The Shadow in the Mirror (webcast)
The Shadow in the Mirror was a webcast that was made specifically for the Doctor Who: Lockdown! event. Along with Shadow of a Doubt, it was the second of two connected stories written by Paul Cornell to coincide with the watchalong of Human Nature / The Family of Blood, completing the trilogy that began nine days earlier in Cornell's short story The Shadow Passes.
Plot
Daughter of Mine recalls how the Doctor always found her, no matter what mirrors she was exploring. They always told her to say sorry if she wanted to be free, but she refused every time. Then a blonde-haired doctor came to her. Daughter of Mine says she thinks the red-headed doctor was wrong about being the last. The Doctor says she doesn't know about that, but that one rule, perhaps the only solid rule of being the Doctor, is that Doctors don't know much about themselves. She then goes on to say that she wants to break another rule and free Daughter of Mine. She asks Daughter of Mine if she still wants to be free. Daughter of Mine says yes, but she won't ever say sorry. The Doctor says if she does get out, her life will start exactly where it had left off. Daughter of Mine says that her family did what they needed to do. The Doctor asks if she knows what mercy is, and that mercy has nothing to do with fairness. The Doctor breaks the mirror, holding out her hand to Daughter of Mine, who doesn't take her, but steps out of the mirror. The Doctor takes her to the TARDIS and takes Daughter of Mine back to her home planet. She tells Daughter of Mine to get out and that she's made this decision for Daughter of Mine, herself, and all her other selves. She then leaves Daughter of Mine to reunite with her people.
Characters
Crew
- Written by Paul Cornell
- Read by Lor Wilson as Lucy Cartwright
- Music and Sound Design by Jamie Robertson
- Artwork by Christopher Jones
- Video Edited by Abigail Scarfe
- Produced by Emily Cook
Worldbuilding
to be added
Story notes
- This story was published in prose format in Adventures in Lockdown.
Continuity
- Fresh from her discovery about the Timeless Child and her confrontation with another incarnation in the Matrix, the Thirteenth Doctor doesn't question when Daughter of Mine mentions an unknown incarnation of herself - stating that she had come to learn that the only solid rule about being the Doctor was "Doctors don't know much about themselves". (TV: The Timeless Children)
- The Doctor believes that "in many ways it was her own fault" that the Family of Blood killed so many people. (TV: Human Nature/The Family of Blood)
- The Doctor frees Daughter of Mine from her imprisonment in the mirror, just as Son of Mine had hoped they would do. (TV: The Family of Blood)
