Template talk:Companions of the Thirteenth Doctor

Proposed update

It would help if you spelled out the significance of, nature of, and justification for your chances? For one thing, prima facie, I don't see why Ada Lovelace and Noor Inayat Khan should be moved to "Narratively ambiguous" as opposed to "single-adventure". You don't get much more narratively explicit than Graham, Yaz and Ryan recognising that "they're being replaced" (albeit temporarily, as the Doctor reassures them). --Scrooge MacDuck ☎ 17:14, November 10, 2020 (UTC)

Flux

I think we need a discussion about who is and isn't companion following the appearances of multiple recurring characters in Flux, and this seems the best place for it. So far, the following characters have been added to Category:Thirteenth Doctor companions or Category:Human Thirteenth Doctor companions:

• Bel (Once, Upon Time)
• Karvanista
• Inston-Vee Vinder
• Diane (The Halloween Apocalypse)
• Eustacius Jericho
• Joseph Williamson
• Mary Seacole

Can we truly consider all of these to be companions? Characters like Joseph Williamson, Bel and Mary Seacole only met the Thirteenth Doctor in one episode. Williamson and Seacole didn't even stick around for a trip in the TARDIS. We don't consider Charles Dickens a companion of the Ninth Doctor, or Agatha Christie a companion of the Tenth Doctor. Out of these, the only ones I would consider to be companions of the Thirteenth Doctor (in the most ambiguous sense) would be Vinder and (perhaps) Jericho & Karvanista at a push. Jericho (while he spent 3 years with Yaz and Dan) was only around the Doctor for a short amount time and Karvanista spent most of the time on his ship rather than at the Doctor's side. 66 Seconds ☎ 18:56, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

There are such things as single-adventure companions (e.g. ones who die before they get the chance to properly start travelling with the Doctor). I think Jericho fits that standard — his last words are definitely those of a companion, IMO.

[Doctor,] I've lived more in my time with you than I did during the previous two decades. Who has had a life like mine? (…) What an awfully big adventure.Eustacius Jericho

Karvanista was a companion of the Fugitive Doctor — we are told — and I think that in hindsight, this makes his encounters with Thirteen more akin to Sarah Jane in School Reunion. In The Vanquishers there's an explicit discussion of his companion status, and the Doctor herself phrases it as "Were you my companion?" in the past tense. So I'd say he doesn't count as a companion to Thirteen.

Also agreed that the historical characters shouldn't count here — in War of the Sontarans the Doctor calls herself Mary's assistant, so if anything she is a companion to Mary, not the reverse. And she outright tells Williamson to go home in The Vanquishers because she doesn't want to put history at risk by having her on the adventure; he also calls the Doctor "madam", which is a level of standoffishness which doesn't befit a companion. (That being said, Ada Lovelace and Noor Inayat Khan in Spyfall are definitely single-adventure companions, not to mention Mary Shelley with the Eighth Doctor, so it's not like "celebrity historical" characters can't be companions.

Vinder is officially welcomed into the TARDIS, complete with "It's bigger on the inside"-ish moment, so I think he's a companion as much as Grace Holloway is, even though he then declines to stay around on a permanent basis. He's not (by apparent consensus) a companion in The Vanquishers, but in the abstract I do think he belongs on this template.

Di and Bel, I have no strong feelings about. Scrooge MacDuck ⊕ 21:04, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

I'm going to remove Williamson, Seacole, Bel, Diane and Karvanista from Category:Thirteenth Doctor companions. To me, Bel and Diane feel more akin to the Children of Time e.g. Harriet Jones, than companions in their own right. Karvanista will remain in Category:Companions of the Doctor. Jericho and Vinder will remain as is. Obviously, if anybody has any evidence/reason as to why these individuals should be considered Thirteenth Doctor companions then happy for them to voice it here. 66 Seconds ☎ 00:21, 7 December 2021 (UTC)