REGENERATION AS A CHOICE – How the Doctor choosing their faces creates a 2,000-year long character arc
I headcanon that each new face the Doctor gets represents something they subconsciously need or want, and all together their 13 faces form a character arc 2,000 years in the making, as the Doctor wrestled with their own identity.
Becoming the Cosmic Hobo showed the Doctor embracing his new life as a traveller after running away – 2 was cheekier, more mischievous, and had more fun than 1, letting go of his grumpiness. His youth could also represent him letting go of the Grandfather role, and therefore his granddaughter Susan. 2 was the Doctor letting go of responsibility– which got them in trouble with Galifrey.
Stuck on Earth and punished for 2’s frivolity, 3 needed to be disciplined, and take responsibility for himself. Working alongside UNIT he also needed to be a man of action (hence 3’s love of car chases and kung-fu). He also needed to be a scientist to repair the TARDIS, hence his highly technical mind and knack for creating hi-tech vehicles (hello, Whomobile)
Finally free to travel time and space again, 4 was the Doctor at his most alien - he travelled with the most non-human companions (Leela, Romana I and II, K9) and was the only Doctor with another full-time, onscreen Time Lord companion. He also becomes President of Galifrey. Seen like this, his weirdness and aloofness feel like him embracing his Time Lord side/heritage after being trapped on Earth for so long.
After 4 was the Doctor at their most alien, 5 became the most human and compassionate Doctor yet, to remind himself how important caring is. 5 dressed in period Earth clothing and also had the largest TARDIS team since 1, surrounding himself with friends.
6 was a selfish asshole for a reason: 5’s selfless compassion got him killed (he gave his companion, Peri, the antidote for a poison rather than himself). 6’s selfishness was a survival mechanism that protected him from that kind of self-sacrifice happening again. I also like the idea his hideous technicolour costume is an expression of self-hatred: 6 was the Doctor at his ugliest, an honesty needed to confront and grow past the darkness within him (represented by the Valeyard in Trial of a Timelord)
The original reason for 6′s nastiness - before poor Colin Baker was fired early - was that he was hiding a dark secret that would be gradually revealed as he got nicer over time. 6′s personality was designed to repel people and protect that secret
This man was an enigma. He carried a question-mark umbrella and had question marks sewn into his jumper. He was a scheming, manipulative mastermind who played the clown right up until the moment he blew up your entire planet. It’s fitting that I have no idea why the Doctor turned into 7. As with so many other things, only 7 will ever know
8 was a last hurrah for the Romantic Hero Doctor before the Time War turned him into a damaged warrior. He was the first Doctor to kiss a companion, he was introduced in a bombastic movie, his era – spanning the nine years between the TV Movie (1996) and Series 1 of NuWho (2005) was the most diverse of any Doctor – 8 got to inhabit all aspects of the Doctor’s personality before the Time War turned him into a warrior
The most obvious, turned into a warrior to fight the War but still fundamentally good. Although in The Night of the Doctor it’s the Sisterhood of Karn who turn 8 into a Warrior, in The Day of the Doctor novelisation it’s revealed the cup he drank contained only dry ice and sherbet, and they didn’t do anything to him. The War Doctor was 8 letting the darkness the Doctor hid all their lives take over
9 was the lone survivor, able to deal with his trauma and hide it effectively. He was still more of a warrior – he hadn’t yet moved on from the War – but also just soft and childish enough to let Rose under his skin.
All of 9′s TV adventures were either Earth-based or on space-stations; grimy places of work, no grandiose planets or cosmic wonders. This was a conscious choice:
The more gritty, grounded look and attitude of this Doctor suggests he was trying to reconnect with the roots of the universe – back to basics, throwing himself in, like his speech in The Long Game –
You’ve got to throw yourself in. Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers
- to the point where he didn’t slow down long enough to look at himself in the mirror.
10 made himself for Rose. The Doctor let himself be the swaggering romantic hero again, for her. He wanted a face she would fall in love with, because he relied on her for emotional stability. 10 was younger, funnier, and flirtier, because Rose made him feel safe enough and good enough about himself that he thought he’d moved past his darkness
10 is 9′s parting gift to the woman who saved his soul
This is why 10 is the most human Doctor; he was designed for a normal human to love (where as 11 needed the psychopathic River Song) AND why 10 wears his emotions on his sleeve - he never needed to hide anything from Rose .
However, he also inherited Rose’s capacity for selfishness and carelessness, hence the parallels between Rose’s relationship with Mickey and 10’s relationship with Martha. (which is why Martha and Mickey are perfect for each other)
10 literally built himself around Rose, they were perfect for each other – without her he’s lost.
This explains why 10 snogged every companion he met (except Donna) – he was desperate for a love that could fill the hole Rose left, but could never find it – almost the emotional equivalent of nymphomania
It also means that Martha Jones - who was objectively more qualified than Rose, saved 10′s life more times, and did it all without the Bad Wolf Deus Ex Machina - was wasted on 10, despite being as close to perfect as a companion could get
Thus the defining theme of 10′s era is loneliness - he and Martha failed to be a meaningful comfort to each other, 10 is in a constant state of loss even with one-episode characters (Madame de Pompadour, Astrid, Jenny etc) and Martha got out before he dragged her down with him.
This is why 10 and Donna were best friends - both were desperate to be loved. Donna thought she was worthless; when we met her she was marrying Lance, a man she threw herself at and didn’t notice was evil because she was so desperate for the love she denied herself. We see this torn away from her again in Forest of the Dead. Her arc in Series 4 was learning self-love, but then that was torn away and when we met her again in The End of Time she was in another fast engagement with Shaun (albeit a much happier one) to fill that hole.
Donna was good for 10 because she was the exact opposite of Rose, instead of Martha, who was too close for comfort. Donna forced 10 to grow in new ways, recognise flaws in himself he wouldn’t have had to if he’d stayed in the ‘comfort zone’ of his companionship with Rose.
Although they couldn’t give each other the romantic love they needed, 10 and Donna understood and respected each other, finding comfort in each other’s company in a way 10 couldn’t with Martha.
Is ‘alright’ special Time Lord code for ‘really not alright at all’? Cos I’m alright too.
This is why Donna acts almost as 10′s wingman-
Why don’t you ask her yourself?
In Journey’s End Davros says of the Children of Time:
You take ordinary people and fashion them into weapons
And in a way it’’s true: In 9 and 10′s era the Doctor is an idea, an attitude, a title, which Rose describes in The Parting of the Ways
The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life… You make a stand, you say ‘no’
All 10′s companions become Doctor-like and take on part of that role, but 10 sees it as negative thing because he’s generally so angsty and full of himself.
Jack, with his long coat and immortality, is explicitly called ‘ you but with dancing’ in his first appearance.
Jack is in many ways the Doctor gone dark: In Torchwood we see the pain it would cause if the Doctor was irresponsible and let himself love Rose, had kids, through Jack and his old lovers and adult kids. Children of Earth and Jack killing his own grandson parallels the questions raised in the Day of the Doctor about the number of children the Doctor killed when destroying Galifrey (especially since we know the Doctor’s own grandchild, Susan). Jack is what would happen if the Doctor was human, detached and lonely and angsty, watching his loved ones die while he lives on, having a childhood figure (his brother Grey and old flame Captain John Hart parallel the Master) destroy his life.
And 10, being the most human Doctor, the easiest to fall in love, almost falls into the same traps. 10 hates this parallel of himself so much he abandons it on Satalite 5 and runs to the end of the universe to escape it.He ‘looks away in shame’ instead of helping in Children of Earth because Jack’s problems hit too close to home, and by the end of Children of Earth, just like the Doctor, Jack runs away intro space.
Mickey became the Doctor when he stayed behind to save the parallel Earth in The Age of Steel.
Sarah Jane became the Doctor figure of The Sarah Jane Adventures. Sarah was even morally superior to 10, a callback to the honest morality of the Doctor she knew before the Time War, complete with K9, her own companions, a 3-like car and her own Sonic Lipstick. When 10 interacts with the SJA crew in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith he already knows he’s going to die, and he’s already gone dark; the story takes place after The Waters of Mars. But he’s deliberately light and breezy to escape all that, helping Sarah because he needs a reminder of what that honest goodness felt like, to remind himself he’s still connected to it. His last line in that episode:
Don’t forget me, Sarah Jane
is about his imminent death, but it’s also a plea; don’t forget who I used to be. Don’t forget the good man I was.
Martha was a medical student, and in many ways, better at being the Doctor than 10 - she was certainly more emotionally mature. In Series 3 she actually took the role of the Doctor, providing emotional support for 10 that the Doctor normally would: Protecting him in Human Nature/The Family of Blood, then supporting him in the 1960s in Blink, then travelling the world while he was captured in The Last of the Time Lords. Martha’s time in the TARDIS didn’t change her, it just helped her realise who she was. She went in a medical student and came out the Doctor.
Unlike Rose, and indeed the Doctor way back on Galifrey, Martha is unwilling to abandon her family to travel in the TARDIS
In many ways, Martha Jones was a better person than the 10th Doctor, and she didn’t need him, though he relied on her more than he realised - when Donna mentions in Partners in Crime that Martha must have done him some good, 10 acts surprised, like he’s just realising that.
Her decision in The Stolen Earth - the threat to use the Ostahagen Key and blow up her own planet to beat the Daleks - is almost exactly the same as the Doctor with Galifrey. She becomes an adviser to UNIT, just like 3 when he was trapped on Earth. Martha Jones is the earthbound, responsible Doctor that 10 couldn’t be
Which is why Mickey and Martha pairing up in the End of Time is perfect - she is Mickey’s Doctor, and Mickey is her Rose, and they’re both more emotionally mature than the originals, because they can communicate their feelings in a way the angsty Tenrose couldn’t
Rose felt what it was like to be the Doctor when she became the Bad Wolf:
That’s what I feel, all the time!
And she embraces the Doctor role of the mysterious wanderer with all the answers in Series 4, particularly in Turn Left, where she talks about causal nexiuses and helps Donna realise her potential just like 10 does.
This is why I like that scene of 10 giving her and Metacrisis!10 a TARDIS to grow in Journey’s End - it completes Rose’s arc, established in Army of Ghosts when Jackie comments on how much like 10 Rose was - she had become the Doctor
Donna, of course, becomes the DoctorDonna, but it ‘kills’ her, proving to 10 how destructive he is and convincing him he shouldn’t take on companions; Davros won, because from 10′s perspective he’d turned his loved ones into soldiers (as Donna says of Martha in The Sontaran Stratagem)
So first Martha, who he was holding back, then Donna, 10′s perfect safety net (even better with a Time-Lord mind) was taken; 10 watched Donna regress back to her self-hatred after only just realising how bad it was, and I think he realised the futility of trying to escape the holes inside him.
10 acted too soon in thinking he’d gotten over his Time War trauma, hence his superiority and self-righteous hatred of murder. Once Rose was gone 10′s flaws were exposed, and although he was much more sociable than 9, without companions he was more susceptible to darkness than 9, who was built to cope on his own.
At the end of his life 10 was so full of pain, had gone so dark (Waters of Mars) and let go of so many loved ones, he needed to move on. Hence, he created 11, the youngest and silliest Doctor, who could pretend to be an idiot to hide his darkness and age.
Where 10 held on to his grief, used it to make himself feel superior and let it keep hurting him, 11 was the man who forgets – which is why his era was less connected to previous ones, in comparison to the amount of story threads that connected 9 and 10.
11’s era felt disconnected from the rest of Doctor Who – all his arcs started and wrapped up in this bubble because he was so focussed on his own problems he forgot everything else (something 10 called him out on in the 50th)
11′s era is often compared to a Dark Fairytale, and I love this idea - this regeneration was a fantasy story the Doctor told himself, where his adventures were as big and ridiculous as possible, to distract himself from his responsibilities and pain. And the last line Amy says to him, in the Time of the Doctor;
“Raggedy Man, goodnight.”
was the fairytale finally coming to an end.
Fairytales teach morals to kids, and 11′s moral was responsibility - a big theme of his era was running away, or absence (he accidentally abandoned Amy, he ran from the Silence for 200 years) but his responsibilities always came back to bite him (the Silence, the War Doctor, Trenzalore)
His capacity to forget was initially a good thing, but it also made 11 the most (unintentionally) destructive Doctor – he ruined Any’s childhood (4 psychiatrists), erased her parents (the crack in her wall that ate them was created by the TARDIS) and her husband from time, and stole her baby (turned into a murderous psychopath).
And then there was River, whose childhood he ruined and whose future he stole; both her future regenerations and the rest of her current life, pining for him in prison for a crime she didn’t actually commit. She, and a lot of other characters, turned 11 into this God figure, which is dangerous.
11 was most similar to 2, right down to the bow tie (Matt Smith took direct inspiration from Patrick Troughton) because they’re both regenerations where the Doctor lets go of responsibility
11 was so destructive the Silence raised an army against him.
This is why he needed Amy and Rory – companions who were willing to wait (14 years, then 40, and 2000). Amy’s arc was becoming responsible to Rory in a way Rose wasn’t to Mickey, and together she and Rory grounded 11, giving him family structure, something to slow down for (The Power of Three) that he hadn’t had for a long time. Plus, Rory was always up for calling 11 out on his shit.
When 11 lost the Ponds he abandoned River - we don’t see her in Series 7B - because shew reminds him of them, but also all the ways he fucked their lives. H e waits over a century (he’s 1109 at the end of series 6 and over 1200 by The Day of the Doctor) to acknowledge her, even though he can always see her.
Then he met perfectly ordinary Clara, and accidentally turned her into the Impossible Girl.
All of the ‘big bads’ from 11’s era were villains looking for revenge – the Silence in series 5 and 6 and the Great Intelligence in Series 7, a villain who first met the Second Doctor.
Until, in the 50th, 11 finally started taking responsibility for his actions. That’s why defending Trenzalore for 700 years was so important – finally, it’s 11 left behind (paralleling Amy and Rory’s waiting, and Clara saving him a hundred thousand times) where he had to face the consequences of his life.
Crucially, by the end of his life the man who forgets has learnt the importance of remembering and taking responsibility. 11′s last line is:
I will not forget one line of this, not one day, I swear. I will always remember when the Doctor was me.
11 recognises he’s not up to the job of fixing his mistakes, so he willingly passes the baton to:
I’m the Doctor. I’ve lived for over 2,000 years and not all of them were good. I’ve made many mistakes. And it’s about time I did something about that.
12 was the Doctor holding up a mirror and being honest with himself. He came full circle; old and crotchety like the original Doctor and the War Doctor, the two most honest regenerations.
Again he was influenced by his companion – love her or hate her, Clara knew the Doctor better than any other companion (even River, who idolised him) and because of that – because of being in his time stream, because of saving his soul in the 50th, 12 trusted Clara with his ‘true’ face.
He started off being as destructive as 11 – turning Clara into a liar and killing her
Series 8′s finale, with all the dead rising, is an extreme version of the moment in Journey’s End when Davros forces 10 to reflect on the number of people who have died in his name. The idea raised right back in NuWho episode 1, Rose, of Death being the Doctor’s ‘constant companion’ comes full circle here, and death permeates all of 12′s era - the Series 8 finale, Missy’s fate, River’s ending, both his companions dying, ghosts in Under the Lake/Before the Flood, the ‘ability to die’ in The Girl Who Died/The Woman Who Lived. 12 is directly confronting it.
By the end of series 8, 12 recognised his own destructive nature (thank you, Danny Pink and Missy) and from then on his era became about responsibility and duty
His Duty of Care to Clara, his Duty to watch over Missy in the Vault for 1000 years.
A big theme of 12′s era is identity - he’s got a new regeneration cycle and he just fixed the Time War trauma that haunted him for 400 years, and without it he’s not exactly sure who he is
12′s relationship with his Sonic Screwdriver represents his relationship with the Doctor’s destructive legacy
In Series 8, when he’s most destructive, he holds on to 11′s screwdriver
In Series 9 he’s going through a midlife crisis with the shades and the guitar, being deliberately different and ridiculous in an attempt to find out who he is now.
Claiming his own Screwdriver in Hell Bent is him claiming his own identity. Series 10 was meant to be a fresh start for the show, and it’s a frsh start for 12.
Clara is another holdover from 11, and their destructive Series 8 relationship is an extension of that legacy. In Series 9 Clata and 12 are bonded together by grief - his for Galifrey, hers for Danny., It takes a companion so consumed by grief it kills her for q2 to snap out of his pattern.
12 also tackles the 10 idea of the Doctor as an idea, through Clara becoming Doctor-like. Just like Donna, she is destroyed by the idea.
12 losing Clara was similar to 10 losing Rose, because 12 made himself specifically for Clara, who knew him best. 12 dealt with loss worse – Hell Bent – but then better than 10, or 11; he literally must forget the past and move forward. From this point on 12 is very accepting of endings.
12 spent Series 10 reconnecting with the idea of family - through River in The Husbands of River Song (and then Nardole, who was with them on Derillium) then through Bill, whose emotional arc is tied to her mother. By Series 10, 12 is a lot more open about his family (photos of both River and Susan on his desk - Susan hasn’t been referenced before in NuWho at all) and he bonds with Bill by helping her create memories of her Mum through photos. THIS IS GROWTH and sets up 13′s love of her ‘fam’
12’s era had the most ties to classic Who – jelly babies, lots of UNIT, Susan photo, classic Sonic Screwdrivers, classic TARDIS, Brigadeer’s dad, Cyberman Brigadeer, Cybermen at St Pauls, St Luke’s University (referencing the unaired Douglas Adams story, Shada). He also fought a lot of classic enemies – the Master, Zygons, Ice Warriors, the genesis of the Original Mondassian Cybermen, Original 60s Daleks, he revisits the moral dilemma of Genesis of the Daleks with Davros.
12 spent a lot of time cleaning up previous Doctors’ messes, particularly 11’s – he helped the Zygons 11 left in the 50th, in The Return of Doctor Mysterio he repaired the time damage done to New York, and he finally slowed down long enough to recognise the damage he did to River Song’s life, to apologise to her and finally, finally stay with her (Husbands of River Song) and give her happy ending. He also had to deal with 10’s Master (John Simm).
This was because, while 11’s arcs all started and finished in the bubble of his era, 12’s arcs deconstructed the Doctor’s entire 2,000 year history – in Listen we saw him as a kid in the barn, the Hybrid arc explained why he first ran from Galifrey, his childhood friendship with the Master connected all three of his series, and series 8’s Good Man conflict directly confronted the prejudice against soldiers he’s harboured for lifetimes (through Danny Pink)
(And how perfect that Peter Capaldi, a fan of the show since it began with the 1st Doctor, got to portray such meta self-reflection, and Steven Moffat, who has now written more Who than any other writer, was showrunner)
12 also helped Missy finish a character arc that had been building since Series 3 of NuWho and become good – the Master got their perfect ending, but not before 12 saved her, putting a cap on a relationship that’s been going since they were kid.
12 was, in many ways, the culmination of a character arc that had been building since the 1st Doctor – hence their meeting in Twice Upon a Time, the two most similar and yet different Doctors, tying off their arc with a neat bow.
At this point, as the first ‘extra’ regeneration the Time Lords had given him in The Time of the Doctor, 12 believed he (and the Doctor) had gone on too long. His recklessness and willingness to die was established in Series 9 - Before the Flood and Hell Bent, but by Series 10 he’s downright suicidal, and he flirts with his own death throughout the series - faking a regeneration, blindness, sacrificing himself in The Eaters of Light, sacrificing himself again in The Doctor Falls. Bill dies. Missy dies. At this point 12 just wanted it to end, to just die properly and have it be over.
By the end of his life, 12 realised the core root of the Doctor’s character had always been kindness. Twice Upon A Time amended Hell Bent’s ending by emphasising how important memories are, and how, unlike with previous Doctors, they can be used positively. 12′s attitude was, therefore, ‘if you’re going to make me do this one more time, we’re going to do it right. Wipe the slate clean. Let’s build it better’
And poured all that self-reflective wisdom into creating…
THIS IS WHY I LOVE HOW DIFFERENT DOCTOR WHO IS NOW
12 needed change. The Doctor was old and tired and, in many ways, had fulfilled his character arc – 12 being the last Doctor would have been perfect from a character standpoint
So, when he regenerates into 13, he deliberately becomes as different as possible –
meant The Doctor, all the history and baggage and pain. The theme of 12′s era was death because at the end of it the Doctor as we knew him died.
13 is young and bubbly and sure of herself where 12 was old and morally conflicted. And yes, that means the gender swap was a choice. 13 is a deliberate attempt to distance herself from the destructive legacy of the Doctor, that had killed so many of her loved ones - Clara, River, Donna - and herself
(Also anyone else think 13′s personality was low-key inspired by Bill? Bright clothes, bubbly personality, very chatty, lots of questions, big gay vibes?)
The biggest theme of 13′s era has been family: this is why she took on three companions the way 5 did, trying to be compassionate, or 1, way back in the beginning with Susan, their original family. Only this time, all 13′s companions are human: Earth is the Doctor’s second, chosen home, and 13 wanting to be treated as an equal, as part of the family, is the Doctor’s way of starting all over again, right from the beginning.
Whereas 12 treated the extra regenerations as a burden or a fluke, letting him live too long, 13 is taking full advantage of the opportunity for change. New regeneration cycle, new her.
That’s why 13 only goes to new places with creatures she’s never seen before
That’s also why she hasn’t done the usual “I’m the Doctor” speech or referenced the Time War or gone dark yet – she is deliberately trying to move away from the destructive, grandstanding habits of her previous lives, trying to move on from the Time War and start again.
Compared to the godlike attitude of previous Doctors, 13 is trying to be normal, fighting their delusions of grandeur. It also explains why she talks so freely about her family (her Granny, her parents), because she is actively breaking down the wall the previous Doctors have built up around their past as some sacred, untouchable thing.
In many ways 13 is succeeding in what 11 tried to do by wiping himself from history at the end of Series 6 (before falling back into his destructive pattern as the past caught up with him again).
This is why I LOVE that Series 11’s Big Bad was a new alien – 9 and 10 both fought returning Classic villains every series, 11’s arcs were an extravagant loop, 12’s arcs all had to do with the deconstructing the Doctor. 13 is doing something new, and most importantly the central conflict is about her helping her friends, not fighting someone she had beef with.
Even in Resolution, 13 is the first NuWho Doctor not to explode with anger when she first meets the Daleks (9 tortured his, 11 beat one with a hammer) or be told she would make a ‘good Dalek’ (both 9 and 12). 13 is over her Time War trauma (a process started by 11 saving Galifrey in the Day of the Doctor and wrestled with by 12). She and the Daleks are back to whee they were in the Classic series - more fundamental opposites.
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