The character was created as a foil by author Arthur Conan Doyle in December 1893 for Sherlock. He planned to kill off the detective and end the short stories. The professor is actually a ruthless leader of a criminal enterprise who provides felons with special services for a fee, including protection from the law. Doyle had based Moriarty on a real-life criminal mastermind named Adam Worth. In the original canon, the character has only appeared twice. But in film and TV adaptations, the character has much bigger prominence as Sherlock’s arch nemesis.
