Sherlock Holmes made his debut in 1887 in A Study in Scarlet, but he became widely popular after the first batch of stories was published in The Strand Magazine, beginning in 1891 with “A Scandal in Bohemia”. The Great Detective has become one of the most popular literary characters ever, and as such, he and his cases have been adapted to all types of media for years.
Sherlock Holmes described himself as a “consulting detective” and is known for his exceptional observation and deduction abilities, along with his knowledge in forensic science, chemistry, and more (though, ironically, he lacks knowledge of some common topics). As such, Sherlock Holmes isn’t exactly the easiest person to deal with, and some adaptations have made him borderline antisocial while in the books he’s more open, but if there’s someone he can always count on and who has been by his side through thick and thin is Dr. John Watson. The detective and the doctor met when they were introduced through a friend of Watson as Holmes was looking for a flatmate, and so the two shared a flat and eventually became best friends.
John Watson accompanied Holmes on many adventures to solve a variety of cases, serving not only as his friend but also as his biographer and the perfect complement to the emotionally detached detective, as Watson is the opposite of his famous friend. Now, given the many adaptations of Holmes and Watson for decades, there’s the belief that Watson’s intelligence is immensely inferior to that of Holmes and he only serves as comedy relief (and in some cases, he has been given more of a buffoon role), but in reality, Watson is actually a very intelligent man, but in a different way than The Great Detective.
John Watson has a medical degree from the University of London and served as an assistant surgeon in the British Army. His knowledge and experience as a doctor come in handy various times while working with Holmes, and he’s far from the dumbed-down versions seen in many movies, and what has made way for the misconception that Watson’s intelligence is immensely inferior to that of Holmes is that he lacks the deduction and observation skills that made his friend so famous. However, Watson tried to use Holmes’ methods to help him solve cases and succeeded on some occasions, and what held him back from achieving success in deducing accurately every time was that he doesn’t have Holmes’ unbelievable ability to focus on essential details as well as his wide range of specialized knowledge.
Another misconception around Watson’s intelligence compared to Holmes’ is that The Great Detective considers Watson as being inferior, when in reality, Holmes considered him an excellent doctor and surgeon, to the point where, on one occasion where he had to come up with an elaborate plan to pretend he was deathly ill, he had to keep Watson far as he knew he was going to notice it was all a lie. John Watson definitely wasn’t the comedic, dumb sidekick of Sherlock Holmes that many movies, TV shows, and more have shown, and he was actually a very intelligent man, especially within his field of knowledge, but he didn’t have the same insight and skills as his detective friend.