| “ | I am not a good man! I am not a bad man. I am not a hero. And I'm definitely not a president. And no, I'm not an officer. Do you know what I am? I am an idiot, with a box and a screwdriver. Just passing through, helping out, learning. I don't need an army. I never have, because I've got them. Always them. Because love, it's not an emotion. Love is a promise. | „ |
| ~ The Twelfth Doctor's speech in Death in Heaven |
The Twelfth Doctor is the titular protagonist in Series 8-10 of the revived series of Doctor Who and a minor character in the spin-off series, Class.
He was portrayed by Peter Capaldi, and voiced by Jacob Dudman in Big Finish's The Doctor Chronicles.
History[]
The Doctor was left questioning of his morality, asking if he truly was a "good man", question left more uncertain by his failure to reform a Dalek, and when compared to the more idealistically heroic characters like Robin Hood and Clara's boyfriend Danny Pink. Things came to a head when he left Clara to make the decision whether to kill a innocent growing within the Moon, which he was certain would make the right choice. While she did by saving it, letting it inspire humanity, the callous way he had seemingly abandoned her led Clara to want to leave him. On a swansong trip, however, when faced with the Foretold, the Doctor managed to prove himself to her, leading her to carry on adventuring with him. The Doctor became increasingly concerned with his morality when he saw Clara begin to imitate his behaviour.It was not until his first battle with Missy, a female incarnation of the Master who offered him a Cyberman army, that the Doctor resolved his morality crisis, realising he was simply "an idiot with a box and screwdriver" who went around helping others. However, the fallout of Missy's plan left the Doctor and Clara deciding to part ways. They were reunited in an attack by the Dream crabs, experiencing dreams of what their lives would be like without the other and decided to take a second chance with adventuring together.
Following this, the Doctor began to show his lighter side more clearly and forged a closer bond with Clara. When the Doctor attempted to save a boy from a minefield, he abandoned him after finding out he was a young Davros. The Doctor continued his travels with Clara, haunted by the re-emergence of the Hybrid prophecy he had heard of in his childhood. When saving a Viking village from the Mire cost the life of a girl called Ashildr, the Doctor decided to save with Mire technology, making her immortal in the process. After Clara was killed due to a trap set for him, in Face the Raven, the Doctor was trapped in his own confession dial, where he spent four billion years fleeing the Veil. In the Series 9 finale Hell Bent, the Doctor broke his own moral codes and unleashed his wrath upon the Time Lords in an ultimately futile attempt to save Clara, and after realising he was becoming the metaphorical Hybrid, accepted losing his memories of her as a price for his reckless actions.
In the 2015 Christmas special The Husbands of River Song, the Doctor reencountered River Song, who for the majority of the episode, was unaware of his true identity until he said "Hello Sweetie" to her. After defeating the robotic body of King Hydroflax, the Doctor and River spent a 24-year long night at the Singing Towers of Darillium. In the 2016 Christmas special The Return of Doctor Mysterio, the Doctor, with the help of River's former assistant Nardole and a man named Grant (whom as a child, met the Doctor and accidentally ate a gem, which granted his wish to be a superhero), defeated brain-like aliens called The Shoal of Winter Harmony.
In Series 10, the Doctor and Nardole guarded Missy, going "cold turkey" from evil in the Vault, for decades under St Luke's University while the Doctor acted as a tutor. The Doctor noticed a student, a woman known as Bill Potts who he took on as a companion after discovering Heather, the woman Bill was interested in, had become a sentient oil creature. Initially sneaking away to travel with Bill, the Doctor was joined by Nardole in Oxygen, where being exposed to the vacuum of space left him blind. Shortly after this, the Doctor became aware of The Monks, but when his unwillingness to talk about his blindness left him in a dire situation, his sight was restored at the cost of Earth's freedom. Eventually, the Doctor, Bill and Nardole, with advice from Missy, were able to defeat the Monks. After this, the Doctor divided his time between adventuring with Bill and Nardole, and supporting Missy's redemption.
Eventually, when it seemed that she had reached a turning point, the Doctor tested Missy's evolving goodness by rescuing a ship from a black hole. Soon, the situation went off the rails, and the Doctor discovered that the ship was a Mondasian Colony Ship. Bill was converted into a Cyberman, and events were being manipulated by Missy's predecessor (the Harold Saxon incarnation) to create a new breed of Cybermen. Left to defend the remaining colonists, the Doctor fought off the Cybermen, and was mortally wounded. Bill was restored by Heather and the two put the Doctor in his TARDIS, going onto travel together, whilst Nardole remained behind to protect the others from Cybermen. In the 2017 Christmas special Twice Upon A Time, the Doctor, refusing to regenerate due to weariness, encountered his first incarnation and met a glass avatar of Bill. Convinced to carry on living, the Doctor bade farewell to the avatars of Bill and Nardole and regained his memories of Clara. The Doctor returned to the TARDIS to regenerate, giving some final advice to his successor.
Personality[]
No longer needing to cover the pain of the extinction of the Time Lords, the Twelfth Doctor was a less amiable figure than his predecessors, with a withdrawn attitude who questioned his own goodness. He often dispensed with niceties in a tense situation, becoming cold and calculative when needed. However, despite his ruthless exterior, the Doctor was actually deeply caring and empathetic, always striving to help others for the sake of being kind. Unlike other incarnations who grew into their appearances, this version of the Doctor seems fairly self-conscious, and saw the role of "The Doctor" as an ideal to strive towards.
He still held the pain of the War Doctor deep down. This resulted in him having a strong rage and disgust for Bonnie, whom started a Zygon rebellion; because she thought it was unfair Zygons had to live in hiding just to live on Earth. The Doctor pointed out that he would force Operation Double to stay in place, no matter what he had to do; calling her a petty child who just perpetuated cruelty. However, as he was one who had caused incalculably greater death tolls, he was able to offer her forgiveness, managing to resolve the conflict peacefully.
Like certain past iterations, he struggled with the guilt of his methods in dealing with enemies, which caused massive death tolls, and he suffered the weight of enemy, ally, and civilian lives lost. When trying to convince broken Dalek he called Rusty about the beauty of the universe to finally make a pure Dalek a good creature, Rusty instead witnessed the Doctor's subconscious hatred of the Daleks, which successfully turned Rusty against his fellow Daleks, but through contempt, rather than genuinely becoming a righteous being. When Missy offered the Doctor the modified army of Cybermen made from the deceased of Earth, he considered the appeal of bringing about justice across the universe, yet ultimately this offer of absolute power actually convinced the Doctor that he wasn't a bad person, since he was capable of resisting such a temptation to conquer for the excuse of peace.
Despite his occasional absence of decorum and even ruthlessness, he still had the Doctor's trait of compassion, bravery, and selflessness. Even with how harshly he'd treat antagonists, there were moments of his unconditional kindness, since when he believed Davros had sincerely reformed, he tried to help his archenemy survive to see a sunrise, and similarly eventually dedicated his time into reforming Missy, the latest incarnation of the Master, even though his childhood best friend turned enemy had done unforgivable things, as well as personally caused a few of the Doctor's own deaths.
Sometimes, he remained harsh, such as upon reuniting with Rassilon on Gallifrey, he ordered the prototypical Time Lord to be banished forever, refusing to forgive or indulge in Rassilon's rage or rants. Once Davros proved to be deceptive, the Doctor left him to the latest destruction of Skaro, although understanding the mad scientist likely had an escape route. When the Harold Saxon version of the Master appeared and began to corrupt Missy back to their prior habits of conquest and destruction, the Doctor continued in trying to correct Missy back towards the noble mindset she had been gradually developing, and even attempted to persuade the more chaotic Saxon version, albeit through constant criticism and jabs at his poor choices and attitude.
Quotes[]
| “ | One day you'll just "stop". You know what I'll do then? I just get in my box and run away! In case the pain ever catches up! | „ |
| ~ The Twelfth Doctor about the pain losing friends and companions causes him |
| “ | I'm the Doctor! And I save people! | „ |
| ~ The Twelfth Doctor realizes why he chose the face of someone he saved at a Fixed Point in Time |
| “ | There have been many attempts to conquer the Earth. I've lost count. Not one of them has succeeded. Not a single one. They all lost and burned and ran. That's who I am. | „ |
| ~ The Twelfth Doctor in The Return of Doctor Mysterio. |
| “ | I'm not trying to win. I'm not doing this because I want to beat someone, or because I hate someone, or because, I want to blame someone. It's not because it's fun and God knows it's not because it's easy. It's not even because it works, because it hardly ever does. I do what I do, because it's right! Because it's decent! And above all, it's kind. It's just that. Just kind. | „ |
| ~ The Doctor's speech to the Masters in The Doctor Falls. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- His predecessor's time in Trenzalore lead the Twelfth Doctor to see lying as a necessary life skill; having learned to technically not lie.
- He is the first version of the Doctor to have a Scottish accent, although not portrayed by the first Scottish actor, as David Tennant was also Scottish, however, used an English accent when the Tenth and Fourteenth Doctors.
- When he put Operation Double back in place, the Doctor revealed he just keeps wiping the memories of both Kate and whatever Zygon is rebelling until they finally relent and back off.
- His aged appearance is disliked by the First and Eleventh Doctor; given that regeneration should make them younger.
- While he still had the Eleventh's persona lingering, the Doctor wondered "who frowned me this face"
- Though the Twelfth is physically younger than the First, as his regeneration was caused by Cyberman lasers and not old age.
- The Comic stort "The Four Doctors" show he does not want to run into the Eleventh the most of his past incarnations; explaining he was a future Doctor would risk paradoxes in getting new regenerations on Trenzalore.
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