Bizenghast while Lalibela, a holy town in northern Ethiopia, inspired Bali Lali's. Another minor character, Dr. Morstan, takes his name from Mary Morstan, Dr. Watson’s wife. "марионетка", the Russian word for marionette, inspired the name of the antagonist Maphohetka. LeGrow comments that the series "is about life, death and fabulous outfits (not in that order)" and notes that there are "a lot of religious themes" present. The town of Bizenghast "represents a world cut off from that sort of constant access [of technology]." The series was initially written to span about fourteen volumes and be divided into three seasons: the first
The Sign of the Four miscommunication led Tonga to kill Bartholomew as well. Mary Morstan is left without the bulk of the Agra treasure, although she will apparently receive the rest of the chaplet. John Watson falls in love with Mary, and it is revealed at the end that he proposed to her and she has accepted. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle described how he was commissioned to write the story over a dinner with Joseph M. Stoddart, managing editor of an American publication "Lippincott's Monthly Magazine", at the Langham Hotel in London on 30 August 1889. Stoddart wanted to produce an English version of "Lippincott’s"