Henry Blackwood

Lor​d Henry Blackwood is the main antagonist in the 2009 film, Sherlock Holmes.
Blackwood is a cultist and performs several human sacrifices before being brought to justice. He wishes to see Sherlock Holmes in prison where he warns the famous detective of three more deaths that will change the nation. He is then hanged and pronounced dead by Dr John Watson. The following night he supposedly bursts out of his tomb and runs across the cemetery, leaving the night guard catatonic. In the following week, three important figures are murdered as Holmes struggles to make sense of it all, and Blackwood takes control of the Temple of the Four Orders, a secret society with powerful members in the British government.
Holmes eventually discovers that Blackwood plans to kill the members of Parliament with a poisonous gas machine and take over the government. Part of the machine was taken by Professor Moriarty while Holmes is distracted chasing Blackwood and Irene Adler to the unfinished Tower Bridge. Holmes and Blackwood then have an intense sword fight atop the bridge until Holmes pushes Lord Blackwood off the bridge onto a mess of chains and ropes where he deduces the methods of the science behind Blackwood's trickery. Blackwood became entangled amongst the chains and falls catching his neck on a chain, hanging and killing himself.
== Personality ==
Blackwood was arrogant, egotistical, and callous. He was insidiously reclusive and had a tendency to brag that he was cleverer than Sherlock Holmes. He was very intelligent and had a talent for science and illusionment, specialising in physics and biology. He was treacherous and his callousness is evident when he self-righteously murdered John Standish to complete the pattern of his plan and to gain the trust of his fellow conspirators at the Temple.
Ironically, his last words were 'It's a long journey from here to the rope!', but only seconds later he ended up falling from the construction site of the Tower Bridge during his climatic face-off with Sherlock Holmes, a chain curled around his neck and severed his spine, choking him to instant decapitation.
He was an adept swordsman and a skilled marksman, capable of holding his own against Sherlock Holmes for a considerable amount of time.
== Trivia ==
* Blackwood's occult obsession may be a reference to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's own Spiritualist interests. The way his "magic" is revealed to be nothing more than trickery and elaborate science mirrors the conclusion of The Hound of the Baskervilles. 
* According to the newspaper in the beginning of the film, most of Blackwood's female victims were from Whitechapel and Spitalfields, likely a reference to Jack the Ripper's canonical five victims. The newspaper also indicates that Blackwood made his fortune from steelworks in the London area.
de:Henry Blackwood
es:Henry Blackwood
Category:British characters
Category:Characters: Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Category:Murderers
Category:Nobility
Category:Villains