Really Smart Heroes — Brains Over Brawn Is Better.

There’s an interesting discussion going on over at All About Romance, based on their latest post, “The Beautiful Minds of Heroes”, floating the theory that a really smart hero is better, any day, than a brawny one.

My eye was caught by the discussion because Jean, the author, started out rhapsodizing about Sherlock Holmes, which is always going to get my attention. As a card-carrying committee member of the Sherlock Holmes Society, and author of two Sherlock Holmes books, both of which deal with Holmes’ romantic life, I’m a sucker for anything Sherlockian.

I guess it’s fair to say I’m also a sucker for an intelligent hero, too. I’ve noticed in movies and in real life that an average-looking, or even good looking…hell, even a plain-looking man can put on a pair of glasses, and my attention is caught. While I adore Navy SEALs, and heroes who dash to the rescue of damsels in distress, if I see signs of an intellect at work, I tend to melt into a gooey puddle of helpless ooze.

Combine them — a fighting man with a brain, or a genius with muscle, and that’s it. I’m a goner.

Which is what first caught my attention with Sherlock Holmes. In “The Adventure Of The Speckled Band” which was only the eighth story to be published in The Strand (out of a total of fifty-six short stories), there’s a section where Holmes is threatened by a man who bends a poker to prove how formidable he is.

“Which of you is Holmes?” asked this apparition.
“My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me,” said my companion quietly.
“I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran.”
“Indeed, Doctor,” said Holmes blandly. “Pray take a seat.”
“I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I have traced her. What has she been saying to you?”
“It is a little cold for the time of the year,” said Holmes.
“What has she been saying to you?” screamed the old man furiously.
“But I have heard that the crocuses promise well,” continued my companion imperturbably.
“Ha! You put me off, do you?” said our new visitor, taking a step forward and shaking his hunting-crop. “I know you, you
scoundrel! I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler.”
My friend smiled.
“Holmes, the busybody!”
His smile broadened.
“Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!”
Holmes chuckled heartily. “Your conversation is most entertaining,” said he. “When you go out close the door, for there is a decided draught.”
“I will go when I have said my say. Don’t you dare to meddle with my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here.” He stepped swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with his huge brown hands.
“See that you keep yourself out of my grip,” he snarled, and hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the room.
“He seems a very amiable person,” said Holmes, laughing. “I am not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him that my grip was not much more feeble than his own.” As he spoke he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, straightened it out again.

I think I was caught hook, line and sinker from then on. Holmes had brawn as well as brains?

Here’s the full text of “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”, if you’re curious. Conan Doyle rated it as his own personal favourite, out of all the short stories, too.

There’s been other intellectual heroes lately that have also been hooking my interest. If you like a man who can think for himself, and you haven’t made their acquaintenance yet, you might want to get to know:

Hugh Laurie as House — a fictional, modernized Sherlock Holmes, in a medical setting. Intellect gone wild. He even lives in 21B Baker Street, and his best friend is Wilson. And you can’t ignore the last name coincidence.

Antonia Banderas as the 13th warrior in The 13th Warrior, a poet and scholar (the 5th century’s version of a thinking man), who ends up fighting for his life and thinking his way out of trouble.

Daniel Craig as the newest James Bond. Don’t scoff. Consider that most James Bonds until now have had an arsenal of weaponry at their disposal, and come out at the end of the movie looking as clean and well pressed in their tuxedos as they did when they did when the opening credits rolled. Craig’s version gets his gun and his brains, and has to out think villians just as nasty as any of his predecessors have had to face, and ends up looking like he hurts at the end of the movie. And so far, two movies in, he’s also proved he has a heart, too.

Blast from the past:

Jimmy Smits: He’s played a president, and a lawyer from two of the top rated shows of the last two decades, and some of the sexiest movies on the big screen. Brawn and brains. He always comes across as a thinker, no matter what role he’s in. Really hard to resist.

Who’s your favourite brainy hero? I’m sure there’s more. I don’t watch a lot of television, so there’s all of teeveeland I haven’t covered, and I’d love to meet some more.

[This article first appeared as a post on this site in June 2009]