Howling:The Silence's war against the Doctor

The Howling → The Silence's war against the Doctor

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In A Good Man Goes to War, Madame Kovarian describes the conflict between the Doctor and the Silence as an "endless, bitter war." It's been suggested that this war could go all the way back to the Doctor's first incarnation, but due to the memory-defying abilities of the Silents, he doesn't remember it. What events that occured in the classic series could have been instigated by the Silence to get the Doctor out of the way? 82.2.136.93^{talk to me} 23:19, April 1, 2012 (UTC)

When people see the Silence, they usually get some kind of memory of previous encounters with them, so the Doctor probably never directly faced the Silence in the past. However, given their powers of post-hypnotic suggestion, they could be responsible for pretty much any of the enemies in past episodes.Icecreamdif ^{talk to me} 23:40, April 1, 2012 (UTC)

Maybe the Doctor hasn't had these previous encounters with the Silence yet? The man's a time traveller. 94.72.208.131^{talk to me} 12:26, April 2, 2012 (UTC)

Well, I theorise that they might have influenced Queen Elizabeth I's decision to declare the Doctor an enemy, in the hopes that she would capture him and have him beheaded. Possibly even earlier, they may have prompted Marco Polo to try and give the TARDIS to Kublai Khan, as without the TARDIS, the Doctor would be stranded. Perhaps they even had something to do with the Second Doctor ending up in the Land of Fiction in The Mind Robber? 194.168.208.42^{talk to me} 13:03, April 2, 2012 (UTC)

It certainly would be interesting if the Silence have attempted revenge on a previous Doctor, not realising he hasn't met them yet. But the reason behind the Queen's hatred of the Doctor was exlained in "The End of Time". 94.72.208.131^{talk to me} 16:39, April 2, 2012 (UTC)

94, every event that occured in the Classic series is in the Doctor's past. It would seem quite likely that the Silence have had encounters with him in their past, but the question here is has the Doctor encountered him in their past? His trip to the Land of Fiction was already pretty much explained in The Mind Robber and at the end of The Dominators, so I don't see how the Silence could have contributed to that, unless they told the Doctor to forget that he happenned to be on the island. As long as we're just listing random events that they could have been involved in though, maybe they told Davros that pity and emotions weren't an important trait to have in his Daleks, in the hopes that the Daleks would one day kill the Doctor, or maybe they told Rassilon that the best way to make contact with the Master was to drive him insane and turn him into an insane criminal. Literally any irrational action that any character has ever performed could theoretically be a result of post-hypnotic suggestion by the Silence. On the off chance that they do go back and list past episodes and claim that the Silence are responsible, I doubt that they would go any further back than the Eccleston era. This plot arc is convoluted enough without dragging in decades old episodes.Icecreamdif ^{talk to me} 17:34, April 2, 2012 (UTC)

I don't recall them explaining Elizabeth I's hatred of the Doctor in The End of Time. The Doctor implied that he'd married her, and that because of him she was no longer truly a "Virgin" Queen, but that was about it. 82.2.136.93^{talk to me} 18:50, April 2, 2012 (UTC)

Well, she probably just got pissed off when he inevitably left her.Icecreamdif ^{talk to me} 19:40, April 2, 2012 (UTC)

Well if the Silence have influenced events in the Doctor's past, it seems much more likely they only encountered him when he went back in time. A good lot of the ones on Earth were killed in the 1960s, so the chances of encountering a Silent in modern day episodes are pretty slim, let alone meeting them in the future. 94.72.208.131^{talk to me} 08:54, April 3, 2012 (UTC)

Although the Silents clearly have been active on Earth post '69 to some degree, as one was present at Luke Silencio in 2011. As for Elizabeth I hating the Doctor because he left her, well, it's possible, but IMO, that doesn't completely rule out the possibility of some involvement from the Silents. 82.2.136.93^{talk to me} 09:49, April 3, 2012 (UTC)