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Clara Oswald was a companion to the Eleventh Doctor. According to the Doctor, Clara was simply "not possible". Crying twice in the first episode no that is not possible! NEEVAAAA!!! Though assured by the eminent empathic psychic Emma Grayling and the TARDIS scanner that Clara was just an "ordinary girl", the Doctor couldn't believe that to be true and thought her to be "the only mystery worth solving".
In fact, the truth was somewhere in between. She was a physically ordinary human girl from the 21st century, but one who had made an extraordinary sacrifice to save the Doctor's life. Upholding a personal credo not to walk away from danger in the service of others, she chose to enter the Doctor's timeline in his tomb on Trenzalore in order to reverse the damage done to his timeline by the Great Intelligence. This act allowed the time winds to break her into millions of copies of herself that, according to River Song, weren't quite the "real" Clara, but which were nevertheless capable of combatting the Great Intelligence's attack. After her heroism revivified the Doctor, he then returned the favour, guiding the original, 21st century Clara back out of his timeline.
Still, this act of bravery by the "ordinary girl" — the 21st century original — created the "impossible girl" who so intrigued the Doctor, largely by repeatedly dying in front of him. It meant that the Doctor met her out of synch with his own timeline, as had been the case with River and Mel. The Eleventh Doctor alone met a couple of versions of her before meeting the original: Oswin Oswald, a hyper-intelligent crew member onboard the Alaska who got converted into a Dalek; and a barmaid-cum-nanny called Clara Oswin Oswald in Victorian era London. Though her assistance mostly went unnoticed by Doctors prior to the Eleventh, she met and subtly helped them all. Significantly, she was able to attract the attention of the First Doctor and convince him to steal the "right" TARDIS when he first left Gallifrey with Susan.
Biography
Childhood
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Clara Oswin Oswald was born in 1989 in Lancashire, England. When she first met him as a young child, the Eleventh Doctor was sad about not having found her, and did not realise her identity. She thought the idea of destiny was "rubbish".
As a child, she was always losing things: her "best pencil", her school bag, her gran and her mojo, which she got back. Whenever she would lose something, she'd go to a quiet place, close her eyes, then would find where she'd put it. She once advised the Doctor about finding his friend (not knowing that he was in fact looking for her).
Clara's mother, Ellie Oswald, told her that she "shouldn't talk to strange men", but she spoke to the Doctor regardless. (WC: The Bells of Saint John: A Prequel) Her worst fear as a child was getting lost. While on a bank holiday visit to Blackpool beach, her nightmares came true, but her mother eventually found her. Ellie comforted her by saying that she would always find her, wherever she was.
Clara was left devastated on 5 March 2005 when her mother died. Clara's father, Dave Oswald, comforted her at her funeral, and the Doctor watched in silence. (TV: The Rings of Akhaten)
Becoming a nanny
At some point in her adult life, she and her friend visited a graveyard, where she walked past the tombstone of her 19th century self, which had been overgrown, and ironically stated, "I don't believe in ghosts." (TV: The Snowmen)
Clara wanted to travel after university. However, before she left to travel, she spent a week with a family friend in Chiswick, London to nanny for her children, Artie and Angie Maitland, tragedy struck in that week when Mrs Maitland died in unspecified circumstances, as the Doctor later put it, she felt duty-bound to return the favour. Despite her inadequacy with the Internet, she attempted to use it one morning at Angie's house. She had created a mnemonic device, "Run you clever boy and remember", to help her recall the Wi-Fi password, rycbar123. However, she couldn't connect to the Internet and then had to contact tech support, calling the number a woman in a shop gave her, which made the phone on the Doctor's TARDIS ring. (TV: The Bells of Saint John)
Travels with the Doctor
Although the Eleventh Doctor tried to help her with her difficulties with the Wi-Fi from the year 1207, Clara clicked on the Great Intelligence's Wi-Fi connection by accident. Her location then became visible to its minions, who decided to upload her to a data cloud via Spoonhead. The Doctor arrived in time to stop Clara from being completely downloaded, but she accidentally came back with the tech package that had been spliced by Miss Kizlet, as a result, she received temporary and intimate knowledge of all things in a computer, a gift she would later hold against the Doctor.
After taking a shortcut in the TARDIS to the following morning, Clara hacked the Great Intelligence's operatives, choosing "Oswin" as a username, and discovered their location in the Shard, before she was downloaded again, this time successfully. After being uploaded back to her body a second time, Clara confronted the Doctor about what happened to her and they discussed why her desire to travel and her nanny responsibilities. The Doctor asked her to travel with him, promising to bring her back without anyone ever knowing she was gone, but she surprised him by refusing to go and telling him to come back the following day, after seven, and ask again. The Doctor irritably shouted that any time was OK. (TV: The Bells of Saint John)
When the Doctor returned for her, she was waiting eagerly and rushed to meet the TARDIS outside the moment the Doctor knocked on her door. When the Doctor asked her where she wanted to go, at first she was stuck but then she replied by saying "somewhere awesome", and he took her to her first alien world: Akhaten.
There, they explored the markets, and watched the Festival of Offerings. When Merry Galel, whom she had comforted and convinced to sing the Long Song at the Festival, was taken by the Mummy, Clara and the Doctor saved her. In doing so, she had to give up her mother's ring, which had extreme sentimental value to her. Afterwards, she was forced to sacrifice something even more precious: the leaf that brought her parents together, the 'most important leaf in human history'. After saving everyone on the planet, they thanked her by returning her ring.
After her first trip, the Doctor dropped her back off at her house in London, which she remarked looked different. (TV: The Rings of Akhaten) Unlike most of the Doctor's companions, Clara stayed at home between adventures.
The Doctor later took her on another trip, but instead of landing in Las Vegas as planned, they landed on the Firebird, a Soviet submarine at the North Pole in 1983. While the Doctor brought the sinking submarine to safety, the TARDIS activated its Hostile Action Displacement System and it dematerialised.
They found the Ice Warrior Grand Marshall, Skaldak, had been brought on board. The Doctor attempted to convince the submarine's crew to be peaceful to him, but Lieutenant Stepashin stunned Skaldak with a cattle prod. The Doctor ordered the crew to imprison Skaldak; Clara was sent to try and talk some sense into him, under the Doctor's guidance, but discovered Skaldak had managed to escape his capture and threatened to launch the submarine's nuclear missiles. The Doctor and Clara managed to make him hesitate his decision, and Skaldak and the submarine were rescued by an Ice Warrior ship. Skaldak left and remotely disarmed the submarine. The Doctor then confessed to setting the HADS, and found that it had sent the TARDIS to the South Pole; he had to ask the submarine captain for a lift, much to Clara's amusement. (TV: Cold War)
The Doctor took Clara to Caliburn House, the home of Major Alec Palmer, which was thought to have been haunted by the "Witch of the Well" for many years. Unknown to Clara, he took her there to speak to the psychic Emma Grayling and find out what Clara was. The Doctor took lots of photographs of the ghost throughout Earth's timeline. The Doctor used his photographs to explain that the "ghost" was in fact a time traveller from the future called Hila Tacorien, who was trapped in a pocket universe and being chased by the Crooked Man. The Doctor used a crystal from Metebelis III to make Emma open up the portal to the pocket universe. Whilst there he saved Hila but got trapped himself; Clara argued with the TARDIS voice interface when the TARDIS would not let her in, Clara wanting to use the TARDIS to save the Doctor while the TARDIS was concerned for its own safety.
Later, after revealing that Hila was a distant relative of Alec and Emma, the Doctor realised that the creature in the pocket universe was trying to get to another creature in the house, so he and Clara went back to pick it up. (TV: Hide)
While trying to teach Clara how to operate the TARDIS, the time machine was caught in a magnetic hobble-field from a space salvage ship, operated by the Van Baalen Bros. A future version of the Doctor arrived through a time rift, throwing his present self a magno-grab remote with "BIG FRIENDLY BUTTON" brandished into it to stop the ship's magno-grab. After the Doctor pressed the button, the TARDIS disappeared, escaping the Van Baalens and preventing its engine failure. The Doctor said aloud to Clara that two days had been compressed into the space of one. The Doctor asked Clara if she felt safe travelling with him, and after a long conversation she admitted that she did. (TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS)
The Doctor and Clara travelled to 1893 Yorkshire and reached a new little town, Sweetville, run by Winifred Gillyflower and her mysterious partner. While investigating the town, the two were taken by Gillyflower's guards into a creepy dungeon, where they were lowered down into a strange red liquid - known locally as "The Crimson Horror". Afterwards, Clara was hypnotised by the matter and became one of Gillyflower's servant girls. After Jenny Flint rescued the Doctor from being held by Ada Gillyflower, they eventually found Clara's fossil as a porcelain doll inside a glass dome in one of the Sweetville houses. The Doctor broke the glass, took Clara out and pulled her out of her 'puppet' condition.
Clara, the Doctor and Jenny set off to finally defeat Mrs Gillyflower in a tower in the town; Gillyflower, along with her mysterious partner — the repulsive red leech, Mr Sweet — planned to fire a rocket that would spread the "Crimson Horror" all around the world, wiping humanity out. Clara broke a chair on Mrs Gillyflower's control console preventing her to wish her demands. After the Crimson Horror was safely removed from the rocket, Mrs Gillyflower threatened to kill the Doctor and Clara anyway. She was shot by Strax and fell to the ground. Mrs Gillyflower died and Mr Sweet was also killed by Mrs Gillyflower's daughter, Ada.
The Doctor brought Clara back to the 21st century to the Maitland family house. Angie and Artie, the children she looked after, saw photos from her adventures with the Doctor on her laptop and found out who she really was: a time traveller. When going through the photos, Clara saw one of her past lives, Clara Oswald, in Victorian London. Realising that both her physical appearance and place the picture took place in was different, Clara began to suspect something wasn't right. Before she could process the thought entirely, the kids begged her to take them to an adventure, or else they would tell their father that their nanny was a time traveller. Clara, lacking any other choice, agreed. (TV: The Crimson Horror)
The Doctor took Clara, Artie and Angie to the abandoned theme park, Hedgewick's World of Wonders, where Angie and Artie were taken by the Cybermen, who had been reawakened from their tombs after being presumed long-extinct. The Doctor put Clara in charge of the punishment platoon to fight the Cybermen and began a game of chess to end the stalemate over his mind with the Cyber-Planner, Mr Clever.
The Doctor released the children in exchange for one of his chess pieces and pulled in the "local resources" to stop the Cybermen. The missing Emperor, Ludens Nimrod Kendrick Cord Longstaff XLI, revealed himself as having been their short-statured friend Porridge and activated the planet-destroying bomb. This summoned his spaceship, transmatting the humans on Hedgewick's World to safety while the Cybermen were left behind on Hedgewick's World. The Doctor returned Clara, Angie and Artie home. (TV: Nightmare in Silver)
One day whilst at home, Clara received a letter from Vastra laced with a soporific that took her into a "conference call". There, she learnt that the murderer Clarence DeMarco had said "The Doctor has a secret, you know. He has one he will take to the grave. And it is discovered." and showed Vastra the co-ordinates to where the Doctor's tomb was. The call was interrupted by the Whisper Men attempting to murder Jenny. River woke up Vastra and Strax, and the Great Intelligence appeared, using the face of Walter Simeon, to tell Clara that to save his friends, the Doctor had to come to Trenzalore, the place of his grave. When she woke up from the conference, River stayed connected. Using the telepathic circuits to get the co-ordinates, the Doctor and Clara went to Trenzalore, crossing the Doctor's timeline. The Great Intelligence was waiting there, and wished to enter the tomb of the Doctor, a future, decaying version of the TARDIS.
Entering the decaying TARDIS through a hidden passageway, Clara began to remember the events of a deleted timeline, in which the Doctor told her about her multiple lives, causing her to panic slightly. Meanwhile, Strax restarted Jenny's heart. They eventually made their way to the Doctor's tomb, where the Great Intelligence demanded the Doctor tell him his true name. When he refused, River uttered it, and the door opened.
Inside the tomb, the Intelligence entered the Doctor's timeline, rewriting his history, changing all his victories into losses. The universe began decaying, all the people and civilisations saved by the Doctor now destroyed. With no other choice, Clara did what she was meant to do: saying, "Run you clever boy, and remember me", she walked into the timeline as well, scattering her across time and space. This action projected her across time, creating many other versions of her that saved the Doctor time and time again.
Meanwhile, the Eleventh Doctor decided to jump into the timeline as well in order to save her. Hearing the Doctor's comforting voice, she approached him. As they were just about to leave, Clara noticed an incarnation of the Doctor that she'd never met. This version was the only one to break the promise of the name "the Doctor". Clara and the Eleventh Doctor then departed, with the mysterious Doctor watching them leave. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)
Becoming a teacher
Eventually, after returning to Earth, Clara left her job looking after the Maitland children, and became a teacher at Coal Hill School though she didn't think that she had managed to teach anything. She rendezvoused with the Eleventh Doctor after school some days, and was with him when his TARDIS was air lifted by UNIT to the National Gallery. There Clara met Kate Stewart and consoled the Eleventh Doctor when he was reminded of the Last Great Time War. She travelled with a Zygon impersonating Kate Stewart to the Black Archive unaware that the scientific leader of UNIT was being impersonated. Using the activation code scraped into the wall of the Tower of London, Clara activated Captain Jack Harkness' vortex manipulator and escaped the menacing Zygons to 1562. There, she met the War Doctor, Tenth Doctor and Queen Elizabeth I and attended the wedding of the latter two.
She was inserted into the Gallifreyan stasis cube Gallifrey Falls No More with the Time Lord trio to re-enter the Black Archive in the 21st century, as the Black Archive was TARDIS-proofed. When the War Doctor left for his own time to activate the Moment, Clara told the two remaining Doctors that she could see in his eyes that the ending of the Time War was still in the old incarnation's future. She travelled through the Time Lock and begged the Doctors to reconsider when they decided to cause the genocide together, advice that they took to hearts. She was present when the Doctor changed history as he remembered it, and saved Gallifrey instead of destroying it. Back on Earth, she briefly met the mysterious Curator, unaware that anything was extraordinary about him. She bade farewell the past Doctors, and kissed her Doctor on the cheek; when the Doctor asked how she knew he needed time with the image, she told him, "I always know." (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
At some point, from her point of view, after her first visit to the Black Archive, she visited again in the company of the real Kate Stewart. However, the visit was chronologically before her first visit, and as a result she already had security access on her first visit. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
Alternate timeline
In one timeline, the TARDIS was successfully captured by the Van Baalen Bros., causing the TARDIS to leak the past and future. In the confusion, the Doctor made it out of the TARDIS, while Clara ended up lost in her, her hand burnt by the scorching metal of a magno-grab remote that had mysteriously appeared in the TARDIS and rolled towards her shortly before getting separated from the Doctor. Inside, she travelled through the TARDIS' rooms, running away from a time zombie threatening to harm her. She eventually arrived in the TARDIS library and hid there. She read a book called The History of the Time War, and found out the Doctor's name.
She kept travelling inside the TARDIS, eventually arriving in an echo of the control room. She was pulled through to another echo room and reunited with the Doctor, meeting Bram and Tricky Van Baalen. The Doctor switched off the countdown to the TARDIS' non-existent self destruct sequence, but realised the magno-grab had caused the engine to start malfunctioning. On the way to the "centre of the TARDIS", the four kept running from the time zombies, and reached the Cloister Room, where they found out what the time zombies really were: them. The Doctor managed to trick the time zombies and make them fall to their deaths inside the Eye of Harmony. The Doctor and Clara ran to the heart of the TARDIS. There, the Doctor told Clara about her uniqueness, and about her multiple lives and deaths.
The Doctor found that the burn marks on Clara's hand had formed words: "BIG FRIENDLY BUTTON". The Doctor then realised they needed to go back to the point of the disaster and activate the magno-grab remote, which had caused the burn marks on Clara's hand before, to stop the field and prevent the disaster. The Doctor passed through a time rift to give the device to his past self, who successfully activated it, undoing the damage to the engine and making Clara forget about the Doctor's name. The Doctor did not want Clara to go searching for his name, because an important secret was connected to it. (TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS) This adventure, although negated, was later recalled by Clara when the TARDIS leaked time energy. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)
Other lives
Because of her interaction with the Doctor's timeline, Clara Oswald met the Doctor in many forms, each time being born and dying. She met every one of the Doctor's first eleven incarnations, each time saving his life. She noted, however, that he rarely ever noticed her. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)
Her many encounters with the Doctor included, but were certainly not limited to:
- The First Doctor as he was stealing a TARDIS from Gallifrey. She told him not to steal the one he intended to take but the one next to it, as he would have "loads more fun" with it even though the navigation system was broken.
- The Second and Eighth Doctors having an adventure together in a park with palm trees.
- The Third Doctor drove past her in Bessie. When she tried to shout his name, he turned to his rear view mirror, catching a glimpse of her.
- The Fourth Doctor was on Gallifrey and Clara tried to catch up to him.
- The Fifth Doctor while trapped inside the Matrix.
- The Sixth Doctor was walking through the TARDIS; he walked past a splinter of Clara. She called out to him but he did not hear her.
- Clara spotted the Seventh Doctor clinging onto the edge of a cliff on Iceworld in the far future.
- While the Tenth Doctor looked across the futuristic landscape of the Library, Clara watched him unnoticed from behind. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)
At one point after Amy Pond and Rory Williams were sent to the past in New York, an elderly echo of Clara noticed that Amy had a similar "glow" about her that the Doctor had, but Amy's was fading. She decided to follow Amy, in case she ever needed help. One Fall, when Amy and Rory vacationed at Lake Erie, Amy finally spoke to her and the echo asked her to pass on a message: "Run you clever boy, and remember..." Amy later wrote about this encounter in a foreword to an edition of her book Summer Falls, addressing it to the Doctor; her description of the encounter and her quoting of Clara, leaves it unclear as to whether this echo ever actually encountered the Doctor. (PROSE: Summer Falls and Other Stories)
Oswin Oswald
In one of her lives in which the Doctor did notice her, she went by Oswin Oswald. She once claimed that the first boy whom she ever fancied was called Rory, but quickly admitted that "Actually, she was called Nina. I was going through a phase."
At some point, Oswin joined the starliner Alaska's 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. She later wiped 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 her 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, with her last words "Run, you clever boy... And remember." 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)
Clara Oswin Oswald
In another life, Clara Oswin Oswald appeared as a barmaid and governess in 19th century London.
Clara was born on 23 November 1866 in Victorian England. She claimed that her birth occurred behind the face of Big Ben, and that the location accounted for her "acute sense of time". By 1892, she was working as a barmaid at The Rose & Crown. She also maintained a secret life (with a different accent) as "Miss Montague", a governess looking after the upper class Latimer family.
She met the Eleventh Doctor outside the pub's rear exit on 23 December, and they examined a snowman which had appeared from nowhere. Clara then chased the Doctor down the street when he left. The Doctor locked her in his cab and ordered Strax to get a memory worm to erase the last hour of her memory. After Strax kept forgetting to put on gauntlets, the Doctor got the Memory worm himself, but then a Snowman attacked them followed by several more. Together, the Doctor and Clara caused the Snowmen to melt by imagining them doing so and then the Doctor told Strax to take Clara back to the pub. Clara followed the Doctor to a ladder that led to a spiral staircase which took her up to the cloud where the Doctor had parked the TARDIS. After knocking, Clara ran back down the spiral staircase when the Doctor came to investigate.
Clara returned to her job as a governess the next day and learned that Captain Latimer's daughter, Francesca, had been dreaming about her previous governess who had drowned in Latimer's pond a year earlier. Francesca's brother Digby suggested she needed a doctor so Clara hurried to find the Doctor. While shouting up at his cloud, she caught the attention of Jenny Flint who took her to see Madame Vastra. Vastra and Jenny forced Clara to do the one-word test, where she would only be allowed to use one word to answer whatever question Vastra asked. With several well-chosen words, Clara explained why she was interested in the Doctor and mentioned the word "Pond", the surname of the Doctor's former companion, as well as a clue to the mystery. Impressed, Vastra called the Doctor and told him what Clara had said. The Doctor decided to investigate while Clara went back to Latimer's house.
The Doctor arrived to investigate the pond that the former governess had drowned in and then rescued Clara and the children from the Ice Governess, who had been created from the frozen corpse of the drowned woman. He melted her with his sonic screwdriver, but the Ice Governess recovered and chased them down the stairs, where they met Captain Latimer. The Doctor claimed to be Clara's "gentleman friend" and then Vastra, Jenny and Strax arrived. Jenny trapped the Ice Governess behind a force field and everyone hurried into Latimer's office. The Doctor quickly explained the situation and then told everyone to stay in the office and left. Clara followed and kissed him. The Doctor then confronted Doctor Walter Simeon at the front door who demanded that he give him the Ice Governess. The Doctor and Clara led the Ice Governess up to the roof and Clara used an umbrella to pull down the ladder that led to the TARDIS. They led the Ice Governess up the spiral staircase and the Doctor tried to trap her under the cloud. He then showed Clara the inside of the TARDIS and she commented "it's smaller on the outside" before asking if there was a kitchen, explaining that she liked making souffles. When the Doctor gave her the TARDIS key, the Ice Governess attacked Clara from behind. She dropped the key and was pulled off the cloud, falling to her death in the Latimer's courtyard. (TV: The Snowmen)
The Doctor used the TARDIS to retrieve Clara's body and the shattered remains of the Ice Governess and took her into Latimer's office. Strax brought her back to life using the resurrection device but only for a short time. The Doctor asked Clara to become his companion and she agreed. After the Doctor and Vastra confronted Simeon in his institute and, with help from Clara's tears and the tears of the Latimer family, defeated Simeon and the Great Intelligence, Clara died with the Doctor by her side. Her last words were "Run, you clever boy... And remember" - the same as the last words of the original Clara before she entered the Doctor's time stream, and, by extension, of the incarnation that the Doctor met in the Dalek Asylum. The Doctor believed that Clara was somehow "the same woman" he had met in the Dalek Asylum. After Clara's funeral, he rushed off to investigate the mystery, leaving Vastra and Jenny looking at the gravestone and its words "Remember me... For we shall meet again" in puzzlement. (TV: The Snowmen, Asylum of the Daleks, The Name of the Doctor)
Personality
During her first encounter with the Doctor from her point of view, Clara Oswald was quite reserved and didn't reveal her true feelings easily. Although she was noted for being very clever, she had no computer skills at first, only becoming a computer genius after being uploaded into the Wi-Fi by a Spoonhead. Similar to Oswin, she was wary of the Doctor at first, and, just like Victorian Clara, she was good at looking after children. She followed Merry Galel, a small lost child, to help her find her way. This demonstrated her impulsive inclination to help children, also proved by her becoming a nanny. However, she lacked her Victorian incarnation's recklessness and thought things through more carefully as shown when she didn't instantly agree to join the Doctor on his adventures and told him to come back the next day. Although she was eager for adventure, Clara was cautious and was unsure what to make of the Doctor's bizarre personality. She even seemed to think he might be stalking her, which in a way he was since he followed her timeline in an attempt to understand how she could have multiple lives. Clara was flirtatious but during her first adventure with the Doctor she seemed to react to situations rather than initiate them, unlike her other more proactive incarnations. She seemed touched that the Doctor was guarding her, although she was unsure what the danger was. (TV: The Bells of Saint John, The Rings of Akhaten)
Clara had close relationships with her mother and father and kept the leaf that had started their relationship for many years after her mother's death, as a memento of their time together. The leaf was very precious to Clara, because, if not for it landing on her father's face many years earlier, he wouldn't have met her mother. Clara gave up both the leaf and her mother's ring in order to defeat the Old God, although she later got the ring back. This shows her selflessness and great strength of character as she was willing to give up two things that were extremely important to her in order to save others. She showed that she was more selfless than the Doctor, who was unwilling to give up his Sonic Screwdriver, even though he could have received another from the TARDIS. (TV: The Rings of Akhaten)
Although she was frightened of the Old God, Clara showed great bravery and loyalty by fighting her fear and going to help the Doctor defeat the sentient planet. When the Doctor revealed that she reminded him of a long-dead friend (Victorian Clara), Clara told him that she would be happy to travel with him, but not if she were viewed as a ghost of her. She said that she was a separate, unique individual, and wanted to be treated as such. This showed that she was willing to stand up against the Doctor to defend her rights. Clara again showed her dislike of being seen as a "ghost" by the Doctor when the two travelled throughout the Earth's history, and the Doctor compared life in the TARDIS to being outside of time. She felt rather emotional about seeing the entire life cycle of Earth and wondered if her body was in the ground somewhere. (TV: The Rings of Akhaten, Hide)
Clara disliked the TARDIS, calling her a "grumpy old cow", although the TARDIS started the hostility between them by refusing to open for her when she was trying to hide Merry Galel. Clara once confided to the Doctor that she felt the TARDIS was looking at her. However, she did try to be civil to the TARDIS, unless she was frustrated or desperate like when the Doctor was trapped in a Pocket universe, and apologised when she shook water all over her. She later kissed the TARDIS console when she thought that the TARDIS had brought her to the control room but grew angry and frustrated when she realized there was no door. After sacrificing herself for the Doctor on Trenzalore, Clara finally managed to earn the TARDIS' respect, being the only person apart from the Doctor who could open and close her doors with a snap of her fingers. (TV: The Rings of Akhaten, Hide, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, The Day of the Doctor)
Clara was quite observant, being the first person to notice that the ghost in Caliburn House was always in the same position and easily recognising a romantic attraction between two people saying that Alec Palmer's feelings for Emma Grayling stuck out like "a big chin". Clara's keen sense of observation made her the first person to realise that Sweetville had a chimney that didn't blow smoke.(TV: Hide, The Crimson Horror)
Clara was happy to try an alien food in the markets of Akhaten, though she didn't like it. She could frequently be found making and drinking tea, but considered whiskey to be "the eleventh most disgusting thing ever invented". (TV: The Bells of Saint John, The Rings of Akhaten, Hide, The Name of the Doctor', The Day of the Doctor)
Clara genuinely had no idea that she had lived more than one life and was confused and scared when the Doctor told her about them, even claiming that she was at that moment more scared of the Doctor than the time zombies that had been chasing them or anything else on the TARDIS. As she adapted to life with the Doctor, she grew more confident, reckless and curious opening a door that contained an explosion which she admitted was a "bad decision". When alone, Clara would sometimes talk to herself. Her curiosity even led her to learn the Doctor's true name, although she forgot it when the Doctor rewrote time. Clara was terrified when she was cornered by an alternate version of herself and after the Doctor rescued her she punched him on the arm in an attempt to hide how scared she had been. She was shocked and devastated when she realised the burning zombie that had chased her was herself from an alternate reality. (TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS)
When left in charge of a group of soldiers by the Doctor, Clara showed that she was a natural leader, adapting to the situation very quickly and keeping the soldiers in line. However, she did seem unprepared for the possibility of someone disobeying her, showing that although she was a good leader she also had little experience. She was a good strategist and could use anything available to her advantage, using a cable to electrocute the Cybermen in a moat, although this idea failed due to the Cybermen's ability to upgrade their defenses on the spot. Clara was very protective of Angie and Artie Maitland and at one point even referred to them as "my children" suggesting that she considered them to be her daughter and son, despite Angie constantly pointing out that she wasn't their mother. Clara was also humble and had no interest in being queen of the Universe, gently refusing Porridge's offer of marriage. (TV: Nightmare in Silver)
Clara cared for the Eleventh Doctor deeply, viewing him as her best and most trusted friend, even going so far to sacrifice her own life for his safety. (TV: The Name of the Doctor) Throughout their adventures, Clara and the Doctor apparently never discussed the Doctor's apparent attraction to Clara, and she appeared to appreciate the signs of affection he occasionally showed her, (TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, The Crimson Horror) although she once said in one of their earlier adventures that she didn't see the Doctor as a love interest. (TV: Hide) However, over the course of their adventures together, they developed something akin to a relationship. Clara also once remarked that she really enjoyed hugging the Doctor. (TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS) After the events that transpired at Trenzalore, Clara and the Eleventh Doctor apparently grew much closer and trusting to each other, with the latter showing an enormous amount of trust in Clara. She became his best and most trusted friend, and he didn't hesitate to share his knowledge of the Time War directly with her. (TV: The Day of the Doctor) She often poked fun at the Doctor with a flirtatious undertone, rather enjoying seeing him squirm. (PROSE: Shroud of Sorrow, TV: The Bells of Saint John)
Clara's selfless and loyal nature led her to make a huge sacrifice for the Doctor by jumping into his time stream to save him from the wrath of the Great Intelligence even after River Song told her that her real self would die, leaving only echoes. She also showed great trust in the Doctor, even after Emma Grayling warning her that he had "a sliver of ice in his heart".
Although River stated that her echoes were not the real Clara, each of them still possessed similar personalities, notably her quick witted, intelligent, selfless, brave and flirtatious nature, her dedication to helping children and anyone else in need, and her love of soufflé's. However, there were some subtle differences in each incarnation. (TV: Hide, The Name of the Doctor)
Oswin Oswald
Oswin possessed a flirtatious and energetic personality, the more feisty of her known incarnations, and cheerfully flirted with both the Doctor and Rory. She once asked Rory to take his shirt off for no real reason, and teased him about his nose calling him "Beaky Boy". She also teased the Doctor about his chin, nicknaming him "Chinboy" and jokingly warning him "Careful, dear, you'll poke someone's eye out".
Oswin once admitting to Rory that she'd once fancied a girl called Nina, although she added that she'd been going through a phase, and only told Rory this as she was flirting with him. Nina became Rory's nickname after he said he liked it more than "Beaky Boy".
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 was extremely strong-willed, 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, and also the only known human who was strong enough to resist Dalek mental conditioning. In addition to being very strong-willed, Oswin was also extremely intelligent, but unfortunately it was because of her intelligence that she was turned into a Dalek. She had incredible hacking skills which she had "inherited" from the original Clara (after she had had her skills improved in the Wi-Fi) and possessed a knowledge of Daleks and their technology that exceeded even the Doctor's, thanks to her conversion into a Dalek. Oswin was very confident - perhaps slightly overconfident - and was fully aware of her exceptional intelligence, calling herself a genius several times.
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 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; later she sacrificed herself to lower the shield so that the Parliament of the Daleks could destroy the Asylum. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
Clara Oswin Oswald
The Victorian Clara was feisty and strong willed. She was fascinated by the Doctor and even kissed him passionately. She was also slightly flirtatious, teasing the Doctor while he was climbing a ladder since she had a good view of his bottom. She cheerfully tricked him into climbing the ladder first with the words "Eyes front, soldier", since he could easily see up her dress if she went first. Clara was very curious and determined to find out all she could about the mysterious Time Lord; notably she asked the First Question twice in the same night and when the Doctor noted that it was a dangerous question Clara responded with, "What's wrong with dangerous?" This showed that she also had a reckless streak. Clara was also a bit of a feminist and was briefly angry with the Doctor when he said the TARDIS was "no more a box than you are a governess", saying that he had spoken just like a man. Apparently the Doctor was not the first man to speak to her like that and she accused him of being the same as all the other men who called her "sweet, little Clara". She proudly claimed that she was not sweet and, although she was a small woman, she certainly wasn't little on the inside.
Clara had a great deal of faith in the Doctor, in contrast to Oswin, who was slightly wary of him, and when even the Doctor's friends, Vastra, Jenny and Strax, had given up thinking that he would ever regain his adventurous spirit, Clara was able to snap him out of his misery. The Doctor realised he had found a new companion and when Clara died he was briefly devastated but later elated when he realised that there was another version of her somewhere in the Universe.
Clara was highly intelligent, just like Oswin, and was able to quickly guess the Doctor's plan to use an umbrella to pull down the ladder that led to the TARDIS. She was also the second person, after the Doctor, to guess that Walter Simeon needed the Ice Governess, although she wasn't sure why until the Doctor explained it to the rest of the group. She even managed to figure out the one word that would get the Doctor to come and save the world again - "Pond" - which not only got the Doctor off his cloud, but also explained that the Latimer's pond contained something dangerous. Clara was also very sharp and quick-witted, being able to talk even more quickly than the Doctor and make witty remarks and retorts very easily. She was able to quickly make the Doctor smile with this talent only moments after they first met. The Doctor grew to like her very quickly, even giving her the TARDIS key, despite only knowing her for a couple of days. Unlike most women in Victorian times, Clara also wouldn't hesitate to take the lead when necessary.
Clara had the ability to change her accent easily and led a double life acting as both a barmaid and a governess. Captain Latimer's children adored her and they felt more comfortable talking to her about their problems than their own father, showing that Clara had a very maternal side of her personality. The whole family was devastated when she died. Their tears, and the single tear that Clara shed on her deathbed, were ultimately the means that defeated the Great Intelligence. (TV: The Snowmen)
Abilities
Oswin and Clara Oswald were notable for their brilliant hacking skills. Clara gained the ability from being uploaded by a Spoonhead. Oswin's hacking abilities were so great that she even managed to hack into the pathweb of the Daleks and erase every memory of the Doctor from every Dalek in the universe, something that even the Time Lord himself was unable to do. Her hacking skills also enabled her to use Jack Harkness' vortex manipulator to escape from the Zygons. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks, The Bells of Saint John, The Day of the Doctor)
Clara's incarnations were very good at looking after children. Her Victorian incarnation could change her accent easily and was able to play the part of both a London barmaid and a governess. Victorian Clara's fake accent would only slip when she was shocked or frightened, such as when the Ice Governess barged into the Latimer children's bedroom. (TV: The Snowmen)
Clara quickly mastered the ability to pilot an unfamiliar alien vehicle, having previously only watched the Doctor piloting it. She later demonstrated the ability to ride a motorcycle. (TV: The Rings of Akhaten, The Day of the Doctor)
Clara was skilled at using guns and was a good strategist. She could use anything around her to her advantage - such as when she suggested lowering an electric cable into a moat - but when she tried to attack a Cyberman with a mace, it just wrenched it out of her hands. (TV: Nightmare in Silver)
At some point, Clara gained the ability to operate the TARDIS doors by snapping her fingers, an ability previously demonstrated only by the Doctor. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
Appearance
Clara was very beautiful and attracted the attention of Latimer and Porridge. Kizlet and Emma Grayling also referred to her as pretty and the Eleventh Doctor himself noted she had beautiful skin and showed that he was attracted to her when he said "A mystery wrapped in an enigma squeezed into a skirt that's just a little too ... tight" and smiled happily afterwards. (TV: Nightmare in Silver)
Clara's features included her long brunette hair that she usually kept down, but occasionally tied up in a ponytail or bun. She also had big, round, brown eyes. She appeared to wear very little makeup. She wore a variety of jewelry including rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings. Dresses were her main item of clothing, along with tights, jackets and skirts. She regularly carried around a red bag that sometimes held her keepsake book that used to belong to her mother.
The Doctor referred to her as being small although she disproved him by saying that she was average height and that the Doctor was long and stringy. (PROSE: Shroud of Sorrow)
Interests
Clara apparently enjoyed reading books, as various tabletops in her room were covered with them. One of her favourite books was 101 Places to See, a keepsake book that previously belonged to her mother. (TV: The Bells of Saint John, The Rings of Akhaten) She was also an admirer of the children's novel Summer Falls by Amelia Williams (unaware that it was written by a former companion of the Doctor's). She also had a keen interest to travel, as that was what she intended to do after her brief visit to the Maitlands, although after the children's mother died, she decided to stay and help look after the children in return. (TV: The Bells of Saint John) Clara enjoyed baking too, determined to master her mother's soufflé frequently, although the results never turned out how planned. She insisted that she would be "soufflé girl" and that "the soufflé isn't the soufflé; the soufflé is the recipe", something that she had learnt from her mother, to which Angie Maitland reacted saying that she thought her mother was "deep on puddings". (TV: The Name of the Doctor) That love of soufflés carried over to her Oswin Oswald incarnation and proved pivotal to forcing her to remember what had happened to her. Clara showed an interest in the life of the pilot Amy Johnson, and her knowledge that Johnson's body had never been found allowed the Doctor to rescue her as she drowned. (COMIC: A Wing and a Prayer)
Similarities
- She looked the same every time.
- All of the echoes appear to have been identical. Although the Doctor never saw Oswin Oswald's face, he was later able to recognise that her voice was identical to Clara Oswin Oswald's. However, the Doctor, in his eleventh incarnation, failed to recognise Clara Oswin Oswald's face, even though he was known to have interacted directly with at least one of the echoes in his past incarnations (his first incarnation had shared a conversation with a Clara on Gallifrey).
- Her name was similar in each life.
- In her run-ins with the Doctor, she used variations of her name such as "Oswin Oswald" and "Clara Oswin Oswald", as well as simply her real name "Clara Oswald". Furthermore, the name "Oswin" appears to have originated from an ontological paradox. The Doctor having heard the name from her previous two incarnations, asked the original Clara about it (who didn't know of it), but later adopts it as her Username whilst hacking the WiFi, deriving it from: "Clara Oswald, For the Win. Oswin!" (TV: The Bells of Saint John)
- She was clever.
- Each of the echoes of Clara was able to adapt to situations far beyond normal.
- She always worked with children.
- Clara Oswald was a nanny and a secondary school teacher. Oswin served as "Junior Entertainment Manager." Finally, Victorian Clara was a governess.
- She had been in her current situation for one year, before the Doctor arrived.
- The death of Mrs Maitland occurred one year before Clara first met the Doctor, the Alaska's crash and the death of Latimer's previous governess both occurred one year prior to these echoes meeting the Doctor.
- She repeated the phrase "Run, you clever boy, and remember."
- For the original Clara, this served as a mnemonic device to remember her host family's Wi-Fi password, rycbar123. Before she ran into the Doctor's "open-wound" she repeated the phrase but added "me" at the end. For both Oswin and Victorian Clara, this was whispered immediately before death.
- She enjoyed baking soufflés, but wasn't very good at it.
- Clara Oswald attempted to bake souffles for Artie Maitland and Angie Maitland following her mother's recipe, calling herself "Soufflé Girl". However, she was unsuccessful. Oswin and Victorian Clara both baked, preferring to make soufflés. The Doctor even nicknamed Oswin "Soufflé Girl" because of her affinity with them. Although Victorian Clara's success rate is unknown, Oswin was repeatedly unable to bake one properly.
- She talked about big chins.
- Clara Oswald said that Alec Palmer's love for Emma Grayling stuck out like a big chin. This was reflected by Oswin, who commented that the Doctor had a big chin.
- She was afraid of being lost.
- Clara repeated the phrase "I don't know where I am" when she was downloaded by a Spoonhead (like all the others who were downloaded); this is explained when she tells Merry Galel that she used to be afraid of and she continuously repeated this phrase while falling through the Doctor's timeline. As Oswin faced becoming a Dalek, she cried "I don't know where I am", and her first question when told her life was a dream was "Where am I?" suggesting she also shares this fear.
- She found the Doctor attractive and flirted with him.
- Clara, Victorian Clara and Oswin all showed interest in the Doctor and flirted with him to varying degrees, with Victorian Clara going so far as to kiss him.
(TV: Asylum of the Daleks, The Snowmen, The Bells of Saint John, Hide, The Name of the Doctor)
Behind the scenes
- Clara is currently the only companion to have met every single one of the Doctor's incarnations so far, albeit in different lives. The video game The Eternity Clock has River Song meeting the first eleven Doctors, but Clara remains the only one to have met all eleven plus the War Doctor.
- The original Clara Oswald was born in 1989, the same year the classic series of Doctor Who was cancelled. Her mother died on 5 March 2005, the date that Rose Tyler met the Ninth Doctor; this is also the day the first episode of the revived series, Rose, was leaked.
- Victorian Clara's headstone in 1892 states that she was born on 23 November 1866 and died 24 December 1892, meaning she not only shared the same birth date as Doctor Who itself but that she was also 26 years old when she died. This is both the same age as Doctor Who was when it was cancelled in 1989, and Jenna-Louise Coleman's age at the time of filming.
- Like Madame de Pompadour, Lynda Moss, Astrid Peth, Rita, and the Doctor's daughter Jenny, the echo of Clara in Victorian London was invited to travel with the Doctor, but died before she was ever able to take her first trip. Unlike the other four characters, however, the Doctor gave her the TARDIS key.
- In The Rings of Akhaten, Clara's speaks of being a child who got separated from her mother on a bank holiday in Blackpool — the city in which Jenna Louise-Coleman was actually born.
- Clara, along with River Song, was one of only two television companions shown to know the Doctor's real name at some stage. However, Clara's memory of this was erased soon after due to the Doctor rewriting the timeline. Some of Clara's memories from Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS have returned to her, but it is unknown whether or not the memory of discovering the Doctor's name has. In the novels, companion Samantha Jones also learns the Doctor's true name.
- Also like River Song, Clara is one of the few companions whose mystery and intrigue behind who she is baffles the Doctor for over a season.
- Clara is unusual in that, according to stories that have aired as of June 2013[update], she doesn't live full-time onboard the TARDIS. Instead, she is brought back to 30 Oak Street in Chiswick between adventures, just as Amelia and Rory returned to their own home between their later adventures with the Doctor. The minisode Clara and the TARDIS indicates that she does have quarters aboard the ship; however, it is indicated that her sleeping aboard was not at that point a usual occurrence.
- Following Rory Williams and Amy Pond, Clara is yet another companion who has had multiple deaths.
- Clara was the first companion to debut in an American comic before her first appearance in Doctor Who Magazine. Though her first global comic bow was in DWA 314, she appeared in IDW Publishing's Sky Jacks, published in May 2013; her debut in DWM did not occur until July's A Wing and a Prayer.
- The 2013 book The Doctor: His Lives and Times includes images of Clara appearing in the background of at least one photo for every chapter related to each Doctor, sometimes directly interacting with him (in at least one photograph, she is shown to be blonde, while in another she appears identical -- even in dress -- to the 21st century Clara). The policy of this wiki, however, is to not treat this book as a source for in-universe biographical information.