#nyssa/tegan | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cringecompanionapologist · 2 years ago

Text

Uh-Uh I Wrote an Essay About Turlough in Cradle of the Snake

So, after that “Turlough is easily dominated” post, I decided to do some analysis after all, because one of the tags reminded me of Cradle of the Snake, which I’ve posted about being interesting in terms of 5/Turlough (as well as Nyssa/Tegan but I’m pretty sure that essay has already been written), but there’s a bit more to explore here.

The Mara is a bit confusing as far as Evil Entities go. There’s this reoccurring theme of temptation and corruption, but it’s a little unclear what the rules are. It seems that the Mara possesses people by preying on their darkest desires and that the victim has to agree to be possessed, either because of temptation or being overwhelmed by mind games, in order to be possessed. But, in Cradle of the Snake, Nyssa eventually just gets possessed. It just sort of happens. Mara!Tegan tries to tempt her, but it doesn’t work. Then Mara!Doctor is just like “I’ma possess Nyssa” and it happens. Perhaps the Mara can just possess people but prefers to tempt or trick them into accepting possession because it’s more fun that way.

Once the Mara possesses someone, they don’t seem to be aware or in control of their actions. When Mara!Character is interacting with someone, it’s the Mara talking completely. The Mara probably has access to the knowledge and emotions of the person it’s possessing, but how it uses that knowledge isn’t influenced by the individual. That’s the vibe I got, anyway. The Mara can use the form of someone it’s victim trusts to gain said victim’s cooperation, but the Mara’s opionions about its victims probably don’t come from other victims. The Mara seems to have a sexual obsession with Nyssa while possessing the Doctor and I don’t think that’s coming from him. The Mara failed to seduce Nyssa while possessing Tegan and is bitter about it.

The first time we see the Mara interacting with someone in Cradle of the Snake it’s speaking through Tegan, trying to corrupt and possess Nyssa. This plays out as a failed attempt at seduction. If the Mara is trying to tempt Nyssa based on what it thinks Nyssa might want, the temptation is Tegan herself. Again, great story for Nyssa/Tegan. The only reason this doesn’t work is because Nyssa knows better and is able to resist. She knows it’s the Mara talking, not Tegan. The Mara then gets pissed off because of how “pure” Nyssa is and Nyssa is heavily sexualized while possessed.

But, this essay isn’t about Nyssa. This is just the first example of how the Mara works in this story. In other Mara stories, the rules might be a little different, but this is how it works here.

Anyway, the Mara transfers itself from Tegan to the Doctor. Instead of possessing both, it lets Tegan go and moves on to the Doctor, because the Doctor sacrificed himself for his companion, as he often does. The Doctor might’ve thought that is Strong Time Lord Mind might be better at resisting the Mara than Tegan’s Normal Human Mind, but he thought wrong. Though, there is a brief period of time where the Doctor seems to be at least partially in control. He tried to fight it, but he lost.

Now, Turlough enters the picture. Because of the Black Guardian, Turlough is often thought of as easily corruptible, so the Mara decides to go for the easy target, only for it to not work. Unlike Nyssa, Turlough isn’t aware of what’s going on at first, only that the Doctor is acting really weird. It’s scaring him, but he doesn’t run away. He actively tries to stay with the Doctor for as long as he can. You’d think he’d be quick to give up on him to save himself, but he holds out for a long time.

This probably wasn’t what the Mara expected. Turlough is a troublemaker, so the Mara makes some trouble and tries to encourage him to participate. Turlough doesn’t. He isn’t a troublemaker for the hell of it. He’s introduced as a troublemaker in Mawdryn Undead, but that was at Brendon. Turlough’s troublemaking there was probably him lashing out at the school he hated. In the TARDIS, Turlough is more comfortable and doesn’t really have a reason to cause trouble at the moment. So, either the Mara didn’t really understand him, or he was going off what other people he’d already possessed thought of him and those people misjudged him. This doesn’t seem like a mistake the Doctor would make, so this might be from how long the Mara has been lurking around in Tegan’s head. She doesn’t trust him and sees him as a troublemaker who was easily corrupted by the Black Guardian and the Mara tries to manipulate Turlough based on that biased information.

But, the Mara doesn’t completely fail with Turlough. He convinces him to forget about Nyssa and Tegan for a while and join the Doctor on a “Boys’ Night Out”. Turlough gets upset by Mara!Doctor ruining their night out with his behavior. He wasn’t tempted by causing trouble, but he was tempted by spending an evening at a carnival with the Doctor. Turlough should know that the Doctor wouldn’t ditch Nyssa and Tegan like this, but even if it doesn’t make sense, this is something he wants enough to just run with and then be upset when it doesn’t work out. The Mara learns from this. Turlough isn’t just easily corruptible, but he wants to spend time alone with the Doctor. He wants the Doctor’s attention.

But, the Mara continues to struggle with Turlough. It straight-up asks him what he wants and he says he’s learned to be content with what he has. Turlough eventually decides that things have gotten too weird and tries to leave and it just snaps and just tries to get Turlough to take the Mark while giving generic offers of Wealth and Power. Turlough is mostly just confusing about where the snake tattoo came from. Meanwhile, they’ve broken into a building and can hear someone coming, so Mara!Doctor drags Turlough into a closet, leading to the amazing double entendre of “Don’t think I don’t appreciate the offer, but must you be so forceful?”.

Still, though he doesn’t let himself get possessed, Turlough goes along with Mara!Doctor, probably out of fear, since he got physical when he tried to leave. He still acts surprised and betrayed when he gets locked in a stall and left. After everything that happened, he’s still upset to be abandoned.

Then we get to the part where Mara!Doctor and Turlough get arrested, even though Turlough didn’t do anything but be present for Mara!Doctor’s antics. At this point, Turlough understands that the Doctor has been possessed and that the person talking to him is the Mara. He goes into I Know You’re in Here Somewhere mode, reminding the Doctor of a bunch of continuity, along with expressing gratitude that the he saved him from public school and the Black Guardian and that he owes him his life. It feels like an anguished declaration of sorts. To reach the Doctor, Turlough confesses just how much he means to him.

This is when the Mara gets it. Turlough isn’t easily corruptible because he’s loyal to the Doctor now. The Mara pretends to be the Doctor, having fought off the Mara’s influence. “The Doctor” is scared and ill and Turlough looks after him and tries to help him. He has Turlough remove his coat, exposing the Mara Tattoo, by acting feverish. Turlough wouldn’t surrender to the Mara’s temptation, so the Mara preys on his trust and loyalty. What Turlough really wants is for the Doctor to be there. It drops the act and tries to force Turlough to take the Mark, realizing that it can’t trick him into agreeing, only into getting close to the Doctor while the Mara is possessing him.

Turlough resists and Mara!Doctor escapes. He only agrees to help in the fight against the Mara if it means help for the Doctor. He still wants to believe that he’s in there somewhere, after everything that happened. Later on, he gets the cynical “the Doctor might be dead and we’ll have to accept that” role to contrast Nyssa and Tegan, but it feels out of place after everything we’ve seen. We’ve seen just how much Turlough cares for and believes in the Doctor. But, when the companions we expect to have that attitude are around, he can’t express that anymore. I’m not sure if this is just a writing issue or something with Turlough’s character, that he might be uncomfortable expressing those sorts of emotions around others.

So, the supposedly easily corruptible Turlough is the one the Mara gives up on. It almost effortlessly possesses Nyssa, doesn’t possess Tegan again out of either boredom or Tegan having experience resisting it, and decides that it’ll have Turlough killed if he gets in the way instead of trying to possess him again. Pretending to be the Doctor won’t work twice and whatever quick possession trick it did with Nyssa apparently won’t work either. Although everyone is briefly possessed towards the end, Turlough spends the least amount of time possessed. We see Mara!Tegan in the beginning and lots of Mara!Doctor and Mara!Nyssa, but Mara!Turlough might as well not exist at all. Perhaps this was a writing decision. Turlough is morally ambiguous and has already been controlled by a Powerful Evil Entity before this, so it might’ve been decided that seeing the Mara possess him wouldn’t be very interesting. The Doctor, as the hero, and Nyssa, the most traditionally “good” of the group, would provide a sharper contrast while possessed. But, this means that Turlough stands out in how nearly impossible it is for the Mara to possess him compared to everyone else.

The general vibe that I get is that the Mara, searching for some suppressed desire to manipulate Turlough with, looking for something dark, instead finds that the only thing that works, the only thing he seems to want badly enough to act against his better judgement, is the Doctor’s attention and simple presence. Before he’s sure that something’s wrong with the Doctor, he wants his time and undivided attention, for them to just go somewhere fun together without the girls. When it’s clear that something’s wrong, he just wants the Doctor to be okay. These stories usually work with the Evil Entity finding a sort of Seven Deadly Sins desire: sex, money, power, fame, etc. Turlough’s Dark Suppressed Desire, since his dark side is already sort of out in the open, is the Doctor. You could say the same with Nyssa and Tegan, but the temptation there feels sexual. Turlough basically wants the Doctor to take him on a wholesome date.

It actually makes sense to for a character like Turlough. The main contrast is with Nyssa. Nyssa is outwardly light, presenting an image of goodness and purity. She suppresses whatever she considers impure about herself. But, Turlough is outwardly dark, openly unheroic. He suppresses softer emotions. Nyssa fears being bad, but Turlough fears being weak. Comparing Nyssa/Tegan and 5/Turlough, Nyssa suppresses her sexual attraction to Tegan, while Turlough suppresses how much he loves the Doctor. He’s spent years only looking after himself, so feeling something that intense towards someone else would be scary.

So, yeah, I overanalyzed the hell out of Turlough’s part of Cradle of the Snake. He just wants the Doctor to notice him and that scares him, though not enough that the Mara can really use it.

#vislor turlough #five/turlough #fifth doctor #nyssa/tegan #cradle of the snake #the mara #turlough's suppressed desire to be gently seduced by the doctor i guess

35 notes · View notes