"The Doctor"
"The Doctor", knighted in 1879 by Queen Victoria as Sir Doctor of TARDIS (TV: Tooth and Claw), was a renegade Time Lord from Gallifrey who travelled through time and space with various companions in his obsolete and "borrowed" Type 40 TARDIS. He was the universe's "greatest defender", having saved the cosmos thousands of times throughout his long life, becoming a great legend across the whole universe.
Though largely a believer in non-violent conflict resolution, he was, when absolutely necessary, a great warrior. Indeed, some civilisations in the universe (e.g. the denizens of the Gamma Forests) translated the word doctor as warrior, (TV: A Good Man Goes to War) whilst others saw him as a compassionate benefactor, worthy of their admiration and compassion. (TV: Last of the Time Lords, The Wedding of River Song)
Although he had saved untold numbers on his travels, he was thought to have caused the deaths of billions at the conclusion to the Last Great Time War. (TV: Dalek) Though most of the Daleks were killed in the crossfire, Gallifrey — disappearing, rather than being burned — was hidden thanks to the efforts of "all thirteen" of his incarnations, the first eleven of which retained no memory of the event. (TV: The Day of the Doctor) For his actions, the Time Lords granted him a new cycle of regenerations, allowing him to live on after using up all available regenerations in his first cycle of regenerations. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
From the latter years of his first incarnation onward, he had a pronounced affinity for Earth and the human race. After departing Gallifrey, he voluntarily chose to spend time on the planet, (TV: An Unearthly Child, AUDIO: Summer, The Haunting of Thomas Brewster) choosing it as the place of his exile during most of his third incarnation, (TV: Spearhead from Space - The Three Doctors) and even owning property in Kent (COMIC: Fellow Travellers, PROSE: Verdigris, Warlock, Warchild, The Dying Days, Mad Dogs and Englishmen) and New York City. (PROSE: The Forgotten Army) He favoured Great Britain as a frequently visited location, taking most of his companions from there. (TV: An Unearthly Child, Spearhead from Space, The Time Monster, Rose, Smith and Jones, Partners in Crime, etc.) Even before the disappearance of Gallifrey, the Doctor spent much more time on Earth than on his homeworld.
Name
- Main article: Aliases of the Doctor
The Doctor's true name remained unknown to all but a very few individuals, such as Samantha Jones (PROSE: Vanderdeken's Children) and River Song. (TV: Forest of the Dead, The Name of the Doctor) The Master also knew his name [source needed] and so did the Time Lords. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) His real name was not used by the Time Lords, even in the formal setting of legal trials. (TV: The War Games, The Trial of a Time Lord, The End of Time) According to the Saxon Master, he chose this name to reflect his constant desire to make people "better". (TV: The Sound of Drums)
The Eleventh Doctor told Clara Oswald that his real name was not so important, since he specifically chose in its place the title of "Doctor", "like a promise you make". (TV: The Name of the Doctor) This promise was, as the Tenth and War Doctor recited together, "Never cruel or cowardly. Never give up, never give in." (TV: The Day of the Doctor) The Twelfth Doctor claimed that when he originally adopted the title it was "just a name," which held no real significance until his first visit to Skaro. It was through his opposition to the Daleks that the Doctor was able to define himself and realise who he was. (TV: Into the Dalek)
The title "Doctor" was not undeserved; he did hold one or more doctorates of some sort, (TV: The Armageddon Factor, The God Complex) formally studied medicine on at least 19th century Earth, (TV: The Moonbase) and frequently displayed detailed medical knowledge. (TV: The Ark, Frontios, The Empty Child, New Earth, The Time of Angels, The Curse of the Black Spot) At least some versions of his sonic screwdriver performed medical scans and healed minor wounds. (TV: The Empty Child, The Vampires of Venice, A Good Man Goes to War) He showed knowledge on how to help someone thrown by an explosion recover quickly. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) Although his first, (TV: "The Forest of Fear", "Mighty Kublai Khan"), fourth (TV: The Ark in Space) and fifth incarnations (AUDIO: Red Dawn) had claimed not to be a doctor of medicine, and his third (TV: Spearhead of Space) and tenth incarnations (TV: Utopia) claimed to be a doctor of practically "everything", by his eleventh life the Doctor claimed to hold doctorates in at least medicine and cheese-making. (TV: The God Complex)
According to Evelina, his name was written in the stars of the Medusa Cascade. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii) Members of an unidentified race of pan-dimensional beings also knew the Doctor's real name at one point. (AUDIO: The Last Voyage)
In one account, he had taken the moniker after his first contact with humans. Colonists on the medical/penal colony of Iwa began calling him "Doctor" after his arrival. He failed to correct them. After they left the planet, "the Doctor" simply kept the name he had been given by the humans. (PROSE: Frayed) In another, he had already been introducing himself by that name after his first trip in the TARDIS, which gave an alternative account of meeting humans for the first time on the Moon. (AUDIO: The Beginning)
River Song believed that the Doctor had influenced the etymology of the noun doctor, and was, in several languages, the original source of the word. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War).
According to Dorium Maldovar and the Silence, the oldest and most dangerous question in the universe was "Doctor Who?" The Doctor's true name was apparently the answer. Dorium claimed the Doctor had been running from the question all his life. According to the Silence, "silence must fall when the question is asked," (TV: The Wedding of River Song) because if the question was answered, it could lead to destruction on a universal scale, through several methods, each of which were located on the planet Trenzalore. The first was that the Doctor's name could be used to open his grave and alter his timeline, potentially undoing the countless times the Doctor had saved the universe. (TV: The Name of the Doctor) The second was that his name could be used to confirm to the Time Lords, who were sealed in a pocket universe and had been broadcasting the question throughout the entirety of time and space, that it was safe for them to return; which could result in another Time War. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
At some point River Song learned his name, prompting the Doctor to claim that there was only one reason he ever would or could reveal it. (TV: Forest of the Dead) Indeed, even while spending hundreds of years in a town permeated by a Truth Field and hearing the question asked multiple times, the Doctor would not or could not answer. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) However, River later stated that she "made him" tell her his true name and that it "took a while." (TV: The Name of the Doctor)
Clara Oswald viewed the Doctor's name in a book on the Time War, contained in the TARDIS library. She subsequently lost the information when time was rewound. (TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS)
The Seventh Doctor mentioned to Trevor Sigma that his nickname at college was Theta Sigma. (TV: The Happiness Patrol) His classmate Drax called him by this nickname. (TV: The Armageddon Factor)
Age
- Main article: The Doctor's age
The Doctor's age was a matter of great confusion, largely caused by his own statements. The Second Doctor once gave his age in Earth terms as 450 (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen). On two separate occasions, the Third Doctor implied that he may have been several thousand years old. (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Mind of Evil) The Fourth Doctor, however, gave his age as "something like 750 years". (TV: Pyramids of Mars) Immediately after his sixth regeneration, his seventh self claimed to be 953. (TV: Time and the Rani) The incarnation that fought in the Time War considered himself 400 years younger than the Eleventh Doctor, who was purportedly 1200 at that time. (TV: The Day of the Doctor) The Tenth Doctor claimed to be 903. (TV: Voyage of the Damned) Also, at least prior to leaving Amy and Rory behind, (TV: The God Complex) the Eleventh Doctor maintained an age less than his seventh incarnation. (TV: Flesh and Stone, The Impossible Astronaut)
The Eleventh Doctor later claimed to the Ponds that he was 1200 years old (TV: A Town Called Mercy) but then later claimed to Clara Oswald that he was 1000 years old, (TV: The Bells of Saint John) before later saying he was 1200 again — he claimed however, that he might be lying. He then stated that he had lived so long he'd forgotten whether or not he was lying about his age. (TV: The Day of the Doctor) The Twelfth Doctor, after spending 900 years defending Trenzalore, stated his age to be over 2,000. (TV: Deep Breath)
Romana I once caught the Fourth Doctor "rounding down" his age, (TV: The Ribos Operation) while the Eighth Doctor once flatly admitted that he didn't necessarily use the same definition of the word year each time he gave his age to someone. (AUDIO: Orbis)
Family
Before the Time War
Proper references to the Doctor's father and mother are to be made.
The Doctor's familial relations were unclear at best. According to one account, the Doctor was one of the forty-five cousins created by the Loom of the House of Lungbarrow on Gallifrey. When the House disowned him, he said he had "other families." (PROSE: Lungbarrow) However, the Eighth Doctor once let it be understood that he was born to a human mother. (TV: Doctor Who)
The Eighth Doctor told Grace Holloway he had a father. (TV: Doctor Who) The Tenth Doctor told Sally Sparrow that he was "rubbish at weddings, especially [his] own". (TV: Blink) An earlier incarnation had also been wed, (PROSE: Cold Fusion) to Patience and they were said to have had a number of children, and grandchildren. (PROSE: The Infinity Doctors) The Doctor had, in the Tenth Doctor's own words, been "a dad" (TV: Fear Her) and "a father". (TV: The Doctor's Daughter) These children were "sons or daughters, or both." (PROSE: The Eleventh Tiger) The Twelfth Doctor claimed he had "[d]ad skills." (TV: Listen) Clara Oswald also claimed the Doctor had "children". (TV: Death in Heaven)
According to Clara Oswald, as well as children, the Doctor also had "grandchildren". (TV: Death in Heaven) These included Susan Foreman, (TV: An Unearthly Child) John and Gillian. (COMIC: The Klepton Parasites) Some accounts referred to Susan as "the Other's" granddaughter but recognised the Doctor as him. (PROSE: Lungbarrow)
The Doctor had at least one brother, Irving Braxiatel, who became an associate of the Doctor's onetime companion, Bernice Summerfield. (PROSE: Tears of the Oracle) Braxiatel was also a cardinal on Gallifrey (AUDIO: Weapon of Choice) and was the owner of the Braxiatel Collection, (PROSE: Tears of the Oracle) which the Doctor and Romana once compared to the Louvre in Paris. (TV: City of Death) The Doctor had one niece by Irving Braxiatel, Maggie Matsumoto. (AUDIO: The Empire State)
At one point, the Doctor became the adoptive father of a female Time Lord named Miranda Dawkins, whom his eighth incarnation reared until her mid-teens. (PROSE: Father Time) Miranda later gave birth to a daughter, Zezanne, and died while trying to protect the Doctor. (PROSE: Sometime Never...) The Man with the Rosette attended the Doctor's wedding to Scarlette, sitting at the table reserved for the Doctor's family. (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street)
