River Song
Melody "Mels" Pond, later River Song, was a Human being who had Time Lord DNA, due to being conceived onboard the Doctor's TARDIS and exposed to the Time Vortex. She was later an archaeologist and a convicted murderer.
The daughter of Amy Pond and Rory Williams, she shared a close and somewhat romantic relationship with the Doctor, becoming one of the few people to learn his true name. She was a doctor of archaeology, and later a professor, in the 51st century. Like Melanie Bush and Charley Pollard before her, she was an example of the rare companion whose timeline was not synchronous with that of the Doctor.
Biography
Birth
Melody Pond was born on the asteroid of Demon's Run to Amy Pond and Rory Williams, after her mother had been kidnapped. Shortly after birth, Melody was replaced with a Ganger and taken by Madame Kovarian to become a weapon against the Doctor. She was chosen for this purpose because she had traces of Time Lord DNA as a result of having been conceived onboard the TARDIS inside the Time Vortex. The extent of her Time Lord-like abilities allowed her to regenerate. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War / Let's Kill Hitler)
Early Life
As a child, Melody was indoctrinated by the Silence to be a weapon to kill the Doctor. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)
While a little girl, Melody ended up in an orphanage in America in 1969 and later at a warehouse in Florida. She was put into an Apollo astronaut suit upgraded with alien life support systems. She used the suit to make calls directly to President Nixon, begging for help. This led to her first physical meeting with the Doctor (in their meeting as a baby she had been a Ganger)—a brief one, as her mother shot at her, scaring her away. She returned to the orphanage and tried to ask Amy for help, but the Silence arrived. After an unknown incident, she escaped the spacesuit and fled. (DW: The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon)
Mels
Six months later, in New York City, suffering from a terminal illness, Melody regenerated. (DW: Day of the Moon) By the late 1990s she was an adolescent living in Leadworth under unknown circumstances. Nicknamed "Mels", she became her parents' close friend and helped them realise their love for each other. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)
Mels was often in trouble, with outbursts of reckless but largely harmless criminal behaviour. She was obsessed with Amelia's "Raggedy Doctor", dreamt of marrying him and claimed in school that historical disasters were his fault because he did not intervene. Through all of this, she was fully aware that Amy and Rory were her parents, and that she intended to kill the Doctor. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)
Adventures with the Doctor
Regeneration into River
When the Doctor arrived in a cornfield in 2011, Mels forced her way onto the TARDIS at gunpoint to escape the police. She shot up the console, exposed the temporal grace feature as a "clever lie" and forced them to land in Hitler's office in 1938, inadvertently saving him from the Teselecta. She was accidentally shot by Hitler and to the surprise of the Doctor and her parents, regenerated into her next incarnation, recognisable as River Song. Acting on her conditioning, she almost immediately tried to kill the Doctor — first with guns, then with poisoned lipstick. She cheerily called herself a psychopath and ran amok in Berlin., yet showed empathy for the Doctor's devotion to his friends, to the "River Song" he kept mentioning, and his struggle to save her from the Teselecta. When she demanded to know who River was, Amy ordered the Teselecta to show her and it morphed into River's image. She asked her parents if the Doctor was worth saving. When they said yes, she sacrificed her remaining regenerations to revive him.
The Doctor took her to a hospital in the 52nd century and gave her a TARDIS-shaped diary. She later applied to study archaeology at Luna University so that she could find him again. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)
After River had earned her doctorate, Madam Kovarian, agents of the Church and the Silence captured her and put her in an astronaut suit. She was submerged under Lake Silencio, Utah on the 22nd April, 2011 to lie in wait for the Doctor. (DW: Closing Time)
Imprisonment
Some time after this, River was imprisoned in the Stormcage Containment Facility for murder. When the Doctor asked about this earlier in his timestream, she glumly said he was "A very good man. Best man I've ever known". (DW: The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone). The Doctor would later discover from the Teselecta data records that the man she killed was believed to be himself, and that he died on 22nd April 2011 at 5:02pm in Utah, at Lake Silencio on the Plain of Sighs. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)
The Battle of Demon's Run
River met the Doctor, Amy, and Rory at the end of the battle of Demon's Run in the 52nd century. She revealed her identity, first to the Doctor, and then to her parents.
At one time, River was taken by the Doctor for her birthday to the last Winter Frost Fair on the River Thames in 1814. Stevie Wonder unknowingly performed before being taken back to his original time. Returning to Stormcage from this escapade, River encountered Rory in his Roman uniform, seeming shocked to see him. She refused his request to come aid them at Demons Run, saying she "can't be there until the very end" and "This is the day when he learns who I am." (DW: A Good Man Goes to War)
The Silence in America
On receiving an invitation containing coordinates from the Eleventh Doctor, River escaped from Stormcage to meet Amy, Rory and him in Utah in the United States of America in 2011. After reminiscing with her about Easter Island and Jim the Fish, the Doctor took them on a picnic, where he was killed by someone wearing an astronaut's space suit. She did not seem to remember this being her younger self. River, Amy, and Rory then burned the Doctor's body in a "Viking funeral", then went to a cafe and found another version of the Eleventh Doctor who claimed to be about two hundred years younger than the one they had seen die. (DW: The Impossible Astronaut)
River helped the Doctor defeat the Silence by using their brainwashing of humanity against them. At her request, the Doctor returned her to Stormcage, where she kissed him. From his shocked reaction, she realised that from his perspective, it was their first kiss, and from her perspective, probably their last. (DW: Day of the Moon)
Opening of the Pandorica
The TARDIS rerouted a phone call for the Doctor from Winston Churchill to River. She escaped from Stormcage to warn the Doctor of a prophecy of the TARDIS exploding. After blackmailing a Time Agent's vortex manipulator off Dorium Maldovar, she travelled to the Roman era of Earth, where she met the Doctor and Amy.
They found the Pandorica beneath Stonehenge, which was transmitting a signal summoning an alliance of the Doctor's enemies. The Doctor convinced them to back off and sent River to fetch the TARDIS. Instead, the TARDIS took her to Amy's house on the 26th of June, 2010. When River told him the date, the Doctor realised the TARDIS was about to explode and urged her to escape. Instead, she was trapped in a time loop of the first moments of the explosion. (DW: The Pandorica Opens) The Doctor used her vortex manipulator to rescue her and bring her to 1996, where she learned of his plan to use the Pandorica's restoration field to reverse the erasure of the universe. The Doctor was badly wounded by an energy blast from the Stone Dalek that was hunting them. Angered at the apparent loss of the man she loved, River told the Dalek to look in its data banks for her identity, taunted it into begging for mercy, then killed it.
After the Doctor restored the universe, erasing himself in the process, River (who was somehow in 2010) left her now blank, TARDIS-shaped diary with Amy on her wedding day in 2010 so she could remember the Doctor back into existence from the Void. After a brief conversation with him about her marital status and identity, she said he was "...going to find out very soon now, and I'm sorry, because that's when everything changes" and left him wondering. (DW: The Big Bang)
Crash of the Byzantium
Some time after River had returned from 2010 to prison, she was put in Father Octavian's custody in the 51st century. If she carried out her mission successfully, she might earn her pardon.
Sent as a guest on the ship Byzantium, she infiltrated the lower levels to find its Home Box, into which she carved "Hello Sweetie" in Old High Gallifreyan to attract the Doctor's attention twelve thousand years later. Leading the Doctor to Alfava Metraxis, she helped him defeat an army of Weeping Angels which had been awakened in the planet's Maze of the Dead. (DW: The Time of Angels, Flesh and Stone)
Darillium
Some time after earning her pardon, River received a surprise visit by the Doctor, who had a new haircut. He took her to Darillium to see the Singing Towers. The Doctor knew, although River did not, that her death was imminent, and gave her an upgraded version of his sonic screwdriver. (DW: Forest of the Dead)
The Library
In the 51st century, River, now a professor, was hired by Strackman Lux to lead an expedition to The Library to discover what had happened there a hundred years earlier, when a cryptic final message had been sent: "4022 saved. No survivors." Expecting trouble, she sent the Doctor a message by psychic paper. The version of the Doctor who turned up had not yet met her. Though bewildered, he agreed to help River and her team.
River still had her TARDIS-shaped diary of her travels with the Doctor. She tried to use it to discover where the Doctor was in his timeline, but soon realised that he was a much younger version of the Doctor who neither knew nor trusted her.
As the situation with the Vashta Nerada worsened, River knew she must prove to him she was someone he would come to trust completely. With profuse apologies, she whispered his true name into his ear. The Doctor was stunned, and River had won his trust.
River died physically when she sacrificed herself in the Doctor's place to save Donna and the other four thousand twenty-two people trapped in the Library's computer. She pleaded with him to not change their history, not one moment of what had/would come for them. (DW: Forest of the Dead)
After saving the trapped people, the Doctor realised his future self would give her his sonic screwdriver for a reason. Inside it he found a data chip, a "Neural Relay", which held River's Data Ghost. The Doctor saved River by uploading her into the virtual world in The Library's data core, CAL. CAL had also saved the data ghosts of River's dead archaeological team, giving her company in the virtual world. River would take care of her two virtual children and Charlotte (the girl wired into the mainframe) in the virtual world, reading out her diary of her many adventures with the Doctor, and how sometimes, "everybody lives" when the Doctor comes to call. Her story ended with her wishing her audience sweet dreams. (DW: Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead)
The Tenth Doctor would later remember her death when Davros reminded him of the people who had died in his name. (DW: Journey's End)
Undated/Unchronicled events
- The Doctor and River had a picnic at Asgard. (DW: Silence in the Library)
- The Doctor and River shared an adventure in "the Bone Meadows". (DW: The Time of Angels)
- The Doctor and River visited Easter Island together. (DW: The Impossible Astronaut)
- The Doctor and River met a being named "Jim the Fish". (DW: The Impossible Astronaut)
- The Doctor took River to London in 1814 on her birthday to go ice skating on the River Thames. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War)
Personality
In her first incarnation, as the 'little girl,' Melody Pond was shy, innocent and terrified of the "monsters" that had trapped her in the spacesuit. (DW: The Impossible Astronaut) Her second incarnation as 'Mels,' was independent and feisty, often in trouble, and chased by the police shortly before her regeneration. She resented the Doctor and blamed him for many historical disasters but wanted to marry him. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler) In her final incarnation, River was very strong-willed, and though brainwashed in her childhood and raised to kill him, still decided that the Doctor was a good man and saved his life, sacrificing all her regenerations in the process. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)
In her final and best known incarnation, River was feisty and cheeky like her mother, Amy. From her father, Rory, she got a sense of responsibility and deep compassion for loved ones. She was vivacious and enjoyed showing off, especially for the Doctor. She would say "spoilers" to refer to her knowledge of the Doctor's future, or his knowledge of hers. River was good at keeping secrets, especially anything which could change the future. This included keeping her personal diary from the Doctor. (DW: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead)
River was devoted to the Doctor and cared very much for her family. She could be merciless, killing the Stone Dalek after it had shot the Doctor even though it pleaded for mercy when it realised who she was. She was very confident of her abilities, intelligence and sexuality. She was often flirtatious, but was serious when the situation called for it. (DW: The Big Bang)
River was willing to sacrifice herself from the moment she was convinced the Doctor deserved to live, when she freely gave up her remaining regenerations to save him after poisoning him herself. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler) She took the Doctor's place when he tried to release the people who were saved in the computer that controlled the Library. To prevent the Doctor killing himself, River knocked him out and handcuffed him before hooking herself up to the computer. Just before her death she comforted the Doctor by saying that although it was her last meeting with him it was his first with her and he would see her again. (DW: Forest of the Dead) She was also willing to sacrifice herself to close the Time Field on the Byzantium to stop the Doctor from doing it, until the Doctor told her it wouldn't be enough. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
Known family
- Amy Pond – mother
- Rory Williams – father
- Tabetha Pond – maternal grandmother
- Augustus Pond – maternal grandfather
- Sharon – maternal great-aunt
Other information
- River's "present day" spanned the 52nd and 51st centuries - in that order, likely thanks to her frequent time travel. She entered Luna University in 5123 and was in Stormcage by 5145. One of her last Stormcage appearances was in the 51st century, which was also when she died. How the outside world saw this, and when she was released from Stormcage, is unknown.
- River Song seemed to take shorter trips with the Doctor, living a "normal" life between trips, rather than having one extended trip with the Doctor and never seeing him after parting ways.
- River Song was a skilled TARDIS pilot, with techniques very different from the Doctor's. She claimed that she "learned from the best", and joked that the Doctor wasn't available that day. (DW: The Time of Angels) It turned out she had learnt from the TARDIS itself, which recognised her as its "child". (DW: Let's Kill Hitler) Once, when the Doctor said she was flying it wrong, she seemed to claim that he had taught her. She was actually speaking to the TARDIS. (DW: The Pandorica Opens)
- River had knowledge of Time Lord anatomy, and knew about regeneration. She knew that destruction of both of the Doctor's hearts would make regeneration impossible. (DW: Forest of the Dead). She also understood that if the Doctor died before his regeneration cycle was complete, he was dead for good. (DW: The Impossible Astronaut)
- River Song could write Old High Gallifreyan. It is not known where she learned this. (DW: The Time of Angels)
- River had pictures of all the Doctor's incarnations (DW: The Time of Angels), though she did not know what order they came in.
- River told Rory that she and the Doctor were meeting in reverse order and that every time she met him, he knew her less. She feared the day when she met a Doctor who did not know her. (DW: The Impossible Astronaut) Generally, River met the Doctor in reverse order respective to their timelines. This was not always the case, as River once met a version of the Doctor who had shared an adventure to Easter Island and a meeting with Jim the Fish.
- Both the name "Melody" and "River Song" are ontological paradoxes. Amy named her daughter after her friend, who unbeknownst to Amy was her daughter Melody. Melody later began using the name "River Song" after learning about her own future as River Song.
Behind the scenes
- Except for a flashback in DW: Journey's End and at the end of DW: Closing Time, River Song has only appeared in stories written by Steven Moffat.
- Excluding The Wedding of River Song and DW: Closing Time River Song only appears in two-part episodes.
- In a recent interview for a short video about the Eleventh Doctor's companions, Alex Kingston stated that River Song has encountered many incarnations of the Doctor and that the Doctor "sends her into his past, where he knows he needs her expertise". Arthur Darvill stated that Kingston had been told more than anyone else about who River really is.
- Humourously, the conversation at the end of The Doctor's Wife implies River was conceived on a bunk bed. When asked about this, both Steven Moffat and Neil Gaiman independently and simultaneously acknowledged this, joking about the possibility of the ladder. They later agreed they had accidentally canonised this by agreeing on it at the same time.
- To date, River has been played by six different actors, the most to portray a single companion on-screen.
- River Song is the only Time Lord to change skin colour via regeneration on-screen, as the actresses who played her in both her 'Melody Pond' and 'River Song' incarnations were white, while both of Mels' actresses were black. Earlier in SJA: Death of the Doctor, the Doctor noted that his racial characteristics were not limited to white; he "can be anything." Rassilon has been portrayed by white actors Richard Mathews and Timothy Dalton on-screen while black actor Don Warrington was Rassilon's voice actor and cover-art model in Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories.
- In Let's Kill Hitler, River says that she will gradually bring down the age of her body a little "just to freak people out", referring to the fact that a younger Alex Kingston will play later versions of River.
- Although not yet confirmed in-universe to date, the little girl was confirmed to be River by Steven Moffat in an interview.[1]
Footnotes
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