[Azred]

Eons ago I had a bound set of all the original Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Doyle. I don't recall him ever getting into a fistfight but he did use a gun on rare occasions; Watson, however, was always armed with a gun. Holmes could fence (sabre and epee) but that was sport, not for actual combat.

The way that Guy Ritchie and Robert Downey, Jr. are portraying Holmes, though, is how he would have fought had he engaged in that activity. There is evidence that he had some knowledge of fighting arts, though, especially after Richenbach Falls--he recounts traveling in the Orient for a few years before returning to London.

Holmes was a recluse and, despite having a knowledge of etiquette and social graces, could be downright insulting to people in conversation.

Holmes was indeed a drug user--cocaine, I believe, which was widely prescribed by doctors in that time for a variety of symptoms, including both "anxiety" and "depression".