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The Twelfth Doctor 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.
Contrary to his predecessors, the Twelfth Doctor did not act out in a childish manner as a defence mechanism to avoid the guilty feelings lingering from the Last Great Time War. After assuring the survival of Gallifrey, he was no longer chained down by his guilt. His personality shifted from frivolities to a serious and applied disposition.
However, with his darkening nature, the Doctor turned colder and stoic, taking on many aspects likened to those of an introvert. With his emotions subdued, he became harder to read correctly, heightening the alien qualities he had in his previous incarnation. However, this difficulty of understanding how his rationale worked could lead others to quickly distrust him. In extreme cases, the Doctor's unknown and unpredictable tendencies could generate fear, both for himself and his associates.
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, facing extermination by the Daleks in his old age, was ready to accept that he had reached the end of his life. Clara Oswald appealed to the Time Lords to intervene, and he was granted a new regenerative cycle. After using his regenerative energy to destroy the attacking Daleks and their mother ship, the Eleventh Doctor returned to the TARDIS to complete his regeneration.
Suddenly changing in a flash before Clara's eyes, this new Twelfth Doctor first expressed surprise at sensing his new kidneys, stating, "I don't like the colour!" The TARDIS then began shaking violently, and the Doctor realised he had forgotten how to pilot his ship. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) Crash-landing on pre-historic Earth, the TARDIS was chased and subsequently swallowed by a female Tyrannosaur; when the Doctor brought the TARDIS to 1890s London, this dinosaur was accidentally brought along with it. (TV: Deep Breath)
In London, the Doctor was reunited with the Paternoster Gang, and witnessed the apparent spontaneous combustion of the dinosaur. Though still suffering from partial amnesia and occasional delirium as after-effects of his regeneration, he learned Clockwork Droids had been harvesting humans to repair themselves. Their leader, the Half-Face Man, sought to reach the Promised Land. The Doctor confronted the Half-Face Man, and warned him that he would do whatever necessary to protect the innocent humans that the droid was targeting.
Trying to speak on peaceful terms, the Doctor snapped the droid out of his illusion of the "Promised Land" by revealing the true state of his existence. Having switched out spare parts so many times, the Half-Face Man had truly no traces left of his original self. Knowing he would not go to a promised land or be truly alive, the Half-Face Man's logic dictated him to self-terminate, but he said it was against his basic programming, struggling against the Doctor. The Doctor replied that murder was against his "programming". With both agreeing that one of them was lying, the Half-Face Man fell out of his escape pod, either jumping of own accord or having been pushed by the Doctor.
The Doctor, having completely regained his memory and senses, briefly left Clara behind to redecorate the console room and settle on a new outfit. Attempting to return her to the 21st century, 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 his successor, knowing all too well how traumatic a regeneration was. (TV: Deep Breath)
Am I a good man?
Leaving Clara behind in Glasgow to get coffee, the Doctor got distracted, went off in the TARDIS on his own and ended up saving a Combined Galactic Resistance fighter pilot named Journey Blue from a Dalek Saucer attack, though left her brother Kai behind in the explosion. After prompting her into asking nicely, the Doctor returned Journey to her command ship, the Aristotle, where Journey's uncle, Colonel Morgan Blue, introduced him to a Dalek that had developed a fault and wanted to destroy all other Daleks.
Returning for Clara, three weeks later from her perspective, the Doctor asked her if she thought he was a good man, a question that Clara found herself unable to answer, and returned to base to help the Dalek. Joined by Journey and two other soldiers named Gretchen Carlisle and Ross, the Doctor and Clara used a Molecular nanoscaler to miniaturise themselves and enter the Dalek — whom the Doctor nicknamed "Rusty". After losing Ross to the Dalek's antibodies, the Doctor discovered a radiation leak from within the Dalek and learned that Rusty had decided that life could not be stopped when it saw star being born. Following the radiation, the Doctor discovered damage to Rusty's power source was slowly killing him, and repaired the damage with his Sonic screwdriver.
However, fixing Rusty's power core resulted in the malfunction to be reversed, with Rusty's destructive nature returning, and causing Rusty to go on a killing spree, as well as send a distress beacon to summon the Daleks to the rebels' base. After getting slapped and lectured by Clara for his apathy, the Doctor realised that "a good Dalek" was possible because the Dalek still had memory of the star, but it was suppressed by the cortex vaults.
Instructing Clara to find a way to restore Rusty's memories of the star, the Doctor made his way to the Kaled mutant within Rusty to linked his mind with it. At first the plan seemed to have worked, however, to the Doctor's horror, mind-linking with Rusty was causing Rusty to see the Doctor's hatred of the Daleks, which caused Rusty to go and destroy the Daleks that had responded to his distress beacon. Rusty said it would convince the other Daleks the Aristotle had activated its self destruct sequence. Leaving to continue its crusade against the Daleks, Rusty commented that Doctor himself would have made a good Dalek before both of them left. After declining Journey's request to travel with him and Clara, the Doctor returned Clara home, both still unsure if the Doctor was a good man, but with Clara convinced he was at least trying to be one. (TV: Into the Dalek)
New adventures with Clara
Spending some more 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 the creature into consuming itself. (COMIC: Road Rage)
Deciding to give Clara the choice of their next destination, the Doctor took her to Sherwood Forest to meet Robin Hood, though the Doctor remained sceptical of Robin's existence. He was proven wrong immediately on arrival when Robin shot his TARDIS with an arrow; however, he remained determined to prove Robin Hood and his Merry Men were a fake.
After participating in an archery contest for a golden arrow, the Doctor, Clara and Robin were caught by the Sheriff of Nottingham, who had allied with alien robots disguised as his knights. Escaping, the Doctor found out that the robots were trying to reach the Promised Land, but lacked sufficient gold to repair their engine. Believing Robin was also a robot, the Doctor was captured by the Sheriff as Clara and Robin escaped through a window. Leading a revolution in the Sheriff's dungeon, the Doctor was informed by the Sheriff that Robin Hood was not a robot, just as Robin came to his rescue and defeated the Sheriff. Assisting Robin with Clara's help, the Doctor helped launch the golden arrow into the ship to allow it to escape velocity and explode harmlessly in space.
Robin, having learned about the Doctor's story from Clara, noted that the two of them were not so different from each other. Both of them were people born into status and privilege, giving up both to live the life of an adventurer in order to fight injustice. (TV: Robot of Sherwood)
The Doctor and Clara used a goo bomb to foil the Sibro's attempt to weaponise a Conlanian clock tower, (COMIC: Chime Time) orchestrated a ceasefire in a war between anthropomorphic cats and dogs by allying them against an army of alien fleas that planned to attack every planet in the universe, (COMIC: Once Bitten) and helped the World Brain find a new way of life after crash landing on it's factory planet. (COMIC: Crash Landing)
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During one of Clara's breaks from the TARDIS, the Doctor became obsessed with the idea that a creature designed to hide was following him around and that everyone was similarly being followed. Visiting Clara for help in finding the hiders, by using the TARDIS telepathic circuits to pilot into her past. However, Clara got distracted by a phone call from Danny Pink and piloted them into his past instead, back when Danny was called Rupert. Finding a figure under Rupert's bed sheet, the Doctor had Clara and Rupert turn their backs to allow the being to walk out the room unobserved, leaving them unsure if it really was a creature or just another child playing a trick on Rupert.
Returning Clara to her date with the adult Danny Pink, the Doctor continued to follow his theory by trying to use a trace of Clara left in the telepathic circuits, ending up at the end of the universe where a time traveler named Colonel Orson Pink had been trapped for six months. Intrigued by how following Clara's timeline led him to Orson, the Doctor returned for Clara and had them wait at the end of the universe for the night, believing it to be the perfect time to find out if the Hiders were real. Finding a chance to confront the creature outside the ship, the Doctor sent Clara into the TARDIS and seemed to get a look at what he's been chasing before the atmospheric shell broke and Orson had to rescue him. As the Doctor was knocked out, and the TARDIS seemed to be under attack, Clara used the telepathic circuits to fly the TARDIS away.
Waking up to find Clara gone, the Doctor called out to her and inadvertently alerted his young self to Clara's presence. Before he could investigate, Clara re-entered the TARDIS and made him promise to leave and not find out where they had landed. Afterwards, the Doctor returned Orson and Clara to their own times and, satisfied by what he had learned, underlined the word "Listen" that the creature had written on his chalkboard. (TV: Listen)
Returning to pick up Clara, and persuade her to away from a date with Danny Pink in favour of other travel destinations, the Doctor received a call from Madame Karabraxos, who requested he free the Teller and its mate from the Bank of Karabraxos, as he had done on the day she met him. Realising the ramifications of this request, the Doctor build up the identity of "the Architect", using this identity to stage a bank heist for him to commit, with the assistance of Clara, an augmented human named Psi, and a shape shifting mutant human named Saibra.
Using memory worms to erase the plan from their minds and prevent the Teller from alerting the young Karabraxos, the Doctor and Clara found themselves already in the Bank with their accomplices, their last memory being the TARDIS phone ringing.
Receiving instructions from the Architect on their location, objective, and the Bank's security system, the team infiltrated the Bank. Entering a safety deposit box, Team Not Dead - the Doctor's name for the assembled team - set of a dimensional shift bomb into a service corridor, where the team found a briefcase containing six teleporters disguised as atomic shredders.
Seemingly losing Saibra and Psi to the shredders when the Teller locked onto them, the Doctor figured out that time travel was involved with the heist plan when a perfectly-timed solar storm unlocked the Bank's vault. Retrieving what the Architect had promised Psi and Saibra as payment, the Doctor and Clara were caught by the Teller and delivered to the bank manager, Ms. Delphox. After Delphox left them to be executed, the Doctor and Clara were saved by Psi and Saibra, who revealed the true nature of the "shredders".
Venturing into the Bank's private vault to find his and Clara's reward, the Doctor instead found Director Karabraxos, and discovered that Delphox, as well as a majority of the bank's staff, was an exact clone of Karabraxos. Seeing Karabraxos' hatred of her own clones caused the Doctor to have an epiphany on the identity of the Architect, and he gave his phone number to Karabraxos as she fled from the solar storm about to hit the Bank. Subjecting himself to the Teller's powers, the Doctor regained his lost memories and realised the true objective of the bank heist. Freeing the Teller and its mate to a place to live in solitude, the Doctor then parted ways with Psi and Saibra, giving them their rewards, and returned Clara home for her date. (TV: Time Heist)
Meeting Danny and Courtney
The Doctor took Clara on two trips that ended horribly (being chained to an alien desert to be eaten by Sand piranhas, and ending up covered in seaweed). When she boarded the TARDIS for a trip, the Doctor shooed her away; he explained that he was going under deep cover, and that there was no danger in the area. He then arrived at Coal Hill School under his usual alias, John Smith, to replace the caretaker whom he had hypnotised into thinking he was sick for a few days. Despite trying to keep Clara out of it, the Doctor eventually explained that residual artron energy had built up enough to attract a Skovox Blitzer.
Mistaking another teacher for Clara's boyfriend, the Doctor ordered her to go on a date; this allowed him to finish setting up chronodyne generators to send the Blitzer into the future. However, her actual boyfriend, Danny Pink, accidentally foiled things by investigating the Doctor's strange behaviour. After Clara introduced the two, the Doctor changed his plan to using a communication device to make the Blitzer think the Doctor was its superior.
After successfully commanding the Blitzer to deactivate, the Doctor took into space and ejected it from the TARDIS, taking Courtney Woods with him after she discovered his identity. (TV: The Caretaker)
Undated events
- 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 armed with a dry, acerbic wit and a brutal honesty, the Twelfth Doctor was dark and at times manipulative, willing to place his companions in danger if it meant appeasing his curiosity and leaving them out of the details in his plans. However, if he believed the situation was too dangerous for them, the Doctor would send his companions to the safety of the TARDIS while staring down the threat alone. (TV: Deep Breath, Listen, COMIC: Chime Time)
Despite coming across as uncaring, 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) However, for the most part, this Doctor was far more detached than his immediate predecessors and was occasionally callous, reacting with indifference during his first encounter with Journey Blue, who had just lost her brother, (TV: Into the Dalek) and laughing at Orson Pink's name, though he apologised for the latter. (TV: Listen) He also acted indifferent to the apparent death of Saibra, causing Psi to ask him if he called himself the Doctor due to professional detachment. (TV: Time Heist)
The Twelfth Doctor showed even less restraint than his predecessor, and would get frank and physical with his enemies. (TV: Deep Breath) However, he had a conflicted sense of morality and struggled with his inner darkness. He sometimes voiced preconceptions about the Daleks or human nature, but might find them maligned and questioned his own judgement afterward. (TV: Deep Breath, Into the Dalek)
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". (TV: Deep Breath) He expressed a strong dislike for soldiers, because of their hidebound nature, (TV: Into the Dalek) and was easily annoyed by swashbucklers who did not take things seriously. (TV: Robot of Sherwood) He also claimed to dislike karaoke, mime, babysitters, and bantering. (TV: Deep Breath, Into the Dalek, Robot of Sherwood)
Unlike his immediate predecessor, the twelfth incarnation was not a affectionate Doctor, failing to return Clara's hugs, or protesting against them, (TV: Deep Breath, Listen) and being momentarily dumbfounded when Maid Marian pecked him on the cheek in gratitude for saving her. (TV: Robot of Sherwood)
The Doctor informed Saibra that, despite how much he hated him, he had no intention on killing the Architect. (TV: Time Heist)
The Doctor acted like a pragmatist who would not hesitate to abandon someone whose fate was already sealed, (TV: Into the Dalek) nor mourn for an ally until his objective had been reached. (TV: Time Heist)
Also like his previous incarnation, he relied on his companions to keep him from succumbing to his darker nature, but, unlike his predecessors, the Twelfth Doctor actively praised them for it, even claiming that Clara Oswald needed a "raise" for dealing with him. (TV: Into the Dalek)
By his own testament, the Twelfth Doctor did not suffer fools gladly, (PROSE: The Blood Cell) nor did he tolerate poor manners, even when held at gunpoint, and believed that one should make requests politely. (TV: Into the Dalek)
Having devoted countless centuries to combating them, this Doctor's hatred toward the Dalek species was rigid, with Clara describing it as "prejudice". He seemed conditioned to believe Daleks could not change and was closed-minded as he dealt with their presence. After his act of fixing a malfunctioning "good" Dalek caused it to revert to "evil", the Doctor was almost pleased that his belief of there being "no such thing as a good Dalek" was vindicated. This horrified Clara, who became angered to the point of slapping him.
His revulsion of the Daleks was so intense that when he entered Rusty's mind, intent on showing it the beauty of the universe, he ultimately exacerbated its homicidal nature. Instead of offering it a soul, the Doctor, through his sheer hatred for the Daleks, reconditioned Rusty into a merciless killer of its own kind. (TV: Into the Dalek)
This Doctor, like in previous incarnations, was also not above self-loathing. During his mission to the rob the Bank of Karabraxos, the Doctor realised he himself was his team's employer, "the Architect," due to the extent to which he hated him. He described the Architect (and by extension himself) as overbearing, manipulative and consciously aware of his own intelligence. (TV: Time Heist)
Additionally, he was at times critical of his previous incarnations' clothing. He opined that his fourth self's scarf "looked stupid" (TV: Deep Breath) and regarded his immediate predecessor's fondness for bow ties as "embarrassing." (TV: Time Heist) However, upon seeing Adrian, a teacher at Coal Hill School with a fashion sense reminiscent of his previous incarnation, complete with bow tie and hairstyle, he responded more favourably due to being under the mistaken impression that he was Clara's boyfriend, arrogantly assuming that Clara was dating Adrian because of his uncanny resemblance to "a certain dashing young time traveller." (TV: The Caretaker)
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)
When proposing a theory, the Doctor would use words such as "question" or "proposition", and would begin his conclusion with "answer" or "conjecture". 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, Listen, Time Heist)
Like the Ninth Doctor labeling humanity as "stupid apes", the Twelfth Doctor would call them "pudding brains" when he found them slow-minded and stupid. (TV: Deep Breath, Robot of Sherwood )
When in a moment of realisation or thinking intensely, the Twelfth Doctor would often tell people to "shut up", regardless if anyone else was speaking. (TV: Deep Breath, Listen, Time Heist)
He seemed to regain a tolerance for alcoholic beverages, (TV: Deep Breath, Time Heist) something his immediate predecessor didn't have. (TV: The Lodger, The Impossible Astronaut, The Time of the Doctor)
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, though would become more spontaneous when thinking intensely. (TV: Deep Breath, Listen, Time Heist)
This Doctor made a habit of assigning nicknames to others, giving them names based on their appearance or by an accessory they carried. (TV: Deep Breath, Into the Dalek)
When not out adventuring, the Doctor could be found jotting down equations and theories on various chalkboards in his TARDIS console room. (TV: Robot of Sherwood, Listen)
Skills
Highly observant, the Doctor was able to point out the Half-Face Man as non-human from his lack of interest in a burnt dinosaur corpse, and later noticed that he and Clara were trapped in a room full of Clockwork Droids because they weren't breathing. (TV: Deep Breath) He was also able to make accurate deductions from observing his surroundings, identifying the Aristotle as a medical ship within seconds of being onboard. (TV: Into the Dalek)
The twelfth incarnation retained his predecessor's ability to converse with other species, such as dinosaurs. (TV: Deep Breath)
Strong and durable, the Doctor was able to support his own weight single-handedly, wrestle the Half-Face Man into a corner, fall out of a high tree branch and shake off the fall quickly, and dive off a bridge into the Thames to swim across the river without being hampered, though the latter two events can be linked to him still being within the early hours of his regeneration, when his physical skills tend to be somewhat exaggerated. (TV: Deep Breath)
Like several of his predecessors, the Twelfth Doctor was both a highly proficient swordsman and skilled in Venusian aikido, using it to defend himself from Abesse and disarming a distracted Robin Hood. (TV: Robot of Sherwood, PROSE: The Blood Cell)
Despite initially forgetting how to pilot his TARDIS due to post-regenerative trauma, (TV: The Time of the Doctor) the Doctor soon mastered his way around the TARDIS console, being able to save Journey Blue by piloting the TARDIS around her, one second before her ship exploded. (TV: Into the Dalek)
Like his second, tenth and eleventh incarnations, the Twelfth Doctor also displayed telepathic abilities, being able to link his mind with Rusty to try and show the Dalek the beauty of the universe and put Rupert Pink to sleep by placing his index finger on his forehead, editing his memories while he did so. (TV: Into the Dalek, Listen) He proved vulnerable to a telepathic "sleep" suggestion from Madame Vastra, but this is most likely because he was still severely disoriented from his regeneration. (TV: Deep Breath)
Appearance
While a good many of his predecessors, especially the Eleventh, began their lives looking young, (TV: The Parting of the Ways, The End of Time) the Twelfth Doctor started out appearing very much older. He had short grey hair, a hooked nose and sharp silvery blue eyes, with big ears. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) He was of a light build. (COMIC: Chime Time) Clara was confused at the Twelfth's older appearance, saying to Vastra that "he [didn't] look renewed." Even the Doctor was confused about his aged appearance, asking himself, "Who frowned me in this face?" (TV: Deep Breath) Tall and gaunt, he was once described by Clara as looking like a "grey-haired stick insect", (TV: Listen) with Robin Hood describing him as "pale as Milk". (TV: Robot of Sherwood)
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" and were ready to set up their own independent state. (TV: Deep Breath) He later considered his intimidating eyebrows as a major contributor to his gravitas when he assumed the role of leader of the bank heist without any kind of vote. (TV: Time Heist)
Clothing
Immediately following regeneration, he initially wore the Eleventh Doctor's attire, a Victorian nightshirt, and then a coat that he "bought" from a tramp, before stealing a Clockwork Droid's suit in order to masquerade as one.
After having a chance to return to the TARDIS, though, the Doctor chose a new outfit for himself. He donned a navy blue cardigan with a white collared shirt with no tie, matching blue trousers that now covered his ankles instead of being too short, and black brogue boots. Over the top, he sported a thigh-length, dark blue jacket with red lining, often wearing it with the top button done. On his left hand ring finger, he had a pair of gold rings, a normal gold band and a second ring with an amber setting that rested atop the first band. (TV: Deep Breath)
Though his Crombie coat remained a constant staple of his appearance, the Doctor would wear variations of his attire, switching from vested garments with a white collared shirt for simply a dress shirt on its own, such as maroon (TV: Robot of Sherwood) or charcoal grey. (TV: Time Heist) Other times, he would dispense with the shirt as well and don a black turtleneck jumper with glittering silver flakes that looked like twinkling stars in a night sky. (TV: Listen) He also had at least two styles of cardigans- one with shawl lapels and a ribbed waistline (TV: Deep Breath), the other a simpler v-necked waistcoat. (TV: Into the Dalek)
The Doctor picked his look with the intention of "aiming for minimalism", but instead felt like he "ended up with magician" after solidifying his wardrobe. (TV: Time Heist)
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 Ninth Doctor commented on his ears, (TV: Rose) 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)
- In DWM 477, showrunner Steven Moffat jokingly answered one fan's question on what colour the Doctor's kidneys now were (he had complained he hated their colour) as "Froon. This is an entirely new colour, which only the Doctor can see."
- His costume was revealed in DWM 470 and online earlier than planned to spike a tabloid scoop.
- He starred in The Daft Dimension, a comic strip published in Doctor Who Magazine.
- 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. The First Doctor also wore a gemstone ring, and as such the Twelfth Doctor is the first incarnation since then seen to sport one. He is also the first incarnation since the Third Doctor to wear an ordinary ring.