| 1 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1581218313074479500 |
| 2 | %% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread. |
| 3 | %% |
| 4 | [[center:[[WMG:''Series/DoctorWho'' [[Characters/DoctorWho characters index]]\ |
| 5 | [-'''Incarnations of [[Characters/DoctorWhoDoctors the Doctor]]'''\ |
| 6 | [[Characters/DoctorWhoFirstDoctor 1]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoSecondDoctor 2]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoThirdDoctor 3]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoFourthDoctor 4]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoFifthDoctor 5]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoSixthDoctor 6]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoSeventhDoctor 7]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoEighthDoctor 8]] | '''War''' | [[Characters/DoctorWhoNinthDoctor 9]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoTenthDoctor 10]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoEleventhDoctor 11]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoTwelfthDoctor 12]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoThirteenthDoctor 13]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoFourteenthandfifteenthDoctors 14 & 15]]\ |
| 7 | '''[[Characters/DoctorWhoTheTARDIS The TARDIS]]'''\ |
| 8 | '''[[Characters/DoctorWhoCompanionsAndSupportingCast Companions and Supporting Cast]]'''\ |
| 9 | [[Characters/DoctorWhoClassicSeriesCompanions Classic Series Companions]] ([[Characters/DoctorWhoK9 K9]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoRomana Romana]]) | [[Characters/DoctorWhoRevivalSeriesCompanions Revival Series Companions]] ([[Characters/DoctorWhoRoseTyler Rose Tyler]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoJackHarkness Captain Jack Harkness]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoThePonds The Ponds]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoRiverSong River Song]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoClaraOswald Clara Oswald]]) | [[Characters/DoctorWhoOtherSupportingCast Other Supporting Cast]] ([[Characters/DoctorWhoThePaternosterGang The Paternoster Gang]]) | [[Characters/DoctorWhoUNITStaff UNIT Staff]]\ |
| 10 | '''[[Characters/DoctorWhoVillains Villains]]'''\ |
| 11 | [[Characters/DoctorWhoImmortalsAndEldritchAbominations Immortals and Eldritch Abominations]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoMasters The Master]] ([[Characters/DoctorWhoJohnSimmsMaster John Simm's Master]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoMissy Missy]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverseMasters Expanded Universe Masters]])\ |
| 12 | '''[[Characters/DoctorWhoAliensAndMonsters Aliens and Monsters]]'''\ |
| 13 | [[Characters/DoctorWhoDaleks Daleks]] ([[Characters/DoctorWhoDavros Davros]]) | [[Characters/DoctorWhoCybermen Cybermen]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoRobots Robots]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoTheSilence The Silence]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoSilurians Silurians]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoSontarans Sontarans]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoTimeLords Time Lords]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoWeepingAngels Weeping Angels]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoSlitheen Slitheen]]-]]]]] |
| 14 | |
| 15 | ->''[[Recap/DoctorWho50thPrequelTheNightOfTheDoctor "Doctor no more."]]'' |
| 16 | ---- |
| 17 | !War Doctor |
| 18 | |
| 19 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/war_5.jpg]] |
| 20 | [[caption-width-right:350:''"What I did, I did without choice. In the name of peace and sanity."'']] |
| 21 | |
| 22 | ->'''First appearance:''' "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E13TheNameOfTheDoctor The Name of the Doctor]]" (2013) |
| 23 | ->'''Debut:''' "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thPrequelTheNightOfTheDoctor The Night of the Doctor]]" (2013) |
| 24 | ->'''Regeneration story:''' "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor]]" (2013) |
| 25 | |
| 26 | ->'''Played by:''' [[Creator/JohnHurt Sir John Hurt]] (2013); Creator/PaulMcGann[[note]]Played the War Doctor immediately after his regeneration from the Eighth Doctor[[/note]] (2013) |
| 27 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/JonathonCarley (2020) |
| 28 | |
| 29 | ->''"Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame. Whatever the cost."'' |
| 30 | |
| 31 | The [[KnightInSourArmor world-weary]] and at times [[BornInTheWrongCentury anachronistic]] knight -- the Doctor's greatest secret. The War Doctor was a "lost" incarnation of the Doctor who existed between his [[Characters/DoctorWhoEighthDoctor Eighth]] and [[Characters/DoctorWhoNinthDoctor Ninth]] previously known incarnations. He was the incarnation who fought in the Last Great Time War, and lost his right to be called "the Doctor" for it, choosing to assume the identity of a warrior. He renounced the promises behind his name and spent an enormous period of his life in battle, doing the exact opposite of a healer's work. He evidently knew how to survive the war quite well, since he aged to the point he went from a young, fiery warrior, to an exhausted and curmudgeonly old man, complete with a scruffy beard. |
| 32 | |
| 33 | As the war waged, it became apparent that the [[Characters/DoctorWhoTimeLords Time Lords]] had become a threat to the universe just the same as the [[Characters/DoctorWhoDaleks Daleks]], forcing the Doctor into making a SadisticChoice to save reality at the cost of his own people. However, a chance encounter with two of his [[Characters/DoctorWhoTenthDoctor future]] [[Characters/DoctorWhoEleventhDoctor selves]] showed him another way to end the conflict without destroying his home planet. After wearing himself out to the absolute limit of his lifespan, the War Doctor underwent a peaceful and contented regeneration, enjoying the brief time he knew that Gallifrey was saved before it slipped away from his memories. Later incarnations of the Doctor gained respect from other Time War survivors, and were influenced to follow his example of peaceful temperament, because they knew the Doctor could be a savage punisher when angered. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | His tenure is, bar none, ''the'' [[DarkestHour darkest chapter]] of the Doctor's entire life. On top of that, his introduction to the story was a cover-all solution to a problem writers faced that kept them from chronicling the Time War beyond a surface probing of its enormity, because no writer would dare touch the subject due to not knowing which incarnation was the one who dutifully lived out the war to the bitter end, and not wanting to risk contradicting each others' narratives. This is where the War Doctor came into play, as a surprise addition to the family. |
| 36 | |
| 37 | The biggest issue stalling progress in the Time War canon was that no one outside the TV series received the final authority to confirm if it was the Eighth or Ninth Doctor or a combination of the two who participated in the Time War, only compounded with the lack of a filmed connecting regeneration sequence to sort everything out and finish the bridge from the classic era to the revival era. The general conclusion was that both of those Doctors had seen so much CharacterDevelopment and behaved so enthusiastically (Eight)/reinvigorated (Nine) that writers were incapable of seeing either Doctor fit the intensely gritty and hope-starved characterization the Time War called for. Despite the Eighth Doctor's turn towards a darker character as heard in [[AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho the Big Finish audios]], he remained a conscientious objector until the war became unavoidable, and the only feasible outcome was that he had to abandon his whole identity to steel himself for combat and become someone else with the capacity to defy his own taboos. |
| 38 | |
| 39 | Likewise, the Ninth Doctor had the inklings of a man seeking a fresh start and recoiled when faced with the loose ends of the Time War, behaving as the Doctor, though with some figments of the war combatant mentality crammed away and exposed when he was provoked. This left even the most articulate minds scratching their heads and speculating until they were blue in the face. Every time they tried to resolve things with their take of an answer, they'd end up ''un''convincing themselves it would work, so the issue floated unanswered in narrative limbo for an insufferably long time. |
| 40 | |
| 41 | After eight years of narrative stalemate in the revival era series, the time finally was right to address the problem, with the prestigious fiftieth anniversary of the show practically begging for the Time War to be at its central focus. Unfortunately, Creator/ChristopherEccleston chose not to return, and then-showrunner Creator/StevenMoffat claimed to have a hard time believing the Eighth Doctor had been the one who ended the Time War. The Doctor's existence as we knew it had been linear, but Moffat hatched a revolutionary plan: [[LoopholeAbuse retroactively create an incarnation played by a very famous celebrity]] (an honor presented to a very enthusiastic Creator/JohnHurt) and incorporate them into the missing link between Doctors Eight and Nine, [[TakeAThirdOption invalidating both as possibilities for direct involvement in the Time War]], create the {{retcon}} twist of the War Doctor as the true battler of the Time War and go in with a blank slate, and bring Creator/PaulMcGann back for the regeneration. When the War Doctor was conceived, it solidified the issue at hand and opened the gates to the uncharted wilderness that is the Time War itself. However, factoring in both the War Doctor and the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd Journey's End]]", it meant the Doctor's regeneration cycle limit would have to be handled much sooner… fix one leak, and another one springs. Even so, this creates even more opportunities to plan creative plot twists. |
| 42 | |
| 43 | While he regains his title at the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor]]", the War Doctor still doesn't count in the Doctor incarnation numbering as he was never an "incumbent" Doctor, but added retroactively. And thus the War Doctor hails from a time before the 2005 reboot, even if his story was told eight years later... and for good reason. The Doctor ''didn't'' want to bring him up. |
| 44 | |
| 45 | His actor, Sir John Hurt, who became the first of the Doctors to be knighted, continued portraying the role of the War Doctor in a 12-episode line of audio stories that were clearly working toward [[HowWeGotHere the last act of the War Doctor's life]]. Sadly, he suffered a bout of recurrent pancreatic cancer that lasted for about two years and finally led to his passing right after his 77th birthday in 2017, leaving future plans for his Doctor in the air outside of printed works. Fortunately, this changed once a soundalike stepped into the role during a webcast special in 2020 called ''Lockdown'', Jonathon Carley. He was one of many voice actors impersonating every Doctor up to Thirteen to release a short but positive story during the UsefulNotes/COVID19 pandemic. |
| 46 | |
| 47 | In 2020, Big Finish announced they'd cast Carley as a younger War Doctor, fresh off his regeneration, for a new 12-part series of audio stories, intended to explore the early stages of his role in the Time War. |
| 48 | |
| 49 | ---- |
| 50 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 51 | |
| 52 | !! Tropes associated with the television series |
| 53 | [[folder:A-I]] |
| 54 | * AffectionateNickname: The Eleventh Doctor later refers to him as "[[GrumpyOldMan Captain Grumpy]]". |
| 55 | * AllForNothing: Subverted. In hindsight, putting Gallifrey in a pocket dimension may seem like delaying the inevitable as the Master destroyed it much later in his lifespan. However, no one knows if the Gallifreyans and Time Lords were 100% eliminated, or if they just fled to another world, while some were left behind to become [=CyberMasters=]. At least the planet itself is still intact, their civilization can be rebuilt by any survivors, and he managed to still give those trapped during the Time War some more time to live, no matter how long it was. |
| 56 | * AntiHero: Seemingly killed his own entire race, including children, to save the universe from their war with the Daleks. That was before the Doctor learned much later about their real place in Time Lord history. |
| 57 | * AntiVillain: Even the Doctor agrees this incarnation has crossed the line, even if it had to be done. As we learn more about him, however, this is inverted: he is in fact a PragmaticHero, and he gets better in the end. |
| 58 | * ArmourPiercingQuestion: Courtesy of the Moment: |
| 59 | -->'''The Moment:''' How many [[WouldHurtAChild children]] on Gallifrey, right now? |
| 60 | * TheAtoner: He ends up undoing the destruction of his own race, even if he doesn't remember it. |
| 61 | * AudienceSurrogate: For Classic Who fans annoyed at the HotterAndSexier changes of New Who, the War Doctor openly shows his disdain for the frivolous antics of his successors (see WhoWritesThisCrap). |
| 62 | * AwfulTruth: He's the one who ended the Time War by murdering everyone involved. The Doctor has unsurprisingly hidden this incarnation's existence from all of space and time. |
| 63 | * BadassBandolier: Has a bandolier strapped across his left shoulder, with his version of the Sonic Screwdriver [[UtilityBelt stored in it]]. Picked it up from the woman that the Eighth Doctor failed to save at the end of his life. |
| 64 | * BatmanGrabsAGun: |
| 65 | ** The War Doctor in a nutshell: [[DarkestHour A time so desperate, so bleak and so bad]] that the Doctor had to abandon his moral code and commit the worst mistakes of his life. |
| 66 | ** It becomes widely known that the first thing you notice about this incarnation is that he's unarmed. Instead, he carries his sonic screwdriver. When he gets his hands on a blaster, it's to signal that he is ''done'' messing around with the Time Lords and Daleks and is giving them fair warning that he's about to put an end to them all. |
| 67 | * {{Battlecry}}: "Gallifrey stands!" Unlike his successors' dorky catchphrases, his is deliberately a well-groomed and dignified choice of words appropriate for the moment, as an answer to their foolishness. |
| 68 | * BeardOfSorrow: His scruffy beard adds to his world-weary appearance. He is the only Doctor with a full-time beard.[[note]]Not counting the ''Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures'' where he grew one in mourning for his lost TARDIS, or the Eleventh Doctor when he was imprisoned two different times in Series 6.[[/note]] |
| 69 | * BewareTheSillyOnes: This short, scruffy, oddly dressed old man with a sardonic streak... well, you know how Doctors (especially future incarnations) will be called the Oncoming Storm? That's ''after'' a few centuries of mellowing out from being this guy. |
| 70 | * BittersweetEnding: In "Day of the Doctor", he gets to end the Time War by ''saving'' Gallifrey rather than burning it. But since it involved a TemporalParadox, his Ninth and Tenth incarnations only remember trying to destroy it, and shun him as a monster that destroyed their own species. However, his Eleventh and subsequent incarnations retain the memories of the truth as the Doctor with the dominant timeline, vindicating his younger self. Even so, the Testimony keep records of him known as the "Doctor of War". |
| 71 | * BlackSheep: The Doctor who was disowned for deviating from the principles his other lives have followed. |
| 72 | * BookEnds: "Doctor no more."/"I am the Doctor again." |
| 73 | * {{Bowdlerise}}: He is officially referred to as the "Other Doctor" by marketing, presumably because they don't want "War" in big letters on the merchandise. |
| 74 | * CalmingTea: He shares teatime with his future selves and Clara after helping to save Gallifrey. It proves he kept his predecessor's love for the beverage, and shortly after finishing a cup and departing, it becomes the last thing he consumes as this particular incarnation of the Doctor, as his tired and elderly body signals that it's time to regenerate. |
| 75 | * CameBackStrong: The Eighth Doctor chose to come back to life as TheUnfettered, who wouldn't run away from the Time War anymore. |
| 76 | --> '''Eighth Doctor:''' Make me a warrior now. |
| 77 | * CarFu: Mows down a mob of Daleks in his TARDIS, proving how sturdy the old girl actually is. |
| 78 | * CelebrityParadox: Creator/JohnHurt actually exists as an actor in the Franchise/{{Whoniverse}}, his role in ''Film/{{Alien}}'' first being briefly mentioned in ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''. The Twelfth Doctor is actually a bit offended when he hears there's a horror movie simply called "Alien". |
| 79 | * CharacterCatchphrase: "No more," or maybe, in the end, "Gallifrey Stands!" Lampshaded by the Moment (appearing as a Bad Wolf facsimile), who struts around parroting this line until the War Doc loses his temper at her for stepping on his gravitas. |
| 80 | * {{Cliffhanger}}: His unexplained appearance serves as the final scene of series 7. |
| 81 | * TheComicallySerious: Half of the comedy in "Day of the Doctor" is his exasperation over his successors' childish quirks. |
| 82 | * CompositeCharacter: Has the Eighth Doctor's fob and waistcoat, the Ninth Doctor's leather duds, and the Tenth Doctor's faux-hawk hairstyle. His personality also evokes the spirit of the Classic Doctors, particularly the First Doctor, whose dialogue he borrows (his TARDIS even sports the classic "[[BuffySpeak round things]]"). Lastly, his advanced age can double as a reference to the 9-year hiatus between the TV movie and "Rose", encompassing all of the 'auxiliary' Doctors from print and audio. |
| 83 | * CoolOldGuy: Swings between this and GrumpyOldMan, the latter mostly directed at his more childish ''older'' selves. |
| 84 | * CoveredInMud: Centuries of warfare have taken a beating on his jacket, and walking miles through a desert hasn't done it any favours, either. Likewise, the exterior of his TARDIS is covered in soot and scorch-marks, and even bits of the blue paint have rubbed off to reveal plain wood underneath. |
| 85 | * DareToBeBadass: |
| 86 | ** The Sisterhood of Karn's sales pitch forms one and the Doctor later regrets taking the dare. ("Coward, any day.") |
| 87 | ** Clara's oddly understated RousingSpeech to him and the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor convinces him that he still has it in him to end the Time War [[TakeAThirdOption by other means]], in line with his ScienceHero and pacifist convictions. |
| 88 | * DarkIsNotEvil: The Doctor of War: One of the gruffest, least goofily clad incarnations of the Doctor, dressed in predominantly black, dark brown and dark green colours. But on the inside, he's a compassionate, caring and at times downright sweet fellow, is absolutely sick of the Time War and all the suffering it has brought, and is quietly horrified at the thought that he might be forced to annihilate even his own people in order to end the war. |
| 89 | * DarkMessiah: The Doctor, having no particular allegiance to any side in the war (Time Lord or otherwise), aims solely to make the collateral killing '''stop''' -- by any means necessary. In "Dalek" and "The End of Time", we learn this involved nuking Gallifrey and everyone in orbit. |
| 90 | * DarkSecret: He was the greatest, most terrible secret in the Doctor's past. |
| 91 | -->'''Eleven:''' He is my secret. |
| 92 | * DeadpanSnarker: Repeatedly snarks at Ten and Eleven for their [[AdultChild childishness]] and being afraid to "grow up", their tendency to brandish sonic screwdrivers like "a water pistol" and the strange frequency of people starting to [[ChickMagnet snog his later incarnations]]. |
| 93 | -->'''Eleventh:''' Geronimo!\ |
| 94 | '''Tenth:''' Allons-y!\ |
| 95 | '''War Doctor:''' [[SurroundedByIdiots Oh, for]] ''[[SurroundedByIdiots God's sake!]]''... [[NotSoAboveItAll Gallifrey Stands!]] |
| 96 | * DeathSeeker: Centuries of fighting in the Time War have turned him into this. When he's preparing to activate the Moment he tells its InterfaceWithAFamiliarFace that he has no intention of surviving afterwards. |
| 97 | * DesignatedVillain: InUniverse. The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors later realise they were wrong to erase all evidence of him and deny his existence, since he genuinely didn't have ''any'' other choice but to end the Time War by the means he did, "on the day it [[SadisticChoice wasn't possible]] to [[MortonsFork get it right]]". |
| 98 | * DespairEventHorizon: The Eighth Doctor's reason for becoming the War Doctor. The Universe was on the verge of ripping itself apart from the Time War, the Time Lords had [[HeWhoFightsMonsters become as bad as]] the ''Daleks'', and his newest prospective companion elected to ''die'' instead of being saved when she found out [[AssociationFallacy he was one of them]]. The Eighth Doctor could no longer save ''anyone'', so when presented with a choice of regenerations, elected ''not'' to come back as a "Doctor" at all. |
| 99 | * DoesntLikeGuns: Played with. The War Doctor's introduction involves him asking a Gallifreyan soldier for his weapon in an apparent EstablishingCharacterMoment, but he only uses it to blast [[ArcWords NO MORE]] in a wall. Likewise his disdain for his future incarnations using their sonic screwdrivers as weapons implies this, but his BadassBandolier only carries his own sonic screwdriver. Given that the Doctor's most dangerous weapon has always been his mind, it's likely he doesn't feel the need. In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent Hell Bent]]", a Gallifreyan soldier states that the first thing many people noticed about "The Doctor of War" was that he wasn't armed. But to many, it was also the ''last'' thing they ever noticed. |
| 100 | * DoomedMoralVictor: He eventually chooses to save Gallifrey rather than burn it. He, Nine and Ten don't get to remember they changed the past, though, and continue to live with their former guilt. Only the Eleventh Doctor onward know the truth (and even then, Eleven spends three centuries assuming the same thing his previous two selves believed). |
| 101 | * DownerEnding: |
| 102 | ** His existence lets us know [[BreakTheCutie just how well]] the story of the Eighth Doctor ended. |
| 103 | ** His own regeneration counts after he loses his memory. According to the novelisation of "The Day of the Doctor", the Ninth Doctor goes utterly ballistic, shattering every mirror in his TARDIS that he can find because he's too distraught with remorse to look at himself. |
| 104 | * TheDreaded: When the Doctor sees him, he keeps imploring Clara they leave ''immediately''. |
| 105 | ** The 50th Anniversary reveals he's basically this on steroids compared to the other Doctors. Lampshaded when Ten and Eleven respond to him questioning their maturity by looking at ''him.'' The only word he can come up with to describe those looks? "Dread." And a group of Daleks in the middle of exterminating Gallifreyan civilians drop everything and immediately make a bee-line for him, with their voices in utter panic. |
| 106 | ** When Eleven describes 'Gallifrey Falls', a depiction of the fall of Arcadia, Gallifrey's second city, to Clara, he states that the War Doctor had more blood on his hands than ''anyone'' else on that battlefield. A battlefield, by the way, that was swarming with Daleks hardened by ''centuries'' of war. |
| 107 | * DyingAsYourself: War realizes the crossing of time streams between different Doctors will erase his memory of being vindicated until his oldest self gets to remember. He declares, "But for now, for this moment, I am the Doctor again. Thank you." Then, he regenerates from old age, before his memories fade, smiling. Poor Nine goes on to believe that he killed everyone, blocks out the Time War to focus on the present and rediscovering that he is the Doctor, and lives with the shame of losing everything. |
| 108 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: Most Doctors when faced with a group of Daleks would run or try to reason with them. This Doctor ''[[RammingAlwaysWorks plows his TARDIS right through them]]'', tearing them to shreds. This comes shortly after landing in the middle of the fall of Arcadia, where his first act is to [[DissonantSerenity nonchalantly]] ask a soldier for his gun, before proceeding to shoot the words "[[ThisMeansWar NO MORE]]" into the wall. |
| 109 | * FaceRevealingTurn: Our first sight of the War Doctor is in the Doctor's memories, standing with his back to the Doctor and Clara. Then, he defends his lot in life after Eleven denies him as one of the past Doctors. As he carries a faint Clara out of his timestream, this mystery incarnation turns around and his face is illuminated in dim light, but even though he's never been seen before, he's introduced as the Doctor. His infamous status as the War Doctor comes into play later. |
| 110 | * FallenHero: His later incarnations feel that he is not a "doctor" anymore but a traitor to the promise implied by such a title. |
| 111 | * FinalSolution: Attempted genocide on both the Daleks and the Time Lords to end the Time War once and for all. |
| 112 | * {{Foil}}: To ''every other Doctor'', but particularly Ten and Eleven. Where they are both "young" excitable {{Sad Clown}}s, War is "older", weary, and doesn't bother to compensate his angst with glib - on the flip side, as Clara notices, he's still innocent of the last horrific act that will scar them for centuries to come and the darkness that their behaviour masks, and he's more openly curious. Whereas they are prone to bursts of anger amongst a generally pacifist attitude, War is quicker to use violence, but isn't nearly as angry. |
| 113 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 114 | ** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow The Beast Below]]", the Eleventh Doctor states that if he lobotomized the Space Whale, he'd no longer be able to call himself the Doctor, hinting at this "non-Doctor" incarnation. |
| 115 | ** "Doctor" coming to mean "great warrior" in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes to War]]" hinted at shades of this incarnation. |
| 116 | ** All references to the Time War, like the Nestene Consciousness freaking out when it meets the Ninth Doctor in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E1Rose Rose]]". |
| 117 | * FutureMeScaresMe: The War Doctor went back and forth on this verdict, from immediately changing his mind about using the Moment because he's sick of Ten and Eleven and wants nothing to do with them, to (eventual) pride for these fine lads and worry over [[RetGone erasing them from history]] if he doesn't stay on track. |
| 118 | * GenocideDilemma: Either let the Time Lords destroy reality so they could ascend, let the Daleks win and destroy everything not them or save the universe and destroy both sides. |
| 119 | * GodzillaThreshold: |
| 120 | ** Was prepared to kill billions to prevent Rassilon from destroying all of reality. Then locked the rest of the Time War away, to prevent all of reality from becoming a living hell. |
| 121 | --->'''Tenth Doctor:''' You weren't there. In the final days of the war. You never saw what was born. But if the time lock's broken then everything is coming through. Not just the Daleks, but the Skaro Degradations. The Horde of Travesties. The Nightmare Child. The Could-Have-Been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres. The war turned into hell! |
| 122 | ** The Time War is shown in "The Night of the Doctor" as the reason why the Eighth Doctor elected to regenerate into an incarnation capable of such actions in the first place. |
| 123 | --->'''Eighth Doctor:''' Make me a warrior now. |
| 124 | * GoneHorriblyRight: The Eighth Doctor, when presented with his pick of regenerations, specifically asked to come back as a warrior instead of a {{lovable coward}} for once. The Doctor turns out to be an exceptional warrior, murdering billions before the Time War's end. |
| 125 | * GoodIsNotNice: He's every bit as nice and caring as the other incarnations of the Doctor, but his lonely, weary and all-around depressing experiences during the Time War have made him very introverted and shut-in, at least at first glance. On the last day of the Time War, he decides that the most pragmatic solution to the war would be to activate the Moment and end it all. Despite his apparent determination to do so, his heart and ethics tell him otherwise and he's seen constantly hesitating whether to go ahead with the plan. |
| 126 | * GoOutWithASmile: He's absolutely delighted when he realizes the exertion of [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day]]'s events killed him, because it means he can finally leave the War behind him. [[TheAtoner Or so he believes.]] |
| 127 | * HeroicSelfDeprecation: |
| 128 | ** In the trailer for "The Day of the Doctor," the War Doctor states that "Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame." The episode proper reveals that he's counting ''himself'' as the "lesser man" and his future selves as the great ones. |
| 129 | ** He says "If I grow to be half the man you are..." seemingly to his 10th and 11th incarnations, [[BaitAndSwitchComparison then turns around and says]]: "Clara Oswald." |
| 130 | * HeWhoFightsMonsters: |
| 131 | ** The Eighth Doctor's regeneration in "Night of the Doctor" was handpicked specifically for him to become this. |
| 132 | --->'''Eighth Doctor:''' [[DespairEventHorizon I don't suppose there's any need for a Doctor anymore...]] |
| 133 | ** Nearly the exact title of Series 4 of ''The War Doctor Begins''. |
| 134 | * IconicItem: He wears a dark leather jacket on top of a worn down set of Victorian clothes similar to Eight's. He has a unique Sonic Screwdriver that glows an eerie ''[[RedIsViolent red]]''. His bandolier was the first item he picked up during his first moments of life, and is also similar to the satchel from Eight's new costume in "Dark Eyes". |
| 135 | * IDidWhatIHadToDo: Claims he killed everyone in the Time War and then locked them away "without choice", for "peace and sanity." Eleven ''agrees'' with him. |
| 136 | * IHatePastMe: |
| 137 | ** The other incarnations of the Doctor ''refuse'' to speak about him, as he's the one who soaked his hands in the blood of a billion galaxies. |
| 138 | ** When they physically meet, however, both 10 and 11 treat him with a mixture of dread and pity, knowing what he was forced to do, and clearly have respect for him, by the end declaring him more the Doctor than anyone else due to the impossible situation he faced. |
| 139 | --->'''Eleven:''' You were the Doctor on the day it wasn't possible to get it right. |
| 140 | * INeedAFreakingDrink: The novelization says he suddenly understands why people carry hip flasks when he realizes Ten and Eleven are his future selves. |
| 141 | * IntergenerationalFriendship: Forges one with Clara after she talks with him about the Eleventh Doctor's confessions to her about the haunting memories of the Time War. He also has a bit of an intergenerational friendship with his Tenth and Eleventh incarnations, once they forgive him and he warms up to them. |
| 142 | * IronicEcho: In "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor]]" towards the 10th and 11th Doctors. |
| 143 | -->'''War Doctor:''' I'm looking for the Doctor...\ |
| 144 | '''Tenth Doctor:''' ... Well, you've certainly come to the right place. |
| 145 | * {{Irony}}: The sole warrior incarnation of the Doctor is one of the only ones to actually die of old age. |
| 146 | * ItHasBeenAnHonor: He says this once he leaves the company of Doctors Ten and Eleven. |
| 147 | -->'''War Doctor:''' Well, gentlemen, it has been an honor... and a privilege. |
| 148 | * ItsAWonderfulPlot: |
| 149 | ** In reverse. Before he can activate the Moment, the "conscience" of the device interrupts to show the War Doctor who he'll become: the man who regrets (Ten), and the man who forgets (Eleven). But because he is destined to forget these events, this turns into a ForegoneConclusion that he will first and foremost become a man who resents (Nine). |
| 150 | ** [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-Zagged]] by the conclusion: Despite (or perhaps because of) all that he's seen, the War Doctor still opts to carry through with his mission, his reasoning being that countless species owe their lives to the Doctor's atonement. Ten and Eleven deliberate over this, and the three Doctors conclude it's better to fail doing the right thing, than it is to succeed doing the wrong thing. |
| 151 | --->'''War Doctor:''' She didn't show me just ''any'' future! She showed me exactly the future I needed to see! |
| 152 | * IWasQuiteALooker: When the War Doctor peers at his reflection for the first time, the face which greets him is a ''young'' (and clean-shaven) John Hurt's. Given it took a thousand years for Eleven to grow old, this implies the War Doctor lasted a ''very'' long time. |
| 153 | * IWasQuiteAFashionVictim: He's a inverted example as he thinks the fashion choices of his future selves ( "sandshoes" and "dicky bow") are nonsense, and reflective of a mid-life crisis. |
| 154 | * IWorkAlone: Doesn't appear to have ever had a companion. Other media suggest he had ''troops'' instead. His future selves make it very clear that they want the former, not the latter. |
| 155 | [[/folder]] |
| 156 | [[folder:K-Y]] |
| 157 | * KnuckleCracking: Seen doing this pose on the promotional cover for the 50th in ''SFX Magazine'' issue #241. |
| 158 | * LampshadeHanging: a big part of his screentime and dialogue is taken up with him pointing out all the weird tics of the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. |
| 159 | * LonersAreFreaks: The only Doctor not to take a long-term companion [[SchrodingersGun (onscreen anyway)]]. Of course, he was fighting a war at the time, and could no longer afford the luxury of a companion, or for that matter, risk someone's life travelling with him, but it does contribute to his overall image in the eyes of Ten and Eleven. |
| 160 | * LoopholeAbuse: |
| 161 | ** Steven Moffat created the War Doctor to deal with the issue of which Doctor fought in the Time War and the regeneration between Doctors Eight and Nine, without disrupting the numbering by saying he is an incarnation who does not call himself the Doctor full-time. |
| 162 | ** Other writers had trouble trying to frame Eight or Nine in the Time War because the Eighth Doctor started off far away from a warlike personality, and the Ninth Doctor was introduced as though he had just regenerated, making him feel too new to have been in the Time War. Because of this, Big Finish slowly pushed Eight into darker depths of misery and anger to lead him toward the Time War, but he was never made into a fully-fledged warrior. Moffat decided to have the Eighth Doctor logically perish in despair and become the War Doctor to strike back at the villains who broke him. |
| 163 | ** Moffat upheld the Ninth Doctor's characterization by giving him a feasible reason to hate his past through the War Doctor, remembering an apparent double genocide was his fault. The idea Gallifrey was lost carried over to Ten and Eleven until Eleven learned he had saved Gallifrey and could finally put an end to his guilt. |
| 164 | * MemeticBadass: InUniverse |
| 165 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E4TheSontaranStratagem Sontarans tell legends]] of the War Doctor leading the Time Lords into battle. |
| 166 | ** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent Hell Bent]]", one of the soldiers says that, frighteningly, the War Doctor still usually worked without weapons. |
| 167 | --->'''Gallifreyan Soldier:''' The first thing you notice about the Doctor of War is that he's unarmed. For many [[OhCrap it's also the last.]] |
| 168 | * MoralityChain: Unlike other Doctors, he has apparently shunned the use of a companion so he can remain TheUnfettered. Likely with this trope in mind, the Moment assumes the form of a companion for its InterfaceWithAFamiliarFace (unfortunately getting it wrong and picking a future companion the Doctor hasn't encountered yet). |
| 169 | * MortonsFork: He had the options to: let the Daleks wipe out the Time Lords and destroy all of existence, let the Time Lords wipe out the Daleks and destroy all existence... or wipe out ''both'' sides and save all of existence? The War Doctor chose to do the latter... at least until he got a second chance to pick [[TakeAThirdOption a better option]]. |
| 170 | * MyFutureSelfAndMe: He's technically the Doctor's ninth persona so he's this with Ten and Eleven. |
| 171 | * MyGreatestFailure: Was forced into ending the Time War by murdering billions upon billions in fire. His future incarnations have been haunted by it ever since. It's ultimately subverted when the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors relive the events that led to his double genocide and acknowledge that the War Doctor was ultimately the man who had to be the Doctor on the one day it simply wasn't possible to get it right. |
| 172 | -->'''Eleventh Doctor:''' My name, my ''real'' name, that is not the point. The name I chose is "the Doctor." The name you choose, it's like a promise you make. He's the one who broke the promise. |
| 173 | * MyGreatestSecondChance: Thanks to the Eleventh Doctor, who had 400 self-flagellating years to [[EurekaMoment think of a way out]]: Just as his sonic screwdriver still contains data from the War Doctor's old version, Eleven reckons they can enlist the help of the ''First'' Doctor -- and his twelve successors -- to crunch the numbers necessary to move Gallifrey into a pocket dimension. |
| 174 | * MyRevengeIsMercy: As Nine would hint at, he had no desire to live past the end of the war. The Moment itself decided living on would be his 'punishment'. |
| 175 | * NecessarilyEvil: Turned himself into a warrior who killed billions "in the name of peace and sanity". His later incarnations deeply regret he chose to walk down this path. Though, notably, Eleven reluctantly agrees with the fundemental idea that what he did was necessary. |
| 176 | * NeutralNoLonger: His previous incarnation refused to fight in the Time War proper, instead doing all he could to save those caught in the crossfire. After a series of [[BreakTheCutie losses and tragedies]], he finally elects to regenerate into a "warrior" and wade into the fray. |
| 177 | * NiceGuy: For all his warrior qualities and snarkiness, he's not as grumpy as the First Doctor and is quite an amicable fellow, becoming particularly fond of Clara. |
| 178 | * NoNameGiven: |
| 179 | ** Is referred to simply as "The Doctor" in the episode he debuted, without being given a numbered regeneration. In "The Night of the Doctor" he's credited as "the War Doctor". Then in "The Day of the Doctor" he is once again credited simply as "The Doctor," as part of a long list of people credited as such, listed between [[{{Characters/DoctorWhoClassicSeriesDoctors}} Paul McGann (the Eighth Doctor)]] and Christopher Eccleston (the Ninth Doctor). |
| 180 | ** This version of the Doctor also follows the trope in another way by refusing (until the very end) to answer to the name Doctor. Other than being called "the renegade" once by another Time Lord, on screen it has yet to be revealed what monicker he actually went by (assuming he didn't just rely on "Hey, you"). This has ''not'' been consistently followed in the expanded universe media; in the novel ''Engines of War'', for example, he is addressed as and answers to "the Doctor" throughout (though he never actually identifies himself by that name). A soldier on Gallifrey refers to him as "The Doctor of War" in "Hell Bent". It's entirely possible that, since he never took on any companions, he had nobody to regularly converse with for his entire life, and thus no actual ''need'' for a name. |
| 181 | * NoodleIncident: He had a very ferocious battle on Skull Moon, faced the Horde of Travesties, and dealt with the Could Have Been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres. |
| 182 | * NotSoAboveItAll: Despite being TheDreaded to his other incarnations, the Time Lords and half the Dalek Empire, this Doctor still spends all of "The Day of the Doctor" trading petty insults with his future selves, engaging in deadpan snarkery, and even grants himself a catchphrase. Given that the only thing on his to-do list for the day was "Destroy my home planet and everyone on it," escaping into a wacky side adventure was probably a hell of a mood lifter. |
| 183 | * NotSoImaginaryFriend: The Moment tags along behind the War Doctor during his story. Since she inhabits his head, she can't be seen or heard by others -- although Ten registers an EyeTake when War Doctor blows a kiss to the "Bad Wolf girl". |
| 184 | * TheOathbreaker: Eleven describes him as "the one who broke the promise" inherent in the name "The Doctor"; |
| 185 | -->'''War Doctor:''' What I did, I did without choice.\ |
| 186 | '''Eleven:''' I know...\ |
| 187 | '''War Doctor:''' In the name of peace and sanity.\ |
| 188 | '''Eleven:''' But not in the name of the Doctor! |
| 189 | * OddNameOut: He's the one non-Doctor among the Doctor's many lives. "Doctor no more" are literally his first words after regenerating. Even when his Doctor-ness is restored at the end of "The Day of the Doctor," he doesn't get a numbered name like his fellow Doctors do, and is instead referred to as the "War Doctor." (Creator/StevenMoffat has stated that the numbers stay in place as they were, and that the Doctor themself doesn't usually use numbers to refer to their incarnations anyway.) |
| 190 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: |
| 191 | ** In "The Name of the Doctor", the rest of the Doctor's "ghosts" are effectively [[PaletteSwap Palette Swaps]] of the same running figure, one that ignores Clara and Eleven. Then this guy shows up. He's not running. He's looking back over a field of ruins, and he knows they're there. |
| 192 | ** Over the course of "The Day of the Doctor," it becomes obvious that he's unique among the Doctors in terms of his ruthlessness [[DontMakeMeDestroyYou (even the Sixth and Seventh Doctors would have warned the Time Lords and Daleks before using the Moment)]], but he's also so full of self-loathing that he refuses not only the name of the Doctor, but [[HumbleHero even to acknowledge his own self-worth.]] The Doctor is many things across his incarnations, but he's never been humble. |
| 193 | * OldSoldier: When he regenerates from the Eighth Doctor, he's shown as John Hurt as a young man. This means by the end of the Time War he's ''very'' old, implying the [[ForeverWar war lasted well over a thousand years]]. He's also played by the oldest actor to ever play the role, selling how exhausted he's become of the Time War. |
| 194 | * OneExtraMember: He ''is'' the extra member, having been retconned in between the Eighth and Ninth Doctors years after Nine's tenure ended. |
| 195 | * OtherMeAnnoysMe: Generally finds Ten and Eleven to be idiots but accepts them eventually. |
| 196 | * PerpetualFrowner: He's fighting a war. There's very little for him to be happy about. |
| 197 | * PragmaticHero: He is a good man put in a dreadful situation [[ShootTheDog of having to destroy his planet]]... which he desperately wants to avoid, and when convinced of having a better variant, [[KnightInSourArmor he grabs it immediately]]. |
| 198 | * RedBaron: He ditches the name of the Doctor, and while it isn't clear what name he takes up instead, one Gallifreyan soldier refers to him in ''Hell Bent'' as 'The Doctor of War'. At first, this just seems like a rejig of the 'War Doctor' name. Then, on further consideration, the full meaning sinks in: the title of Doctor is accorded to someone who hasn't just Mastered an art, they've taken it to a whole new level. What did he do to ''earn'' such a title? When you remember that Eleven explicitly stated that of everyone present at the Fall of Arcadia, Daleks included, ''he'' was the one with the most blood on his hands, you have to wonder... |
| 199 | * RedemptionEqualsDeath: As if on cue, he starts to regenerate shortly after helping to preserve Gallifrey. Job done, he returns to the old school TARDIS and suddenly remembers his own advanced age. ("Wearing a bit thin.") |
| 200 | * RedemptionQuest: The Moment kind of forcibly sends him on one in order to dissuade him from using it. This works spectacularly. |
| 201 | * RememberTheNewGuy: He's a new Doctor written in between Eight and Nine with the explanation that he was rejected by his later selves because he was the incarnation that ended the Time War. |
| 202 | * {{Retraux}}: His TARDIS desktop theme is a return to the roundels associated with 1-7, plus the coral struts and console associated with 9-10. It's unclear whether this was the control room of the 8th Doctor at the time of his regeneration or whether the War Doctor jettisoned the extra space commonly associated with 8 in keeping with his more bare bones, down to basics style. |
| 203 | * RummageSaleReject: Wears an outfit that evokes both Eighth and Ninth's wardrobe: an old scarf, striped shirt, a raggedy waistcoat and chain, along with a dark leather jacket similar to his next incarnation's, with faded, beaten up trousers, a rugged leather belt, worn down stirrups, and combat boots, almost like [[TheSheriff an old lawman]]. The scarf may be a throwback to the Fourth Doctor, and his messy, battle-damaged clothes hearken back to the Second Doctor's unkempt style. He also nicked his bandolier off the lifeless Cass and uses it to house his Sonic Screwdriver. |
| 204 | * ShellShockedVeteran: His entire existence had been brought about by the Time War and Eighth's embittered decision to join it, despite his original plans. On the last day of the war, he seems to have lost all hope for ever saving Gallifrey, so he hatches a plan to eradicate both his people and the Daleks with the Moment. His repeated proclamations of "No More" are less a sign of anger at how things are going, and more of [[HeroicBSOD a general resignation]] on his part. He feels like he's betrayed everything he stood for as the Doctor and that his attempts to help defend Gallifrey and win the war in favour of his people were {{all for nothing}} to begin with. Luckily, the Moment decides to pose as the weary Doctor's conscience and tries its best to renew some of his lost hope. |
| 205 | * {{Sinister Silhouette|s}}: He first appears as a shadowy figure with his back to the camera. |
| 206 | * SmallRoleBigImpact: By far the Doctor with the least outings of them all in any medium (discounting audio), but the biggest weight to carry. This is the one Doctor who sets the guilt-laden tone for the rest up to Eleven. We can infer he's been around for an enormous length of time beyond what is visibly shown, but he's only made one full TV appearance, planted at the very end of his story. He doesn't spend his life running around the universe visiting planets at will. He involves himself in the Time War and keeps fighting until he's quite old and out of steam, but the door has been left wide open for others to fill in the gaps. |
| 207 | * TheSnarkKnight: Spends much of his introduction to Ten and Eleven comedically snarking at the more stylistic indulgences of the [[MetaGuy series since its revival in 2005.]] |
| 208 | * SociopathicSoldier: He counts as a Type 4/Broken Soldier variety. |
| 209 | * TakeAThirdOption: After having four hundred years to reflect on this decision, his Eleventh incarnation convinces him to simply bluff the destruction of Gallifrey by shunting it into a PocketDimension, where it'd be safe. |
| 210 | * ThatManIsDead: This is his whole shtick, as he denies the moniker of "the Doctor" in favour of fighting in the Time War as a warrior. His first words after he regenerates from the Eighth Doctor are even "Doctor no more.". |
| 211 | * ThatMysteriousThing: When he first appears in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E13TheNameOfTheDoctor The Name of the Doctor]]", it's never explained what horrible act he committed to lose his right to be called the Doctor (although admittedly, the bulk of the fanbase guessed he was the one who ended the Time War). He himself also used to be the Doctor's greatest, and totally undefined, secret. The truths are later revealed in what led to his birth and the anniversary special. |
| 212 | -->'''Clara:''' What is it? What's his biggest secret?\ |
| 213 | '''Jenny:''' We don't know. It's a secret. |
| 214 | * ThisIsUnforgivable: Eleven states his actions were so unforgivable he refuses to acknowledge this incarnation as the Doctor. |
| 215 | * ThousandYardStare: He appears haunted by his dishonorable actions. |
| 216 | * TokenEvilTeammate: If regarding the Doctors as a 'team' rather than one person with many faces, this incarnation was regarded as such by at least his next three selves (before they learnt what "really" happened on the last day of the War). The Eleventh Doctor is at least willing to acknowledge that the War Doctor did what had to be done even before their meeting, but he nevertheless declares that what his past self did was not done "in the name of the Doctor". By the end of the special, both the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors admit that they were wrong, because he was more the Doctor than anyone - he was the Doctor on the day it wasn't ''possible'' to get it right. |
| 217 | * TragicHero: The War Doctor doesn't get to remember saving Gallifrey in "Day of the Doctor", so he, Nine, and Ten continue to despise him. He's still grateful to have been "The Doctor" again. |
| 218 | * TragicKeepsake: His bandolier is taken from a woman named Cass, whom the Eighth Doctor tried to save but failed, leading to his regeneration. |
| 219 | * TrickedOutTime: How he, Ten and Eleven save Gallifrey. This time around, the Doctors make Gallifrey vanish into a PocketDimension. However, as the attacking Daleks all get caught in their own crossfire, Gallifrey still ''appears'' to blow up. As the past and future Doctors coming together causes a TemporalParadox, the Ninth and Tenth Doctors retain no memory of these revised events. |
| 220 | * TheUnfettered: What happens when the Doctor abandons his own self-imposed rules. |
| 221 | -->'''Eighth Doctor:''' I don't suppose there's any need for a "Doctor" anymore... |
| 222 | * {{Unperson}}: The Doctor has removed nearly all signs of his existence, to the point Clara only sees him ''after'' travelling through the Doctor's entire timeline (though River, who made it a point to acquaint herself with all the faces of his first regeneration cycle, has a photo of him in "The Husbands of River Song"). However, when the Tenth and Eleventh actually get to know him and understand his anguish, they regret doing this. |
| 223 | * VindicatedByHistory: InUniverse. The Tenth and Eleventh Doctor eventually come to forgive him and apologise for how they thought of him, realising it was wrong to deny his existence. |
| 224 | --> '''Tenth Doctor:''' All these years burying you in my memory...\ |
| 225 | '''Eleventh Doctor:''' Pretending you didn't exist, a secret even from myself...\ |
| 226 | '''Tenth Doctor:''' Pretending you weren't the Doctor, when you were the Doctor more than anybody else.\ |
| 227 | '''Eleventh Doctor:''' You were the Doctor on the day it wasn't ''possible'' to get it right. |
| 228 | * WaistcoatOfStyle: Wears an old, worn one. |
| 229 | * WalkingSpoiler: Knowing anything about him gives away TheReveal of his existence in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E13TheNameOfTheDoctor The Name of the Doctor]]". |
| 230 | * WeHardlyKnewYe: John Hurt made only three appearances as the War Doctor, never signing on for a full tenure, just guest appearances to commemorate the 50th. One was a brief cliffhanger, while another was a CGI illusion to visualize a young Hurt as the War Doctor in his prime when the Eighth Doctor first regenerated into him. His only full appearance is in "The Day of the Doctor", and since Hurt wasn't going to stick around, his Doctor was given a regeneration sequence to stitch up the missing transition to the Ninth Doctor and close the book on the War Doctor. Luckily, the rest of his uncharted lifetime became open season for writers - the big one being Creator/BigFinish, who got Hurt to reprise the War Doctor as the main character in twelve hour-long dramas (comprising four box sets of three episodes each). Sadly, John Hurt died in 2017, shortly before the release of the last box set. The good news is Jonathan Carley is a great impressionist of a War Doctor in his elder years as well as young. |
| 231 | * WhamShot: Just as the day seems to be saved at the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E13TheNameOfTheDoctor The Name of the Doctor]]", the scene cuts to him in shadow, a Doctor ''no one'' has ever heard of before. |
| 232 | * WhatYouAreInTheDark: The Season Fifteen Collection Box set reveals that the Doctor sent a wayfinder to Leela, allowing her to escape the Time War before he came to the conclusion to blow up the planet. He considered her his last hope and wanted her to survive. In the end, even though he's not calling himself "The Doctor" anymore, what does he do? ''Protect his friend.'' |
| 233 | * WhenHeSmiles: He's grumpy, sour, and snarky, but not devoid of the humour and optimistic joy that are fundamental to who the Doctor is as a person. |
| 234 | * WhoWritesThisCrap: The War Doctor is not shy in his opinions of his successors, in what could be taken as meta commentary on elements added to the show since its revival in 2005; jabs at elements such as the [[YoungerAndHipper younger]], [[HotterAndSexier sexier]] casting choices ("... am I having a midlife crisis?"), the Revival Doctors' habit of [[AdrenalineMakeover pointing their sonic screwdrivers]] like Film/DirtyHarry ("There you are with the pointing again! What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?!?") or [[NoHuggingNoKissing getting snogged by the various women]] they encounter ("Is there a lot of this in the future?"). |
| 235 | * WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Was forced into ending the Time War by killing billions. The alternatives were allowing space and time to become a living hell, or letting the Time Lord Council destroy all of reality. |
| 236 | * WouldHurtAChild: Though he deliberated about it for some time, he ultimately accepted that destroying Gallifrey would take all 2.47 billion child inhabitants with it and decided to go through with it anyway. That is, until his future self realises he can TakeAThirdOption. |
| 237 | * YouAreNotAlone: The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors both join hands on the Moment's trigger, to spare their counterpart the burden of making this decision alone. |
| 238 | * YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Along with reassuring him that he shouldn't be left alone with his suffering and moral dilemma, the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor and Clara give him a tender pep talk about why he ''isn't'' a heartless monster, or a villain, but still the Doctor. The Tenth and Eleventh Doctor waste no time in admitting that they judged him too harshly and [[BlackSheep treated him like a pariah]] in their memories, but have changed their opinions on him once they actually witnessed [[ShellShockedVeteran the enormity of what he had to face]]. They apologise to him and assure him that he ''is'' the Doctor, like all the other incarnations, [[TragicHero and was just unfortunate to get the short end of the stick]]. |
| 239 | [[/folder]] |
| 240 | |
| 241 | !! Tropes associated with other media |
| 242 | |
| 243 | [[folder:Book Tropes]] |
| 244 | !!Tropes associated with BBC New Series Adventures |
| 245 | * ApologeticAttacker: He apologises to a Time Lord before knocking them out. |
| 246 | * TheLastStraw: When Cinder dies, the War Doctor, after years upon years of battle, finally ''breaks''. He goes to the effort of burying the remains of her family who were killed by Daleks, erects proper graves for all of them, and gives Cinder a grave bearing her real name. Then, the Doctor stares defiantly into the Tantalus Eye and declares, "No more." |
| 247 | |
| 248 | !! Tropes associated with the Target novelisations |
| 249 | * MagicFeather: According to the novelisation of ''Day of the Doctor'', the "Make me a warrior" potion the Sisterhood of Karn gave Eighth was actually lemonade and dry ice. The War Doctor's entire persona is based on the fact he ''thinks'' an external influence has made him darker, and this frees him to be so. |
| 250 | |
| 251 | %%!! Tropes associated with other books |
| 252 | [[/folder]] |
| 253 | |
| 254 | [[folder:Audio Tropes]] |
| 255 | !!Tropes associated with Big Finish |
| 256 | [[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/war_doctor.jpg]] |
| 257 | [[caption-width-right:150:''"I'm nobody's tamed wolf. I do this on my own terms."'']] |
| 258 | [[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as a young man.]][[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/young_war_doc.PNG]] [softreturn]''"I'm sorry I can't help you more than I already have!"''[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 259 | -> '''Voiced by:''' Sir Creator/JohnHurt (2015–2017); Jonathon Carley (2021-present) |
| 260 | |
| 261 | ->''"Planets die and species fall. Creation blinks once, billions of lives gone! You see it often enough, you start to understand. The greatest god-like power is useless, ''defenceless'' against it. All you can do, all you can ''ever'' do, in a million and one ways, in variation upon variation, is to ''improvise!'' Like a mad musician, unable to stop hammering at the keys of a broken instrument. '''THAT'S ME!''' "'' |
| 262 | |
| 263 | The Warrior. Expanding upon his main appearance in "The Day of the Doctor", we see him at the heart of the Time War; blunt, no nonsense, really grumpy, and ready to do what has to be done. The War Doctor insists he's ''not'' the Doctor anymore, but there are still hints of his old self that pop up occasionally. The War Doctor's story is told in a 12-part series released in four instalments separate from the monthly range. |
| 264 | |
| 265 | In 2020, Big Finish announced that they were going to publish a new 12-part series with the War Doctor. This will by all appearences focus on a younger version of the War Doctor, voiced by Jonathon Carley, will tell of his early exploits following his traumatic regeneration. |
| 266 | |
| 267 | * TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: In the ''Forged in Fire'' series, "Light the Flame", the first story of The War Doctor Begins and first overall for the War Doctor, takes place immediately after "The Night of the Doctor", with the now nameless Doctor brushing away company, scaring the acolytes on Karn, and refusing to attend Cass Fermazzi's burial. He's brooding and eventually resolves to be "Doctor no more". |
| 268 | * AbortedArc: John Hurt's passing prevented any more stories apart from the four box-sets from being made until 2021. |
| 269 | * BerserkButton: He ''really'' doesn't like being called the Doctor, since he's renounced the name. He'll '''freak out''' if you call him it enough. |
| 270 | * BottledHeroicResolve: He's one of the few Doctors to not have any kind of physical sickness, memory issues, or erratic mental behavior post regeneration. Even the occasional tendency of the Doctor to briefly act like their previous selves after regenerating is openly dismissed with him stating that [[FutureMeScaresMe all of his past incarnations are staying far away from him]] (implying that the vestiges of each life he has lived out sense a huge opposing force taking root and don't accept it as a proper successor). It's explained in that this regeneration was the byproduct of an elixir that used elevated Time Lord science on Karn, and designed to forcibly make him a warrior in all aspects[[note]]unless you believe Moffat's novelization of "Day of the Doctor," in which he says the potion was [[MagicFeather the equivalent of lemonade and dry ice]], just there to [[MotivationalLie give him an excuse]] to become the Warrior in his new regeneration[[/note]], so the regeneration doesn't befuddle him like others yet to embrace and define their new self. However, the price is that it really hurt to regenerate. |
| 271 | * BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler: He does a little tampering on a constantly time fluxing planet to see if Time Lords and Kaleds can live in peace by removing their memories that they're enemies and having them live in an arcadian society. It doesn't work however since they've been fighting for so long and the Kaleds quickly revert back to being Daleks, and all he can do is futilely trying to convince them that they don't have to fight.]] |
| 272 | * DarkReprise: [[https://youtu.be/MUIk2QHyPgA his version]] of the ''Doctor Who'' theme is a lot more ominous and martial than the other incarnations' openings. |
| 273 | * DeadpanSnarker: He snarks at everyone constantly - especially Time Lord High Council members. |
| 274 | * DeathSeeker: He often gets himself in impossible situations, hoping he won't survive. |
| 275 | * DespairEventHorizon: Every instalment has him inch closer and closer to the [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor day]] he'll cross it and eventually decree... '''No More!''' |
| 276 | * DoomedMoralVictor: He insists that the Time Lords need to have the moral high ground or else any victory is meaningless. Of course by the time of "The Day of the Doctor" we know things have gotten so bad that he resolves to end it once and for all. |
| 277 | * GrumpyOldMan: Definitely more grumpy than he was in his brief TV appearances. |
| 278 | * IHatePastMe: |
| 279 | ** Played with. In "Lighting the Flame", which takes place very shortly after his regeneration, he laments Eight's fate, and expresses something resembling nostalgia for how full of hope and optimism he was, but he also calls him out as naïve and foolish for believing he could avoid the Time War forever. |
| 280 | ** Taken further in "Exit Strategy" when the War Doctor [[spoiler:hacks Case's cybernetic components and uploads a copy of his eighth incarnation's personality to her mind, allowing her to spend her dying moments essentially travelling with the Eighth Doctor in a virtual reality. The War Doctor concedes that he may embrace the creed of his former self in the future, but for the moment he has to focus on the war]]. |
| 281 | * IWorkAlone: He explicitly does not take on companions since he's got a war to fight. Not that it doesn't stop from befriending young men and women he meets on his adventures anyway, mind you. He explicitly muses in "Berserker" that he no longer has companions, but just various military associates such as lieutenants. |
| 282 | * InformedAttribute: Many note this "unfettered" Doctor really isn't that different from his previous incarnations, something Lara, a Dalek mercenary in "Agents of Chaos" mocks him for. [[DoNotTauntCthulhu He proves her wrong.]] [[spoiler: Specifically, when he [[RetGone RetGones]] her using the Pauli Exclusion Principle - two atoms can't occupy the same space at the same time. He has to override the TARDIS safety protocols to do it but he does it, nonetheless.]] |
| 283 | * ItsAllMyFault: He feels responsible for the Time War since his Fourth incarnation didn't finish them off in "Genesis of the Daleks" when he had the chance. He speculates that the Daleks have never forgotten that - hence why they declared war on the Time Lords. |
| 284 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He can be really rude, but his hearts are still firmly in the right places. |
| 285 | * LeaveNoSurvivors: [[spoiler: In "Casualties of War" he asks the Enigma to wipe out both the Daleks and the Time Lords to make sure there can never be another Time War. However they refuse since they know that deep down below the Doctor doesn't want it. Of course, he'll eventually try it himself when he gets his hands on the Moment.]] |
| 286 | * {{Leitmotif}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLYSW_-2uqg His theme]] is much more sombre and serious than typical Doctor themes, but still every bit as heroic. |
| 287 | * MercyKill: He does this a lot given how in the ''Time'' War, [[DeathIsCheap death isn't necessarily permanent]]... until he makes it so. |
| 288 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Hinted at in "Memnos" in particular, when others speculate that the Doctor is allowing them to record his memories of his actions in the Time War so that he can be charged with war crimes after the conflict ends. |
| 289 | * NeverHurtAnInnocent: What sets him apart from the rest of the Time Lords. Whatever he does, he's doing his damn best to make sure bystanders aren't hurt in the cross-fire. However we know that he'll eventually grow out of this mindset when he decides to use the Moment to end the war once and for all - regardless of how many innocent Gallifreyans have to die too. |
| 290 | * NoodleIncident: What finally drove him over the edge to use the Moment goes unexplained -- and since John Hurt passed away we probably never will -- at least not without the help of a soundalike. [[note]] Whether "Engines of War" is canon in Big Finish is up to debate.[[/note]] |
| 291 | * NotSoDifferentRemark: In "Memnos", the Dalek Time Strategist taunts him with the idea that it and the Doctor aren't that different in their dealings with Case, a partially-converted Dalek Berserker who the Doctor is hoping could help him "program" other potential Berserkers to fight against the Daleks. [[spoiler:What ultimately distinguishes the Doctor from the Strategist is that he gives Case the chance to destroy the Dalek ship containing the other Berserkers, making it clear that if Case doesn't want to create more soldiers for the War he will respect her choice as her friend]]. |
| 292 | * OnlySaneMan: He's absolutely disgusted by the insane chaos of the war and is the only one to see how the Time Lords have [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope gone off the deep end]] and how the longer they fight the more they become like the Daleks. |
| 293 | * PrettyBoy: His younger self could [[https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-sontarans-vs-rutans-in-name-only-2958 win contests.]] |
| 294 | * Really700YearsOld: He's been in this body long enough that he aged from a young man into an old one. |
| 295 | * RoguesGallery: Daleks, Taalyens, Cardinal Ollistra, Dalek Prime, Traanus, Varga plants, Lara Zannis, Sontarans, the Dalek Time Strategist, Heleyna, the Unlived, and the Enigma. |
| 296 | * ScrewPolitenessImASenior: He's not a polite chap to say the least. |
| 297 | * ShellShockedVeteran: He's been fighting the Time War way too long. |
| 298 | * SirSwearsALot: A result of being the most begrudged incarnation of the Doctor, he's the most prone to cursing. |
| 299 | * SlaveCollar: In "A Thing of Guile", the Doctor is made to wear an artron leash that causes him pain by draining his life energies if he moves too far from Cardinal Ollistra while she has the control unit. |
| 300 | * SociopathicSoldier: He's a Type 4 "Broken Soldier" kind. |
| 301 | * SurvivorsGuilt: Moments after beginning his new life as a warrior, War did not want to see Cass Fermazzi being buried by the Sisterhood of Karn, because it was only going to cause him more agony that she was gone and he had to go on living to face the hellish atmosphere of the Time War. Eventually, he visited her burial ground, alone. |
| 302 | * TeethClenchedTeamWork: With the Time Lords. He prefers to fight the war on his terms - i.e. ''alone'' rather than taking orders from them. |
| 303 | * ThatManIsDead: He's renounced the name of the Doctor, claiming he's no longer him. Nobody buys it, and deep down, they're right as he'll eventually prove... but there's also an element of truth in the claim, increasing over time. |
| 304 | -->'''Lithea:''' Doctor?\ |
| 305 | '''War Doctor:''' No!\ |
| 306 | '''Lithea:''' I have water... The high priestess thought you might need it after your... uh, ''experience''.\ |
| 307 | '''War Doctor:''' I said "''No!''"\ |
| 308 | '''Lithea:''' I will leave it for you here, Doctor. ''(puts down the cup)''\ |
| 309 | '''War Doctor:''' ''(throws the cup on the ground)'' ''No!'' Go away and ''stay'' away! There's no "Doctor" here. |
| 310 | * TroubledButCute: Carley's portrayal of the young War Doctor is definitely this. The cover art uses a young John Hurt, showing this incarnation's youthful appearance to be a PrettyBoy with flowing hair and PuppyDogEyes. He also immediately displays a short temper, an antisocial personality, and enough ruthlessness that both the Daleks and Time Lords soon become terrified of how far he'd go to end the war. |
| 311 | * UnwittingPawn: The Time Lords have figured out that the best way to get this Doctor to do something for them is to pull a bit of reverse psychology on him. |
| 312 | * WhatYouAreInTheDark: How the Barber-Surgeon proves that deep down, he ''is'' the Doctor. Because even when there ''isn't'' a better way, he still tries to ''find'' one, as the Doctor has always done. |
| 313 | * YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: He thinks himself a monster because of all the horrible things he's done in the Time War. The fact he feels immense guilt over all the things he's done ''proves'' he isn't; if he were, the things he's done wouldn't have bothered him in the least. |
| 314 | [[/folder]] |
| 315 | |
| 316 | [[folder:Comics Tropes]] |
| 317 | !! Tropes associated with Titan Comics |
| 318 | * RoguesGallery: The Volatix Cabal and Cyclors. |
| 319 | |
| 320 | %%!! Tropes associated with ''Doctor Who Magazine'' |
| 321 | |
| 322 | !! Tropes associated with other comics |
| 323 | * AlternateUniverse: In one possible timeline, the Cybermen ally with the Time Lords to take over time. The War Doctor really does use the Moment to destroy them all. |
| 324 | * CallForward: In ''The Whole Thing's Bananas'', the War Doctor meets/abducts Dorium Maldovar on Villengard and detonates a molecular fruit bomb to turn several Dalek weapons facilities into a banana grove. Dorium resists, knowing his employer will be enraged, but the Doctor tells him several ways he can stay well-compensated, like opening a bar. |
| 325 | * ComicBookFantasyCasting: His appearance in ''The Clockwise War'' and ''Ambush'' is obviously based on John Hurt's appearance in TheSeventies. |
| 326 | * FrontlineGeneral: ''ComicBook/DoctorWhoFourDoctors'' actually shows him in action during the Time War, personally leading some truly irregular forces- a platoon of ''Voord''. You can either read it as a sign of how far he's fallen, or as a show that he's still a DefectorFromDecadence to Gallifrey's ArmchairMilitary. Or, frankly, both. |
| 327 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: ''Clockwise War'' depicts him early in his life as he fought alongside his eighth self's ally, Fey Truscott-Sade, to protect the childlike Loshann from the attacking Morlontoa, but the Doctor's efforts resulted in the Loshann being mutated into nightmarish monsters by paradox bombs, Fey being lost in reality when the battle ends with an abrupt unreality wave (which also erases the Loshann), and the Doctor's efforts all for nothing, forcing him to recognise that the Time War wasn't just another challenge he could overcome. |
| 328 | [[/folder]] |
| 329 | |
| 330 | ---- |
| 331 | ->''[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "I hope the ears are a bit less conspicuous this time."]]'' |
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