Howling:Song at the end of Night Terrors

The Howling → Song at the end of Night Terrors

There be spoilers about un-released stories here.
Run back to the forums if you're scared.

Did anyone catch the words of the child's song at the end of Night Terrors ? The only line I could make out was the last one "...even for the Doctor".

Here's the whole thing:

Tick, tock, goes the clock, and what things shall we see?

Tick, tock, until the day, that thou shall marry me.

Tick, tock, goes the clock, and all the years they fly.

Tick, tock, and all too soon, you and I must die.

Tick, tock, goes the clock, we laughed at fate and mourned her.

Tick, tock, goes the clock, even for the Doc…

Tick, tock, goes the clock, he cradled and he rocked her.

Tick, tock, goes the clock, even for the Doctor.

67.126.199.214 23:06, September 4, 2011 (UTC)

Mark Gatiss said that Moffat asked him to write a "spooky nursery rhyme" that prefigures the Doctor's upcoming death, but didn't give him any details beyond that. So, there shouldn't be any clues hidden in the words.

Unless, of course, Gatiss and Moffat were both lying, which is always possible… --173.228.85.35 06:44, September 5, 2011 (UTC)

Actually it's all info we know Cory Jaynes 03:31, September 6, 2011 (UTC)

It does interestingly sum up River and the Doctor's relationship however.--82.11.57.232 18:40, September 6, 2011 (UTC)

The full version of the rhyme, as Mark Gatiss was kind enough to share on his Twitter:

Tick tock goes the clock

And what then shall we see?

Tick tock until the day

That thou shalt marry me

Tick tock goes the clock

And what now shall we play?

Tick tock goes the clock

Now Summer's gone away?

Tick tock goes the clock

And all the years they fly

Tick tock and all too soon

You and I must die

Tick tock goes the clock

He cradled her and he rocked her

Tick tock goes the clock

Even for the Doctor...

Properly creepy. Rob T Firefly 06:34, September 9, 2011 (UTC)

this is probably completely wrong ,but whatever. someone mentioned above that this rhyme sums up the doctor's relationship with river. but many lines don't fit that like "he cradled and he wrocked her" and "now summer's gone away". also, it forshadows the doctor's death, but that also doesn't account for many lines like the one about marriage. so the song is probably about many things. i was thinking, could it also be about jenny? when she was shot, the doctor cradled her in his arms. the doctor thought she died, but she didn't ("we laughed at fate and mourned her") and that bit was also asked to be added by the moff, like this rhyme was. i'm probably streching it with the jenny thing, but can anyone else think of some alternative things the song could be forshadowing? Imamadmad 01:04, September 11, 2011 (UTC)

It fits the Doctor and River's relationship: the first stanza refers to the Doctor marrying River, which has been heavily implied already, and the last stanza is a reference to the Doctor having met River as baby Melody. The song also refers to the Doctor's death, as in the third stanza and the last line. --Bold Clone 01:09, September 11, 2011 (UTC)

Somehow I don't see the Doctor marrying Jenny. He may sometimes mistake Gallifrey for a town in southern Ireland, but not for a town in South Carolina.

Anyway, I suspect in this case Gatiss and Moffatt are telling the truth, and the rhyme is supposed to fortell is the Doctor's upcoming death. Gatiss could have thrown in little bits about River without being given any extra information, just from knowing the preceding episodes—or they could have nothing to do with River, and just be meant to make it sound like an old-timey nursery rhyme.

You could read all kinds of things into it if you wanted to. Why "Tick tock goes the clock" over and over? Maybe the clockwork robots from The Mind Robber, The Girl in the Fireplace, or The Clockwise Man are coming back (or the future Faction Paradox clock-faced people from Anachrophobia, or the Clockworks from the Observe coming to our universe to take over for the missing Time Lords). But I'd be quite surprised if any of those were true. And seeing Jenny just because "he cradled her" when she was dying is just as much of a stretch. --173.228.85.35 01:23, September 11, 2011 (UTC)

hey, i did say it was far fetched, and i don't mean that the doctor would marry jenny, but different lines could refer to different things. the doctor never cradled river/melody (unless you count her ganger), and i can't see how the stanza about summer fits in either. that's why i thought it might not be just about 1 subject. also, the tick tock bit is obviously talking about their impending death, but is it the doctor's or river's they're talking about (as river is realising it is neaing the end of his time with her). there can be double meanings in lines, and multiple meaning in the whole rhyme.Imamadmad 01:44, September 11, 2011 (UTC)

"the Doctor never cradled River/Melody": As usual with their relationship, that statement needs to be qualified with "yet, as far as we know." --89.240.248.153 06:23, September 11, 2011 (UTC)

I'd love to see what Gatiss would come up with if Moffat said, "I want you to write a spooky nursery rhyme that prefigures the Doctor's death, and includes these additional plot points, and also includes the phrase 'yes, as far as we know'". Something, I think he could have pulled it off. :) --173.228.85.35 06:38, September 11, 2011 (UTC)

He might not have "cradled her" (as in held her), but he did "cradle her (as in put her in a cradle) -- Future Companion

that was a ganger of her, but i guess it could work. Imamadmad 21:55, September 11, 2011 (UTC)

Yes, but she'd have experienced it. (Whether she'd remember it, is another question.) --89.240.254.190 02:09, September 12, 2011 (UTC)

The cradling thing is just him knowing her when she was born though it is weird that it changes from me to her. Also the summer thing could just be just how the show took a broke during the summer aka the three months the doctor spent looking for melody.