INTRODUCTION

Cupid and Lions are related in the concept of Omnia Vincit Amor, “Love Conquers All”, which sees love as a force capable of taming the strongest of creatures, hence a lion.

There might be some intended references to this concept on Sherlock.









CUPID IN THE SHOW

Let’s start by saying that Cupid already made some appearances in the show:

Under the title in the Unaired Pilot;

As the namesake of “The Blind Banker”, inspired by Doyle’s poem “The Blind Archer”.

In “The Blind Banker” in the background at Piccadilly Circus and possibly reduced to wings in some minor easter eggs.

Possibly inside Appledoor (see this meta by @skulls-and-tea).

The God of Love is a visual metaphor for love and in this show it’s aimed to represents the love between Sherlock and John.





THE GOD OF LOVE IN ICONOGRAPHY

Cupid, the god of love, is often represented along with lions. Sometimes, he’s riding a chariot. Sometimes the lions come in pairs, sometimes it’s only one.









OMNIA VINCIT AMOR (LOVE CONQUERS ALL)

During the Reinassance the concept of “Love conquers all”, a line originally from Virgil’s, is linked to the image of Cupid taming a lion, as even the wildest of creatures can be tamed by Love.



This concept might have been referenced in more than one way in the show.





YELLOW DECORATIONS IN 221B’S FRONT DOOR

In The Abominable Bride, 221B’s front door has several items pictured.

The yellow decoration has been more or less agreed upon as two lions’ heads looking a bit like angel wings, especially from the inside of the door.

We have had confirmation of this thanks to behind the scenes pictures of the front, in which the lions’ heads aren’t blurry,

One of the defining features of Cupid are his angel wings.

Taking this into consideration, this decorations could be meant in reference to Cupid as well as lions and as a whole it might be reference to the Omnia Vincit Amor concept.





HIC SUNT LEONES

I then checked if I could spot any lions in “The Blind Banker”, the episode named after Doyle’s poem “The Blind Archer”, another name for the God of Love, and I found some.



The most significant of all is the lion under the blind banker, which parallels the lion under Cupid, the blind archer, in the Omnia Vincit Amor concept.









CORPORAL LYONS’ INSIGNIAS OF LOVE

Thanks to his name, Corporal Lyons has been one of the targets of my analysis and something showed up as well.







FLYING AGENTS ON LIONS

In The Six Thatchers, “AMO” (’I love’ in Latin) is used as a codeword just before AGRA enters in this attack.

The flying agents visually riding lions can be interpreted as a visual representation of Cupids (who are flying creatures) riding lions, ergo stand in for the Omnia Vincit Amor concept.

Later AMO is explicitly correlated to Latin, the same language of Omnia Vincit Amor:

MYCROFT: My Latin?

SHERLOCK: Amo, amas, amat.

MYCROFT: I love, you love, he loves.









OMNIA VINCIT AMOR IN PICCADILLY CIRCUS

A poster with a lion appears in Piccadilly Circus (the square with the famous fountain with a cupid).



Then the statue of the cupid is visible itself.

Then a code appearse on-screen as the name of a satellite: OVLUV01

O = Omnia = All



V = Vincit = Conquers



Luv = Amor = Love



There some other lions during the same narrative sequence in Trafalgar Square.





ARWEL’S TWEET: AN UNTAMED BEAST AND A LION

During setlock, even if not specifically tagged as such, Arwel made a tweet which might have been in reference to this very concept, by mentioning an untamed beast and a lion.

One is a wild untamed beast & the other’s a lion! 😂 😂

These lions have made an appearance in the series 4 trailer too.









BEN’S “LOVE CONQUERS ALL”

At San Diego Comicon 2016 (one year after I first wrote this meta), Benedict Cumberbatch directly said “Love conquers all.”









FIRE AND LIONS

In a sketch for San Diego Comicon 2016, Gatiss and Moffat mentioned “fire” and “lions” one after another (and they didn’t even make complete sense in that context).



Considering that UMQRA might mean torch, a symbol related to the God of Marriage, in this dialogue:

“Fire” might stand for the God of Marriage;



“Lions” might stands for the God of Love.

Here they are pictured together with their respective symbol.









LOVE CONQUERS ALL FOR SHERLOCK AND JOHN

The concept of Omnia Vincit Amor can apply to Sherlock and John as a romantic couple facing a variety of obstacles:



The criminals that try to kill them;



Their own repressed feelings;

The heteronormative society (homophobic in the extreme in Victorian settings) they live in.





THE LION IN LOVE

Another association between the God of Love and lions comes from “The Lion In Love”, a greek fable credited to Aesop.

In this story, a lion falls in love with a maiden and asks the father’s permission to marry her. As he’s not in the position to deny her hand, he agrees at the condition that the animal should first have its claws clipped and its teeth removed.

The lion accepts the condition, but, once he has no claws and no teeth, the man clubs it to death, as the lion is now harmless.

This fable has been attributed various meanings, such as:

Not to trust enemies;



Not to be led astray by love.





THE MARY SITUATION

On some aspects the Mary situation involves a defeat brought upon by trusting an enemy and being led astray by love, a theme shared with the “The Lion In Love” fable.

Sherlock and John are blindly manoeuvred by Mary. Sherlock in particular fails to recognise her as an enemy out of love for John.

As Hieronymus Osius puts it in his New-latin poem Leo procus, which reprises the aforementioned fable:

Callidus interdum praestantem decipit astu,

Et domitis illum viribus esse facit.

Which is translated:

By love the cleverest, sometimes,

are led astray, the strongest tamed.

Applying these lines to the show, Sherlock, the cleverest, is led astray, John, the strongest, is tamed.





LOVE IS A DANGEROUS DISADVANTAGE

The moral of the fable gets also adopted by Sherlock as a belief.

SHERLOCK: Sentiment is a chemical defect found in the losing side.



SHERLOCK: This is your heart and you should never let it rule your head.



SHERLOCK: I’ve always assumed that love is a dangerous disadvantage, thank you for the final proof.

JOHN: Sherlock, she loves you.

SHERLOCK: Yes. Like I said – human error



REFERENCES



Ariane DeVere’s Sherlock Transcripts