wren-rambles

[wren-rambles]

Yaz has been in love with the Doctor for a long time

…or at least developing the feelings for a while

Everyone has been saying Yaz has been in love with the Doctor for less time than she has (and yeah I know some people are talking the slow burn / our time but it’s not accurate for how long Yaz has been developing and harboring these feelings).

Yaz went away with the Fam at 19, same as Ryan. They travelled for roughly two years time (we know bc they did regularly check in with their lives, relative to keeping up with our years).

This stopped at the Doctor getting imprisoned; for Yaz that was another ten months.

We don’t know exactly how long Yaz traveled with the Doctor before s13, but it’s safe to assume they somewhat kept up with the (keeping up with real world time). So, that’s another year.

I’m gonna round up, bc it theres no exact number with the liminal time. We’re up to four years that she’s travelled with the Doctor.

Then in Flux she lost three years, and definitely in that time she was in love with the Doctor the WHOLE time (Dan said he could see it, and with the watching hologram several times over).

That makes it roughly seven years she’s been developing these feelings, and the Doctor in return (excluding the decades of jail time).

This wasn’t a four year slow burn, it has been a seven year slow burn!

(at some point I’m gonna compile all the thassie moments in a thread)

[wren-rambles]

Actually, with “Rrrrrrrrrrrrelease” being a reference to Seven and “Nitro-9″ being a reference to Ace… I’m going to take the new companion having a Liverpool accent as a reference to Hex and assume the three of them are gonna appear. :p

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Where do Time Lord abilities come from?

Well, we have assumed that the Doctor or The Timeless Child has always had them, that they were simply born with it.

I don't think this is the case.

The purple wormhole/vortex above the child may hold the answer.

First, I will note that when the Timeless child dies and regenerates before our eyes.

The child almost seems afraid, which is to be expected especially after having just died only to come back. But it's like they've never seen or done this before. That this is new to them.

We aren't unfamiliar with the development of abilities by extraordinary means. River Song was imbued with regenerative energy and abilities from travel through the time vortex in the womb.

The Master explicitly states that the gateway is to another universe or another dimension. So, it would make sense that there would be certain effects from traveling through something like that, given that we have seen something like this happen before.

This means that it's plausible that the Timeless Child has developed these regenerative abilities in a similar way.

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She was the Universe

I will preface this as it started out as a crack theory that turns out to have some actual backing.

To start off imagine this:

A universe in peril, probably dying. Then there are two scenarios of possibilities:

The people of that universe know it's dying. They try to fight this, using their own technologies. And possibly they discover compressional shifting, the moving between and figure they can get help from another universe. Maybe along the way, they decide to move the universe or just transform it, so they may survive somehow and not be lost to the void. And so they do, they move the universe and come through a wormhole to the new universe. Transforming into a new being such as to not destroy the new one.

Or

The universe is conscious. It is a living Universe, like the Solitract. Possibly realizing it's dying, creates a dimensional rift or some type of wormhole and travels into a new universe, transforming as it does. It ends up taking the form of the closest lifeform, with some added effects. (I prefer this one)

And either scenario's outcome is the Timeless Child.

Because after all, she was the Universe..

okay I know how all that sounds but there’s at least some evidence that at least backs it up, more under the cut!

In “It Takes You Away” we are presented with the Solitract, a living Universe.

In the same episode the Doctor is referencing herself here, the phrasing feels very specific.

And in “The Haunting of Villa Diodati” there is of course Lord Byron's poem, where the Doctor is shown onscreen along with this line.

Also, with developing powers in a similar way is something we've seen before. River Song was imbued with regenerative powers by having been flooded with temporal energy while in the womb. so, it would make sense that the Doctor could've in the same way after traveling universes as the timeless child.

It all feels like its been seeded in along the way, even from s11, possibly hinting towards it.

And if not, then we at least have a good explanation for how the Doctor most likely developed their special abilities!

[wren-rambles]

The Doctor's age and many lifetimes

Ever since the end of s12, there's been these questions:

1. How old is the Doctor really?

2. How many times has the Doctor been reset by the Time Lords?

The first one is semi-easily answered.

There are not a lot of references to how old Gallifrey is or the Capitol itself, but if we look back to Classic Who we are given a good general answer.

The Sixth Doctor, in the 23rd series episode The Ultimate Foe, he says "Ten million years of absolute power, that's what it takes to be really corrupt," about Gallifrey in reference to birth/evolution of societies.

This means it's safe to assume the Doctor is around 10,000,000 years old.

The second one requires some more math based on that presumed age.

Doing some research to find out regular Time Lord lifespan (using all regenerations) gives the following numbers

Really old - 13,000 years

Typical lifespan - 7,000 years

It's good to note, the Doctor has said that a Time Lord can essentially live forever "barring incidents" (but this isn't relevant)

For my math, I will also be considering the youngest age the Doctor at the end of his own 12 regenerations is somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 but I'm going to be using the lower number to give a better range.

For a good average age of a Time Lord, I will take the average (based on the varied life experiences that could be lived)

13,000 + 7,000 + 1,500 ≈ 21,500 | 21,500/3 = 7,166 years in an average lifespan

So, to find out possible lifetimes lived we take the number of years of life divided by each lifespan range:

Most average (averaging): 10,000,000/7,166 ≈ 1,395 lifetimes

Lowest number (oldest age): 10,000,000/13,000 ≈ 769 lifetimes

Highest number (youngest age): 10,000,000/1,500 ≈ 6,666 lifetimes

If we average that number of lifetimes (1,395 + 769 + 6,666)/3 = 2,943 as a good estimate of reset lifetimes.

If we based it off of what is considered the standard age of a Time Lord:

10,000,000/7,000 ≈ 1,428 times that the Doctor has been reset

(which isn't very likely, knowing the varied life the Doctor can live and probably hasn't lived the be 7,000 very often)

So, the Doctor has been reset anywhere between 769 - 6,666 lifetimes. (this range is fairly varied based on the two extremes: oldest and youngest)

The most probable number of resets is somewhere between 1,395 - 2,943 (probably closer to the latter) as the number of lifetimes they have had reset until this point.

[wren-rambles]

You know, before this episode I had a theory of how the Flux was made by the Time Lords and its sole purpose is to destroy the universe in case they ever cease existing. After this episode, I am really sure it was created by them.

[wren-rambles]

The 13th Doctor & the Valeyard

There have been some people speculating that 13 is going to become the Valeyard, so I thought I'd talk about it and inform anyone who doesn't already know about the Valeyard. Let's dive in!

For anyone who doesn't know this is the Valeyard:

He is essentially the Doctor's opposite, an amalgamation of the darker parts of the Doctor. It is said that he is somewhere between the 12th and final incarnations.

[TLDR: Most probably 13 will not become the Valeyard. Given new information from series 12, the Valeyard likely comes from a previous regeneration cycle, if he’s even an incarnation of the Doctor at all]

{television history! feel free to skip}

He put the 6th Doctor on trial in Gallifreyan court, in which if he were to be found guilty, he would be sentenced to death. The Valeyard's claims against the Doctor were that the Doctor's meddling in the universe and how he 'helps' ultimately causes too many issues and disrupts the natural order and natural evolution of the universe. Throughout season 23, the trial occurs showcasing different times the Doctor has caused grievances instead of simply helping.

Later in the trial, the Doctor claims the matrix (replaying events as evidence) has been tampered with and is falsely showing how events played out. It turns out that the Master entered the Matrix and revealed that anyone with a good key could do so. Ultimately it's revealed by the Master that the Valeyard is a future incarnation of the Doctor. It was also revealed that the Valeyard made a deal with Gallifrey to prosecute the Doctor and if he won, he'd be promised the remainder of the Doctor's regenerations. In this, The Valeyard falsified information shown from the Matrix (using his own key).

{other media history!}

The Valeyard's origin story has been told and retold and considered very unreliable due to the inconsistent accounts that have been shared. Especially because most accounts are not his own. (They come from different audio stories.)

This means it’s entirely possible he isn’t an incarnation of the Doctor at all.

Other than this, the Valeyard has been mentioned or appeared in novels, audios, and comics. It's not very often he's mentioned on screen again, but very recently he was still said to be in the 11th Doctor's future (The Name of the Doctor). And again 12 was called the "Shadow of the Valeyard" by testimony (Twice Upon a Time).

{end of history}

Theory time!

So, the general theory is that the 13th Doctor is on her way to become the Valeyard. There do seem to be some visual cues that make the Valeyard and the 13th Doctor correlate.

The main similarity is in the outfits color palette's, The prominent colors being black, with white/grey accents.

The similarities with costume continue with the headwear/hood that they wear, also being the same colors.

Although this may just have been for the trials sake, the Valeyard seems to generally disapprove of the interference by the Doctor. The 13th Doctor has said something similar recently as well, she says to the general "sometimes men like you who make me wonder why I bother with humanity," (War of the Sontarans) which aligns with the Valeyard's ‘apparent’ morals!

I will say here that I think this was just the Valeyard’s attempt at gaining the high courts trust so he could betray them.

That being said, this isn't the first time the Doctor has expressed sentiments like this. They have wondered why they help the human race if its not appreciated, or the humans don't listen and make messes they can't fix. Yet the Doctor still insists on helping, because that's who they are. The Doctor cares for life, looks for the silver lining, and is reminded of it through their companions.

And ever since this trial where the Valeyard was revealed, the Doctor has done as much as they can to try not to become them, even going as far as to make sure incarnations they have met are not him.

During the trial, there were moments where the Valeyard claims not to remember certain details, like altering the matrix or having made a deal for more lifetimes (it was said that he pretended not to remember).

If 13 is to become the Valeyard it would make sense for the Valeyard not to remember such deals, because she never did and would have no need to.

Some inconsistencies to the theory are:

Based on what she learned in Series 12, she already knows there isn't a limit to her regenerations, so there would be no need to make a deal with the Gallifreyan High Council for more regenerations.

There are also inconsistencies presented in the different origins or explanations of where the Valeyard comes from. Example: the Master stating that the Valeyard comes from "somewhere between your twelfth and thirteenth regeneration" (Novelization of 'the Ultimate Foe') that means the Valeyard would've already happened, before 13 came into existence.

Considering some evidence that he’s a future incarnation:

The 11th Doctor was told the Valeyard was still in his future. Time has been described as very hard to read, so I’d imagine it’s easy to mistake some future for some past (especially given the Doctor’s lifetimes have been reset time and time again since the birth of Gallifreyan society)

Assuming that in other media, the Valeyard references things from this lifetime of the Doctor’s it’s questionable of how he knows. He has been inside the matrix (however many times and for however long while undetected) which houses all time lord consciousnesses and knowledge, there’s no telling how much he looked through it and watched.

Conclusion:

Given the new information from series 12, that the Valeyard is most likely from a previous set of lives/incarnations. It would make sense seeing as the Valeyard is very willingly working for Gallifrey and supporting their processes as well as exploiting it for his own gain, only to backstab them in the process. It also primarily fits into the Doctor (our Doctor) actively trying not to become the Valeyard.

And if 13 were to become “the Valeyard” I don’t think it would be a literal full takeover like what they’ve feared (and what the Valeyard has threatened) over time, I think it would just be an embracing of the darker side and taking on the mantle more than anything.

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No messy. No fussy. Just Missy.

Here it is, the long awaited character analysis of Missy a.k.a. ‘the Master’. For reference I will be using information from sources outside the show! Such as ‘The Missy Chronicles’ and detailing’s of the audio stories.

I know this has been a long time coming, but it's here now!

First off, it is impossible to isolate Missy from the Master because they are the same with some physical differences as well as some minor personality differences. So, I must start off with the fact that In general the Master (as a whole) only ever does things that suits their needs and their purposes, or that simply will entertain them. Therefore, there are no differences between Missy and other Master’s OTHER than 1. she identifies as she, 2. she is calmer, more poise if you will.

In the very beginning of Missy’s incarnation, she awoke on a Mondasian Cyber-ship with no recollection of why/how she got there.

What’s in a name?

One of the first things the Master does after a regeneration is go the the Scoundrels (a gentlemen’s club for evil doers such as them-self). At this point Missy hasn’t picked a name for herself, so she is nameless). Upon going to and taking her usual seat, she is met with sexism and thrown out of the club. Of course this makes her angry, so she goes on a journey of revenge. On this journey she meets a woman called Saffron (a freed slave from Southern America during the 1700s); it is here in which Missy picks her name. In conversation with Saffron, Missy mentions she was called ‘Master’ and Saffron says “You’re all masters here [...] even the mistresses,” which piques Missy’s interest and gives rise to her calling herself ‘Missy’ (short for Mistress). Missy recruits Saffron and uses her to help aid her in her revenge à la Master style. She goes on to kill every member of the club. The members she didn’t kill she brought back in time and sold into slavery after releasing some slaves so that she could replace them. (So, yes she freed slaves but we aren’t sure what she actually did with them and there’s almost no way they would have been safe if simply released).

Missy commits the acts of revenge against those who have wronged her. Nothing that could be considered ‘good’ can be equated as good due to her malicious motivations behind them.

Dealings with Gallifrey

Missy’s TARDIS is broken! the Eye of Harmony (EoH) has been shut down, locked by Gallifrey, only to be turned on if she does their bidding. So, Missy is recruited by the General and accompanied by Yayani to sneak into the Kyme institute to stop them from using a creature that has been engineered with “time-and-space-travel capability” and with this type of creature it could cause problems throughout time and space. Disrupt the balance, paradoxes, etc. This creature was also born/created to be pregnant so it had the instinct to survive. After some manipulation of Yayani based on her past and hatred for Rassilon (she tried to kill him -> forced to work for him) she is coerced into killing the Doctor who created this creature. Then as expected Missy releases the creature (not for good reason, sorry) and replaces the Eye of Harmony in her TARDIS with it. She imprisons the creature to power her TARDIS, she is no longer reliant on Gallifrey, and to send a message she kills Yayani via Tissue Compression Eliminator and sending her body to Gallifrey and a message ‘Not your puppet’

The many complexities of Missy

Clara: Initially she manipulated her into calling the 11th Doctor and caused them to meet. Then she places an ad in the paper to keep them together after 11s regeneration into 12. She does this to create the Gallifreyan Hybrid of myth out of the both of them. Missy kills Danny Pink by running him over with a milk float.

Lucy Saxon: Missy tells her that she must shoot Harold Saxon, but keeps the information that Lucy will die to herself. She also requests that the matrix slices Harold had acquired be given to her now for her purposes. 

With these slices she creates the Nether sphere where the undying minds go. (3W) The reality altered the minds and removed emotions. Missy uses these to fill Cyber coverted bodies. She creates her army of cyber men and plans on converting all the soon to be dead humans into Cybermen. To prove a point she turns control over the army to the Doctor, she wanted him to take control and use the army to prove that their similarities. Much to her dismay he turns control over to Danny who orders the Cybermen to destroy themselves. Plan foiled, Missy fakes her death in order to escape.

Missy even tries to manipulate children into furthering her causes and schemes to gain power. (’Teddy Sparkles Must Die’) This doesn’t go to plan.

Bottom line is that Missy is very smart calculated and complicated. She manipulates things through time to suit her needs or future needs. There is a constant struggle for power. 

Moving on, Missy is put on trial for her crimes and sentenced to death. The Doctor was chosen to carry out the execution, but he faked her execution and decided to put her in a vault instead to guard her body. His goal was for her to realize her wrongdoings and become good. After a long time Missy ends up shedding a tear for all those she had killed/hurt, she also claims that she regrets her actions.

As a test the Doctor has Missy perform maintenance on the TARDIS while he is away. She waits for him. This is 12s cause to free her from the vault. He decides he can trust her. They each contemplate whether or not they can be friends again.

The thing is, the Master and even Missy are no strangers to playing the long game. It’s questionable whether or not her change is really genuine.

Then we come to Missy’s end. 

As a test, 12 sends Missy on a test mission to see if she really has changed. She is ill prepared and under her watch Bill is shot and carried off to floor 1056. Missy and 12 went to said floor together. 12 leaves Missy to gather information and she learns the ship is Mondasian. Missy ends up going along with ‘Razor’ (Simm!master) only to eventually claim she was playing him. She quickly admits that she is unsure of her allegiance. 

The Doctor tries to convince Simm!master to help him save the people because it is the right thing to do but he doesn’t then in private with Missy, she reveals that she wanted to stand with him and help him but couldn’t. The she leaves with Simm! As they were about to leave Missy stabs Simm! forcing his regeneration into her. Missy reveals to him that she planned on siding with the Doctor which angers him.

By now it’s apparent that she has changed. She leaves to help the Doctor, but it ends up killing her. Simm! shoots Missy. Thus Missy dies. She dies and the Doctor believes she always went back on her change, but really she was just too late.

Missy tries to change for the better. She ultimately wants to stand with the Doctor, finally they end up on par with each other. level ground, standing side by side finally. But she’s too late. 

The Master is just to disgusted with the idea of standing with the Doctor on his moral high ground. It’s about bringing him down, not climbing them-self up.

Sidenote: Missy through a complicated event become the Lumiat! Another incarnation who claims to be good as a result of the Doctor’s teaching/influence. She herself tries to be a good influence on Missy. This version foils may of Missy’s plans but ends up having to regenerate because Missy got bored of her. It is after this that we assume that Dhawan!Master comes about.

So, what does this all mean? Is Missy good? Well, no, she is still at the core the Master who is inherently bad. Is the Master capable of change? That really depends on which Master you are talking about. Missy, yes. Simm! no. Dhawan, I also believe no. A calmer more poise Master, yes.

The most tragic of all, is that Missy (and the Lumiat) is a moot point. The Master always goes back to being evil. Dhawan is proof of this, regardless of Missy’s learned lessons or changes they are always meant to go back, their need for power is too strong not to.

This is NOT an ultimate conclusion, this is based on the information we have been given thus far in the Master’s/Missy's history!

[wren-rambles]

A Creature Of Time And Relative Dimension In Space:

-We don’t know what beings TARDISes are.

-We’ve been confirming their sentience - including ones that aren’t our own.

-Even after implicitly killing all the ones on Gallifrey.

-Except for the two TARDISes we saved.

-Cybermen are humans augmented by technology. The Cybermasters were Time Lords augmented by technology. The TARDISes are ____ augmented by technology.

-We don’t know where they originally came from or what they are.

-All we know of the Timeless Child is that they came from a different dimension.

-Frogs and Kasaavins, we’ve already seen an interplay of time and relative dimensions in space.

-The Doctor has bonded with her TARDIS in a way no Time Lord does. In love to a degree that should be kept within your own species, if you must experience it at all, thank you very much.

-The TARDIS has bonded with her likewise - and if Martin!Doctor is a past instead of future Doctor - across multiple lifetimes she’s sought her Thief out to be her junkyard Police Box.

-The Boundary portals can connect you to random places. The Master, a Time Lord, learned how to control it. The original Boundary connected all the way to a different dimension.

-Why would Rassilon/Tectactoe ever stop looking for the source of the Timeless Child once she knew what they were capable of?

-Would she tell the child if she found it? She’s never sending them ‘home’.

- A Mere Footnote: “They discovered the ability to travel through time as well as space.”

-We know Rassilon, who would exploit and loot and pillage everything they found.

-And in a world of vortex manipulators, why are their ships not machines, but alive.

- …Where do TARDISes come from?

[wren-rambles]

Time Lord Hybridism... and where the Doctor comes from?

So! I have been doing some thinking on half-human/half-Time Lord hybrids (don’t worry about why)

Hybridism

Preface: Some important categories to consider are: capacity, body, and consciousness. Capacity are the capabilities or limits standard to a species. Body is the physical boundary. Consciousness is the mental boundary.

A few examples include:

Based on the original lore: The Doctor. Having been conceived by two Time Lords, mother and father. [Time Lord body] During the pregnancy, the Doctor’s mother decided not to be Time Lord any more, she converted to being human which in turn changed the child she was carrying. [Human body] Initially the baby would have been born with Time Lord consciousness, body, and capacity. The sudden transition left the unborn child at risk of the dangers of hybridism (done wrong). The baby was born of a human body, with human capacity, and Time Lord consciousness. Therefore without intervention the child would have burned up under the pressure. The genes would’ve ‘caved in’ on themselves. That’s when the Doctor’s father intervenes and looms together an Ancient DNA of the Time Lords creating what is referred to as ‘The Other’ as in a hybrid of human and ancient Time Lord.

This may be a moot point, but I think there is important information to draw from is as this process was more than likely possible if need be under the same circumstances. Even more possible since looming was their only way of reproducing under the curse of the Pythia.

More examples under the cut! (And the point)

The next example is The Doctor-Donna (and Tentoo/Corin but I separate for simplicity sake). First off, Donna is a human; that means human body, human limitation/capacity, as well as human consciousness. When she changes this becomes a slightly different story. She reaches out for the Doctor’s hand, this creates a transference between her and the hand. Creating a whole new “meta-crisis” hybrid. There is a trade off, but that’s next. For Donna she gains a Time Lord consciousness. With a human body and a human capacity, this would’ve burned her up if it had not been suppressed or removed. (Which explains why the Doctor’s father had to loom DNA into the Doctor’s). So, the Doctor is forced to make her forget so that she does not burn up under the strain of the Time Lord consciousness  with a human limitation (similar to burning up from the Time Vortex).

The situation is different for Tentoo/Corin. He developed a sort of half-human half Time Lord body. He still had the Doctor’s memories (and consciousness) by default. It was Donna’s humanity that gave the hand life, a call for help, her calling for The Doctor that brought Corin about. Proof of a more human body includes: one heart and aging more humanly (so that he could be with Rose). That being said this is his human limitation (unable to regenerate). He must also have a partial-Time Lord capacity and a partial-Time Lord like body (mainly because he grew from a Time Lord body part) because he was able to withstand the life/memories/knowledge that the Doctor has without burning up or forgetting most of it. 

Amy and Rory’s child. AKA Melody Pond/River Song. Upon the conception of Melody Pond, the TARDIS crew were flying through the Time Vortex, which gave Melody her Time Lord like capabilities. All in all, Melody has a human body, she was conceived by two humans. Assuming that the Time Vortex seeped in and embedded itself within the fetus and thus gave the same abilities and prepared it for the capabilities given, then she is by definition part Time Lord (based on the capabilities alone). Genetic development (& Time Vortex intervention) in the womb could have prepared Melody for the physical aspects such as regeneration. For this to work and her to be sustainable she must have a Time Lord capacity.

Honorable mentions are:

Rose looked into the heart of the TARDIS, seeing all of time itself. This means she absorbed the Time Vortex. It gave her supernatural abilities in comparison to regular humans. The Doctor explains that holding onto it would burn her up. The Doctor does something dangerous to save her from it, he removes it from her and takes it on himself because its less dangerous for him. He is more resilient, besides based on lore Time Lord children have looked into the Time Vortex before. Meaning he could handle it again, but this time is different because it wasn't previously absorbed. Absorbing it had deadly consequences resulting in 9′s regeneration.

Jenny (the Doctor’s daughter) is also known to be part Time Lord based on the Doctor’s DNA (via genetic cloning). Although this isn’t very relevant because she cannot regenerate. So, no Time Lord capacity, but has two hearts so yes to having a Time Lord Body. (This seems to imply that the body doesn’t matter when it comes to having Time Lord capacity [i.e. human body+Time Lord capacity= fully functional] this can provide for why River is allowed to exist without burning up aside from possible protections that could have developed in the womb)

There are certain circumstances in which Hybridism works and situations in which is doesn't. It all depends on those main categories.

Now, the point.

The Doctor is not Gallifreyan.

At least not by birth, we know the Doctor was found underneath a rift on a distant planet. The child was ‘saved’ by Tecteun and brought back to Gallifrey, to be raised as her own child until the possibility of exploitation was discovered. We are then explained that based on the exploitation the previously defined Time Lord capabilities are not Time Lord at all, only a stolen mockery of what was the child’s and whatever species the child comes from. (The exploitation even furthers the point that body doesn’t matter, it’s the change in capacity to carry the capabilities)

This begs the question, one that we have been wondering since the finale. Where is the Doctor from?

I think the answer lies within the Hybridism, or at least suggests some form of answer.

The underlying factor, the most consistent thing is the occurrence of the Time Vortex. It seems to play a key role from every angle, whether obvious or not, it appears to play a part in the capabilities. From the Time Lord lore, it’s important through the initiation process and having to look into it, they manipulated it for their own gain (harming the Master in the process, and on purpose). Side note: It seems to be a general understanding that Time Lords gain their abilities from the Time Vortex itself. (I’m not entirely sure, but us sounds plausible. Especially considering the newfound knowledge we have gained about the Doctor)

This level of importance and the Doctor’s importance in all this, it seems possible that the Doctor is maybe a part of a species that comes from the Time Vortex, or is even a product of the Vortex itself. 

TLDR; Hybridism of Time Lord and [insert species/our only example is human and Gallifreyan] is fully possible given the right set of circumstances. Mainly boiling down to the capacity to withstand and carry the capabilities that the Doctor uniquely possesses (until stolen, not counting any others of the species).

[wren-rambles]

We know now that Time Lords were created from altered DNA. That’s where they get the regeneration energy.

Where do the double hearts come in? Did the Shobogan already have double hearts? Could they have evolved/adapted to be more capable of handling the regeneration energy?

Assuming they already have double hearts: Is it possible Tecteun saw this child and felt they were a lost or stolen Shobogan? There was probably crime and kidnappings even in their society because it seems to be a constant in different societies. So why not? The species were similar in appearance, double heart could have been just more evidence that the child was on of them.

And if not, then Tecteun just adopted a child because they were lost and alone.

Then the double hearts was just another species thing but didn’t matter because the child needed help. So she helps the child. Anyway, she moves on and finds out about the regeneration ability. The rest is history.

But did the double hearts come about because of the stolen DNA. Did they develope it as a ‘side effect’? Was it a type of evolution to help the bodies cope with the excess energy swirling inside of them?

Or is it darker than that? Did the Time Lords actively change their anatomy, to cover their tracks, to keep the Doctor from becoming curious about their differences? Did they steal hearts to keep people from asking questions?

OR they grew the new organ but that’s not as interesting

[wren-rambles]

You know, it’s not for sure that the companions think the Doctor is dead

They KNOW Ko Sharmus left the TARDIS. They probably argued with him about it.

So, honestly they can’t be sure of anything. It’s a she could be dead, but she probably isn’t dead type of situation. Which is arguably worse.

The not knowing of it all has to be agonizing. Like there’s a part of them that thinks she could be dead but a hopeful side that believes she has to be alive, because she is the Doctor and she has to be.

They’re left wondering if she died or if she is alive. Then it turns into inner turmoil of if she’s alive then why hasn’t she come back for them? Did something else happen? Did she decide that they couldn’t travel with her anymore? Has she abandoned them? Is this her way of protecting them? Is she keeping her side of the ‘have great lives’ deal? Did she actually just die regardless of Ko Sharmus?

They don’t know!

And they just have to live with it! Move on with they’re lives, jobs, reacquaint themselves with society!

[wren-rambles]

You know, the Doctor really thought she was doing the right thing by sending the companions with the other humans.

Like, her goal was to get them away from the Cybermen who were on there way to there. She didn’t want them to be converted, which is fair.

She’s the one who ended up safest of them all, with Ryan and Ethan both on a stolen Cyber-ship. They were more safe at that point in time than Yaz and Graham were with the other humans.

Yaz and Graham were threatened with being stranded in space on a junk ship and ended up on a cyber-warrior ship with the threat of Ashad more prevalent to them. It ended up putting them in more danger than if they had stayed (assuming everything would have played out the same). The threat of being converted was entirely more probable as a result of them going with the humans. Their whole situation was immensely more complicated and dangerous.

Counterpoint: it’s important that they were there because otherwise the humans probably wouldn’t have tried getting aboard said ship (even if one died in the process, we’re gonna skip over that). This does indeed become very important in the finale and everything worked out probably in the best way possible.

It just all felt like a “you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t” kind of situation.

[wren-rambles]

How tf could I forget about DONNA

She even furthers the point about memories not being as important. She’s literally a PARALLEL to what happened.

(Life-adventures-memory erased-life again)

They just have to go on with their lives, ignoring what has been taken from them (or in Donna’s case unable to ever even acknowledge).

Maybe it’s some sort of sick cosmic karma

So... elephant in the room?

Memories are really important to the Doctor

Twelve’s whole goodbye was about memories and how memories make us who we are

Emphasized via Bill AND Clara

Then Eleven’s goodbye was about always remembering when the Doctor was him...

...Said to Clara, which emphasizes what happens later by being allowed his memories of her to be restored

Thirteen finds out out that she doesn’t even have most of her own memories and doesn’t know her life.

Does it negate the importance of memories? No, of course not. But does it lessen them? A little, it seems so, because there are now so many memories of lives and people that she will probably never get back and be able to remember.

Based on that point alone, she’s not completely herself

She’s only what she remembers of herself

Another interesting point - somehow (according to Ruth and Ruth alone) the Doctor is able to transcend lifetimes and still be themself to their core being

A positive out of this! Is believing she is still who she is no matter what happened in her past, thank goodness she sees it that way (thanks Matrix!Ruth - do we think that’s Ruth’s conscience that was uploaded when they reset her?)

[wren-rambles]

So... elephant in the room?

Memories are really important to the Doctor

Twelve’s whole goodbye was about memories and how memories make us who we are

Emphasized via Bill AND Clara

Then Eleven’s goodbye was about always remembering when the Doctor was him...

...Said to Clara, which emphasizes what happens later by being allowed his memories of her to be restored

Thirteen finds out out that she doesn’t even have most of her own memories and doesn’t know her life.

Does it negate the importance of memories? No, of course not. But does it lessen them? A little, it seems so, because there are now so many memories of lives and people that she will probably never get back and be able to remember.

Based on that point alone, she’s not completely herself

She’s only what she remembers of herself

Another interesting point - somehow (according to Ruth and Ruth alone) the Doctor is able to transcend lifetimes and still be themself to their core being

A positive out of this! Is believing she is still who she is no matter what happened in her past, thank goodness she sees it that way (thanks Matrix!Ruth - do we think that’s Ruth’s conscience that was uploaded when they reset her?)

[wren-rambles]

So... no one is gonna mention that the Master literally planned for the Doctor to escape from the Matrix?

He literally left Ashad, with the shrunken death particle still in him, on some arbitrary floor upon the Cyber-Warship.

He knew she was strong enough to escape. He went so far as to hope she would be. And to hope she would even find it.

A part of him is self destructive, sure, he doesn’t care whether he lives or dies so long as others are hurt in the process. He wants maximum carnage left in his wake but he also wants to bring the Doctor down on his level, to do that same.

He wants them to be the same. This person who is newly realized to be so much more than ever thought possible. Even before this reveal the Master wanted the Doctor to stoop down to his level.

So he presented the option to the Doctor, the option to kill all of the timelords again, to do what he did except once and for all. End it, end them, end him and herself.

All of this based on the hope she would escape, take his hint, and finally be brought down to her level.

[wren-rambles]

I’ve been thinking about the finale and having post-DW depression but I need to share my thoughts

Here we go:

So at the end of the finale the Master shouts at the CyberMasters “through here” and we assume they all got blown up anyway (or maybe shielded him from the blast? Or got away but that seems more unlikely because the explosion was practically instant)

Plus we know the CyberMasters weren’t able to go anywhere and cause any damage because we hypothetically should have heard about it?

We’re supposed to assume The Master survives, because he always survives somehow. Do we also assume that since the Cyberium created the death particle that it could mask the Master from it? So it wouldn’t kill him, effectively leaving the Cyberium without a host (and essentially useless)

Side point: if the death particle was meant to wipe out ALL life then it would also have wiped out its host too?