Rory Williams
- You may be looking for the human on which this Auton was based.
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. He was then erased from history by the Time Field emanating from the cracks in space and time.
Biography
The Pandorica Trap
The Auton that took the form of Rory Williams was created as part of a plan by an 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.
They used psychic residue from the home of the Doctor's companion Amy Pond, including a children's book on Roman centurions 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.
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, 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.
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 causing her to die. (TV: The Pandorica Opens)
Redemption
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 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.
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. (TV: The Big Bang)
Undercover
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.
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 TARDIS, which 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. (TV: The Big Bang)
Legacy
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". (TV: 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. (TV: A Christmas Carol)
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. (TV: Day of the Moon) The Doctor said that the Auton Rory both was and wasn't the real Rory. (PROSE: The Way Through the Woods)
At the Doctor's insistence, Rory wore the armour again while on a mission to rescue Amy and their infant daughter Melody from Madame Kovarian and the Headless Monks. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War)
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.
- An 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. (TV: Rose)
- Auton Rory is the second duplicate of a companion to be created based on the memories of another. During the novel 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.
- The Brilliant Book 2011 contains a deeper, non-narrative based history of Rory. It states:
- 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.
- During the 19th century, Rory became the inspiration for political cartoonists.
- In 1934, Rory released many leaflets that showed him and Adolf Hitler with the message, "DON'T LISTEN TO HITLER. HE'S RUBBISH".
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