How The Fires Of Pompeii Could Be Viewed As A Multi-Doctor Story

Please do not take this article as fact.

  

One day in the not-so-distant future, Clara Oswald and the 12^th Doctor find themselves in mortal danger. After the threat becomes too much for them, their only option is to disappear into time and space in the hopes that their pursuers will forget them. After activating the chameleon arch, both the Doctor and Clara are separated across time as the TARDIS randomly selects a new life for the two...although maybe it’s not as random as they think. Because the life that is chosen for the 12^th Doctor is in Pompeii, a few weeks before his predecessor arrives.

 

When the 12^th Doctor sees the 10^th Doctor’s TARDIS, he has an immediate reaction to it like the Derek Jacobi master did when he was in the guise of Professor Yana. He bought it straight away and had it moved to his home against the will of his family who couldn’t see the beauty in what he called “modern art”. This is because under the influence of the chameleon arch fob watch, the sight of his marvellous time-space machine has registered with him on a subconscious level allowing him to see the beauty it truly holds as a gateway to the stars.

 

In the 12^th Doctor’s home in Pompeii, it is revealed that he has been making circuitry out of marble slabs. This could be the result of instructions for a prophecy, although the Doctor’s knowledge of advanced technology may have played a big part in its production.

 

When the soothsayers are speaking to the 10^th Doctor about Gallifrey and his name, ‘Doctor’, the 12^th Doctor can be seen in the background, having what is possibly a mental reaction to hearing those words being spoken.

 

At the end of the episode the 10^th Doctor is about to leave Pompeii to burn but Donna forces him to go back and save his future self and his human family (the ‘DoctorDonna’ link in her head is drawing her to the Doctor “like destiny” as described in Journey’s End). And so, the 10^th Doctor saves the 12^th Doctor, both of whom are completely unaware that they are the same man, and Twelve is able to reunite with Clara and return to the Time Vortex.

Of course a lot of this is conjecture from a performance with not nearly this much detail planned but I think retconing it to making it a multi-Doctor story would be such a Moffat thing to do.

 

(Oh, so this means the Doctor invented the word “Volcano” too. I always thought it was weird having the character make up a new word after seeing his whole life burn to the ground. Perhaps he was not inventing the word but remembering the word.)

This article was written and submitted by Tarminuus. All credit goes to him.