Eh Tar

"Holmes, remember what I always told you: control your emotions or they will be your downfall".

~ Professor Rathe a.k.a Ehtar

Ehtar, aka, Professor Rathe is a fencing coach, fellow senior member of the board at Brompton boarding school in London, and the primary antagonist in the 1985 TV film Young Sherlock Holmes. He is a mentor and friend-turned-enemy of the young Holmes. He is the leader of the Rame Tep, an ancient Egyptian society worshipping Anubis and perform violent and sadistic rituals. They were behind a series of kidnappings and murders of six men and four women. The women were made sacrifices to the god of the dead; they were mummified alive and were poured boiling oil over them. His ring has the power to hypnotize those who stare at it long enough as well as blind someone. He is portrayed by Anthony Higgins

Many years ago, the six men Ehtar killed discovered an Egyptian tomb of five princesses and their findings angered a local nearby village. Egypt was still colonized by the British and several troops began a massacre in the village. It was burned to the ground and the British left no survivors. The six men returned to Great Britain only to find their lives threatened again. They received a letter from Ehtar in his youth vowing that when the time comes and he is an adult, the Rame Tep would get revenge on them. The men learned that the village was Ehtar's home and his parents were amongst those killed. Ehtar and his sister were living in Britain with their grandfather at the time. He appointed his sister as second in command of the Rame Tep and she was the sole assassin of the murders. Ehtar rounded up many homeless and criminals throughout London and showed them the way of the Rame Tep.

To avoid any suspicion, Ehtar became a teacher at Brompton under the name of Rathe (ehtar spelled backwards). His sister became the school nurse, Mrs. Dribb. Rathe took Holmes under his wing and taught him many things: the use of a sword and how to deal with emotions. When the murders began, one of the men was a former headmaster of Brompton, Rupert Waxflatter, and one of Holmes' closest friends and mentor of other matters. Before Waxflatter's death, Holmes was framed for plagairism and was expelled. He had one last fencing duel with Rathe and he unintentionally injured him. With no help from Scotland Yard, Holmes began solving the murders himself but did not expect one of his closest friends as the culprit. He learned that the men were injected with a thorn that made them hallucinate ghastly images. They would kill themselves to escape the nightmare and it would make the murders look like suicides or freak accidents. Holmes, and a young obnoxious Watson discovered the Rame Tep's temple and barely escaped with their lives.

Rathe was present at the temple when Holmes was spotted there and knew that he was hiding in the school. He found Holmes in Waxflatter's apartment and threatened to arrest him. He was lenient and let him go. Holmes found the last survivor of the murders who told them the origin of Ehtar, leaving Holmes to conclude that Rathe was behind everything. Before Holmes could confront him, Rathe and Mrs. Dribb kidnapped Elizabeth, Waxflatter's niece and Holmes' lover and brought her to the temple, making her the final sacrifice. Holmes and Watson barged in and set the temple on fire. Ehtar escaped and Holmes killed Mrs. Dribb with her own murder weapon. The trio watched the temple burn and began to leave but Ehtar was standing behind him and tried to shoot Holmes. Elizabeth sacrificed herself and took the bullet. Holmes and Ehtar then engaged to a duel to the death. Ehtar had the upper advantage but Holmes anger helped him and he injured Ehtar. They ended up on a frozen pond in the harbor and when Ehtar was about to give the final blow, he fell through the ice to his watery grave. Elizabeth did not survive her injuries and said a final goodbye to Holmes. At the end of the film, Holmes told Watson that Rathe personally begged the board to keep Waxflatter on schools grounds due to the six men frequently met with each other at the school.

In a post-credits scene, a man is seen checking into an inn in the countryside. The hotel clerk asks for his signature and he signs it as Moriarty, The man is none other than Ehtar, having survived the freezing waters. Ehtar now had a new alias: Professor James Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes' archenemy.