View source for The Doctor's mother

{{Infobox Individual
|image = The Doctor's mother Talent Scout.jpg
|species = Human
|species2 = Time Lord
|origin = 
|partner = The Doctor's father
|child = The Doctor
|first mention = The Twin Dilemma (novelisation)
|first = The Room With No Doors (novel)
|appearances = {{il|[[PROSE]]: ''[[The Gallifrey Chronicles (novel)|The Gallifrey Chronicles]]''|[[PROSE]]: ''[[A Big Hand for the Doctor (short story)|A Big Hand for the Doctor]]''|[[COMIC]]: ''[[The Comfort of the Good (comic story)|The Comfort of the Good]]''}}
}}
According to several accounts, [[the Doctor]] remembered having '''a mother''', although her identity varied between accounts.

The [[Eighth Doctor]] remembered that his mother was a [[human]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Doctor Who (TV story)|Doctor Who]]'', et al.) named [[Penelope Gate]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'', ''[[The Gallifrey Chronicles (novel)|The Gallifrey Chronicles]]'') At other times, the Doctor remembered that she was a [[Time Lord]] ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Comfort of the Good (comic story)|The Comfort of the Good]]'') or that rather than having parents on [[Gallifrey]] at all, the Doctor had either been born from the [[loom]] of the [[House of Lungbarrow]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'', ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'') or arrived as the [[Timeless Child]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Timeless Children (TV story)|The Timeless Children]]'') and considered [[Tecteun]] their mother. ([[TV]]: ''[[Survivors of the Flux (TV story)|Survivors of the Flux]]'')

If the Doctor's mother did exist, the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] believed her and the rest of her family to be dead, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)|The Woman Who Fell to Earth]]'') even after learning Gallifrey had not been lost in the [[Last Great Time War]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')

== Biography ==
=== Penelope Gate ===
{{main|Penelope Gate}}
[[Penelope Gate]] was an [[inventor]] from [[Victorian era]] [[England]]. She invented a [[time machine]] and travelled to [[1996]], where she was joined by [[Joel Mintz]]; later, the [[Seventh Doctor]] and [[Chris Cwej]] met her in [[16th century]] [[Japan]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Room With No Doors (novel)|The Room With No Doors]]'')

Later, she met the Time Lord [[Ulysses]], and they were married. They had a child, [[the Doctor]], although they kept his [[hybrid]] nature secret from the High Council. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Gallifrey Chronicles (novel)|The Gallifrey Chronicles]]'')

When the Doctor was young, his parents went on a trek in the mountains with him. They owned a summer house on the other side of [[Kasterborous]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'')

The Doctor said that his mother used to sing the [[Zagreus]] nursery rhyme to him. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Seasons of Fear (audio story)|Seasons of Fear]]'') When the Doctor was just a "small child", the Doctor's mother sat by the side of his bed and told him the story of [[Grandfather Paradox]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Gallifrey Chronicles (novel)|The Gallifrey Chronicles]]'')

The Eighth Doctor relived a memory from his [[First Doctor|first incarnation]] where his mother watched [[The Doctor's father|his father]] hold him up as a child to see the stars. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Eight Doctors (novel)|The Eight Doctors]]'')

The Doctor often remembered her long, red hair across his incarnations, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Big Hand for the Doctor (short story)|A Big Hand for the Doctor]]'', ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'', ''[[The Gallifrey Chronicles (novel)|The Gallifrey Chronicles]]'') and the Eighth Doctor often alluded to being half-human "on his mother's side".  ([[TV]]: ''[[Doctor Who (TV story)|Doctor Who]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Alien Bodies (novel)|Alien Bodies]]'', ''[[Grimm Reality (novel)|Grimm Reality]]'', ''[[Unnatural History (novel)|Unnatural History]]'', ''[[The Shadows of Avalon (novel)|The Shadows of Avalon]]'')

=== Time Lord ===
[[File:DW End of Time - The Woman.png|thumb|left|[[The Woman (The End of Time)|The woman]] reveals her face to the [[Tenth Doctor]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]'')]]
By another account, the Doctor's mother was a [[Time Lord]] who wore [[Time Lord robes]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Comfort of the Good (comic story)|The Comfort of the Good]]'') Indeed, [[Peinforte]] believed that the idea of the Doctor's mother being human had been "disregarded" after reading through [[TARDIS Wiki]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lady Peinforte (short story)|Lady Peinforte]]'')

The [[Tenth Doctor]] saw [[The Woman (The End of Time)|a similar-looking woman]] kneeling next to [[Rassilon]]; she made eye contact with the Doctor before he sent Gallifrey back into the [[Last Great Time War|Time War]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]'') Later on post-War Gallifrey, [[The Woman (Hell Bent)|an elderly woman]] entered [[Barn (The Day of the Doctor)|a barn connected to the Doctor]] and saw the [[Twelfth Doctor]], whom she quickly recognized as the Doctor and showed concern for. ([[TV]]: ''[[Hell Bent (TV story)|Hell Bent]]'')

=== Tecteun ===
By one account, [[Tecteun]] was the Doctor's adoptive mother, taking up this role after discovering them as a [[Timeless Child|lost child]], waiting alone by a [[wormhole]] to [[Universe Two|a second universe]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Timeless Children (TV story)|The Timeless Children]]'', ''[[Survivors of the Flux (TV story)|Survivors of the Flux]]'') The Doctor called her Mother, though Tecteun regarded them as an [[experiment]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Survivors of the Flux (TV story)|Survivors of the Flux]]'') having used the Doctor as a template for [[regeneration]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Timeless Children (TV story)|The Timeless Children]]'') She held little regard for the Doctor once they escaped her grasp, and felt the Doctor's travels came in the way of [[the Division]]'s designs. ([[TV]]: ''[[Survivors of the Flux (TV story)|Survivors of the Flux]]'')

On discovering all this, the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] was angry with [[Tecteun (Once, Upon Time)|Tecteun]] for having "stolen" her, since neither could be certain what the Doctor had been doing where they were found. The Doctor felt she had been ripped from her history, deprived of the life she might have lived. ([[TV]]: ''[[Survivors of the Flux (TV story)|Survivors of the Flux]]'')

=== Other options ===
According to many sources, the Doctor was born without natural parents from the [[Loom]] of the [[House of Lungbarrow]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible (novel)|Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible]]'', ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'', et al.) as a [[reincarnation]] of [[the Other]], an ancient [[Founders of Gallifrey|founder of Gallifrey]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (novelisation)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'', ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'') The Other may have been a [[Victorian era|Victorian]] [[inventor]] remembered by [[John Smith (Seventh Doctor)|John Smith]] in "[[The Old Man and the Police Box]]"; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]'') alternately, [[Leela]] named [[Leela and Andred's first child|her half-human child]] after [[the Doctor's name|the Doctor]], who demonstrated the ability to travel into Gallifrey's past to rescue the Other's granddaughter, [[Susan]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'')

In the [[Obverse]], the Doctor's mother was a [[mermaid]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Blue Angel (novel)|The Blue Angel]]'') named [[Magda (The Dreadful Flap)|Magda]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dreadful Flap (short story)|The Dreadful Flap]]'')

In [[Barusa's universe]], while [[Ulysses (Barusa's universe)|Ulysses]] was [[The Doctor (Barusa's universe)|The Doctor]]'s father, his human mother was a "simple peasant girl" called [[Annalisse]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Chronicles of Doctor Who? (short story)|The Chronicles of Doctor Who?]]'')

== References ==
[[Maris]]' [[potential engine]] gave several different origins for the Doctor. In one of them he had a Time Lord father and a human mother. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Celestial Intervention - A Gallifreyan Noir (short story)|Celestial Intervention - A Gallifreyan Noir]]'')

The [[First Doctor]] once had a hallucination of his mother stroking his hair and asking him to tell her about his adventures. He thought to himself that she was as beautiful as ever. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Big Hand for the Doctor (short story)|A Big Hand for the Doctor]]'')

The [[Sixth Doctor]] told [[Peri Brown|Peri]] that his mother told him that babies were delivered by [[stork]]s. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Twin Dilemma (novelisation)|The Twin Dilemma]]'')

The Eighth Doctor said that he couldn't remember if he had a mother "or" if he was loomed, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Shadows of Avalon (novel)|The Shadows of Avalon]]'') among other possibilities. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Bafflement and Devotion (short story)|Bafflement and Devotion]]'') After an incident on this [[planet]] [[Iptheus]] in which his [[companion]] [[Bliss]] was fed the dangerous false [[food]] substitute [[ichor]], the Doctor gave her real food and claimed it was made from his mother's [[recipe]] and would put [[hair]] on your chest. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Famished Lands (audio story)|The Famished Lands]]'')

The sentient [[quantum field]] of the planet [[Albert (planet)|Albert]] told the [[Eighth Doctor]] that there was a reality where he knew his mother's voice. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Grimm Reality (novel)|Grimm Reality]]'') In an [[alternate timeline (The Infinity Doctors)|abnormal state of history]], the [[Infinity Doctor]] could remember that his mother's name was [[Penelope Gate|Penelope]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'')

Ultimately, the Doctor chose to think of the universe as his [[foster family]], after his parents "decided to opt out of their responsibilities." ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Beltempest (novel)|Beltempest]]'')

The [[Talent Scout]] took on the appearance of the Doctor's mother from [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]]'s databanks. The [[Eleventh Doctor]] referred to her form as a "petty cruelty". ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Comfort of the Good (comic story)|The Comfort of the Good]]'')

[[River Song]] was unsure if the Doctor had a mother. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[My Dinner with Andrew (audio story)|My Dinner with Andrew]]'')

When the Eighth Doctor told the {{Fonda}} that he was unsure if he had a mother, ''[[Doctor Who: The Novelisation of the Hit TV Movie]]'' was cited. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Bafflement and Devotion (short story)|Bafflement and Devotion]]'')

The [[Thirteenth Doctor]] stated that her entire family had died a long time prior to her [[regeneration]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)|The Woman Who Fell to Earth]]'')

== Appearance ==
The [[First Doctor]] remembered his mother having [[red]] [[hair]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Big Hand for the Doctor (short story)|A Big Hand for the Doctor]]'') The [[Eighth Doctor]] also remembered that his mother had long red hair, and a cut-glass voice; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Gallifrey Chronicles (novel)|The Gallifrey Chronicles]]'') according to him, she resembled the [[Romana III|third incarnation of Romana]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Ancestor Cell (novel)|The Ancestor Cell]]'') At some point in life the Doctor's mother had grey hair. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Comfort of the Good (comic story)|The Comfort of the Good]]'')

== Behind the scenes ==
* [[Russell T Davies]] intended for [[The Woman (The End of Time)|the unnamed woman]] in ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]'' to be the Doctor's mother. However, he left it up to fan interpretation.<ref>March 2009 email printed in ''[[The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter]]'', pages 622-623</ref>
[[File:The Woman Hell Bent.jpg|thumb|right|[[The Woman (Hell Bent)|The woman]] greets the [[Twelfth Doctor]] on Gallifrey. ([[TV]]: ''[[Hell Bent (TV story)|Hell Bent]]'')]]
* [[Steven Moffat]], the showrunner during the [[Series 9 (Doctor Who 2005)|ninth series]], has said that he has "no idea" who [[the Woman (Hell Bent)|the woman]] in ''[[Hell Bent (TV story)|Hell Bent]]'' is supposed to be, and leaves it to fans to decide whether they want her to be the Doctor's mother or [[The Woman (The End of Time)|the woman]] from ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]''.
* [[Marc Platt]] stated that in ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'', he intended [[Leela and Andred's first child]] to be [[the Doctor]] (or, rather, [[the Other]], who would one day be reincarnated as the Doctor), making [[Leela]], in one sense, the Doctor's mother.<ref>"The Fall of the House of Gold Usher", [[DWM 305]]</ref>

== Footnotes ==
{{reflist}}
{{The Doctor's family}}
{{TitleSort}}
[[Category:Relatives of the Doctor]]
[[Category:Individual Time Lords]]
[[Category:Individuals with unknown names]]
[[Category:Humans from unknown eras]]
[[Category:Human biological mothers]]
[[Category:Residents of Gallifrey]]