Bad Wolf: Connecting a Decade of New Who

Guest contributor Lachlan O’Neil shares a theory that may link Rose all the way to Last Christmas.

We’ve been blessed these past 10 years. From the very first moment Christopher Eccleston burst onto our screens and told us to run, right up to the tangerine on the window sill as Capaldi flew off in the TARDIS with Clara. Each season has offered its own take on the Time Lord psyche, as well as throwing us plot twists and heart breakers.

Each season also offered its own arc, some of which span across multiple seasons. None more relevant the Matt Smith’s war at Trenzalore. Even now I suspect the events of Capaldi’s first season may be more than just a passing note.

For this article however, I want to offer a theory, which whether intentional or not, may just connect the very first episode Rose, to the most very recent Last Christmas. This theory of course all comes down to two words; Bad Wolf.

My theory is simple enough; Way back in The Parting of the Ways, Rose looks into the time vortex, we soon find out “No one’s meant to do that”. Luckily for Rose she gains the powers of a god: full reign over both time, and space. At this point she scatters two words across the universe, “Bad Wolf”. But of course most of you would know that part. Most of you would also know that in The Day of the Doctor, the Moment reflects not only Rose’s conscience, but more specifically that of the entity Bad Wolf. This makes sense of course. Bad Wolf becomes such an important presence in the Doctor’s future that the Moment chooses this as the interface… right?

Something never sat right to me about this, although the Moment was fairly bonkers, it was a weapon that became sentient, would it really make a mistake as big as picking someone the War Doctor had no idea existed to convince him not to commit mass genocide? Instead, what if we have it the wrong way around?

What if instead, Rose reflected her conscience on the Moment? What if the Moment developed a conscience because of Rose? What if, in that instant, when she controlled the universe, she looked into the Ninth Doctor’s life, saw his terrible secret, saw his tormented future and everlasting pain… and in that moment decided to do something about it. She took the one instance in the Doctor’s many lives, where the War Doctor was uncertain on his decision, the Tenth Doctor was lonely enough to care, and the Eleventh Doctor was brave enough to act, with a companion daring enough to question him. She took these moments, put them together, and used the very weapon that destroyed the Doctor’s life to heal his greatest wound?

I was never a Rose-Doctor shipper, nor do I personally think it should have gone that way. But the thought that it was her love for the Doctor that saved his people and changed his life way back in the very first season, is a particularly beautiful one.

So now we have the Twelfth Doctor, searching for Gallifrey with a life he only has because his people were saved. All thanks to two words spread across the universe: “Bad Wolf”.

Let me leave you with one last thought as well. In those moments where the Ninth Doctor took the time vortex from Rose, maybe he saw what she had done, even if to forget it as soon as he regenerated. This would bring just that bit more meaning to his final words “You were fantastic, absolutely fantastic. And you know what? So was I!” In the words of the War Doctor, in that moment at least he “was the Doctor again”.