Everyone Is Doing It!
My theory re Rose and the End of the Series, hastily put up online before "Army of Ghosts" airs in the UK. Spoilers for the whole second series are within, so have a care if you click!
Rose doesn't die at the end of the series. That's because she's already dead, and has been dead since the end of "The Parting of the Ways."
We've already seen people carry on (as it were) once dead, without anyone realising it until afterwards-- Gwyneth in "The Unquiet Dead" and, more recently, Toby in "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit." A prescidence for life-after-death has thus been established in the new series universe.
Now, the forces of the time vortex were so powerful that the Doctor, who held them within for perhaps a minute, had to regenerate because of it. Yet Rose showed absolutely no sign of being affected by harbouring the vortex other than a slight memory loss. How could a mere Human (even an Oh-so-special one like Rose) do such a thing?
She could do it, because the moment Mickey got the control console top dislodged and she looked into the heart of the TARDIS, she died. Well, perhaps not so much "die" as "become one with the TARDIS." This merging of personalities explains much, about Rose's attitude and behaviour in series 2.
Throughout the current series, Rose has been arrogant, clinging, and desperate to keep Her Man (i.e. the Doctor) to herself. Actions of an immature young lady? Perhaps. Actions of an old time machine mixed up withe conflicting, untrained emotions of an immature young lady? More likely. The TARDIS has been with the Doctor since the beginning of his travels all those regenerations ago, and has witnessed what the Daleks can do many, many times over. So when becoming one with Rose, and realising exactly what the Doctor was up against, the TARDIS decided she had to be more proactive in protecting Her Doctor, and took over Rose physically. What better way to assure the Doctor's safety than to be able to follow him everywhere? As a time capsule, the TARDIS is limited to sitting around hoping Her Doctor returns. As Rose, though, she can go everywhere HE goes. She can also be more proactive by helping him, by rescuing him when he needs rescuing, etc. (Although the TARDIS-as-Rose gets almost too obesssed with protecting/saving the Doctor, especially from "Idiot's Lantern" on.)
The TARDIS had troubles adjusting to sharing a corporeal form at first, and let Rose take over. (That's why Rose was actually very Rose-like in "The Christmas Invasion.") By the time the Doctor and "Rose" are off to New Earth, though, the TARDIS has begun to feel more confident in both herself-as-Rose and in the stability of the Doctor's newest regeneration, so she begins to play a bit. Take the whole "we are not amused" bit from "Tooth and Claw"-- last series, Rose wouldn't have been so misbehaved in the face of royalty. The TARIDS, though, has truly been-there, done-that-- so of course would want to play around in time now that she could more easily do so.
The TARDIS doesn't want the Doctor to find out what happened, which is why "Rose" made such a big to-do about the alt-universe version of "her" parents in "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel," and fussed about Mickey coming along in the first place. (Mickey, knowing the old Rose well, would be able to tell if something was truly wrong.) All the domestic stuff in "The Impossible Planet"-- the bit about mortgages etc.-- was in part another smokescreen and in part a true desire for Her Doctor to settle down and Be Safe. The TARDIS has done a fine job of convincing the Doctor (and the audience) that Rose has become somewhat of a different person, but is still Rose.
So, given this theory, how do the following things fit in?
1) The "Army of Ghosts" episode page on the BBC site, and the phrase, "She's not Rose Tyler. Not anymore." This would be the Doctor realising finally about the merger.
2) The "Torchwood detects a ghost and a being with two hearts in the TARDIS" spolier One of two solutions here: either Rose (being effectively dead all series) is the ghost, or Jackie (being that her alt-self was upgraded) is the ghost and Rose (being effectively the corporal expression of the TARDIS all series) isn't detected at all.
3) Cassandra not noticing two minds in the one body, when she jumps into Rose in "New Earth." Oh, come on, Cassandra is so full of herself that she wouldn't notice if a school full of minds inhabited a body she took over.
In conclusion-- "Rose" can have a spectacular "death", and not be dead at all, just absorbed into the TARDIS. The Shipper Obsessives would be happy, because Rose was made Very Special For All Time. Billie Piper could then come back as a hologram or something in bits of series 3. And the Doctor won't have to spend all of the 2006 Christmas special mourning, because Rose hadn't really left or died or whatever.
(Still, might be a problem were he to shag the new companion-- unless he was into threesomes. And I'm sure there will be fanfic to that effect by the end of this month.)
Right. There you have it. And may I be proved woefully wrong!
Rose doesn't die at the end of the series. That's because she's already dead, and has been dead since the end of "The Parting of the Ways."
We've already seen people carry on (as it were) once dead, without anyone realising it until afterwards-- Gwyneth in "The Unquiet Dead" and, more recently, Toby in "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit." A prescidence for life-after-death has thus been established in the new series universe.
Now, the forces of the time vortex were so powerful that the Doctor, who held them within for perhaps a minute, had to regenerate because of it. Yet Rose showed absolutely no sign of being affected by harbouring the vortex other than a slight memory loss. How could a mere Human (even an Oh-so-special one like Rose) do such a thing?
She could do it, because the moment Mickey got the control console top dislodged and she looked into the heart of the TARDIS, she died. Well, perhaps not so much "die" as "become one with the TARDIS." This merging of personalities explains much, about Rose's attitude and behaviour in series 2.
Throughout the current series, Rose has been arrogant, clinging, and desperate to keep Her Man (i.e. the Doctor) to herself. Actions of an immature young lady? Perhaps. Actions of an old time machine mixed up withe conflicting, untrained emotions of an immature young lady? More likely. The TARDIS has been with the Doctor since the beginning of his travels all those regenerations ago, and has witnessed what the Daleks can do many, many times over. So when becoming one with Rose, and realising exactly what the Doctor was up against, the TARDIS decided she had to be more proactive in protecting Her Doctor, and took over Rose physically. What better way to assure the Doctor's safety than to be able to follow him everywhere? As a time capsule, the TARDIS is limited to sitting around hoping Her Doctor returns. As Rose, though, she can go everywhere HE goes. She can also be more proactive by helping him, by rescuing him when he needs rescuing, etc. (Although the TARDIS-as-Rose gets almost too obesssed with protecting/saving the Doctor, especially from "Idiot's Lantern" on.)
The TARDIS had troubles adjusting to sharing a corporeal form at first, and let Rose take over. (That's why Rose was actually very Rose-like in "The Christmas Invasion.") By the time the Doctor and "Rose" are off to New Earth, though, the TARDIS has begun to feel more confident in both herself-as-Rose and in the stability of the Doctor's newest regeneration, so she begins to play a bit. Take the whole "we are not amused" bit from "Tooth and Claw"-- last series, Rose wouldn't have been so misbehaved in the face of royalty. The TARIDS, though, has truly been-there, done-that-- so of course would want to play around in time now that she could more easily do so.
The TARDIS doesn't want the Doctor to find out what happened, which is why "Rose" made such a big to-do about the alt-universe version of "her" parents in "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel," and fussed about Mickey coming along in the first place. (Mickey, knowing the old Rose well, would be able to tell if something was truly wrong.) All the domestic stuff in "The Impossible Planet"-- the bit about mortgages etc.-- was in part another smokescreen and in part a true desire for Her Doctor to settle down and Be Safe. The TARDIS has done a fine job of convincing the Doctor (and the audience) that Rose has become somewhat of a different person, but is still Rose.
So, given this theory, how do the following things fit in?
1) The "Army of Ghosts" episode page on the BBC site, and the phrase, "She's not Rose Tyler. Not anymore." This would be the Doctor realising finally about the merger.
2) The "Torchwood detects a ghost and a being with two hearts in the TARDIS" spolier One of two solutions here: either Rose (being effectively dead all series) is the ghost, or Jackie (being that her alt-self was upgraded) is the ghost and Rose (being effectively the corporal expression of the TARDIS all series) isn't detected at all.
3) Cassandra not noticing two minds in the one body, when she jumps into Rose in "New Earth." Oh, come on, Cassandra is so full of herself that she wouldn't notice if a school full of minds inhabited a body she took over.
In conclusion-- "Rose" can have a spectacular "death", and not be dead at all, just absorbed into the TARDIS. The Shipper Obsessives would be happy, because Rose was made Very Special For All Time. Billie Piper could then come back as a hologram or something in bits of series 3. And the Doctor won't have to spend all of the 2006 Christmas special mourning, because Rose hadn't really left or died or whatever.
(Still, might be a problem were he to shag the new companion-- unless he was into threesomes. And I'm sure there will be fanfic to that effect by the end of this month.)
Right. There you have it. And may I be proved woefully wrong!