Eh Tar

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

~ Professor Rathe a.k.a Eh Tar

Eh Tar, aka, Professor Rathe is a fencing coach, fellow senior member of the board at Brompton boarding school in London, and the true main antagonist in the 1985 film Young Sherlock Holmes. He is portrayed by Anthony Higgins.

He is a mentor and friend-turned-enemy of the young Holmes. He is also the leader of the Rame Tep, an ancient Egyptian society worshipping Osiris, the egyptian god of the dead, renound from there deviance from tradition beliefs and performance of 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. Rathe was himself the high priest, dressed wearing the mask resembeling the god Anubis, it was him who carried out the final act and killed sacrifice. He has a ring that is highly reflective, and designed to hypnotize those who are forced to stare at it for long enough.

History
Many years ago, the six men Eh Tar killed discovered an Egyptian tomb of five princesses and their findings angered a local nearby villages, causing danger to the men's lives. Egypt was still colonized by the British and several troops began a massacre in the village. They burned it to the ground. The six men returned to Great Britain only to find their lives threatened again. They received a letter from Eh Tar 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 Eh Tar's home and his parents were amongst those killed. Eh Tar 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 cheif assassin of the murders. Eh Tar recruited many homeless and criminals throughout London and showed them the way of the Rame Tep, creating a cult. He spent years planning his revenge, while having a secret temple, in the shape of a pyramid constructed in London, so the Rame Tep could hold there dark rituals.

To avoid any suspicion, Eh Tar became a teacher at Brompton under the name of Rathe (Eh Tar spelled backwards). His sister became the school nurse, Mrs. Dribb. He built himself up as a respected figure in British society, errasing his former identity. 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 schoolmaster of Brompton, Rupert Waxflatter, and one of Holmes' closest friends and mentor of other matters. Before Waxflatter's death, Holmes was framed for cheating and achedmic fraud and was expelled. He had one last fencing duel with Rathe and he was 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 and nightmare images images. They would kill themselves to escape the nightmare and it would make the murders look like suicides or freak accidents. Holmes, a young Watson and Elizabeth 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 have him arrested. He was lenient and let him go. Holmes found the last survivor of the murders who told them the origin of Eh Tar, leaving Holmes suddenly realised 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 through a complex plan, created a diverson causing the temple to begin to collapse and inedvertantly set the temple on fire. Eh Tar was knocked down by the falling rubble, but recoverved and Holmes was forced to kill Mrs. Dribb with her own murder weapon. Eh Tar confronted Watson who was saving Elizabeth. He punched Watson down and kidnapped Elizabeth. After tying her up so she couldn't escape, he tried to make off on his carriage with, but Watson stopped him by attaching a grappling hook to the end causing it to be pulled appart. After saving Elizabeth, the trio watched the temple burn and began to leave but Eh Tar was standing behind him and with a gun tried to shoot Holmes. Elizabeth sacrificed herself and took the bullet. Using a sword he took from the temple, Holmes and Eh Tar then engaged to a duel to the death. Eh Tar intially had the upper advantage and tried to use Holmes anger against him. However Holmes turned it back on him, pointing out that Eh Tar had lost it all: the temple, the Rame Tep' all his dreams had failed. He then managed to injure Eh Tar, (bearing an ironic resemblence to the injury Holmes recieved in there last duel). The shirmish broke into fisticuffs, and they ended up on the frozen river Thames, They each grabbed oars and continued to fight. Meanwhile the already damaged ice began to crack. Eh Tar lost control of his temple and tried to deliver a killing blow, when his sudden action caused the ice to give way, and he fell through into the ice cold water. Elizabeth did not survive her injuries and said a final goodbye to Holmes just before dying. 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, a fact that made Holmes realise it was Rathe who was responsible.

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.