| Role/Occupation Detective |
| Total Entries 190 |
| Representative Sherlock Holmes |
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A staple of “Mystery Fiction” and “Detective Fiction”, the Great Detective relies on powers of deduction and educated thought to solve crimes. The Great Detective is usually an “Amateur Sleuth” or a “Private Detective” (because “Police Are Useless”). Some of these detectives will have an “Arch-Enemy” that will be their equal, but in a different light. The Great Detective tradition originates with Eugène François Vidocq, a “Real Life” criminal-turned-detective and founder of the French Sûreté in the early 19th century. Vidocq pioneered many of the scientific methods of detective work which would later become common in fictional detective stories. The first Great Detective in fiction was Edgar Allan Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin. Poe rejected the Vidocq model in favor of a more fantastic kind of detective. Later, the Dupin model was further codified by Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, the most famous example to this day. As such, the Sherlock Homage tends to be this in either pastiche or parody form, and many (though certainly not all) Great Detectives tend to at least nod to Holmes in some form. In Japan, where “The Golden Age Of Detective Fiction” never quite ended, this type of character is called “Meitantei”… ~ Great Detective – TV Tropes
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