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{{wikipediainfo}}
{{ImageLink}}
{{Infobox Individual
{{Infobox Individual
|alias=
|image           = Mary Shelley.jpg
|image=  
|species         = Human
|species=Human
|origin           = [[England]]
|origin=[[Earth]]
|alias            = Mary Godwin
|first=The Creative Spark (comic story)
|father          = William Godwin
|appearances= [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Mary's Story (audio story)|Mary's Story]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Silver Turk (audio story)|The Silver Turk]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Witch from the Well (audio story)|The Witch from the Well]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Army of Death (audio story)|Army of Death]]''
|mother          = Mary Wollstonecraft
|actor= Julie Cox}}'''Mary Shelley''' was a [[19th century]] [[English]] writer who pioneered what later became known as [[science fiction]], composing the science-based horror story ''[[Frankenstein|Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus]]'', and the future history ''[[The Last Man]]''. Shelley's circle of friends included poet [[Byron (Mary's Story)|Lord Byron]] and [[John Polidori]], who was one of the first to write about vampires. She was married to Byron's close friend and fellow Romantic poet [[Percy Shelley]].
|spouse          = Percy Shelley
|child            = William Shelley
|sister          = Claire Clairmont
|first mention cs = Managra (novel)
|first cs        = The Creative Spark (comic story)
|appearances     = {{appears}}
|voice actor      = Julie Cox
|main actor      = Lili Miller
|clip            = "That is a Lone Cyberman..." The Haunting of Villa Diodati Doctor Who Series 12
|bts              = Meet Mary Shelley and Lord Byron The Haunting of Villa Diodati Doctor Who Series 12
|leitmotif        = https://soundcloud.com/foolcircle/mary-shelleys-theme-from-doctor-who-army-of-death
|leitmotif name  = Mary Shelley's Theme
}}{{dab page|Shelley}}
'''Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley''' (née '''Godwin''') was a [[19th century]] [[English]] writer who pioneered what later became known as [[science fiction]], composing the science-based horror story ''[[Frankenstein|Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus]]'', and the future history ''[[The Last Man]]''. Shelley's circle of friends included poet [[George Gordon Byron|Lord Byron]] and [[John Polidori]], who was one of the first to write about vampires. She was married to Byron's close friend and fellow Romantic poet [[Percy Shelley]].
 
She was also, by some accounts, a companion of the [[Eighth Doctor]] or an acquaintance of the [[Thirteenth Doctor]].


== Biography ==
== Biography ==
The [[Eighth Doctor]] mentioned that he and Professor [[Salyavin|Chronotis]] spent time near Lake Geneva with Mary and Byron. ([[WC]]: ''[[Shada (webcast)|Shada]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Shada (audio story)|Shada]]'')  
=== Early life ===
Mary Shelley was born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin ([[TV]]: ''[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)|The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]'') in the year [[1797]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Silver Turk (audio story)|The Silver Turk]]'') Her father, [[William Godwin]], wrote the book ''[[Caleb Williams]]''. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Book of the War (novel)|The Book of the War]]'')
 
She had a stepsister named [[Claire Clairmont]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Mary's Story (audio story)|Mary's Story]]'', [[TV]]: ''[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)|The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]'')
 
When Mary was 16, Percy Shelley abandoned his [[Percy Shelley's wife|wife]] and [[Percy Shelley's child|child]] for her. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Mary's Story (audio story)|Mary's Story]]'')
 
By [[June]] [[1816]], Mary had a [[Mary Shelley's child|child]] ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Witch from the Well (audio story)|The Witch from the Well]]'') named William. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)|The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]'')
 
=== At Villa Diodati ===
In the [[summer]] of [[1816]], ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Storm Warning (audio story)|Storm Warning]]'') Mary left her [[Bishopsgate]] home in [[Windsor]], [[England]] ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Silver Turk (audio story)|The Silver Turk]]'') and travelled to [[Switzerland]], ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Mary's Story (audio story)}}) where Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, John Polidori, Claire Clairmont and she stayed at [[Villa Diodati]] near [[Lake Geneva]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Mary's Story (audio story)}}, [[TV]]: ''[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)|The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]'') She and Percy also stayed in a [[chalet]] named [[Maison Chapuis]], located on the shore of Lake Geneva. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)|The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]'') Despite not being married to Percy yet, Mary still went by Mrs Shelley at the time ([[TV]]: ''[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)|The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]'') and the pair referred to each other as husband and wife. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Mary's Story (audio story)}})
 
The [[Eighth Doctor]] mentioned that he and [[Chronotis|Professor Chronotis]] spent time near Lake Geneva with Mary and Byron. ([[WC]]: ''[[Shada (webcast)|Shada]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Shada (audio story)|Shada]]'')
 
As she would later recount in her [[foreword]] to ''Frankenstein'' (edition [[1831]]), the incessant [[rain]] of this particular summer drew them away from the [[lake]] and kept them indoors, at Lord Byron's house, for days. Whilst reading [[ghost story|ghost stories]] together, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Mary's Story (audio story)}}) Byron challenged Mary, Polidori and Percy to each write a ghost story of their own. ([[AUDIO]]: '' [[Mary's Story (audio story)|Mary's Story]]'', [[TV]]: ''[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)|The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]'')
 
[[File:Company of Friends art.jpg|thumb|Mary Shelley encounters the Eighth Doctor.  ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Mary's Story (audio story)}})]]
Though Mary's account said that there were only four individuals present during the ghost story competition, the Eighth Doctor knew this was untrue. The Doctor wished she had been able to tell the ''real'' story of what had taken place ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Storm Warning (audio story)|Storm Warning]]'') at Villa Diodati. In June 1816, at the villa, the 18-year-old Mary encountered two versions of the Eighth Doctor simultaneously. The older of the two versions introduced himself as [[Aliases of the Doctor|Dr Frankenstein]]. When this older version appeared to have died Percy suggested to make an experiment with lightning on the Doctor's body, modelled after the experiments of signor [[Galvani]] on [[frog]]s. During the experiment, Percy called himself "the modern Prometheus". This experience, as well as Mary's later travels with the Doctor, must have influenced her science-based horror story ''Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus''. After the younger version of the Doctor has helped the older one to recover, Mary left her future husband and their friends and spent years travelling with the younger version of the Doctor. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Mary's Story (audio story)}})
 
By another account, while writing her story, Mary saw anomalous [[lightning]] out the window and left the lodge to investigate. Despite the [[Tenth Doctor]]'s attempt to save her, she was attacked by [[Zzazik]] and fainted. The Doctor didn't recognise her face, but after she awoke, she wrote ''The Modern Prometheus''. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Creative Spark (comic story)|The Creative Spark]]'')


In [[June]] [[1816]], Mary encountered the Eighth Doctor and witnessed him apparently coming back to life after being dead, providing inspiration for ''Frankenstein.'' Mary then left with the Doctor and travelled with him for an unknown period of time. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Mary's Story (audio story)|Mary's Story]]'')
[[File:Mary and her Monster (THOVD).jpg|thumb|left|Mary tries to reason with [[Ashad]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)|The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]'')]]
By a third account, the night of the contest, the [[Thirteenth Doctor]], [[Yasmin Khan]], [[Ryan Sinclair]] and [[Graham O'Brien]] knocked on the door, seeking shelter from the rain. This led to an encounter with [[Ashad]], the Lone Cyberman. Mary wondered if Ashad was a composite of multiple men and referred to his creators as a "Modern [[Prometheus (figure)|Prometheus]]". Even though he threatened them, she appealed to him out of genuine compassion. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)|The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]'')


Hours after leaving Lake Geneva, the Doctor took Mary to [[Vienna]] on [[11 September]] [[1873]], where they encountered two [[Cyberman (Mondas)|Cybermen]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Silver Turk (audio story)|The Silver Turk]]'')
=== Travels in the TARDIS ===
From Lake Geneva, the Eighth Doctor took Mary to [[Vienna]] on [[11 September]] [[1873]], where they encountered two [[Cyberman|Cybermen]] from [[Mondas]]. Mary showed great courage defending her friends from a throng of [[Marionettenburg]] puppets with a poker. She also initially took pity on the Cybermen, who were badly damaged and malformed as the result of the crash-landing of their spacecraft. She almost befriended one of them, [[Gramm]], and found a way to partially repair their damage using [[Galvani]]c lightning. However, when Gramm threatened to kill her, she managed to thwart its plan to contact Mondas by destroying [[the Doctor's sonic screwdriver]], the only suitable power source for a transmitter. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Silver Turk (audio story)|The Silver Turk]]'')


She later visited Lincolnshire in [[2011]] and in the [[1650s]], where she encountered some Varaxyls who were looking for a human who could channel Odic energy. She also met [[Aleister Portillon]] who was obsessed with Lord Byron and had a biography on Mary herself. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Witch from the Well (audio story)|The Witch From the Well]]'')
[[File:Mary Witch from the Well.jpg|right|thumb|Mary during her travels with the [[Eighth Doctor]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Witch from the Well (audio story)|The Witch from the Well]]'')]]
She later visited Lincolnshire in [[2011]] and in the [[1650s]], where she encountered some [[Varaxil]]s who were looking for a human who could channel [[Odic energy]]. She also met [[Aleister Portillon]] who was obsessed with Lord Byron and had a biography of Mary herself. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Witch from the Well (audio story)|The Witch From the Well]]'')


During her travels with the Doctor, Mary met [[Axos|Axons]] and [[Harold Godwinson|King Harold]] at the [[Battle of Hastings]] on [[14 October]] [[1066]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Mary's Story (audio story)|Mary's Story]]'')
During her travels with the Doctor, Mary met [[Axos|Axons]] and [[Harold Godwinson|King Harold]] at the [[Battle of Hastings]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Mary's Story (audio story)|Mary's Story]]'')


Another adventure with Mary involved her believing someone to be her brother, until the Doctor had pointed out that it was not. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Neverland (audio story)|Neverland]]'')
Another adventure with Mary involved her believing someone to be her brother until the Doctor had pointed out that it was not. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Neverland (audio story)|Neverland]]'')


After her encounter with the [[Bone Lord]], Mary decided to leave the Doctor's company, as she feared his other companion: death. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Army of Death (audio story)|Army of Death]]'')
After her encounter with the [[Bone Lord]], Mary decided to leave the Doctor's company, as she feared his other companion: death. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Army of Death (audio story)|Army of Death]]'')


Also in 1816, Mary encountered the [[Tenth Doctor]] as [[Zzazik]], an alien creature wrapped in bandages, was absorbing bolts of energy. This sight provided Mary with inspiration for a scene in ''Frankenstein''. The Doctor mentioned that she looked familiar, but did not comment further. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Creative Spark (comic story)|The Creative Spark]]'')
=== Later life ===
Also in 1816, Mary encountered the [[Tenth Doctor]] when [[Zzazik]], an alien creature wrapped in bandages, was absorbing bolts of energy. This sight provided Mary with inspiration for a scene in ''Frankenstein''. The Doctor mentioned that she looked familiar, but did not comment further. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Creative Spark (comic story)|The Creative Spark]]'')
 
After the publishing of ''[[Frankenstein]]'', Shelley reflected on her [[summer]] in [[Geneva]] when she met "[[Thirteenth Doctor|Mrs Doctor]] and [[Team TARDIS|her eccentric entourage]]... and that monstrous [[Ashad|Cyber-Man]]", pondering if she still would have been inspired to write her story if it weren't for that encounter; Shelley felt "[[history-proofing|as though [she had] another life not lived]], where things would have been the same, and yet different..." ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Loose Ends 3: The Regency (short story)}})
 
In [[1822]], Mary was widowed when her husband Percy drowned after his [[schooner]] sank off the coast of [[Italy]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Managra (novel)|Managra]]'') She continued writing to support herself, and eventually died in [[1851]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[History's Finest (short story)|History's Finest]]'')
 
[[Medium]] [[Cornelia Lively]] claimed that Mary Shelley's spirt had inspired some of her published works. However, [[Cassandra (Mystery Lady)|Cassandra]] was aware that these claims were fraudulent and the real spirt of Mary Shelley wasn't happy. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Mystery Lady (audio story)|Mystery Lady]]'')
 
=== Legacy ===
The Eighth Doctor had a copy of Shelley's ''[[Frankenstein]]'' in his [[TARDIS library]], inscribed to him by her, implying that the two remained on good terms after her departure from the TARDIS. The Doctor read the preface aloud and mentioned that what Mary wrote wasn't the entire truth about what happened. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Storm Warning (audio story)|Storm Warning]]'')
 
The [[Twelfth Doctor]] saw Mary, among other companions, when [[Bernice Summerfield]] was hit by temporal energy in the [[Pyramid Eternia]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Big Bang Generation (novel)|Big Bang Generation]]'')


:''The chronological order of Mary's encounters with the Doctor in 1816 from her point of view is not known.''
== Personality ==
Mary was amazed by time travel and easily accepted the fact [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] translated foreign languages. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Silver Turk (audio story)|The Silver Turk]]'')


In [[1822]], Mary was widowed when her husband Percy drowned after his [[schooner]] sank off the coast of [[Italy]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Managra (novel)|Managra]]'')
Mary proved capable of so much compassion. She felt sorry for the deteriorated forms of [[Cybermen]]. She almost befriended [[Gramm]], ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Silver Turk (audio story)|The Silver Turk]]'') and appealed to [[Ashad]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)|The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]'') She also felt sorry for the future version of the Doctor . ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Mary's Story (audio story)|Mary's Story]]'')


The Eighth Doctor had a copy of Shelley's ''[[Frankenstein]]'' in his [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] library, inscribed to him by her. The Doctor read the preface aloud, and mentioned that what Mary wrote wasn't the entire truth about what happened. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Storm Warning (audio story)|Storm Warning]]'')
In danger, Mary proved very courageous. She protected her friends from a throng of [[Marionettenburg]] puppets with a poker. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Silver Turk (audio story)|The Silver Turk]]'')
 
== Appearance ==
Mary had [[hazel]] [[eye]]s, flecked with [[green]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Silver Turk (audio story)|The Silver Turk]]'')


== Other information ==
== Other information ==
[[Mary Shelley (Reprise)|A Reprise]] of Shelley lived in [[Europa]] and fought alongside the [[Fourth Doctor]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Managra (novel)|Managra]]'')
* A [[Mary Shelley (Reprise)|Reprise]] of Shelley lived in [[Europa (Managra)|Europa]] and fought alongside the [[Fourth Doctor]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Managra (novel)|Managra]]'')
Mary started developing feelings towards the [[Eighth Doctor]].
* A [[Mary Shelley (puppet)|wooden puppet]] of Shelley was created in [[Vienna]] in [[1873]] using [[Cyber-Technology]] and promptly destroyed by the Eighth Doctor. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Silver Turk (audio story)|The Silver Turk]]'')


== Behind the scenes ==
== Behind the scenes ==
* A few years after writing ''Frankenstein'', Shelley wrote a little known science fiction novel called ''The Last Man'', which takes place at the end of the 21st century. In the context of the Whoniverse, and the recent revelation that she travelled with the Doctor, it is possible that her writing of this book (and, possibly, of ''Frankenstein'') may have been influenced by her experiences with the Doctor. The prologue of ''The Last Man'' even includes a story of the author and her unnamed travelling companion and cites this adventure as the inspiration for the novel.
* A few years after writing ''Frankenstein'', Shelley wrote a little-known science fiction novel called ''The Last Man'', which takes place at the end of the 21st century. In the context of the [[Doctor Who universe|''Doctor Who'' universe]], and the fact that she travelled with the Eighth Doctor, it is possible that her writing of this book may have been influenced by her experiences with the Doctor. The prologue of ''The Last Man'' even includes a story of the author and her unnamed travelling companion and cites this adventure as the inspiration for the novel.
* Although Percy and Mary Shelley were depicted as husband and wife in [[June]] [[1816]] in the audio story ''[[Mary's Story]]'', they did not actually get married until 30 December of that year.
* ''[[Mary Shelley's Monstrous Mashups (game)|Mary Shelley's Monstrous Mashups]]'', a narrative game in ''[[Doctor Who The Official Annual 2021]]'', had Mary refer to having witnessed "many horrors" in her life, in an apparent reference to her status as a [[companion]] of the Doctor, although its usage of Mary was primarily based on [[TV]]: ''[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)|The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]''.
* Mary and Percy Shelley got married only on 30 December 1816.
* ''[[Return of the Cybermen (audio story)|Return of the Cybermen]]'' originally sought to explain the continuity disparities between Shelley's [[Big Finish Productions|Big Finish]] tenure as a companion of the Eighth Doctor, and ''The Haunting of Villa Diodati'' which contradicts that depiction. In the scene, the [[Fourth Doctor]] is warned that his timeline is being rewritten by the fallout of ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]'' and the [[Last Great Time War]]. The [[Time Lord messenger (Genesis of the Daleks)|Time Lord messenger]] foresees, among other things, "A famous author travels with you, then she doesn't". However, this ending was cut from the script and not recorded.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://twitter.com/MrJohnDorney/status/1319930958179696640/
|title=Very, very silly...
|author=[[John Dorney]]
|website name=[[Twitter]]
|date of source=24 October
|year of source=2020
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024091738/https://twitter.com/MrJohnDorney/status/1319930958179696640/
|archivedate=24 October 2020
|accessmonthday=2 March
|accessyear=2024
}}</ref>
** Furthermore, the character profile for Mary Shelley on [[doctorwho.tv]] recognises Shelley's status as a companion to the Eighth Doctor — breaking the norm for the profiles' typical television-centric perspective — and reconciles the stories by stating that the events of the audio dramas happened in an [[alternate timeline]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.doctorwho.tv/characters/mary-shelley
|title=Mary Shelley
|website name=[[doctorwho.tv]]
|publisher=BBC Studios
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526153638/https://www.doctorwho.tv/characters/mary-shelley
|archivedate=26 May 2022
|accessmonthday=2 March
|accessyear=2024
}}</ref>


{{Companions of the Eighth Doctor}}  
== Footnotes ==
{{reflist}}
 
{{Mary Shelley}}
{{Companions of the Eighth Doctor}}
{{NameSort}}
{{NameSort}}
{{ImageLink}}
{{wikipediainfo}}
[[Category:Companions of the Doctor]]
[[Category:Companions of the Doctor]]
[[Category:19th century individuals]]
[[Category:19th century individuals]]
[[Category:Eighth Doctor companions]]
[[Category:Human Eighth Doctor companions]]
[[Category:Writers from the real world]]
[[Category:Writers from the real world]]
[[Category:Human parents]]
[[Category:Human time travellers]]
[[Category:Real world people encountered by the Eighth Doctor]]
[[Category:Humans who have been inside the Doctor's TARDIS]]
[[Category:Science fiction writers]]
[[Category:18th century individuals]]
[[Category:Human biological mothers]]
[[Category:Cloned humans]]
[[Category:People from the real world encountered by the Eighth Doctor]]
[[Category:People from the real world encountered by the Thirteenth Doctor]]
[[Category:Individual ghosts]]

Latest revision as of 00:39, 22 October 2024

Mary Shelley
You may wish to consult Shelley for other, similarly-named pages.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (née Godwin) was a 19th century English writer who pioneered what later became known as science fiction, composing the science-based horror story Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, and the future history The Last Man. Shelley's circle of friends included poet Lord Byron and John Polidori, who was one of the first to write about vampires. She was married to Byron's close friend and fellow Romantic poet Percy Shelley.

She was also, by some accounts, a companion of the Eighth Doctor or an acquaintance of the Thirteenth Doctor.

Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]

Early life[[edit] | [edit source]]

Mary Shelley was born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati) in the year 1797. (AUDIO: The Silver Turk) Her father, William Godwin, wrote the book Caleb Williams. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

She had a stepsister named Claire Clairmont. (AUDIO: Mary's Story, TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati)

When Mary was 16, Percy Shelley abandoned his wife and child for her. (AUDIO: Mary's Story)

By June 1816, Mary had a child (AUDIO: The Witch from the Well) named William. (TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati)

At Villa Diodati[[edit] | [edit source]]

In the summer of 1816, (AUDIO: Storm Warning) Mary left her Bishopsgate home in Windsor, England (AUDIO: The Silver Turk) and travelled to Switzerland, (AUDIO: Mary's Story [+]Loading...["Mary's Story (audio story)"]) where Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, John Polidori, Claire Clairmont and she stayed at Villa Diodati near Lake Geneva. (AUDIO: Mary's Story [+]Loading...["Mary's Story (audio story)"], TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati) She and Percy also stayed in a chalet named Maison Chapuis, located on the shore of Lake Geneva. (TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati) Despite not being married to Percy yet, Mary still went by Mrs Shelley at the time (TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati) and the pair referred to each other as husband and wife. (AUDIO: Mary's Story [+]Loading...["Mary's Story (audio story)"])

The Eighth Doctor mentioned that he and Professor Chronotis spent time near Lake Geneva with Mary and Byron. (WC: Shada, AUDIO: Shada)

As she would later recount in her foreword to Frankenstein (edition 1831), the incessant rain of this particular summer drew them away from the lake and kept them indoors, at Lord Byron's house, for days. Whilst reading ghost stories together, (AUDIO: Mary's Story [+]Loading...["Mary's Story (audio story)"]) Byron challenged Mary, Polidori and Percy to each write a ghost story of their own. (AUDIO: Mary's Story, TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati)

Mary Shelley encounters the Eighth Doctor. (AUDIO: Mary's Story [+]Loading...["Mary's Story (audio story)"])

Though Mary's account said that there were only four individuals present during the ghost story competition, the Eighth Doctor knew this was untrue. The Doctor wished she had been able to tell the real story of what had taken place (AUDIO: Storm Warning) at Villa Diodati. In June 1816, at the villa, the 18-year-old Mary encountered two versions of the Eighth Doctor simultaneously. The older of the two versions introduced himself as Dr Frankenstein. When this older version appeared to have died Percy suggested to make an experiment with lightning on the Doctor's body, modelled after the experiments of signor Galvani on frogs. During the experiment, Percy called himself "the modern Prometheus". This experience, as well as Mary's later travels with the Doctor, must have influenced her science-based horror story Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. After the younger version of the Doctor has helped the older one to recover, Mary left her future husband and their friends and spent years travelling with the younger version of the Doctor. (AUDIO: Mary's Story [+]Loading...["Mary's Story (audio story)"])

By another account, while writing her story, Mary saw anomalous lightning out the window and left the lodge to investigate. Despite the Tenth Doctor's attempt to save her, she was attacked by Zzazik and fainted. The Doctor didn't recognise her face, but after she awoke, she wrote The Modern Prometheus. (COMIC: The Creative Spark)

Mary tries to reason with Ashad. (TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati)

By a third account, the night of the contest, the Thirteenth Doctor, Yasmin Khan, Ryan Sinclair and Graham O'Brien knocked on the door, seeking shelter from the rain. This led to an encounter with Ashad, the Lone Cyberman. Mary wondered if Ashad was a composite of multiple men and referred to his creators as a "Modern Prometheus". Even though he threatened them, she appealed to him out of genuine compassion. (TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati)

Travels in the TARDIS[[edit] | [edit source]]

From Lake Geneva, the Eighth Doctor took Mary to Vienna on 11 September 1873, where they encountered two Cybermen from Mondas. Mary showed great courage defending her friends from a throng of Marionettenburg puppets with a poker. She also initially took pity on the Cybermen, who were badly damaged and malformed as the result of the crash-landing of their spacecraft. She almost befriended one of them, Gramm, and found a way to partially repair their damage using Galvanic lightning. However, when Gramm threatened to kill her, she managed to thwart its plan to contact Mondas by destroying the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, the only suitable power source for a transmitter. (AUDIO: The Silver Turk)

Mary during her travels with the Eighth Doctor. (AUDIO: The Witch from the Well)

She later visited Lincolnshire in 2011 and in the 1650s, where she encountered some Varaxils who were looking for a human who could channel Odic energy. She also met Aleister Portillon who was obsessed with Lord Byron and had a biography of Mary herself. (AUDIO: The Witch From the Well)

During her travels with the Doctor, Mary met Axons and King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. (AUDIO: Mary's Story)

Another adventure with Mary involved her believing someone to be her brother until the Doctor had pointed out that it was not. (AUDIO: Neverland)

After her encounter with the Bone Lord, Mary decided to leave the Doctor's company, as she feared his other companion: death. (AUDIO: Army of Death)

Later life[[edit] | [edit source]]

Also in 1816, Mary encountered the Tenth Doctor when Zzazik, an alien creature wrapped in bandages, was absorbing bolts of energy. This sight provided Mary with inspiration for a scene in Frankenstein. The Doctor mentioned that she looked familiar, but did not comment further. (COMIC: The Creative Spark)

After the publishing of Frankenstein, Shelley reflected on her summer in Geneva when she met "Mrs Doctor and her eccentric entourage... and that monstrous Cyber-Man", pondering if she still would have been inspired to write her story if it weren't for that encounter; Shelley felt "as though [she had] another life not lived, where things would have been the same, and yet different..." (PROSE: Loose Ends 3: The Regency [+]Loading...["Loose Ends 3: The Regency (short story)"])

In 1822, Mary was widowed when her husband Percy drowned after his schooner sank off the coast of Italy. (PROSE: Managra) She continued writing to support herself, and eventually died in 1851. (PROSE: History's Finest)

Medium Cornelia Lively claimed that Mary Shelley's spirt had inspired some of her published works. However, Cassandra was aware that these claims were fraudulent and the real spirt of Mary Shelley wasn't happy. (AUDIO: Mystery Lady)

Legacy[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Eighth Doctor had a copy of Shelley's Frankenstein in his TARDIS library, inscribed to him by her, implying that the two remained on good terms after her departure from the TARDIS. The Doctor read the preface aloud and mentioned that what Mary wrote wasn't the entire truth about what happened. (AUDIO: Storm Warning)

The Twelfth Doctor saw Mary, among other companions, when Bernice Summerfield was hit by temporal energy in the Pyramid Eternia. (PROSE: Big Bang Generation)

Personality[[edit] | [edit source]]

Mary was amazed by time travel and easily accepted the fact the TARDIS translated foreign languages. (AUDIO: The Silver Turk)

Mary proved capable of so much compassion. She felt sorry for the deteriorated forms of Cybermen. She almost befriended Gramm, (AUDIO: The Silver Turk) and appealed to Ashad. (TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati) She also felt sorry for the future version of the Doctor . (AUDIO: Mary's Story)

In danger, Mary proved very courageous. She protected her friends from a throng of Marionettenburg puppets with a poker. (AUDIO: The Silver Turk)

Appearance[[edit] | [edit source]]

Mary had hazel eyes, flecked with green. (AUDIO: The Silver Turk)

Other information[[edit] | [edit source]]

Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • A few years after writing Frankenstein, Shelley wrote a little-known science fiction novel called The Last Man, which takes place at the end of the 21st century. In the context of the Doctor Who universe, and the fact that she travelled with the Eighth Doctor, it is possible that her writing of this book may have been influenced by her experiences with the Doctor. The prologue of The Last Man even includes a story of the author and her unnamed travelling companion and cites this adventure as the inspiration for the novel.
  • Mary Shelley's Monstrous Mashups, a narrative game in Doctor Who The Official Annual 2021, had Mary refer to having witnessed "many horrors" in her life, in an apparent reference to her status as a companion of the Doctor, although its usage of Mary was primarily based on TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati.
  • Mary and Percy Shelley got married only on 30 December 1816.
  • Return of the Cybermen originally sought to explain the continuity disparities between Shelley's Big Finish tenure as a companion of the Eighth Doctor, and The Haunting of Villa Diodati which contradicts that depiction. In the scene, the Fourth Doctor is warned that his timeline is being rewritten by the fallout of Genesis of the Daleks and the Last Great Time War. The Time Lord messenger foresees, among other things, "A famous author travels with you, then she doesn't". However, this ending was cut from the script and not recorded.[1]
    • Furthermore, the character profile for Mary Shelley on doctorwho.tv recognises Shelley's status as a companion to the Eighth Doctor — breaking the norm for the profiles' typical television-centric perspective — and reconciles the stories by stating that the events of the audio dramas happened in an alternate timeline.[2]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ John Dorney (24 October). Very, very silly.... Twitter. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved on 2 March, 2024.
  2. ↑ Mary Shelley. doctorwho.tv. BBC Studios. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved on 2 March, 2024.
v • e
Mary Shelley
Works
Adaptations
Characters
Relatives
William Godwin (father) • Mary Wollstonecraft (mother) • Percy Shelley (husband) • William Shelley (son) • Claire Clairmont (stepsister) • Elizabeth Shelley (stepdaughter)
Life
Some categorisation may be based upon conjecture.
Real world information should not enter into this.
v • e
Companions of the Eighth Doctor
Television
Single-adventure
Narratively ambiguous
Prose
Travelling
Single-adventure
Occasional adventures
Single multi-adventure story
Comics
Travelling
Single-adventure
Occasional adventures
Audio
Travelling
Single-adventure
Occasional adventures
Single multi-adventure story
Daphne • Ria • Sheena
Webcast
Single-adventure
If a medium is not mentioned, then this incarnation did not have companions who were original to that medium; it does not mean that this Doctor failed to appear in that medium.
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