The Dreaming (short story)

The Dreaming
Doctor:	Eleventh Doctor
Main enemy:	The Mara
Main setting:	Christmas, Trenzalore
Key crew
Writer:	Mark Morris
Release details
Printed in:	Tales of Trenzalore: The Eleventh Doctor's Last Stand
← Previous	Strangers in the Outland

Summary

Aliganza Torp meets a sepulchral undertaker in a dark place who questions him about his name as well as the Doctor's. The undertaker explains that the Doctor thinks so little of him because he won't reveal his name. Then he tells Aliganza to hold out his hand.

Characters

• Eleventh Doctor
• The Mara
• Aliganza Torp
• Pericles Torp
• Mellandine Eggleton
• Sylvian Capple
• Fergin Eggleton
• Tomalin Pilke
• Vida Clatterly
• Taskia
• Clem Svorsen
• Samanda Glyde
• Jalen Fellwood (skeletal remains)

References

• The Doctor tells Vida that the Dæmons, the Osirians, the Carrionites, and the Hervoken have all used science disguised as magic.
• In his old age, the Doctor referred to Aliganza Torp as "Barnable the 43rd," Mellandine Eggleton as "Amelia," and Taskia as "Clara."
• The Mara is a gestalt entity that has many forms and also none. It uses a human skeleton as framework to take on physical form, essentially making a human-Mara hybrid.
• Snow farms in Christmas ship snow to other colonies around the planet.
• The Doctor lost his leg due to a Tsunami Snake.

Notes

• The Mara threatens the Doctor, saying it will enter his mind and seek out his name, but it already possessed the Fifth Doctor so it should presumably already know his name. (AUDIO: The Cradle of the Snake)
• The Doctor loses his leg in this story, and is given a replacement, explaining why he can be seen limping and is using a cane in TV: The Time of the Doctor. This appears to have been carried over from rumors and speculated narratives that the Eleventh Doctor would lose his leg in the Christmas special to deal with the issue of Matt Smith suffering a bad leg injury.

Continuity

The first hybrid? (TV: Snakedance)

• The Doctor wore a Stetson while performing his duties as sheriff. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut, The Wedding of River Song, A Town Called Mercy)
• The Mara may have tried to use Tegan's body to manifest itself, as it merged with her temporarily before once again being defeated. Additionally, the Mara may need to convert a body into its own, so when Aris was pulled from the circle of mirrors, it had no one to attach to. (TV: Kinda, Snakedance)
• The Doctor has encountered corpses and skulls used by aliens before. (TV: Pyramids of Mars, Image of the Fendahl; AUDIO: The Dark Flame)