Who Meta: Clara, Rose, and the BAD WOLF
Speculations about canon that's already been aired and how it fits together.
Specifically: how does Clara succeed in fracturing herself into the Doctor's timestream?
Over on AO3 a reader left a sweet comment on my story, The Doctor and the Priestess of Pythia, wishing I'd write more stories in that universe.
My eyebrows went up! I don't think of that story as an AU at all... I like to extrapolate from canon, and I consider that story closely canon based (given, of course, the Cartmel ideas about Lungbarrow and the Doctor in the backtime.)
So then that made me realize I hadn't written out my understanding of how the recent storyline with Clara, to me, only serves to reiterate the vital importance of BAD WOLF to the Doctor across his timestream.
Ever since The Name of the Doctor aired, I've been convinced that Clara is working under the aegis of BAD WOLF. Some of the insightful reviewers I've been reading point out how much more mythological (or even mythopeic) Who has gotten in the most recent series. Even though there has been no mention of BAD WOLF (and I'm sure there will not be) the image of the Rose has been scattered here and there throughout.
But even alongside the Moffat era, with River married to the Doctor and with Clara following in the footsteps of BAD WOLF to move throughout the Doctor's timestream, I can't really let go of the universe-shaking nature of BAD WOLF. In fact, I think it's highly likely that Clara wouldn't have been able to do what she did without some kind of assistance-- how is a human being able to fracture herself into these many parts all through the Doctor's lives? I'm not trying to downplay Clara or say that she IS Rose or Bad Wolf, but BAD WOLF is an eternal and seemingly all-powerful entity focused on keeping the Doctor safe. BAD WOLF can see all that is, was, or ever could be, and her one focus is to protect the Doctor, so I think Clara's heroic feat was made possible inside BAD WOLF's sphere of influence. In effect, in the way that Rose looked into the Tardis, merging with Vortex itself, Clara looked into the Doctor's timestream and fractured into it. The two events are complementary, though I think the Clara event fits inside BAD WOLF, not alongside. Not that Moffat would ever admit it!
For me, it's key that BAD WOLF is a composite entity. I'm sympathetic to fans who think that the Doctor is married first to the TARDIS, and also, that he loves each and every one of his companions (but that love is rarely romantic). In Cartmel canon (which I adore btw) as I understand it, the defining ability of a Time Lord is that ability to Bond with his or her Tardis. (Similarly, a Housekeeper literally Marries the House she (or he?) cares for.) [Everyone should read "Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible" by Marc Platt -- his writing is scattered and often bizarre, but chock full of fascinating backstory for the Doctor and life of Gallifrey.] The cyborg that is a Tardis has no real way to communicate except through the Bond with her (or his?) Time Lord. The Doctor's Tardis in particular is old and some of her mechanical components are broken (viz the Chameleon Circuit) or at best jerry-rigged. Whole suites have been jettisoned. My belief is that over the centuries, the Doctor's Tardis has become more of a free agent than the Time Lords who engineered her would ever have imagined or allowed.
So what we have is this incredibly powerful cybernetic organism, who, in her own words, "wanted to see the universe, so she Stole a Time Lord and Ran Away." {THANK YOU SO MUCH NEIL GAIMAN, FOR THAT YOU ROCK SO HARD}. This is a Tardis with (gasp!) AGENCY of her own. We all know that she doesn't always take the Doctor where he wants to go, but always where he needs to be. How does she know (or choose) where that is?
This is where I think BAD WOLF comes in. The Doctor may be alien, but the Tardis is truly alien. Not humanoid (despite her appearance as Idris), not even humanish. The best portrait we've seen of her so far is the Tree of Life in her core (one of the most beautiful and fruitful, pardon the pun, images in the mythopeic arc of 7b). So far as we know, the Tardis has only one mission: to take the Doctor where he needs to go.
This mission gets adapted and clarified (hm?) by the BAD WOLF event. Rose Tyler loves the Doctor with everything she has. Driven to desperation by that love, she tears the Tardis open and looks into her heart. The vortex itself swims into Rose, transforming her into something new. [Please do note the instant on the space station when Rose completely blinks out of existence and then back.] Rose and the Doctor's bonded Tardis are bound together and empowered by the inexhaustible stream of the vortex. BAD WOLF blends Rose's love and the Tardis's mission together -- to keep the Doctor safe, protected -- and BAD WOLF has literally all the power in the universe to make this a reality. Talk about your guardian angel. BAD WOLF could see all that is, was, or is to come, and her power is to bring life.
So, if BAD WOLF is ALWAYS and ALWAYS HAS BEEN protecting the Doctor, with this infinite power, throughout all time? Clara's jump becomes a beautifully plausible miracle.
Clara, the young human woman, makes the heroic decision to try and save the Doctor. She deserves all the credit for having the will and the nerve to jump. But how did she succeed, without destroying herself, the Doctor, or perhaps the Universe? She'd need an omniscient and all-powerful guide, taking her where she needed to be in the Doctor's life --the vulnerable places the Intelligence, itself vast and powerful, but not to godlike extremes, had targeted as threads to be unraveled, and maybe other places as well. Clara's jump was her own heroic act -- but where and how she manifested sounds to me exactly like the work of none other than BAD WOLF. That wonderful moment they gave us, when Clara appeared and urged the Doctor to choose the right Tardis -- who could be more invested in that moment than BAD WOLF herself? :D
So, to bring that back around to the commenter's request that I write more in that universe -- I always am! To me BAD WOLF is always there. For example, in my humble opinion, BAD WOLF was there at the moment River Song was conceived, bringing into his life a helpmate for the Doctor's loneliest incarnation. And I see BAD WOLF as the Heart of Gold improbability drive that ties their two twisty timestreams together.
In my shippy heart, I project a future where Rose and the Doctor are reunited. (If Jack is immortal, then so is Rose, by gum!) But in a sense, they will never be, have never been, apart -- because BAD WOLF, the Rose/Tardis/Vortex entity, is always there, wrapped around the Doctor, bringing life, keeping him safe. And that, to me, is not AU -- it's canon. :D
Specifically: how does Clara succeed in fracturing herself into the Doctor's timestream?
Over on AO3 a reader left a sweet comment on my story, The Doctor and the Priestess of Pythia, wishing I'd write more stories in that universe.
My eyebrows went up! I don't think of that story as an AU at all... I like to extrapolate from canon, and I consider that story closely canon based (given, of course, the Cartmel ideas about Lungbarrow and the Doctor in the backtime.)
So then that made me realize I hadn't written out my understanding of how the recent storyline with Clara, to me, only serves to reiterate the vital importance of BAD WOLF to the Doctor across his timestream.
Ever since The Name of the Doctor aired, I've been convinced that Clara is working under the aegis of BAD WOLF. Some of the insightful reviewers I've been reading point out how much more mythological (or even mythopeic) Who has gotten in the most recent series. Even though there has been no mention of BAD WOLF (and I'm sure there will not be) the image of the Rose has been scattered here and there throughout.
But even alongside the Moffat era, with River married to the Doctor and with Clara following in the footsteps of BAD WOLF to move throughout the Doctor's timestream, I can't really let go of the universe-shaking nature of BAD WOLF. In fact, I think it's highly likely that Clara wouldn't have been able to do what she did without some kind of assistance-- how is a human being able to fracture herself into these many parts all through the Doctor's lives? I'm not trying to downplay Clara or say that she IS Rose or Bad Wolf, but BAD WOLF is an eternal and seemingly all-powerful entity focused on keeping the Doctor safe. BAD WOLF can see all that is, was, or ever could be, and her one focus is to protect the Doctor, so I think Clara's heroic feat was made possible inside BAD WOLF's sphere of influence. In effect, in the way that Rose looked into the Tardis, merging with Vortex itself, Clara looked into the Doctor's timestream and fractured into it. The two events are complementary, though I think the Clara event fits inside BAD WOLF, not alongside. Not that Moffat would ever admit it!
For me, it's key that BAD WOLF is a composite entity. I'm sympathetic to fans who think that the Doctor is married first to the TARDIS, and also, that he loves each and every one of his companions (but that love is rarely romantic). In Cartmel canon (which I adore btw) as I understand it, the defining ability of a Time Lord is that ability to Bond with his or her Tardis. (Similarly, a Housekeeper literally Marries the House she (or he?) cares for.) [Everyone should read "Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible" by Marc Platt -- his writing is scattered and often bizarre, but chock full of fascinating backstory for the Doctor and life of Gallifrey.] The cyborg that is a Tardis has no real way to communicate except through the Bond with her (or his?) Time Lord. The Doctor's Tardis in particular is old and some of her mechanical components are broken (viz the Chameleon Circuit) or at best jerry-rigged. Whole suites have been jettisoned. My belief is that over the centuries, the Doctor's Tardis has become more of a free agent than the Time Lords who engineered her would ever have imagined or allowed.
So what we have is this incredibly powerful cybernetic organism, who, in her own words, "wanted to see the universe, so she Stole a Time Lord and Ran Away." {THANK YOU SO MUCH NEIL GAIMAN, FOR THAT YOU ROCK SO HARD}. This is a Tardis with (gasp!) AGENCY of her own. We all know that she doesn't always take the Doctor where he wants to go, but always where he needs to be. How does she know (or choose) where that is?
This is where I think BAD WOLF comes in. The Doctor may be alien, but the Tardis is truly alien. Not humanoid (despite her appearance as Idris), not even humanish. The best portrait we've seen of her so far is the Tree of Life in her core (one of the most beautiful and fruitful, pardon the pun, images in the mythopeic arc of 7b). So far as we know, the Tardis has only one mission: to take the Doctor where he needs to go.
This mission gets adapted and clarified (hm?) by the BAD WOLF event. Rose Tyler loves the Doctor with everything she has. Driven to desperation by that love, she tears the Tardis open and looks into her heart. The vortex itself swims into Rose, transforming her into something new. [Please do note the instant on the space station when Rose completely blinks out of existence and then back.] Rose and the Doctor's bonded Tardis are bound together and empowered by the inexhaustible stream of the vortex. BAD WOLF blends Rose's love and the Tardis's mission together -- to keep the Doctor safe, protected -- and BAD WOLF has literally all the power in the universe to make this a reality. Talk about your guardian angel. BAD WOLF could see all that is, was, or is to come, and her power is to bring life.
So, if BAD WOLF is ALWAYS and ALWAYS HAS BEEN protecting the Doctor, with this infinite power, throughout all time? Clara's jump becomes a beautifully plausible miracle.
Clara, the young human woman, makes the heroic decision to try and save the Doctor. She deserves all the credit for having the will and the nerve to jump. But how did she succeed, without destroying herself, the Doctor, or perhaps the Universe? She'd need an omniscient and all-powerful guide, taking her where she needed to be in the Doctor's life --the vulnerable places the Intelligence, itself vast and powerful, but not to godlike extremes, had targeted as threads to be unraveled, and maybe other places as well. Clara's jump was her own heroic act -- but where and how she manifested sounds to me exactly like the work of none other than BAD WOLF. That wonderful moment they gave us, when Clara appeared and urged the Doctor to choose the right Tardis -- who could be more invested in that moment than BAD WOLF herself? :D
So, to bring that back around to the commenter's request that I write more in that universe -- I always am! To me BAD WOLF is always there. For example, in my humble opinion, BAD WOLF was there at the moment River Song was conceived, bringing into his life a helpmate for the Doctor's loneliest incarnation. And I see BAD WOLF as the Heart of Gold improbability drive that ties their two twisty timestreams together.
In my shippy heart, I project a future where Rose and the Doctor are reunited. (If Jack is immortal, then so is Rose, by gum!) But in a sense, they will never be, have never been, apart -- because BAD WOLF, the Rose/Tardis/Vortex entity, is always there, wrapped around the Doctor, bringing life, keeping him safe. And that, to me, is not AU -- it's canon. :D