Rory Williams: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox Individual
{{Infobox Individual
|image          = New Rory.png
|name = Rory Williams
|name = Rory Williams
|species           = Auton
|image          = RoryCloseupInShadow.jpg
|origin    = [[Earth]]
|alias          = The Lone Centurion, The Last Centurion, Rory Pond
|appearances    = [[DW]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'' / ''[[The Big Bang]]''
|species=Human
|actor          = Arthur Darvill}}
|origin    = [[Leadworth]], [[England]]
{{you may|Rory Williams|n1=the human on which this Auton was based}}
|first      = The Eleventh Hour (TV story)
'''Rory Williams''', also known as '''the Last Centurion''', was an [[Auton]] copy of the [[Eleventh Doctor]]'s [[companion]] [[Rory Williams]], who had been killed by the [[Silurian]] [[Restac]] and then erased from history by the [[Time Field]] emanating from the cracks in space and time.
|appearances    = [[Rory Williams - List of Appearances|Full list of appearances]]
|actor          = Arthur Darvill
|other actor     = Ezekiel Wigglesworth}}
{{you may|Rory Williams (Auton)|n1=the Auton based on Rory}}
'''Rory Williams''' was [[Amy Pond]]'s boyfriend and later husband. He became a companion of the [[Eleventh Doctor]], died and was removed from the universe after being absorbed by the [[Time Field]]. After "[[Big Bang Two]]" he was restored, married Amy and resumed travel with the Doctor and her. During this time, his child, [[River Song|Melody Pond]] (later River Song), was born. When the Doctor married River, Rory became his father-in-law.
== Biography ==
=== Early life ===
Rory was a childhood friend of [[Amy Pond|Amelia Pond]]. Like much of [[Leadworth]], he was privy to her tales of the [[Eleventh Doctor|"raggedy Doctor"]] and a reluctant participant in dress-up games she based on them. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'') He was also a friend of [[Mels]], unbeknownst to him their daughter from the future. On at least one occasion when he played hide and seek with them he hid for hours and they didn't look for him. Rory was long attracted to Amy. His feelings were returned only after Mels pointed it out. Before this,  Amy had believed Rory was gay, because he had never shown any interest in any ''other'' girl. ([[DW]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler]]'')
 
=== Meeting the [[Doctor]] ===
While working at the [[Royal Leadworth Hospital|hospital]] in [[2008]], Rory noticed coma patients roaming about the village. He helped the [[Eleventh Doctor]] defeat [[Prisoner Zero]], then watched him warn the [[Atraxi]] away from [[Earth]] after they had threatened to roast it. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'') Rory became engaged to Amy and looked up the "latest scientific theories". ([[DW]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone]]'')
 
=== Travels with the Doctor ===
In [[2010]], not knowing Amy had left in [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] and spent days away from Leadworth, Rory was surprised when the Doctor unexpectedly popped out of a cake at his stag party and disheartened to learn Amy had tried to kiss the Doctor. The Doctor took the couple on a "romantic break" to [[Venice]] in [[1580]] as a wedding gift. They ran into [[Saturnyn]]s who planned to flood Venice and repopulate it with their species. Rory defended Amy from [[Francesco]], a Saturnyn who wished to convert her into a "fish from space". The Doctor defeated the Saturnyns and Rory agreed to continue travelling with the Doctor after Amy asked him to. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Vampires of Venice]]'')
 
[[File:Rory-eknodine.jpg|thumb|left|Rory fights off an [[Eknodine]] whilst in a dream. ([[DW]]: ''[[Amy's Choice]]'')]] Aboard the TARDIS, Rory fell victim to the [[Psychic Pollen]] that ensnared them in two shared dreams. He escaped after the Doctor killed them in both dreams. Amy and his relationship was cemented by her realisation she really loved him and would not live without him when he died in one of the dreams. ([[DW]]: ''[[Amy's Choice]]'')
 
Following a failed attempt to visit [[Rio de Janeiro|Rio]], in [[2020]], Rory, Amy, the Doctor and some new friends stopped renegade [[Silurian]]s who lived beneath [[Cwmtaff]] in [[Wales]] from killing humanity. Rory was shot and killed by their military leader, [[Restac]], when he shielded the Doctor from a fatal energy beam. He was swallowed by a nearby [[Time Field|crack in time]] and erased from reality. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Hungry Earth]]'' / ''[[Cold Blood]]'')
 
[[The Alliance (The Pandorica Opens)|The Alliance]] scanned the psychic imprint left by Amy and used her dormant memories of Rory to create an [[Rory Williams (Auton)|Auton duplicate]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')
 
:''For more information on Rory as an Auton, see [[Rory Williams (Auton)]].''
 
[[File:Doctor-rory.jpg|thumb|Rory, back as human, with the Doctor at his wedding. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'')]]
After his Auton self helped [[Big Bang Two|reboot the universe]] almost wiped out by the [[Time Field]], the real Rory returned and married Amy in June 2010. He remembered having been an Auton after Amy had recalled the Doctor from the other side of the cracks. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'') He compared these memories to a door in his head; he could open it when he wanted, but usually kept it shut. ([[DW]]: ''[[Day of the Moon]]'') After the wedding, they returned to Amy's garden, where the TARDIS was parked. They bade farewell to Leadworth to continue journeying with the Doctor. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'') The Doctor would insist on calling him "Rory Pond". ([[DW]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'', ''[[The Rebel Flesh]]'' / ''[[The Almost People]]'')
 
:''In the new version of reality, the first time Amy and Rory were together in the TARDIS was on their honeymoon, despite their memories of earlier adventures with the Doctor. ''([[DW]]: ''[[A Good Man Goes to War]]'')
 
=== Honeymoon ===
Amy and Rory passed their wedding night on the TARDIS, conceiving [[Melody Pond|their first child]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[A Good Man Goes to War]]'') The Doctor left them on a honeymoon planet ([[SJA]]: ''[[Death of the Doctor]]'')
[[File:Rory-amy-honeymoon.jpg|thumb|left|Rory with Amy onboard [[Spaceship (A Christmas Carol)|the spaceship]] for their honeymoon. ([[DW]]: ''[[A Christmas Carol (TV story)|A Christmas Carol]]'')]]
The couple continued their holiday in the honeymoon suite of a starship in the [[44th century]]. The ship began to crash onto the planet [[Ember (planet)|Ember]]. The Doctor had less than an hour to convince [[Kazran Sardick]] of [[Sardicktown]] to unlock the cloud belt, allowing the ship to safely land. Rory showed Kazran a hologram of the crashing ship. The cloud belt was opened when [[Abigail Pettigrew|Abigail Pettigrew's]] singing calmed the ice and the ship landed.
 
The trio left for another honeymoon location which Rory was sceptical about when told it was a living, carnivorous planet. ([[DW]]: ''[[A Christmas Carol (TV story)|A Christmas Carol]]'')
 
Rory began helping the Doctor maintain the TARDIS, which annoyed Amy. He made the TARDIS materialise inside itself by dropping a thermocoupling when he inadvertently looked up Amy's skirt. The Doctor dematerialised the TARDIS from the resulting [[space loop]] and told Amy to put on some trousers. ([[DW]]: ''[[Space (TV story)|Space]]'' / ''[[Time (TV story)|Time]]'')
 
=== America ===
 
After their honeymoon, Rory and Amy returned to Earth. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Impossible Astronaut]]'') Amy was replaced with a [[Ganger]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Almost People]]'')
[[File:Rory-america.jpg|thumb|right|Rory, covered in markings, looks down upon the dam. ([[DW]]: ''[[Day of the Moon]]'')]]
In April [[2011]], they received a TARDIS-blue letter which led them to America. There they met up with River Song and the Doctor, who was (unbeknownst to them) a ''[[Teselecta]]'' duplicate. This "Doctor" was shot by a past version of River, faking his death in front of Rory and Amy. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Impossible Astronaut]]'', ''[[The Wedding of River Song]]'') After his apparent death, the group spoke briefly to [[Canton Delaware]]. Rory, Amy and the older River went to a diner where they met a younger version of the Doctor with his own invitation. During the older Doctor's talk about "space [[1969]]", Amy had seen one of the [[Silent]]s, aliens who had occupied Earth for centuries.
 
They arrived in the [[White House]] in April 1969, where they met [[Richard Nixon]] and a younger version of Canton. The Doctor, his companions and Canton went to [[Florida]] to track the mysterious phone calls Nixon was getting. Rory and River found a Silent timeship while exploring tunnels under the warehouse to which the calls had led them. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Impossible Astronaut]]'')
 
After three months on the run, the Doctor started a revolution against [[the Silence]] by using their own powers against them. Rory and Amy returned to travelling on the TARDIS, concerned about the Doctor's impending death. During this adventure, Rory questioned Amy's feelings for him yet again because she described someone she loved who "fell out of the sky" and changed her life. However, his doubts were put to rest when Amy told him she had meant him, not the Doctor. ([[DW]]: ''[[Day of the Moon]]'')
 
=== Further travels ===
 
Answering a distress signal from the [[17th century]], the TARDIS crew ended up on the pirate ship ''[[Fancy]]'', where they were accused of being stowaways. Rory was accidentally cut by a cutlass wielded by Amy and targeted by a [[Siren]] who had been taking crew members. Though Amy shielded him from the Siren, Rory was taken after being washed overboard during a storm. The Doctor figured out the "siren" was a virtual doctor from an invisible spaceship in the same space as the ''Fancy''. Rory instructed Amy in CPR and had himself disconnected from the ship's life-support. He was revived shortly after. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Curse of the Black Spot]]'')


== Biography ==
[[File:Rory-psychic-message.jpg|thumb|right|Rory is sent a psychic message. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife]]'')]]
=== The Pandorica Trap ===
Following a false distress signal from outside the universe, Rory and Amy were trapped in the TARDIS by a malevolent entity known as [[House]], who planned to escape to the main universe in the TARDIS and strand the Doctor with his TARDIS's matrix in a human body. Rory helped the Doctor get back into the TARDIS by lowering the shields. The soul of the TARDIS thought Rory was "pretty" and communicated instructions to him telepathically instead of Amy as the Doctor intended. Rory also heard the TARDIS talking about something he would need to know in the future: "The only water in [[Gamma Forest|the forest]] is the river". ([[DW]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife]]'')
The Auton that took the form of Rory Williams was created as part of a plan by an [[The Alliance (The Pandorica Opens)|alliance]] of races who had united to prevent the [[Eleventh Doctor]] from destroying the [[universe]]. This alliance included the [[Nestene Consciousness]], creator of the living plastic creatures known as Autons.
[[File:Rory-jennifer-ganger.jpg|thumb|left|Rory is tricked by [[Jennifer Lucas (Ganger)|Jennifer Lucas's Ganger]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Almost People]]'')]]
After surviving a solar tsunami in the [[22nd century]], the TARDIS crew were caught in a clash between human workers and their [[ganger]] clones used for the dangerous parts of the job. Rory sympathised with the [[Jennifer (Ganger)|ganger]] of [[Jennifer Lucas]]. She took advantage of him, tricking him into trapping the crew, the Doctor and Amy in a room with an overheating acid vat. Rory learned the truth and returned with the reformed gangers to free everyone. After escaping the deranged Jennifer ganger, the crisis was resolved by saving one of the workers and two gangers from the factory's explosion. Rory was stunned when the Doctor revealed Amy was a ganger and the real Amy was elsewhere, having been replaced soon after their honeymoon. Rory vowed to find her, just as the Doctor had told Amy before destroying her duplicate. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Rebel Flesh]]'' / ''[[The Almost People]]'')
 
=== Fatherhood ===
 
Rory and the Doctor raised an army to rescue Amy and his daughter, [[Melody Pond]], from Madame [[Kovarian]] and [[the Church]] in the [[52nd century]]. Rory invaded the [[Twelfth Cyber Legion]] and asked twice for the whereabouts of his wife, destroying the other ships in the Legion as a "message from the Doctor". Soon after, he arrived on [[Demon's Run]]. He kept Kovarian from fleeing with his daughter while the Doctor's army won the fight in four minutes. However, the baby was not Melody, but another a Ganger; Kovarian had escaped with his daughter. River Song appeared and stunned him with the news she was his daughter, using as proof a [[prayer leaf]] with her name written in the language of the Gamma Forest, translated by the TARDIS. The Doctor left Rory and Amy to be returned to their home era by River while he looked for the infant Melody. ([[DW]]: ''[[A Good Man Goes to War]]'')
 
After waiting "all summer", Amy had Rory make a crop circle saying "Doctor" to catch the Doctor's attention. They found him waiting and were surprised by their childhood friend, Mels. She ordered them at gunpoint to help her escape the police and take her to kill [[Hitler]]. The TARDIS landed in [[Berlin]] and accidentally crashed into the ''[[Teselecta]]'', Rory slugged Hitler and locked him in a closet. Discovering Mels had been shot by Hitler, he also learned she was Melody, who regenerated into River Song.
 
River had poisoned the Doctor. Rory and Amy followed her, only to be sucked into the shape-shifting ''Teselecta'', which took Amy's form. While the Doctor tried to reason with their child, they made the ''Teselecta'''s [[Teselecta Antibodies|antibodies]] attack the crew. On the verge of dying again, Rory was saved by his daughter in the TARDIS. Melody gave her remaining regenerations to revive the Doctor. Leaving her in "the best hospital in the universe" to recover from the strain, Rory and Amy rejoined the Doctor while River was left to find her own way. ([[DW]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler]]'')
 
=== Further adventures ===
The TARDIS landed on [[Earth]] in 2011 after tracing a distress call from [[George (Night Terrors)|George]], a [[Tenza]] who lived in a block of flats. Amy and Rory knocked on nearly every door to find him. George used his psychic powers to drop Rory and Amy into the doll house in his closet. Rory believed they had died again, only to find another person, running from the [[Peg Doll (Night Terrors)|peg dolls]], who was turned into one. It joined the others to chase Rory and Amy. Rory then saw his wife transformed into a doll. He met up with the Doctor and George's dad, [[Alex (Night Terrors)|Alex]], to hold them off. The dolls were stopped when George overcame his fear and Amy, along with the others, was restored. ([[DW]]: ''[[Night Terrors]]'')
 
The Doctor took Rory and Amy to a holiday planet, [[Apalapucia]]. The planet was quarantined for the [[Chen-7]] virus. Befuddled by the security measures, Amy wound up in a faster timestream. While the Doctor hid in the TARDIS because the virus targeted humanoids with two hearts, Rory went to retrieve her. He met his wife nearly forty years into her future, hiding from the robotic medical staff lest their medicine kill her. He convinced her to rescue her younger self on the condition she also be saved. The Doctor forced Rory to choose between the past and future Amys at the last moment; the TARDIS could not sustain such a paradox. The older Amy sacrificed herself. Rory was angry with the Doctor at first, fearing he was turning Rory into the Doctor himself, but later agreed the Doctor had done the right thing. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Girl Who Waited]]'')
 
Amy and Rory went to the [[Liao Dynasty]] [[China]] in the [[13th century]], where the guards of the [[Liao Palace]] attacked them for taking food. After the TARDIS took off, it collided with a [[Rutan Host|Rutan]] ship. The ship crashed on the future site of the [[Houses of Parliament]], putting the occupants in stasis until [[1605]], when it sent a distress call. The TARDIS responded to its call and landed in London. Beneath Parliament, Amy and Rory discovered [[Guy Fawkes]] and [[Robert Catesby]] plotting to blow up Parliament and kill King [[James I]]. The Rutan [[Elizabeth Winters|Lady Winters]] was in their ranks. Amy and Rory followed the trail to the Rutan ship and helped find the power rods to let the ship take off. They were also caught in a conflict between [[Sontaran]]s and Rutans over the Rutans' two doomsday weapons. The Doctor reprogrammed one to target Rutans. Rory handed the Sontaran-targeted weapon to the other party, causing a stalemate, as each race was at risk of destroying themselves. ([[VG]]: ''[[The Gunpowder Plot]]'')
 
=== Departure from the Doctor ===
 
Rory ended up in an [[Prison ship (The God Complex)|alien structure]] modelled on a [[1980s]] hotel with Amy and the Doctor, where [[Minotaur (The God Complex)|a creature]] fed off the faith of those the prison trapped for it. Rory, who had no strong faith for the creature to feed on, kept Amy safe until the Doctor broke her faith in him and the creature died. Rory and Amy were returned to Earth some time before they had left to find the Doctor had bought them a new home and a red E-Type Jaguar that Rory had longed for. Hoping to thank the Doctor with some champagne, he went inside and was confused when the Doctor was gone when he returned. Amy explained the Doctor was saving them from more dangerous adventures with him. ([[DW]]: ''[[The God Complex]]'')


They used psychic residue from the home of the Doctor's companion [[Amy Pond]], including a children's book on [[Roman Empire|Roman]] [[centurion]]s and a photograph of Amy and her fiancé Rory Williams taken at a costume party; Rory had worn a Roman centurion costume. The Nestene Consciousness created a fake Roman army, including a replicant of Rory Williams. It placed them near [[Stonehenge]] in the year [[102]] [[AD]] as part of an elaborate trap for the Doctor. While the Auton Roman soldiers believed they were, indeed, Romans, the Auton version of Rory retained the memories and personality of the real Rory. He initially dismissed his other life as a dream.
After time was restored and the Doctor had "died", River dropped by Rory and Amy's house from just after her adventure with Amy in the ''[[Byzantium]]''. Rory was pleased by River's visit and confused by his wife's joy until River explained that the Doctor was still alive. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Wedding of River Song]]'')
[[File:DoctorAndRory.png|thumb|200x|right|[[Eleventh Doctor|The Doctor]] is surprised to see Rory. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')]]


When news came to the Roman encampment of visitors, Auton Rory volunteered to help. This led to his encounter with the Doctor and Amy. He saved Amy by destroying a [[Cyberman (Pete's World)|Cyberman]], though she was knocked unconscious. The Doctor initially did not react to him, then welcomed him back, though how Rory still existed was a mystery, as the Doctor was not aware of the Auton connection.
In [[2013]], the Doctor joined Rory and Amy for [[Christmas]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe]]'')


Auton Rory learned he had been erased from time and Amy's memory when she did not recognise him after she woke. Encouraged by the Doctor - who returned the engagement ring that Rory had given Amy - Auton Rory set out to make her remember him. His efforts were successful. Amy's memories began to return. However, Rory's Auton nature reasserted itself as the Alliance's trap closed on the Doctor. Rory tried to resist the Nestene orders when the other "Romans" came under its control. He urged Amy to run, but she refused. As she hugged him, the Auton programming activated and the duplicate Rory's hand opened up into a blaster and shot Amy. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')
In [[2020]], Rory and Amy returned to Cwmtaff to wave to their younger selves. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Hungry Earth]]'')


=== Redemption ===
== Alternate timeline ==
[[File:RW 5.png|thumb|200x|left|Rory cries after he was forced to shoot [[Amy Pond|Amy]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')]]
In a timeline where all time happened at once due to the Doctor not dying, Rory was a captain in a military force led by Amy. They tried to restore the timeline without killing the Doctor. Unlike Amy and River, he had no memory of the correct timeline. He was attracted to Amy, who was looking for him but didn't recognise him. The Doctor tried to get them together, but Rory saw right through it. When the Silents broke free, tormented by his [[Eye Drive]], he stayed to hold them off, though it meant certain death. Amy saved him, then told him they should get a drink and married. When the Doctor married River, Rory consented to the marriage as the bride's father, even though he didn't understand what was going on. Unlike Amy, the Doctor and River, Rory probably had no memory of these events when the timeline was restored. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Wedding of River Song]]'')
The other Autons, along with the entire universe except Earth, were erased in the [[Total Event Collapse]]. As Auton Rory wept over Amy, the Doctor suddenly appeared in front of him to tell him Amy wasn't quite dead and ordered him to open the [[Pandorica]] with the [[sonic screwdriver]] and rescue the Doctor's earlier self. A bewildered Rory followed the instructions, which led to a reunion with a bewildered Doctor. Because most of the universe had been erased and the Nestenes were now non-existent, Rory's mind was fully restored and he was now in unfettered control of his actions.


To save Amy, the Doctor placed her in the Pandorica, where her life would be restored, though she would be in there for nearly two thousand years. The Doctor, using a [[vortex manipulator| Time Vortex manipulator]], offered to take Auton Rory to retrieve Amy in the future, but Rory refused, saying he had to make sure no harm came to the Pandorica. The Doctor admired Rory's humanity, Auton or not, and left him to his duty.
== Personality ==
Rory was timid in his first meeting with the Doctor. He was hectored by [[Ramsden|Dr Ramsden]] and terrified by the chaos surrounding the Doctor and Prisoner Zero. He still had the presence of mind to record evidence his comatose patients were strolling outside the hospital. He also helped Amy clear the hospital of patients before Prisoner Zero could kill them. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'')


Rory watched over Amy for nearly two thousand years, following the box wherever it went and becoming the stuff of legend as "the Last Centurion" - a mysterious figure dressed as a Roman soldier who stood guard over the Pandorica. During the [[London Blitz]] of [[1941]], Rory was spotted moving the Pandorica out of harm's way during a bombing, but after that the Last Centurion disappeared from history and was believed killed or destroyed. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'')
In Venice, Rory was unnerved when the Doctor and Amy wanted to return to the [[Saturnyn]] stronghold, yet he grew in bravery. He challenged [[Francesco]] to protect Amy. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Vampires of Venice]]'') When he saw Francesco had attacked a girl, his immediate reaction was to see if she was all right. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Vampires of Venice]]'') He took a lethal Silurian energy beam meant for the Doctor. ([[DW]]: ''[[Cold Blood]]'')


=== Undercover ===
Rory was stubbornly devoted to Amy. Perhaps the greatest testament to this was his willingness [[Rory Williams (Auton)|as an Auton]] to guard Amy in the Pandorica for almost two thousand years. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'') He would perform great feats of courage out of love for Amy and go to any length when angry. He destroyed all but one of the [[Twelfth Cyber Legion]]'s ships to find where Amy was held captive ([[DW]]: ''[[A Good Man Goes to War]]'') and as an Auton, punched the Doctor when he was grieving over shooting Amy. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'') Although he remained aghast at the risks he was forced to take, his reflexive behaviour was heroic.
In reality, Rory continued to look after the Pandorica in other ways. By [[1996]] he was working as a security guard in the [[National Museum]], where the Pandorica was on display. After a younger version of Amelia Pond freed her older self and the Doctor arrived from the past, the group was attacked by a [[Stone Dalek]] from Stonehenge on display at the museum, restored by the Pandorica's energy. Rory rescued them by shooting the Dalek with his hand-laser.
[[File:Autons-series-5.jpg|thumb|Rory with his Auton gun arm. ([[DW]]: [[The Big Bang]])]]
After a tearful reunion with Amy, the Doctor pulled them away to rescue [[River Song]]. On their way, Auton Rory informed the Doctor about his earlier encounter with the "future Doctor", which led to the Doctor taking care of old business. Ultimately, the Doctor piloted the Pandorica into the heart of the exploding [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]], which [[Big Bang Two|restored the universe]], but also rewrote much of history. The Doctor was removed from reality. With him gone, the Auton version of Rory was likewise removed from history. The original, human Rory was restored, his death having never occurred. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'')


=== Legacy ===
At first, Rory was jealous of Amy's infatuation with the Doctor and uneasy at her obsession with him when she was little. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Vampires of Venice]], [[Amy's Choice]]''). However, after the [[Dream Lord]]'s challenge ([[DW]]: ''[[Amy's Choice]]''), Rory became more comfortable with the Doctor's presence in their lives, trying to have civil conversations with him and helping in TARDIS maintenance. ([[DW]]: ''[[Space (TV story)|Space]]''/''[[Time (TV story)|Time]]'') He put up with the occasionally troublesome natures of Amy and the Doctor. Rory was very loyal to the Doctor, whom he trusted with his life. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Hungry Earth]]'') He was devastated when it appeared the Doctor was dead and when Idris' body died; not only were they his friends, he was a nurse and they were his patients. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife]]'')
Although the Auton Rory now never existed, elements of his memory remained to the human Rory. After Amy restored the Doctor and the TARDIS through her own memories, Rory likewise remembered having been an Auton, saying, "I was plastic!" The Doctor himself considered the human Rory to be a continuation of Auton Rory, privately admiring his devotion to Amy over two millennia, calling him, "the Boy Who Waited". ([[DW]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'')


The real Rory somehow obtained his Roman armour from this incarnation or wore costume armour and used it during a Christmas adventure. ([[DW]]: ''[[A Christmas Carol (TV story)|A Christmas Carol]]'')
Rory was a quick learner. When confronted with the necessity of riding a motorcycle for the first time to follow River Song, he sourly noted that it was "one of those days" and did so. ([[DW]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler]]'') He was one of the few people to not freak out on entering the TARDIS for the first time, remarking he had done some reading on the theory. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Vampires of Venice]]'') When he was put in to the ''Teselecta'' he concluded it was a miniaturisation ray simply because they were smaller and it was a ray. ([[DW]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler]]'')


The real Rory had the memories of the Auton version of himself. When the Doctor said that he was at Rome when the empire fell, Rory replied, "So was I." Rory told the Doctor he could remember being the Last Centurion but he didn't always; it was like a "door" in his mind and he tried not to think about it. ([[DW]]: ''[[Day of the Moon]]'')
== Other information ==
=== Skills ===
Rory was a trained nurse. He knew medical procedures and how to examine bodies. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'', ''[[The Vampires of Venice]]'', ''[[The Curse of the Black Spot]]'') As he had been a Roman Centurion, he was accomplished at fighting with a gladius. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'', ''[[A Good Man Goes to War]]'') In two millenia guarding the Pandorica, Rory became a very effective warrior. In the attack on [[Demon's Run]], he survived the battle with the [[Headless monk]]s while two experienced soldiers, [[Strax]] and [[Lorna Bucket]], were killed. ([[DW]]: ''[[A Good Man Goes to War]]''). Rory demonstrated a good 'gun arm' on several occasions; he knocked the Doctor, Hitler and ''the Teselecta'' to the ground with single blows to their jaws. ([[DW]]:'' [[The Big Bang]]'', ''[[Let's Kill Hitler]]'')


At the Doctor's insistence, Rory wore the armour again while on a mission to rescue Amy and their infant daughter [[River Song|Melody]] from Madame [[Kovarian]] and the [[Headless Monks]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[A Good Man Goes to War]]'')
=== Personal Life ===
It was mentioned that Rory drove a mini. ([[NSA]]: [[Paradox Lost (novel)| Paradox Lost]])


== Behind the scenes ==
== Behind the scenes ==
* The special circumstances of Auton Rory have led to some fans to consider him a separate companion. If so, it is a matter of debate whether Auton Rory should be considered a deceased companion. He technically no longer exists, even though some memories live on in the human Rory. However, he can also be considered the same entity as the human Rory. As the Doctor stated, Rory's actual mind and soul were copied by the Alliance because Auton Rory was made from Amy's memories and Amy's mind had been affected by the Time Field crack in her bedroom wall.
* In a scene deleted from ''[[The Hungry Earth]]'', the Doctor admits to Amy that he likes Rory a lot.
* An [[Mickey Smith (Auton)|Auton duplicate]] of [[Mickey Smith]] was also made. This makes Rory the second male companion (and the second boyfriend of a companion) to be turned into an Auton. ([[DW]]: ''[[Rose (TV story)|Rose]]'')
* Rory's first death is very similar in nature to Jenny's ([[DW]]: ''[[The Doctor's Daughter]]''). In both cases they died taking a shot intended for the Doctor, and in both cases the shooter was a violent member of a race that the Doctor had helped bring peace to ([[Restac]] and [[Cobb]] respectively).
* Auton Rory is the second duplicate of a companion to be created based on the memories of another. During the novel ''[[Interference - Book Two|Interference]]'', the [[Eighth Doctor]]'s companion [[Fitz Kreiner]] was abducted and apparently killed by [[Faction Paradox]]. The Doctor eventually 'replaced' him with [[Kode]], a [[biomass]] duplicate created from others' memories of the original Fitz, 'perfecting' the duplicate by allowing him to be shaped by the Doctor and the TARDIS' own 'perceptions' of Fitz.
* Coincidentally Rory temporarily "dies" in some manner in three consecutive episodes of [[Series 6]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Day of the Moon]]'', ''[[The Curse of the Black Spot]]'', ''[[The Doctor's Wife]]''). Totalling up, his temporary deaths come to six. The other three 'deaths' occurred in [[DW]]: ''[[Amy's Choice]]'', [[DW]]: ''[[Cold Blood]]'', and the erasure of his Auton duplicate's existence in [[DW]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'' (in addition, earlier in that episode, Amy mourns him when the museum documentary concludes he died in the Blitz). This means he has died more than any televised companion save [[Jack Harkness]].
* ''[[The Brilliant Book 2011]]'' contains a deeper, non-narrative based history of Rory. It states:
** Incidentally, every time Rory "dies" in a given story, he dies in at least one adjacent story as well.
:* At some point, Rory had farmers remove the Pandorica for a nobleman from the Roman town of [[Isca]]. In preparing for the journey, Rory wrote, "FRAGILE" and "THIS WAY UP", on the Pandorica. Rory assisted King Harold in the Battle of Hastings during the Norman conquest of England, evidently as his top general. Rory befriended [[Samuel Pepys]]. During the [[Great Fire of London]], Rory saved the infant daughter of Pepys's baker. Afterward, Rory bade farewell to Pepys and travelled to the city.
** Additionally, in the story immediately following [[DW]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife]]'', Rory is the only character for whom a version ''doesn't'' die; at least one version of every other character has an on-screen death, including the Doctor and Amy ([[DW]]: ''[[The Rebel Flesh]]''/''[[The Almost People]]'').
:* During the [[19th century]], Rory became the inspiration for political cartoonists.
** In ''[[The Wedding of River Song]]'', [[Silent]]s call Rory, "the man who dies and dies again."
:* In [[1934]], Rory released many leaflets that showed him and [[Adolf Hitler]] with the message, "DON'T LISTEN TO HITLER. HE'S RUBBISH".
 
* ''[[The Brilliant Book 2012]],'' a book that contains [[Tardis:Canon policy|non-narrative]] information, offers other pieces of Rory's history, including:
:* When Amy and Rory went to see ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' in [[1605]], Rory met King [[James I]] and upon informing him of their friendship with the Doctor, almost got himself and Amy arrested. They escaped to the wine cellar in their hotel. Amy then sent the Doctor a letter, informing him of their situation and that they would be hiding in empty wine barrels.
:* At their next destination, Amy and Rory had a picnic in the [[Gardens of Zul-Thep]] in the year [[3104]]. However, their picnic was interrupted by a swarm of giant, talking, [[human]]-hating bees attracted to Amy's jam. Rory sent a telemessage to the Doctor to pick them up before the giant bees could hurt them.
:* The Doctor sent the Ponds to meet [[Wyatt Earp]]. However, Rory upset Earp, nearly getting shot, in turn upsetting Rory. To make matters worse, aliens appeared and Rory had an accident with a cactus. Amy sent a telegram to the Doctor, asking that he pick them up and bring salve for Rory's injury.
:* During their beach holiday on Drago14, the beach was attacked by acid-spitting land squids, damaging Rory's Terry Pratchett book. After the attack, Amy and Rory went to get acid-proof suits and Amy found a brochure for ''[[The Thrasymachus]]'' in the travel agent shop next to the next to the acid proof shop. Amy had Rory send an Instant Message to the Doctor about the cruise and told Rory to sent the Doctor their love.
:* Escaping to the TARDIS, the Doctor decided he and his companions had to become renegades to give the Silents a false sense of security. The plan included Canton and the [[FBI]] hunting them down on a nationwide search. He reluctantly sent River and the Ponds on their own nationwide search to find information about the Silents. He gave them [[Cryotosis Podlets|cryotosis podlets]] for when Canton would pretend to kill them.
 
:* Rory travelled to Oklahoma, Texas and California. He started missing his wife by the time he reached his first destination. During his time in Texas, Rory realised the aliens he was searching for resembled ''[[The Scream]]'' and deduced that they were behind its repeated thefts.
=== Nametag controversy ===
 
[[File:Rory's_ID.jpg|thumb|Rory's troublesome ID badge.]] The question of Rory's "home" time period is one that baffled fans in the aftermath of the broadcast of ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]''. This was largely fueled by an image of Rory's [[Royal Leadworth Hospital]] identification badge, that was given an extreme closeup in the episode. This closeup plainly shows the badge to have been issued on [[30 November]] [[1990]], which would seem implausible given the presence of various bits of technology in the episode, such as laptop computers and the 2008 model [[smart phone]]. Bebo and Twitter were mentioned; the phone had Facebook. So perplexing was this badge ID that [[Steven Moffat]] was specifically asked about it in [[New York City|New York]] by an [[American]] fan on [[13 April]] [[2010]]. His response was recorded and released in the podcast, ''Meet the Filmmaker'':
{{quote|I have never actually looked at Rory's name tag to be completely honest with you...it's not a significant plot thing.|Steven Moffat at the SoHo Apple Store}}
Though it seemed a genuine, spontaneous answer, Moffat had earlier enthusiastically extolled the virtues of lying to the public and press about the content of ''Doctor Who'' in a question-and-answer session following the [[New York City|New York]] theatrical screening of ''The Eleventh Hour''. This led some fans to continue to think of the ID badge as having some hidden plot significance.
 
However, later episodes like ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'' and ''[[The Big Bang]]'' proved that Moffat was telling the truth. The graphics on the ID page were simply erroneous.


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Revision as of 20:32, 17 July 2012

You may be looking for the Auton based on Rory.

Rory Williams was Amy Pond's boyfriend and later husband. He became a companion of the Eleventh Doctor, died and was removed from the universe after being absorbed by the Time Field. After "Big Bang Two" he was restored, married Amy and resumed travel with the Doctor and her. During this time, his child, Melody Pond (later River Song), was born. When the Doctor married River, Rory became his father-in-law.

Biography

Early life

Rory was a childhood friend of Amelia Pond. Like much of Leadworth, he was privy to her tales of the "raggedy Doctor" and a reluctant participant in dress-up games she based on them. (DW: The Eleventh Hour) He was also a friend of Mels, unbeknownst to him their daughter from the future. On at least one occasion when he played hide and seek with them he hid for hours and they didn't look for him. Rory was long attracted to Amy. His feelings were returned only after Mels pointed it out. Before this, Amy had believed Rory was gay, because he had never shown any interest in any other girl. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)

Meeting the Doctor

While working at the hospital in 2008, Rory noticed coma patients roaming about the village. He helped the Eleventh Doctor defeat Prisoner Zero, then watched him warn the Atraxi away from Earth after they had threatened to roast it. (DW: The Eleventh Hour) Rory became engaged to Amy and looked up the "latest scientific theories". (DW: Flesh and Stone)

Travels with the Doctor

In 2010, not knowing Amy had left in the TARDIS and spent days away from Leadworth, Rory was surprised when the Doctor unexpectedly popped out of a cake at his stag party and disheartened to learn Amy had tried to kiss the Doctor. The Doctor took the couple on a "romantic break" to Venice in 1580 as a wedding gift. They ran into Saturnyns who planned to flood Venice and repopulate it with their species. Rory defended Amy from Francesco, a Saturnyn who wished to convert her into a "fish from space". The Doctor defeated the Saturnyns and Rory agreed to continue travelling with the Doctor after Amy asked him to. (DW: The Vampires of Venice)

Rory fights off an Eknodine whilst in a dream. (DW: Amy's Choice)

Aboard the TARDIS, Rory fell victim to the Psychic Pollen that ensnared them in two shared dreams. He escaped after the Doctor killed them in both dreams. Amy and his relationship was cemented by her realisation she really loved him and would not live without him when he died in one of the dreams. (DW: Amy's Choice)

Following a failed attempt to visit Rio, in 2020, Rory, Amy, the Doctor and some new friends stopped renegade Silurians who lived beneath Cwmtaff in Wales from killing humanity. Rory was shot and killed by their military leader, Restac, when he shielded the Doctor from a fatal energy beam. He was swallowed by a nearby crack in time and erased from reality. (DW: The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood)

The Alliance scanned the psychic imprint left by Amy and used her dormant memories of Rory to create an Auton duplicate. (DW: The Pandorica Opens)

For more information on Rory as an Auton, see Rory Williams (Auton).
Rory, back as human, with the Doctor at his wedding. (DW: The Big Bang)

After his Auton self helped reboot the universe almost wiped out by the Time Field, the real Rory returned and married Amy in June 2010. He remembered having been an Auton after Amy had recalled the Doctor from the other side of the cracks. (DW: The Big Bang) He compared these memories to a door in his head; he could open it when he wanted, but usually kept it shut. (DW: Day of the Moon) After the wedding, they returned to Amy's garden, where the TARDIS was parked. They bade farewell to Leadworth to continue journeying with the Doctor. (DW: The Big Bang) The Doctor would insist on calling him "Rory Pond". (DW: The Big Bang, The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People)

In the new version of reality, the first time Amy and Rory were together in the TARDIS was on their honeymoon, despite their memories of earlier adventures with the Doctor. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War)

Honeymoon

Amy and Rory passed their wedding night on the TARDIS, conceiving their first child. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War) The Doctor left them on a honeymoon planet (SJA: Death of the Doctor)

Rory with Amy onboard the spaceship for their honeymoon. (DW: A Christmas Carol)

The couple continued their holiday in the honeymoon suite of a starship in the 44th century. The ship began to crash onto the planet Ember. The Doctor had less than an hour to convince Kazran Sardick of Sardicktown to unlock the cloud belt, allowing the ship to safely land. Rory showed Kazran a hologram of the crashing ship. The cloud belt was opened when Abigail Pettigrew's singing calmed the ice and the ship landed.

The trio left for another honeymoon location which Rory was sceptical about when told it was a living, carnivorous planet. (DW: A Christmas Carol)

Rory began helping the Doctor maintain the TARDIS, which annoyed Amy. He made the TARDIS materialise inside itself by dropping a thermocoupling when he inadvertently looked up Amy's skirt. The Doctor dematerialised the TARDIS from the resulting space loop and told Amy to put on some trousers. (DW: Space / Time)

America

After their honeymoon, Rory and Amy returned to Earth. (DW: The Impossible Astronaut) Amy was replaced with a Ganger. (DW: The Almost People)

Rory, covered in markings, looks down upon the dam. (DW: Day of the Moon)

In April 2011, they received a TARDIS-blue letter which led them to America. There they met up with River Song and the Doctor, who was (unbeknownst to them) a Teselecta duplicate. This "Doctor" was shot by a past version of River, faking his death in front of Rory and Amy. (DW: The Impossible Astronaut, The Wedding of River Song) After his apparent death, the group spoke briefly to Canton Delaware. Rory, Amy and the older River went to a diner where they met a younger version of the Doctor with his own invitation. During the older Doctor's talk about "space 1969", Amy had seen one of the Silents, aliens who had occupied Earth for centuries.

They arrived in the White House in April 1969, where they met Richard Nixon and a younger version of Canton. The Doctor, his companions and Canton went to Florida to track the mysterious phone calls Nixon was getting. Rory and River found a Silent timeship while exploring tunnels under the warehouse to which the calls had led them. (DW: The Impossible Astronaut)

After three months on the run, the Doctor started a revolution against the Silence by using their own powers against them. Rory and Amy returned to travelling on the TARDIS, concerned about the Doctor's impending death. During this adventure, Rory questioned Amy's feelings for him yet again because she described someone she loved who "fell out of the sky" and changed her life. However, his doubts were put to rest when Amy told him she had meant him, not the Doctor. (DW: Day of the Moon)

Further travels

Answering a distress signal from the 17th century, the TARDIS crew ended up on the pirate ship Fancy, where they were accused of being stowaways. Rory was accidentally cut by a cutlass wielded by Amy and targeted by a Siren who had been taking crew members. Though Amy shielded him from the Siren, Rory was taken after being washed overboard during a storm. The Doctor figured out the "siren" was a virtual doctor from an invisible spaceship in the same space as the Fancy. Rory instructed Amy in CPR and had himself disconnected from the ship's life-support. He was revived shortly after. (DW: The Curse of the Black Spot)

Rory is sent a psychic message. (DW: The Doctor's Wife)

Following a false distress signal from outside the universe, Rory and Amy were trapped in the TARDIS by a malevolent entity known as House, who planned to escape to the main universe in the TARDIS and strand the Doctor with his TARDIS's matrix in a human body. Rory helped the Doctor get back into the TARDIS by lowering the shields. The soul of the TARDIS thought Rory was "pretty" and communicated instructions to him telepathically instead of Amy as the Doctor intended. Rory also heard the TARDIS talking about something he would need to know in the future: "The only water in the forest is the river". (DW: The Doctor's Wife)

After surviving a solar tsunami in the 22nd century, the TARDIS crew were caught in a clash between human workers and their ganger clones used for the dangerous parts of the job. Rory sympathised with the ganger of Jennifer Lucas. She took advantage of him, tricking him into trapping the crew, the Doctor and Amy in a room with an overheating acid vat. Rory learned the truth and returned with the reformed gangers to free everyone. After escaping the deranged Jennifer ganger, the crisis was resolved by saving one of the workers and two gangers from the factory's explosion. Rory was stunned when the Doctor revealed Amy was a ganger and the real Amy was elsewhere, having been replaced soon after their honeymoon. Rory vowed to find her, just as the Doctor had told Amy before destroying her duplicate. (DW: The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People)

Fatherhood

Rory and the Doctor raised an army to rescue Amy and his daughter, Melody Pond, from Madame Kovarian and the Church in the 52nd century. Rory invaded the Twelfth Cyber Legion and asked twice for the whereabouts of his wife, destroying the other ships in the Legion as a "message from the Doctor". Soon after, he arrived on Demon's Run. He kept Kovarian from fleeing with his daughter while the Doctor's army won the fight in four minutes. However, the baby was not Melody, but another a Ganger; Kovarian had escaped with his daughter. River Song appeared and stunned him with the news she was his daughter, using as proof a prayer leaf with her name written in the language of the Gamma Forest, translated by the TARDIS. The Doctor left Rory and Amy to be returned to their home era by River while he looked for the infant Melody. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War)

After waiting "all summer", Amy had Rory make a crop circle saying "Doctor" to catch the Doctor's attention. They found him waiting and were surprised by their childhood friend, Mels. She ordered them at gunpoint to help her escape the police and take her to kill Hitler. The TARDIS landed in Berlin and accidentally crashed into the Teselecta, Rory slugged Hitler and locked him in a closet. Discovering Mels had been shot by Hitler, he also learned she was Melody, who regenerated into River Song.

River had poisoned the Doctor. Rory and Amy followed her, only to be sucked into the shape-shifting Teselecta, which took Amy's form. While the Doctor tried to reason with their child, they made the Teselecta's antibodies attack the crew. On the verge of dying again, Rory was saved by his daughter in the TARDIS. Melody gave her remaining regenerations to revive the Doctor. Leaving her in "the best hospital in the universe" to recover from the strain, Rory and Amy rejoined the Doctor while River was left to find her own way. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)

Further adventures

The TARDIS landed on Earth in 2011 after tracing a distress call from George, a Tenza who lived in a block of flats. Amy and Rory knocked on nearly every door to find him. George used his psychic powers to drop Rory and Amy into the doll house in his closet. Rory believed they had died again, only to find another person, running from the peg dolls, who was turned into one. It joined the others to chase Rory and Amy. Rory then saw his wife transformed into a doll. He met up with the Doctor and George's dad, Alex, to hold them off. The dolls were stopped when George overcame his fear and Amy, along with the others, was restored. (DW: Night Terrors)

The Doctor took Rory and Amy to a holiday planet, Apalapucia. The planet was quarantined for the Chen-7 virus. Befuddled by the security measures, Amy wound up in a faster timestream. While the Doctor hid in the TARDIS because the virus targeted humanoids with two hearts, Rory went to retrieve her. He met his wife nearly forty years into her future, hiding from the robotic medical staff lest their medicine kill her. He convinced her to rescue her younger self on the condition she also be saved. The Doctor forced Rory to choose between the past and future Amys at the last moment; the TARDIS could not sustain such a paradox. The older Amy sacrificed herself. Rory was angry with the Doctor at first, fearing he was turning Rory into the Doctor himself, but later agreed the Doctor had done the right thing. (DW: The Girl Who Waited)

Amy and Rory went to the Liao Dynasty China in the 13th century, where the guards of the Liao Palace attacked them for taking food. After the TARDIS took off, it collided with a Rutan ship. The ship crashed on the future site of the Houses of Parliament, putting the occupants in stasis until 1605, when it sent a distress call. The TARDIS responded to its call and landed in London. Beneath Parliament, Amy and Rory discovered Guy Fawkes and Robert Catesby plotting to blow up Parliament and kill King James I. The Rutan Lady Winters was in their ranks. Amy and Rory followed the trail to the Rutan ship and helped find the power rods to let the ship take off. They were also caught in a conflict between Sontarans and Rutans over the Rutans' two doomsday weapons. The Doctor reprogrammed one to target Rutans. Rory handed the Sontaran-targeted weapon to the other party, causing a stalemate, as each race was at risk of destroying themselves. (VG: The Gunpowder Plot)

Departure from the Doctor

Rory ended up in an alien structure modelled on a 1980s hotel with Amy and the Doctor, where a creature fed off the faith of those the prison trapped for it. Rory, who had no strong faith for the creature to feed on, kept Amy safe until the Doctor broke her faith in him and the creature died. Rory and Amy were returned to Earth some time before they had left to find the Doctor had bought them a new home and a red E-Type Jaguar that Rory had longed for. Hoping to thank the Doctor with some champagne, he went inside and was confused when the Doctor was gone when he returned. Amy explained the Doctor was saving them from more dangerous adventures with him. (DW: The God Complex)

After time was restored and the Doctor had "died", River dropped by Rory and Amy's house from just after her adventure with Amy in the Byzantium. Rory was pleased by River's visit and confused by his wife's joy until River explained that the Doctor was still alive. (DW: The Wedding of River Song)

In 2013, the Doctor joined Rory and Amy for Christmas. (DW: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe)

In 2020, Rory and Amy returned to Cwmtaff to wave to their younger selves. (DW: The Hungry Earth)

Alternate timeline

In a timeline where all time happened at once due to the Doctor not dying, Rory was a captain in a military force led by Amy. They tried to restore the timeline without killing the Doctor. Unlike Amy and River, he had no memory of the correct timeline. He was attracted to Amy, who was looking for him but didn't recognise him. The Doctor tried to get them together, but Rory saw right through it. When the Silents broke free, tormented by his Eye Drive, he stayed to hold them off, though it meant certain death. Amy saved him, then told him they should get a drink and married. When the Doctor married River, Rory consented to the marriage as the bride's father, even though he didn't understand what was going on. Unlike Amy, the Doctor and River, Rory probably had no memory of these events when the timeline was restored. (DW: The Wedding of River Song)

Personality

Rory was timid in his first meeting with the Doctor. He was hectored by Dr Ramsden and terrified by the chaos surrounding the Doctor and Prisoner Zero. He still had the presence of mind to record evidence his comatose patients were strolling outside the hospital. He also helped Amy clear the hospital of patients before Prisoner Zero could kill them. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)

In Venice, Rory was unnerved when the Doctor and Amy wanted to return to the Saturnyn stronghold, yet he grew in bravery. He challenged Francesco to protect Amy. (DW: The Vampires of Venice) When he saw Francesco had attacked a girl, his immediate reaction was to see if she was all right. (DW: The Vampires of Venice) He took a lethal Silurian energy beam meant for the Doctor. (DW: Cold Blood)

Rory was stubbornly devoted to Amy. Perhaps the greatest testament to this was his willingness as an Auton to guard Amy in the Pandorica for almost two thousand years. (DW: The Big Bang) He would perform great feats of courage out of love for Amy and go to any length when angry. He destroyed all but one of the Twelfth Cyber Legion's ships to find where Amy was held captive (DW: A Good Man Goes to War) and as an Auton, punched the Doctor when he was grieving over shooting Amy. (DW: The Big Bang) Although he remained aghast at the risks he was forced to take, his reflexive behaviour was heroic.

At first, Rory was jealous of Amy's infatuation with the Doctor and uneasy at her obsession with him when she was little. (DW: The Vampires of Venice, Amy's Choice). However, after the Dream Lord's challenge (DW: Amy's Choice), Rory became more comfortable with the Doctor's presence in their lives, trying to have civil conversations with him and helping in TARDIS maintenance. (DW: Space/Time) He put up with the occasionally troublesome natures of Amy and the Doctor. Rory was very loyal to the Doctor, whom he trusted with his life. (DW: The Hungry Earth) He was devastated when it appeared the Doctor was dead and when Idris' body died; not only were they his friends, he was a nurse and they were his patients. (DW: The Doctor's Wife)

Rory was a quick learner. When confronted with the necessity of riding a motorcycle for the first time to follow River Song, he sourly noted that it was "one of those days" and did so. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler) He was one of the few people to not freak out on entering the TARDIS for the first time, remarking he had done some reading on the theory. (DW: The Vampires of Venice) When he was put in to the Teselecta he concluded it was a miniaturisation ray simply because they were smaller and it was a ray. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)

Other information

Skills

Rory was a trained nurse. He knew medical procedures and how to examine bodies. (DW: The Eleventh Hour, The Vampires of Venice, The Curse of the Black Spot) As he had been a Roman Centurion, he was accomplished at fighting with a gladius. (DW: The Pandorica Opens, A Good Man Goes to War) In two millenia guarding the Pandorica, Rory became a very effective warrior. In the attack on Demon's Run, he survived the battle with the Headless monks while two experienced soldiers, Strax and Lorna Bucket, were killed. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War). Rory demonstrated a good 'gun arm' on several occasions; he knocked the Doctor, Hitler and the Teselecta to the ground with single blows to their jaws. (DW: The Big Bang, Let's Kill Hitler)

Personal Life

It was mentioned that Rory drove a mini. (NSA: Paradox Lost)

Behind the scenes

  • In a scene deleted from The Hungry Earth, the Doctor admits to Amy that he likes Rory a lot.
  • Rory's first death is very similar in nature to Jenny's (DW: The Doctor's Daughter). In both cases they died taking a shot intended for the Doctor, and in both cases the shooter was a violent member of a race that the Doctor had helped bring peace to (Restac and Cobb respectively).
  • Coincidentally Rory temporarily "dies" in some manner in three consecutive episodes of Series 6 (DW: Day of the Moon, The Curse of the Black Spot, The Doctor's Wife). Totalling up, his temporary deaths come to six. The other three 'deaths' occurred in DW: Amy's Choice, DW: Cold Blood, and the erasure of his Auton duplicate's existence in DW: The Big Bang (in addition, earlier in that episode, Amy mourns him when the museum documentary concludes he died in the Blitz). This means he has died more than any televised companion save Jack Harkness.
    • Incidentally, every time Rory "dies" in a given story, he dies in at least one adjacent story as well.
    • Additionally, in the story immediately following DW: The Doctor's Wife, Rory is the only character for whom a version doesn't die; at least one version of every other character has an on-screen death, including the Doctor and Amy (DW: The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People).
    • In The Wedding of River Song, Silents call Rory, "the man who dies and dies again."
  • When Amy and Rory went to see Romeo and Juliet in 1605, Rory met King James I and upon informing him of their friendship with the Doctor, almost got himself and Amy arrested. They escaped to the wine cellar in their hotel. Amy then sent the Doctor a letter, informing him of their situation and that they would be hiding in empty wine barrels.
  • At their next destination, Amy and Rory had a picnic in the Gardens of Zul-Thep in the year 3104. However, their picnic was interrupted by a swarm of giant, talking, human-hating bees attracted to Amy's jam. Rory sent a telemessage to the Doctor to pick them up before the giant bees could hurt them.
  • The Doctor sent the Ponds to meet Wyatt Earp. However, Rory upset Earp, nearly getting shot, in turn upsetting Rory. To make matters worse, aliens appeared and Rory had an accident with a cactus. Amy sent a telegram to the Doctor, asking that he pick them up and bring salve for Rory's injury.
  • During their beach holiday on Drago14, the beach was attacked by acid-spitting land squids, damaging Rory's Terry Pratchett book. After the attack, Amy and Rory went to get acid-proof suits and Amy found a brochure for The Thrasymachus in the travel agent shop next to the next to the acid proof shop. Amy had Rory send an Instant Message to the Doctor about the cruise and told Rory to sent the Doctor their love.
  • Escaping to the TARDIS, the Doctor decided he and his companions had to become renegades to give the Silents a false sense of security. The plan included Canton and the FBI hunting them down on a nationwide search. He reluctantly sent River and the Ponds on their own nationwide search to find information about the Silents. He gave them cryotosis podlets for when Canton would pretend to kill them.
  • Rory travelled to Oklahoma, Texas and California. He started missing his wife by the time he reached his first destination. During his time in Texas, Rory realised the aliens he was searching for resembled The Scream and deduced that they were behind its repeated thefts.

Nametag controversy

Rory's troublesome ID badge.

The question of Rory's "home" time period is one that baffled fans in the aftermath of the broadcast of The Eleventh Hour. This was largely fueled by an image of Rory's Royal Leadworth Hospital identification badge, that was given an extreme closeup in the episode. This closeup plainly shows the badge to have been issued on 30 November 1990, which would seem implausible given the presence of various bits of technology in the episode, such as laptop computers and the 2008 model smart phone. Bebo and Twitter were mentioned; the phone had Facebook. So perplexing was this badge ID that Steven Moffat was specifically asked about it in New York by an American fan on 13 April 2010. His response was recorded and released in the podcast, Meet the Filmmaker:

I have never actually looked at Rory's name tag to be completely honest with you...it's not a significant plot thing.Steven Moffat at the SoHo Apple Store

Though it seemed a genuine, spontaneous answer, Moffat had earlier enthusiastically extolled the virtues of lying to the public and press about the content of Doctor Who in a question-and-answer session following the New York theatrical screening of The Eleventh Hour. This led some fans to continue to think of the ID badge as having some hidden plot significance.

However, later episodes like The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang proved that Moffat was telling the truth. The graphics on the ID page were simply erroneous.