The Valeyard and the Stolen Earth
Guest contributor Zachary Bernstein is wondering what happened to the Valeyard.
In most instances, one’s greatest enemy is their own self. Doctor Who is essentially a television program depicting escapism into fantasy worlds. The greatest fear people often run from is the weight of the responsibilities in their lives. In any fantasy, however, it is truly impossible to run away from who one is. The concept of the Valeyard is the dark and psychologically archetypal figure cast into the Doctor’s fantasy of being a good idiot. Yet, we are currently viewing the Time Lord’s 14th body, the 12th Doctor, Peter Capaldi. I am thus left wondering, what happened to the Valeyard?
The Valeyard was a dark version of the Time Lord who basically tormented the 6th Doctor in the Trial of a Time Lord. This amalgamation of the Doctor’s negative qualities was said to come forth between his twelfth and thirteenth regenerations. Yet, we are witnessing the story of the fourteenth body of our hero (the War Doctor as the 9th body and David Tennant regenerating in the Stolen Earth still counts), with the Valeyard still to make his debut. I believe, however, that this introduction already occurred.
Since the report that Russell T. Davies and David Tennant appeared in Cardiff recently, my imagination was fuelled by the concept of a return, of course. Yet now, I see a possible intent for their visit, and it is all the more crucial to Capaldi’s run as the Doctor. I believe this wouldn’t be the first time RTD’s storytelling secrets have been shared with Moffat. I believe for The Day of the Doctor that RTD gave Moffat insight as to how he originally imagined the Time War, and thus Moffat was able to include details of the War; referenced throughout the RTD era like the Fall of Arcadia. I recognized that a great deal of the fiftieth included nods to Tennant’s time as the Doctor, including old music from the earlier score.
Could it also be true that Russell T. Davies planned the concept of the War Doctor, the 9th body of the Time Lord? Yes, anything’s possible, and let’s go with that idea for a little while. If this is the case, then RTD knew that when the Doctor regenerated during The Stolen Earth, after being shot by a Dalek, that this was the Doctor’s 12th body. Conveniently, this body looked the same as the previous one because of a, “genetic biometrical receptacle. Namely my hand. My handy spare hand,” that was present in the TARDIS. The Metacrisis Doctor could very well be the body of what will transform into the Valeyard.
The reason I believe this to be true is that the Metacrisis Doctor repeated the Doctor’s greatest crime: the genocide of a species. In this episode, it was meant to be the concluding smash of the Daleks’ destiny. This version of the Doctor re-committed the crime he believed to have ended the Time War.
The concept of the Valeyard and the War Doctor are very similar, in my opinion, as both topics relate to Jungian psychology. The concept of the archetypes in stories originates in Carl Jung’s research of the metaphorical unconscious mind. One of the archetypes is the Shadow, a most significant motif in stories. The Shadow is the receptacle of all that one detests about them self. Due to a socialization by society, there are undesirable traits that go against whatever image one has been taught in life. All of those unwanted characteristic are projected unto others as one cannot handle the fear of an incomplete and undesired self. This Shadow tends to translate as devil figures and monsters in our stories, and almost literally, it has been portrayed in Doctor Who.
I believe the War Doctor was a tribute to the concept known as the Shadow, because the later incarnations of the Doctor shunned and buried the memory of what they had done in this previous life: the extermination of the Daleks and the Timelords. Thought the Day of the Doctor ended with the revelation that he might have saved Gallifrey, his memory had to go on living in the dark truth of what he believed he had done. Though John Hurt’s portrayal was ultimately redeemed in the eyes of his future selves, this really wasn’t the Valeyard encountered by the 6th Doctor.
The Metacrisis Doctor is currently stationed at a parallel world, trapped there since the Series 4 finale. However, with the thought of Gallifrey in a parallel world or dimension, this might mean that the Metacrisis Doctor could come back.
The 12th body of the Doctor was perhaps the most short lived, and also perhaps the darkest as well. This Doctor lost Donna Noble to destiny, and became the Timelord Victorious, one of the only instances the Doctor decided to play God. Finally, he had to repeat an earlier incarnation’s decision and send the Timelords to their destruction during the End of Time, a horrifying decision that was almost rubbed in his face that he was powerless to save anyone there.
“We saved the universe, but at a cost. And the cost is him.” The Metacrisis Doctor was instead “born in blood, fire, and revenge.” Was it simply that RTD wrote this so Rose would get the happy ending she always needed, to live with the Doctor, or was it opening the door for something? Davros showed the Doctor his darkest side, his manipulative traits. “How many have died in your name? This is my final victory Doctor. I have shown you, yourself.”
What if Rose was not able to pacify this version of the Doctor as planned? What if he grew old with remorse and vengeance instead? It’s quite possible with some altercation of his face that he would appear as Colin Baker’s Doctor saw him. The reason such an event would be possible is that the walls of the universe were breaking down from Gallifrey’s eventual return. If the Metacrisis Doctor turned into the Valeyard, he would have been granted entrance into the universe. Originally the Metacrisis Doctor was considered a “complicated event in time and spaces, must have rippled back,” and became a series of heartbeats that Donna Noble would hear before the introduction of the character. Frankly, this whole process is quite complex, so it stands to reason that a lot of paradoxes would occur because of this actually coming into fruition. Take the Fires of Pompeii episode of Series 4 as a strange forecast of the show’s future. The episode introduces both the man who becomes the 12th Doctor and Karen Gillan who gets to play Amy Pond starting in Series 5.
Peter Capaldi’s Doctor is of course identical to the Fires of Pompeii character Caecilius, and had later been recast as the Time Lord himself. Yet, the episode marked a strong parallel to the Time War Moment of mutual destruction. The Doctor was once again forced to make a choice where he would destroy the innocent precious few to save the world. Unfortunately, he had to comply with this fixed point in time. However, an exception to complete destruction was the salvation of Caecilius’s family; a small pragmatic resolution. Ultimately, who knows if the Timelords will survive Gallifrey’s return? Only Moffat knows.
In the meantime however, in the Series 8 episode Deep Breath, the 12th Doctor immediately recognizes that this face was not his own, as if he were to be reminded of something. He might have unconsciously told himself to remember the Fires of Pompeii, and how he really couldn’t save everyone. Like the archetypal Shadow, it is difficult to directly address our personal problems. This reference could have been his mind telling him about his immediately preceding adventure of trying to save Gallifrey. He was unconsciously telling himself this in a way that was indirect so as to lighten the blow, and of course the audience does not hear the affirmation of this genius man realizing that his planet’s salvation isn’t realistically the case.
Perhaps RTD and Tennant are back to help portray the Metacrisis Doctor returned to the universe, and all to boot with a new relationship with the Master (or Missy) to further judge how much the Doctor himself has changed.
This acceptance of how he shouldn’t be so hard on himself – that Gallifrey didn’t burn – allows a type of self-forgiveness for the 12th Doctor. This could be why Peter Capaldi’s portrayal has been less forgiving than his former selves. He is now comfortable with his darker parts because he knows they have not led to too much damage. He must not be feeling survivor’s guilt to any recognizable degree, and is now more accepting of his metaphorical Shadow. He has come full circle and is ready to go back home. If only life lived up to such happy endings.
The Valeyard also returns to the canon in the Big Finish audio story The Last Adventure for the Sixth Doctor. Big changes are coming, don’t miss them!
