Sir Charles Baskerville

Sir Charles Baskerville is the deceased friend of James Mortimer and the victim at the center of the Baskerville family’s apparent curse. His death first appears to support the legend of the hound, but the later discovery that a real dog was made to seem supernatural changes the story from a question of inherited doom into a crime with a human cause.

Identity and Background

Sir Charles is a member of the Baskerville family and the friend of James Mortimer, a doctor from the moors in Devon. Mortimer brings an ancient scroll describing the family curse to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, linking Sir Charles’s death to a story that predates the immediate investigation.

Death and the Threat to the Heir

Sir Charles has died of a heart attack, and Mortimer suspects that fear may have caused his death. The possibility that the hound frightened him makes the legend seem relevant to the present, rather than merely a family story. Mortimer is consequently worried that Sir Henry Baskerville, Sir Charles’s son and heir, will be in danger when he goes to the hall in Devon.

The Human Cause

The investigation ultimately identifies the apparent hound as an enormous dog brought from London and covered in phosphorus to make it glow in the dark. The dog was used to frighten Sir Charles to death, turning the supernatural appearance into part of a deliberate human scheme. The explanation establishes how the legend could be made to seem real without confirming any supernatural cause.

Narrative Significance

Sir Charles never appears as an active participant in the events described here; his death sets the investigation in motion and shapes the danger facing his heir. The contrast between Mortimer’s ancient scroll and the practical means by which the dog was made to glow gives the mystery its central reversal: a family curse appears to explain the death, while the solution exposes a manufactured appearance. The dog is later shot by Holmes and Watson, and Stapleton dies after escaping into the Grimpen Mire. These outcomes close the immediate threat, while Sir Charles’s death remains the event that made the danger to the Baskervilles urgent.