The Twelfth Doctor was an incarnation of the Doctor that initially travelled with Clara Oswald. He emerged from the Eleventh Doctor's explosive regeneration on Trenzalore, being the product of what his predecessor called "regeneration number thirteen" as well as being the first incarnation of the Doctor's second regeneration cycle.
Biography
A chaotic beginning
After fighting in the Siege of Trenzalore for 900 years, (PROSE: Tales of Trenzalore: The Eleventh Doctor's Last Stand), the Eleventh Doctor was succumbing to old age, as well as extermination from the Daleks. Ready to accept that he was about to reach the end of his life, Clara Oswald appealed to the Time Lords to intervene and and he received a new regeneration cycle. After using his regenerative energy to destroy the attacking Daleks and their mother ship, he returned to his TARDIS to complete his regeneration.
Shortly after taking off in the TARDIS, he completed his regeneration. The new Doctor voiced his surprise at having new kidneys, and his inability to fly the TARDIS, much to Clara's obvious dismay. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
The TARDIS "was crashing everywhere" after it was thrown out of its flight in the Time Vortex. It was caught in the throat of a female Tyrannosaurus rex, which got brought along to the Thames in the Victorian era by accident. After the TARDIS was spat out, the Doctor, in a severe bout of post-regenerative trauma, acted very wild and irrationally. He peeked out of the TARDIS door, shushed Strax, slammed the door shut momentarily, and then finally crept out of the TARDIS, trying to identify him as one of the Seven Dwarves. Unable to remember names or faces clearly, he sputtered at the sight of the Paternoster Gang before being joined by a frazzled and scared Clara, trying to keep some degree of control on his livid and maddened state.
As the Doctor's pangs of insanity progressed, he grew increasingly turbulent and unreasonable, until finally, the disarray from regenerative trauma became too much for the Doctor to bear and he started blacking out from the mental strain. He told everyone to "take five", whereupon he slowly fell forward and passed out on the embankment, sloshed in mud.
Though put to bed to stabilise, the Doctor soon came to and grabbed a piece of chalk, doodling all over the bedroom with strange equations. Hearing the dinosaur in pain, the Doctor climbed out onto the rooftop and left on horseback when he saw the T-Rex was being burned to ashes; he took off to follow a suspicious person not alarmed by the event. Coming across a mirror later, the Doctor was puzzled by his new face, knowing he had seen it before, but couldn't remember yet. Meeting back up with Clara, the Doctor infiltrated a suspicious restaurant, where he learned Clockwork Droids had been harvesting humans to repair themselves. Their leader, the Half-Face Man, sought to reach the Promised Land, but fell out of his escape pod, either jumping or having been pushed by the Doctor.
He briefly left Clara behind to redecorate the console room and settle on a new outfit. Attempting to return her to 25 December 2013, the Doctor ended up in Glasgow by mistake. However, they decided to go out for coffee after the Eleventh Doctor called Clara and encouraged her to help the new Doctor. (TV: Deep Breath)
Early exploits
Spending some time on his own, the Doctor became alerted to a creature that disguised itself as a motorway to consume planets into other dimensions. Summoning Clara to assist him, the Doctor was surprised when the creature disappeared, unaware that Clara had tricked to the creature into consuming itself. (COMIC: Road Rage)
The Doctor and Clara used a slime explosive to foil the Sibro's attempt the weaponize an Chanlanian clock tower. (COMIC: Chime Time)
Undated adventures
- The Twelfth Doctor joined his previous selves in helping place Gallifrey in a pocket universe at the end of the Last Great Time War. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
Psychological profile
Personality
A sarcastic man, (COMIC: Chime Time) the Twelfth Doctor was dark and manipulative, willing to place his companions in danger if it meant appeasing his curiosity. Despite this, he would fight to protect those in his care, and would react with devastation if harm befell them. Such was his reaction to the death of a female Tyrannosaurus rex that had been inadvertently dragged through time by the TARDIS. (TV: Deep Breath)
Though he retained a respect for humanity, the Twelfth Doctor would insult them for being slow minded and violent, dubbing Earth the "planet of the pudding-brains". He also claimed to dislike Karaoke and mime. (TV: Deep Breath)
Though he initially stated that murder was against his moral code, it remained unknown if he killed the Half-Face Man himself, or if the android jumped to his death. Indeed, the Doctor showed some reluctance killing the Half-Face Man, offering him a drink of alcohol and trying to persuade the clockwork droid to self-destruct of his own free will. (TV: Deep Breath)
Habits and quirks
Much like his seventh incarnation, the Twelfth Doctor spoke with a Scottish accent, which he took as an entitlement to complain about things. (TV: Deep Breath)
After working out the important questions in his head, he waited for others to come to the same conclusion, becoming increasingly annoyed with each wrong question they proposed. (TV: Deep Breath)
Much like his predecessor, the Twelfth Doctor also used hand gestures to extenuate a point, but applied more dedication to his movements, standing firm, while speaking with conviction. (TV: Deep Breath)
Skills
Highly observant, the Doctor was able to point out the Half-Face Man as non-human from his lack of intrest in a combusted dinosaur corpse, and later noticed that he and Clara were trapped in a room full of Clockwork Droids due to only them breathing. (TV: Deep Breath)
The twelfth incarnation retained his predecessor's ability to understand other species, such as Dinosaurs. (TV: Deep Breath)
Strong and durable, the Doctor was able to support his own weight singlehanded and shook off a fall down a tree with relative ease, though the latter can be linked to him still being within the early hours of his regeneration. (TV: Deep Breath)
Appearance
The Twelfth Doctor's appearance differed greatly from his predecessor’s. While his previous incarnation had begun his life looking young, (TV: The End of Time) the Twelfth Doctor now appeared much older. He had short grey hair, a hooked nose and sharp silverly blue eyes, with big ears. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) He was of a light build. (COMIC: Chime Time)
Most changed were his eyebrows, which went from "delicate" (TV: The Time of the Doctor) to extremely thick and furrowed. (TV: The Day of the Doctor) Startled by the change, the Doctor described them as "attack eyebrows" which could "take bottle tops off". (TV: Deep Breath)
Clothing
He initially wore the Eleventh Doctor's clothes following regeneration, but due to his mental instability, Clara and the Paternoster Gang, put him in a nightgown and slippers. Wearing this, he "escaped" into London and found himself cold and dirtied from scavenging around in a rubbish-filled alley. He "bought" a coat with a set of fraying fingerless knit gloves from a tramp, exchanging his predecessor's watch for it. Clara noted that the coat was rather smelly. Shortly thereafter, he disguised himself as a Clockwork Droid, donning a black Victorian suit with a tie.
After having a chance to return to the TARDIS, the Doctor chose a new outfit for himself. He donned a navy blue cardigan with a white collared shirt, matching blue trousers that now covered his ankles instead of being too short, and black Loake-style Brouge boots similar to the Ninth Doctor's sturdy Doc Martens. Over the top, he sported a thigh length, dark blue Crombie jacket with red lining. On his left hand ring finger, he had a pair of gold rings, a normal gold band and a second ring with an emerald gemstone that rested atop the first band. (TV: Deep Breath)
Behind the scenes
- Like the War and Ninth Doctors, the Twelfth Doctor debuted on television before his regeneration from his predecessor was screened.
- His first words — "Kidneys! I've got new kidneys!" — keep to the modern tradition of new Doctors commenting on their bodies. Previously, the Tenth Doctor commented on his "new teeth", (TV: The Parting of the Ways) and the Eleventh on his legs. (TV: The End of Time)
- His costume was revealed in DWM 470 and online.
- Out of loving devotion to his wife, Peter Capaldi wanted to wear his wedding ring as part of his Doctor's attire and requested a prop to disguise it. He was given an emerald ring with a gemstone that fits over the top of his original band.