Wednesday, 7 August 2013

How I Almost Convinced Myself The Valeyard Has Come: Speculation on John Hurt's Doctor

John Hurt in the mind-blowing Doctor Who Series 7 finale "The Name of the Doctor".
   I've been fairly uncertain of the popular opinion that John Hurt's recently revealed "lost" Doctor regeneration is, in fact, the return of the Sixth Doctor's foe the Valeyard. Then I looked at the possibility from a perspective I had not before.
     What if the character John Hurt is portraying becomes the Valeyard? I had not taken into consideration one of the defining story tools of Doctor Who, and that is that linear time means absolutely nothing (unless you need it to mean everything for a particular story).
     In The Ultimate Foe, the final serial of the massive story arc The Trial of a Time Lord (also known as Series 23 of classic Who & the arc that has been the only on-screen appearance so far of the Valeyard), the Master reveals to the Sixth Doctor that the Valeyard is "an amalgamation of the darker side of the Doctor's nature", as well as saying, "The Valeyard, Doctor, is your penultimate reincarnation...somewhere between your twelfth & final regeneration." The Valeyard's overall plot was the steal the Sixth Doctor's remaining seven regenerations for himself, eliminating the Doctor to be free of his influence & topping it all off by also taking out all the Time Lords gathered for the Doctor's trial. It was certainly an ambitious plan.
     In The Name of the Doctor, the Great Intelligence (possessing the body of the former Dr. Simeon) reminded the Doctor that "he will have other names before the end. Storm. The Beast. The Valeyard." The Great Intelligence also showed interest in having the Doctor answer for living his "life in darker hues, day by day" & his "blood-soaked standards", giving examples by mentioning "the leader of the Sycorax. Or Solomon the Trader. Or the Cybermen, or the Daleks". He also mentions the Time War, but not the Doctor's apparent genocide of the Time Lords.
     Now, there's really only one scenario that I can put together to rationalize the possibility of Hurt being, in any way, the Valeyard & that is that he is not currently but will possibly become what has apparently become everyone's new favorite classic Who baddie. If he is the real Ninth Doctor & the version of the Doctor that ended the Time War by destroying both the Daleks & the Time Lords, who had seemingly been changed by the war, he would certainly be qualified to be described as containing perhaps the darkest aspects of the Doctor's nature. This seems to tie in perfectly with the Eleventh Doctor's description of him in the final moments of the series 7 finale as "the one who broke the promise" & "I said he was me, I never said he was the Doctor".
     As for the idea that the Valeyard comes into being somewhere between the Doctor's twelfth & final incarnations, but somehow not being a regeneration in-between them, I feel Hurt's character fits easily into this description as well; his being the real Ninth Doctor, as many have noted, would move the numbers of the following Doctors up by one, making Matt Smith the Twelfth Doctor & recently announced Peter Capaldi the Thirteenth (and seemingly "final") regeneration. Now what falls right between Smith & Capaldi? The 50th anniversary, which will supposedly focus around Hurt's character & most likely the Time War, as evidenced by the references to it throughout series 7 & the recent confirmation that the Daleks will be appearing in the special (I use their appearance as evidence of a Time War storyline becos it makes more sense that they're headed in that direction than for them to suddenly come up with a reason for the Daleks to be aware of the Doctor again after the events of Asylum of the Daleks, but then again this is just speculation). Since we know that Hurt's character does not have claim to the name "the Doctor" anymore, it is possible that he could take up the name "the Valeyard" in the near future which would "give birth" to the character known by that name & do it between the referenced regenerations.
     So, could John Hurt be playing the real Ninth Doctor, who committed dual genocide "in the name of peace & sanity" causing him to be somehow "forgotten" or "hidden" by future versions of himself out of shame, leaving him essentially nameless, possibly angry & vengeful? Could it be that Steven Moffat will be introducing us to the origin story of the Valeyard as part of the 50th anniversary special?
     I'd still have to say it seems somewhat doubtful, but as far as speculation & potentialities go it does seem to be a very engaging possibility. However, in the name of fun guesstimation...

Bonus Extra Uber-Far Out There Speculation:
     Remember how I pointed out the Great Intelligence seemed keen on having the Doctor answer for past crimes? Its an interesting parallel to the Valeyard being a prosecutor in The Trial of a Time Lord. Could the Great Intelligence, currently either dead or still scattered throughout the Doctor's timeline via his time-wound grave at Trenzalore, somehow be an aspect of the Valeyard, as well? It would be interesting to combine an enemy of the Doctor's with a version of himself he is ashamed of & would give motive to the Valeyard's hope to take the Sixth Doctor's remaining regenerations for himself.
     As I always say: in Doctor Who literally anything is possible (except fans agreeing 100% on, well, anything) & only November will give us any certain answers.

4 comments:

  1. Well you've certainly convinced me that the Valeyard's going to be back!

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    1. Haha...which is funny in that I haven't entirely convinced myself. What I find most interesting about all of this is the sudden fixation on the Valeyard, which seems to lend credence to the idea that Whovians are more likely to think any given mystery is going to somehow be a return of something old rather than the introduction of something entirely new. Of course, this tendency most likely stems from absolute adoration of the classic Doctor Who series, which is something I think we all should suffer from!

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    2. Yeah... I just don't see the point in mentioning the Valeyard for the first time since 1986 if he's not being brought back... And now I feel like I should go and re-watch The Trial of a Time Lord.

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    3. I first watched it about a month ago & the Sixth Doctor's snark throughout just sold me on that regeneration.

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