Lord Henry Blackwood

"Death...... is only the beginning."

- Lord Blackwood's most famous line Lord Henry Blackwood was the main antagonist of the 2009 film Sherlock Holmes. He was portrayed by Mark Strong who also played Frank D'Amico and Pinbacker.

Arrest
He was the infamous mass murderer and occultist whom sent to prison after being arrested by police with both Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watts' help at the beginning of the film. During the arrest, he nearly sacrificed a girl in a ritual which thwarted by Holmes and Dr. Watts. Blackwood attempted to give a final resistance when cornered with a long but thin glass spike on Dr. Watts, but is stopped by Holmes whom looking for the said spike. Just then, Lestrade and his men came and critizes Holmes for their recklessness whilst took Blackwood away. Holmes argued that had they chooses to go with him together, the rescue attempt would likely failed and they were hired by client was actually the girl's parents.

Request to Summon Holmes
During his stay in prison, he seemingly cast a spell on one of the warden which caused the man to suffer the painful possession. This of course, caused the uproar in the whole prison due to the prison inmates greatly feared Blackwood and became panic, afraid to suffer the same fate. After the staff took away the possessed warden to infirmary, other warden cautiously asked Blackwood why he did this, and Blackwood replies that he wanted to meet Sherlock Holmes. Unbeknowist by everyone, the ward's pain was the ruse, as he was paid to pretend to be possessed by Blackwood's followers whom still at large.

When Sherlock Holmes came for his cells, he was spoken incantations and praying, with the cell's walls full of occult carvings. Blackwood was undaunted by the fact that he would be executed via hanging for his crimes, and scare him by stating that he underestimates what would happened in the future: Three more will die and whatever would happens, this would beyond what the eccentric detective would comprehend nor handle.

Execution and Faking His Death
He then sentenced to be executed by hanging, with Dr. Watts invited to check his body's condition after the execution. With no pulse on his veins, Dr. Watts concludes that he has died. However, little he did knew was the execution was already tampered by Blackwood's followers whom used false gallow hose that connected with belts that concealed within his clothings with wires. Also, he has inject himself with chemical substance that slowed his pulse to the point that when Dr. Watts check his pulse, he feels nothing.

However, few days after his execution, Blackwood was reported to rise from the dead with the tomb seemingly destroyed from the inside by the immense force. The police, Dr. Watts, and Holmes were baffles with how this could happened. Whilst the police pulled the coffin out and Watts is busily treat the seemingly catatonic witness, Holmes examines the piece of rubbles and even taste it, in which he tastes something that appeared to be some sort of Egyptian adhesive made from the mixture of egg and honey that can be washed away by the rain. It means that the tomb has already destroyed and put back together with the adhesive where he later hid inside it and shattered it from the inside.

When the police checked the coffin, instead of Blackwood's body, they found a small man whom body already rotten and has been murdered 12 hours ago. The man later revealed to be Reordan, in which Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watts goes to investigate his workshop. They later discovered many experiments under Blackwood's proposal for his next trickery in the workshop, but they unexpectedly also met Blackwood's thugs whom arrives to destroy the workshop. The battle ensues, which unfortunately, also caused damages in the nearby harbor that led them into trouble with police.

Aftermath
After Blackwood's confirmed death, Holmes discovered methods that Blackwood used to fake his death during the execution. He found that hose which put on Blackwood's neck won't fasten when he fell because the rope that seemingly connected by the hose not connected at all. The rope and hose was the decoy to hid strong wire that connected with leather belts that put on his torso under his clothes so it would gave illusion that he truly hanged in proper way. To ensure that the ruse won't be realized by anyone present during the execution, he consumed chemical substance that would slowed his heart rate that the most experienced doctors like Dr. Watts won't able to feel his pulse. While he did found the way to clean his friend's name due to Blackwood's scheme in faking his death, Holmes wind up sleeeping in the mid of demonstration of his theory which surprised and annoyed Dr. Watts and Mary. Nevertheless, Watts woke Holmes up so that the eccentric detective would explained what he just did.

While Blackwood eventually gone for good, Holmes believed that he found another mystery as he caught Adler stealing parts of machine that Blackwood previously designed for his grand scheme that he and Dr. Watts foiled at the climax.

Trivia

 * The actor who played Blackwood was Mark Strong for the roles of Frank D' Amico & Sinestro for his role of villains.
 * Blackwood actually cause the beginning of his own downfall unintentionally when he nearly kills Dr. Watson by blown up the wharf. His actions at that moment confirms Holmes' theory regarding the explosive compound that he used at that moment are same compound that previously used to arrange Standish's demise.