Clara Oswin Oswald was a human serving as a Junior Entertainment Manager onboard the starliner Alaska when it crashed into the Dalek Asylum. She also appeared as a barmaid in 19th century London, seemingly in another life.
Biography
At one point in her life, "Oswin Oswald" was going through a phase, during which she dated a girl named Nina, or at least fancied her. She later lied to anyone she mentioned this to, saying she fancied a boy named Rory, although she did tell Rory Williams the truth. At some point in her life, she joined the Alaska crew as Junior Entertainment Manager to see the universe.
When the Alaska crashed on the Dalek Asylum, Oswin escaped down a shaft into the lower levels of the Asylum, where she was found and captured by the Dalek inmates. Unlike the other crew members of the Alaska, who were partially converted by the nanocloud into Dalek puppets, Oswin was fully converted due to her exceptionally high intelligence, something they valued over exterminating her. Due to the horror of what had happened to her, Oswin created a dream world for her human mind to dwell in to forget the truth. Under this life, Oswin assumed that she was surviving on soufflés in the Alaska. She also hacked into the Asylum's fully-automated systems, heavily damaging it and reducing it to a ruin.
A year later, Oswin aided the Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory Williams in finding safe passage through the Dalek Asylum; wiping the memory of the Doctor from the Daleks' Pathweb at one point to save him from the Daleks in Intensive Care. The Doctor attempted to rescue her, until he found her and discovered she was a Dalek. The Doctor explained this to Oswin, who first nearly gave in to the Dalek conditioning by attempting to exterminate the Doctor, then broke down over what she had become.
Oswin lowered the Asylum's defences so the Parliament of the Daleks could destroy the planet and asked the Doctor to remember her as the human she once was. She presumably died when the Daleks destroyed the Asylum. When Amy, Rory and the Doctor escaped back to the Parliament, they found out that Oswin had erased the Doctor from the memories of all the Daleks in the Parliament as well as the Dalek inmates in the Asylum. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
In what was literally another lifetime, Clara Oswin Oswald was in fact a barmaid in Victorian England posing as the governess "Miss Montague". She met the Doctor originally when he was passing by, and she mentioned that a snowman just appeared out of nowhere. The Doctor simply agreed with her and walked away, as at this point he did not interfere with the timeline of the universe.
Clara then followed him and worked on tracking him down. She found his TARDIS on a cloud in the sky, with a ladder to reach up to it. Later, she escaped the snowmen and climbed back towards the TARDIS. The Doctor then watched as, to his shock, an iced figure with the "template" of ice and human taken from a deceased governess frozen in a pond, dragged Clara off the cloud, to the ground. She died, but was brought back to life temporarily by Strax' technology. The tears of the family Clara looked after caused rain, instead of snow, which potentially saved the world from decimation. (TV: The Snowmen)
Personality
Oswin possessed a flirtatious and feisty personality, and cheerfully flirted with both the Doctor and Rory. She once asked Rory to take his shirt off for no real reason showing that she considered him to be attractive and teased the Doctor about his chin, nicknaming him "Chinboy". Oswin also implied that she was bisexual, admitting to Rory that she'd once fancied a girl called Nina, although she added that she'd been going through a phase.
Following her conversion, Oswin was unable to accept the horror of what she had become, and managed to convince herself that she was still human. Oswin had a strong-willed nature, and even after her conversion, rejected mental conditioning in favour of retaining her humanity. Notably, she was the only Dalek for whom the Eleventh Doctor displayed any compassion or pity.
Oswin was shown to be selfless, allowing the Doctor to complete his mission of destroying the planet and insisting that he leave her behind and escape with Amy and Rory. She was also extremely intelligent, but unfortunately it was because of her intelligence that she was turned into a Dalek. She had incredible hacking skills and possessed a knowledge of Daleks and their technology that exceeded even the Doctor's, because she had been converted into a Dalek herself. Oswin was very confident, perhaps slightly overconfident, and was fully aware of her exceptional intelligence, calling herself a genius several times.
Oswin was a talented actress, being able to pretend convincingly that she was at ease with her situation with cheeky and flirty remarks and was able to change the sound of her voice easily. She also used her flirting to keep Rory cheerful and seemed to provide him with some comfort since he actually asked her to keep flirting with him as reassurance. Despite her relaxed and cheerful demeanour, Oswin did show signs of worry about her situation and admitted that she was anxious to leave. She was also shown to be wary of strangers since she asked the Doctor to come and fetch her, not entirely trusting him not to leave without her; ironically she later actually told him to leave without her after discovering that she was a Dalek. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
She was very flirtatious and witty. (TV: The Snowmen)
Behind the scenes
- Clara shares the surname, Oswald, with the man who assassinated President John F. Kennedy on 22 November 1963, the day before Doctor Who premiered with An Unearthly Child. The assassination and Lee Harvey Oswald have been oft referenced. In Rose and the Defending the Earth! website, a photograph shows the Ninth Doctor at Dallas, witnessing the event. Meanwhile, his seventh incarnation and Ace were simultaneously in London on the 22nd and 23rd in Remembrance of the Daleks. A 23 November 1963 newspaper headline in the K9 episode, The Cambridge Spy, reports Oswald's capture. On 23 November 1988, the Seventh Doctor asserts to Ace that the assassination was prompted by the Nemesis comet in Silver Nemesis. Oswin's shipmate, who survived until he turned into a Dalek puppet, was similarly named Harvey.
- Clara's headstone in 1892 states she was born on 23 November 1866 and that she died in 24 December 1892, meaning she not only shares the same birthday (though not year) with the Doctor Who television series, but that she was also 26-years-old when she died, the same age as Doctor Who when it was cancelled in 1989.