids had seen him after they were rescued?
• Why would the kidnapper/gunman risk showing up when the kids were rescued?
• If one of the kidnappers/gunmen looks like John, why doesn’t everyone suspect him as well?
• The kidnapper/gunman was at the school, talking to Sally
• Did the kids even see the kidnappers?
• Did Jim use his children’s TV show to scare the kidnapping victims?
• What did the picture of a flower have to do with the kidnapping?
• The footprints don’t match…
• …but not because they were from a different part of the trail.
• The kidnapper/gunman may have used the girl’s chalk and set up the footprint trail just before Sherlock arrived at the crime scene
• The second kidnapper/gunman may have been shown at the sweet factory with the kids
• What’s the black plastic thing on the kidnapped boy’s bedside table?
• Could the kidnappers have chosen mercury poisoning because it would make the children emotionally unstable?
• Isn’t it too convenient that the kidnapped boy did something right out of Hansel and Gretel? Did the kidnapper leave the linseed oil footprints instead?
• Did the kidnapper’s footprints contain all that information about the sweet factory because he’d been there before the kidnapping?
• Wouldn’t it be simpler to assume the kidnapper got Claudette to scream by threatening her parents?
• Was Sherlock’s mention of police taking bribes a clue?
• Choose your own conspiracy: the black plastic thing on Max Bruhl’s bedside table
• The thing on Max’s bedside table is probably a spy toy

Lorry
(See: Truck)

Magic Tricks

• Sherlock’s fake death was a series of magic tricks
• The guiding principle of sleight-of-hand
• And speaking of sleight-of-hand
• My Reichenbach A to Z: all the steps in Sherlock’s fake death put together
• How did Sherlock ameliorate the negative effects of the impact force?
• Sherlock’s misdirections and John
• What if there was a mirror in the truck bed?
• The “magic trick” clue as a way to view all the other clues

Meta (theories on theories? I don’t even know anymore)

• How long are they going to take to explain all of this in Series 3?

Moran, Sebastian
(See also: Gunmen)

• Could Sebastian Moran have been the sniper?
• Could Sebastian from The Blind Banker be Sebastian Moran?

Moriarty, Jim
(See also: Confession; I.O.U.)

• You’re forgetting something important (Part 1)
• My Reichenbach A to Z: all the steps in Sherlock’s fake death put together
• Why didn’t Jim realize Sherlock had figured out his plan?
• You’re forgetting something important (Part 2)
• Who is Henry Fishguard?
• Could the plan have worked if Jim hadn’t committed suicide?
• If he hadn’t died, wouldn’t Jim have seen Sherlock break his fall?
• Why did Sherlock jump back when Jim pulled a gun?
• Was it out of character for Sherlock to skip inspecting Jim’s body?
• Wasn’t Jim’s plan to frame Sherlock too far-fetched?
• Why didn’t Sherlock mention Jim had touched the tea cup?
• Why didn’t Sherlock mention the knife Jim left behind?
• Why did Jim keep chewing gum?
• How long has Jim been Sherlock’s arch enemy?
• Why did Mycroft let Jim go? Did he know there wasn’t really a key code?
• Could the sniper have shot Jim?
• Did Jim really think he could get Sherlock to kill himself? And was he acting or genuinely surprised when Sherlock and John showed up at Kitty’s flat?
• The Theory of the Final Problem: the “final problem” was the end of the same game they were playing in Series 1—Jim never stopped playing, not even for a minute
• Jim was playing the same, uninterrupted game with Sherlock for 16 months
• Is Jim really dead?
• Does the fact that Sherlock didn’t die mean Jim is still alive?
• Why is Jim so sexy?
• Did Jim use his children’s TV show to scare the kidnapping victims?
• Did Mycroft really abduct Jim between Scandal and Hounds?
• What was going on with Jim’s eyes on the roof?
• Shouldn’t Sherlock have realized Jim could turn the gun on him?
• What happened to Jim’s body?
• Was Sherlock expecting his “fan” to make a move in The Great Game? Had Mycroft given him information about Jim?
• Why did Jim thank Sherlock before killing himself?
• Did Jim have the gun in Reichenbach because he always intended to kill himself?
• Why would Mycroft sell Sherlock out to Jim so easily?
• Could Mycroft have abducted Jim after the tower/bank/prison heist?
• What was the point of the video Jim left on John’s blog?
• Who arranged for the call to John about Mrs. Hudson having been shot? Sherlock or Jim?
• By letting John go when he got the phone call about Mrs. Hudson, didn’t Sherlock risk John being hurt by Jim? Or arrested?
• Do the lyrics to “Stayin’ Alive” give us insight into Jim’s motives?
• If Jim killed Carl Powers and that was Sherlock’s first case, why wasn’t Sherlock more prepared to face Jim?
• Was it confirmed that Jim killed Carl Powers? Was he a classmate of Carl’s?
• The best explanation for why Jim kept chewing gum
• Did Kitty Riley think Richard Brook was real, or was she in on the whole thing?
• What the blood and timing tell us about whether Jim’s really dead
• What did Jim mean when he said “I did tell you. But did you listen?”
• Did Sherlock say he was a fraud to “un-advertise” Jim?
• Where is Jim from? What kind of accent does he have?

Out-of-character moment
(See also: Tears)

• Sherlock’s out of character moment was when he hyperventilated
• Sherlock’s fake death was a series of magic tricks (Re: hyperventilation as OOC theory)
• It wasn’t the phone call
• No, really, it wasn’t the phone call
• What if Sherlock’s actually a fraud?
• Was it Sherlock not caring about Mrs. Hudson being shot?
• My Reichenbach A to Z: all the steps in Sherlock’s fake death put together (Re: hyperventilation as OOC theory)
• Why did Sherlock jump back when Jim pulled a gun?
• Seriously, I’m not even kidding, it wasn’t the phone call
• Was it out of character for Sherlock to skip inspecting Jim’s body?
• If the OOC thing was hyperventilation, wasn’t it too early?
• Why did Sherlock ask for Anderson to be called in?
• How is panicking out of character for Sherlock?
• Was it that Sherlock didn’t wear gloves at a crime scene?
• Something important to remember about the “out of character” comment
• The timing of Sherlock’s hyperventilation, worked backwards
• If you don’t like the idea of hyperventilation, you still need to come up with another way to explain how Sherlock stopped breathing
• Sherlock says people leave a note when they commit suicide, but since when does he do anything normal?
• Was it out of character for Sherlock to know the Hansel and Gretel story?
• Was it out of character for Sherlock to say he doesn’t like riddles?

Phone box
(See also: Body swap)

• Me flipping out about the phone box because that’s how I am
• Was there a man in the phone box? (Part 1)
• Was there a man in the phone box? (Part 2)
• My Reichenbach A to Z: all the steps in Sherlock’s fake death put together
• What was the ringing sound when John was knocked over?
• The phone box ring doesn’t sound like the ringing we heard when John was knocked over
• Maybe the phone box was what Gatiss meant about hiding in plain sight?

Pills from A Study in Pink

• How did the cabbie win every time?
• Did the cabbie persuade people to pick the bad pill?
• What if it was a trick? Both pills were good for the cabbie, and bad for anyone else?
• Did Sherlock take the good pill or the bad pill?

Powers, Carl

• How long has Jim been Sherlock’s arch enemy?
• What was the point of the video Jim left on John’s blog?
• If Jim killed Carl Powers and that was Sherlock’s first case, why wasn’t Sherlock more prepared to face Jim?
• Was it confirmed that Jim killed Carl Powers? Was he a classmate of Carl’s?

Rhododendron ponticum

• What do you think of the Rhododendron ponticum theory that’s going around?
• Fake!Doctor’s job, and why it suggests theories about Sherlock being drugged are incorrect
• Poll on why Sherlock cried
• What did the picture of a flower have to do with the kidnapping?

Riley, Kitty

• Did Kitty Riley think Richard Brook was real, or was she in on the whole thing?

Rubber ball (aka squash ball or bouncy ball)

• Rubber ball pulse stop
• Sherlock’s fake death was a series of magic tricks
• My Reichenbach A to Z: all the steps in Sherlock’s fake death put together
• Fake!Doctor’s job
• How Sherlock used the rubber ball to stop his pulse and fool John
• What was going on with Sherlock’s hands on the roof? Was he holding the rubber ball, or a camera to record Jim’s confession?
• There weren’t any rubber bands involved
• Has anyone checked to see if the rubber ball fell on the ground when they moved Sherlock’s body?
• Was Sherlock stopping his pulse on the rooftop?
• Did Sherlock drop the rubber ball to signal where he would land?

Sniper
(See: Gunmen)

St. Bart’s
(See also: Phone box)

• Jambulances are not real
• The big rectangle on the ground
• My Reichenbach A to Z: all the steps in Sherlock’s fake death put together
• Reichenstalker: a crime scene tour
• Most of the roof scenes were not filmed on the building Sherlock fell from
• How much nothing can you find? Looking for anything we missed at the scene
• After the fall, did they wheel the body into an alley?
• We think St. Bart’s has some sort of courtyard area… probably?
• Why are there are cars parked in the “Ambulances Only” zone?
• What’s that big rectangle on the sidewalk? Would the thing that broke Sherlock’s fall have been there?
• Is there any significance to the “Refit for Historical Hospital” newspaper headline seen in Scandal?
• Could Sherlock have jumped off a different side of the building?
• How could Sherlock have known where the sniper would be positioned in order to block his view of the fall?

Tears

• Did Sherlock cry to distract John?
• Poll on why Sherlock cried
• Sherlock may have cried so he could keep his eyes open later

Timeline

• The night-to-day transition before the fall
• When was John’s therapy session relative to Sherlock’s “death”?
• What’s the date of Sherlock’s death?

theimprobableone

• Ruling out some suspects
• Anderson’s not a bad candidate, as long as you don’t mind how creepy that makes him
• It’s probably not the queen, at any rate

Truck
(See also: Fall)

• The Pink Suitcase Theory
• Sherlock Fandom Physics Jam
• Could the truck have pulled onto the sidewalk?
• My Reichenbach A to Z: all the steps in Sherlock’s fake death put together
• Those are bin bags, actually
• Physics isn’t the only reason that the idea Sherlock jumped into the truck doesn’t work
• Is there a clue in the shot we see from the sniper’s viewpoint after the fall?
• What if there was a mirror in the truck bed?
• The truck was definitely not supposed to be parked there

Watson, John

• Did Sherlock arrange for the call about Mrs. Hudson to get John out of the way?
• My Reichenbach A to Z: all the steps in Sherlock’s fake death put together
• Why was Sherlock focusing so much on tricking John instead of the sniper?
• Why was it so important for John to think Sherlock had died?
• Sherlock’s misdirections and John
• Does John suspect Sherlock’s alive?
• What was the ringing sound when John was knocked over?
• Would the sniper have been someone close to John?
• What’s with the earpiece John was wearing during the fall?
• Could Sherlock have told John he was a fraud so John would move on with his life?
• What was the point of the video Jim left on John’s blog?
• Who arranged for the call to John about Mrs. Hudson having been shot? Sherlock or Jim?
• By letting John go when he got the phone call about Mrs. Hudson, didn’t Sherlock risk John being hurt by Jim? Or arrested?
• But if John could start to catch on that Sherlock’s alive, and the sniper looks kind of like Sherlock… crap.
• Does John’s reaction to Irene’s fake death in Scandal tell us how he’ll react when he finds out Sherlock’s alive?
• When was John’s therapy session relative to Sherlock’s “death”?
• Did Sherlock mention magic tricks to give John a clue?
• Did Sherlock say he was a fraud so John wouldn’t become suicidal?
• “Bachelor.” What they hell are they implying?
• How could Sherlock switch places with someone on the trolley if there was a risk John would’ve followed him into the hospital?

Weather

• Was the weather a clue?

Woman in Green, The

• Should we be considering The Woman in Green?

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Additional Stuff that Might Be Useful

List of the official in-universe Sherlock websites

Reichenbach reading list
Links to some of the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories that may have inspired aspects of The Reichenbach Fall

Reichenbach A to Z master list
Links to other people’s complete theories of how Sherlock faked his death—new submissions always welcome 

Screencaps from Sherlock
A huge collection posted by a fan

Sherlock theory blog links

Statements from Mofftiss

• No one has spotted the biggie
• The infamous “out of character” comment
• You’re forgetting something important (Part 1)
• You’re forgetting something important (Part 2)
• No one’s gotten it, some people are on the right track, and there were no fish involved
• Moffat discusses the likelihood of Jim’s return in Series 3