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Sherlock Holmes was an extremely profitable character for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. His character is still prevalent today in literature and pop culture.

Popularity

Doyle was Scottish. He wasn’t an aristocrat. Much like the character James Watson, he has been trained as a doctor and had served in the military and the wars in South Africa. Despite this, he always had a talent for writing. His stories were popular from an early age. He became particularly popular once he started writing Sherlock Holmes, but would soon grow tired of writing those books.

He began to charge more for his Sherlock Holmes books. He put a price on his books that he thought no publisher was going to pay. He was wrong, and he became extremely wealthy as a result of this.

He dabbled in spiritualism and the idea of life beyond death. When he met Houdini he was convinced that he had mystical powers, even though Houdini told him that anybody could do this if they understand how the illusion works. Doyle persisted in his belief that it was magic.

White Company

The White Company was inspired by a lecture he attended on medieval history. He then wanted to write a historical fiction. English history captivated him, and he wanted to share that history with his readers.

He wanted to share this idea of chivalry that was gaining a lot of popularity during the expansion of the British Empire. We wanted to depict British as more than just money-grubbing imperialists. He was depicting a peril about innocence coming out into the world.

The main character is Alleyne he has been raised in a monastery. He hasn’t taken his vows yet and he read a lot. At that time, this made him exceptional.

He came from a noble born family. And at the age of like 16 or 18, the monk pulls him aside and says it’s time for you to go and see the world. He goes out into the world and he is astounded by his first encounter with thieves and charlatans. This brings him into a period of disillusionment.

He encounters a solider in a free company of archers, who introduces him to this lord. And the lord is this chivalric leader, who is humble and brave. This launches a series of adventures, battles and duels and taking and defending castles. He's still discovering as he goes to the army how awful some people are, but also discovering how good some people. This is his moment of self-discovery, attempting to place himself within the scope of the big world.

Connection

The longbow was such an important part of English society. The long-bowman was a symbol that the English commoner could take the field against all these knights on their horses and win battles. The long-bowmen he first meets is a flirt, a free-spirit, and a gambler. His undesirable traits don't undercut his loyalty and becoming one of the most admirable characters in the entire novel.

I think this is what readers connect with. 19th century London is depicted through all sorts of unsavory people. There is gambling, prostitution, violence, crime, and all these ugly things surrounding them. But within this is this nobility, the ideals beneath, that you can be a bit rough around the edges but you can still be a good person.

The kind of English sense of propriety comes from Victorian sensibility. And I think what Doyle is doing in this novel is in some sense going deeper back. If the English think that propriety is important, why is it important? And it’s not just because this marks us as upper class. Underneath this propriety is a more important quality. Doyle is zeroing in on this idea of nobility which supersedes birth or blood. Rather, it’s in how we treat other people.

Noble Adventure

The White Company identified a value that the people wanted to believe about themselves. It was chivalry: the honor in ugly situations such as war. The end of the novel brings a moral of the story like in Aesop’s Fable. The moral is to remember the virtues of this past age of what we’ve learned but forget the vices.

By looking at this time in history there were some really important key virtues: chivalry, respect for others, and honor.

The cruelty and mindless corruption within religion or government should be left in the past. The real message doesn’t detract at all from what an entertaining read the book is. Those who enjoy the Game of Thrones universe would also enjoy The White Company. Those who enjoy the quest stories like The Lord of the Rings trilogy are going to tap into the adventure and the admirable character traits of The White Company.