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!!Eleventh Doctor
[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doc11_5173.png]]
->'''Debut:''' "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour The Eleventh Hour]]"
->'''Played by:''' Creator/MattSmith (2010–2013, 2014)[[note]]He was the Doctor from New Years Day 2010 to Christmas Day 2013 and returned for a brief cameo in 2014 for Creator/PeterCapaldi's first full episode as the Doctor[[/note]]
-->''"There's something you better understand about me, because it's important and one day your life may depend on it: I am ''definitely'' a madman with a box!"''
The fairy tale wizard who sorts out problems with a wave of his magic wand. Had a distinct air of an old professor in a young man's body, trying in vain to blend in with his younger, more sociable companions. Frequently tripping over his own tangled thoughts, words and limbs, Eleven was [[CloudCuckooLander definitely a lot more alien]] than many other incarnations. He seemed overjoyed at his unexpected youth, hopping and skipping all over the place regardless of the seriousness of the situation. Like his predecessor, however, scratch the surface and you would find a secretive old man who was very liable to snap into TranquilFury mode if you hurt him.
Creator/MattSmith was the youngest Doctor to date: only 26 when cast, three years younger than previous record-holder Creator/PeterDavison.
----
* AbandonedCatchphrase: The Eleventh Doctor's "Geronimo!" is a downplayed case; he certainly mentions it most in his first season and it's one of his least recurring quirks. It does get a few nods later on, including "The Day of The Doctor."
* AbsentMindedProfessor: This Doctor tends to be very flighty at times. Most notably in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E11TheLodger "The Lodger"]], when he has to pretend to be a normal human while being a bit distracted by having to save the universe. His rather [[AwesomeAnachronisticApparel out of date clothes]] also [[AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance evoke]] this.
* AccidentalMarriage: The MarilynMonroe incident.
* AccidentalPervert: Best shown by his reaction to finding a woman in the changing room, while he was looking for Cybermats.
--> '''Doctor''': Sorry madam... ''try that dress in red!''
* AccidentalProposal: Accidentally asks River to marry him on two separate occasions.
* {{Adorkable}}: Is extremely awkward, and equally endearing because of it. A particularly good example is in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]] where he tries to be cool, and fails epically.
--> '''The Doctor''': Who da man?\\
(''Complete silence from Amy and Rory'')\\
'''The Doctor''': Oh it's... I'm never saying that again, fine!
* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: Very fond of kissing his companions' foreheads, much like Three used to do with Jo. Also sometimes very fond of kissing them square on the mouth when he's really excited, much like Eight used to do -- regardless of their gender. Or sexuality. Or marital status.
* AllergicToRoutine: Linear time doesn't agree with him, and he actively hates having to wait for things in chronological order, or having to bother remembering the natural order of centuries when talking to humans. In "The Power of Three", we see that just ''sitting still'' on a planet for a few days annoys him more than anything, leading him to manically rush off, paint Amy and Rory's fence, kick-up a football ''five million'' times (or so he claims) and cut the grass... in about an hour. When he sees Amy’s life in the dullest village known to man he wonders what they do to stave off the self-harm.
** And while waiting for Van Gogh to finish a painting:
--> '''Doctor:''' Is this how time normally passes? Reaaaally slowly, in the right order?
* AmbiguouslyBi: Eleven is the first Doctor to actively snog a male companion on the show. ([[ThrowItIn Not that it was scripted or anything.]]) Creator/StevenMoffat has even explicitly stated that the Doctor doesn't ''care'' about words like "gay" or "straight", and has some trouble grasping what they mean.
** A great throwaway example of this shows up in "Let's Kill Hitler" when he tells Mels that he danced with everyone at Rory and Amy's wedding, not seeming to understand why the men were "a bit shy."
* AnArmAndALeg: He apparently acquires a wooden leg on Trenzalore.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: When pressed, Eleven claims he never bothered to count how many children supposedly died at his hands during the Time War. Ten neatly reveals this to be a lie ("2.47 billion") and, when Eleven still insists he doesn't remember, can only look on with horror and revulsion.
-->'''[=10th Doctor=]:''' 400 years? Is that all it takes?!\\
'''[=11th Doctor=]:''' ''[coldly]'' I moved on.\\
'''[=10th Doctor=]''': ''[voice cracks]'' WHERE? Where could you be now, that you forget something like ''that?!''
* AttendingYourOwnFuneral: A variant. The Doctor visits his own grave on the fields of Trenzalore.
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: He's on about the same level as Eight, and gets pulled off-topic very often.
-->'''Doctor:''' Ooh, now, what's this? Now, I love this, a big flashy lighty thing! That's what brought me here. Big flashy lighty things have got me written all over them. Not actually. Give me time. And a crayon.
* AttentionWhore: The one time nobody's paying attention to him, he gets annoyed.
-->'''Doctor:''' I'm being extremely clever up here and there's no one to stand around looking impressed. What's the point in having you all?
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: The Doctor's SherlockScan in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]], [[Recap/DoctorWho2010CSAChristmasCarol "A Christmas Carol"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler "Let's Kill Hitler"]].
* BabyLanguage: The Doctor speaks everything, and that includes Baby.
* BackToBackBadasses: With River when fighting a crowd of Silent.
* BadassArmy: Can assemble an impressive one.
* BadassBeard: Grows two during the premiere and finale of series six after being locked up for months. He shaves soon after being released.
* BadassBoast: Eleven seems quite fond of these.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' Hello. [[MyNameIsInigoMontoya I'm the Doctor.]] [[PrepareToDie Basically... run.]]
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels "The Time of Angels"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' There's one thing you never put in a trap if you're smart. If you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow there's one thing you never ''ever'' put in a trap: '''''Me.'''''
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]]:
--->'''Doctor:''' Look at me! No plan, no backup, no weapons worth a damn. Oh, and something else I don't have. [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Anything. To. Lose!]] So, if you're sitting up there in your silly little spaceship with all your silly little guns, and you've got any plans on taking the Pandorica, tonight, just remember who's standing in your way. Remember every black day I ever stopped you, and then, [[LargeHam AAAAAND THEN]]... do the ''smart'' thing. Let somebody else try first.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife "The Doctor's Wife"]].
--->'''House:''' Fear me. I've killed ''hundreds'' of Time Lords!\\
'''The Doctor:''' Fear me. [[ThreatBackfire I've killed all of them]].
** In the same episode:
--->'''The Doctor:''' You gave me hope and then took it away. That's enough to make anyone dangerous. ''God knows'' what it will do to me. Basically... RUN!
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar "A Good Man Goes to War"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E13TheWeddingOfRiverSong "The Wedding of River Song"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' Imagine you were dying and a long way from home and in terrible pain. And just when you think it couldn't get any worse, you look up and see the face of [[ArchEnemy the devil himself]]... Hello, Dalek.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E7TheRingsOfAkhaten "The Rings of Akhaten"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' I walked away from the Last Great Time War. I marked the passing of the Time Lords. I saw the birth of the universe and I watched as time ran out, ''moment by moment'', until nothing remained. ''No'' time. ''No'' space. ''Just me!'' I've walked in universes where the laws of ''physics'' were devised by the mind of a '''''MAD... MAN'''''. I've watched universes ''freeze'' and creations ''burn''. I have seen things you wouldn't believe. ''I have lost things you'll never understand!'' And I know things. Secrets that must never be told. Knowledge that must never be spoken. ''Knowledge that will make parasite gods BLAZE!'' '''''SO COME OOOOON THEN! TAKE IT! TAKE IT ALL, BABY! HAVE IT! YOU HAVE IT ALL!'''''
** And the boast to top them all, [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "The Day of the Doctor"]]:
--->'''War Doctor:''' There's [[DarkestHour still a billion billion Daleks up there attacking]].\\
'''11th Doctor:''' Yeah, yeah, there is...\\
'''10th Doctor:''' [[FinishingEachOthersSentences ...but there's something those billion billion Daleks don't know...]]\\
'''11th Doctor:''' ...[[FinishingEachOthersSentences 'cause if they did, they'd probably send for]] '''[[ScrewThisImOuttaHere reinforcements!]]'''\\
'''Clara:''' What? What don't they know??\\
'''11th Doctor:''' Heh! This time, there's ''three'' of us.
** His response to Tasha Lem, who reveals a breakaway sect of the Papal Mainframe once sent a hitman (River) to kill him. Eleven scoffs, "''Totally'' married her."
** Just as he starts his regeneration in [[DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor "The Time of the Doctor"]], he delivers the boast to silence all the others.
--->'''Dalek Cruiser:''' [[AC:You are dying, Doctor.]]\\
'''The Doctor:''' [[YouSeeImDying Yes, I'm dying. You've been trying to kill me for centuries, and here I am, dying of old age]]. [[SarcasmMode If you want something done, do it yourself]].\\
'''Dalek Cruiser:''' [[AC:You will die, and the Time Lords will never return.]]\\
'''The Doctor:''' You still can't work up the courage to shoot me, can you? You're still worried I've got something up my sleeve! Well, you knock yourselves out, boys. I've got nothing this time.\\
(''Crack opens in the sky and golden regeneration energy flies into the Doctor's mouth.'')\\
'''Dalek Cruiser:''' [[AC:[[PreMortemOneLiner You will die now, Doctor. This is the end of you.]] The rules of regeneration are known. You have expended all your lives.]]\\
'''The Doctor:''' Sorry? What did you say? Did you mention ''the rules?'' Now, listen... bit of advice. Tell me the truth, if you think you know it. Lay down the law, if you're feeling brave. But, Daleks, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers Never. Ever! TELL ME THE RULES!]]\\
'''Dalek Cruiser:''' ''[[AC:[[OhCrap Emergency! Emergency! The Doctor is regenerating! The Doctor is regenerating!]]]]''\\
'''The Doctor:''' Oh look at this, regeneration number 13! We're breaking some serious science here boys! I'll tell ya what! It's gonna be a whopper!!\\
'''Dalek Cruiser:''' [[AC:Exterminate! Exterminate the Doctor!]]\\
'''The Doctor:''' You think you can stop me now Daleks?! IF YOU WANT MY LIFE, '''COME. AND. GET IT!''' (''starts regenerating, destroying all the Daleks'') Haha! LOVE FROM GALLIFREY, BOYS!
* BadassBookworm: Reading is one of his favorite hobbies, and he dislikes being disturbed while doing so.
* BadassFamily: By the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E13TheWeddingOfRiverSong The Wedding of River Song]]", he's married to River, and Amy and Rory are his in laws.
* BadassFingersnap: By this point, he only needs to snap his fingers to open the doors of the TARDIS. (He could presumably use this to summon it too, as seen in some of the DW comics.)
* BadassGrandpa: Being over 1000 years old, he's technically ''always'' this ([[Characters/DoctorWhoClassicSeriesCompanions and in a literal sense to boot]]). But becomes a more exemplified example during his several hundred years guarding the town of Christmas. He needs a cane to get around, but he's still got the fire.
* BadassLongcoat: Starts wearing an awesome, suitably long, green coat as of "[[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler}} Let's Kill Hitler]]". He then starts wearing a purple one as a permanent part of his new outfit in Series 7.
* BattleCouple: With River.
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Apparently he's the inspiration for [[EenieMeenieMinyMoai the Easter Island statues]].
* BerserkButton:
** Don't threaten or hurt ''anyone'' the Doctor's taken a liking to. For example:
*** When Amy is kidnapped in "Good Man Goes To War", the Doctor goes out of his way to humiliate the captor.
---->'''The Doctor:''' Those words. [[NeverLiveItDown "Run away." I want you to be famous for those exact words.]] I want people to call you Colonel Run-Away. I want [[HumiliationConga children laughing outside your door 'cos they've found the house of Colonel Run-Away]]. And when people come to you and ask you if trying to get to me through '''the people I love''' is in any way a good idea… [[FateWorseThanDeath I want you to tell them your name.]]
*** Or when The Weeping Angels kill the marine he liked, Bob, and then start taunting him with it, he wipes the Angels from existence by the end of "Flesh and Stone".
*** Or when he finds out House killed Time Lords who were once his very close friends in "The Doctor's Wife".
----> '''Doctor''': ''[[[TranquilFury quietly]]]'' [[YouAreNotAlone You gave me hope]] and then [[LastOfHisKind took it all away]]. That would make ''anyone'' dangerous, God knows what it would do to ''me!'' Basically... '''''RUN!'''''
*** Or his constant companion, the TARDIS, as the Silence and House learned when he had them brutally killed.
** The Last Great Time War is also still a major BerserkButton. In "A Town Called Mercy", the Doctor flies into a violent rage and tries to have a man who [[IDidWhatIHadToDo did what he had to do]] in a bloody war, killed by throwing him out of the town at gunpoint into the jaws of an enemy. Only Amy pulling WhatTheHellHero makes the Doctor stop.
* BettyAndVeronica: The Veronica to Rory's Betty for Amy's affections.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: While the Eleventh is generally a silly and giddy character, you still don't want to piss him off.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks "Victory of the Daleks"]]: The Doctor goes after a Dalek with a ''[[WrenchWhack Wrench]]'' after being driven over the edge by the Daleks' FalseFriend gambit.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone "Flesh and Stone"]]: The Doctor erases every Weeping Angel on the planet from existence.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E2DayOfTheMoon "Day of the Moon"]]: As punishment for [[BerserkButton kidnapping Amy]], screwing with humanity's development over centuries and all the people who died because of their actions over Series 5, the Doctor [[KillEmAll arranges the Silence's genocide]].
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife "The Doctor's Wife"]]: The Doctor's reaction to learning that [[EldritchAbomination House]] has lured hundreds of Time Lords to their death, consumed their [=TARDISes=] and used Time Lord corpses to repair his PeoplePuppets; but the final clincher is making the Doctor think there were ''other'' survivors from the Time War. He lets the TARDIS finish House off by devouring him, smiling as he dies screaming.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar "A Good Man Goes to War"]]: The Doctor blows up an ''entire legion'' of Cyberships just to get Amy's location. He then forces the Colonel leading the forces who took Amy to tell his troops to "run away", just to humiliate the man.
--->'''The Doctor:''' Good men don't need rules. Today is ''not'' the day to find out why I have ''so many''.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E2DinosaursOnASpaceship "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"]]: As punishment for massacring all the Silurians aboard the ark, the Doctor leaves Solomon to die on an out of control ship right before it gets hit by a couple of nukes.
--->'''The Doctor:''' Did the Silurians beg you to stop? Look Solomon. The missiles. See them shine, see how valuable they are? And they're all yours.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E3ATownCalledMercy "A Town Called Mercy"]]: Tries to force Kahler-Jex at gunpoint to walk to his death. What's really disturbing about this is that Kahler-Jex is more of an AntiVillain than anything else. He just reminds the Doctor too much of everything the Doctor hates about himself. It takes Amy with a gun to stop him.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: He can be quite the goofball, but at the end of the day he's still the same OneManArmy that's saved the universe an endless number of times. He is also ''much'' more casual about killing off villains than 9 or 10 were.
* BigDamnKiss: After over 700 years of deep mutual love, he finally gets to kiss the TARDIS. Who promptly bites him on the ear.
** He shares some very Big Damn Kisses with River Song as well. And he snogs Rory Williams out of sheer joy at one point. With Amy Pond having forced him into a kiss early on, he's now made out with the whole family -- River and all three of her parents.
** Clara wasted no time in getting in on the action. The Doctor didn't quite agree with the idea.
** He dips and kisses Jenny Flint after she saves his life. Lesbian, married Jenny Flint. It earns him a hard slap to the face.
* BigEntrance: With some frequency, notably through a chimney in "The Christmas Carol":
-->'''Doctor:''' Ah. Yes. Blimey. Sorry. Christmas Eve on a rooftop, saw a chimney, my whole brain just went: "What the hell!"
* BigShutUp: Does this a lot. To villains, to his companions, even to inanimate objects.
* BizarreTasteInFood: The Eleventh Doctor's taste for fish sticks dipped in custard. The first time he tried them post-regeneration trauma was playing havoc with his taste buds, but he's also seen enjoying them in later episodes, such as "The Power of Three".
* BookEnds: Not to this incarnation, but to his whole life. As he ages in "The Time of the Doctor," he starts to look less like Eleven and more like Hartnell's original incarnation. When he finally regenerates, he's regenerated into an eccentric older man with no idea how to pilot the very TARDIS he's owned as long as the viewers have known him.
** For a proper bookend, towards the end of his introductory episode, he puts on a bowtie and at literally, the final seconds of his life, he undoes it and let it drop to the floor.
** For another, his first meal in this incarnation was fish fingers and custard. It's also his last.
* BorrowedCatchphrase:
** Borrows River Song's in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler "Let's Kill Hitler"]], where he states it to River Song when she meets him for the first time and [[StableTimeLoop leads her to adopt the phrase to begin with]]. He also states it to the Tenth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "The Day of the Doctor"]].
--->'''Doctor''': Spoilers.
** He also likes to use Tenth's phrase of describing things as "Timey Wimey". Which is lampshaded by the Tenth Doctor when they meet in [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "The Day of the Doctor"]].
--->'''War Doctor''' (''in disbelief''): Timey Wimey?\\
'''10th Doctor''': [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial I've - I've no idea where he picks that stuff up]].
** Borrows one of the Master's in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E12ClosingTime "Closing Time"]], when he realises the "[[PlayingPossum deactivated]]" Cybermat is attempting to reboot itself ''again''. Borrows it once again in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E6TheBellsOfSaintJohn "The Bells of Saint John"]] when he's reversing Clara's upload into the data-cloud.
--->'''Doctor''': Oh no you ''don't!''
* BowtiesAreCool: The TropeNamer. In his first season, he tends to wear blue bowties in the past, and red ones when visiting the future.
-->'''The Doctor:''' Oi! Eyes on the tie. Look at me. I wear it and I don't care. Trust me?\\
'''Boy:''' Yes.\\
'''The Doctor:''' That's why it's cool.
* BrutalHonesty:
** Bluntly tells Amelia in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone "Flesh and Stone"]] that she's dying of Weeping Angel infestation.
** And Oswin in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E1AsylumOfTheDaleks "Asylum of the Daleks"]] that [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie she was a Dalek the whole time]].
** He even explicitly criticizes the idea of the white lie.
--->'''The Doctor:''' [[SarcasmMode Oh yes, because if we lie to her it'll make her all better!]]
** He isn't even capable of lying about the most minor issues, as evidenced by this encounter with Craig:
--->'''The Doctor:''' [[ContinuityNod Oh, you've redecorated! I don't like it!]]
* BuffySpeak: "Big flashy lighty thing", "blue boringers", "uppy-downy stuff in a big blue box", among others. The War Doctor mocks him for it extensively and -- correctly -- surmises it's Eleven's way of trying to forget how harsh everything around him can be.
* TheCameo: In "Deep Breath".
* CatchPhrase: Eleven ''loves'' catchphrases, and has a lot of fun inventing new ones.
** "Blimey."
** "Geronimo!".
** "{{Bowties are cool}}". Morphs into: "It's an X. I wear an X now. Xs are cool." Or just: [[MadLibsCatchPhrase Xs are cool]]. The one exception to this is in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E6TheBellsOfSaintJohn "The Bells of Saint John"]]. "Monks are not cool!"
** The occasional utterance of "It's a thing...", usually referring to one of his ''many'' {{Indy Ploy}}s.
** "It's an X. Love an X."
** "Come along Pond(s)!" and variations such as "Come along, Bitey!" -- to a ''Cybermat''.
** Much like Ten's PreemptiveApology, Eleven's "Trust me" crops up now and again.
** "Imagine X... [[{{Dissimile}} but don't, because it's nothing like that.]]"
** "Rubbish."
** A preemptive "Shut up!"
** "That's new!"
** "Yowza!"
** (when answering the phone) "Hello, the TARDIS!"
* CharacterDevelopment: After his Ponds are gone, Eleven becomes ''much'' more careful and protective of people around him, and starts acting much older. He's still a complete ManChild in Series 7, but one who extensively prepares, calculates and calls for backup when needed.
* CharacterTics:
** [[EverythingIsBetterWithSpinning Spinning a whole 270 degrees right in order to simply turn left]] [[note]]And props to Creator/MattSmith for making this look completely natural every time![[/note]].
** Dashing a few steps beyond someone (often a few steps up a flight of stairs) when he approaches them.
** Walking or standing with his arms straight down.
** Generally flailing, doing entirely unrelated stuff with his hands while he's kissing someone.
** Holding up both his index fingers when he explains things (often ''while'' spinning).
** Slouching smugly in a chair when he's talking to a villain.
** Crossing his hearts.
** Shifting his jaw when he's upset.
** Scratching his face when he's utterly perplexed.
-->'''War Doctor:''' Are you capable of speaking without flapping your hands about?\\
'''Eleven:''' ''[gesturing emphatically]'' Yes! [[ByNoIMeanYes No...]]
** Drawing things in the air to arrive at epiphanies.
** [[http://cdn1.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/Neil-Gaiman-The-Doctors-wife.jpg Wringing his hands]] when nervous or when musing things over.
** Being VERY awkward when being kissed.
** Fiddling with his bowtie before embarking on a course of action and/or after arguing with someone.
** Repeating words over and over when flustered, often changing their tone each time "Yes yes yes of course yes of course!" etc.
** Eleven also tends to snap his fingers before pointing at someone or something.
* CheckAndMate: Loves making these speeches.
* ChickMagnet: In a completely [[{{Adorkable}} different]] way than Ten: half of the time he appears to be completely oblivious to people hitting on him.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: To the point where he nearly has a meltdown in "Closing Time" since he desperately wants to leave and not investigate the strange things that are happening.
-->'''Doctor''': Not noticing, just going! Not noticing, just ''going!'' Not noticing, just '''going!'''
* CloudCuckooLander: Frequently referred to as a "mad man", even by himself.
* ComfortingComforter: After having rescued her from an attack by the episode's antagonists, he gently tucks an exhausted and sleeping Clara into bed and leaves her a plate of jammy dodgers in "The Bells of Saint John".
* CompanionCube: In "The Time of the Doctor", he adopts a severed Cyberman head (without any organic bits) as a companion, which he dubs "Handles". It ends up keeping him company for the first few centuries of the Siege of Trenzalore, before eventually "dying" of mechanical failure.
* ConstantlyCurious: Eleven is a real "try anything once" kind of person, and happily throws himself into any kind of new situation.
* ConsummateLiar: "Rule one: the Doctor lies." He ''doesn't'' lie about lying but everything is a yes.
* ContrivedCoincidence: A meta example. Matt Smith is listed as Matt Smith (XI) on the [=IMDb=]. [[note]]This is including all kinds of cast and crew members. Of those eleven, he's only the fourth ''actor''.[[/note]]
* CoolOldGuy:
** Despite how young he looks, he's about a thousand years old. Doesn't stop him from being insanely hyper and completely nuts.
--->'''Doctor:''' Don't let the cool gear fool you, I am getting on a bit.
** Matt Smith has said he tends to play the Eleventh Doctor as ''thinking'' he's a lot cooler than he ''[[{{Adorkable}} actually]]'' is.
* CovertPervert: Paired with a grand helping of guilt, seen as early as "Amy's Choice" (as pointed out by the Dream Lord), in "The Angels Take Manhattan" ("Yowza!" indeed) and "Nightmare in Silver" (where he has some moral issues with how much he's been accidentally noticing Clara's skirts). Eleven generally loves "a bad girl", and delights in flirting with River.
* CreepyGood: Eleven can get tremendously frightening, and is prone to very violent outbursts when he's angry.
* CuddleBug: Loves kissing his companions on their foreheads and giving them random hugs. Defaults to a SecurityCling and backrubs when he has to deliver bad news. Is also the first Doctor since Eight to snog companions for absolutely no reason (although in Rory's case, that wasn't actually in the script -- Creator/MattSmith just has NoSenseOfPersonalSpace).
* CulturedBadass: Loves playing the piano and generally being part of classical culture.
* TheDandy: Sticks to a LimitedWardrobe when he's still with his Ponds, but goes full-on dandy after they leave. His series 7 outfits are inspired by Victorian, Edwardian and Teddy Boy fashion, with plenty of waistcoats, top hats, bowler hats, watch chains and gorgeous coats.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Becomes this after the Ponds die. Afterwards, he becomes more cold and distant, while still retaining the childish nature we all know and love.
* DatingCatwoman: Gets HappilyMarried to a self-professed psychopath raised to assassinate him.
* DeadpanSnarker: Happy chap, but quite capable of dropping the snark when the situation calls for it.
* {{Determinator}}: The Siege of Trenzalore. Multiple enemy fleets parked in orbit vs a small village and the Doctor, becoming a siege that lasts for centuries. Despite being in his [[OutOfContinues supposedly final incarnation]] and having a way out once the TARDIS returns three hundred years into the battle, he still ''does not run''.
* {{Dissimile}}: Used so often it's a CatchPhrase.
-->'''Doctor:''' It's fine, we're entering conceptual space. Imagine a banana, or anything curved. Well, actually, don't, because it's not curved or like a banana. Forget the banana.
* DistressedDude: By the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]] Eleven is shoved inside the Pandorica by the enemy alliance and bolted inside.
* DitzyGenius: He's a HollywoodHacking GadgeteerGenius with AttentionDeficitOohShiny disorder.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Eleven looking for food at young Amelia's house and hating everything is very reminiscent of Tigger's introduction story in WinnieThePooh
* TheDreaded: As River Song states, the Eleventh Doctor is able to make armies turn and run at the sound of his name. In Series 6 this reputation comes back to kick him in the ass, causing him to work on [[DefiedTrope defying]] it in series 7 by slowly erasing himself from every database in the universe.
* DyingAsYourself: Although he lives long enough to die of ''old age'', the regeneration energy coursing through him briefly resets his appearance during his final moments.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: In "The Time of the Doctor", he uses his regeneration energy to take out the Daleks. Let's face it. Eleven wouldn't have gone out any other way.
--> '''Eleven:''' [[LargeHam IF YOU WANT MY LIFE! COME! AND! GET IT!!!!]]
* DysfunctionalFamily: Series 6 has [[http://anongallery.org/img/8286/doctor-who.jpg that awkward moment]] when you get shot by your wife in front of your wife who then tries to shoot your wife. While your best friend is off to the side, pregnant with your wife. That's all the same wife, by the way. Oh, and he's kissed ''all three'' of his wife's parents, one of whom is his ''other'' wife.
** Amy Pond is his mother-in-law twice over. First because he married her daughter, River Song. Second, because Amy married UsefulNotes/HenryVIII, the father of the Doctor's ''other'' wife, [[UsefulNotes/ElizabethI Elizabeth I.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Despite having gone through more personal tragedy than most other incarnations, not to mention his continued trauma from the Time War and over a millennium's worth of self loathing, Eleven has possibly the happiest ending of any incarnation, having saved his Companion and the town he had been defending for centuries, made peace with some of his most bitter enemies, and in his last moments witnessed that not only had he truly saved his people but that the Time Lords were finally showing him gratitude for all he had done by changing history to save him, granting him a brand new regeneration cycle and aiding him in defeating the Daleks once again. The last thing he is sees is his first companion, Amy Pond, calling him "Raggedy Man".
* EleventhHourSuperpower: After being granted a new regeneration cycle by the Time Lords in "The Time of the Doctor", his regeneration proves to be so violent that he's able to use it as a weapon to destroy the Dalek fleet in orbit of Trenzalore.
-->'''Eleventh Doctor''': ''[[PreAsskickingOneLiner Love from Gallifrey, boys!]]''
* EnemyWithout: When his dark side manifests itself as a separate person, it's ''quite'' dark indeed.
* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: Loves stuff that spins. Has a habit of spinning around a little when he goes from one topic to the next. Tends to turn a full 270 degrees to simply go left. As of late 2012, the top of his TARDIS console spins constantly.
* ExiledToTheCouch: Ended up spending a month living with otters while sulking after an argument with River. ("The Caretaker")
* FaceDeathWithDignity: In contrast to his predecessor, Eleven goes into his regeneration completely prepared for it, having already spent long enough in this body to grow old. He's content to deliver one last speech before taking off his signature bowtie and [[GoOutWithASmile going out with one last, sad smile at Clara]].
* FailedASpotCheck: With some frequency. A notable one after Rory very unexpectedly comes back from being erased from the universe:
-->'''The Doctor:''' Hush, Rory. Thinking. Why leave a Cyberman on guard unless it's a Cyberthing in the box but why would they lock up one of their own? Okay, no, not a Cyberthing. But what? What? Oh! Missing something obvious, Rory. Something big. Something right slap in front of me. I can feel it.\\
'''Rory:''' Yeah. I think you probably are.\\
'''The Doctor:''' I'll get it in a minute.
* FakingTheDead: In the Series 6 finale.
* FamousLastWords: "I will always remember when the Doctor was me."
* FateWorseThanDeath: Can dish them out just as well as Ten, though not as frequently. Just ask [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone the Weeping Angels]] or [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar Colonel Run Away]].
* FinalSpeech: He's clearly a different man from before he set foot on Trenzalore, and delivers a haunting Roy Batty speech at the end (which could also be read as Creator/MattSmith letting the fans know not to worry about him, that he will always treasure his time as the Doctor)-- though not without one final, wild hand gesticulation for old-times' sake.
-->'''Eleven:''' It all just disappears, doesn't it? Everything you are. Like breath on a mirror... We all change when you think about it. We're all different people, all through our lives. And that's OK; that's good, you gotta keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be. [[MeaningfulEcho I will not forget one line of this. Not one day]], I swear. I will always remember when the Doctor was me.
* {{Flanderization}}: Though he was always something of a ManChild throughout his run, it is heavily emphasized in his last two seasons. He is first portrayed as more of an immature DeadpanSnarker in series 5, with moments of childlike glee and being good with kids, but can still crack a joke and will still maintain a competent, if not quirky, presence. By series 7, he will often cover his eyes or groan when Amy and Rory kiss, is genuinely confused by innuendos, and acts more like one of the children he encounters than he would have before. Amy even makes jokes about getting him a babysitter by series 7.
* {{Foil}}: Is a dorky, spastic, alien oddball, as opposed to Ten, who beyond being more traditionally cool, was more in tune with "human" tastes and attitudes.
* ForeseeingMyDeath: By series 7, he has a pretty good idea how, when and where his life will one day permanently end (that is, when ''the Doctor'' will finally die, because this is -- or ''was'' -- his final life). When he learns he's finally going there, he starts crying. As if that wasn't traumatising enough yet, he's then forced to become intimately acquainted with his own corpse. By saving Gallifrey in "The Day of the Doctor", however, he enables the Time Lords to change history and grant him a new regeneration cycle in "The Time of the Doctor".
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Amy is sanguine, River is choleric, the Doctor is melancholic and Rory is phlegmatic. When he has Canton with him, Canton is the leukine.
* FriendToAllChildren: Maybe because [[OneOfTheKids he's such a kid himself]], but Eleven is definitely this. Also, he speaks Baby. It's implied that he's fond of children primarily out of recompense of killing all 2.47 billion children on Gallifrey at the end of the Time War... or so he used to believe.
** Best seen in "The Time of the Doctor", where the children of Christmas simply '''adore''' him as both their friend and protector. Even in his last days, Eleven can still be found carving them wooden toys.
* FunPersonified: Really tries to be this, although much of it is a StepfordSmiler facade. Is ''especially'' fun and nice and happy towards Amy after Rory's first death, to the point where she gets suspicious of it.
* FutureMeScaresMe: Every time he runs into a future version of himself, it's absolutely terrifying for him. Seeing himself on his way to take River to the Singing Towers was bad enough; having to watch himself burned to a living husk with his hand fused to his face in "Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS" completely horrified him.
** Inverted when he is overjoyed to meet The Curator and discover that he's still kicking around after Trenzalore.
** In "Deep Breath", the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor indirectly converse over Clara's phone. Eleven is, shall we say, ''nonplussed'' to discover that he's gone gray again. He actually ''groans''.
* TheGadfly: Creator/MattSmith saw "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E1TheTombOfTheCybermen The Tomb of the Cybermen]]" and asked for a similar costume as the Second Doctor, the first incarnation to wear a bowtie. Eleven takes quite a bit of inspiration from Two in general: dotty old man, weird and hyperkinetic body language, willing to chat happily with everyone and everything including babies and animals, takes great pleasure in being very annoying.
* GadgeteerGenius: His knowledge of the "non-technological" technology of Lamasteen allowed him to build a functioning scanner out of shopping carts, coat-hangars and junk in "The Lodger" and he [[AchievementsInIgnorance accidentally invented]] the Quadro-cycle in "The Bells of St John".
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** Multiple instances.
--->''[Rory shows the Doctor a flashlight he brought along]''\\
''[The Doctor brings out a huge ultraviolet lamp]''\\
'''Rory:''' ...Yours is bigger than mine.\\
'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Let's not go there.
** And in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice "Amy's Choice"]]:
--->'''Eleventh Doctor:''' I don't know but I can't feel my feet... and other parts.\\
'''Rory:''' I think all my parts are basically fine.\\
'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Stop competing.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler "Let's Kill Hitler"]], after the newly-regenerated River Song invades his personal space, he self-consciously covers his crotch behind his hands when she leaves the room.
* GibberingGenius: In a slightly different way than Ten. Whereas Ten loves to talk about the inner mechanisms of things and bounce ideas off of his companions, Eleven's preferred method is to let his mouth run completely wild with questions and tangents until he arrives at an answer, while his companions ''shut. up.''
* GildedCage: Trenzalore becomes this in "Time of the Doctor." He can't awaken the Time Lords from their slumber without setting off another Time War. And he can't abandon Christmas without the town being destroyed. Nothing's stopping him from leaving, and he makes glib proclamations about beaming out any day now -- which of course will never happen.
* GoingNative: In the town of Christmas -- the very long, [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoNEDAS3E1Orbis Orbis]]-style version of the trope.
* GoodIsNotSoft: Even more lovable than he looks--until you get him angry. Then you run. Just run.
* GoOutWithASmile: Like Nine before him. The last thing he does in life is stretch his hand towards [[TenderTears a weeping Clara]] and utter a gentle "Hey..." with a comforting smile on his face.
-->'''Doctor:''' We all change, when you think about it. We’re all different people, all through our lives. And that’s okay.
** ZigZagged - He spent a ''very'' long time believing that he couldn't regenerate anymore after this body was spent. He made peace with that, but ultimately gets more regenerations after all. When his time finally comes, he's both completely heartbroken and absolutely overjoyed.
* GuileHero: This Doctor can be very manipulative should he choose to be, able to lure his enemies into their downfall or play mind games.
* HappilyMarried: To River Song, provided he's already done the whole wedding bit -- and even [[LikeAnOldMarriedCouple sometimes before that]]. Also, to the TARDIS, in a way.
* HelpYourselfInTheFuture: His phone call to Clara, during Twelve's regeneration trauma, helping her come to terms with losing him, while at the same time helping her understand that she ''hasn't'' lost him, he's still right there in front of her, at least as frightened as she is and needing her friendship more than ever.
* HeroesWantRedHeads: Mentions his love for gingers a few times, but, like Ten, mostly just wants to ''be'' one.
* HeroicBSOD: Does not take the deaths of his two best friends well. Even though he knows they had a [[HappilyEverAfter long and happy life]] together, this does little to lessen the blow and he effectively ''quits'' saving the universe for a long time afterwards.
* HeroicSacrifice:
** He drives the Pandorica back to the source of the explosion in order to reset the universe back to the way it was, thus wiping himself from existence. Of course, he's brought back.
** Knew the first time he went to Trenzalore could mean "the fall of the Eleventh", but went anyway to save his friends.
** The second time he goes to Trenzalore, he chooses to remain for untold centuries on the planet, spending the rest of that incarnation - indeed his supposed ''[[OutOfContinues last]]'' - protecting the people from harm and not dooming the Time Lords to eternity trapped in another universe. When Clara suggests that he ''could'' just leave, he refuses to do so, making it clear that he'd rather die first, something he very nearly ''does'' from extreme old age!
* HeroicWillpower: When the heavily-upgraded Cybermen attempt to use TheVirus to turn the Doctor into their new Cyber-controller, he's not only able to resist the transformation long enough to trap the Cyberman personality into a temporary stalemate while he figures out his next move, but demonstrates the ability to lock off specific parts of his memory to prevent "Mr Clever" gaining access to Time Lord secrets.
* IAmYourOpponent: When a Dalek feigns ignorance of him, he furiously attacks it with a ''spanner!''
-->'''The Doctor:''' ''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis YOU! ARE! MY! ENEMY!]]'' And I am '''[[TheDreaded YOURS!]]'''
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: A rare case where the hypotenuse to be is concerned with the happiness of both cathetus, since he really ''does'' like Rory despite their frequent squabbling.
* IWillFightSomeMoreForever: This Doctor proved time and again that he won't run from the Daleks under any circumstances, even when totally unarmed and utterly outnumbered. Even when reduced to a wispy old man in a bell tower, waving his cane in defiance.
* IconicItem: Quite obviously bowties, but also has a liking for fezzes and Stetsons. His fez obsession was bad enough to warrant Amy to snatch one off his head and let River use it for target practice.
** Anticipating his regeneration into Twelve, he showily removes his bowtie. (This causes poor Clara to completely lose it.) Perhaps as a result of this, the [=12th Doctor=] is going for a tieless, scarf-less garb most of the time.
* IndyPloy: His absolute favorite way to solve stuff. At least among the revival Doctors, he's by far the most likely to admit he has no idea what's going on and that half the things he says are basically thinking out loud.
** While helping a mother pilot a tree-starship:
--->'''Lily:''' What's happening?\\
'''The Doctor:''' No idea. Do what I do: hold tight, and pretend it's a plan!
** Also:
--->'''Amy:''' There's a plan?\\
'''The Doctor:''' Don't know, haven't finished talking yet!
** [[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor At the very end]], he's now resigned to this as his only way out.
--->'''The Doctor:''' It's okay, Barnable, don't worry. I... ''[taps nose]'' have got a plan. Off you pop.\\
''["Barnable" leaves.]''\\
'''The Doctor:''' I haven't got a plan, but people love it when I say that.\\
'''Clara:''' Doctor, what're you gonna do?\\
'''The Doctor:''' I don't know. Talk very fast, hope something good happens, take the credit. Seemingly how it works. Not this time, though. This is it.
* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Has stripped off on a few occasions, but remains oblivious as to why others act so awkward or shield their eyes.
* JerkassFacade: When humans around him seem to be confused or losing hope, he sometimes employs ReversePsychology and openly dismisses them as useless or unimportant. But his ''real'' intention is to [[SecretTestOfCharacter encourage them to "prove him wrong"]].
* {{Keet}}: Bounces, hops, skips, flails, stumbles a lot and sometimes [[GirlyRun runs like a girl]]. This is also owing to Matt Smith's physicality as an actor.
-->'''War Doctor:''' Are you ''capable'' of speaking without flapping your hands about?\\
'''Eleventh Doctor''': ''[exaggerated shrug]'' Yes! ''[claps emphatically]'' ..[[IResembleThatRemark No.]]
* LanternJawOfJustice
-->'''The Doctor:''' ''[feeling his face after regenerating]'' Ears? Yes. Eyes: two. Nose... [[Creator/JonPertwee eh, I've]] [[Creator/ChristopherEccleston had worse.]] Chin... ''blimey!''
* LargeHam: He is found of big, dramatic speeches and ''incapable'' of speaking without flapping his hands about.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Has a very prominent (and very awesome) one called "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7VmOZ4Ppj8 I Am The Doctor]]" which has been stated by composer Murray Gold to be the most well known out of all the Doctor's {{Leitmotif}}s. It has also had dozens of variants since its introduction, the most notable one being [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCHfVZIAZ6s "The Majestic Tale (Of a Mad Man in a Box)"]].
* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: With River Song. Because they are. Especially frustrating for him because EveryoneCanSeeIt, Amy asks him right away if River is supposed to be his secret space wife, and River completely refuses to tell him what they'll be to each other in the future because of "spoilers!"
-->'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Hi, honey, I'm home!\\
'''River:''' And what sort of time do you call this?!
* LivingForeverIsAwesome: Like Ten, he did a lot to avoid his fixed point death at Lake Silencio, and didn't like talking about his grave on Trendzalore. Even after spending eight hundred years guarding the town of Christmas, he was depressed that he was OutOfContinues. He's beaming with glee when he gets a new regeneration cycle.
* LoveBeforeFirstSight: With Clara. The first time he became aware of her, or rather one of her echoes, he could neither see nor touch her, since she was sort of a Dalek at the time, but her voice over the intercom was enough to impress him with her intelligence and willpower, not to mention do a whole lot of flirting.
* LoveTriangle: Unwittingly gets stuck in one with Amy and Rory. With the memories of the whole debacle with Rose and Mickey still fresh in his mind, the Doctor tries to explain that he's 907, she's human, and Rory would really just like to marry her now. Provided that she's not actively trying to kiss him again, he's actually quite amused by it and tries to get Rory to see it all as a nice joke.
* ManChild: Eleven plays the age card less than previous Doctors did during an argument, and seems to even ''forget'' his decrepitude at times. He enthusiastically declares that he still makes Christmas lists. The War Doctor isn't amused: a senile git of a man, Eleven has retreated from his grim past into a world of childlike frivolity. This changes once he saves Gallifrey in "Day of the Doctor": He pointedly chooses to stay behind and age into an old man on Trenzalore, as if unconsciously deciding to 'grow up.'
-->'''Eleven:''' ''[holds up psychic paper]'' I think you'll find I'm universally recognized as a mature and responsible adult.\\
'''Kazran:''' It's just a bunch of wavy lines.\\
'''Eleven:''' It's shorted out. [[LampshadeHanging Finally, a lie too big.]]
* ManlyTears: Eleven is more prone to silently crying than any other incarnation, always completely PlayedForDrama. He sometimes cries without even noticing -- at the end of "The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe" when he's reunited with his human family, and in "The Rings Of Akhaten" when he gives a ''magnificent'' BadassBoast while allowing an EldritchAbomination to MindRape him. Both "Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS" and "The Name Of The Doctor" have him breaking down in tears when he has to explain rather horrifying things to Clara.
* MasterOfTheMixedMessage: Not much better than his immediate predecessor, as Amy points out in the DVD-only "Meanwhile In The TARDIS Part 2".
-->'''Amy:''' Oh, ''come on''. You turn up in the middle of the night, get me out of bed in my nightie -- which you then don't let me change out of for ''ages'' -- and then take me for a spin in your time machine. No, no, you're right. No mixed signals there. That is just a ''signal''. Like a great big BatSignal in the sky. Get your coat, love, the Doctor is in!
* TheMatchmaker:
** Between his efforts to ensure that Amy and Rory's relationship remains on track and his obvious efforts and glee when Craig and Sophie finally hook up, Eleven seems to like playing matchmaker.
** He does it again in "A Christmas Carol" and gives the guy FirstKiss advice.
* {{Metaphorgotten}}: At least he notices when he's not making very much sense.
* UsefulNotes/TheMidlands: Creator/MattSmith uses his regular voice to play the Doctor.
* AMillionIsAStatistic: Averted. Eleven spent his past incarnation remembering and regretting the deaths of more than 2 billion innocent Gallifreyan children in the Time War to remind himself why he was protecting others. The "four knocks" prophecy changed him and he resisted regeneration. Then when he regenerated from Ten, he was faced with permanent death twice, first through an assassination attempt and then a future where he died in battle because he couldn't regenerate anymore. He also lost his companions to the Weeping Angels, and it broke him to the point he retired to Victorian London. After 200, maybe 300 years as this incarnation, thinking about death tore away at him, and he blanked out the memory until its impact was gone.
* MomentKiller: "The Lodger". Almost all of it.
* MoneyToThrowAway: The Doctor very hastily attempting to pay rent.
-->'''Doctor:''' That's probably a lot. It looks like a lot doesn't it? I can never tell.
* MotorMouth: Constantly asks himself questions and tries to analyse situations by rapid-fire deduction, then stumbles over his own thoughts and keeps himself talking with more questions until he reaches an answer, which in turn leads to more questions.
* NakedFirstImpression: The first time he meets Craig's friend Sophie, he's wearing nothing but a towel. The first time he meets Clara's family, he's only wearing holographic clothes, (which they can't see).
* NakedPeopleAreFunny: He has no nudity taboo, and really doesn't care that other people do.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Invoked by River Song in "A Good Man Goes To War", when she tells him his name became known as "Mighty Warrior" to the Gamma Forest.
-->'''River''': The man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name.
* NiceHat:
** Fezzes are cool.
*** He becomes obsessed with fezzes starting in "The Big Bang."
---->'''River:''' What in the name of ''sanity'' have you got on your ''head?!''\\
'''Eleventh Doctor:''' It's a fez. I wear a fez now. [[CatchPhrase Fezzes are cool]].\\
''[Amy throws the hat and River shoots it]''
*** The fez returns a few more times. Apparently whenever Amy and River aren't around to take it off him, one of his first priorities is to obtain a fez. He demanded one from the Secret Service. He steals one from U.N.I.T.
---->'''Clara:''' One day, you could just walk past a fez.\\
'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Hah! Never going to happen!
** Top hats are cool.
*** He wears a spiffy top hat at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang "The Big Bang"]], and the same outfit a few more times in "Night and the Doctor". Then in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler "Let's Kill Hitler"]], he completes the outfit with a cane. [[RunningGag River shoots the hat]] ''[[ImprobableAimingSkills off his head]]''.
*** Serious mourning requires top hats.
** Tricorner hats are cool. He manages to acquire a pirate tricorner briefly, in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E3TheCurseOfTheBlackSpot The Curse of the Black Spot]]".
** Stetsons are cool. He wears a Stetson in series 6 which River also shoots off his head. ItWasAGift from Craig.
** Bowlers are cool. Series 7 sees him acquiring a bowler hat simply by being in the vicinity of [[Series/TheAvengers Dame Diana Rigg]].
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** He inadverently helped restore the Daleks to power. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks Victory indeed.]]
** At the end of "A Good Man Goes to War", River implies that his whole ''career'' is this because he raises more enemies against himself and his loved ones with every new display of fearsomeness. This theme continues in "Asylum of the Daleks".
** Again in "The Girl Who Waited" where he doesn't bother to check that there's a plague on the planet they land, and his attempts to save Amy just end up with creating a second, older and bitter Amy. [[WhatTheHellHero Rory calls him out on this.]] ''Hard.''
* TheNicknamer: Particularly towards his prior incarnations. Ten, ever the adult, responded by bestowing upon him the name "Chinny."
-->'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Yes! Brilliant! I demand to be incarcerated in the Tower of London along with my co-conspirators Sandshoes and Grandad.\\
'''War Doctor:''' Grandad?\\
'''Tenth Doctor:''' They're ''not'' sandshoes!\\
'''War Doctor:''' Yes they are.
* NightmareFetishist: Maybe not to the extent of Ten, but his first reaction upon being surrounded by pale creepy girls with fangs who cast no reflections is one of utter glee. Also, "Dinosaurs! ''On a spaceship!''"
* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: Particularly when it comes to Craig. When surrounded by a legion of very scary Cybermen, the Doctor's first instinct is to distract Craig... by wrapping himself around him and trying to kiss him. It doesn't work. He also mercilessly teases Rory -- pinching his cheeks, slapping his face and [[HoYay randomly kissing him on the mouth]] when he's excited. (Rory is not amused.) He does, however, realise that he needs to ask for Rory's permission whenever he wants to give Amy a SecurityCling hug.
* NoSocialSkills: This incarnation is pretty clueless about human social customs, although he tends to wisen up easily when the situation is grave.
* NotSoImaginaryFriend: How he first appeared to Amy when she was a child. Lampshaded at Amy and Rory's wedding:
-->"Hello everyone! I'm Amy's imaginary friend. But I came anyway."
* ObfuscatingInsanity: Tied directly into his CloudCuckooLander status.
-->'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Sorry. Checking all the water in this area. ''[leans in close]'' There's an escaped fish ''[[[NoseTapping taps nose]]]''.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Certainly goes without saying for a Doctor, but explicitly special note goes to Eleven. Not only did he look younger than Five, he's ''much'' older at that point in his life. On top of that, it's pretty clear that he spent more time in this regeneration than any of the others (except perhaps the War Doctor), lasting anywhere between three and ten centuries depending on whether or not he lied about his age at certain points.
* OneManArmy:
** Mentioned as early as [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels "The Time of Angels"]]:
--->'''Father Octavian:''' You promised me an army, Doctor Song.\\
'''River:''' I promised you the ''equivalent'' of an army. This is the Doctor.
** In "The Time of the Doctor", for [[TrainingThePeacefulVillagers the most part]], the Siege of Trenzalore has the Doctor acting as this for centuries.
* OneOfTheKids: He's ''amazing'' with children, and really loves playing with them. "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" had him remodeling an entire house into a playground paradise just to give two kids a happy Christmas. Other episodes show him hanging out in toy shops and goofing around with handpuppets just for the sheer heck of it. And he spends his time at Amy's and Rory's house playing Wii sports. He gets along extremely well with babies, too.
** Best exemplified in "[[{{Recap/DoctorWho2010CSAChristmasCarol}} A Christmas Carol]]" when the psychic paper fails to say that the Doctor is "universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult" because that lie is just too big.
** This is painfully justified by one terrible truth: Eleven can't stand the sound of children crying. And for one reason above all others. He was traumatized by the apparent deaths of '''2.47 billion''' children on Gallifrey when he ended the Time War. Ten, being the hero type, used it to bolster his resolve to protect the universe. Come 200 years later, Eleven was tired of being the hero and despised talk of death, facing his own mortality and losing Amy and Rory. He grieved so badly he decided to erase the statistic from his head just so it wouldn't haunt him. Luckily, he ended up saving all those children instead.
*** And in the end, he spent centuries more defending the village of Christmas so that generations of children could live on, becoming their guardian who loved every one of them. And they loved him back. 300 years into his stay, he had acquired hundreds of crayon drawings (one which explicitly said "I LOVE YOU") and a puppet show in his honour.
* OutOfContinues: The [=10th Doctor=] dipped into his own reserve when he created the meta-crisis Doctor. With the emergence of the hitherto-unknown War Doctor, that makes thirteen. [[DefiedTrope Then the Time Lords give him a new regeneration cycle in his final regular appearance.]]
* PlatonicLifePartners: With the exception of River Song, this trope applies to his companions in general.
* PlotRelevantAgeUp: He puts the [=10th=] to shame on this one.
* PhoneCallFromTheDead: Not long before his demise on Trenzalore, he telephones Clara in the near future to express his fear over regenerating and begs her, essentially, not to abandon him in his time of need. Twelve recollects making that call, and when Eleven hears his voice, he moans at becoming an older man again.
-->'''Doctor:''' Goodbye, Clara. [[TearJerker Miss ya.]]
* PopCulturedBadass: Not so much as Ten, but still references Earth pop culture a lot. He's also totally willing to throw himself into new things, gleefully enjoying things like Wii tennis, remote-control helicopters and rap music.
* {{Protectorate}}: Willing to defend his closest friends (especially Clara) and beings in need with great determination.
* RealityWarper: Uses his ability to influence the past (and subsequently the present) very freely, particularly in "The Big Bang" and in "A Christmas Carol". Gets called out on it in the latter episode.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** Gives one to the Daleks in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks "Victory Of The Daleks"]], which doubles as a BadassBoast. However it's revealed [[NiceJobBreakingItHero that was what they wanted]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' You are everything I despise. The worst thing in all creation. I've defeated you. Time and time again, I've defeated you. I sent you back into the Void. I saved the whole of reality from you. I am the Doctor, and you are the Daleks!
** Before another one in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E1AsylumOfTheDaleks "Asylum of the Daleks"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' I thought you'd run out of ways to make me sick. But hello again. You think hatred is beautiful?
* RunningGag: He so desperately wants a fez, as he mentions and wears one in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2010CSAChristmasCarol A Christmas Carol]]", and he demands one from ''the Secret Service'' in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut The Impossible Astronaut]]". Even when he survives the second Big Bang and begins his rewind in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang "The Big Bang"]], one of his first thoughts is his desire to buy a new fez. [[NiceHat Hats]] in general are a running theme.
-->'''Clara:''' Someday, you could just walk past a fez.\\
'''The Doctor:''' Ha! ''Never'' going to happen!
* SadClown: A major reason for why he's so cheery and wacky at face value is his effort to forget or suppress the constant reminders of his DarkAndTroubledPast. When the Eleventh gets sad, or worse yet, angry, you really start doubting whether he's just the {{manchild}} that he pretends to be, and not a man on the run from his grief and feelings of guilt. When he loses the Ponds, he goes into such a major depression that the happiest expression you can get out of him is a melancholic, shy smile. He eventually recovers some of his old jokey habits when he gets better, but he's definitely a somewhat changed man by then...
* SecurityCling:
** The Eleventh Doctor and Amy have a variation. Because Amy's story is one traumatic BreakTheCutie moment after another, the Doctor develops a habit of clinging tightly to her and rubbing her back while delivering each new piece of bad news. Asking permission from Rory every time, of course.
** He's very affectionate and comforting to Clara, even in moments where she probably isn't as afraid as he thinks she is. A minor reversal of the trope occurs between him and her in "The Day of the Doctor". After their bond has strengthened between "The Name of the Doctor" and "The Day of the Doctor", Clara has grown to become the Doctor's [[TheConfidant confidant]], to the point that when a Time Lord painting of Gallifrey's destruction is revealed, all of his sorrow, fear, and regret about his actions resurfaces, resulting in his slowly grabbing Clara's hand for support. The slight motion is [[FriendshipMoment enough to notify Clara that the Doctor isn't doing so well]].
* SherlockScan: Eleven does this occasionally, most notably in "The Beast Below" and "A Christmas Carol". Not surprising, considering the executive producer is ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' co-creator Creator/StevenMoffat. Later parodied in "The Snowmen", when he pretends to be Franchise/SherlockHolmes.
* ShirtlessScene:
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]]. Almost a case of [[InnocentFanserviceGirl Innocent Fanservice Guy]], as Eleven only turned around and told Amy and Rory to look away if it bothered them. (Rory did. Amy did not.)
** Much like [[Creator/DavidTennant the Tenth Doctor]] in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd "Journey's End"]], [[Creator/MattSmith the Eleventh Doctor]] gets a naked scene in [[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor his final episode.]]
* ShowerScene: To add to the ShirtlessScene above, Eleven gets [[{{Fanservice}} a shower scene, complete with shower singing and three minutes in nothing but a towel]] in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E11TheLodger The Lodger]]". The Third Doctor had a similar gratuitous ShowerScene (with just a bit ''more'' nudity, in fact) in his first episode.
* SkewedPriorities: Best shown in "Asylum of the Daleks", where he's clearly more worried about Amy and Rory's marital problems than the fact he happens to be slap-dab in the middle of the Parliament of the ''Daleks'' and is surrounded by an ArmyOfTheAges. He explains that he thinks best when he's multitasking.
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Acquires Amy's reading glasses mid-way through Series 7, a few hundred years into this incarnation. One of the very few Doctors to actually ''need'' them -- the First Doctor had similar glasses, but preferred to use a monocle at times (which Eleven is also seen using).
* SociallyAwkwardHero: More scatterbrained than most previous incarnations (though still not quite as much as Four), and quite socially awkward as a result. Occasionally on purpose, because he ''really'' doesn't want to deal with Amy all the time.
-->'''Doctor:''' RORY! SHE'S HAVING AN EMOTION!
* {{Squee}}: Makes ''actual'' squee noises when River Song finally reveals who she is. Then takes another long look at her and makes a few more.
* StayInTheKitchen:
** The Eleventh Doctor seems particularly protective of Amy and is frequently given to ordering her to [[WaitHere stay in the TARDIS]]. Naturally, she rarely listens.
** Does this even more so with Clara; he's seen her die twice now, even besides the fact that he lost Amy and Rory. However, Clara is slightly more willing to obey his commands to stay where she is, much to his shock.
* StepfordSmiler:
** It became more and more obvious ever since [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice "Amy's Choice"]], and got focused on especially in series 6. He was approaching the date of his death, and knew it. Matt Smith's thoughts on him make it even more clear:
--->'''Matt Smith:''' That’s what interests me about the Doctor because, actually, look at the blood on the man’s hands. 900 years, countless very selfish choices, and he's literally blown planets up. His own race, you know, that’s all on his hands. Which is why I think he has to make silly jokes and wear a fez. Because if he didn’t, he'd hang himself.
** Lampshaded in the [=50th=] Anniversary Special. As the three Doctors [[LockedInARoom bicker with each other in the Tower of London]], Eleven chuckles that the jail sounds exactly like the inside of his own head.
* StupidSexyFriend: Has a bit of a problem with this late in his life [[ShipTease when it comes to Clara]]. Though his mild crush on her is subverted by the fact that the attraction [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe is more circumstance and personality-related]] than looks-related. His following incarnation off-handedly admits that it was a mistake on his part and that he'll definitely stick to a BetterAsFriends relationship when it comes to the two of them. Subsequent event will contradict this statement.
* SucksAtDancing: This Doctor should ''never'' be let near a dance floor. The ending of "The Big Bang" is solid proof of this lack of dance skills.
* SummonBiggerFish: Eleven becomes intensely protective of his humans after a few centuries, and as a result, is much quicker than any previous Doctor in calling UNIT for help and happily working together with them.
* TalkativeLoon: You thought Ten was bad!
* TangledFamilyTree: From late series 6 onwards. Amy and Rory are together and have a daughter, Melody, who was named after their childhood best friend, Melody. Amy, however, fancies the Doctor and forces him into a kiss early on. Melody turns out to be River Song, who eventually marries the Doctor and is ''also'' Amy's and Rory's best friend Melody, accidentally named after herself. On top of that, Melody's second mother is the TARDIS, who considers herself married to the Doctor and has a rather romantic (as well as biologically symbiotic) relationship with him. Things get more complicated when Amy accidentally marries Henry VIII in a throwaway gag -- because the Doctor, rather briefly, married Queen Elizabeth I, who happens to be Henry VIII's daughter, making her simultaneously his biological mother-in-law ''and'' his step-mother-in-law. And in the middle of all that, the Doctor starts fancying Rory a bit and snogs him for no reason.
* TeamDad: He even refers to Amy and Rory as "the kids", never mind that they eventually become his parents-in-law.
* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: As a lodger, he proves to be a handful. Justified in that he's ''very busy'' saving the universe, and can only do so out of that specific house.
* TorturePorn: "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" had him burned alive, with his hand fused to his face, stumbling around mad with pain. That timeline got reset, but the very next episode, "The Crimson Horror", upped the ante by having him shackled up as a "monster" and almost completely paralysed, for ''weeks''.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood:
** He seems to have a fondness for jammy dodgers, used memorably in [[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks}} "Victory of the Daleks"]]. Mentioned again in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut "The Impossible Astronaut"]] when he asks the Secret Service for some, and in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E9NightTerrors "Night Terrors"]] when he asks if there's any whilst making tea. He leaves a whole plate of them for Clara in "The Bells of Saint John". Matt Smith admitted that jammy dodgers actually are his favorite food.
** There's also fish fingers and custard. Amy uses it as a sort of TrustPassword in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut "The Impossible Astronaut"]], and the TARDIS voice interface uses it to rally him in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler "Let's Kill Hitler"]].
** During "The Time of the Doctor", after being "reset" by his new regeneration cycle, the Eleventh Doctor is shown to have whipped up some fish fingers and custard, before he got around to changing his face into that of the Twelfth Doctor. It wound up being his last meal.
* TragicBromance: With Amy and Rory.
* TragicDream: He discovers that Gallifrey is still out there somewhere and is inspired to search for it... but this incarnation of the Doctor never gets home. He ends up in close proximity - literally ''feet away'' - to it for ''centuries'', but he can't let it out or he'll start the Time War again.
* TragicKeepsake: Amy Pond's reading glasses, the only thing of hers left behind when she deliberately lets a Weeping Angel whisk her to past New York to be with Rory.
* TranquilFury: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The more tranquil, the more furious.]]
* TricksterMentor: Likes to dole out [[SecretTestOfCharacter Secret Tests of Character]].
* {{Troll}}: Often played in combination with his TricksterMentor tendencies, where he precedes to annoy his enemies while defeating them. He also likes to do this with his companions and allies, usually through [[TheNicknamer teasing nicknames]].
* {{Tsundere}}: Sweet version towards River in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels "The Time of Angels"]] and ''especially'' near the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone "Flesh and Stone"]]. Probably justified as when he's angriest is when he's worried about Amy.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Has this trope perfected at times. Is very calm about running into himself on occasion.
* VikingFuneral: His last testament instructs Rory and Amy to perform one. A Time Lord's remains are way too valuable to leave unattended on a hapless planet. Subverted when the Doctor is revealed to still be alive, and protected from the fire.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Rory, where half of their interaction revolves around trying to out-snark the other.
** He also ends up in this relationship with Ten and the War Doctor in the 50th anniversary special.
* WaistcoatOfStyle: Takes to wearing them under his BadassLongcoat in the second half of series 7.
* WhatTheHellHero: Gets this from Ten when he admits he [[ButForMeItWasTuesday forgot how many children there were on Gallifrey when he took out the Time Lords]]. Clara also calls him out on his willful glossing over of the events of the Time War and his fatalism about not being able to change anything about it, despite how often he opens up to her about his traumas in private. She then gives him a mild, but determined DareToBeBadass speech. Eleventh caves in, takes the Tenth's and Clara's words at heart and decides that saving Gallifrey might still be worth a shot, despite how narrowly possible it appears.
* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry: Eleven keeps his darker emotions very carefully restrained... most of the time. Just as his warnings have increased in multitude, so has his wrath. And this wrath hits its threshold when he faces his final battle.
[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doc11_5173.png]]
->'''Debut:''' "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour The Eleventh Hour]]"
->'''Played by:''' Creator/MattSmith (2010–2013, 2014)[[note]]He was the Doctor from New Years Day 2010 to Christmas Day 2013 and returned for a brief cameo in 2014 for Creator/PeterCapaldi's first full episode as the Doctor[[/note]]
-->''"There's something you better understand about me, because it's important and one day your life may depend on it: I am ''definitely'' a madman with a box!"''
The fairy tale wizard who sorts out problems with a wave of his magic wand. Had a distinct air of an old professor in a young man's body, trying in vain to blend in with his younger, more sociable companions. Frequently tripping over his own tangled thoughts, words and limbs, Eleven was [[CloudCuckooLander definitely a lot more alien]] than many other incarnations. He seemed overjoyed at his unexpected youth, hopping and skipping all over the place regardless of the seriousness of the situation. Like his predecessor, however, scratch the surface and you would find a secretive old man who was very liable to snap into TranquilFury mode if you hurt him.
Creator/MattSmith was the youngest Doctor to date: only 26 when cast, three years younger than previous record-holder Creator/PeterDavison.
----
* AbandonedCatchphrase: The Eleventh Doctor's "Geronimo!" is a downplayed case; he certainly mentions it most in his first season and it's one of his least recurring quirks. It does get a few nods later on, including "The Day of The Doctor."
* AbsentMindedProfessor: This Doctor tends to be very flighty at times. Most notably in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E11TheLodger "The Lodger"]], when he has to pretend to be a normal human while being a bit distracted by having to save the universe. His rather [[AwesomeAnachronisticApparel out of date clothes]] also [[AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance evoke]] this.
* AccidentalMarriage: The MarilynMonroe incident.
* AccidentalPervert: Best shown by his reaction to finding a woman in the changing room, while he was looking for Cybermats.
--> '''Doctor''': Sorry madam... ''try that dress in red!''
* AccidentalProposal: Accidentally asks River to marry him on two separate occasions.
* {{Adorkable}}: Is extremely awkward, and equally endearing because of it. A particularly good example is in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]] where he tries to be cool, and fails epically.
--> '''The Doctor''': Who da man?\\
(''Complete silence from Amy and Rory'')\\
'''The Doctor''': Oh it's... I'm never saying that again, fine!
* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: Very fond of kissing his companions' foreheads, much like Three used to do with Jo. Also sometimes very fond of kissing them square on the mouth when he's really excited, much like Eight used to do -- regardless of their gender. Or sexuality. Or marital status.
* AllergicToRoutine: Linear time doesn't agree with him, and he actively hates having to wait for things in chronological order, or having to bother remembering the natural order of centuries when talking to humans. In "The Power of Three", we see that just ''sitting still'' on a planet for a few days annoys him more than anything, leading him to manically rush off, paint Amy and Rory's fence, kick-up a football ''five million'' times (or so he claims) and cut the grass... in about an hour. When he sees Amy’s life in the dullest village known to man he wonders what they do to stave off the self-harm.
** And while waiting for Van Gogh to finish a painting:
--> '''Doctor:''' Is this how time normally passes? Reaaaally slowly, in the right order?
* AmbiguouslyBi: Eleven is the first Doctor to actively snog a male companion on the show. ([[ThrowItIn Not that it was scripted or anything.]]) Creator/StevenMoffat has even explicitly stated that the Doctor doesn't ''care'' about words like "gay" or "straight", and has some trouble grasping what they mean.
** A great throwaway example of this shows up in "Let's Kill Hitler" when he tells Mels that he danced with everyone at Rory and Amy's wedding, not seeming to understand why the men were "a bit shy."
* AnArmAndALeg: He apparently acquires a wooden leg on Trenzalore.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: When pressed, Eleven claims he never bothered to count how many children supposedly died at his hands during the Time War. Ten neatly reveals this to be a lie ("2.47 billion") and, when Eleven still insists he doesn't remember, can only look on with horror and revulsion.
-->'''[=10th Doctor=]:''' 400 years? Is that all it takes?!\\
'''[=11th Doctor=]:''' ''[coldly]'' I moved on.\\
'''[=10th Doctor=]''': ''[voice cracks]'' WHERE? Where could you be now, that you forget something like ''that?!''
* AttendingYourOwnFuneral: A variant. The Doctor visits his own grave on the fields of Trenzalore.
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: He's on about the same level as Eight, and gets pulled off-topic very often.
-->'''Doctor:''' Ooh, now, what's this? Now, I love this, a big flashy lighty thing! That's what brought me here. Big flashy lighty things have got me written all over them. Not actually. Give me time. And a crayon.
* AttentionWhore: The one time nobody's paying attention to him, he gets annoyed.
-->'''Doctor:''' I'm being extremely clever up here and there's no one to stand around looking impressed. What's the point in having you all?
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: The Doctor's SherlockScan in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]], [[Recap/DoctorWho2010CSAChristmasCarol "A Christmas Carol"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler "Let's Kill Hitler"]].
* BabyLanguage: The Doctor speaks everything, and that includes Baby.
* BackToBackBadasses: With River when fighting a crowd of Silent.
* BadassArmy: Can assemble an impressive one.
* BadassBeard: Grows two during the premiere and finale of series six after being locked up for months. He shaves soon after being released.
* BadassBoast: Eleven seems quite fond of these.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' Hello. [[MyNameIsInigoMontoya I'm the Doctor.]] [[PrepareToDie Basically... run.]]
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels "The Time of Angels"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' There's one thing you never put in a trap if you're smart. If you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow there's one thing you never ''ever'' put in a trap: '''''Me.'''''
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]]:
--->'''Doctor:''' Look at me! No plan, no backup, no weapons worth a damn. Oh, and something else I don't have. [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Anything. To. Lose!]] So, if you're sitting up there in your silly little spaceship with all your silly little guns, and you've got any plans on taking the Pandorica, tonight, just remember who's standing in your way. Remember every black day I ever stopped you, and then, [[LargeHam AAAAAND THEN]]... do the ''smart'' thing. Let somebody else try first.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife "The Doctor's Wife"]].
--->'''House:''' Fear me. I've killed ''hundreds'' of Time Lords!\\
'''The Doctor:''' Fear me. [[ThreatBackfire I've killed all of them]].
** In the same episode:
--->'''The Doctor:''' You gave me hope and then took it away. That's enough to make anyone dangerous. ''God knows'' what it will do to me. Basically... RUN!
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar "A Good Man Goes to War"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E13TheWeddingOfRiverSong "The Wedding of River Song"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' Imagine you were dying and a long way from home and in terrible pain. And just when you think it couldn't get any worse, you look up and see the face of [[ArchEnemy the devil himself]]... Hello, Dalek.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E7TheRingsOfAkhaten "The Rings of Akhaten"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' I walked away from the Last Great Time War. I marked the passing of the Time Lords. I saw the birth of the universe and I watched as time ran out, ''moment by moment'', until nothing remained. ''No'' time. ''No'' space. ''Just me!'' I've walked in universes where the laws of ''physics'' were devised by the mind of a '''''MAD... MAN'''''. I've watched universes ''freeze'' and creations ''burn''. I have seen things you wouldn't believe. ''I have lost things you'll never understand!'' And I know things. Secrets that must never be told. Knowledge that must never be spoken. ''Knowledge that will make parasite gods BLAZE!'' '''''SO COME OOOOON THEN! TAKE IT! TAKE IT ALL, BABY! HAVE IT! YOU HAVE IT ALL!'''''
** And the boast to top them all, [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "The Day of the Doctor"]]:
--->'''War Doctor:''' There's [[DarkestHour still a billion billion Daleks up there attacking]].\\
'''11th Doctor:''' Yeah, yeah, there is...\\
'''10th Doctor:''' [[FinishingEachOthersSentences ...but there's something those billion billion Daleks don't know...]]\\
'''11th Doctor:''' ...[[FinishingEachOthersSentences 'cause if they did, they'd probably send for]] '''[[ScrewThisImOuttaHere reinforcements!]]'''\\
'''Clara:''' What? What don't they know??\\
'''11th Doctor:''' Heh! This time, there's ''three'' of us.
** His response to Tasha Lem, who reveals a breakaway sect of the Papal Mainframe once sent a hitman (River) to kill him. Eleven scoffs, "''Totally'' married her."
** Just as he starts his regeneration in [[DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor "The Time of the Doctor"]], he delivers the boast to silence all the others.
--->'''Dalek Cruiser:''' [[AC:You are dying, Doctor.]]\\
'''The Doctor:''' [[YouSeeImDying Yes, I'm dying. You've been trying to kill me for centuries, and here I am, dying of old age]]. [[SarcasmMode If you want something done, do it yourself]].\\
'''Dalek Cruiser:''' [[AC:You will die, and the Time Lords will never return.]]\\
'''The Doctor:''' You still can't work up the courage to shoot me, can you? You're still worried I've got something up my sleeve! Well, you knock yourselves out, boys. I've got nothing this time.\\
(''Crack opens in the sky and golden regeneration energy flies into the Doctor's mouth.'')\\
'''Dalek Cruiser:''' [[AC:[[PreMortemOneLiner You will die now, Doctor. This is the end of you.]] The rules of regeneration are known. You have expended all your lives.]]\\
'''The Doctor:''' Sorry? What did you say? Did you mention ''the rules?'' Now, listen... bit of advice. Tell me the truth, if you think you know it. Lay down the law, if you're feeling brave. But, Daleks, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers Never. Ever! TELL ME THE RULES!]]\\
'''Dalek Cruiser:''' ''[[AC:[[OhCrap Emergency! Emergency! The Doctor is regenerating! The Doctor is regenerating!]]]]''\\
'''The Doctor:''' Oh look at this, regeneration number 13! We're breaking some serious science here boys! I'll tell ya what! It's gonna be a whopper!!\\
'''Dalek Cruiser:''' [[AC:Exterminate! Exterminate the Doctor!]]\\
'''The Doctor:''' You think you can stop me now Daleks?! IF YOU WANT MY LIFE, '''COME. AND. GET IT!''' (''starts regenerating, destroying all the Daleks'') Haha! LOVE FROM GALLIFREY, BOYS!
* BadassBookworm: Reading is one of his favorite hobbies, and he dislikes being disturbed while doing so.
* BadassFamily: By the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E13TheWeddingOfRiverSong The Wedding of River Song]]", he's married to River, and Amy and Rory are his in laws.
* BadassFingersnap: By this point, he only needs to snap his fingers to open the doors of the TARDIS. (He could presumably use this to summon it too, as seen in some of the DW comics.)
* BadassGrandpa: Being over 1000 years old, he's technically ''always'' this ([[Characters/DoctorWhoClassicSeriesCompanions and in a literal sense to boot]]). But becomes a more exemplified example during his several hundred years guarding the town of Christmas. He needs a cane to get around, but he's still got the fire.
* BadassLongcoat: Starts wearing an awesome, suitably long, green coat as of "[[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler}} Let's Kill Hitler]]". He then starts wearing a purple one as a permanent part of his new outfit in Series 7.
* BattleCouple: With River.
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Apparently he's the inspiration for [[EenieMeenieMinyMoai the Easter Island statues]].
* BerserkButton:
** Don't threaten or hurt ''anyone'' the Doctor's taken a liking to. For example:
*** When Amy is kidnapped in "Good Man Goes To War", the Doctor goes out of his way to humiliate the captor.
---->'''The Doctor:''' Those words. [[NeverLiveItDown "Run away." I want you to be famous for those exact words.]] I want people to call you Colonel Run-Away. I want [[HumiliationConga children laughing outside your door 'cos they've found the house of Colonel Run-Away]]. And when people come to you and ask you if trying to get to me through '''the people I love''' is in any way a good idea… [[FateWorseThanDeath I want you to tell them your name.]]
*** Or when The Weeping Angels kill the marine he liked, Bob, and then start taunting him with it, he wipes the Angels from existence by the end of "Flesh and Stone".
*** Or when he finds out House killed Time Lords who were once his very close friends in "The Doctor's Wife".
----> '''Doctor''': ''[[[TranquilFury quietly]]]'' [[YouAreNotAlone You gave me hope]] and then [[LastOfHisKind took it all away]]. That would make ''anyone'' dangerous, God knows what it would do to ''me!'' Basically... '''''RUN!'''''
*** Or his constant companion, the TARDIS, as the Silence and House learned when he had them brutally killed.
** The Last Great Time War is also still a major BerserkButton. In "A Town Called Mercy", the Doctor flies into a violent rage and tries to have a man who [[IDidWhatIHadToDo did what he had to do]] in a bloody war, killed by throwing him out of the town at gunpoint into the jaws of an enemy. Only Amy pulling WhatTheHellHero makes the Doctor stop.
* BettyAndVeronica: The Veronica to Rory's Betty for Amy's affections.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: While the Eleventh is generally a silly and giddy character, you still don't want to piss him off.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks "Victory of the Daleks"]]: The Doctor goes after a Dalek with a ''[[WrenchWhack Wrench]]'' after being driven over the edge by the Daleks' FalseFriend gambit.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone "Flesh and Stone"]]: The Doctor erases every Weeping Angel on the planet from existence.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E2DayOfTheMoon "Day of the Moon"]]: As punishment for [[BerserkButton kidnapping Amy]], screwing with humanity's development over centuries and all the people who died because of their actions over Series 5, the Doctor [[KillEmAll arranges the Silence's genocide]].
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife "The Doctor's Wife"]]: The Doctor's reaction to learning that [[EldritchAbomination House]] has lured hundreds of Time Lords to their death, consumed their [=TARDISes=] and used Time Lord corpses to repair his PeoplePuppets; but the final clincher is making the Doctor think there were ''other'' survivors from the Time War. He lets the TARDIS finish House off by devouring him, smiling as he dies screaming.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar "A Good Man Goes to War"]]: The Doctor blows up an ''entire legion'' of Cyberships just to get Amy's location. He then forces the Colonel leading the forces who took Amy to tell his troops to "run away", just to humiliate the man.
--->'''The Doctor:''' Good men don't need rules. Today is ''not'' the day to find out why I have ''so many''.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E2DinosaursOnASpaceship "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"]]: As punishment for massacring all the Silurians aboard the ark, the Doctor leaves Solomon to die on an out of control ship right before it gets hit by a couple of nukes.
--->'''The Doctor:''' Did the Silurians beg you to stop? Look Solomon. The missiles. See them shine, see how valuable they are? And they're all yours.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E3ATownCalledMercy "A Town Called Mercy"]]: Tries to force Kahler-Jex at gunpoint to walk to his death. What's really disturbing about this is that Kahler-Jex is more of an AntiVillain than anything else. He just reminds the Doctor too much of everything the Doctor hates about himself. It takes Amy with a gun to stop him.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: He can be quite the goofball, but at the end of the day he's still the same OneManArmy that's saved the universe an endless number of times. He is also ''much'' more casual about killing off villains than 9 or 10 were.
* BigDamnKiss: After over 700 years of deep mutual love, he finally gets to kiss the TARDIS. Who promptly bites him on the ear.
** He shares some very Big Damn Kisses with River Song as well. And he snogs Rory Williams out of sheer joy at one point. With Amy Pond having forced him into a kiss early on, he's now made out with the whole family -- River and all three of her parents.
** Clara wasted no time in getting in on the action. The Doctor didn't quite agree with the idea.
** He dips and kisses Jenny Flint after she saves his life. Lesbian, married Jenny Flint. It earns him a hard slap to the face.
* BigEntrance: With some frequency, notably through a chimney in "The Christmas Carol":
-->'''Doctor:''' Ah. Yes. Blimey. Sorry. Christmas Eve on a rooftop, saw a chimney, my whole brain just went: "What the hell!"
* BigShutUp: Does this a lot. To villains, to his companions, even to inanimate objects.
* BizarreTasteInFood: The Eleventh Doctor's taste for fish sticks dipped in custard. The first time he tried them post-regeneration trauma was playing havoc with his taste buds, but he's also seen enjoying them in later episodes, such as "The Power of Three".
* BookEnds: Not to this incarnation, but to his whole life. As he ages in "The Time of the Doctor," he starts to look less like Eleven and more like Hartnell's original incarnation. When he finally regenerates, he's regenerated into an eccentric older man with no idea how to pilot the very TARDIS he's owned as long as the viewers have known him.
** For a proper bookend, towards the end of his introductory episode, he puts on a bowtie and at literally, the final seconds of his life, he undoes it and let it drop to the floor.
** For another, his first meal in this incarnation was fish fingers and custard. It's also his last.
* BorrowedCatchphrase:
** Borrows River Song's in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler "Let's Kill Hitler"]], where he states it to River Song when she meets him for the first time and [[StableTimeLoop leads her to adopt the phrase to begin with]]. He also states it to the Tenth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "The Day of the Doctor"]].
--->'''Doctor''': Spoilers.
** He also likes to use Tenth's phrase of describing things as "Timey Wimey". Which is lampshaded by the Tenth Doctor when they meet in [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "The Day of the Doctor"]].
--->'''War Doctor''' (''in disbelief''): Timey Wimey?\\
'''10th Doctor''': [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial I've - I've no idea where he picks that stuff up]].
** Borrows one of the Master's in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E12ClosingTime "Closing Time"]], when he realises the "[[PlayingPossum deactivated]]" Cybermat is attempting to reboot itself ''again''. Borrows it once again in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E6TheBellsOfSaintJohn "The Bells of Saint John"]] when he's reversing Clara's upload into the data-cloud.
--->'''Doctor''': Oh no you ''don't!''
* BowtiesAreCool: The TropeNamer. In his first season, he tends to wear blue bowties in the past, and red ones when visiting the future.
-->'''The Doctor:''' Oi! Eyes on the tie. Look at me. I wear it and I don't care. Trust me?\\
'''Boy:''' Yes.\\
'''The Doctor:''' That's why it's cool.
* BrutalHonesty:
** Bluntly tells Amelia in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone "Flesh and Stone"]] that she's dying of Weeping Angel infestation.
** And Oswin in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E1AsylumOfTheDaleks "Asylum of the Daleks"]] that [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie she was a Dalek the whole time]].
** He even explicitly criticizes the idea of the white lie.
--->'''The Doctor:''' [[SarcasmMode Oh yes, because if we lie to her it'll make her all better!]]
** He isn't even capable of lying about the most minor issues, as evidenced by this encounter with Craig:
--->'''The Doctor:''' [[ContinuityNod Oh, you've redecorated! I don't like it!]]
* BuffySpeak: "Big flashy lighty thing", "blue boringers", "uppy-downy stuff in a big blue box", among others. The War Doctor mocks him for it extensively and -- correctly -- surmises it's Eleven's way of trying to forget how harsh everything around him can be.
* TheCameo: In "Deep Breath".
* CatchPhrase: Eleven ''loves'' catchphrases, and has a lot of fun inventing new ones.
** "Blimey."
** "Geronimo!".
** "{{Bowties are cool}}". Morphs into: "It's an X. I wear an X now. Xs are cool." Or just: [[MadLibsCatchPhrase Xs are cool]]. The one exception to this is in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E6TheBellsOfSaintJohn "The Bells of Saint John"]]. "Monks are not cool!"
** The occasional utterance of "It's a thing...", usually referring to one of his ''many'' {{Indy Ploy}}s.
** "It's an X. Love an X."
** "Come along Pond(s)!" and variations such as "Come along, Bitey!" -- to a ''Cybermat''.
** Much like Ten's PreemptiveApology, Eleven's "Trust me" crops up now and again.
** "Imagine X... [[{{Dissimile}} but don't, because it's nothing like that.]]"
** "Rubbish."
** A preemptive "Shut up!"
** "That's new!"
** "Yowza!"
** (when answering the phone) "Hello, the TARDIS!"
* CharacterDevelopment: After his Ponds are gone, Eleven becomes ''much'' more careful and protective of people around him, and starts acting much older. He's still a complete ManChild in Series 7, but one who extensively prepares, calculates and calls for backup when needed.
* CharacterTics:
** [[EverythingIsBetterWithSpinning Spinning a whole 270 degrees right in order to simply turn left]] [[note]]And props to Creator/MattSmith for making this look completely natural every time![[/note]].
** Dashing a few steps beyond someone (often a few steps up a flight of stairs) when he approaches them.
** Walking or standing with his arms straight down.
** Generally flailing, doing entirely unrelated stuff with his hands while he's kissing someone.
** Holding up both his index fingers when he explains things (often ''while'' spinning).
** Slouching smugly in a chair when he's talking to a villain.
** Crossing his hearts.
** Shifting his jaw when he's upset.
** Scratching his face when he's utterly perplexed.
-->'''War Doctor:''' Are you capable of speaking without flapping your hands about?\\
'''Eleven:''' ''[gesturing emphatically]'' Yes! [[ByNoIMeanYes No...]]
** Drawing things in the air to arrive at epiphanies.
** [[http://cdn1.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/Neil-Gaiman-The-Doctors-wife.jpg Wringing his hands]] when nervous or when musing things over.
** Being VERY awkward when being kissed.
** Fiddling with his bowtie before embarking on a course of action and/or after arguing with someone.
** Repeating words over and over when flustered, often changing their tone each time "Yes yes yes of course yes of course!" etc.
** Eleven also tends to snap his fingers before pointing at someone or something.
* CheckAndMate: Loves making these speeches.
* ChickMagnet: In a completely [[{{Adorkable}} different]] way than Ten: half of the time he appears to be completely oblivious to people hitting on him.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: To the point where he nearly has a meltdown in "Closing Time" since he desperately wants to leave and not investigate the strange things that are happening.
-->'''Doctor''': Not noticing, just going! Not noticing, just ''going!'' Not noticing, just '''going!'''
* CloudCuckooLander: Frequently referred to as a "mad man", even by himself.
* ComfortingComforter: After having rescued her from an attack by the episode's antagonists, he gently tucks an exhausted and sleeping Clara into bed and leaves her a plate of jammy dodgers in "The Bells of Saint John".
* CompanionCube: In "The Time of the Doctor", he adopts a severed Cyberman head (without any organic bits) as a companion, which he dubs "Handles". It ends up keeping him company for the first few centuries of the Siege of Trenzalore, before eventually "dying" of mechanical failure.
* ConstantlyCurious: Eleven is a real "try anything once" kind of person, and happily throws himself into any kind of new situation.
* ConsummateLiar: "Rule one: the Doctor lies." He ''doesn't'' lie about lying but everything is a yes.
* ContrivedCoincidence: A meta example. Matt Smith is listed as Matt Smith (XI) on the [=IMDb=]. [[note]]This is including all kinds of cast and crew members. Of those eleven, he's only the fourth ''actor''.[[/note]]
* CoolOldGuy:
** Despite how young he looks, he's about a thousand years old. Doesn't stop him from being insanely hyper and completely nuts.
--->'''Doctor:''' Don't let the cool gear fool you, I am getting on a bit.
** Matt Smith has said he tends to play the Eleventh Doctor as ''thinking'' he's a lot cooler than he ''[[{{Adorkable}} actually]]'' is.
* CovertPervert: Paired with a grand helping of guilt, seen as early as "Amy's Choice" (as pointed out by the Dream Lord), in "The Angels Take Manhattan" ("Yowza!" indeed) and "Nightmare in Silver" (where he has some moral issues with how much he's been accidentally noticing Clara's skirts). Eleven generally loves "a bad girl", and delights in flirting with River.
* CreepyGood: Eleven can get tremendously frightening, and is prone to very violent outbursts when he's angry.
* CuddleBug: Loves kissing his companions on their foreheads and giving them random hugs. Defaults to a SecurityCling and backrubs when he has to deliver bad news. Is also the first Doctor since Eight to snog companions for absolutely no reason (although in Rory's case, that wasn't actually in the script -- Creator/MattSmith just has NoSenseOfPersonalSpace).
* CulturedBadass: Loves playing the piano and generally being part of classical culture.
* TheDandy: Sticks to a LimitedWardrobe when he's still with his Ponds, but goes full-on dandy after they leave. His series 7 outfits are inspired by Victorian, Edwardian and Teddy Boy fashion, with plenty of waistcoats, top hats, bowler hats, watch chains and gorgeous coats.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Becomes this after the Ponds die. Afterwards, he becomes more cold and distant, while still retaining the childish nature we all know and love.
* DatingCatwoman: Gets HappilyMarried to a self-professed psychopath raised to assassinate him.
* DeadpanSnarker: Happy chap, but quite capable of dropping the snark when the situation calls for it.
* {{Determinator}}: The Siege of Trenzalore. Multiple enemy fleets parked in orbit vs a small village and the Doctor, becoming a siege that lasts for centuries. Despite being in his [[OutOfContinues supposedly final incarnation]] and having a way out once the TARDIS returns three hundred years into the battle, he still ''does not run''.
* {{Dissimile}}: Used so often it's a CatchPhrase.
-->'''Doctor:''' It's fine, we're entering conceptual space. Imagine a banana, or anything curved. Well, actually, don't, because it's not curved or like a banana. Forget the banana.
* DistressedDude: By the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]] Eleven is shoved inside the Pandorica by the enemy alliance and bolted inside.
* DitzyGenius: He's a HollywoodHacking GadgeteerGenius with AttentionDeficitOohShiny disorder.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Eleven looking for food at young Amelia's house and hating everything is very reminiscent of Tigger's introduction story in WinnieThePooh
* TheDreaded: As River Song states, the Eleventh Doctor is able to make armies turn and run at the sound of his name. In Series 6 this reputation comes back to kick him in the ass, causing him to work on [[DefiedTrope defying]] it in series 7 by slowly erasing himself from every database in the universe.
* DyingAsYourself: Although he lives long enough to die of ''old age'', the regeneration energy coursing through him briefly resets his appearance during his final moments.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: In "The Time of the Doctor", he uses his regeneration energy to take out the Daleks. Let's face it. Eleven wouldn't have gone out any other way.
--> '''Eleven:''' [[LargeHam IF YOU WANT MY LIFE! COME! AND! GET IT!!!!]]
* DysfunctionalFamily: Series 6 has [[http://anongallery.org/img/8286/doctor-who.jpg that awkward moment]] when you get shot by your wife in front of your wife who then tries to shoot your wife. While your best friend is off to the side, pregnant with your wife. That's all the same wife, by the way. Oh, and he's kissed ''all three'' of his wife's parents, one of whom is his ''other'' wife.
** Amy Pond is his mother-in-law twice over. First because he married her daughter, River Song. Second, because Amy married UsefulNotes/HenryVIII, the father of the Doctor's ''other'' wife, [[UsefulNotes/ElizabethI Elizabeth I.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Despite having gone through more personal tragedy than most other incarnations, not to mention his continued trauma from the Time War and over a millennium's worth of self loathing, Eleven has possibly the happiest ending of any incarnation, having saved his Companion and the town he had been defending for centuries, made peace with some of his most bitter enemies, and in his last moments witnessed that not only had he truly saved his people but that the Time Lords were finally showing him gratitude for all he had done by changing history to save him, granting him a brand new regeneration cycle and aiding him in defeating the Daleks once again. The last thing he is sees is his first companion, Amy Pond, calling him "Raggedy Man".
* EleventhHourSuperpower: After being granted a new regeneration cycle by the Time Lords in "The Time of the Doctor", his regeneration proves to be so violent that he's able to use it as a weapon to destroy the Dalek fleet in orbit of Trenzalore.
-->'''Eleventh Doctor''': ''[[PreAsskickingOneLiner Love from Gallifrey, boys!]]''
* EnemyWithout: When his dark side manifests itself as a separate person, it's ''quite'' dark indeed.
* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: Loves stuff that spins. Has a habit of spinning around a little when he goes from one topic to the next. Tends to turn a full 270 degrees to simply go left. As of late 2012, the top of his TARDIS console spins constantly.
* ExiledToTheCouch: Ended up spending a month living with otters while sulking after an argument with River. ("The Caretaker")
* FaceDeathWithDignity: In contrast to his predecessor, Eleven goes into his regeneration completely prepared for it, having already spent long enough in this body to grow old. He's content to deliver one last speech before taking off his signature bowtie and [[GoOutWithASmile going out with one last, sad smile at Clara]].
* FailedASpotCheck: With some frequency. A notable one after Rory very unexpectedly comes back from being erased from the universe:
-->'''The Doctor:''' Hush, Rory. Thinking. Why leave a Cyberman on guard unless it's a Cyberthing in the box but why would they lock up one of their own? Okay, no, not a Cyberthing. But what? What? Oh! Missing something obvious, Rory. Something big. Something right slap in front of me. I can feel it.\\
'''Rory:''' Yeah. I think you probably are.\\
'''The Doctor:''' I'll get it in a minute.
* FakingTheDead: In the Series 6 finale.
* FamousLastWords: "I will always remember when the Doctor was me."
* FateWorseThanDeath: Can dish them out just as well as Ten, though not as frequently. Just ask [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone the Weeping Angels]] or [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar Colonel Run Away]].
* FinalSpeech: He's clearly a different man from before he set foot on Trenzalore, and delivers a haunting Roy Batty speech at the end (which could also be read as Creator/MattSmith letting the fans know not to worry about him, that he will always treasure his time as the Doctor)-- though not without one final, wild hand gesticulation for old-times' sake.
-->'''Eleven:''' It all just disappears, doesn't it? Everything you are. Like breath on a mirror... We all change when you think about it. We're all different people, all through our lives. And that's OK; that's good, you gotta keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be. [[MeaningfulEcho I will not forget one line of this. Not one day]], I swear. I will always remember when the Doctor was me.
* {{Flanderization}}: Though he was always something of a ManChild throughout his run, it is heavily emphasized in his last two seasons. He is first portrayed as more of an immature DeadpanSnarker in series 5, with moments of childlike glee and being good with kids, but can still crack a joke and will still maintain a competent, if not quirky, presence. By series 7, he will often cover his eyes or groan when Amy and Rory kiss, is genuinely confused by innuendos, and acts more like one of the children he encounters than he would have before. Amy even makes jokes about getting him a babysitter by series 7.
* {{Foil}}: Is a dorky, spastic, alien oddball, as opposed to Ten, who beyond being more traditionally cool, was more in tune with "human" tastes and attitudes.
* ForeseeingMyDeath: By series 7, he has a pretty good idea how, when and where his life will one day permanently end (that is, when ''the Doctor'' will finally die, because this is -- or ''was'' -- his final life). When he learns he's finally going there, he starts crying. As if that wasn't traumatising enough yet, he's then forced to become intimately acquainted with his own corpse. By saving Gallifrey in "The Day of the Doctor", however, he enables the Time Lords to change history and grant him a new regeneration cycle in "The Time of the Doctor".
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Amy is sanguine, River is choleric, the Doctor is melancholic and Rory is phlegmatic. When he has Canton with him, Canton is the leukine.
* FriendToAllChildren: Maybe because [[OneOfTheKids he's such a kid himself]], but Eleven is definitely this. Also, he speaks Baby. It's implied that he's fond of children primarily out of recompense of killing all 2.47 billion children on Gallifrey at the end of the Time War... or so he used to believe.
** Best seen in "The Time of the Doctor", where the children of Christmas simply '''adore''' him as both their friend and protector. Even in his last days, Eleven can still be found carving them wooden toys.
* FunPersonified: Really tries to be this, although much of it is a StepfordSmiler facade. Is ''especially'' fun and nice and happy towards Amy after Rory's first death, to the point where she gets suspicious of it.
* FutureMeScaresMe: Every time he runs into a future version of himself, it's absolutely terrifying for him. Seeing himself on his way to take River to the Singing Towers was bad enough; having to watch himself burned to a living husk with his hand fused to his face in "Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS" completely horrified him.
** Inverted when he is overjoyed to meet The Curator and discover that he's still kicking around after Trenzalore.
** In "Deep Breath", the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor indirectly converse over Clara's phone. Eleven is, shall we say, ''nonplussed'' to discover that he's gone gray again. He actually ''groans''.
* TheGadfly: Creator/MattSmith saw "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E1TheTombOfTheCybermen The Tomb of the Cybermen]]" and asked for a similar costume as the Second Doctor, the first incarnation to wear a bowtie. Eleven takes quite a bit of inspiration from Two in general: dotty old man, weird and hyperkinetic body language, willing to chat happily with everyone and everything including babies and animals, takes great pleasure in being very annoying.
* GadgeteerGenius: His knowledge of the "non-technological" technology of Lamasteen allowed him to build a functioning scanner out of shopping carts, coat-hangars and junk in "The Lodger" and he [[AchievementsInIgnorance accidentally invented]] the Quadro-cycle in "The Bells of St John".
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** Multiple instances.
--->''[Rory shows the Doctor a flashlight he brought along]''\\
''[The Doctor brings out a huge ultraviolet lamp]''\\
'''Rory:''' ...Yours is bigger than mine.\\
'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Let's not go there.
** And in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice "Amy's Choice"]]:
--->'''Eleventh Doctor:''' I don't know but I can't feel my feet... and other parts.\\
'''Rory:''' I think all my parts are basically fine.\\
'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Stop competing.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler "Let's Kill Hitler"]], after the newly-regenerated River Song invades his personal space, he self-consciously covers his crotch behind his hands when she leaves the room.
* GibberingGenius: In a slightly different way than Ten. Whereas Ten loves to talk about the inner mechanisms of things and bounce ideas off of his companions, Eleven's preferred method is to let his mouth run completely wild with questions and tangents until he arrives at an answer, while his companions ''shut. up.''
* GildedCage: Trenzalore becomes this in "Time of the Doctor." He can't awaken the Time Lords from their slumber without setting off another Time War. And he can't abandon Christmas without the town being destroyed. Nothing's stopping him from leaving, and he makes glib proclamations about beaming out any day now -- which of course will never happen.
* GoingNative: In the town of Christmas -- the very long, [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoNEDAS3E1Orbis Orbis]]-style version of the trope.
* GoodIsNotSoft: Even more lovable than he looks--until you get him angry. Then you run. Just run.
* GoOutWithASmile: Like Nine before him. The last thing he does in life is stretch his hand towards [[TenderTears a weeping Clara]] and utter a gentle "Hey..." with a comforting smile on his face.
-->'''Doctor:''' We all change, when you think about it. We’re all different people, all through our lives. And that’s okay.
** ZigZagged - He spent a ''very'' long time believing that he couldn't regenerate anymore after this body was spent. He made peace with that, but ultimately gets more regenerations after all. When his time finally comes, he's both completely heartbroken and absolutely overjoyed.
* GuileHero: This Doctor can be very manipulative should he choose to be, able to lure his enemies into their downfall or play mind games.
* HappilyMarried: To River Song, provided he's already done the whole wedding bit -- and even [[LikeAnOldMarriedCouple sometimes before that]]. Also, to the TARDIS, in a way.
* HelpYourselfInTheFuture: His phone call to Clara, during Twelve's regeneration trauma, helping her come to terms with losing him, while at the same time helping her understand that she ''hasn't'' lost him, he's still right there in front of her, at least as frightened as she is and needing her friendship more than ever.
* HeroesWantRedHeads: Mentions his love for gingers a few times, but, like Ten, mostly just wants to ''be'' one.
* HeroicBSOD: Does not take the deaths of his two best friends well. Even though he knows they had a [[HappilyEverAfter long and happy life]] together, this does little to lessen the blow and he effectively ''quits'' saving the universe for a long time afterwards.
* HeroicSacrifice:
** He drives the Pandorica back to the source of the explosion in order to reset the universe back to the way it was, thus wiping himself from existence. Of course, he's brought back.
** Knew the first time he went to Trenzalore could mean "the fall of the Eleventh", but went anyway to save his friends.
** The second time he goes to Trenzalore, he chooses to remain for untold centuries on the planet, spending the rest of that incarnation - indeed his supposed ''[[OutOfContinues last]]'' - protecting the people from harm and not dooming the Time Lords to eternity trapped in another universe. When Clara suggests that he ''could'' just leave, he refuses to do so, making it clear that he'd rather die first, something he very nearly ''does'' from extreme old age!
* HeroicWillpower: When the heavily-upgraded Cybermen attempt to use TheVirus to turn the Doctor into their new Cyber-controller, he's not only able to resist the transformation long enough to trap the Cyberman personality into a temporary stalemate while he figures out his next move, but demonstrates the ability to lock off specific parts of his memory to prevent "Mr Clever" gaining access to Time Lord secrets.
* IAmYourOpponent: When a Dalek feigns ignorance of him, he furiously attacks it with a ''spanner!''
-->'''The Doctor:''' ''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis YOU! ARE! MY! ENEMY!]]'' And I am '''[[TheDreaded YOURS!]]'''
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: A rare case where the hypotenuse to be is concerned with the happiness of both cathetus, since he really ''does'' like Rory despite their frequent squabbling.
* IWillFightSomeMoreForever: This Doctor proved time and again that he won't run from the Daleks under any circumstances, even when totally unarmed and utterly outnumbered. Even when reduced to a wispy old man in a bell tower, waving his cane in defiance.
* IconicItem: Quite obviously bowties, but also has a liking for fezzes and Stetsons. His fez obsession was bad enough to warrant Amy to snatch one off his head and let River use it for target practice.
** Anticipating his regeneration into Twelve, he showily removes his bowtie. (This causes poor Clara to completely lose it.) Perhaps as a result of this, the [=12th Doctor=] is going for a tieless, scarf-less garb most of the time.
* IndyPloy: His absolute favorite way to solve stuff. At least among the revival Doctors, he's by far the most likely to admit he has no idea what's going on and that half the things he says are basically thinking out loud.
** While helping a mother pilot a tree-starship:
--->'''Lily:''' What's happening?\\
'''The Doctor:''' No idea. Do what I do: hold tight, and pretend it's a plan!
** Also:
--->'''Amy:''' There's a plan?\\
'''The Doctor:''' Don't know, haven't finished talking yet!
** [[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor At the very end]], he's now resigned to this as his only way out.
--->'''The Doctor:''' It's okay, Barnable, don't worry. I... ''[taps nose]'' have got a plan. Off you pop.\\
''["Barnable" leaves.]''\\
'''The Doctor:''' I haven't got a plan, but people love it when I say that.\\
'''Clara:''' Doctor, what're you gonna do?\\
'''The Doctor:''' I don't know. Talk very fast, hope something good happens, take the credit. Seemingly how it works. Not this time, though. This is it.
* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Has stripped off on a few occasions, but remains oblivious as to why others act so awkward or shield their eyes.
* JerkassFacade: When humans around him seem to be confused or losing hope, he sometimes employs ReversePsychology and openly dismisses them as useless or unimportant. But his ''real'' intention is to [[SecretTestOfCharacter encourage them to "prove him wrong"]].
* {{Keet}}: Bounces, hops, skips, flails, stumbles a lot and sometimes [[GirlyRun runs like a girl]]. This is also owing to Matt Smith's physicality as an actor.
-->'''War Doctor:''' Are you ''capable'' of speaking without flapping your hands about?\\
'''Eleventh Doctor''': ''[exaggerated shrug]'' Yes! ''[claps emphatically]'' ..[[IResembleThatRemark No.]]
* LanternJawOfJustice
-->'''The Doctor:''' ''[feeling his face after regenerating]'' Ears? Yes. Eyes: two. Nose... [[Creator/JonPertwee eh, I've]] [[Creator/ChristopherEccleston had worse.]] Chin... ''blimey!''
* LargeHam: He is found of big, dramatic speeches and ''incapable'' of speaking without flapping his hands about.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Has a very prominent (and very awesome) one called "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7VmOZ4Ppj8 I Am The Doctor]]" which has been stated by composer Murray Gold to be the most well known out of all the Doctor's {{Leitmotif}}s. It has also had dozens of variants since its introduction, the most notable one being [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCHfVZIAZ6s "The Majestic Tale (Of a Mad Man in a Box)"]].
* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: With River Song. Because they are. Especially frustrating for him because EveryoneCanSeeIt, Amy asks him right away if River is supposed to be his secret space wife, and River completely refuses to tell him what they'll be to each other in the future because of "spoilers!"
-->'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Hi, honey, I'm home!\\
'''River:''' And what sort of time do you call this?!
* LivingForeverIsAwesome: Like Ten, he did a lot to avoid his fixed point death at Lake Silencio, and didn't like talking about his grave on Trendzalore. Even after spending eight hundred years guarding the town of Christmas, he was depressed that he was OutOfContinues. He's beaming with glee when he gets a new regeneration cycle.
* LoveBeforeFirstSight: With Clara. The first time he became aware of her, or rather one of her echoes, he could neither see nor touch her, since she was sort of a Dalek at the time, but her voice over the intercom was enough to impress him with her intelligence and willpower, not to mention do a whole lot of flirting.
* LoveTriangle: Unwittingly gets stuck in one with Amy and Rory. With the memories of the whole debacle with Rose and Mickey still fresh in his mind, the Doctor tries to explain that he's 907, she's human, and Rory would really just like to marry her now. Provided that she's not actively trying to kiss him again, he's actually quite amused by it and tries to get Rory to see it all as a nice joke.
* ManChild: Eleven plays the age card less than previous Doctors did during an argument, and seems to even ''forget'' his decrepitude at times. He enthusiastically declares that he still makes Christmas lists. The War Doctor isn't amused: a senile git of a man, Eleven has retreated from his grim past into a world of childlike frivolity. This changes once he saves Gallifrey in "Day of the Doctor": He pointedly chooses to stay behind and age into an old man on Trenzalore, as if unconsciously deciding to 'grow up.'
-->'''Eleven:''' ''[holds up psychic paper]'' I think you'll find I'm universally recognized as a mature and responsible adult.\\
'''Kazran:''' It's just a bunch of wavy lines.\\
'''Eleven:''' It's shorted out. [[LampshadeHanging Finally, a lie too big.]]
* ManlyTears: Eleven is more prone to silently crying than any other incarnation, always completely PlayedForDrama. He sometimes cries without even noticing -- at the end of "The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe" when he's reunited with his human family, and in "The Rings Of Akhaten" when he gives a ''magnificent'' BadassBoast while allowing an EldritchAbomination to MindRape him. Both "Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS" and "The Name Of The Doctor" have him breaking down in tears when he has to explain rather horrifying things to Clara.
* MasterOfTheMixedMessage: Not much better than his immediate predecessor, as Amy points out in the DVD-only "Meanwhile In The TARDIS Part 2".
-->'''Amy:''' Oh, ''come on''. You turn up in the middle of the night, get me out of bed in my nightie -- which you then don't let me change out of for ''ages'' -- and then take me for a spin in your time machine. No, no, you're right. No mixed signals there. That is just a ''signal''. Like a great big BatSignal in the sky. Get your coat, love, the Doctor is in!
* TheMatchmaker:
** Between his efforts to ensure that Amy and Rory's relationship remains on track and his obvious efforts and glee when Craig and Sophie finally hook up, Eleven seems to like playing matchmaker.
** He does it again in "A Christmas Carol" and gives the guy FirstKiss advice.
* {{Metaphorgotten}}: At least he notices when he's not making very much sense.
* UsefulNotes/TheMidlands: Creator/MattSmith uses his regular voice to play the Doctor.
* AMillionIsAStatistic: Averted. Eleven spent his past incarnation remembering and regretting the deaths of more than 2 billion innocent Gallifreyan children in the Time War to remind himself why he was protecting others. The "four knocks" prophecy changed him and he resisted regeneration. Then when he regenerated from Ten, he was faced with permanent death twice, first through an assassination attempt and then a future where he died in battle because he couldn't regenerate anymore. He also lost his companions to the Weeping Angels, and it broke him to the point he retired to Victorian London. After 200, maybe 300 years as this incarnation, thinking about death tore away at him, and he blanked out the memory until its impact was gone.
* MomentKiller: "The Lodger". Almost all of it.
* MoneyToThrowAway: The Doctor very hastily attempting to pay rent.
-->'''Doctor:''' That's probably a lot. It looks like a lot doesn't it? I can never tell.
* MotorMouth: Constantly asks himself questions and tries to analyse situations by rapid-fire deduction, then stumbles over his own thoughts and keeps himself talking with more questions until he reaches an answer, which in turn leads to more questions.
* NakedFirstImpression: The first time he meets Craig's friend Sophie, he's wearing nothing but a towel. The first time he meets Clara's family, he's only wearing holographic clothes, (which they can't see).
* NakedPeopleAreFunny: He has no nudity taboo, and really doesn't care that other people do.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Invoked by River Song in "A Good Man Goes To War", when she tells him his name became known as "Mighty Warrior" to the Gamma Forest.
-->'''River''': The man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name.
* NiceHat:
** Fezzes are cool.
*** He becomes obsessed with fezzes starting in "The Big Bang."
---->'''River:''' What in the name of ''sanity'' have you got on your ''head?!''\\
'''Eleventh Doctor:''' It's a fez. I wear a fez now. [[CatchPhrase Fezzes are cool]].\\
''[Amy throws the hat and River shoots it]''
*** The fez returns a few more times. Apparently whenever Amy and River aren't around to take it off him, one of his first priorities is to obtain a fez. He demanded one from the Secret Service. He steals one from U.N.I.T.
---->'''Clara:''' One day, you could just walk past a fez.\\
'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Hah! Never going to happen!
** Top hats are cool.
*** He wears a spiffy top hat at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang "The Big Bang"]], and the same outfit a few more times in "Night and the Doctor". Then in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler "Let's Kill Hitler"]], he completes the outfit with a cane. [[RunningGag River shoots the hat]] ''[[ImprobableAimingSkills off his head]]''.
*** Serious mourning requires top hats.
** Tricorner hats are cool. He manages to acquire a pirate tricorner briefly, in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E3TheCurseOfTheBlackSpot The Curse of the Black Spot]]".
** Stetsons are cool. He wears a Stetson in series 6 which River also shoots off his head. ItWasAGift from Craig.
** Bowlers are cool. Series 7 sees him acquiring a bowler hat simply by being in the vicinity of [[Series/TheAvengers Dame Diana Rigg]].
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** He inadverently helped restore the Daleks to power. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks Victory indeed.]]
** At the end of "A Good Man Goes to War", River implies that his whole ''career'' is this because he raises more enemies against himself and his loved ones with every new display of fearsomeness. This theme continues in "Asylum of the Daleks".
** Again in "The Girl Who Waited" where he doesn't bother to check that there's a plague on the planet they land, and his attempts to save Amy just end up with creating a second, older and bitter Amy. [[WhatTheHellHero Rory calls him out on this.]] ''Hard.''
* TheNicknamer: Particularly towards his prior incarnations. Ten, ever the adult, responded by bestowing upon him the name "Chinny."
-->'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Yes! Brilliant! I demand to be incarcerated in the Tower of London along with my co-conspirators Sandshoes and Grandad.\\
'''War Doctor:''' Grandad?\\
'''Tenth Doctor:''' They're ''not'' sandshoes!\\
'''War Doctor:''' Yes they are.
* NightmareFetishist: Maybe not to the extent of Ten, but his first reaction upon being surrounded by pale creepy girls with fangs who cast no reflections is one of utter glee. Also, "Dinosaurs! ''On a spaceship!''"
* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: Particularly when it comes to Craig. When surrounded by a legion of very scary Cybermen, the Doctor's first instinct is to distract Craig... by wrapping himself around him and trying to kiss him. It doesn't work. He also mercilessly teases Rory -- pinching his cheeks, slapping his face and [[HoYay randomly kissing him on the mouth]] when he's excited. (Rory is not amused.) He does, however, realise that he needs to ask for Rory's permission whenever he wants to give Amy a SecurityCling hug.
* NoSocialSkills: This incarnation is pretty clueless about human social customs, although he tends to wisen up easily when the situation is grave.
* NotSoImaginaryFriend: How he first appeared to Amy when she was a child. Lampshaded at Amy and Rory's wedding:
-->"Hello everyone! I'm Amy's imaginary friend. But I came anyway."
* ObfuscatingInsanity: Tied directly into his CloudCuckooLander status.
-->'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Sorry. Checking all the water in this area. ''[leans in close]'' There's an escaped fish ''[[[NoseTapping taps nose]]]''.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Certainly goes without saying for a Doctor, but explicitly special note goes to Eleven. Not only did he look younger than Five, he's ''much'' older at that point in his life. On top of that, it's pretty clear that he spent more time in this regeneration than any of the others (except perhaps the War Doctor), lasting anywhere between three and ten centuries depending on whether or not he lied about his age at certain points.
* OneManArmy:
** Mentioned as early as [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels "The Time of Angels"]]:
--->'''Father Octavian:''' You promised me an army, Doctor Song.\\
'''River:''' I promised you the ''equivalent'' of an army. This is the Doctor.
** In "The Time of the Doctor", for [[TrainingThePeacefulVillagers the most part]], the Siege of Trenzalore has the Doctor acting as this for centuries.
* OneOfTheKids: He's ''amazing'' with children, and really loves playing with them. "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" had him remodeling an entire house into a playground paradise just to give two kids a happy Christmas. Other episodes show him hanging out in toy shops and goofing around with handpuppets just for the sheer heck of it. And he spends his time at Amy's and Rory's house playing Wii sports. He gets along extremely well with babies, too.
** Best exemplified in "[[{{Recap/DoctorWho2010CSAChristmasCarol}} A Christmas Carol]]" when the psychic paper fails to say that the Doctor is "universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult" because that lie is just too big.
** This is painfully justified by one terrible truth: Eleven can't stand the sound of children crying. And for one reason above all others. He was traumatized by the apparent deaths of '''2.47 billion''' children on Gallifrey when he ended the Time War. Ten, being the hero type, used it to bolster his resolve to protect the universe. Come 200 years later, Eleven was tired of being the hero and despised talk of death, facing his own mortality and losing Amy and Rory. He grieved so badly he decided to erase the statistic from his head just so it wouldn't haunt him. Luckily, he ended up saving all those children instead.
*** And in the end, he spent centuries more defending the village of Christmas so that generations of children could live on, becoming their guardian who loved every one of them. And they loved him back. 300 years into his stay, he had acquired hundreds of crayon drawings (one which explicitly said "I LOVE YOU") and a puppet show in his honour.
* OutOfContinues: The [=10th Doctor=] dipped into his own reserve when he created the meta-crisis Doctor. With the emergence of the hitherto-unknown War Doctor, that makes thirteen. [[DefiedTrope Then the Time Lords give him a new regeneration cycle in his final regular appearance.]]
* PlatonicLifePartners: With the exception of River Song, this trope applies to his companions in general.
* PlotRelevantAgeUp: He puts the [=10th=] to shame on this one.
* PhoneCallFromTheDead: Not long before his demise on Trenzalore, he telephones Clara in the near future to express his fear over regenerating and begs her, essentially, not to abandon him in his time of need. Twelve recollects making that call, and when Eleven hears his voice, he moans at becoming an older man again.
-->'''Doctor:''' Goodbye, Clara. [[TearJerker Miss ya.]]
* PopCulturedBadass: Not so much as Ten, but still references Earth pop culture a lot. He's also totally willing to throw himself into new things, gleefully enjoying things like Wii tennis, remote-control helicopters and rap music.
* {{Protectorate}}: Willing to defend his closest friends (especially Clara) and beings in need with great determination.
* RealityWarper: Uses his ability to influence the past (and subsequently the present) very freely, particularly in "The Big Bang" and in "A Christmas Carol". Gets called out on it in the latter episode.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** Gives one to the Daleks in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks "Victory Of The Daleks"]], which doubles as a BadassBoast. However it's revealed [[NiceJobBreakingItHero that was what they wanted]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' You are everything I despise. The worst thing in all creation. I've defeated you. Time and time again, I've defeated you. I sent you back into the Void. I saved the whole of reality from you. I am the Doctor, and you are the Daleks!
** Before another one in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E1AsylumOfTheDaleks "Asylum of the Daleks"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' I thought you'd run out of ways to make me sick. But hello again. You think hatred is beautiful?
* RunningGag: He so desperately wants a fez, as he mentions and wears one in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2010CSAChristmasCarol A Christmas Carol]]", and he demands one from ''the Secret Service'' in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut The Impossible Astronaut]]". Even when he survives the second Big Bang and begins his rewind in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang "The Big Bang"]], one of his first thoughts is his desire to buy a new fez. [[NiceHat Hats]] in general are a running theme.
-->'''Clara:''' Someday, you could just walk past a fez.\\
'''The Doctor:''' Ha! ''Never'' going to happen!
* SadClown: A major reason for why he's so cheery and wacky at face value is his effort to forget or suppress the constant reminders of his DarkAndTroubledPast. When the Eleventh gets sad, or worse yet, angry, you really start doubting whether he's just the {{manchild}} that he pretends to be, and not a man on the run from his grief and feelings of guilt. When he loses the Ponds, he goes into such a major depression that the happiest expression you can get out of him is a melancholic, shy smile. He eventually recovers some of his old jokey habits when he gets better, but he's definitely a somewhat changed man by then...
* SecurityCling:
** The Eleventh Doctor and Amy have a variation. Because Amy's story is one traumatic BreakTheCutie moment after another, the Doctor develops a habit of clinging tightly to her and rubbing her back while delivering each new piece of bad news. Asking permission from Rory every time, of course.
** He's very affectionate and comforting to Clara, even in moments where she probably isn't as afraid as he thinks she is. A minor reversal of the trope occurs between him and her in "The Day of the Doctor". After their bond has strengthened between "The Name of the Doctor" and "The Day of the Doctor", Clara has grown to become the Doctor's [[TheConfidant confidant]], to the point that when a Time Lord painting of Gallifrey's destruction is revealed, all of his sorrow, fear, and regret about his actions resurfaces, resulting in his slowly grabbing Clara's hand for support. The slight motion is [[FriendshipMoment enough to notify Clara that the Doctor isn't doing so well]].
* SherlockScan: Eleven does this occasionally, most notably in "The Beast Below" and "A Christmas Carol". Not surprising, considering the executive producer is ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' co-creator Creator/StevenMoffat. Later parodied in "The Snowmen", when he pretends to be Franchise/SherlockHolmes.
* ShirtlessScene:
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]]. Almost a case of [[InnocentFanserviceGirl Innocent Fanservice Guy]], as Eleven only turned around and told Amy and Rory to look away if it bothered them. (Rory did. Amy did not.)
** Much like [[Creator/DavidTennant the Tenth Doctor]] in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd "Journey's End"]], [[Creator/MattSmith the Eleventh Doctor]] gets a naked scene in [[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor his final episode.]]
* ShowerScene: To add to the ShirtlessScene above, Eleven gets [[{{Fanservice}} a shower scene, complete with shower singing and three minutes in nothing but a towel]] in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E11TheLodger The Lodger]]". The Third Doctor had a similar gratuitous ShowerScene (with just a bit ''more'' nudity, in fact) in his first episode.
* SkewedPriorities: Best shown in "Asylum of the Daleks", where he's clearly more worried about Amy and Rory's marital problems than the fact he happens to be slap-dab in the middle of the Parliament of the ''Daleks'' and is surrounded by an ArmyOfTheAges. He explains that he thinks best when he's multitasking.
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Acquires Amy's reading glasses mid-way through Series 7, a few hundred years into this incarnation. One of the very few Doctors to actually ''need'' them -- the First Doctor had similar glasses, but preferred to use a monocle at times (which Eleven is also seen using).
* SociallyAwkwardHero: More scatterbrained than most previous incarnations (though still not quite as much as Four), and quite socially awkward as a result. Occasionally on purpose, because he ''really'' doesn't want to deal with Amy all the time.
-->'''Doctor:''' RORY! SHE'S HAVING AN EMOTION!
* {{Squee}}: Makes ''actual'' squee noises when River Song finally reveals who she is. Then takes another long look at her and makes a few more.
* StayInTheKitchen:
** The Eleventh Doctor seems particularly protective of Amy and is frequently given to ordering her to [[WaitHere stay in the TARDIS]]. Naturally, she rarely listens.
** Does this even more so with Clara; he's seen her die twice now, even besides the fact that he lost Amy and Rory. However, Clara is slightly more willing to obey his commands to stay where she is, much to his shock.
* StepfordSmiler:
** It became more and more obvious ever since [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice "Amy's Choice"]], and got focused on especially in series 6. He was approaching the date of his death, and knew it. Matt Smith's thoughts on him make it even more clear:
--->'''Matt Smith:''' That’s what interests me about the Doctor because, actually, look at the blood on the man’s hands. 900 years, countless very selfish choices, and he's literally blown planets up. His own race, you know, that’s all on his hands. Which is why I think he has to make silly jokes and wear a fez. Because if he didn’t, he'd hang himself.
** Lampshaded in the [=50th=] Anniversary Special. As the three Doctors [[LockedInARoom bicker with each other in the Tower of London]], Eleven chuckles that the jail sounds exactly like the inside of his own head.
* StupidSexyFriend: Has a bit of a problem with this late in his life [[ShipTease when it comes to Clara]]. Though his mild crush on her is subverted by the fact that the attraction [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe is more circumstance and personality-related]] than looks-related. His following incarnation off-handedly admits that it was a mistake on his part and that he'll definitely stick to a BetterAsFriends relationship when it comes to the two of them. Subsequent event will contradict this statement.
* SucksAtDancing: This Doctor should ''never'' be let near a dance floor. The ending of "The Big Bang" is solid proof of this lack of dance skills.
* SummonBiggerFish: Eleven becomes intensely protective of his humans after a few centuries, and as a result, is much quicker than any previous Doctor in calling UNIT for help and happily working together with them.
* TalkativeLoon: You thought Ten was bad!
* TangledFamilyTree: From late series 6 onwards. Amy and Rory are together and have a daughter, Melody, who was named after their childhood best friend, Melody. Amy, however, fancies the Doctor and forces him into a kiss early on. Melody turns out to be River Song, who eventually marries the Doctor and is ''also'' Amy's and Rory's best friend Melody, accidentally named after herself. On top of that, Melody's second mother is the TARDIS, who considers herself married to the Doctor and has a rather romantic (as well as biologically symbiotic) relationship with him. Things get more complicated when Amy accidentally marries Henry VIII in a throwaway gag -- because the Doctor, rather briefly, married Queen Elizabeth I, who happens to be Henry VIII's daughter, making her simultaneously his biological mother-in-law ''and'' his step-mother-in-law. And in the middle of all that, the Doctor starts fancying Rory a bit and snogs him for no reason.
* TeamDad: He even refers to Amy and Rory as "the kids", never mind that they eventually become his parents-in-law.
* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: As a lodger, he proves to be a handful. Justified in that he's ''very busy'' saving the universe, and can only do so out of that specific house.
* TorturePorn: "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" had him burned alive, with his hand fused to his face, stumbling around mad with pain. That timeline got reset, but the very next episode, "The Crimson Horror", upped the ante by having him shackled up as a "monster" and almost completely paralysed, for ''weeks''.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood:
** He seems to have a fondness for jammy dodgers, used memorably in [[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks}} "Victory of the Daleks"]]. Mentioned again in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut "The Impossible Astronaut"]] when he asks the Secret Service for some, and in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E9NightTerrors "Night Terrors"]] when he asks if there's any whilst making tea. He leaves a whole plate of them for Clara in "The Bells of Saint John". Matt Smith admitted that jammy dodgers actually are his favorite food.
** There's also fish fingers and custard. Amy uses it as a sort of TrustPassword in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut "The Impossible Astronaut"]], and the TARDIS voice interface uses it to rally him in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler "Let's Kill Hitler"]].
** During "The Time of the Doctor", after being "reset" by his new regeneration cycle, the Eleventh Doctor is shown to have whipped up some fish fingers and custard, before he got around to changing his face into that of the Twelfth Doctor. It wound up being his last meal.
* TragicBromance: With Amy and Rory.
* TragicDream: He discovers that Gallifrey is still out there somewhere and is inspired to search for it... but this incarnation of the Doctor never gets home. He ends up in close proximity - literally ''feet away'' - to it for ''centuries'', but he can't let it out or he'll start the Time War again.
* TragicKeepsake: Amy Pond's reading glasses, the only thing of hers left behind when she deliberately lets a Weeping Angel whisk her to past New York to be with Rory.
* TranquilFury: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The more tranquil, the more furious.]]
* TricksterMentor: Likes to dole out [[SecretTestOfCharacter Secret Tests of Character]].
* {{Troll}}: Often played in combination with his TricksterMentor tendencies, where he precedes to annoy his enemies while defeating them. He also likes to do this with his companions and allies, usually through [[TheNicknamer teasing nicknames]].
* {{Tsundere}}: Sweet version towards River in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels "The Time of Angels"]] and ''especially'' near the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone "Flesh and Stone"]]. Probably justified as when he's angriest is when he's worried about Amy.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Has this trope perfected at times. Is very calm about running into himself on occasion.
* VikingFuneral: His last testament instructs Rory and Amy to perform one. A Time Lord's remains are way too valuable to leave unattended on a hapless planet. Subverted when the Doctor is revealed to still be alive, and protected from the fire.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Rory, where half of their interaction revolves around trying to out-snark the other.
** He also ends up in this relationship with Ten and the War Doctor in the 50th anniversary special.
* WaistcoatOfStyle: Takes to wearing them under his BadassLongcoat in the second half of series 7.
* WhatTheHellHero: Gets this from Ten when he admits he [[ButForMeItWasTuesday forgot how many children there were on Gallifrey when he took out the Time Lords]]. Clara also calls him out on his willful glossing over of the events of the Time War and his fatalism about not being able to change anything about it, despite how often he opens up to her about his traumas in private. She then gives him a mild, but determined DareToBeBadass speech. Eleventh caves in, takes the Tenth's and Clara's words at heart and decides that saving Gallifrey might still be worth a shot, despite how narrowly possible it appears.
* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry: Eleven keeps his darker emotions very carefully restrained... most of the time. Just as his warnings have increased in multitude, so has his wrath. And this wrath hits its threshold when he faces his final battle.
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!!War Doctor
[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wardoc_4119.png]]
->'''Debut:''' "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E13TheNameOfTheDoctor The Name of the Doctor]]"
->'''Played by:''' Sir Creator/JohnHurt (2013)
-->''"Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame."''
Also officially referred to as the Other Doctor and the Doctor of War.
The 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 Eighth and 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. 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, firey warrior, to an exhausted and curmudgeonly old man, complete with a scruffy beard.
While he regains his title at the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor]]", he still doesn't count in the Doctor incarnation numbering as he was never an "incumbent" Doctor, but added retroactively.
Although he isn't the first of the revival series Doctors to chronologically appear (Nine being the original first in the bunch), he was introduced as a means of linking that silent gap between the Eighth and Ninth Doctors when Christopher Eccleston chose not to return for the 50th anniversary of the show. And so 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.
The War Doctor also has the distinction of being the first Doctor from the Revival series to be given his own line of Big Finish Audio Dramas. For his Creator/BigFinish character tropes, see [[Characters/BigFinishDoctorWhoDoctors here]].
----
* ActorExistenceFailure: John Hurt was the fourth Doctor actor to die.
* AffectionateNickname: The Eleventh later refers to him as "Captain Grumpy".
* AntiHero: (Seemingly) killed his own entire race, including children, to save the universe from their war with the Daleks.
* 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.
* ApologeticAttacker: In [[Recap/NewSeriesAdventuresEnginesOfWar Engines of War]] he apologises to a Time Lord before knocking them out.
* ArmourPiercingQuestion: Courtesy of the Moment;
-->'''The Moment:''' How many [[WouldHurtAChild children]] on Gallifrey, right now?
* TheAtoner: He ends up undoing the destruction of his own race, even if he doesn't remember it.
* 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.
* 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.
* BadassGrandpa: Hurt is the oldest actor to ever play the role, and is still a quite convincing ass-kicker. Ironically, he's actually youngest of the three main Doctors from "The Day of the Doctor".
* BatmanGrabsAGun: WD 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.
* {{Battlecry}}: "Gallifrey stands!"
* 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 11th Doctor when he was imprisoned two different times in Series 6.[[/note]]
* 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.
* BlackSheep: The Doctor who was disowned for deviating from the principles his other lives have followed.
* BookEnds: "Doctor no more."/"Doctor again."
* {{Bowdlerise}}: He is also officially referred to as the "Other Doctor", presumably because they don't want "War" in big letters on the merchandise.
* CameBackStrong: The 8th Doctor chose to come back as TheUnfettered, who wouldn't run away from the Time War like he had been doing.
* CarFu: Mows down a mob of Daleks in his TARDIS, proving how sturdy the old girl actually is.
* CatchPhrase: "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.
* 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".
* {{Cliffhanger}}: His unexplained appearance serves as the final scene of series 7.
* CompositeCharacter: Has Eight's fob and waistcoat, Nine's leather duds, and Ten'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.
* CoolOldGuy: Swings between this and GrumpyOldMan, the latter mostly directed at his more childish ''older'' selves.
* CoveredInMud: Centuries of warfare have taken a beating on his jacket, and walking miles through a desert hasn't done it any favors, either. Likewise, the exterior of his TARDIS is covered in soot, scorch-marks and even bits of the blue paint have rubbed off to reveal plain wood underneath.
* DareToBeBadass:
** The Sisterhood of Karn's sales pitch forms one and the Doctor later regrets taking the dare. ("Coward, any day.")
** Clara's oddly understated RousingSpeech to him and the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor convince 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.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The gruffest, least goofily clad incarnation of the Doctor, dressed in predominantly black, dark brown and dark green colours. 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.
* 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.
* DarkSecret: He was the greatest, most terrible secret in the Doctor's past.
-->'''Eleven''': He is my secret.
* 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]].
--> '''Eleventh''': Geronimo!\\
'''Tenth''': Allons-y!\\
'''War Doctor''': [[SurroundedByIdiots Oh for]] ''[[SurroundedByIdiots God's sake!]]''... [[NotSoAboveItAll Gallifrey Stands!]]
* 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]]".
* 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.
* 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 [[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.
* 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 Eleven and on know the truth.
* DownerEnding: His existence lets us know [[BreakTheCutie just how well]] the story of the Eighth Doctor ended.
* TheDreaded: When the Doctor sees him, he keeps imploring Clara they leave ''immediately''.
** 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.
* DyingAsYourself: "But for now, for this moment, I am the Doctor again. Thank you."
* 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.
* FallenHero: His later incarnations feel that he is not a "doctor" anymore but a traitor to the promise implied by such a title.
* FamousLastWords: [[{{Irony}} "I hope the ears are a bit less conspicuous this time."]]
* FinalSolution: Attempted genocide on both the Daleks and the Time Lords to end the Time War once and for all.
* {{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. 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.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** 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.
** "Doctor" coming to mean "great warrior" in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes to War]]" hinted at shades of this incarnation.
** All references to the Time War, like the Nestene Consciousness freaking out when it meets the Ninth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E1Rose "Rose"]].
* 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.
* GenocideDilemma: Was forced to choose between killing everyone involved in the Time War or letting the other Time Lords kill all of reality.
* GodzillaThreshold:
** 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.
--->'''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!
** 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.
--->'''Eighth Doctor''': Make me a warrior now.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.]]
* GutturalGrowler: One of the most 'gravelly'-sounding incarnations.
-->'''Ten:''' Still, loving the posh, gravelly thing, it's very convincing.\\
'''Eleven:''' Huh. Brave words, Dick Van Dyke.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation:
** 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.
** 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."
* 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 ''[[RedEyesTakeWarning 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".
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Claims he killed everyone in the Time War and then locked them away "without choice", for "peace and sanity." Eleven ''agrees'' with him.
* IHatePastMe:
** 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.
** 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.
--->'''Eleven''': You were the Doctor on the day it wasn't possible to get it right.
* 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.
* IronicEcho: In "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor]]" towards the 10th and 11th Doctors.
-->'''War Doctor''': I'm looking for the Doctor...\\
'''Tenth Doctor''': ...Well, you've certainly come to the right place.
* ItHasBeenAnHonor: He says this once he leaves the company of Doctors Ten and Eleven.
-->'''War Doctor:''' Well, gentlemen, it has been an honor... and a privilege.
* ItsAWonderfulPlot:
** 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).
** [[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, then it is to succeed doing the wrong thing.
--->'''War Doctor:''' She didn't show me just ''any'' future! She showed me exactly the future I needed to see!
* 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.
* KnuckleCracking: Seen doing this pose on the promotional cover for the 50th in ''SFX Magazine'' issue #241.
* LonersAreFreaks:
** The only Doctor not to take a companion [[SchrodingersGun onscreen]]. 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, Eleven, and the fandom writ-large. He even abandoned his TARDIS in the end (though he retrieves it when he gets a chance to have redemption), opting instead to lug the Moment ''by hand'' across an endless expanse. (The Moment suggests he wanted to perform the shameful act away from prying eyes, specifically the TARDIS'.) Unbeknownst to him, he merely traded one sassy piece of technology for another... The Moment tries to help him regain hope by opening portals to two later incarnations and a companion, in order to bring them all together and give the poor War Doctor some friends who could cheer him up and prevent him from going ahead with his last desperate plan.
** The one time he's known to have taken a companion so far, in ''Engines of War'', it was a Dalek hunter nicknamed "Cinder", and he did so in order to give the Time Lords vital enemy information on the Daleks, but things went badly. She suffered the fate of a MauveShirt and got killed off by Karlax, a disgruntled Time Lord who had a grudge towards the Doctor- the Doctor made sure that there would be a KarmicDeath coming his way via Dalek extermination.
* LoopholeAbuse:
** 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.
** 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.
** 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.
* MemeticBadass: InUniverse
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E4TheSontaranStratagem Sontarans tell legends]] of the War Doctor leading the Time Lords into battle.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]], one of the soldiers says that, frighteningly, the War Doctor still usually worked without weapons.
--> '''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.]]
* 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]].
* MyFutureSelfAndMe: He's technically the Doctor's ninth persona so he's this with Ten and Eleven.
* 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.
-->'''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.
* 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.
* 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'.
* 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.
* 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.
* NoNameGiven:
** 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).
** 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).
* NotSoAboveItAll: Ironically, despite being TheDreaded to his other incarnations, the Time Lords and half the Dalek Empire, this Doctor is still not above trading petty insults with his future selves, deadpan snarkery, or a CatchPhrase.
* 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".
* TheOathbreaker: Eleven describes him as "the one who broke the promise" inherent in the name "The Doctor";
-->'''War Doctor''': What I did, I did without choice.\\
'''Eleven''': I know.\\
'''War Doctor''': In the name of peace and sanity.\\
'''Eleven''': But not in the name of the Doctor.
* 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 himself doesn't usually use numbers to refer to his incarnations anyway.)
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** 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.
** 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.
* PerpetualFrowner: He's fighting a war. There's very little for him to be happy about.
* 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]].
* 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.")
* RedemptionQuest: The Moment kind of forcibly sends him on one in order to dissuade him from using it. This works spectacularly.
* {{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.
* 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.
* SaveTheVillain: In "Engines of War" he saves the Time Lord Karlax even though they were trying to kill him. Averted later, however: when Karlax tries to kill him and kills Cinder instead, the Doctor dematerialises the TARDIS around Karlax, leaving him surrounded by Daleks.
* 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 favor 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.
* {{Sinister Silhouette|s}}: He first appears as a shadowy figure with his back to the camera.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: By far the Doctor with the least outings of them all in any medium, 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.
* 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.]]
* 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.
* 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.
-->'''Clara''': What is it? What's his biggest secret?\\
'''Jenny''': We don't know. It's a secret.
* ThisIsUnforgivable: Eleven states his actions were so unforgivable he refuses to acknowledge this incarnation as the Doctor.
* ThousandYardStare: He appears haunted by his dishonorable actions.
* 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.
* TragicKeepsake: His bandolier is taken from a woman named Cass, whom the Eighth Doctor tried to save but failed, leading to his regeneration.
* 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.
* TheUnfettered: What happens when the Doctor abandons his own self-imposed rules.
-->'''Eighth Doctor:''' I don't suppose there's any need for a "Doctor" anymore...
* {{Unperson}}: The Doctor has removed nearly all signs of his existence, to the point Clara only sees him ''after'' traveling 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.
* 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.
--> '''Tenth Doctor:''' All these years burying you in my memory...\\
'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Pretending you didn't exist, a secret even from myself...\\
'''Tenth Doctor:''' Pretending you weren't the Doctor, when you were the Doctor more than anybody else.\\
'''Eleventh Doctor:''' You were the Doctor on the day it wasn't ''possible'' to get it right.
%%* WaistcoatOfStyle: An old, worn one.
* WalkingSpoiler: Knowing anything about him gives away TheReveal of his existence in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E13TheNameOfTheDoctor "The Name of the Doctor"]].
* 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.
* 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.
* WhenHeSmiles: He's grumpy, sour, and snarky, but not devoid of the humor and optimistic joy that are fundamental to who the Doctor is as a person.
* 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?"), or the Revival Doctors' habit of [[AdrenalineMakeover pointing their sonic screwdrivers like Dirty Harry]] ("There you are with the pointing again! What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?!?").
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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]].
[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wardoc_4119.png]]
->'''Debut:''' "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E13TheNameOfTheDoctor The Name of the Doctor]]"
->'''Played by:''' Sir Creator/JohnHurt (2013)
-->''"Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame."''
Also officially referred to as the Other Doctor and the Doctor of War.
The 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 Eighth and 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. 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, firey warrior, to an exhausted and curmudgeonly old man, complete with a scruffy beard.
While he regains his title at the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor]]", he still doesn't count in the Doctor incarnation numbering as he was never an "incumbent" Doctor, but added retroactively.
Although he isn't the first of the revival series Doctors to chronologically appear (Nine being the original first in the bunch), he was introduced as a means of linking that silent gap between the Eighth and Ninth Doctors when Christopher Eccleston chose not to return for the 50th anniversary of the show. And so 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.
The War Doctor also has the distinction of being the first Doctor from the Revival series to be given his own line of Big Finish Audio Dramas. For his Creator/BigFinish character tropes, see [[Characters/BigFinishDoctorWhoDoctors here]].
----
* ActorExistenceFailure: John Hurt was the fourth Doctor actor to die.
* AffectionateNickname: The Eleventh later refers to him as "Captain Grumpy".
* AntiHero: (Seemingly) killed his own entire race, including children, to save the universe from their war with the Daleks.
* 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.
* ApologeticAttacker: In [[Recap/NewSeriesAdventuresEnginesOfWar Engines of War]] he apologises to a Time Lord before knocking them out.
* ArmourPiercingQuestion: Courtesy of the Moment;
-->'''The Moment:''' How many [[WouldHurtAChild children]] on Gallifrey, right now?
* TheAtoner: He ends up undoing the destruction of his own race, even if he doesn't remember it.
* 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.
* 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.
* BadassGrandpa: Hurt is the oldest actor to ever play the role, and is still a quite convincing ass-kicker. Ironically, he's actually youngest of the three main Doctors from "The Day of the Doctor".
* BatmanGrabsAGun: WD 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.
* {{Battlecry}}: "Gallifrey stands!"
* 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 11th Doctor when he was imprisoned two different times in Series 6.[[/note]]
* 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.
* BlackSheep: The Doctor who was disowned for deviating from the principles his other lives have followed.
* BookEnds: "Doctor no more."/"Doctor again."
* {{Bowdlerise}}: He is also officially referred to as the "Other Doctor", presumably because they don't want "War" in big letters on the merchandise.
* CameBackStrong: The 8th Doctor chose to come back as TheUnfettered, who wouldn't run away from the Time War like he had been doing.
* CarFu: Mows down a mob of Daleks in his TARDIS, proving how sturdy the old girl actually is.
* CatchPhrase: "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.
* 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".
* {{Cliffhanger}}: His unexplained appearance serves as the final scene of series 7.
* CompositeCharacter: Has Eight's fob and waistcoat, Nine's leather duds, and Ten'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.
* CoolOldGuy: Swings between this and GrumpyOldMan, the latter mostly directed at his more childish ''older'' selves.
* CoveredInMud: Centuries of warfare have taken a beating on his jacket, and walking miles through a desert hasn't done it any favors, either. Likewise, the exterior of his TARDIS is covered in soot, scorch-marks and even bits of the blue paint have rubbed off to reveal plain wood underneath.
* DareToBeBadass:
** The Sisterhood of Karn's sales pitch forms one and the Doctor later regrets taking the dare. ("Coward, any day.")
** Clara's oddly understated RousingSpeech to him and the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor convince 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.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The gruffest, least goofily clad incarnation of the Doctor, dressed in predominantly black, dark brown and dark green colours. 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.
* 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.
* DarkSecret: He was the greatest, most terrible secret in the Doctor's past.
-->'''Eleven''': He is my secret.
* 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]].
--> '''Eleventh''': Geronimo!\\
'''Tenth''': Allons-y!\\
'''War Doctor''': [[SurroundedByIdiots Oh for]] ''[[SurroundedByIdiots God's sake!]]''... [[NotSoAboveItAll Gallifrey Stands!]]
* 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]]".
* 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.
* 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 [[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.
* 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 Eleven and on know the truth.
* DownerEnding: His existence lets us know [[BreakTheCutie just how well]] the story of the Eighth Doctor ended.
* TheDreaded: When the Doctor sees him, he keeps imploring Clara they leave ''immediately''.
** 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.
* DyingAsYourself: "But for now, for this moment, I am the Doctor again. Thank you."
* 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.
* FallenHero: His later incarnations feel that he is not a "doctor" anymore but a traitor to the promise implied by such a title.
* FamousLastWords: [[{{Irony}} "I hope the ears are a bit less conspicuous this time."]]
* FinalSolution: Attempted genocide on both the Daleks and the Time Lords to end the Time War once and for all.
* {{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. 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.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** 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.
** "Doctor" coming to mean "great warrior" in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes to War]]" hinted at shades of this incarnation.
** All references to the Time War, like the Nestene Consciousness freaking out when it meets the Ninth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E1Rose "Rose"]].
* 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.
* GenocideDilemma: Was forced to choose between killing everyone involved in the Time War or letting the other Time Lords kill all of reality.
* GodzillaThreshold:
** 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.
--->'''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!
** 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.
--->'''Eighth Doctor''': Make me a warrior now.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.]]
* GutturalGrowler: One of the most 'gravelly'-sounding incarnations.
-->'''Ten:''' Still, loving the posh, gravelly thing, it's very convincing.\\
'''Eleven:''' Huh. Brave words, Dick Van Dyke.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation:
** 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.
** 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."
* 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 ''[[RedEyesTakeWarning 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".
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Claims he killed everyone in the Time War and then locked them away "without choice", for "peace and sanity." Eleven ''agrees'' with him.
* IHatePastMe:
** 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.
** 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.
--->'''Eleven''': You were the Doctor on the day it wasn't possible to get it right.
* 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.
* IronicEcho: In "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor]]" towards the 10th and 11th Doctors.
-->'''War Doctor''': I'm looking for the Doctor...\\
'''Tenth Doctor''': ...Well, you've certainly come to the right place.
* ItHasBeenAnHonor: He says this once he leaves the company of Doctors Ten and Eleven.
-->'''War Doctor:''' Well, gentlemen, it has been an honor... and a privilege.
* ItsAWonderfulPlot:
** 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).
** [[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, then it is to succeed doing the wrong thing.
--->'''War Doctor:''' She didn't show me just ''any'' future! She showed me exactly the future I needed to see!
* 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.
* KnuckleCracking: Seen doing this pose on the promotional cover for the 50th in ''SFX Magazine'' issue #241.
* LonersAreFreaks:
** The only Doctor not to take a companion [[SchrodingersGun onscreen]]. 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, Eleven, and the fandom writ-large. He even abandoned his TARDIS in the end (though he retrieves it when he gets a chance to have redemption), opting instead to lug the Moment ''by hand'' across an endless expanse. (The Moment suggests he wanted to perform the shameful act away from prying eyes, specifically the TARDIS'.) Unbeknownst to him, he merely traded one sassy piece of technology for another... The Moment tries to help him regain hope by opening portals to two later incarnations and a companion, in order to bring them all together and give the poor War Doctor some friends who could cheer him up and prevent him from going ahead with his last desperate plan.
** The one time he's known to have taken a companion so far, in ''Engines of War'', it was a Dalek hunter nicknamed "Cinder", and he did so in order to give the Time Lords vital enemy information on the Daleks, but things went badly. She suffered the fate of a MauveShirt and got killed off by Karlax, a disgruntled Time Lord who had a grudge towards the Doctor- the Doctor made sure that there would be a KarmicDeath coming his way via Dalek extermination.
* LoopholeAbuse:
** 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.
** 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.
** 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.
* MemeticBadass: InUniverse
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E4TheSontaranStratagem Sontarans tell legends]] of the War Doctor leading the Time Lords into battle.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]], one of the soldiers says that, frighteningly, the War Doctor still usually worked without weapons.
--> '''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.]]
* 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]].
* MyFutureSelfAndMe: He's technically the Doctor's ninth persona so he's this with Ten and Eleven.
* 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.
-->'''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.
* 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.
* 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'.
* 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.
* 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.
* NoNameGiven:
** 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).
** 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).
* NotSoAboveItAll: Ironically, despite being TheDreaded to his other incarnations, the Time Lords and half the Dalek Empire, this Doctor is still not above trading petty insults with his future selves, deadpan snarkery, or a CatchPhrase.
* 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".
* TheOathbreaker: Eleven describes him as "the one who broke the promise" inherent in the name "The Doctor";
-->'''War Doctor''': What I did, I did without choice.\\
'''Eleven''': I know.\\
'''War Doctor''': In the name of peace and sanity.\\
'''Eleven''': But not in the name of the Doctor.
* 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 himself doesn't usually use numbers to refer to his incarnations anyway.)
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** 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.
** 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.
* PerpetualFrowner: He's fighting a war. There's very little for him to be happy about.
* 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]].
* 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.")
* RedemptionQuest: The Moment kind of forcibly sends him on one in order to dissuade him from using it. This works spectacularly.
* {{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.
* 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.
* SaveTheVillain: In "Engines of War" he saves the Time Lord Karlax even though they were trying to kill him. Averted later, however: when Karlax tries to kill him and kills Cinder instead, the Doctor dematerialises the TARDIS around Karlax, leaving him surrounded by Daleks.
* 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 favor 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.
* {{Sinister Silhouette|s}}: He first appears as a shadowy figure with his back to the camera.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: By far the Doctor with the least outings of them all in any medium, 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.
* 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.]]
* 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.
* 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.
-->'''Clara''': What is it? What's his biggest secret?\\
'''Jenny''': We don't know. It's a secret.
* ThisIsUnforgivable: Eleven states his actions were so unforgivable he refuses to acknowledge this incarnation as the Doctor.
* ThousandYardStare: He appears haunted by his dishonorable actions.
* 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.
* TragicKeepsake: His bandolier is taken from a woman named Cass, whom the Eighth Doctor tried to save but failed, leading to his regeneration.
* 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.
* TheUnfettered: What happens when the Doctor abandons his own self-imposed rules.
-->'''Eighth Doctor:''' I don't suppose there's any need for a "Doctor" anymore...
* {{Unperson}}: The Doctor has removed nearly all signs of his existence, to the point Clara only sees him ''after'' traveling 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.
* 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.
--> '''Tenth Doctor:''' All these years burying you in my memory...\\
'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Pretending you didn't exist, a secret even from myself...\\
'''Tenth Doctor:''' Pretending you weren't the Doctor, when you were the Doctor more than anybody else.\\
'''Eleventh Doctor:''' You were the Doctor on the day it wasn't ''possible'' to get it right.
%%* WaistcoatOfStyle: An old, worn one.
* WalkingSpoiler: Knowing anything about him gives away TheReveal of his existence in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E13TheNameOfTheDoctor "The Name of the Doctor"]].
* 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.
* 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.
* WhenHeSmiles: He's grumpy, sour, and snarky, but not devoid of the humor and optimistic joy that are fundamental to who the Doctor is as a person.
* 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?"), or the Revival Doctors' habit of [[AdrenalineMakeover pointing their sonic screwdrivers like Dirty Harry]] ("There you are with the pointing again! What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?!?").
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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]].
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!!Twelfth Doctor
[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/twelve23.png]]
->'''Debut:''' "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E1DeepBreath Deep Breath]]"
->'''Played by:''' Creator/PeterCapaldi (2013–present)
-->''"I am ''not'' a good man! And I’m not a bad man. [...] Do you know what I am? I... am... an idiot! With a box, and a screwdriver. Passing through, helping out, learning."''
The first incarnation in the Doctor's second regeneration cycle.
An acerbic, aging {{punk rock}}er-cum-[[StageMagician street magician]]. Although still {{Adorkable}}, he is [[DarkerAndEdgier less goofy]] and values a pragmatic approach. Twelve [[ScrewPolitenessImASenior exploits the full breadth of his age and experience]] as a Time Lord rather than hiding from it, and can be dangerous and difficult as a result. Because he is a bit blunt and insensitive at times, he occasionally outdoes his predecessor's [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} alien mannerisms]]. Unlike some past incarnations, he HatesBeingTouched and has little interest in flirting with anyone; even a simple hug makes him squeamish at first. He remains a HurtingHero capable of incredible compassion towards even the least likely souls, still determined to be the man who saves people. And he is notably capable of deep love. His first companion Clara Oswald is arguably the only woman who ever could be considered the Doctor's [[DistaffCounterpart soulmate]], and he risked space, time, and his whole identity to save her from the grave -- and ''almost'' succeeded. He is also the Doctor who truly returned the love of his most infamous wife, River Song.
It is a tribute to the longevity of this show that in 1974 a [[OneOfUs 15-year-old Peter Capaldi wrote a letter]] to the ''Radio Times'' praising ''Doctor Who'''s tenth anniversary serial. His very first appearance as the Doctor (as opposed to his first story) is in the climax of "The Day of the Doctor", the ''50th'' anniversary special.
----
* AbsentMindedProfessor: Twelve really is ''that'' bad at remembering things.
** First names "aren't his area", he misses a coffee date with Clara (by 3 weeks) because he got distracted, he may have severe prosopagnosia (face blindness), and he can't remember how old Clara is supposed to be.
--->'''Doctor:''' You're not a young woman anymore.\\
'''Clara:''' Yes I am.\\
'''Doctor:''' Well, you don't look it.\\
'''Clara:''' I ''do'' look it.\\
'''Doctor:''' That's right, [[ComicallyMissingThePoint keep your spirits up]].
** "Last Christmas" shows that he genuinely can't tell what age Clara is, and that he apparently always sees her as a twenty-something woman, even in a dream scene where he winds up 62 years into her future. He also believes that he and Clara look "basically the same age." Some fans theorise this is because, as a Time Lord, he can sense all the collective time lived by her echoes when she [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E13TheNameOfTheDoctor jumped into his timestream]].
** He's not sure in "Listen" whether he wrote the text that started off the episode, even after Clara points out it's in his handwriting.
** He sometimes forgets the passage of time. In "The Magician's Apprentice" where he stays in Medieval Essex, he thinks he's been there a day. Bors corrects him. He's been there three weeks.
* AcePilot: Compared with the notoriously frantic piloting of previous incarnations - particularly Ten and Eleven - the Twelfth Doctor pilots the TARDIS in a nonchalant, businesslike manner. He's so good that we see him successfully experiment with things like piloting it without the safeties on or navigating it via direct input into its telepathic circuits.
* ActionDad: His "dad skills" come in handy while adventuring!
* {{Adorkable}}:
** Underneath the angry looking eyebrows, the Doctor is still as endearingly awkward as ever. His attempt to suggest to Clara they go get coffee in "Deep Breath":
--->'''Doctor:''' Right, shall we, uh... do you wanna go get some coffee? Or chips? [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Or something with chips and coffee?]]
** His description of his new outfit. A reference to that one time someone [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E2CarnivalOfMonsters mistook him for a carnie?]] Or a meta-reference to news articles at the time that criticized the outfit for looking like, well, a magician's?
--->'''Doctor:''' What do you think of the new look? I was hoping for minimalism... but I think I came out with magician.
* AlmightyJanitor: Becomes a literal one in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E6TheCaretaker "The Caretaker"]], where he goes undercover as the school's caretaker in order to find and dispose of a killer alien robot in the area.
* AlmostKiss: With his wife, River Song, preceded by HeldGaze. When Twelve comforts River that their last night together will actually last for twenty-four years, the pair seem to be darting meaningfully at each other's lips and... then the screen went black and many fans were left in agony. They "lived happily ever after", though.
* AmbiguousDisorder:
** He is prone to being InnocentlyInsensitive and using BrutalHonesty, is less comfortable than his predecessors with lying even when it's necessary, has next to NoSocialSkills, HatesBeingTouched or touching others unless it's by someone he is really close to, a dreadful memory and severe prosopagnosia, extremely expressive body language, and often lets impatience and impertinence get the better of him — all of which hides how compassionate and sensitive he actually is. Clara is effectively (and by his own admission) his "carer" in that she helps bridge the empathy gap between him and others, and in Series 9 she tutors him in better social interactions.
** If most Doctors manage to hide/ignore any post-traumatic stress disorder, this one, coming right off of his previous self's vigil on Trenzalore, certainly doesn't — he has a marked dislike for soldiers and doesn't want to be seen as an officer either. In "The Zygon Inversion", it becomes clear that he is ''horrifically'' haunted by the atrocities he committed as the War Doctor.
** A ''Psychology Today'' [[https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beyond-heroes-and-villains/201408/doctor-who-and-the-neuroscience-morality-malfunctions article]] examines the Doctor's behavior in "Deep Breath" and "Into the Dalek" and theorizes that the physical and mental trauma of regenerating may have altered his brain to the point of leaving him with a less-empathetic personality, comparing it to the experiences of real-world victims of traumatic injuries, particularly brain injuries, which can have similar effects on morality. (It also notes that Clara's initial rejection of his changed state, which itself demonstrates a failure of empathy towards someone in need, has real-world parallels of its own.)
* AmnesiacHero:
** After regenerating, he temporarily forgets how to fly the TARDIS, what any of his friends even look like, and that he used to have an English accent. He also appears to have forgotten occasional other bits and pieces of his past lives, such as the events of "The Girl in the Fireplace". He's also lost memory of some aspects of Clara's past; the Eleventh Doctor actually visited Clara as a child and saw her parents, yet in "Listen" he, for some reason, gets it in his head that Clara grew up in an orphanage.
** A justified and downplayed example happens to him at the end of Series 9 when he loses ''all'' of his memories of Clara to LaserGuidedAmnesia -- the tragic endgame of his going too far to save her from her final death. As it turns out, he ''can'' manage to recall the adventures they had together, up to and including the circumstances of their separation, but he no longer recognizes her face, voice, etc., as she learns to her sorrow when they have one last meeting in Nevada.
* AnchoredShip:
** In the words of Steven Moffat himself, from DWM #484:
--->'''Steven Moffat:''' …he was reminded on Trenzalore that he wasn't Human; that he wasn't one of them, and that they live for a very short time. And that's what made him draw back a bit, and think 'I'm getting too bound up in them.' Of course, he doesn't succeed in that at all! '''In his very repressed, restrained way, he's clearly as besotted with Clara as he ever was!''' That line in 'Dark Water', 'Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference', [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove that's about as close to 'I love you' as the Doctor can get.]]
** As of "Last Christmas", the situation finally seems remedied when Clara, tricked by an illusion into believing that her life was almost over, outright stated that he was the only worthy husband (except maybe Danny) she would ever accept.
** Series 9 (and the actors themselves) made it very clear that the anchor was hoisted and the Doctor and Clara were in love and in a relationship. But thanks to the traumas of "Face the Raven" and "Heaven Sent", they cannot stay together because it is now unhealthy for them (not to mention the universe), and he cannot be his best self. The mind wipe looks to anchor the ship for good, as he no longer knows how and why he loved her.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: According to WordOfGod, his declaration of loyalty to Clara in "Dark Water" was supposed to be one of these, markedly as understated and 'stealthy' as Clara's own confession in "Mummy on the Orient Express" (in which she is heard saying "I love you" to Danny on the phone ''while looking directly at the Doctor'' moments before deciding to renew her commitment to the Doctor). Attentive audience members might have noticed that he explicity said "care for", not "care about", something a perfectionist English teacher was bound to have noticed. Clara seems to return it in "Before the Flood", saying if the Doctor loved her in any way, he'd come back to her, before Clara finally ''stops'' him from making this in "Face the Raven", saying she already knows what he wants to say before she heads out to die, and it's better if he doesn't.
* AntiHero: He's not a particularly nice or empathetic man (although the latter point softens with time), and likes neither of those qualities. The Doctor has to check with Clara if he's a "good man" during "Into the Dalek", and Clara, Courtney, and Lundvik debate this in "Kill the Moon", bringing up that the Doctor treats Clara like a pet half the time and leaves her [[INeedAFreakingDrink craving a glass of wine]].
* AntiNihilist: He's actually given up on having a happy life. He still tries his best to help and save people.
* ApologeticAttacker: "I've got the horrible feeling I'm going to have to kill you." ("Deep Breath")
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Despite everything he's seen and done prior to "Robot of Sherwood," he's ''very'' insistent that Robin Hood is just a legend, even while ''talking'' to Robin Hood.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: A rare self-aimed one: whether or not he's a good man. He asks Clara if she thinks he is, and she stammers and demurs.
* TheAtoner:
** His introverted and relatively unboastful personality is an attempt to be [[CharacterDevelopment less manipulative and vain]] than he occasionally became in previous incarnations.
--->'''The Doctor:''' I've made many mistakes, and it's about time I did something about that.
** This drives his actions at the start of Series 9, as Peter Capaldi explains in [[http://blogtorwho.blogspot.com/2015/09/doctor-who-series-9-peter-capaldi-talks.html this interview excerpt]]: Having made the tragic mistake of choosing to abandon a young Davros on a Skaro battlefield in mid-rescue upon realizing who he would become, he is willing to die if need be to make up for all the sorrow that came after. When this goes awry, he is driven towards the DespairEventHorizon.
** "The Zygon Inversion" reveals he ''burns'' with guilt over his actions in the Last Great Time War as the War Doctor, and has vowed that others should never have to feel the anguish and hear the screams he still does.
** "Face the Raven" furthers this -- he honestly feels he is a lost soul beyond redemption, and when he loses Clara, he warns Ashildr that his anger could drive him to extreme measures. They do in "Heaven Sent" and "Hell Bent", but he comes back from the brink and accepts being mind-wiped partially because losing memories of someone he loved will help him atone for going too far in trying to save her.
** In the next episode, "The Husbands of River Song", he realizes how badly he messed up poor River Song by never truly returning the love she held for him in all the encounters they had in his previous life -- all because he couldn't accept endings. Recent events have changed him a bit in that regard, so when they crash-land on Darillium, he finally becomes the lover she pined for.
* AuthorAppeal: Well, Actor Appeal anyway. Beginning in Series 9, Twelve frequently begins using an electric guitar; it's part of his characterization. Peter Capaldi was part of a punk band in his youth.
* BabyLanguage: It's particularly heartwarming to see Twelve translating baby cries.
* BadassBaritone: Has a gravelly voice with a Scottish brogue.
* BadassBoast:
** Even in a muddled state, this incarnation still boasts about his awesomeness.
--->'''The Doctor:''' What, you wanna psychic link with ''me?'' The size of my brain would be like [[PianoDrop dropping a piano on you]].
** Held up by a would-be TARDIS hijacker, Twelve scoffs, "You'd starve to death trying to find the light switch".
** It's a little more lighthearted than other boasts, but Twelve gives one to Robin Hood at the start of a sword fight, armed with a spoon. He promptly wins the fight anyway.
---> '''The Doctor''': I don't have a sword. I don't need a sword. Cos I am the Doctor, and this is my '''''spoon'''''!
** He gives one in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline "Flatline"]] similar to one that Eleven gave in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]].
--->'''The Doctor:''' ''I tried to talk, I want you to remember that. I tried to reach out, I tried to understand you, but I think that you understand us perfectly. And I think that you just don't care! And I don't know whether you are here to invade, infiltrate or just replace us. I don't suppose it really matters now, you are monsters! That is the role you seem determined to play, so it seems that [[PunctuatedForEmphasis I! Must play! Mine!]] The man that stops the monsters! I'm sending you all back to your home dimension. Who knows? Some of you may even survive the trip, and if you do, remember this: You are not welcome here! This plane is protected! I am the Doctor, and I name you the "Boneless"!''
** And this from "The Girl Who Died", which borders on BlasphemousBoast too:
---> '''The Doctor:''' I'm the Doctor, and I save people! And if anyone happens to be listening, and you've got any kind of a problem with that, then to HELL with you!
** In "Face The Raven", the Doctor gives Ashildr a boast that isn't so much a positive boast, but a ''horrifying'' reminder of why he is TheDreaded after Clara dies.
---> '''The Doctor:''' What Clara said - about not taking revenge - do you know why she said that?\\
'''Ashildr:''' She was saving you.\\
'''The Doctor:''' I was lost a long time ago, she was saving ''you''. I'll do my best. But I strongly advise you to keep out of my way. '''''You'll find it's a very small universe when I'm angry with you.'''''
** The biggest one he has yet was delivered in "Heaven Sent", where, full-on in grief at losing Clara and being trapped with no way out, he struggled to get out even at the cost of dying and resurrecting himself, cycling for ''four and a half billion years''. It becomes more satisfying in "Hell Bent," when you realize that it was Rassilon who imprisoned him here in the first place--and the first thing he does after returning to Gallifrey is launching a bloodless coup to send Rassilon packing into exile in shame:
--->'''The Doctor:''' If you think, because she’s dead, I am weak, you understand very little. If you were any part of killing her, and you are not afraid, you understand nothing at all. So for your own sake, understand this. I’m the Doctor. I am coming to find you. And I will never, ever stop.
* BadassLongcoat: A navy coat with red lining, evoking the Third Doctor's costume minus the [=1970s=] frills. Also has red velvet variant of it.
* BatmanGambit:
** In "Deep Breath", pretends to abandon Clara so her CryCute breakdown will cause the MonsterOfTheWeek to go on a MotiveRant.
--->'''Doctor:''' Hello, hello, rubbish robots from the dawn of time. Thank you for all the gratuitous information. Five foot one and crying. You never stood a chance.
** "Time Heist" is essentially Twelve pulling an extended BatmanGambit on ''himself''.
** In "Heaven Sent" and "Hell Bent", he pulls a '''colossal''' one on the Time Lords. He fights his way out of the confession dial instead of giving up his last secret about the Hybrid, and then achieves a bloodless coup on Gallifrey, becoming the Lord President. He then tells the Time Lords that the information on the Hybrid that they need so badly can only be had by interrogating Clara, so they extract her from the timeline at the moment of her "Face the Raven" death (leaving her a virtually-immortal, time looped self, not quite fully alive). The Doctor promptly spirits her away -- he didn't actually ''have'' a last secret about the Hybrid, nor did she; he just needed the means to save Clara's life and ''run!''
* BatmanGrabsAGun: He becomes TheUnfettered in "Hell Bent" to save Clara from her fixed-point death, and actually shoots the General -- albeit after getting confirmation that he will regenerate -- so they can escape the extraction chamber.
* BeastAndBeauty: An "intelligent and cynical beast" example with Clara -- he looks old enough to be her father and his appearance and personality are intimidating and off-putting to everyone, even her for a while. She comes to understand him and help him be his best self in Series 8, and he becomes ''fiercely'' protective of her; their mutual affection is one reason he becomes softer and kookier in Series 9. In "Face the Raven", she ends up dead, partially the result of her growing harder-edged under his influence as he grows gentler under hers. The result is that the final Series 9 episodes bring out the beast in him as never before.
* BeingGoodSucks: Again and again, he must sacrifice easy solutions to his problems in favor of taking longer, more painful paths. He [[GoodIsNotNice can't always be nice]] and when he must be a PragmaticHero when pure goodness just won't achieve his goals, cope with the guilt and condemnation that ensues. He must not use the Cyberman army of the dead Missy "gifts" him to conquer the universe (because it would also enslave the living of Earth). He must save the boy Davros, despite knowing what he will become. He must help the Vikings when they won't abandon their village, and from there save Ashildr's life [[ToBeLawfulOrGood to live up to his vow to be a doctor who saves whomever he can if he has a chance to]] -- [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished even though the only way he can do so leaves her a resentful immortal he has to keep an eye on, and who ultimately chooses to betray him]]. He cannot go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge when said betrayal accidentally kills the woman he loves. In the final stretch of Series 9, his anguish causes him to become TheUnfettered to save her, but he has a HeelRealization as she objects to his plan to force a mind wipe on her and decides to return to his principles. This means not only giving her up for good, but accepting both MindRape as a proper karmic punishment for his actions and that he is once more a fugitive from his own people due to his unfettered actions (unless they choose to forgive him), after searching for them and his home world for so, so long.
* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: Temporarily, and in conjunction with LoveMakesYouEvil (see below). The Doctor's grief over Clara's death still probably wouldn't have made him abandon his principles in favor of extreme measures to save her in "Hell Bent"...if not for the horrifying torture he undergoes in "Heaven Sent", which warps his sanity further.
* BeneathTheMask:
** Madame Vastra and others suggest that this incarnation more truly reflects who the Doctor is: the caustic but {{adorkable}} old man that the Doctor previously hid behind young, attractive faces.
** Twelve's jaded, emotionally distant, cynical surface hides a much mellower, kinder, and even humbler man on the inside. By the end of "The Witch's Familiar", his capability for compassion proves remarkable even by the Doctor's usual standards.
** A running theme throughout his first series is his uncertainty at who he really is now. He's genuinely terrified that Clara doesn't like him anymore. This is illustrated vividly by the fact that after she tells him to go to hell at the end of "Kill the Moon", he returns and convinces her to go on one last adventure in "Mummy on the Orient Express". There is no evidence of, for example, the ''much'' more amiable Fifth Doctor immediately trying to reconcile with Tegan Jovanka after ''she'' essentially does the same thing under similar circumstances at the end of "Resurrection of the Daleks".
** He is still capable of playfulness and wonder despite his gruff exterior, often at the strangest moments. He can fight Robin Hood with a ''spoon'' and win, he's delighted to be pulling Santa's sleigh as "Last Christmas" approaches its climax, and he can play the guitar like a rock star while making a grand entrance on a ''tank'' in medieval Essex! In the ExpandedUniverse, the novel ''The Blood Cell'' reveals him to be wearing socks decorated with cartoon pigs under his shoes, while the comic "The Monsters of Coal Hill School" in the 2015 Annual has him attempt a BannisterSlide. "The Zygon Invasion" also reveals that he wears underpants with question marks on them.
** This is further explored in "Heaven Sent", which has him fighting for his life and freedom with no one to protect or impress -- just a MonsterOfTheWeek to escape -- in the wake of Clara's death in "Face the Raven". If there's nobody to put a mask on for...what is he ''really''? As it turns out, he's ''still the Doctor.''
* BerserkButton:
** '''Do. Not. Hurt. Clara. Oswald.''' She was his MoralityPet for a reason. When she is at last KilledOffForReal in "Face the Raven" thanks to Ashildr and the Time Lords' plot, he becomes TheUnfettered in his efforts to get her back, and risks tearing apart the universe in the process. In the end, he and Clara must be separated forever and his memories of her wiped because after all they've gone through together and done for each other, she means too much to him for him to be his best self.
** '''War.''' When he finds out that all Bonnie the Zygon wants is a pointless war between humanity and the Zygons he absolutely ''loses it'' in a way we haven't seen since Nine's hate-filled rant against the Daleks, because he knows what war is ''really'' like and he will do anything to prevent others from having to feel that pain again. This incarnation, instead of striking out or destroying her, responds by talking her out of it, with just as much passion and conviction as [[CharacterDevelopment previous incarnations would have condemned her]], in a crowning moment of awesome.
* BewareTheSuperman: His actions in "Hell Bent" embody this trope -- the whole universe risks destruction via his actions, which he undertakes only because ''he cannot get over Clara's death''. He sadly explains to Clara "I became the Hybrid" -- the PersonOfMassDestruction of Gallifreyan prophecy, who would conquer the planet, stand in its ruins, and "burn a billion billion hearts to heal his own" -- as he succumbs to the mind wipe on the way to returning to his best, selfless self.
* BeyondTheImpossible: With two revelations -- first, the War Doctor; second, that the aborted regeneration by the Tenth Doctor counted -- it was revealed that the Eleventh Doctor should've been [[OutOfContinues the last one]]. Luckily, [[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors the Time Lord High Council can grant new regeneration cycles]]. And Clara was able to convince them to do so.
* BigDamnHeroes:
** Joins the other 12 Doctors to save Gallifrey in "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor"]].
** He saves Clara from the Half-Face Man just in time in "Deep Breath". It's implied he had the plan all along, but neglected to tell Clara about it.
** Deconstructed in "Hell Bent" -- he uses a Time Lord extraction chamber to pull Clara from the moment of her death on the trap street, but not only is this ''not'' the same thing as saving her life, it could result in the destruction of the universe if she isn't returned to said moment in time.
* BigDamnKiss: It took four decades, but he becomes the first Doctor seen to be snogged into incoherence by the Master. One episode later, once he realises how broken she is, he very gently grants her a second kiss.
* BigOlEyebrows: His eyebrows have ''their own fan club'', thanks to a ten-second appearance in "The Day of the Doctor"! Referenced in "Deep Breath", when he gets a look at his face and rants to a homeless man how his eyebrows look cross independently from the rest of his face. In ''VideoGame/DoctorWhoLegacy'', his secondary skill is called "Attack Eyebrows".
* BigShutUp: Fond of these. Even when no one is talking and used so often, it might as well be another catchphrase (one shared with Clara, as it happens).
* BirdsOfAFeather: For all their arguments and outward differences, what draws him and Clara together - besides his gratitude for her past actions - is that they're ultimately very similar in both their strengths ''and'' weaknesses as cunning, dominant thrill-seekers, and have a strong affinity because of that. They're fundamentally two people brought together by their shared passions and hobbies. In "Mummy on the Orient Express" they outright agree with each other that they are addicted to travel and adventure. The Doctor is genuinely worried about Clara becoming more like him in Series 9...and in the end, his fears are justified.
* BoomerangBigot: As Danny observes in "The Caretaker", this Doctor's hatred of soldiers is ridiculous, considering ''he's'' effectively a "commander". (I’m the one who carries you out of the fire. He’s the one who lights it.) [[DefiedTrope Defiantly]] proclaims he's ''not'' an officer in "Death in Heaven", and that he only needs friends that act on their own convictions/feelings, not mindless armies.
* BorrowedCatchphrase: He does this to [[PhraseCatcher the typical companion line]] "It's bigger on the inside!" in "The Husbands of River Song" when River, not recognizing him due to his latest regeneration being beyond the expected limit, takes him aboard the TARDIS while attempting to steal it from him; he states that he's always wanted to see it done right. "Hello, Sweetie" and "Spoilers" are surely follows.
* BraveScot: A subtle version. Though Twelve is colder and more calculating than his previous two regenerations, he's still the same daring, ballsy madman he's always been, and this time he has the Scottish brogue to match.
* BreakTheHaughty:
** In "Robot of Sherwood", where his attempts to one up Myth/RobinHood lead to him getting captured without his sonic screwdriver and Clara utterly fed up with him.
** In the Series 9 finale stretch, one suspects that his failure to save Clara from death and then failing to fully restore her to life is the universe's way of rebuking him for making Ashildr immortal, which violated the laws of time and space (he chose the good side of ToBeLawfulOrGood...and BeingGoodSucks).
* BriefAccentImitation: He sometimes lapses back into sounding like his Fourth incarnation.
* BrutalHonesty: Ruthlessly and relentlessly, though he's just as capable of lying as previous incarnations. He just feels more guilty about it when he does.
* ByronicHero: The Doctor's fears, turmoil and guilt over his past and present actions and the darker aspects of his core personality have been simmering inside him for centuries (with occasional boilovers), and with this incarnation they overflow, resulting in a broodier, frostier personality. In Series 8, his character arc is figuring out what kind of man he really is; in Series 9, the final episodes push him to the DespairEventHorizon and his anguish almost tears apart the universe.
* TheCameo: In "The Day of the Doctor," released about a month before the episode in which he was introduced, he joins the other Doctors to save Gallifrey.
* TheCastshowoff: Capaldi's punk rock past leads to Twelve playing electric guitar quite a bit.
* CatchPhrase:
** "Question!", [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin followed by a question.]]
** Telling people who often aren't saying anything to "shut up!" when he's coming to a conclusion.
** Asking whether random things, or ''people'', have developed a fault.
** Calling people "pudding brains."
** "Clara": At least during Series 8 and 9, the Doctor uses Clara's name so frequently (even in sentences where there is no reason to repeat her given name) that this is widely considered among fans to be a catchphrase. Fans have even done [[http://aprilmaclean.tumblr.com/post/158859981633/why-did-i-spend-time-on-this-a-word-cloud-of word cloud analyses]] examining the Twelfth Doctor's dialogue in Series 8 and 9 to prove that the word carries a ''lot'' of weight with him.
* ChangedMyJumper:
** Changes his dress shirt with great frequency. He doesn't like to wear his vest without his white shirt. And he has also been seen several times wearing an actual jumper in lieu of a shirt, with an apparent fondness for a black jumper over a white shirt with holes that resemble stars. WordOfGod is the jumper is Capaldi's own.
** Probably best exemplified when he thinks all he needs to [[PaperThinDisguise blend in on Earth]] is to wear a brown coat over his regular getup. Clara is not amused.
** In "Mummy on the Orient Express", he's wearing an outfit that is very similar to the First Doctor's outfit, minus the tweed.
** He wears his full Third Doctor-esque suit (with vest) thrice in Series 8: the end of "Deep Breath", "Into The Dalek" and "Mummy on the Orient Express".
** He often wears a black hoodie as part of his outfit starting with "Last Christmas", often combining it with the jumper. (Again, this wardrobe piece is Capaldi's own.) The cuddlier look that this and his hair getting thicker and fluffier gives him bespeaks his CharacterDevelopment.
** Series 9 adds a red velvet jacket, a number of printed T-shirts (sometimes worn layered, two T-shirts at a time) and plaid pants to his wardrobe, clear throwbacks to classic series Doctors. That story also introduces his new sonic CoolShades!
* CharacterDevelopment:
** Throughout the previous two incarnations, the Doctor was a StepfordSmiler, hiding all his doubts and guilt beneath jokes and a younger exterior. His experiences as Ten and Eleven (and the experience of Clara finding out some of his secrets, [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre but reacting in a supporting and accepting way]]) have cracked this facade, culminating in a version of himself who's not afraid to show his age and experience. While this makes him [[DarkerAndEdgier the most serious of his incarnations so far]], ironically, [[HeroicSelfDeprecation this shows him at his most vulnerable]], as he's letting it all out.
** His previous incarnation's pacifist attitude has faded and he is more willing to kill and fight dirty when he has to -- or, at least, so it seems. This is related to the revelation in "The Zygon Inversion" that where his previous incarnations did a pretty good job ignoring memories of the War Doctor's atrocities, Twelve not only ''can't'', but is desperate to ensure that no one else should ever know such guilt and pain, making him highly pacifist in the matter of maintaining the human-Zygon peace.
** The Doctor's conversation with Half-Face Man in "Deep Breath" does a good job at lampshading the Doctor's shifts in attitude towards the universe since meeting Clara, and all the events that followed. In contrast to his impotent raging at the unfairness of life in "End of Time" ("...and this is my reward!") and his cold, simmered-out surmise that "the universe doesn't care" how much work he puts into it in "The Snowmen", he now tells us that he long since stopped "expect[ing] to reach the promised land" or any sort of gratefulness or reward, but [[TheAntiNihilist presents this not as a reason to give up on the world, but as a reason why it would be wiser not to cross him as he has nothing to lose or gain but the relative safety of the humans below]]. He's already endured (and destroyed) so much for their sake that nothing that he and Half-Face Man could do to each other would make a difference. Similarly, at the end of "Face the Raven" he declares himself to be a lost soul beyond saving; now that he's lost Clara he warns Ashildr to steer clear of him should their paths ever cross again, owing to his rage.
** At the end of Series 8 he comes close to accepting himself and, to an extent, overcoming his self-doubts. Interesting in that while many of his previous companions tried to help with this in both [[GrandRomanticGesture spectacular]] and [[FriendshipMoment commonplace]] ways, it was the contrast with the distinctly more anti-heroic Clara (whom he is very attached to even though she shares many of his character flaws) and the [[EvilCounterpart similarly smart, quirky and rebellious, but notably more evil Mistress]] that brought him to the realization that his very real imperfections [[DarkIsNotEvil don't have to make him a bad person.]]
--->'''The Doctor''': [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech I am]] ''[[WorldOfCardboardSpeech not]]'' [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech a good man! And I'm not a bad man. I am not a hero. I'm definitely not a president. And no, I'm not an officer. You know what I am? I... am... an idiot. With a box and a screwdriver, passing through, helping out, learning. I don't need an army, I never have. Because I've got them. Always them. Because love, it's not an emotion. Love is a promise.]]
** At the top of Series 9, he's getting ready for TheLastDance with an old enemy in the wake of a mistake the Doctor made. Although it's clear that he's horribly, horribly scared, unlike what Ten or Eleven might have done, he makes no long goodbyes to old friends, not even Clara. He ''must'' go through with it absolutely alone. He sends out his last will and testament and takes some time out for himself in a medieval kingdom as he prepares himself for the end. After all, WeAllDieSomeday, and he feels only death can atone for his mistake. His experiences in trying to do so, however, ultimately further his Series 8 epiphany that he may not be a classical hero, but can accomplish heroic feats when he manages to rise above his flaws.
** Series 9 sees a problem he's had since at least his tenth incarnation -- his inability to handle losing people, especially companions, in a healthy manner -- reach a crisis point. In "The Girl Who Died" he admits he has no idea how he'll move on from Clara and his heartsache over Ashildr's death figures into his rash decision to save her in a way that renders ''her'' immortal, a decision he almost immediately regrets. When Clara dies, he risks all of space and time to get her back. Ultimately his efforts force them apart for good, but he finally understands that he cannot let grief and self-pity dictate his actions, and must accept that while he indeed should hold himself to the mark, sometimes he ''can't'' save others without causing bigger problems. (See also ChronicHeroSyndrome below.) Having learned to properly deal with loss at last, he is free in "The Husbands of River Song" to finally be the "sweetie" River pined so long for.
** Peter Capaldi suggested in [[http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a773213/steven-moffat-has-signed-up-to-doctor-who-for-at-least-13-more-episodes/ this interview]] that the Doctor's warmer nature in Series 9 ''might'' be lost post-"Hell Bent" in favor of [[TookALevelInCynic taking a level in cynic]] once more, but keep in mind that this was before "The Husbands of River Song" (with its 24-year EarnYourHappyEnding TimeSkip at the end) aired.
* CharacterTics:
** [[CharacterDevelopment Much more consistent and deliberate]] hand movements when delivering explanations.
** Writing random words, symbols, and/or equations on his chalkboard (or walls, or floors...).
** Taking picked flowers from a vase and smelling them.
** After his CharacterDevelopment in his debut series, he's relaxed enough on his own that he's taken to whipping out a guitar and rocking out; sometimes when in deep thought, and sometimes just because.
* ChastityCouple: With Clara.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: This causes him a '''huge''' amount of grief in Series 9 -- he is determined to hold himself to helping/saving anyone he can however he can, even realizing that he has the face he does as a reminder to do so. But the subsequent consequences of such actions as helping foster a peace between humans and Zygons, feeling guilty over abandoning young Davros, saving Ashildr and making her immortal, and unintentionally inspiring Clara to develop this syndrome in herself cause him a great deal of misery, culminating in the events of "Face the Raven". Two episodes later in "Hell Bent", however, everyone learns that if he ''isn't'' working under this syndrome and just focusing on what HE wants, the results aren't pretty...
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}:
** Regeneration trauma tends to leave all incarnations of the Doctor very groggy, but during his he flirts with a giant dinosaur, initially thinks everyone ''but'' him has regenerated, and buys smelly clothes off a hobo.
** His (apparently) clueless inability to notice Clara's attractiveness becomes a bit of a RunningGag in Series 8, often resulting in him going to Cloud Cuckoo Lander land, especially in episodes like "Listen".
** Misses relatively obvious points in popular culture. He is surprised to find out that every book isn't a WheresWally book, and has difficulty understanding that it's common knowledge that [[ClarkKenting Clark Kent]] is {{Superman}}. Possible subversions, as both times he is communicating with young children and may be establishing a rapport.
* CluelessChickMagnet: It doesn't happen often, but when a female character hints at attraction to the Twelfth Doctor, he usually misses the point or just doesn't understand. Examples include Missy coming onto him in "Dark Water", O'Donnell's undisguised mixture of hero worship and attraction in "Under the Lake" and "Before the Flood", and even to a degree Clara, given his confused reaction in "Listen" to Clara (who it should be noted is dressed for going on a date at the time) saying he doesn't need mood lighting because "the accent is enough." He also misses Osgood's reaction in "The Zygon Inversion" to his confession that he wears question mark underpants.
* ComfortingComforter: During the epilogue of "Mummy on the Orient Express", he takes Clara to a beach on an alien world and tucks her in comfortably with several blankets, so she could have a calm nap while he waits for her to wake up. He doesn't show his sweet and gentle side often, but when he does, he's really kind and nice, even if he'd never openly admit it.
* TheComicallySerious: Comes with being a very gritty and serious Doctor.
* ContemplateOurNavels: Now that the Doctor's finally stopped running away from the Time War, he is devoting more time to self-reflection. Who is he? (An idiot with a box and a screwdriver, who saves people but also learns from them.) What is he really afraid of? (Being alone.) What does he think of himself? (Dictatorial, manipulative, likes to think he's clever.) Why does he despise soldiers? (They take orders, he prefers companions who think for themselves.)
* CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority: This Doctor doesn't listen to anybody or anything. He openly dismisses any authority by way of using his own. Best exemplified when he ''immediately'' bonds with Courtney, the local troublemaker at Coal Hill School. This might lend credence to the theories that Twelve is something of a cheeky teenager pretending to be an old jaded man.
* CoolShades: These are added to his wardrobe in Series 9, making their debut in "The Magician's Apprentice". The next episode reveals '''how''' cool they are -- they're ''sonic sunglasses'', replacing his old screwdriver since he gave it to the young Davros. (He gets a new screwdriver at the end of the season.)
* CreateYourOwnVillain
** As Series 9 begins, he's in the middle of saving a young boy from an mine field....until he finds out that boy was '''Davros''', which makes him high-tail it (leaving his sonic screwdriver with the boy). And the worst part? Davros ''remembers''. However "The Witch's Familiar" debunks this by having the Doctor indeed go back and fix his mistake....and things still turn out the same. He knows this -- he's realized his real role in Davros' life was modeling mercy to him.[[note]]Big Finish did an audio drama, ''I Davros'', which came to the conclusion that Davros is naturally a sociopath and would end up as an evil MadScientist regardless of any outside circumstances.[[/note]]
** Saving Ashildr's life in a way that also makes her immortal and perpetually lonely results in her turning callous, and becoming bitter towards him, by the time "The Woman Who Lived" begins. He helps her regain some empathy -- but in "Face the Raven" she makes an enemy of him over what becomes of Clara due to her plan to trap and deliver him to an unknown party going horribly wrong. By the end of "Hell Bent" it's not clear if he will ever forgive her for all this (partially because she does nothing to earn it); if he does, it won't be to her face. On the other hand, he lets her follow him into the second TARDIS rather than leave her at the end of time, setting the stage for her becoming a companion to Clara...
* CreepyGood: While many incarnations of the Doctor are this to varying degrees, Twelve takes this to a new level. Clara goes from being doted on by Eleven -- an appeasing old man with a handsome face -- to being pestered by Twelve, a glowering, ruthless pragmatist with a paranoid streak. It isn't until the ending of "Mummy on the Orient Express", more than halfway into Series 8, that she comes to understand he genuinely means to help as many people as possible with limited resources and isn't being a jerk for the sake of it. Throughout the Whoniverse (the show, novels, comics, etc.) Twelve, what with his bushy-browed glares and brusque mannerisms, tends to induce fear in others at first and second glance; realizing how tender and compassionate (not to mention brave and daring) he actually is takes time. The poor creature scares '''himself''' with his own inner darkness and starts questioning if he's good at all in Series 8. Then in the final stretch of Series 9, he gets pushed, not of his own choice, off the deep end and over the cliff, and unleashes the seven bells of hell on the Time Lords...It's ''glorious''. '''''Horrifying''''', but '''''glorious'''''.
* CruelToBeKind: Sometimes, he acts strict and stern to others in order to snap them back to their senses when he needs them to be brave. This extends to his companion. Even after he offers Clara help in "Dark Water", he is initially feigning annoyance in front of her, so she'll stop sobbing and pick up her courage. As he notes, he needs her to be strong, because both of them will have to work together to their fullest if they want to save Danny.
* CueCard: Clara develops a set of them for him to use to help him [[NoSocialSkills get through interactions with other people]] in Series 9. They don't always work as planned.
* CulturedBadass: As if his outfit didn't make it obvious enough, Twelve quickly establishes himself as one by renovating the TARDIS: bookshelves, furniture, a fireplace, and a warmer color scheme -- [[InternalHomage all similar to the Eighth Doctor's console room]].
* DarkerAndEdgier: He's a "darker" man than the Eleventh Doctor, to the point Clara can't tell if the Doctor is still the good man she was quite insistent he was in his previous incarnation. Series 9's final three episodes reveal just what darkness he's capable of when the DespairEventHorizon looms.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Clad in darker attire, he's rather stoic, introverted and doesn't care much about human relationships, but he's fond of dry-witted joking and does pay genuine respect to his companion and the people he considers his friends, few though they are. The depths of his compassion, even towards his foes, also bespeaks a good soul. Tragically, his ProtagonistJourneyToVillain in the final stretch of Series 9 does almost change him to DarkIsEvil...but he comes back from the brink.
* DeadpanSnarker: Sometimes combined with GentlemanSnarker.
* DefrostingIceQueen:
** He comes across as grumpy a lot, even to Clara. However, over the course of several adventures and after a few misunderstandings, [[TheHeart Clara]] manages to mellow him out somewhat and his SugarAndIcePersonality finds balance. By the end of Series 8 he's a kinder and more considerate man, even if his introversion and alienness often get the better of him. Curiously [[FriendToAllChildren he's oddly sweet and nice to children]] right from the get go, even though he maintains a "grumpy, disinterested grandfather" facade in front of them.
** The defrosting is illustrated in "Death in Heaven" and "Last Christmas" when he willingly submits to Clara hugging him (compare to his reluctance and awkwardness when she does so in "Deep Breath" and "Listen"). By Series 9, he's hugging her and clearly enjoys the spontaneous - completely non-plot-related; she just felt like doing it - hug she gives him in "The Woman Who Lived".
** He's a much friendlier and fun-loving man by Series 9, but he is still not above calling humans idiots.
** He starts frosting up again -- and then some -- after he loses Clara in "Face the Raven", but the ending of "Hell Bent" suggests he won't completely return to his old personality, and "The Husbands of River Song" effectively confirms it.
* DespairEventHorizon: The final episodes of Series 9 deal with what happens when this Doctor is brought to this point after coming close to it in "The Witch's Familiar", culminating in the events of "Hell Bent", as Steven Moffat explains to ''Doctor Who Magazine''. The Doctor firmly crosses the horizon and loses all hope when he realizes that Clara is not fully returning to life despite his unfettered efforts:
-->''[The Doctor] once said, ‘Good men don’t need rules. Today’s not the day to find out why I have so many.’ Well this is him saying, ‘Sod the rules.’ I like him doing that, because that tells you who he is the rest of the time. The rest of the time he holds back. Not this time. Episode 11 [[SanitySlippage pushes the Doctor to the brink of madness]], and Episode 12 is what happens next. If the Doctor has lost his moral compass, if he's being selfish, if you really, really hacked him off, if you really got him angry and gave him nothing to fight for...what would you end up with? That's the 'hellbent' of the title. An angry, off-the-rails Doctor.''
* {{Determinator}}: Shown in "Heaven Sent" with his final return to the teleporter, and with the overall plan that necessitates it. He spends ''four and a half billion years'' (though thanks to the GroundhogDayLoop he found himself stuck in, he spends most of each loop thinking it's his first time through, only remembering the rest near the end) punching his way through a substance stronger than diamond (and getting constantly killed by a monster) in order to escape the Confession Dial without having to give up who the Hybrid is.
* DeterminedExpression: For his brief moment in "The Day of the Doctor", he gives a determined KubrickStare. It seems to have become his default expression in the face of any serious challenge.
* DiscoDan: Make way for "[[WaxingLyrical Doctor Funkenstein]]"! Twelve becomes warmer and kookier in Series 9, with his prickly porcupine manner (a vague sense of menace that made him compelling to watch but emotionally distant) mostly gone; instead of an old bugger who would throw you under the bus as easily as shake your hand, he's more of a washed-up rock star -- slipping on shades, chillaxing with the kids, and ruminating on past glories (including his alien sexual conquests) in a very genial way.
* DrivingQuestion:
** In Series 8: "Am I a good man?" The Twelfth Doctor seems to be having something of an identity crisis now that he's escaped death once more, and even received a new regeneration cycle into the bargain. The fact that he survived against all odds and narrowly won for the sake of much grief and loss of people he loved had apparently made him question his life up until this incarnation. Hence his recurring doubts about who he really is at heart, and what he should stand for. By the end of Series 8, though, he finally seems to be finding his footing. [[note]]The answer, in case you were wondering, [[TakeAThirdOption is an ambiguous "neither"]]. He is who he's always been: An idiot with a box who travels and likes to help people.[[/note]]
** In Series 9: What is the Doctor's confession, a thing he will only reveal upon his final death ''or'' when he's at the DespairEventHorizon? Is it the ''real'' reason he left Gallifrey and has been running ever since? And what does it have to do with [[ArcWords the Hybrid teased all season]]? [[note]]In this case, the answer is TheUnreveal.[[/note]]
* DrJerk:
** Despite his namesake, he's much less empathetic than previous incarnations. ''Doctor Who'' writer Jamie Mathieson [[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2iyngn//cl6tn3d?context=3 said]] his initial image after Creator/StevenMoffat outlined Twelve was DrJerk TropeCodifier, Series/{{House}}.
** The Doctor remarks before the medical operation in "Into the Dalek" that Clara is his 'carer' -- she cares so he doesn't have to.
--->'''Psi:''' Is ''that'' why you call yourself the "Doctor"? Professional detachment?
** [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] in "Robot of Sherwood".
--->''[stabs hypodermic needle into Alan-a-Dale]''\\
'''Doctor:''' Oh. All those diseases. If you were real, you'd be dead in six months.\\
'''Alan-a-Dale:''' B-but I ''am'' real!\\
'''Doctor:''' [[NoSympathy Bye.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding: His suffering in the final stretch of Series 9 subverts the trope because his idea of a happy ending becomes a TragicDream (Clara back for good) that cannot be fulfilled without destroying the universe. After that, though, a sadder, wiser Doctor encounters River Song again. He'd been putting off taking her to the Singing Towers of Darillium for years because he knew it would be their last night together, but when they end up in a space liner that crashes on the planet, he proceeds to make the arrangements for that night to take place -- ensuring a restaurant is built on the crash site, getting reservations for a table on a balcony overlooking the towers, fabricating a sonic screwdriver for her, etc. Having accepted that happiness with anyone can't last forever after what happened with Clara, he chooses to make the time he has left with River as happy as possible instead of putting it off. And since a night on Darillium lasts ''twenty-four years'', he plays this trope straight at last.
* EEqualsMCHammer: Twelve's preferred spot in the TARDIS is in front of a chalkboard, jotting down bizarre equations. It follows that his companion would be a teacher.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: When he temporarily becomes TheUnfettered VillainProtagonist in "Hell Bent", he swaps his red velvet Crombie coat out for a black overcoat. Clara notices and doesn't think it's very "Doctory", but he explains "I can't be the Doctor all the time." When he returns to his TARDIS at the end, he finds a red velvet Crombie coat waiting for him and puts it on. Almost qualifies as EvilWearsBlack since he's the only real antagonist in the story (Rassilon proving to be a mere BigBadWannabe).
* FallenHero: "Hell Bent" reconstructs this trope -- he gives up his principles first to take revenge on Rassilon and the High Council and then to risk the universe and his love for Clara by trying to save her, but when she stands up to him over his plan to mind-wipe her, he has a HeelRealization and realizes he must give her up and be a doctor once again (as opposed to the Hybrid, as he sees it).
* FantasticRacism:
** This Doctor ''really'' doesn't like Daleks. However, when he's confronted with a Dalek that appears to have changed its moral compass from evil to good in "Into the Dalek", he seems to be actively hoping that he's at last found a Dalek that has permanently changed of its own initiative; when he finds out it hasn't (it was just an internal radiation leak affecting the brain chemistry) he feels validated in his beliefs that a good Dalek is impossible -- which earns him a slap from Clara because he's enjoying it a little too much.
** The trope turns up again when he abandons young Davros mid-rescue upon realizing the boy is the creator of the Daleks in "The Magician's Apprentice". This has tragic results -- or so it seems.
* {{Foil}}: Is just as strange and alien as Eleven, but with much more intensity and much less empathy.
* ForScience: Twelve seeks to prove a monster's existence in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E4Listen Listen]]" not out of altruism or necessity, but scientific curiosity. Or if Clara's to be believed, a need to prove that he's not afraid.
* FreakOut
** He has a brief one in "The Zygon Inversion" when he realizes all Bonnie wants is a war.
** His desperate demand that Ashildr save Clara in "Face the Raven", to the point where he ''renounces his name'' and threatens to call in his deadly enemies the Cybermen and Daleks to help him.
** "Face the Raven"'s events, specifically Clara's death, traumatize him enough that the final two episodes of Series 9 that follow chronicle his temporary descent to the DespairEventHorizon and a darker, rage-driven self, a process exacerbated by the torture he undergoes in "Heaven Sent".
* FriendlyEnemy: To Missy, starting with Series 9. He is amiable upon seeing her in "The Magician's Apprentice", publicly calling her his friend and humorously calling her "the wicked stepmother." After the events of "Hell Bent", however, this may not hold now that he has reason to believe she "matched" him with Clara in hopes of ruining him/creating the Hybrid via LoveMakesYouEvil...
* FriendToAllChildren:
** In a completely different way than Eleven. Eleven would often act like a child and join in their fun and games. Twelve is more an encouraging grandfather figure, and takes on the youngest solo companion to date: Courtney, who's only 15.
** In "The Magician's Apprentice"/"The Witch's Familiar", he's trying to save a young boy from a mine field, even tossing him the sonic screwdriver, until he finds out that young boy is '''Davros'''. He gets in his TARDIS and hightails it out of there in horror and shame, and comes to see this as MyGreatestFailure. In the end, the Doctor gets the chance to correct this and takes it -- even after all the adult Davros does to him in this story alone. He's realized that saving the boy doesn't stop the Daleks from existing, but it is the reason they understand the concept of mercy.
** In "The Girl Who Died" he still speaks baby, and it's the wailing of one that not only convinces him to help the villagers prepare to confront the Mire, but also gives him a hint to defeating them. Tragically played when his affection for Ashildr and guilt over her demise in the battle factors into his rash decision to bring her back with Mire technology, which makes her immortal, TheAgeless, and ultimately lonely and embittered to the point of callousness by "The Woman Who Lived".
** Clara desperately reminds him he is this when he threatens Ashildr with the destruction of her, the trap street, and everyone in it if she can't save Clara in the climax of "Face the Raven" -- "Your reign of terror will end with the first crying child, and you know it!" He replies "No, I don't!" in anguish. "I do," she replies, which results in calming him down.
** After his encounter with young Grant Gordon one Christmas Eve accidentally results in the latter gaining {{Superhero}} abilities, he does what he can to help the boy (and later teen) cope with the downsides of being CursedWithAwesome. When he kept an eye on Ashildr between "The Girl Who Died" and "The Woman Who Lived" he did so from a distance, but he actively visits Grant.
* FriendshipMoment:
** Plenty of them with his companion Clara.
** He and the Master have a long-overdue talk about their friendship and their need for each other. It really helps Twelve understand what he is in relation to her, and he thanks her for it with a very sweet kiss on the lips. Even so, the Doctor disagrees with the Master deeply and is trying to be kind more out of pity than anything else.
* GadgeteerGenius: Perhaps in response to criticisms that Eleven was using the sonic screwdriver too often and for too many things, Twelve uses it sparingly and comes up with mostly clunky-looking, cobbled-together gadgets whenever he needs to do anything more complex than popping a lock. These devices still have a few kinks to work out, and they often break after one use or don't work as planned. The sonic sunglasses are sharper and more effective, but also highly breakable!
* GeniusSweetTooth: Like his previous incarnations has an affection for jelly babies, which he keeps in a cigarette case. At the beginning of "Robot of Sherwood" one may notice that he eats yogurt. He also genuinely likes coffee, and in "Death in Heaven" it is shown that he puts at least ''seven'' sugar cubes in it.
* GentlemanAndAScholar: His bookish-minded redecoration of the TARDIS control room, general seriousness and sternness and Third Doctor-like aloof, aristocratic outward persona that hides an occasional sweet side, certainly point to this trope. In a variation, he's definitely on the {{cloudcuckoolander}} side of "gentleman".
* GentlemanAdventurer: He's a little older looking, but still loves the thrill of an adventure.
* GirlyRun: Seems to be a recurring thing with characters played by Creator/PeterCapaldi ([[Series/TheThickOfIt Malcolm Tucker]] immediately comes to mind), but Twelve tends to run in a manner that seems designed to 1) keep his posture as straight as possible and 2) be entirely unsuited to the act of running itself.
* AGodAmI: In "Hell Bent", where his attempts to save Clara make Ten's brief bout as the Time Lord Victorious look humble in comparison. He's still sympathetic, as it's the result of severe emotional and mental damage from his experience in the confession dial.
* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual: His sonic sunglasses are a wearable successor to his sonic screwdrivers.
* GoodIsNotNice: Twelve is not particulary polite or affable the way his predecessors were. He's very no-nonsense, often to a fault. But he'll do everything in his power to help you or save you, and won't make much of a fuss about it.
* GoofyPrintUnderwear: In "The Zygon Invasion", he admits to Osgood that he still has question marks decorating part of his wardrobe...namely, they're on his underwear!
* GotVolunteered: In "Death in Heaven" Kate informs the Doctor that, in the event of a worldwide alien "incursion", U.N. protocol automatically and unilaterally promotes him to President of Earth. His word is law -- literally. From there, the Doctor gets a private jet (which gets shot down by Cybermen), some joint chiefs (dunces), and a wall of flatscreens to keep him up-to-date on events (such as Missy escaping and disintegrating the guards). He's President once more in "The Zygon Invasion", and his new plane proves no luckier, this time being shot down with a rocket launcher fired by Clara's Zygon duplicate!
* GrandpaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave: In "Listen", Clara comments that his accent is attractive in her eyes. His expression briefly oscillates between "...really?" and "Geez humans."
* GrandRomanticGesture: He is the Doctor whom River Song encounters before the events of "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead". When they crash-land on Darillium, he arranges a restaurant to be built near the Singing Towers, knowing that it will be where they will have one last night together before her death. This night turns out to last '''twenty-four years'''.
* GreenEyedMonster:
** Despite his claim in "Deep Breath" that thinking himself to be Clara's boyfriend was a mistake, there are several occasions during Series 8 where his jealousy over Clara pairing up with Danny Pink is undisguised. Examples include his statement to himself, "Robbing a whole bank. Beat '''that''' for a date" in "Time Heist"; his undisguised jealousy of Danny seen in "The Caretaker" once he learns that Clara is ''not'' dating a fellow teacher who happens to resemble the Eleventh Doctor; and his hurt expression in "Mummy on the Orient Express" when he hears Clara apparently say "I love you" to Danny on the phone (even though, per WordOfGod, Creator/JennaColeman, those words were actually directed at ''the Doctor'' but he never realized). Inverted slightly in Series 9's "Before the Flood" when the Doctor suggests Clara find another relationship.
** "The Husbands of River Song" has hints of this: He's decidedly disgusted by her openly pitching woo with two of her other husbands, first King Hydroflax (though it turns out she just "married the diamond" and is faking it) and then Ramone (whom she actually mind-wiped of the "husband" detail). Later he and River get into an argument about each others' various spouses!
* GrumpyBear: The Doctor is a little more curmudgeonly in this incarnation. He argues with everybody, from his companions to authority figures. He even gets into a snarking match with ''Robin Hood''. (He laughs too much!)
* GrumpyOldMan: When Twelve first gets a chance to see his reflection he notes how his face is "all covered in lines" and is all "frowning".
* GuileHero: Lampshaded by Clara in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline Flatline]]": "Rule number one about being the Doctor, use your enemy's power against them."
* GuiltComplex: Has this in Series 9, blaming himself for (in turn) setting the stage for the creation of the Daleks, Ashildr's death in battle, and finally Clara's death on the Trap Street. His attempts to atone for these disasters only cause more problems for him and others.
* HappilyMarried: To River Song. Unlike his previous self, Twelve learned to stop running from the inevitable and thus granted River twenty-four happy years with him.
* HatesBeingTouched:
** Hugging is not in this Doctor's wheelhouse. He has absolutely no idea what to do with his hands. Clara seems to perversely enjoy [[TheGlomp tackle-hugging him into submission]] as he writhes around the console room, clawing and fidgeting out of her grasp. In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E11DarkWater Dark Water]]", when Missy kisses him, he freezes completely up in shock. In the next episode, "Death in Heaven", he explains that the real reason he doesn't like hugs is not so much grouchiness but that "it's just a way to hide your face", in keeping with the whole BeneathTheMask theme he has going on... he's still somewhat awkward, but c'mon, Missy is his arch-enemy...
** Played straight again in "Last Christmas", when Santa tells the group to hold hands and concentrate. He initially refuses to hold hands with anyone but Clara. But as they are in a circle and they have no choice he begrudgingly does so with Shona.
** A sign of his deep affection for Clara in Series 9 is his willingness to hug her in moments of particularly high emotion, and to accept (and clearly enjoy) being hugged by her at her whim, and also embraces Clara's new form of affection, stroking his face.
* HeelRealization: Clara objecting to him planning to mind wipe her in "Hell Bent" triggers this in him, as he realizes his grief and rage has turned him into an AntiVillain.
* HeldGaze: Quite fond of these with Clara.
* HeroicBSOD:
** He goes into a prolonged one at the top of Series 9 after realizing the young boy he was trying to save from a mine field was a young Davros. He gets back into his TARDIS and hightails it. The resultant funk is because he realizes first that this made him a massive hypocrite -- his Fourth incarnation famously used the grey morality of HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct as the reason why he shouldn't kill the Daleks in the infancy of their creation -- and second that he may have invoked CreateYourOwnVillain in the worst possible way.
** He falls into this as he helplessly watches Clara die in "Face the Raven". When he comes out of it, see his comments to Ashildr under BadassBoast above...
** Nearly the entirety of "Heaven Sent" sees him in this state, to the point of having a full-out breakdown and deciding to give up. It takes a mental recreation of Clara to snap him out of it.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation:
** He doesn't ''like'' being an AntiHero. Combined with a deliberate nod to DarkIsNotEvil.
--->'''The Doctor:''' [[HumbleHero Am I a good man?]]
** When confronted with "The Architect" who wants him to rob the bank, Twelve immediately hates him because he's pompous, manipulative, and overbearing. That's how the Doctor realizes ''he'' was the Architect in the first place!
** Calls himself explicitly "an idiot" starting in later episodes of Series 8, and is often willing to break the ice and admit he feels ashamed for some of his decisions and actions, such as abandoning the young Davros as Series 9 begins. His climactic monologue in "The Zygon Inversion" reveals that he is tormented by memories of his dirty deeds as the War Doctor and doesn't want anyone else to know such pain.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: The Doctor -- who has killed ''very many'' Cybermen and Daleks and orchestrated the deaths of others -- is now 2000 years old and getting meaner every year. Just as Rusty the Dalek had an epiphany ("Life prevails") the Doctor learned over the years that evil/bad/nasty/vile things also frequently triumph. The final episodes of Series 9 examine just how far he's willing to go, especially when all he's fighting for is himself after Clara's death.
* HistoryRepeats:
** The Twelfth Doctor and the First Doctor both started out on ''Doctor Who'' as relatively aged Doctors, have school teachers from Coal Hill School as companions, and don’t know how to fly the TARDIS. And both Hartnell and Capaldi were 55 when starting as the Doctor.
** Both Capaldi's and Pertwee's Doctors follow on from the Time Lords interfering in the regeneration cycle, are significantly older in appearance than their companions, display remarkable rudeness, have an emotional reaction to their new eyebrows and favour dark clothing with red for spot colour - Twelve's suit and Three's signature opera cloak. (And Twelve gets a red velvet jacket added to his wardrobe in Series 9...)
** Like the Sixth Doctor, he's also the "darker" successor of the Doctor played by the youngest actor in the role at the time. The actors for both have also appeared in the show in other roles prior to becoming the Doctor.
** Like Seven, he's a pragmatic person looking at the bigger picture, while his companion has gained increased prominence in story importance and screentime. Both twosomes have fallouts and reconciliations, struggling to balance their relationships with each other with the perils and responsibilities they face in their journeys.
** Also, a relatively young incarnation enters a brutal, devastating centuries-long war which ages him into an old man. He regenerates after the war into a middle-aged incarnation who is rather rude and bitter, but still a very good person at heart. [[CatchPhrase Question]]: Are we talking about the War and Ninth Doctors or the Eleventh and Twelfth?
* HughMann: In "The Caretaker", his idea of blending into North London is wearing an orange coat in the same cut and length as his blue one and hanging placards reading "GO AWAY HUMANS" instead of the modest Keep Out sign he intended.
* HumansThroughAlienEyes: He's the most alien of all the revival series Doctors.
* HumbleHero: Zigzagged depending on the subject; he'll gladly point out that everyone else is a "pudding brain" compared to a Time Lord like himself but if you call him a great hero he'll immediately deflect the praise by saying that he's just "passing time". For all his pragmatism, he utilises this trope almost suicidally at one point. He effectively takes the bullet for Maisie Pitt in "Mummy on the Orient Express", despite it looking like he was willing to let her die at first. Luckily, once he diverts the threat's attention to him instead of Maisie, he succeeds in stopping it once and for all.
* HurtingHero:
** Twelve grimly accepts the constant death that surrounds his adventures and that there are some people he just ''can't'' save, and instead focuses on the people that he does have a chance of saving. This however gives the people he encounters in his adventures the impression he's heartless. Much of Series 9 (episode examples below) examines just how much he's hurting over a variety of issues, and how it sometimes leads him to rash decisions -- and ultimately the DespairEventHorizon, whereupon he decides he ''can'' save Clara if he gives up his principles...In the meantime, consider this dialogue from "Mummy on the Orient Express":
---> '''The Doctor:''' We can’t mourn. People with guns to their heads, they cannot mourn. We do not have time to mourn.
** In "The Magician's Apprentice" / "The Witch's Familiar", he near-immediately regrets his choice to abandon rather than save (or kill) the young Davros; he knows he could have done so much better for himself and the universe and is willing to die to atone. In the end, not only does he come out of his ordeal on Skaro alive, he ''does'' manage to do better.
** In "The Girl Who Died", he admits he can't stand eventually losing everyone he cares about, citing it as what keeps him running through space and time -- he's ''trying to'' flee the pain. This and the "constant deaths around him" issue both factor into his rash, tragic decision to revive Ashildr in a way that makes her immortal. He wants to, exists to, '''save people!'''
** He reveals in "The Zygon Inversion" that he's actively '''tormented''' by his memories of the many atrocities he committed as the War Doctor, far more than Doctors Nine, Ten, and Eleven ever were.
** In "Face the Raven", Clara dies. As they make their final goodbyes, he is awash in tears, confessing that he will suffer without her. His pain makes him a danger to anyone who dares cross him. Ultimately, while he saves her from death's door he again goes too far in doing so and realizes that he ''must'' lose her ''and his memories of her'' to atone. The good news is that excising the emotional cancer of his grief and rage means he can move on and be his best self again.
** "The Return of Doctor Mysterio", set shortly after the 24-year TimeSkip that followed "The Husbands of River Song", reveals that having made his final goodbye (from his perspective) to River at last, he is quite lonesome and melancholy. But rather than going without a companion altogether (Donna), withdrawing from the world (Amy and Rory), or risking the universe to undo a loved one's death (Clara), the Doctor decided to "reassemble" Nardole (who understands his situation) and take him on as a companion, and throw himself into new adventures with gusto. While he is bottling up his sorrow more than he should, he also knows he has no choice but to move on, because as sad as endings are, they open up new beginnings and chances for him to be happy.
* IconicItem: His chalkboard and his red-lined coat(s), the one consistent bit of his costuming. Series 9 adds his guitar, sonic sunglasses, and finally in "Hell Bent" a unique sonic screwdriver (he used Eleven's in Series 8).
* IcyBlueEyes: Made all the more prominent by his stare.
* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: Stops Clara from killing the Master/Mistress in the finale of Series 8. He understands her anger and thinks she's justified, but he doesn't want his beloved companion to become a killer, especially after all the awful experiences she's already been through. The Master keeps twisting the blade by mocking the Doctor, gloating that "he wanted to save Clara's poor little soul".
* IHaveNoIdeaWhatImDoing: He starts his life deciding that the TARDIS is ''probably'' crashing before asking Clara how to fly it.
* ImNotAHeroIm: Twelve is extremely prickly about this, insisting that he's "[[BlatantLies just passing the time]]" and isn't interested in heroism. Also, though he brags from time to time, he's much less pompous and vocal about his own exploits than any previous incarnation of the Doctor, hinting at a newly gained bit of maturity and more regret for the many, many mistakes he's made ('''especially''' in the Time War) and is still making. In "The Witch's Familiar" he claims he's just TheStoryteller (see below) and his greatest exploits are just his good days, the days when he lives up to the story he's trying to write for himself that posits him as a doctor.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: He doesn't need a sword to duel Robin Hood... he's got [[Creator/SylvesterMcCoy a spoon]].
* IndyPloy: Seems somewhat fond of them, even counting on others to participate. (When trapped inside a Dalek, he calls on Clara to do "a clever thing". Then he goes to show a Dalek something that'll change its mind forever. What exactly? "Not a clue".) From "Time Heist":
--> '''Saibra:''' That's your plan? A "thing" will happen?
* InnocentlyInsensitive: This incarnation's tendency towards NoSocialSkills and alienness frequently leads to this. He often slips up in interactions with others by seemingly not realising where the boundary between being sarcastic and being rude to people lies.
** The way he treats Danny in "The Caretaker" suggests that he was teasing him and making jabs at him in what he considered a playful way, but to Danny, Clara and everyone else, it just seems like he's being a jerk for no logical reason (in retrospect, however we also know that he was being a bit of a GreenEyedMonster too). The Doctor later begrudgingly backpedals on this, even if he doesn't directly apologise until he tries (and fails) to do it in the finale episode. That he keeps nicknaming Danny "P.E." even as he's dying doesn't help...
** While his decision to avoid helping solve the problem in "Kill the Moon" is [[BlueAndOrangeMorality ultimately based on good intentions]], [[NoSocialSkills he doesn't realise until the very end]] that he scared and insulted his companion and guest and acted in a way that might seem very haughty and patronising towards humanity. The latter is a particularly sad take on this, as he was convinced he did humans a favour by honouring their free will and independent decision-making -- perhaps having learned from his mistakes as Ten.
* InsultOfEndearment: Mockingly calls humans "pudding-brains" on multiple occasions, but he does it in a cheeky way instead of being mean-spirited.
* InsufferableGenius:
** ''Every'' Doctor is an insufferable genius, but Twelve has to take the cake. From "Deep Breath":
---> '''The Doctor:''' I hate being wrong in public. Everyone forget that happened.
** Best lampshaded in ''Mummy on the Orient Express":
---> '''Perkins:''' You know Doctor, I can't tell if you're a genius or just incredibly arrogant.\\
'''The Doctor:''' Well, on a good day I'm both.
* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: Initially this Doctor is basically not nice to anyone at all unless their name is Clara Oswald, which is in part due to seeing everyone's intelligence as inferior to his own. He makes an effort to be warm, but impertinence and ignorance severely test his temper in the heat of the moment. When the dust settles, he's a [[HumbleHero humble]], HurtingHero deep down.
* InternalHomage: His clothing and serious demeanor call to mind the Third Doctor. The lavish use of odd body language, on the other hand, strongly evokes the Fourth.
* IronicEcho: Twelve spends most of Series 9 catastrophizing about losing Clara, something he knows must happen someday (not necessarily tragically) due to his existence as a near-immortal. The irony is that, Clara ends her time with the Doctor as someone who is effectively immortal, will never age, and is probably indestructible to boot. If not for that memory wipe, the Doctor finally has within his grasp a companion who he'd ''never have to worry about again'' - either in terms of her safety and in terms of aging, as she could theoretically outlive him. To put a bow on it, she invites him to just fly away with her instead of pushing the button.
* ItsAllMyFault: He blames himself for Clara's death in "Face the Raven", having seen her act like a cocky FearlessFool during all of Series 9 and only halfheartedly trying to rein her in. That said, he's still '''furious''' at Ashlidr for manipulating the situation that led to Clara's death in the first place, and hungers for {{Revenge}} against both her and the enemy she's delivering him to. In the end, he understands that it wasn't his fault that Clara made the choices she did, but all the trouble his "saving" Clara leads to '''is'''; when he realizes he'll lose his memories of her, he accepts it as just punishment.
* ItsNotYouItsMe: After seeing generations of humans live and die on Trenzalore and seeing Clara (initially) take the regeneration rather badly, he assumes that he has misjudged his place and pulls one of these on Clara. So [[BookEnds both the 1st and the 12th]] episodes of Series 8 end with the protagonists deciding what's better for the other without consulting them, and in both cases, it causes more drama than it averts.
* IWasQuiteAFashionVictim: He opts not to go for the scarf look again, and finds bowties embarrassing (and [[ComicBook/DoctorWhoTitan in the Titan comics]] he expresses similar embarrassment about the fez...). However, First Doctor-esque ribbon ties are okay for a special occasion. His reaction to Adrian's and Osgood's similar attires suggest that he's a lot fonder of his bowtie wearing days [[GuiltyPleasures than he'd like to admit]], and this is further confirmed in "The Magician's Apprentice" when it's revealed he temporarily returned to some of his old sartorial choices (including the scarf) during TheLastDance. Indeed, he wears Second Doctor-style plaid pants in several Series 9 stories.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: This Doctor is grumpy, abrasive, rude, and rather apathetic. He is also very devoted to his companions and friends, few though they may be, still thinks humans are very important (being explicit about it while alone with the Half-Face Man in "Deep Breath"), and ultimately tries to be the best man he can be. And he questions his own actions surprisingly often: He's willing to die if it might atone for abandoning young Davros and regrets his choice to revive Ashildr in a way that grants her immortality, his most dangerously rash decision since he risked undoing all space and time in "The Waters of Mars" (though notably he wasn't trying to ''rewrite'' fate but ''fight'' fate, and the initial stakes weren't as high), almost immediately.
* KleptomaniacHero: In "Listen", he steals a security guard's cup of coffee.
* KnightInSourArmor: Might be a bit too aloof to others at times, but as he notes in his introductory episode, people are never small to him. He might snark at you without remorse, but he'll always treat you with respect and will do his best to help those in need. And though he vocally doubts and even dismisses it at one point, he likes to keep up hope for the Daleks being curable of their evil and obsession with destruction. ("If I could turn one Dalek, I could turn them all...") This is key to his actions at the top of Series 9: his regret over not saving young Davros when he has the chance to -- he could have saved the boy's soul, but instead probably started his destructive ways -- drives him to prepare for TheLastDance by way of atonement. In the end, he winds up being the boy's savior, and while the evil of the Daleks still comes to pass, this Doctor is the reason they understand the concept of mercy.
* KubrickStare: Fond of these. They turn up in "The Day of the Doctor" and "Hell Bent", during the Series 8 trailer, and in the opening credits.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: This incarnation has a habit of occasionally "deleting" unnecessary memories, which can lead to awkward situations, such as in "Last Christmas" when he deletes the names of the base personnel immediately after leaving them the first time, forcing him to resort to [[TheNicknamer nicknames]] and in "Before the Flood" when he realizes he's forgotten how to correctly interpret sign language. This gains a darker significance when he intends to mind wipe Clara of her memories of him to keep her safe from his enemies after he saves her from her moment of death, but she gets wind of the plan and tampers with the device that will do so, insisting that she has a right to those memories even if she must die. He's not sure if it will actually wipe ''his'' mind if it's used, but insists ''someone'' has to lose their memories; they agree to use it together. The result is that he's the one who forgets her. Although he manages to remember his adventures with her, and the lessons of his experiences, he cannot recall or recognize her appearance, etc. He regards this as an appropriate punishment and atonement for his loving but selfish actions.
* LeanAndMean: His fitted, high contrast outfits accentuate his very thin build and long limbs, giving the appearance of a "stick insect" according to Clara. Of course, being an AntiHero he's not a full example, but rather a downplayed one.
* {{Leitmotif}}: His theme is called "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF1Ng0XCUyw A Good Man?]]", which follows the same level of magnificence as "I Am The Doctor".
* LivingEmotionalCrutch: More than most companions, Clara becomes this to him, largely because he has such a hard time interacting with others. Their bond only grows with the horrible tragedies they undergo in the Series 8 finale, and ''he'' becomes ''her'' crutch in Series 9. He genuinely has no idea what he'll do without her. When she dies, though she warns him not to let being alone change him into something evil, he proves unable to cope with her loss in a healthy way, partially because of the vicious torture he undergoes ''immediately'' after he loses her. Thus, he becomes a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds who will risk destroying the universe just to get her back. In the end, she helps him realize that they ''must'' be parted for the greater good, and he accepts losing her and even memories of her so he can be his best self again. While he is traveling alone in "The Husbands of River Song" and grumpy and broody at the start, he turns out to be in much healthier emotional shape when another tragedy looms.
* LivingForeverIsAwesome: Like his previous incarnations, he talks about the drawbacks to immortality but ultimately he comes down on this side of the fence. One of his confessions in "Heaven Sent" is that, even after millennia of adventures and heartache, he's still afraid of dying. If this particular Doctor had his way, the trope would be revised to "living forever ''with Clara'' is awesome"; sad to say, he doesn't get to enjoy that -- nor an endless SecondLove with River Song, for that matter.
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Decides to try defying the laws of time and space to save Clara in "Hell Bent" despite his many experiences of how dangerous and impossible this can be, thanks to being DrivenToMadness in "Heaven Sent".
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Temporarily. His out-of-character actions in "Hell Bent" stem from his fury and grief at losing Clara, exacerbated by the torture he underwent afterwards. He wants to make those involved, however indirectly, in her death '''pay''' -- and deposes Rassilon and his council once he makes it back to Gallifrey. That isn't so bad, but he's ''also'' willing to do anything to get her ''back'', never mind that this threatens the stability of the universe and disregards her feelings. Luckily...
* LoveRedeems: Clara is painfully aware that she can't act as a MoralityChain to the Doctor in "Hell Bent" and has to convince him about the wrongness of his actions in a different manner. It takes a lot of begging, friendly appeals, and even some minor threats, but ultimately she manages to mellow him out from an increasingly irrational, narrow-minded state, by making him realize he's hurting her and their love. In the end, the Doctor is still sensible enough to understand he should respect Clara's wishes about her fate and memories, admitting he's just prolonging the inevitable and has gone too far in breaking his own rules. When ''he'' winds up mind-wiped instead of her, he tells her it's okay and his fault for going too far, and reminds her "Never be cruel and never be cowardly. And if you ever are, always make amends."
* LoveTriangle: Series 8 brings a triangle between the Doctor, Clara and Danny, and illustrates Clara's attemps to maintain her relationships with both men.
** After Danny's passing the Doctor and Clara become even more close, but there goes Missy who desperately wants her friend back. From there, one of Ashildr's theories about the Hybrid in "Hell Bent" is that the reason Missy originally brought the Doctor and Clara together was in hopes of making him more like Missy via LoveMakesYouEvil, since once Clara is KilledOffForReal he's willing to become TheUnfettered.
* ManChild:
** Twelve is rude to almost everyone around him, but sometimes shows a more caring side, and when alone he spends most of his time brooding. In essence, he is a rebellious teenager in the body of a grown man.
** His dislike of having to take orders is very similar to Four. The difference is Four's dislike of taking orders was a reaction to Three's forced exile on Earth and being stuck with UNIT (along with serving as the Time Lords' occasional RogueAgent). Here it's more Twelve's ego at work, with a bit of residual Time War/Trenzalore [=PTSD=] mixed in.
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas Last Christmas]]", when he and Santa Claus are VolleyingInsults, Clara says "behave Doctor"!
** The above is just one example of Clara finding herself acting in a pseudo-mother ("Listen") or even teacher role ("The Caretaker") with the Doctor.
** The Doctor reacts to the impending loss of Clara in "Face the Raven" in an almost childlike manner. ("What about me?")
* MayflyDecemberRomance: With an emphasis of the "mayfly" with regards to Clara. Ashildr discusses this directly with the Doctor in "The Woman Who Lived" and this becomes an ongoing issue with the Doctor in Series 9 as he spends part of it obsessing over the possibility of someday losing Clara ... and then he does.
* TheMentallyDisturbed: Becomes this over the course of his torment in "Heaven Sent", and spends most of "Hell Bent" in that state -- broken by torture and loss, obsessed with a TragicDream, and willing to risk the destruction of the universe to make it possible. It's tragically telling that only MindRape can fully restore him to his best self.
* MerlinAndNimue: After seeing the extent of Clara's capabilities all throughout Series 7, he comes to rely on them as a strategical asset. She adapts to his world, which involves becoming a more pragmatic person, but they both realize that this isn't necessarily a good thing in every context, given that one of the skills she acquires is being a ConsummateLiar. There is even a "betrayal scene" where she ''attempts'' to trap him somewhere. While she, a girl who once believed that "people always have plans", learned the [[IndyPloy value of improvisation from him]], ("It's not a plan, it's a thing") and certainly sees him as an inspiration or muse, Clara (as explicitly stated by WordOfGod in an interview discussing "Kill the Moon") does not, in any way, see herself as the junior partner in their team. The title "The Magician's Apprentice" explicitly references this archetype (though it also refers to his impact on Davros), and of course they ''look'' the part now! The Doctor worries he's only made her want to be something she can't be -- him -- and his guilt over her death in "Face the Raven" is huge. He saves her from the moment of death in "Hell Bent", but his going too far to do so leads to him forgetting her existence...so he never learns that her ultimate fate is to travel around the universe in a TARDIS of her own until the day she must return to her death, with Ashildr as her companion! It's worth noting that the 1989 episode "Battefield" establishes in canon that a future incarnation of the Doctor would become Merlin!
* MoralityChain: Clara is his, more than usual. She's fearful of the Doctor travelling alone, though she's estranged from him for a while after "Kill the Moon". In "Listen", his increasing paranoia terrifies her. Inverted in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E11DarkWater Dark Water]]" and in the epilogue of "Flatline", where it falls to him to be ''hers'', bringing the motif of role reversals in their relationship arc full circle. Doubly subverted in "Death in Heaven" where instead of the usual scenario of keeping him from going too far, she makes sure [[ShootTheDog he doesn't go soft on the Mistress]], who has repeatedly proven too dangerous to contain. In Series 9, the inversion continues. She rarely questions his actions and ''encourages'' him to be a fighter and plotter. He recognizes this is problematic. It also contributes to his impulsive choice to revive Ashildr in "The Girl Who Died"; he's the only one, initially, who doubts he's done the right thing, even though ''not'' saving her would have violated his principles as a healer.
* MoralityChainBeyondTheGrave: Clara is KilledOffForReal in "Face the Raven". This results in a FreakOut on his part, and before she goes to her death, she warns him not to become a vengeful warrior again -- i.e. hurting others and/or seeking revenge for her demise. While he does exile Rassilon and the High Council bloodlessly, it's apparently as much over what they did in the Last Great Time War as anything else (as well as part of his ploy to be named Lord President, allowing him to use the extraction chamber to get Clara). When she is pulled out of time, Clara is horrified to realize he was DrivenToMadness and from there gave up on his principles in order to ''save'' her life.
* MoralityPet: He serves as this to the now-immortal Ashildr/Me in "The Woman Who Lived". Because of her bitterness over what he did to her, despite his good intentions, she isn't initially willing to listen to him most of the time. But when her bargain with Leandro proves the DealWithTheDevil the Doctor warned her it would be and she realizes her self-centeredness is hurting innocents, she regains empathy and helps him stop the threat. From there she decides to take TheSlowPath, looking after others the Doctor inevitably leaves behind -- and thus becomes another person who will help keep ''him'' in line, albeit in a different way from his companions. However, to protect the trap street in 2015, she is willing to betray him. She tries to serve as this in "Hell Bent" to convince him to give up his TragicDream of saving Clara, but utterly fails at it because she does not understand why he can't just let her go.
** This seems to be one reason he takes Nardole on as a companion after he parts from River Song for good -- he knows he has to move on, and that he must not be alone when he does so.
* MustMakeAmends: In "Hell Bent", the Doctor honestly believes that by saving Clara from the grave and giving her an ordinary life by mind-wiping her of her memories of him, he can make amends for being a bad influence on her and setting her on the path of heroism that led to her SenselessSacrifice. But as both Ashildr and Clara explain to him, it was '''not''' his fault that the latter's fate was what it was, for it was her choices that shaped it. In the end, he realizes that he doesn't have to make amends for her death -- instead, he must make up for being unwilling to accept her loss and respect her wishes, almost destroying the universe in the process. Thus, he amends his creed to "Never be cruel and never be cowardly. And if you ever are, always make amends" as he succumbs to the mind wipe himself.
* MyGreatestFailure:
** Is unwilling to discuss what might have driven him to be more open about his personality. In later episodes of Series 8 and throughout Series 9, he is visibly distraught when he realises Clara picked up some bad habits from him; meanwhile he looks decidedly embarrassed when Danny rightfully chews him out over his previous behaviour to him. He undergoes this trope several times in Series 9, not realizing that he's actually developing a bad GuiltComplex...
*** First, he sees not saving young Davros when he had the chance as the catalyst for Davros creating the Daleks. In the process of atoning for this, he becomes the boy's savior instead. Davros became evil on his own...but the Doctor '''is''' the reason Daleks understand the concept of mercy. From there...
*** He almost immediately fears his choice to revive Ashildr will prove to be this if she turns out to have been immortalized. When he learnes that she was, his empathetic efforts to reach out and help her have some positive effect in "The Woman Who Lived". In the end, however, NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished since Ashildr's deal with a villain in "Face the Raven" indirectly leads to...
*** Clara's death, which '''on the surface''' appears to be the culmination of both his positive and negative influence on her personality and his choice to revive Ashildr. He's a '''doctor''' and he couldn't save the person he cared about the most, and people he did save -- Ashildr and, as it turns out, the '''Time Lords''' -- chose to betray him. He does wind up finding a way to save Clara and tries to give her a life free of him, but goes so far in the process that he not only loses her again but his memory of her appearance, etc. is wiped (he is able to remember -- or piece together -- aspects of their adventures together, but he basically loses the memories related to being in love with her). This has a bittersweet upside in that Clara and Ashildr are able to travel together for many years to come before the former meets her final death, and the Doctor is free of his anguish and can be his best self again. But he still has a "Clara-shaped hole" in his memory. Will it ever be filled?
* {{Necromantic}}: Becomes this in "Hell Bent", pulling Clara out of time at the moment of her death, which renders her OnlyMostlyDead. But he cannot figure out a way to fully bring her back to life, the initial act threatens to destroy the universe as it is, and she isn't happy at all to find he's willing to go to such lengths to begin with.
* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead:
** Tactless as he may be, one of the indications that he's ultimately a decent person is that he still adheres to this even with people he cannot stand one bit. Once he learns of Danny's death, he immediately tones down the hostility, starts using his name (at least when talking to Clara) and tries to help him with everything in his might. This is also how the lies from the end of "Death in Heaven" ultimately come to light -- in "Last Christmas", thinking that Danny is alive, and therefore, fair game for random outrageous/insuting remarks to distract Clara from the Dream Crabs' psychic assault, he enrages her enough for her to reveal the truth through a kneejerk reaction to enforce this trope.
** Inverted in the case of the Time Lords and Gallifrey -- now that he knows that they did ''not'' all horribly die by his hand, he's free to state that the place he considers "his world" is ''Earth''.
* NiceShoes: He wears Loake-style Brogue boots as well as Dr. Martens boots.
* TheNicknamer:
** He takes to addressing people he's met as "that one" (in Clara's case, the "[[TheWatson asking questions one]]"), or by their appearance ("This is Gun Girl. She's [[ShapedLikeItself got a gun and she's a girl"]]). It's unclear whether this is due to his wafer-thin attention span, or if he really cares ''that'' little, as shown with "P.E." (a.k.a. Danny Pink). This trope quickly becomes a signature quirk of his both in the show and the ExpandedUniverse.
** In "Flatline", he dubs Rigsy "Local Knowledge." In "Face the Raven", it's when he calls Rigsy by his "proper" name that the young man realizes something serious is happening. (Ironically, "Rigsy" is itself a nickname.)
** He goes overboard in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas Last Christmas]]" where after he "deletes" the names of the Arctic research crew he calls them "pudgy one" and "sexy one"!
** He doesn't even bother to learn any of the villagers' names (aside from Ashildr's) in "The Girl Who Died", as he doesn't have the time when he's trying to prepare them for a battle the next day. He skips straight to the nicknames! (But the name of Ashildr's father, Einarr [whom he nicknamed "Chuckles"], stuck with him at the very least -- he mentions it in "The Woman Who Lived".)
** In "The Zygon Invasion", it turns out he even nicknames ''himself!'' Call him "Doctor Disco" or "Doctor Funkenstein"!
** Generally, Clara avoids getting the nickname treatment. A notable exception is in "Heaven Sent" when he starts calling her "Teacher".
* NightmareFetishist: He's excited when he's inside a Dalek, enthusiastically tries to find out the cause of his childhood nightmare, and gets positively giddy over finding out the existence of ghosts. He also at least tries to look on the bright side of being trapped within his nightmares in the confession dial. After all, "Hell is just Heaven for bad people."
* NoHuggingNoKissing: Tries to take a step back from the ChickMagnet nature of Ten and Eleven. He ends up being hugged by Clara and snogged by Missy despite his protests, and a sign of his CharacterDevelopment and HurtingHero nature as Series 9 begins is that he actually hugs Clara upon his reunion with her in "The Magician's Apprentice" and again in "The Girl Who Died" (this after accepting, with evident pleasure, a kiss on the cheek from her in "Last Christmas") and no longer objects to being hugged by Clara - in "The Woman Who Lived" he clearly enjoys a spontaneous mini-[[TheGlomp glomp]] Clara gives him. Finally, after one last hug, he kisses her hand before she heads off to her death in "Face the Raven". (AllThereInTheManual: The original shooting script for "Hell Bent" had the Doctor wrap Clara into a hug as he told her about her heartbeat; this was never filmed and instead Clara rebuffs his attempt at hugging her in the final episode.)
* NoSocialSkills: While most Doctors fail to grasp social norms, they at least have a jovial and friendly attitude to make up for that. Twelve outright seems to consider common courtesies and pleasantries superfluous and a waste of time, so he comes off as more egotistic, callous, and arrogant. It eventually drives Clara away for a brief period in Series 8 when his well-meant choice to let her and humanity choose Earth's fate in "Kill the Moon" appears condescending and cruel. The introduction of Clara's [[CueCard cue cards]] in Series 9 was an attempt by Clara to help the Doctor improve his social skills, with the [[WordOfGod writers and actors]] confirming so (even naming the trope) in interviews.
* NotDistractedByTheSexy: Not nearly as easily and overtly as Eleven anyways, mostly through a combination of being ObliviousToHints and his usual absent-mindedness, which causes Clara a bit of consternation at first. He's still quite capable of implying that Danny is screwing Clara's neighbor as a means to provoke her into an emotional reaction, offhandedly referring to a random bystander as "Sexy One", or brazen little forays like the "compelling masculine figure" incident, which Eleven probably couldn't even have pronounced without blushing and stuttering. In a more innocent example, he's amusingly clueless about Clara's looks when asked by her whether she's dressed well for a date with Danny. Although he remains above such considerations in Series 9, he no longer makes any negative comments about Clara's appearance and in fact pays her a public compliment in "The Magician's Apprentice" by playing the opening riff to "Oh Pretty Woman" when he spots Clara in a crowd, and even flirts with her by saying she's the only one he saw among all the faces in the crowd. Later in the season, he specifically mentions Clara's eyes as a feature he'll miss, and his last request to her in "Hell Bent" is for her to smile for him one last time.
* NotSoAboveItAll:
** A DarkerAndEdgier Doctor he might be, but he's ''still'' the Doctor. In "Listen" he's seen reading a ''Where's Wally?'' (UK version of "Where's Waldo?") book in an attempt to connect with a young child -- only to be told it's not a ''Where's Wally?'' book. This ticks off the Doctor, because he apparently thought you could find Wally in literally every book.
** In "The Magician's Apprentice" he's been living at a medieval castle in Essex for three weeks and when someone challenges him to an axe fight he brings a ''guitar axe'' and does an awesome riff on top of a '''tank'''. It's not how a Time Lord usually has TheLastDance, but mere meditation and contemplation just isn't his style.
* NotSoDifferent: His enemies regularly point out he's just as bad as them.
** "Rusty" the Dalek points out the Doctor has as much rage in his heart as the Daleks he hates in "Into the Dalek".
--->'''Rusty:''' I see into your soul, Doctor. [[InLoveWithYourCarnage I see beauty, I see divinity, I... see... hatred]]!\\
'''Doctor:''' Hatred?\\
'''Rusty:''' I see your hatred of the Daleks and it is good.
** The Doctor also gets this one-liner at the end of "Into the Dalek":
--->'''Rusty:''' I am not a good Dalek. ''You'' are a good Dalek.
** Missy's plan in Series 8 is to show the Doctor is just as bad as her by giving him ultimate power.
--->'''Missy:''' I need you to know we're not so different! I need my friend back.
** At the top of Series 9, his failure to save young Davros makes him realize on his own that in abandoning the boy, he probably "created" the creator of the Daleks. When this comes to haunt him externally, he's ready to die by way of atoning...but in the process reveals how different from them he actually is, and becomes not a creator of evil, but the reason his foes understand the concept of mercy!
** In a (usually) more positive way, he and Clara continue to have certain parallels. As he's her friend, he becomes rather unnerved once he notices she's been picking up some habits and attitudes from him that she shouldn't have (lying especially), and in Series 9 is concerned she'll come to a bad end. He's right, and in the end they must be parted forever both to keep the universe stable and to be their best selves, as together they just egg each other on.
** In another positive way, Robin Hood, having learned who the Doctor is from Clara, commented that he and the Doctor have a few similarities;
--->'''Robin Hood:''' Is it so hard to credit? That a man born into wealth and privilege should find the plight of the oppressed and weak too much to bear... until one night, [[BaitAndSwitchComparison he is moved to steal a TARDIS? Fly among the stars, fighting the good fight?]]
** He quickly realizes that his rash, well-meant decision to save Ashildr's life dooms her to a perpetually lonely existence as an immortal, watching everyone she comes to care about die. He knows ''that'' feeling, and leaves her with the means to have an immortal "companion" of her own -- but she never finds one "good enough". She becomes callous towards others and bitter towards him as centuries pass, but his understanding of her plight (and the ways it differs from his; for instance, her memory isn't nearly so long) helps her come around to empathy again. The reason he cannot make her a companion is because their hearts would "rust" and lose sight of the true beauty of existence without the perspective of mortals who cherish their fleeting lives. Initially, he became fond of her upon realizing she was TheStoryteller (see below) and was seen as an odd duck in her village, much the way he was seen as an oddball on Gallifrey.
** His climactic monologue in "The Zygon Inversion" has him tearfully explaining to Bonnie -- a Zygon rebel commander who wants to provoke a war her kind likely won't win, with no concern over the suffering that will result -- that as the War Doctor he was not so different from her...he was '''much, much worse''', in fact.
** In "Hell Bent", Ashildr thinks Missy teamed the Doctor and Clara up because she knew he'd become so close to her that he'd willingly risk the universe just to keep her by his side, making the two Time Lords equally destructively selfish. But in the end, LoveRedeems the Doctor and he embraces selflessness again.
** In a more positive example along the lines of "Robot of Sherwood", when he complains to Nardole about Grant Gordon going against his instructions ''not'' to use his powers in public and becoming a {{Superhero}} in "The Return of Doctor Mysterio", Nardole points out that Time Lords aren't supposed to interfere with the goings-on of the rest of the universe. Both Grant and the Doctor have chosen to defy their "superiors" in the name of helping the helpless!
* NotSoStoic: Underneath the gruff exterior, he's actually the same jovial and kind-hearted fellow he's always been. He just doesn't show it much.
* OhCrap:
** When Missy reveals herself to be the Master in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E11DarkWater Dark Water]]".
** In "The Magician's Apprentice", he finds out that the young boy he's trying to save from a mine field is ''Davros''...
** "Face the Raven": Both he and Clara have one upon learning that Ashildr can't lift the death sentence Clara conferred upon herself from Rigsy -- and thus Clara will be KilledOffForReal in a few minutes because not even the Doctor has a means of doing so.
** Has an ''epic'' one in "Heaven Sent" when he finally works out what's going on, that leaves his body poleaxed with an anguished ThousandYardStare while his psyche rants and whimpers to Clara's image inside his mental TARDIS.
** PlayedForLaughs in "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" when he realizes that young Grant ''swallowed'' the gemstone, believing it to be medicine.
* OneHeadTaller: He is this to "short and roundish" Clara.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** Happens to him in the finale two-parter of Series 8, where he gets to show more of his mellow and vulnerable side. In a moment of grief and anger, after realising the Master had cruelly given him false hope, he calmly walks over to the TARDIS console and then explodes in a fit of pent-up rage, smashing the console with his fists while bursting into tears. Only several scenes after that, we see him and Clara meeting some time later, preparing to part ways. When she hugs him, he overcomes his usual attitudes and returns her hug for the very first time.
** As much as he tries to avoid hugs, he overcomes himself and gives Clara a very kind one before they part ways for a few months) at the end of "Death in Heaven". Earlier in that same episode, though he hates the Master, he surprises her by kissing her on her lips and explaining that he nevertheless understands the reasons that drive her to tempt him to do evil. At the end of "Last Christmas", he also accepts Clara giving him a tiny kiss on his cheek.
** His noticeably more distracted, wackier behavior during TheLastDance in "The Magician's Apprentice" and its precursor short "The Doctor's Meditation" is remarked upon by others; it's the result of his guilt over abandoning Davros and from there fear of what he now sees as an inevitable, deserved death. When he actually ''hugs Clara'' she realizes that he is under incredible stress. However, after the crisis of this story is over, he is still willing to enjoy playful pastimes.
** The final three episodes of Series 9 put the Doctor through the wringer and leave him at the DespairEventHorizon. He threatens Ashildr and the trap street's residents with destruction upon realizing Clara is about to die in "Face the Raven". By "Hell Bent", he's acting purely out of rage and self-interest, with no one who can hold him back in his efforts to save Clara -- not even Clara herself -- because he simply can't bear coping with her loss. It's only when she demands he not mind wipe her that he realizes he's become a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.
** During "The Return of Doctor Mysterio", Nardole notices that the Doctor's a little ''too'' eager and gleeful to undo Harmony Shoal's plot by ''setting the bomb both of them are inside on course for New York City'' and points out he's trying too hard to tamp down his lingering melancholy over his final separation from River Song. "I know you miss her, but couldn't you just write a poem?"
* OverprotectiveDad: He's not really Clara's "space dad" like Danny Pink thought, but he acts like it with his anger over Clara dating ''a soldier'' because he's not good enough for her.
* PerpetualFrowner: His brow is constantly furrowed into an unhappy-looking expression.
-->'''The Doctor:''' Look at the eyebrows! These are attack eyebrows! You could take bottle tops off with these! They're cross!
* {{Polyamory}}: Much of Series 8 and 9 deals with his deepening relationship with Clara, and the fact his feelings for her go beyond simple friendship are unambiguous in the trilogy of episodes that ends Series 9. At the same time, however, he was still technically married to River Song and, after losing Clara, went on to show his devotion to River as well.
* {{Protectorate}}: He's got a "duty of care" towards Clara, which he takes seriously up to [[DespairEventHorizon tragic extremes]].
* ThePowerOfFriendship: Despite their numerous fallouts and rough spots in Series 8, he and Clara stick together through each other's darkest times and end up learning more about themselves and each other in the process. This comes into play in the opening two-parter of Series 9 -- both Clara and Missy are willing to track him down because of this, though the natures of their respective friendships with him are substantially different. Sadly, this is turned against him by his enemies.
* ThePowerOfHate: His hatred for the Daleks is such that when he links his mind to that of the repaired Rusty, the Dalek finds it so much more powerful than its programmed hatred that it goes back through the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor into being willing to exterminate its own kind. The Doctor is ''heartbroken'' to learn he has such hate within him; he wanted to convert the Dalek via TheWorldIsJustAwesome.
* ThePowerOfLove: A cycle of suffering and death unfolds over billions of years in "Heaven Sent" because it's the only way he can get back to Gallifrey and achieve the means of saving Clara's life. Sadly, between his love, grief, and rage, this sends him into LoveMakesYouEvil territory temporarily, as saving her risks universal destruction. But LoveRedeems, too.
* ThePowerOfTrust: Subverted in "Kill The Moon". The Doctor and Clara both absolutely trusted each other, but it still ended in a major fallout, as he didn't want to play God with humanity's fate as an outsider and avoid another thing like deposing Harriet or the Mars debacle, leaving everything in the hands of people he deemed more capable -- although he never ''meant'' to patronize, disrespect or let her down in any way, she still ''perceived'' it that way (and his "stabilizers of the bike" line and general lack of people skills surely didn't help). Part of it was also due to her immense fear of losing control of things and the challenge this posed her perfectionist/idealist self image as someone who finds the right solution no matter what. ("I almost didn't press that button!") There was no 'obvious right option' or 'third option' here, but when one of the options wound up less destructive than she thought, she assumed that the 'right' reason was simply witheld from her for some kind of mind game -- we're not given any reason to suspect that he actually knew any more than he said he did. Ultimately doubly subverted in the end: While she refused to talk to him for several months, she ultimately forgave him and came to understand his point of view in the next episode; If anything, their bond came out much stronger in the end, although the experience also left Clara with a more pragmatic world view. In the S8 finale, she still proudly declares that he's the one man she'll always trust no matter what.
* PragmaticHero: While still trying to do good and help people, he shows a greater willingness to be ruthless and cut his losses in order to complete his goals. If he thinks a bit of collateral damage is unavoidable, he won't go out of his way to prevent it, but rather try to see if there is some way he can use said damage to his advantage anyway. Sometimes, as he puts it to Clara in "Flatline" when she has to invoke this trope for a day, "Goodness [has] nothing to do with" being the Doctor, and he doesn't feel good about it when that's the case. To make matters worse, when he goes the extra mile to ''save'' Ashildr in "The Girl Who Died" (which comes after he was chewed out in "Before the Flood" for letting O'Donnell die for pragmatic reasons), it causes ''more'' trouble for him in the long run than the cold, "heartless" choice (let her die after she helped him and bereaving a family to boot) would have.
* PretendPrejudice: Despite claiming he ''really'' hates soldiers due to their "shoot first, ask later" tactics, he can be decent to them if he has some understanding of their plight or a previously-established relationship with them. In "Mummy on the Orient Express" he seems pleased to finally give a semi-immortal soldier who just ''can't'' stop fighting peace. In "Death in Heaven" he gives the Brigadier, whom he gradually steered towards more diplomatic solutions in his past lives, the one thing he never got from those previous selves: a salute. Part of the reason he is able to convince Zygon rebel leader Bonnie to stand down from waging a doomed war on humanity is because he understands the cycles of rebellion and war and how easy it is to let a cause and sense of "rightness" blind one to the suffering of innocents, having fought in the most brutal war the universe has ever known, and is capable of forgiving her for her dirty deeds up to this point (which he sees as not a drop in the bucket compared to what he did).
* TheProfessor: A genius, as are all incarnations of the Doctor, but also becomes a literal professor at St. Luke's University in Series 10. (Or a lecturer. Or as Bill calls him: 'Doctor What?')
* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: His arc in the final three episodes of Series 9, which begins with Clara's death, climaxes with his willingness to risk the universe to get her back, and ends with his redemption as he repents and has the burden of his pain lifted from him via mind wipe, allowing him the chance to be his best self again. There's {{Foreshadowing}} of this arc throughout the season, as his concern over losing Clara gradually increases and his actions to save her become more desperate, and as he makes a rash decision to save Ashildr's life out of grief, self-pity, and a desperate need to hold himself to his duty of care as a doctor.
* PunyEarthlings:
** [[InsultOfEndearment "Pudding brains"]], indeed! He's not particularly nice to the humans he meets, but it is possible for them to eventually gain his respect and praise.
** His solution to the "Tell Courtney she's special" problem is a novelty: When he eventually caves in to Clara's insistence, he doesn't say "Courtney, you're special." Instead, he says 'Wanna be the first woman on the Moon? ''That'll'' be special!'.
* ReachingTowardsTheAudience: His pose for showcasing his official outfit.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** Delivers a [[TearJerker pretty heartbreaking]] one to Clara after she fails her SecretTestOfCharacter in "Dark Water". Doesn't mean that he hates her. He follows it up immediately with an offer to help, as he sees she's been hurt and needs to get a grip on herself.
** The Doctor's anti-revolution speech/rant in "The Zygon Inversion" includes elements of this addressed to Bonnie and her insurgents.
* RenaissanceMan: He is a man of many talents: explorer, engineer, doctor, bank robber, musician (guitar), caretaker, scientist. His renovation of the TARDIS also has a great many more books than his previous incarnations -- and not just in the huge library but the control console.
* {{Revenge}}: In the wake of Clara's death, he wants to make anyone who had a hand in the plot that left her dead '''''pay'''''. Before she dies, Clara orders him not to seek this and/or harm others in his rage and grief, but "Heaven Sent" and "Hell Bent" reveal he's not particularly inclined to listen. He does manage to depose Rassilon and the High Council without violence (and it's not just over her death, but over their exploits in the Last Great Time War), and the only person hurt is the General when the Doctor shoots him to flee the extraction chamber with the rescued Clara -- and the Doctor only shoots when he's sure he'll regenerate ([[AllThereInTheManual the published shooting script contains cut dialogue that makes this clearer]]). But he ultimately can't keep her forever.
* SecondLove: River Song. As much as River loves the Doctor, she reveals in "The Husbands of River Song" that she never thought he truly loved her back, and came to believe he was above that particular emotion. But she's thinking of his ''previous'' self. Twelve is not above love at all; in fact, when Clara died he tries to save her by risking all of space and time, just like River once did for Eleven -- and he was so broken that he needed MindRape to return to his best self and let her go. However, this left him with a new, healthier understanding of love. When his path crosses with River's again, he is absolutely delighted to see her and subtly jealous of her other husbands...and heartsbroken to realize how unloved she feels with regards to him. It was the Eleventh Doctor who married River Song, but it is the Twelfth Doctor who is truly her '''husband''', who stays with her for twenty-four years -- and has the strength to let her go to her destiny in the end. It breaks his hearts again to do this, and "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" reveals he is trying to hide his pain from others, even new companion Nardole. He knows he just has to keep running and find new happiness rather than linger on the past.
* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: The Doctor seems to enjoy playing up the "forgetful old man" angle just a wee bit.
-->'''Danny:''' ''(for the umpteenth time)'' I'm not a P.E. teacher, I'm a ''maths'' teacher.\\
'''Doctor:''' [[{{Jerkass}} No. No, I can't retain that. It's just not going in.]]
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Explored in Series 9. In "Before the Flood" he is willing to try and defy the rules of time and space in the former to save Clara at least (after he is chided for not doing more to save O'Donnell; it turns out threatening Clara was a way to spur him into action), and in "The Girl Who Died" breaks the rules of life and death (something he'd just condemned the Fisher King for) to save Ashildr in a way that leaves her ''unable'' to die. He regrets that decision long before he knows its actual consequences. He doesn't want to ''be'' a god (that's ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem), but he is willing to ''defy'' the gods to preserve life, because ''saving people is what a doctor does''. In her case, when faced with ToBeLawfulOrGood he's choosing good. Tragically, his choice leaves her unhappy and will ultimately pave the path to Clara's death in "Face the Raven", and then he goes '''even further''' with this trope in "Hell Bent" by saving her in a way that threatens the stability of the universe. Since she's already DeaderThanDead, whereas Ashildr's life was still capable of being saved at the time he made that choice, he's not being lawful, good, or right, but selfish and wrong -- and again it involves disregarding what the woman in question might want (though Ashildr can't tell him at the crucial moment and Clara can). Thus, saving Clara is a deconstruction of the trope.
* SharpDressedMan: Twelve favors a rather stylish suit that evokes the Third Doctor without the frills, with a rotation of dress shirts. Sometimes he's wearing the matching vest with his red-lined jacket, sometimes not. ("I was hoping for minimalism -- but I think I just came out with [[StageMagician magician.]]") Notably among Doctors he does not sport any kind of neckwear (scarf or tie) at all. The only other Doctors to eschew those items were Five and Nine. This look softens in Series 9, thanks first to a hoodie introduced to the suit in "Last Christmas" and a red velvet coat in the finale 3-parter.
* SherlockScan: Takes after Eleven's habit, giving one in "Mummy on the Orient Express".
* ShipTease: Despite telling Clara [[ShesNotMyGirlfriend "Clara, I'm not your boyfriend"]] in his first full episode, there's a surprising amount of ShipTease between him and Clara:
** Her comments on the Twelfth Doctor's accent and the 'mood lighting' thing.
** "Beat that for a date" at the end of "Time Heist".
** "Mummy on the Orient Express" is particularly stuffed with it, especially with Jenna Coleman's statement that her deliberately loud "I love you" at the end was not primarily intended for Danny.
** Maisie, Robin Hood, and even Danny himself assume that there's something between them in Series 8.
** In "Last Christmas", while under the mistaken assumption that they hadn't seen each other for 62 years, the Doctor asks her if she ever married. When he first assumes it was because she never got over the loss of Danny, she goes as far as to outright state that there ''was'' one other man she would have deemed a worthy husband: The Doctor. The episode ends with her kissing him on the cheek like she always did with Eleven, and the two of them running away hand in hand for further adventures.
** Then, of course, the BBC's official twitter [[https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/status/566504653073170432 put out]] [[https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/status/566514733097181184 12/Clara themed]] ''Valentine's Day Cards'' in a 2015 set that otherwise contained only canon marriages or established official couples like 10/Rose or Amy/Rory.
** Mid-"concert" in "The Magician's Apprentice", upon realizing Clara's in the crowd the guitar-playing Doctor plays "Pretty Woman"! Not long after this, he hugs her of his own accord (granted, he is under ''extreme'' emotional duress at the time). (Some fans think the song is meant for Missy, but this is not the case, both based upon the [[AllThereInTheManual shooting script]] and the fact the Doctor later plays "Mickey", the Toni Basil song Missy had co-opted as her own theme tune, for his other friend.
** In "The Girl Who Died," the Doctor makes this decidedly un-platonic statement regarding what might happen if he ever lost Clara: "One day, the memory of (you) will hurt so much that I won't be able to breathe, and I'll do what I always do. I'll get in my box and I'll run and I'll run, in case all the pain ever catches up. And every place I go, it will be there."
** At last, he kisses Clara's hand before she goes to her death in "Face the Raven". While YMMV as always, between this and what he does to save her from her demise in "Heaven Sent" and "Hell Bent", there is enough evidence to suggest that the Doctor not only loved Clara more than any other companion, but was ''in'' love with her, the first time since Rose Tyler that the Doctor had romantic feelings for a companion (River Song, who the Eleventh Doctor married, is not actually officially considered a companion) -- and this was why he had to part with and forget her, in the end, because he couldn't be the Doctor if he had a need to put their relationship first.
* ShoutOut: When he flashes the Psychic Paper to the 3W curator in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E11DarkWater Dark Water]]", the man asks why there's so much swearing on it. Twelve replies that he has some "pent up" issues he's working on. Peter Capaldi's most famous role before the Doctor was Malcolm Tucker, famous for [[SirSwearsALot reinventing the swear word]], on ''Series/TheThickOfIt'' and ''Film/InTheLoop''. The "Shuttity up!" lines in other episodes also reference this.
%%* SilverFox
* SlobsVersusSnobs: There is a deliberate class conflict going on between the working class Danny and the "upper class" Doctor. Although this might just be all in Danny's head/his bad first impression, given that the Doctor is actually pretty anti-authoritarian and (equally mistakenly) seems to think that there is instead Nerds vs. Jocks going on.
* SnarkToSnarkCombat: For a guy that's against banter, he trades sarcastic quips with a lot of people. And some of his back-and-forth with Clara is epic, especially during their "sounding out each other" period in Series 8. "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" picks this up with Nardole.
* StableTimeLoop:
** He gives the final push for the salvation of Gallifrey, making it possible for the Time Lords to later allow his existence.
** At the top of Series 9, he is trying to save a frightened young boy from a hand minefield -- encouraging him to focus on surviving, and tossing him the sonic screwdriver -- until he realizes the boy is Davros, creator of the Daleks. Abandoning the boy after this realization apparently traumatizes the boy enough to send him down an evil path, and it's suggested that the screwdriver is reverse-engineered into Dalek guns. The Doctor is burdened by guilt and shame, but in trying to atone comes to realize that he is ''actually'' the reason the Daleks have an understanding of mercy. He just needs to complete the ''real'' loop by returning to that battlefield and saving the boy at last.
** The death of Clara counts. In order for him to later save her (or, at least, extend her life a while) he has to see her die in agony in front of him, leading him to execute his confession dial gambit. He attempts to break the loop in "Hell Bent" but is unsuccessful in doing so; however, this ultimately allows Clara to ''delay'' the inevitable for so long as she chooses.
** In "The Husbands of River Song", the starliner he and River Song are on crash-lands on Darillium -- which he knows to be the planet where she enjoyed her last night with him, at a restaurant looking out upon the Singing Towers. Upon saving themselves via TARDIS and his seeing that the ship landed not far from the towers, while she is unconscious he gives the priceless diamond she "married" to a bystander and instructs him to sell it and use the money to build a restaurant on the spot. Traveling a few years forward in time, he makes sure that this comes to pass (and that he can get reservations) and when she comes to he is in the new suit she mentioned him as having, gifts her the sonic screwdriver that she will have in a certain library, and they enjoy one last night together...a night that will last twenty-four years.
* TheStoic: While Eleven was a hyperactive SadClown, Twelve keeps his sense of humor and emotions hidden behind a calm, serious and (usually) introverted exterior.
* TheStoryteller: In "The Witch's Familiar", he has a monologue suggesting that he sees himself as more this than a hero -- "a bloke in a box, telling stories" who sees the name he's chosen for himself as the reflection as what he strives to be and sometimes is. As Series 9 progresses, "story" becomes one of the ArcWords as he and other characters share stories with each other and he finds himself effectively writing/rewriting new stories with his travels, trying to bring them to good endings, with mixed results. His affinity for Ashildr partially stems from recognizing her as a straight example of this trope. In "Hell Bent", he reconstructs his recalled, vague memories of his final days with Clara into a story that he tells her without ever realizing who he's talking to.
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Known to tag when he's asking or answering a question.
--> "Question: Why do we talk out loud even when we know we're alone?"
--> "Conjecture: Because we know we're not."
* SugarAndIcePersonality: The ice side predominates from the beginning and has to defrost a bit (see DefrostingIceKing above) in Series 8 so that the sugar side can show through more/better. Even then, his softer side usually comes out only around specific people -- Clara, children, Osgood, and River Song in particular.
* SympathyForTheDevil: A major theme of Series 9: Despite his ruthlessness he shows amazing compassion to some of his enemies, like Missy, Davros, and Bonnie the Zygon, as well as to the resentful post-revival Ashildr. In Bonnie's case it helps her do a HeelFaceTurn, while Ashildr/Lady Me is brought back from being TheSociopath in "The Woman Who Lived". This presages his gigantic FreakOut and new potential for ruthless behavior in the final three episodes, starting with his reaction to Ashildr's betrayal of him in "Face the Raven" going awry and leaving Clara dead.
* TameHisAnger: He is constantly struggling to control the anger that has built up in him over 2,000+ years -- hence his noticeably pricklier personality than most incarnations and at least two {{Berserk Button}}s. He comes down ''hard'' on villains who can't be reasoned with, as in his BadassBoast to the Boneless in the climax of "Flatline", and his riskier exploits in Series 9 stem partially from frustration that he's not supposed to do more to save others' lives due to those pesky rules of space and time. When Clara is KilledOffForReal and his enemies effectively torture him for ''four-and-a-half billion years'', he emerges from their prison as TheUnfettered WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, so damaged that the only thing that can tame and restore him to his best self is forgetting her, though he manages to recall the experiences he had with her. In the ExpandedUniverse novel ''Silhouette'', he actually survives being dosed with concentrated human anger because he's had so much experience controlling his own -- and ''proceeds to weaponize it'' to keep an EmotionEater from killing him, overwhelming him with both the human anger and some of his own.
* TemptingFate: His predecessor vowed to never forget one day as being that particular Doctor as part of his FamousLastWords. As soon as he regenerates into Twelve, he temporarily forgets how to fly the TARDIS! And eventually, he must forget what his dear Clara looked like, sounded like, said, etc. (though not the time he spent with her), lest he stop being the Doctor for good.
* ThinkingOutLoud:
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E4Listen Listen]]" Twelve [[DiscussedTrope theorizes]] the reason people think aloud is because their subconscious realizes that they're not, in fact, [[ParanoiaFuel alone]] and that there's ''something'' hiding with them.
** "Heaven Sent" is essentially an hour of the Doctor thinking to himself (for the viewers; for the Doctor it's ''billions'' of years).
* ThisBananaIsArmed: Better not laugh at an old guy who can send you to the cleaners with [[FunnySpoon a spoon.]] Robin Hood learned the hard way!
* ThousandYardStare: His post-regeneration empty-eyed stare at Clara after regenerating in "The Time of the Doctor".
* TookALevelInJerkass:
** Twelve is more abrasive, aloof, and less jolly than his previous incarnations. He's still a good person, but his attitude really rubs people the wrong way.
** The last three Doctors disliked soldiers because they were still coping with the Time War. Twelve at first sight apparently dislikes them more because they take orders and he doesn't (he gives them or rebels against them). "The Zygon Inversion" reveals just how sore a spot his actions in the Time War remain with him.
** In Series 9, he seems to have [[TookALevelInKindness re-taken a level in kindness]], hugging Clara willingly and treating strangers a lot better. The events of the final episodes, starting with Clara's tragic death in "Face the Raven", threaten to completely undo this and worse, but he comes through.
* TorturePorn: In "Heaven Sent" poor Twelve, mortally wounded by the Veil, with his burned clothes, blooded hands and particularly horrible burn on his face, spends about ''a day-and-a-half'' dragging himself up through the whole castle, back where the teleporter chamber is. This is only to sacrifice himself in order to recharge the teleporter and create a new copy of his younger self to restart the cycle. And he goes through this for ''four-and-a-half-billion years''. For Clara.
* TotallyRadical: In Series 9, his sonic screwdriver is replaced in favor of sonic sunglasses and he's introduced in several episodes playing the electric guitar. So much for him being more willing to act his age.
* TrademarkFavouriteFood: More subtle than the others, but Twelve really enjoys coffee.
* TragicDream: Saving Clara from her final death is this, because it's a fixed point in time and she must be returned to it at some point before the universe is undone -- and it isn't what she wants; she'd ordered him to heal himself of his grief and move on. But that was before all that ColdBloodedTorture drove him mad. He ends up losing both her and his memories of her in the wake of trying to achieve his mad dream, though he reconstructs many of said memories, and is at last freed from the anger and grief that he let drive him too far.
* TragicHero: Becomes this over the course of Series 9. His long-standing, personal duty to save everyone he can, already problematic due to ChronicHeroSyndrome, causes him great grief when he saves Ashildr by turning her into a functional immortal who eventually collaborates with the Time Lords to capture him -- which inadvertently leads to Clara's death. Losing the woman he loved and then being stuck in a torture chamber drives him around the bend with rage and anguish. He decides to fight his way out of it (which takes ''four-and-a-half-billion years'') and back to his home world to find some means of saving someone who's already DeaderThanDead. He becomes an AntiVillain heedless of anyone's desires save his own, risking the safety of the entire universe because he ''just can't take the pain anymore''. In the end, the first step in restoring things to rights is not only his losing her again, but losing his memories of her, and he realizes this is only right and proper punishment for his selfishness. He is a sadder, wiser man as "Hell Bent" concludes, free to be his best self again.
* TranquilFury:
** Just acts quietly disappointed in Clara when she betrays his trust in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E11DarkWater Dark Water]]", only to start yelling at the end.
-->'''Doctor:''' You betrayed me. You betrayed my trust. You betrayed our friendship. You betrayed everything that I've ever stood for. YOU LET ME DOWN!
** When Twelve is angry, he doesn't shout at first. He hisses with rage very quietly.
** He's firmly in this mode at the end of "Face the Raven", warning Ashildr that she should steer clear of him from now on owing to her part in the plot that resulted in Clara's death. His last words to her are basically a growl.
** The Doctor's first spoken words in "Heaven Sent", in a scene taking place moments after the above, are again delivered as a growl.
** In the opening (post-titles) stretch of "Hell Bent" he's seething -- not even speaking as he prowls the Gallifreyan Dry Lands, not giving so much as a word to the massed might of the Gallifreyan military until Rassilon himself arrives. Just in case you missed that, the Doctor, a character prone to doing {{Character Filibuster}}s in all of his incarnations, ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness doesn't speak for an extended period of time]].''
* {{Tsundere}}: A sort of opposite to Eleven (who acted happy and childish but was shown to have a darker side), Twelve acts more serious and grumpy but can be affectionate and childlike at times, especially as his CharacterDevelopment kicks in.
* UndyingLoyalty: For Clara. He explicitly calls her his friend in "Death in Heaven" and she states it as well in that same episode (though not in his presence). Even after she attempts to threaten him in "Dark Water" into saving Danny, he still wants to help her.
--> '''The Doctor:''' Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me could make a difference?
* TheUnfettered: Becomes this temporarily in "Hell Bent"; to save Clara from her fixed-point-in-time death, he throws out all his rules. He remains sympathetic: His selfish behavior stems from extreme grief and rage compounded by the torture he underwent in "Heaven Sent", leaving him TheMentallyDisturbed.
* UnlimitedWardrobe: The first Doctor to make use of the gigantic wardrobe in the TARDIS and change his clothes with great frequency.
* VillainProtagonist: Spends most of "Hell Bent" as this; due to being DrivenToMadness by a TraumaCongaLine he exiles Rassilon and the High Council from Gallifrey (not so bad) and becomes obsessed with a TragicDream of saving Clara from her fixed-point death and almost destroys the universe to pull it off (''very bad'').
* ViolentGlaswegian: In "The Caretaker". Decked out in janitor's overalls and insulting humanity left and right, he's like a Time Lord version of Groundskeeper Willie from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Clara. Though they constantly tease each other, and even get into arguments about conflicting values on occasion, [[PlatonicLifePartners they still care very deeply for one another]]. The kind and tender moments between them really shine through. The finale of Series 8, when both come face to face with one awful tragedy after another, brings out the best in them as friends. They even both outright declare in front of other people that they are friends, unconditionally, and will never betray each other. (This is particularly heartwarming in light of them both failing each other in their weaker moments in some earlier episodes.)
* VolleyingInsults: He and Santa Claus engage in one in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas Last Christmas]]"!
--> '''Doctor''': No. No. No, no, no. Line in the sand. Santa Claus does not do the scientific explanation.\\
'''Santa Claus''': Alright, as the Doctor might say: (''imitates Doctor'') "Aww, it's all a bit dreamy-weamy.''\\
'''Doctor''': Why don't you just go and make a naughty list?\\
'''Santa Claus''': I have made it, and you're on it.\\
'''Doctor''': Don't give me that. You're supposed to be warm and friendly and cheerful. \\
'''Santa Claus''': Oh yeah, look at your great bedside manner. \\
'''Doctor''': Don't be so hostile.
* WaistcoatOfStyle: Trends to wear navy or black waistcoat under his navy/red velvet coat.
* WeUsedToBeFriends:
** "Mummy on the Orient Express" has this to a degree as Clara, though she cannot hate the Doctor, nonetheless has been pushed too far too often by him and has agreed to go on one last adventure before, effectively, terminating their relationship/friendship. The Doctor has clearly agreed to this and actually doesn't put too much effort into trying to change her mind.
** He has prickly quasi-friendships with both Ohila and post-revival Ashildr/Me that are severely damaged, if not ruined, over the course of the Series 9 finale. He holds a grudge against the latter for betraying him and accidentally getting Clara killed in the process, although he ultimately chooses not to leave her to die at the end of time (allowing her to become a companion to ''Clara'', as it happens). Ohila is furious with him over both his choice to exile Rassilon and the High Council and his desperate efforts to save Clara in "Hell Bent", which she sees as cowardly betrayals of his principles. Considering that neither woman extends compassion to the Doctor for the suffering he went through that drove him to these actions -- Ohila is actually more concerned for ''Rassilon'' than him -- the Doctor might be better off without them. Even when the universe's survival is at stake, picking on someone who is both TheMentallyDisturbed ''and'' a torture victim isn't a mark of a good person.
* WhamShot: His cameo in "The Day of the Doctor" points to an incarnation of the Doctor beyond the 12 limit.
* WhatTheHellHero: Poor guy gets called out a lot on his AntiHero tendencies and even outright heroic acts when they prove to have downsides.
** Clara gives him an ArmorPiercingSlap in "Into The Dalek" for being happy that the "good" Dalek going on a killing spree reinforces his belief there are no good Daleks.
** Clara shouts him out at the end of "Kill the Moon", for not being her friend when she needed him and for acting patronising towards humanity just to prove a point. The Doctor is at first baffled by this reaction, but soon realises what he did wrong, despite his genuinely good intentions.
** The Doctor returns the favor in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E11DarkWater Dark Water]]", telling Clara she betrayed him and everything their friendship stood for by trying to threaten him into saving Danny by changing time. This doesn't change their relationship but the anger of the trope is still present and played straight.
** Danny gives him crap for being a BoomerangBigot, as a "commander" who hates soldiers, in "The Caretaker" and "Death in Heaven". In the latter case, the Doctor is more willing to admit that it was wrong for him to act that way, but he shows embarassment at most.
** Davros, of all people, delivers one to him for abandoning him as a child on Skaro in "The Magician's Apprentice". He even replays the Fourth Doctor's words from "Genesis of the Daleks" at his current incarnation.
** In "Before the Flood", Bennett chews him out for not doing more to prevent O'Donnell's death when he realizes the Doctor had reason to believe she'd be next to die at the Fisher King's hands based on the message the Doctor's future ghost was relaying. (The Doctor advised her to stay in the TARDIS, in fact, but when she insisted on coming he didn't put up a fight.)
** In "The Woman Who Lived", Ashildr/Me chews him out for choosing to save her life in a way that made her immortal and ageless, then moving on -- leaving her lonely as everyone she ever cares for dies. Never mind that the other option was just letting her die and violating his principles as the Doctor.
** He calls Ashildr out on this more than once in "Face the Raven" over her callous attitude towards keeping the peace, allowing dangerous creatures like Cybermen to live on the trap street, and finally her complicity in Clara's death.
** His severely out-of-character, self-centered behavior in "Hell Bent" gets him ''a lot'' of lecturing from the General, Ohila, Ashildr, and Clara. Because he is at the DespairEventHorizon after his horrific suffering in the previous two episodes, the Time Lords and Ashildr both had a hand in said suffering, most of them (save Clara) have NoSympathy and instead only encourage his anger with their inability to show compassion to his plight, and Clara's the whole reason he's going to extremes, their objections don't affect him the way they ordinarily would. It's only when Clara objects to being mind wiped that he is moved, and even then only the wiping of his memories of her fully return him to his best self.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: During one of his travels without Clara at the top of "The Magician's Apprentice", Twelve stumbles upon a war-torn planet and tries to help a young boy trapped in a mine field...and then he finds out that the boy is '''Davros'''. Though the boy's still relatively innocent, it doesn't stop Twelve from getting the hell out of Skaro and back to the TARDIS leaving a scared and confused little boy behind. And Twelve is all too aware of what he has done. In the second part of this story, "The Witch's Familiar", he makes up for this mistake.
* WhenSheSmiles: For all his frowning, whenever his cocky grin shows up he's rather hilarious.
** In "Deep Breath", he tries to smile at Clara in the restaurant but she's having none of it because she's upset with him for (apparently) playing some obscure game to contact her.
** When Clara decides to keep travelling with him at the end of "Mummy on the Orient Express", his face melts into an expression of genuine, unfiltered happiness. He's honestly delighted that his companion changed her mind and will keep travelling with him.
** In "The Zygon Inversion", Osgood says she's never seen the Doctor really smile before when the Doctor can't stop from grinning once he realizes that Clara is still alive. Later in the episode, the Doctor gives Bonnie a very kind smile when he finally convinces her to see reason.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Has the occasional moment of this. While he will die for good one day, the nature of his existence and travels means he'll outlive many of the people he loves, and he thus spends his days running through time and space partially to escape SurvivorGuilt, as he explains in "The Girl Who Died ([[DrivingQuestion Was it a loss that caused him to flee Gallifrey to begin with?]]). However, despite moments like this, while he does acknowledge the drawbacks he still overall falls firmly on the LivingForeverIsAwesome camp.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Temporarily becomes this in "Hell Bent" thanks to the TraumaCongaLine of the previous two episodes driving him around the bend -- never mind the fate of the universe, '''he just wants Clara back!''' Technically, he actually begins heading towards becoming a Woobie, Destroyer of ''Time''.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: The lead-in to Clara's FinalSpeech to him in "Face the Raven" is partially this, as she insists that his threats to destroy Ashildr/Me and the trap street are fundamentally hollow: "Your reign of terror will end with the sight of the first crying child, and you know it!"
* YouAreWhatYouHate: This Doctor wants to move past his bloodstained days as a soldier/commander in the Time War, etc., but the nature of his travels and friendships effectively precludes it. Friends of the Doctor inevitably become those who fight alongside/under him, even if his battles aren't those of traditional warfare. That Danny Pink realizes this and resents him for it is a huge reason they don't like each other, and the Doctor worries greatly about how much Clara changes over the course of their travels.
* YouLookFamiliar: In-universe and out of it: Capaldi previously played John Frobisher in ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'', and Caecilius in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E2TheFiresOfPompeii "The Fires of Pompeii"]]. In-universe because even the Doctor acknowledges it, finally figuring out why it happened in "The Girl Who Died": to remind him of what happened in Pompeii, remind him of Donna asking him to save someone, even if he couldn't save the town, and to hold him to that mark. He '''saves people'''. But when he makes the choice of "good" in ToBeLawfulOrGood, tragedy begins to unfold: He makes Ashildr immortal and sets in motion events that culminate in Clara's death. Creator/StevenMoffat expanded on this at the 2015 Doctor Who Festival: they couldn't work this detail into the episode, but Frobisher [[IdenticalGrandson is a descendant of Caecilius]] whose PaterFamilicide ends that bloodline -- time itself compensating for the Doctor's interference. Twelve reclaims the face of both men as an act of defiance along the lines of his BadassBoast ("And if anyone happens to be listening, and you've got any kind of a problem with that, then to ''HELL'' with you!").
* YouRemindMeOfX: Unflatteringly tells Clara she reminds him of an old teacher of his (possibly the much-hated Borusa).
* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry: Unfortunately for pretty much everyone, this Doctor is [[TameHisAnger always angry]], even for a Doctor, and barely keeps his rage in check. He's almost always a hair's breadth from imparting a FateWorseThanDeath on anyone he considers an enemy. Just ask Ashildr:
-->'''The Doctor:''' [[SaveTheVillain She was saving]] ''you.'' I’ll do my best, but I strongly advise you to keep out of my way. [[YouCanRunButYouCantHide You'll find that it's a very small universe when I'm angry with you]].
[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/twelve23.png]]
->'''Debut:''' "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E1DeepBreath Deep Breath]]"
->'''Played by:''' Creator/PeterCapaldi (2013–present)
-->''"I am ''not'' a good man! And I’m not a bad man. [...] Do you know what I am? I... am... an idiot! With a box, and a screwdriver. Passing through, helping out, learning."''
The first incarnation in the Doctor's second regeneration cycle.
An acerbic, aging {{punk rock}}er-cum-[[StageMagician street magician]]. Although still {{Adorkable}}, he is [[DarkerAndEdgier less goofy]] and values a pragmatic approach. Twelve [[ScrewPolitenessImASenior exploits the full breadth of his age and experience]] as a Time Lord rather than hiding from it, and can be dangerous and difficult as a result. Because he is a bit blunt and insensitive at times, he occasionally outdoes his predecessor's [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} alien mannerisms]]. Unlike some past incarnations, he HatesBeingTouched and has little interest in flirting with anyone; even a simple hug makes him squeamish at first. He remains a HurtingHero capable of incredible compassion towards even the least likely souls, still determined to be the man who saves people. And he is notably capable of deep love. His first companion Clara Oswald is arguably the only woman who ever could be considered the Doctor's [[DistaffCounterpart soulmate]], and he risked space, time, and his whole identity to save her from the grave -- and ''almost'' succeeded. He is also the Doctor who truly returned the love of his most infamous wife, River Song.
It is a tribute to the longevity of this show that in 1974 a [[OneOfUs 15-year-old Peter Capaldi wrote a letter]] to the ''Radio Times'' praising ''Doctor Who'''s tenth anniversary serial. His very first appearance as the Doctor (as opposed to his first story) is in the climax of "The Day of the Doctor", the ''50th'' anniversary special.
----
* AbsentMindedProfessor: Twelve really is ''that'' bad at remembering things.
** First names "aren't his area", he misses a coffee date with Clara (by 3 weeks) because he got distracted, he may have severe prosopagnosia (face blindness), and he can't remember how old Clara is supposed to be.
--->'''Doctor:''' You're not a young woman anymore.\\
'''Clara:''' Yes I am.\\
'''Doctor:''' Well, you don't look it.\\
'''Clara:''' I ''do'' look it.\\
'''Doctor:''' That's right, [[ComicallyMissingThePoint keep your spirits up]].
** "Last Christmas" shows that he genuinely can't tell what age Clara is, and that he apparently always sees her as a twenty-something woman, even in a dream scene where he winds up 62 years into her future. He also believes that he and Clara look "basically the same age." Some fans theorise this is because, as a Time Lord, he can sense all the collective time lived by her echoes when she [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E13TheNameOfTheDoctor jumped into his timestream]].
** He's not sure in "Listen" whether he wrote the text that started off the episode, even after Clara points out it's in his handwriting.
** He sometimes forgets the passage of time. In "The Magician's Apprentice" where he stays in Medieval Essex, he thinks he's been there a day. Bors corrects him. He's been there three weeks.
* AcePilot: Compared with the notoriously frantic piloting of previous incarnations - particularly Ten and Eleven - the Twelfth Doctor pilots the TARDIS in a nonchalant, businesslike manner. He's so good that we see him successfully experiment with things like piloting it without the safeties on or navigating it via direct input into its telepathic circuits.
* ActionDad: His "dad skills" come in handy while adventuring!
* {{Adorkable}}:
** Underneath the angry looking eyebrows, the Doctor is still as endearingly awkward as ever. His attempt to suggest to Clara they go get coffee in "Deep Breath":
--->'''Doctor:''' Right, shall we, uh... do you wanna go get some coffee? Or chips? [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Or something with chips and coffee?]]
** His description of his new outfit. A reference to that one time someone [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E2CarnivalOfMonsters mistook him for a carnie?]] Or a meta-reference to news articles at the time that criticized the outfit for looking like, well, a magician's?
--->'''Doctor:''' What do you think of the new look? I was hoping for minimalism... but I think I came out with magician.
* AlmightyJanitor: Becomes a literal one in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E6TheCaretaker "The Caretaker"]], where he goes undercover as the school's caretaker in order to find and dispose of a killer alien robot in the area.
* AlmostKiss: With his wife, River Song, preceded by HeldGaze. When Twelve comforts River that their last night together will actually last for twenty-four years, the pair seem to be darting meaningfully at each other's lips and... then the screen went black and many fans were left in agony. They "lived happily ever after", though.
* AmbiguousDisorder:
** He is prone to being InnocentlyInsensitive and using BrutalHonesty, is less comfortable than his predecessors with lying even when it's necessary, has next to NoSocialSkills, HatesBeingTouched or touching others unless it's by someone he is really close to, a dreadful memory and severe prosopagnosia, extremely expressive body language, and often lets impatience and impertinence get the better of him — all of which hides how compassionate and sensitive he actually is. Clara is effectively (and by his own admission) his "carer" in that she helps bridge the empathy gap between him and others, and in Series 9 she tutors him in better social interactions.
** If most Doctors manage to hide/ignore any post-traumatic stress disorder, this one, coming right off of his previous self's vigil on Trenzalore, certainly doesn't — he has a marked dislike for soldiers and doesn't want to be seen as an officer either. In "The Zygon Inversion", it becomes clear that he is ''horrifically'' haunted by the atrocities he committed as the War Doctor.
** A ''Psychology Today'' [[https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beyond-heroes-and-villains/201408/doctor-who-and-the-neuroscience-morality-malfunctions article]] examines the Doctor's behavior in "Deep Breath" and "Into the Dalek" and theorizes that the physical and mental trauma of regenerating may have altered his brain to the point of leaving him with a less-empathetic personality, comparing it to the experiences of real-world victims of traumatic injuries, particularly brain injuries, which can have similar effects on morality. (It also notes that Clara's initial rejection of his changed state, which itself demonstrates a failure of empathy towards someone in need, has real-world parallels of its own.)
* AmnesiacHero:
** After regenerating, he temporarily forgets how to fly the TARDIS, what any of his friends even look like, and that he used to have an English accent. He also appears to have forgotten occasional other bits and pieces of his past lives, such as the events of "The Girl in the Fireplace". He's also lost memory of some aspects of Clara's past; the Eleventh Doctor actually visited Clara as a child and saw her parents, yet in "Listen" he, for some reason, gets it in his head that Clara grew up in an orphanage.
** A justified and downplayed example happens to him at the end of Series 9 when he loses ''all'' of his memories of Clara to LaserGuidedAmnesia -- the tragic endgame of his going too far to save her from her final death. As it turns out, he ''can'' manage to recall the adventures they had together, up to and including the circumstances of their separation, but he no longer recognizes her face, voice, etc., as she learns to her sorrow when they have one last meeting in Nevada.
* AnchoredShip:
** In the words of Steven Moffat himself, from DWM #484:
--->'''Steven Moffat:''' …he was reminded on Trenzalore that he wasn't Human; that he wasn't one of them, and that they live for a very short time. And that's what made him draw back a bit, and think 'I'm getting too bound up in them.' Of course, he doesn't succeed in that at all! '''In his very repressed, restrained way, he's clearly as besotted with Clara as he ever was!''' That line in 'Dark Water', 'Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference', [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove that's about as close to 'I love you' as the Doctor can get.]]
** As of "Last Christmas", the situation finally seems remedied when Clara, tricked by an illusion into believing that her life was almost over, outright stated that he was the only worthy husband (except maybe Danny) she would ever accept.
** Series 9 (and the actors themselves) made it very clear that the anchor was hoisted and the Doctor and Clara were in love and in a relationship. But thanks to the traumas of "Face the Raven" and "Heaven Sent", they cannot stay together because it is now unhealthy for them (not to mention the universe), and he cannot be his best self. The mind wipe looks to anchor the ship for good, as he no longer knows how and why he loved her.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: According to WordOfGod, his declaration of loyalty to Clara in "Dark Water" was supposed to be one of these, markedly as understated and 'stealthy' as Clara's own confession in "Mummy on the Orient Express" (in which she is heard saying "I love you" to Danny on the phone ''while looking directly at the Doctor'' moments before deciding to renew her commitment to the Doctor). Attentive audience members might have noticed that he explicity said "care for", not "care about", something a perfectionist English teacher was bound to have noticed. Clara seems to return it in "Before the Flood", saying if the Doctor loved her in any way, he'd come back to her, before Clara finally ''stops'' him from making this in "Face the Raven", saying she already knows what he wants to say before she heads out to die, and it's better if he doesn't.
* AntiHero: He's not a particularly nice or empathetic man (although the latter point softens with time), and likes neither of those qualities. The Doctor has to check with Clara if he's a "good man" during "Into the Dalek", and Clara, Courtney, and Lundvik debate this in "Kill the Moon", bringing up that the Doctor treats Clara like a pet half the time and leaves her [[INeedAFreakingDrink craving a glass of wine]].
* AntiNihilist: He's actually given up on having a happy life. He still tries his best to help and save people.
* ApologeticAttacker: "I've got the horrible feeling I'm going to have to kill you." ("Deep Breath")
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Despite everything he's seen and done prior to "Robot of Sherwood," he's ''very'' insistent that Robin Hood is just a legend, even while ''talking'' to Robin Hood.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: A rare self-aimed one: whether or not he's a good man. He asks Clara if she thinks he is, and she stammers and demurs.
* TheAtoner:
** His introverted and relatively unboastful personality is an attempt to be [[CharacterDevelopment less manipulative and vain]] than he occasionally became in previous incarnations.
--->'''The Doctor:''' I've made many mistakes, and it's about time I did something about that.
** This drives his actions at the start of Series 9, as Peter Capaldi explains in [[http://blogtorwho.blogspot.com/2015/09/doctor-who-series-9-peter-capaldi-talks.html this interview excerpt]]: Having made the tragic mistake of choosing to abandon a young Davros on a Skaro battlefield in mid-rescue upon realizing who he would become, he is willing to die if need be to make up for all the sorrow that came after. When this goes awry, he is driven towards the DespairEventHorizon.
** "The Zygon Inversion" reveals he ''burns'' with guilt over his actions in the Last Great Time War as the War Doctor, and has vowed that others should never have to feel the anguish and hear the screams he still does.
** "Face the Raven" furthers this -- he honestly feels he is a lost soul beyond redemption, and when he loses Clara, he warns Ashildr that his anger could drive him to extreme measures. They do in "Heaven Sent" and "Hell Bent", but he comes back from the brink and accepts being mind-wiped partially because losing memories of someone he loved will help him atone for going too far in trying to save her.
** In the next episode, "The Husbands of River Song", he realizes how badly he messed up poor River Song by never truly returning the love she held for him in all the encounters they had in his previous life -- all because he couldn't accept endings. Recent events have changed him a bit in that regard, so when they crash-land on Darillium, he finally becomes the lover she pined for.
* AuthorAppeal: Well, Actor Appeal anyway. Beginning in Series 9, Twelve frequently begins using an electric guitar; it's part of his characterization. Peter Capaldi was part of a punk band in his youth.
* BabyLanguage: It's particularly heartwarming to see Twelve translating baby cries.
* BadassBaritone: Has a gravelly voice with a Scottish brogue.
* BadassBoast:
** Even in a muddled state, this incarnation still boasts about his awesomeness.
--->'''The Doctor:''' What, you wanna psychic link with ''me?'' The size of my brain would be like [[PianoDrop dropping a piano on you]].
** Held up by a would-be TARDIS hijacker, Twelve scoffs, "You'd starve to death trying to find the light switch".
** It's a little more lighthearted than other boasts, but Twelve gives one to Robin Hood at the start of a sword fight, armed with a spoon. He promptly wins the fight anyway.
---> '''The Doctor''': I don't have a sword. I don't need a sword. Cos I am the Doctor, and this is my '''''spoon'''''!
** He gives one in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline "Flatline"]] similar to one that Eleven gave in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]].
--->'''The Doctor:''' ''I tried to talk, I want you to remember that. I tried to reach out, I tried to understand you, but I think that you understand us perfectly. And I think that you just don't care! And I don't know whether you are here to invade, infiltrate or just replace us. I don't suppose it really matters now, you are monsters! That is the role you seem determined to play, so it seems that [[PunctuatedForEmphasis I! Must play! Mine!]] The man that stops the monsters! I'm sending you all back to your home dimension. Who knows? Some of you may even survive the trip, and if you do, remember this: You are not welcome here! This plane is protected! I am the Doctor, and I name you the "Boneless"!''
** And this from "The Girl Who Died", which borders on BlasphemousBoast too:
---> '''The Doctor:''' I'm the Doctor, and I save people! And if anyone happens to be listening, and you've got any kind of a problem with that, then to HELL with you!
** In "Face The Raven", the Doctor gives Ashildr a boast that isn't so much a positive boast, but a ''horrifying'' reminder of why he is TheDreaded after Clara dies.
---> '''The Doctor:''' What Clara said - about not taking revenge - do you know why she said that?\\
'''Ashildr:''' She was saving you.\\
'''The Doctor:''' I was lost a long time ago, she was saving ''you''. I'll do my best. But I strongly advise you to keep out of my way. '''''You'll find it's a very small universe when I'm angry with you.'''''
** The biggest one he has yet was delivered in "Heaven Sent", where, full-on in grief at losing Clara and being trapped with no way out, he struggled to get out even at the cost of dying and resurrecting himself, cycling for ''four and a half billion years''. It becomes more satisfying in "Hell Bent," when you realize that it was Rassilon who imprisoned him here in the first place--and the first thing he does after returning to Gallifrey is launching a bloodless coup to send Rassilon packing into exile in shame:
--->'''The Doctor:''' If you think, because she’s dead, I am weak, you understand very little. If you were any part of killing her, and you are not afraid, you understand nothing at all. So for your own sake, understand this. I’m the Doctor. I am coming to find you. And I will never, ever stop.
* BadassLongcoat: A navy coat with red lining, evoking the Third Doctor's costume minus the [=1970s=] frills. Also has red velvet variant of it.
* BatmanGambit:
** In "Deep Breath", pretends to abandon Clara so her CryCute breakdown will cause the MonsterOfTheWeek to go on a MotiveRant.
--->'''Doctor:''' Hello, hello, rubbish robots from the dawn of time. Thank you for all the gratuitous information. Five foot one and crying. You never stood a chance.
** "Time Heist" is essentially Twelve pulling an extended BatmanGambit on ''himself''.
** In "Heaven Sent" and "Hell Bent", he pulls a '''colossal''' one on the Time Lords. He fights his way out of the confession dial instead of giving up his last secret about the Hybrid, and then achieves a bloodless coup on Gallifrey, becoming the Lord President. He then tells the Time Lords that the information on the Hybrid that they need so badly can only be had by interrogating Clara, so they extract her from the timeline at the moment of her "Face the Raven" death (leaving her a virtually-immortal, time looped self, not quite fully alive). The Doctor promptly spirits her away -- he didn't actually ''have'' a last secret about the Hybrid, nor did she; he just needed the means to save Clara's life and ''run!''
* BatmanGrabsAGun: He becomes TheUnfettered in "Hell Bent" to save Clara from her fixed-point death, and actually shoots the General -- albeit after getting confirmation that he will regenerate -- so they can escape the extraction chamber.
* BeastAndBeauty: An "intelligent and cynical beast" example with Clara -- he looks old enough to be her father and his appearance and personality are intimidating and off-putting to everyone, even her for a while. She comes to understand him and help him be his best self in Series 8, and he becomes ''fiercely'' protective of her; their mutual affection is one reason he becomes softer and kookier in Series 9. In "Face the Raven", she ends up dead, partially the result of her growing harder-edged under his influence as he grows gentler under hers. The result is that the final Series 9 episodes bring out the beast in him as never before.
* BeingGoodSucks: Again and again, he must sacrifice easy solutions to his problems in favor of taking longer, more painful paths. He [[GoodIsNotNice can't always be nice]] and when he must be a PragmaticHero when pure goodness just won't achieve his goals, cope with the guilt and condemnation that ensues. He must not use the Cyberman army of the dead Missy "gifts" him to conquer the universe (because it would also enslave the living of Earth). He must save the boy Davros, despite knowing what he will become. He must help the Vikings when they won't abandon their village, and from there save Ashildr's life [[ToBeLawfulOrGood to live up to his vow to be a doctor who saves whomever he can if he has a chance to]] -- [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished even though the only way he can do so leaves her a resentful immortal he has to keep an eye on, and who ultimately chooses to betray him]]. He cannot go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge when said betrayal accidentally kills the woman he loves. In the final stretch of Series 9, his anguish causes him to become TheUnfettered to save her, but he has a HeelRealization as she objects to his plan to force a mind wipe on her and decides to return to his principles. This means not only giving her up for good, but accepting both MindRape as a proper karmic punishment for his actions and that he is once more a fugitive from his own people due to his unfettered actions (unless they choose to forgive him), after searching for them and his home world for so, so long.
* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: Temporarily, and in conjunction with LoveMakesYouEvil (see below). The Doctor's grief over Clara's death still probably wouldn't have made him abandon his principles in favor of extreme measures to save her in "Hell Bent"...if not for the horrifying torture he undergoes in "Heaven Sent", which warps his sanity further.
* BeneathTheMask:
** Madame Vastra and others suggest that this incarnation more truly reflects who the Doctor is: the caustic but {{adorkable}} old man that the Doctor previously hid behind young, attractive faces.
** Twelve's jaded, emotionally distant, cynical surface hides a much mellower, kinder, and even humbler man on the inside. By the end of "The Witch's Familiar", his capability for compassion proves remarkable even by the Doctor's usual standards.
** A running theme throughout his first series is his uncertainty at who he really is now. He's genuinely terrified that Clara doesn't like him anymore. This is illustrated vividly by the fact that after she tells him to go to hell at the end of "Kill the Moon", he returns and convinces her to go on one last adventure in "Mummy on the Orient Express". There is no evidence of, for example, the ''much'' more amiable Fifth Doctor immediately trying to reconcile with Tegan Jovanka after ''she'' essentially does the same thing under similar circumstances at the end of "Resurrection of the Daleks".
** He is still capable of playfulness and wonder despite his gruff exterior, often at the strangest moments. He can fight Robin Hood with a ''spoon'' and win, he's delighted to be pulling Santa's sleigh as "Last Christmas" approaches its climax, and he can play the guitar like a rock star while making a grand entrance on a ''tank'' in medieval Essex! In the ExpandedUniverse, the novel ''The Blood Cell'' reveals him to be wearing socks decorated with cartoon pigs under his shoes, while the comic "The Monsters of Coal Hill School" in the 2015 Annual has him attempt a BannisterSlide. "The Zygon Invasion" also reveals that he wears underpants with question marks on them.
** This is further explored in "Heaven Sent", which has him fighting for his life and freedom with no one to protect or impress -- just a MonsterOfTheWeek to escape -- in the wake of Clara's death in "Face the Raven". If there's nobody to put a mask on for...what is he ''really''? As it turns out, he's ''still the Doctor.''
* BerserkButton:
** '''Do. Not. Hurt. Clara. Oswald.''' She was his MoralityPet for a reason. When she is at last KilledOffForReal in "Face the Raven" thanks to Ashildr and the Time Lords' plot, he becomes TheUnfettered in his efforts to get her back, and risks tearing apart the universe in the process. In the end, he and Clara must be separated forever and his memories of her wiped because after all they've gone through together and done for each other, she means too much to him for him to be his best self.
** '''War.''' When he finds out that all Bonnie the Zygon wants is a pointless war between humanity and the Zygons he absolutely ''loses it'' in a way we haven't seen since Nine's hate-filled rant against the Daleks, because he knows what war is ''really'' like and he will do anything to prevent others from having to feel that pain again. This incarnation, instead of striking out or destroying her, responds by talking her out of it, with just as much passion and conviction as [[CharacterDevelopment previous incarnations would have condemned her]], in a crowning moment of awesome.
* BewareTheSuperman: His actions in "Hell Bent" embody this trope -- the whole universe risks destruction via his actions, which he undertakes only because ''he cannot get over Clara's death''. He sadly explains to Clara "I became the Hybrid" -- the PersonOfMassDestruction of Gallifreyan prophecy, who would conquer the planet, stand in its ruins, and "burn a billion billion hearts to heal his own" -- as he succumbs to the mind wipe on the way to returning to his best, selfless self.
* BeyondTheImpossible: With two revelations -- first, the War Doctor; second, that the aborted regeneration by the Tenth Doctor counted -- it was revealed that the Eleventh Doctor should've been [[OutOfContinues the last one]]. Luckily, [[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors the Time Lord High Council can grant new regeneration cycles]]. And Clara was able to convince them to do so.
* BigDamnHeroes:
** Joins the other 12 Doctors to save Gallifrey in "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor"]].
** He saves Clara from the Half-Face Man just in time in "Deep Breath". It's implied he had the plan all along, but neglected to tell Clara about it.
** Deconstructed in "Hell Bent" -- he uses a Time Lord extraction chamber to pull Clara from the moment of her death on the trap street, but not only is this ''not'' the same thing as saving her life, it could result in the destruction of the universe if she isn't returned to said moment in time.
* BigDamnKiss: It took four decades, but he becomes the first Doctor seen to be snogged into incoherence by the Master. One episode later, once he realises how broken she is, he very gently grants her a second kiss.
* BigOlEyebrows: His eyebrows have ''their own fan club'', thanks to a ten-second appearance in "The Day of the Doctor"! Referenced in "Deep Breath", when he gets a look at his face and rants to a homeless man how his eyebrows look cross independently from the rest of his face. In ''VideoGame/DoctorWhoLegacy'', his secondary skill is called "Attack Eyebrows".
* BigShutUp: Fond of these. Even when no one is talking and used so often, it might as well be another catchphrase (one shared with Clara, as it happens).
* BirdsOfAFeather: For all their arguments and outward differences, what draws him and Clara together - besides his gratitude for her past actions - is that they're ultimately very similar in both their strengths ''and'' weaknesses as cunning, dominant thrill-seekers, and have a strong affinity because of that. They're fundamentally two people brought together by their shared passions and hobbies. In "Mummy on the Orient Express" they outright agree with each other that they are addicted to travel and adventure. The Doctor is genuinely worried about Clara becoming more like him in Series 9...and in the end, his fears are justified.
* BoomerangBigot: As Danny observes in "The Caretaker", this Doctor's hatred of soldiers is ridiculous, considering ''he's'' effectively a "commander". (I’m the one who carries you out of the fire. He’s the one who lights it.) [[DefiedTrope Defiantly]] proclaims he's ''not'' an officer in "Death in Heaven", and that he only needs friends that act on their own convictions/feelings, not mindless armies.
* BorrowedCatchphrase: He does this to [[PhraseCatcher the typical companion line]] "It's bigger on the inside!" in "The Husbands of River Song" when River, not recognizing him due to his latest regeneration being beyond the expected limit, takes him aboard the TARDIS while attempting to steal it from him; he states that he's always wanted to see it done right. "Hello, Sweetie" and "Spoilers" are surely follows.
* BraveScot: A subtle version. Though Twelve is colder and more calculating than his previous two regenerations, he's still the same daring, ballsy madman he's always been, and this time he has the Scottish brogue to match.
* BreakTheHaughty:
** In "Robot of Sherwood", where his attempts to one up Myth/RobinHood lead to him getting captured without his sonic screwdriver and Clara utterly fed up with him.
** In the Series 9 finale stretch, one suspects that his failure to save Clara from death and then failing to fully restore her to life is the universe's way of rebuking him for making Ashildr immortal, which violated the laws of time and space (he chose the good side of ToBeLawfulOrGood...and BeingGoodSucks).
* BriefAccentImitation: He sometimes lapses back into sounding like his Fourth incarnation.
* BrutalHonesty: Ruthlessly and relentlessly, though he's just as capable of lying as previous incarnations. He just feels more guilty about it when he does.
* ByronicHero: The Doctor's fears, turmoil and guilt over his past and present actions and the darker aspects of his core personality have been simmering inside him for centuries (with occasional boilovers), and with this incarnation they overflow, resulting in a broodier, frostier personality. In Series 8, his character arc is figuring out what kind of man he really is; in Series 9, the final episodes push him to the DespairEventHorizon and his anguish almost tears apart the universe.
* TheCameo: In "The Day of the Doctor," released about a month before the episode in which he was introduced, he joins the other Doctors to save Gallifrey.
* TheCastshowoff: Capaldi's punk rock past leads to Twelve playing electric guitar quite a bit.
* CatchPhrase:
** "Question!", [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin followed by a question.]]
** Telling people who often aren't saying anything to "shut up!" when he's coming to a conclusion.
** Asking whether random things, or ''people'', have developed a fault.
** Calling people "pudding brains."
** "Clara": At least during Series 8 and 9, the Doctor uses Clara's name so frequently (even in sentences where there is no reason to repeat her given name) that this is widely considered among fans to be a catchphrase. Fans have even done [[http://aprilmaclean.tumblr.com/post/158859981633/why-did-i-spend-time-on-this-a-word-cloud-of word cloud analyses]] examining the Twelfth Doctor's dialogue in Series 8 and 9 to prove that the word carries a ''lot'' of weight with him.
* ChangedMyJumper:
** Changes his dress shirt with great frequency. He doesn't like to wear his vest without his white shirt. And he has also been seen several times wearing an actual jumper in lieu of a shirt, with an apparent fondness for a black jumper over a white shirt with holes that resemble stars. WordOfGod is the jumper is Capaldi's own.
** Probably best exemplified when he thinks all he needs to [[PaperThinDisguise blend in on Earth]] is to wear a brown coat over his regular getup. Clara is not amused.
** In "Mummy on the Orient Express", he's wearing an outfit that is very similar to the First Doctor's outfit, minus the tweed.
** He wears his full Third Doctor-esque suit (with vest) thrice in Series 8: the end of "Deep Breath", "Into The Dalek" and "Mummy on the Orient Express".
** He often wears a black hoodie as part of his outfit starting with "Last Christmas", often combining it with the jumper. (Again, this wardrobe piece is Capaldi's own.) The cuddlier look that this and his hair getting thicker and fluffier gives him bespeaks his CharacterDevelopment.
** Series 9 adds a red velvet jacket, a number of printed T-shirts (sometimes worn layered, two T-shirts at a time) and plaid pants to his wardrobe, clear throwbacks to classic series Doctors. That story also introduces his new sonic CoolShades!
* CharacterDevelopment:
** Throughout the previous two incarnations, the Doctor was a StepfordSmiler, hiding all his doubts and guilt beneath jokes and a younger exterior. His experiences as Ten and Eleven (and the experience of Clara finding out some of his secrets, [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre but reacting in a supporting and accepting way]]) have cracked this facade, culminating in a version of himself who's not afraid to show his age and experience. While this makes him [[DarkerAndEdgier the most serious of his incarnations so far]], ironically, [[HeroicSelfDeprecation this shows him at his most vulnerable]], as he's letting it all out.
** His previous incarnation's pacifist attitude has faded and he is more willing to kill and fight dirty when he has to -- or, at least, so it seems. This is related to the revelation in "The Zygon Inversion" that where his previous incarnations did a pretty good job ignoring memories of the War Doctor's atrocities, Twelve not only ''can't'', but is desperate to ensure that no one else should ever know such guilt and pain, making him highly pacifist in the matter of maintaining the human-Zygon peace.
** The Doctor's conversation with Half-Face Man in "Deep Breath" does a good job at lampshading the Doctor's shifts in attitude towards the universe since meeting Clara, and all the events that followed. In contrast to his impotent raging at the unfairness of life in "End of Time" ("...and this is my reward!") and his cold, simmered-out surmise that "the universe doesn't care" how much work he puts into it in "The Snowmen", he now tells us that he long since stopped "expect[ing] to reach the promised land" or any sort of gratefulness or reward, but [[TheAntiNihilist presents this not as a reason to give up on the world, but as a reason why it would be wiser not to cross him as he has nothing to lose or gain but the relative safety of the humans below]]. He's already endured (and destroyed) so much for their sake that nothing that he and Half-Face Man could do to each other would make a difference. Similarly, at the end of "Face the Raven" he declares himself to be a lost soul beyond saving; now that he's lost Clara he warns Ashildr to steer clear of him should their paths ever cross again, owing to his rage.
** At the end of Series 8 he comes close to accepting himself and, to an extent, overcoming his self-doubts. Interesting in that while many of his previous companions tried to help with this in both [[GrandRomanticGesture spectacular]] and [[FriendshipMoment commonplace]] ways, it was the contrast with the distinctly more anti-heroic Clara (whom he is very attached to even though she shares many of his character flaws) and the [[EvilCounterpart similarly smart, quirky and rebellious, but notably more evil Mistress]] that brought him to the realization that his very real imperfections [[DarkIsNotEvil don't have to make him a bad person.]]
--->'''The Doctor''': [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech I am]] ''[[WorldOfCardboardSpeech not]]'' [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech a good man! And I'm not a bad man. I am not a hero. I'm definitely not a president. And no, I'm not an officer. You know what I am? I... am... an idiot. With a box and a screwdriver, passing through, helping out, learning. I don't need an army, I never have. Because I've got them. Always them. Because love, it's not an emotion. Love is a promise.]]
** At the top of Series 9, he's getting ready for TheLastDance with an old enemy in the wake of a mistake the Doctor made. Although it's clear that he's horribly, horribly scared, unlike what Ten or Eleven might have done, he makes no long goodbyes to old friends, not even Clara. He ''must'' go through with it absolutely alone. He sends out his last will and testament and takes some time out for himself in a medieval kingdom as he prepares himself for the end. After all, WeAllDieSomeday, and he feels only death can atone for his mistake. His experiences in trying to do so, however, ultimately further his Series 8 epiphany that he may not be a classical hero, but can accomplish heroic feats when he manages to rise above his flaws.
** Series 9 sees a problem he's had since at least his tenth incarnation -- his inability to handle losing people, especially companions, in a healthy manner -- reach a crisis point. In "The Girl Who Died" he admits he has no idea how he'll move on from Clara and his heartsache over Ashildr's death figures into his rash decision to save her in a way that renders ''her'' immortal, a decision he almost immediately regrets. When Clara dies, he risks all of space and time to get her back. Ultimately his efforts force them apart for good, but he finally understands that he cannot let grief and self-pity dictate his actions, and must accept that while he indeed should hold himself to the mark, sometimes he ''can't'' save others without causing bigger problems. (See also ChronicHeroSyndrome below.) Having learned to properly deal with loss at last, he is free in "The Husbands of River Song" to finally be the "sweetie" River pined so long for.
** Peter Capaldi suggested in [[http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a773213/steven-moffat-has-signed-up-to-doctor-who-for-at-least-13-more-episodes/ this interview]] that the Doctor's warmer nature in Series 9 ''might'' be lost post-"Hell Bent" in favor of [[TookALevelInCynic taking a level in cynic]] once more, but keep in mind that this was before "The Husbands of River Song" (with its 24-year EarnYourHappyEnding TimeSkip at the end) aired.
* CharacterTics:
** [[CharacterDevelopment Much more consistent and deliberate]] hand movements when delivering explanations.
** Writing random words, symbols, and/or equations on his chalkboard (or walls, or floors...).
** Taking picked flowers from a vase and smelling them.
** After his CharacterDevelopment in his debut series, he's relaxed enough on his own that he's taken to whipping out a guitar and rocking out; sometimes when in deep thought, and sometimes just because.
* ChastityCouple: With Clara.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: This causes him a '''huge''' amount of grief in Series 9 -- he is determined to hold himself to helping/saving anyone he can however he can, even realizing that he has the face he does as a reminder to do so. But the subsequent consequences of such actions as helping foster a peace between humans and Zygons, feeling guilty over abandoning young Davros, saving Ashildr and making her immortal, and unintentionally inspiring Clara to develop this syndrome in herself cause him a great deal of misery, culminating in the events of "Face the Raven". Two episodes later in "Hell Bent", however, everyone learns that if he ''isn't'' working under this syndrome and just focusing on what HE wants, the results aren't pretty...
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}:
** Regeneration trauma tends to leave all incarnations of the Doctor very groggy, but during his he flirts with a giant dinosaur, initially thinks everyone ''but'' him has regenerated, and buys smelly clothes off a hobo.
** His (apparently) clueless inability to notice Clara's attractiveness becomes a bit of a RunningGag in Series 8, often resulting in him going to Cloud Cuckoo Lander land, especially in episodes like "Listen".
** Misses relatively obvious points in popular culture. He is surprised to find out that every book isn't a WheresWally book, and has difficulty understanding that it's common knowledge that [[ClarkKenting Clark Kent]] is {{Superman}}. Possible subversions, as both times he is communicating with young children and may be establishing a rapport.
* CluelessChickMagnet: It doesn't happen often, but when a female character hints at attraction to the Twelfth Doctor, he usually misses the point or just doesn't understand. Examples include Missy coming onto him in "Dark Water", O'Donnell's undisguised mixture of hero worship and attraction in "Under the Lake" and "Before the Flood", and even to a degree Clara, given his confused reaction in "Listen" to Clara (who it should be noted is dressed for going on a date at the time) saying he doesn't need mood lighting because "the accent is enough." He also misses Osgood's reaction in "The Zygon Inversion" to his confession that he wears question mark underpants.
* ComfortingComforter: During the epilogue of "Mummy on the Orient Express", he takes Clara to a beach on an alien world and tucks her in comfortably with several blankets, so she could have a calm nap while he waits for her to wake up. He doesn't show his sweet and gentle side often, but when he does, he's really kind and nice, even if he'd never openly admit it.
* TheComicallySerious: Comes with being a very gritty and serious Doctor.
* ContemplateOurNavels: Now that the Doctor's finally stopped running away from the Time War, he is devoting more time to self-reflection. Who is he? (An idiot with a box and a screwdriver, who saves people but also learns from them.) What is he really afraid of? (Being alone.) What does he think of himself? (Dictatorial, manipulative, likes to think he's clever.) Why does he despise soldiers? (They take orders, he prefers companions who think for themselves.)
* CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority: This Doctor doesn't listen to anybody or anything. He openly dismisses any authority by way of using his own. Best exemplified when he ''immediately'' bonds with Courtney, the local troublemaker at Coal Hill School. This might lend credence to the theories that Twelve is something of a cheeky teenager pretending to be an old jaded man.
* CoolShades: These are added to his wardrobe in Series 9, making their debut in "The Magician's Apprentice". The next episode reveals '''how''' cool they are -- they're ''sonic sunglasses'', replacing his old screwdriver since he gave it to the young Davros. (He gets a new screwdriver at the end of the season.)
* CreateYourOwnVillain
** As Series 9 begins, he's in the middle of saving a young boy from an mine field....until he finds out that boy was '''Davros''', which makes him high-tail it (leaving his sonic screwdriver with the boy). And the worst part? Davros ''remembers''. However "The Witch's Familiar" debunks this by having the Doctor indeed go back and fix his mistake....and things still turn out the same. He knows this -- he's realized his real role in Davros' life was modeling mercy to him.[[note]]Big Finish did an audio drama, ''I Davros'', which came to the conclusion that Davros is naturally a sociopath and would end up as an evil MadScientist regardless of any outside circumstances.[[/note]]
** Saving Ashildr's life in a way that also makes her immortal and perpetually lonely results in her turning callous, and becoming bitter towards him, by the time "The Woman Who Lived" begins. He helps her regain some empathy -- but in "Face the Raven" she makes an enemy of him over what becomes of Clara due to her plan to trap and deliver him to an unknown party going horribly wrong. By the end of "Hell Bent" it's not clear if he will ever forgive her for all this (partially because she does nothing to earn it); if he does, it won't be to her face. On the other hand, he lets her follow him into the second TARDIS rather than leave her at the end of time, setting the stage for her becoming a companion to Clara...
* CreepyGood: While many incarnations of the Doctor are this to varying degrees, Twelve takes this to a new level. Clara goes from being doted on by Eleven -- an appeasing old man with a handsome face -- to being pestered by Twelve, a glowering, ruthless pragmatist with a paranoid streak. It isn't until the ending of "Mummy on the Orient Express", more than halfway into Series 8, that she comes to understand he genuinely means to help as many people as possible with limited resources and isn't being a jerk for the sake of it. Throughout the Whoniverse (the show, novels, comics, etc.) Twelve, what with his bushy-browed glares and brusque mannerisms, tends to induce fear in others at first and second glance; realizing how tender and compassionate (not to mention brave and daring) he actually is takes time. The poor creature scares '''himself''' with his own inner darkness and starts questioning if he's good at all in Series 8. Then in the final stretch of Series 9, he gets pushed, not of his own choice, off the deep end and over the cliff, and unleashes the seven bells of hell on the Time Lords...It's ''glorious''. '''''Horrifying''''', but '''''glorious'''''.
* CruelToBeKind: Sometimes, he acts strict and stern to others in order to snap them back to their senses when he needs them to be brave. This extends to his companion. Even after he offers Clara help in "Dark Water", he is initially feigning annoyance in front of her, so she'll stop sobbing and pick up her courage. As he notes, he needs her to be strong, because both of them will have to work together to their fullest if they want to save Danny.
* CueCard: Clara develops a set of them for him to use to help him [[NoSocialSkills get through interactions with other people]] in Series 9. They don't always work as planned.
* CulturedBadass: As if his outfit didn't make it obvious enough, Twelve quickly establishes himself as one by renovating the TARDIS: bookshelves, furniture, a fireplace, and a warmer color scheme -- [[InternalHomage all similar to the Eighth Doctor's console room]].
* DarkerAndEdgier: He's a "darker" man than the Eleventh Doctor, to the point Clara can't tell if the Doctor is still the good man she was quite insistent he was in his previous incarnation. Series 9's final three episodes reveal just what darkness he's capable of when the DespairEventHorizon looms.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Clad in darker attire, he's rather stoic, introverted and doesn't care much about human relationships, but he's fond of dry-witted joking and does pay genuine respect to his companion and the people he considers his friends, few though they are. The depths of his compassion, even towards his foes, also bespeaks a good soul. Tragically, his ProtagonistJourneyToVillain in the final stretch of Series 9 does almost change him to DarkIsEvil...but he comes back from the brink.
* DeadpanSnarker: Sometimes combined with GentlemanSnarker.
* DefrostingIceQueen:
** He comes across as grumpy a lot, even to Clara. However, over the course of several adventures and after a few misunderstandings, [[TheHeart Clara]] manages to mellow him out somewhat and his SugarAndIcePersonality finds balance. By the end of Series 8 he's a kinder and more considerate man, even if his introversion and alienness often get the better of him. Curiously [[FriendToAllChildren he's oddly sweet and nice to children]] right from the get go, even though he maintains a "grumpy, disinterested grandfather" facade in front of them.
** The defrosting is illustrated in "Death in Heaven" and "Last Christmas" when he willingly submits to Clara hugging him (compare to his reluctance and awkwardness when she does so in "Deep Breath" and "Listen"). By Series 9, he's hugging her and clearly enjoys the spontaneous - completely non-plot-related; she just felt like doing it - hug she gives him in "The Woman Who Lived".
** He's a much friendlier and fun-loving man by Series 9, but he is still not above calling humans idiots.
** He starts frosting up again -- and then some -- after he loses Clara in "Face the Raven", but the ending of "Hell Bent" suggests he won't completely return to his old personality, and "The Husbands of River Song" effectively confirms it.
* DespairEventHorizon: The final episodes of Series 9 deal with what happens when this Doctor is brought to this point after coming close to it in "The Witch's Familiar", culminating in the events of "Hell Bent", as Steven Moffat explains to ''Doctor Who Magazine''. The Doctor firmly crosses the horizon and loses all hope when he realizes that Clara is not fully returning to life despite his unfettered efforts:
-->''[The Doctor] once said, ‘Good men don’t need rules. Today’s not the day to find out why I have so many.’ Well this is him saying, ‘Sod the rules.’ I like him doing that, because that tells you who he is the rest of the time. The rest of the time he holds back. Not this time. Episode 11 [[SanitySlippage pushes the Doctor to the brink of madness]], and Episode 12 is what happens next. If the Doctor has lost his moral compass, if he's being selfish, if you really, really hacked him off, if you really got him angry and gave him nothing to fight for...what would you end up with? That's the 'hellbent' of the title. An angry, off-the-rails Doctor.''
* {{Determinator}}: Shown in "Heaven Sent" with his final return to the teleporter, and with the overall plan that necessitates it. He spends ''four and a half billion years'' (though thanks to the GroundhogDayLoop he found himself stuck in, he spends most of each loop thinking it's his first time through, only remembering the rest near the end) punching his way through a substance stronger than diamond (and getting constantly killed by a monster) in order to escape the Confession Dial without having to give up who the Hybrid is.
* DeterminedExpression: For his brief moment in "The Day of the Doctor", he gives a determined KubrickStare. It seems to have become his default expression in the face of any serious challenge.
* DiscoDan: Make way for "[[WaxingLyrical Doctor Funkenstein]]"! Twelve becomes warmer and kookier in Series 9, with his prickly porcupine manner (a vague sense of menace that made him compelling to watch but emotionally distant) mostly gone; instead of an old bugger who would throw you under the bus as easily as shake your hand, he's more of a washed-up rock star -- slipping on shades, chillaxing with the kids, and ruminating on past glories (including his alien sexual conquests) in a very genial way.
* DrivingQuestion:
** In Series 8: "Am I a good man?" The Twelfth Doctor seems to be having something of an identity crisis now that he's escaped death once more, and even received a new regeneration cycle into the bargain. The fact that he survived against all odds and narrowly won for the sake of much grief and loss of people he loved had apparently made him question his life up until this incarnation. Hence his recurring doubts about who he really is at heart, and what he should stand for. By the end of Series 8, though, he finally seems to be finding his footing. [[note]]The answer, in case you were wondering, [[TakeAThirdOption is an ambiguous "neither"]]. He is who he's always been: An idiot with a box who travels and likes to help people.[[/note]]
** In Series 9: What is the Doctor's confession, a thing he will only reveal upon his final death ''or'' when he's at the DespairEventHorizon? Is it the ''real'' reason he left Gallifrey and has been running ever since? And what does it have to do with [[ArcWords the Hybrid teased all season]]? [[note]]In this case, the answer is TheUnreveal.[[/note]]
* DrJerk:
** Despite his namesake, he's much less empathetic than previous incarnations. ''Doctor Who'' writer Jamie Mathieson [[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2iyngn//cl6tn3d?context=3 said]] his initial image after Creator/StevenMoffat outlined Twelve was DrJerk TropeCodifier, Series/{{House}}.
** The Doctor remarks before the medical operation in "Into the Dalek" that Clara is his 'carer' -- she cares so he doesn't have to.
--->'''Psi:''' Is ''that'' why you call yourself the "Doctor"? Professional detachment?
** [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] in "Robot of Sherwood".
--->''[stabs hypodermic needle into Alan-a-Dale]''\\
'''Doctor:''' Oh. All those diseases. If you were real, you'd be dead in six months.\\
'''Alan-a-Dale:''' B-but I ''am'' real!\\
'''Doctor:''' [[NoSympathy Bye.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding: His suffering in the final stretch of Series 9 subverts the trope because his idea of a happy ending becomes a TragicDream (Clara back for good) that cannot be fulfilled without destroying the universe. After that, though, a sadder, wiser Doctor encounters River Song again. He'd been putting off taking her to the Singing Towers of Darillium for years because he knew it would be their last night together, but when they end up in a space liner that crashes on the planet, he proceeds to make the arrangements for that night to take place -- ensuring a restaurant is built on the crash site, getting reservations for a table on a balcony overlooking the towers, fabricating a sonic screwdriver for her, etc. Having accepted that happiness with anyone can't last forever after what happened with Clara, he chooses to make the time he has left with River as happy as possible instead of putting it off. And since a night on Darillium lasts ''twenty-four years'', he plays this trope straight at last.
* EEqualsMCHammer: Twelve's preferred spot in the TARDIS is in front of a chalkboard, jotting down bizarre equations. It follows that his companion would be a teacher.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: When he temporarily becomes TheUnfettered VillainProtagonist in "Hell Bent", he swaps his red velvet Crombie coat out for a black overcoat. Clara notices and doesn't think it's very "Doctory", but he explains "I can't be the Doctor all the time." When he returns to his TARDIS at the end, he finds a red velvet Crombie coat waiting for him and puts it on. Almost qualifies as EvilWearsBlack since he's the only real antagonist in the story (Rassilon proving to be a mere BigBadWannabe).
* FallenHero: "Hell Bent" reconstructs this trope -- he gives up his principles first to take revenge on Rassilon and the High Council and then to risk the universe and his love for Clara by trying to save her, but when she stands up to him over his plan to mind-wipe her, he has a HeelRealization and realizes he must give her up and be a doctor once again (as opposed to the Hybrid, as he sees it).
* FantasticRacism:
** This Doctor ''really'' doesn't like Daleks. However, when he's confronted with a Dalek that appears to have changed its moral compass from evil to good in "Into the Dalek", he seems to be actively hoping that he's at last found a Dalek that has permanently changed of its own initiative; when he finds out it hasn't (it was just an internal radiation leak affecting the brain chemistry) he feels validated in his beliefs that a good Dalek is impossible -- which earns him a slap from Clara because he's enjoying it a little too much.
** The trope turns up again when he abandons young Davros mid-rescue upon realizing the boy is the creator of the Daleks in "The Magician's Apprentice". This has tragic results -- or so it seems.
* {{Foil}}: Is just as strange and alien as Eleven, but with much more intensity and much less empathy.
* ForScience: Twelve seeks to prove a monster's existence in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E4Listen Listen]]" not out of altruism or necessity, but scientific curiosity. Or if Clara's to be believed, a need to prove that he's not afraid.
* FreakOut
** He has a brief one in "The Zygon Inversion" when he realizes all Bonnie wants is a war.
** His desperate demand that Ashildr save Clara in "Face the Raven", to the point where he ''renounces his name'' and threatens to call in his deadly enemies the Cybermen and Daleks to help him.
** "Face the Raven"'s events, specifically Clara's death, traumatize him enough that the final two episodes of Series 9 that follow chronicle his temporary descent to the DespairEventHorizon and a darker, rage-driven self, a process exacerbated by the torture he undergoes in "Heaven Sent".
* FriendlyEnemy: To Missy, starting with Series 9. He is amiable upon seeing her in "The Magician's Apprentice", publicly calling her his friend and humorously calling her "the wicked stepmother." After the events of "Hell Bent", however, this may not hold now that he has reason to believe she "matched" him with Clara in hopes of ruining him/creating the Hybrid via LoveMakesYouEvil...
* FriendToAllChildren:
** In a completely different way than Eleven. Eleven would often act like a child and join in their fun and games. Twelve is more an encouraging grandfather figure, and takes on the youngest solo companion to date: Courtney, who's only 15.
** In "The Magician's Apprentice"/"The Witch's Familiar", he's trying to save a young boy from a mine field, even tossing him the sonic screwdriver, until he finds out that young boy is '''Davros'''. He gets in his TARDIS and hightails it out of there in horror and shame, and comes to see this as MyGreatestFailure. In the end, the Doctor gets the chance to correct this and takes it -- even after all the adult Davros does to him in this story alone. He's realized that saving the boy doesn't stop the Daleks from existing, but it is the reason they understand the concept of mercy.
** In "The Girl Who Died" he still speaks baby, and it's the wailing of one that not only convinces him to help the villagers prepare to confront the Mire, but also gives him a hint to defeating them. Tragically played when his affection for Ashildr and guilt over her demise in the battle factors into his rash decision to bring her back with Mire technology, which makes her immortal, TheAgeless, and ultimately lonely and embittered to the point of callousness by "The Woman Who Lived".
** Clara desperately reminds him he is this when he threatens Ashildr with the destruction of her, the trap street, and everyone in it if she can't save Clara in the climax of "Face the Raven" -- "Your reign of terror will end with the first crying child, and you know it!" He replies "No, I don't!" in anguish. "I do," she replies, which results in calming him down.
** After his encounter with young Grant Gordon one Christmas Eve accidentally results in the latter gaining {{Superhero}} abilities, he does what he can to help the boy (and later teen) cope with the downsides of being CursedWithAwesome. When he kept an eye on Ashildr between "The Girl Who Died" and "The Woman Who Lived" he did so from a distance, but he actively visits Grant.
* FriendshipMoment:
** Plenty of them with his companion Clara.
** He and the Master have a long-overdue talk about their friendship and their need for each other. It really helps Twelve understand what he is in relation to her, and he thanks her for it with a very sweet kiss on the lips. Even so, the Doctor disagrees with the Master deeply and is trying to be kind more out of pity than anything else.
* GadgeteerGenius: Perhaps in response to criticisms that Eleven was using the sonic screwdriver too often and for too many things, Twelve uses it sparingly and comes up with mostly clunky-looking, cobbled-together gadgets whenever he needs to do anything more complex than popping a lock. These devices still have a few kinks to work out, and they often break after one use or don't work as planned. The sonic sunglasses are sharper and more effective, but also highly breakable!
* GeniusSweetTooth: Like his previous incarnations has an affection for jelly babies, which he keeps in a cigarette case. At the beginning of "Robot of Sherwood" one may notice that he eats yogurt. He also genuinely likes coffee, and in "Death in Heaven" it is shown that he puts at least ''seven'' sugar cubes in it.
* GentlemanAndAScholar: His bookish-minded redecoration of the TARDIS control room, general seriousness and sternness and Third Doctor-like aloof, aristocratic outward persona that hides an occasional sweet side, certainly point to this trope. In a variation, he's definitely on the {{cloudcuckoolander}} side of "gentleman".
* GentlemanAdventurer: He's a little older looking, but still loves the thrill of an adventure.
* GirlyRun: Seems to be a recurring thing with characters played by Creator/PeterCapaldi ([[Series/TheThickOfIt Malcolm Tucker]] immediately comes to mind), but Twelve tends to run in a manner that seems designed to 1) keep his posture as straight as possible and 2) be entirely unsuited to the act of running itself.
* AGodAmI: In "Hell Bent", where his attempts to save Clara make Ten's brief bout as the Time Lord Victorious look humble in comparison. He's still sympathetic, as it's the result of severe emotional and mental damage from his experience in the confession dial.
* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual: His sonic sunglasses are a wearable successor to his sonic screwdrivers.
* GoodIsNotNice: Twelve is not particulary polite or affable the way his predecessors were. He's very no-nonsense, often to a fault. But he'll do everything in his power to help you or save you, and won't make much of a fuss about it.
* GoofyPrintUnderwear: In "The Zygon Invasion", he admits to Osgood that he still has question marks decorating part of his wardrobe...namely, they're on his underwear!
* GotVolunteered: In "Death in Heaven" Kate informs the Doctor that, in the event of a worldwide alien "incursion", U.N. protocol automatically and unilaterally promotes him to President of Earth. His word is law -- literally. From there, the Doctor gets a private jet (which gets shot down by Cybermen), some joint chiefs (dunces), and a wall of flatscreens to keep him up-to-date on events (such as Missy escaping and disintegrating the guards). He's President once more in "The Zygon Invasion", and his new plane proves no luckier, this time being shot down with a rocket launcher fired by Clara's Zygon duplicate!
* GrandpaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave: In "Listen", Clara comments that his accent is attractive in her eyes. His expression briefly oscillates between "...really?" and "Geez humans."
* GrandRomanticGesture: He is the Doctor whom River Song encounters before the events of "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead". When they crash-land on Darillium, he arranges a restaurant to be built near the Singing Towers, knowing that it will be where they will have one last night together before her death. This night turns out to last '''twenty-four years'''.
* GreenEyedMonster:
** Despite his claim in "Deep Breath" that thinking himself to be Clara's boyfriend was a mistake, there are several occasions during Series 8 where his jealousy over Clara pairing up with Danny Pink is undisguised. Examples include his statement to himself, "Robbing a whole bank. Beat '''that''' for a date" in "Time Heist"; his undisguised jealousy of Danny seen in "The Caretaker" once he learns that Clara is ''not'' dating a fellow teacher who happens to resemble the Eleventh Doctor; and his hurt expression in "Mummy on the Orient Express" when he hears Clara apparently say "I love you" to Danny on the phone (even though, per WordOfGod, Creator/JennaColeman, those words were actually directed at ''the Doctor'' but he never realized). Inverted slightly in Series 9's "Before the Flood" when the Doctor suggests Clara find another relationship.
** "The Husbands of River Song" has hints of this: He's decidedly disgusted by her openly pitching woo with two of her other husbands, first King Hydroflax (though it turns out she just "married the diamond" and is faking it) and then Ramone (whom she actually mind-wiped of the "husband" detail). Later he and River get into an argument about each others' various spouses!
* GrumpyBear: The Doctor is a little more curmudgeonly in this incarnation. He argues with everybody, from his companions to authority figures. He even gets into a snarking match with ''Robin Hood''. (He laughs too much!)
* GrumpyOldMan: When Twelve first gets a chance to see his reflection he notes how his face is "all covered in lines" and is all "frowning".
* GuileHero: Lampshaded by Clara in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline Flatline]]": "Rule number one about being the Doctor, use your enemy's power against them."
* GuiltComplex: Has this in Series 9, blaming himself for (in turn) setting the stage for the creation of the Daleks, Ashildr's death in battle, and finally Clara's death on the Trap Street. His attempts to atone for these disasters only cause more problems for him and others.
* HappilyMarried: To River Song. Unlike his previous self, Twelve learned to stop running from the inevitable and thus granted River twenty-four happy years with him.
* HatesBeingTouched:
** Hugging is not in this Doctor's wheelhouse. He has absolutely no idea what to do with his hands. Clara seems to perversely enjoy [[TheGlomp tackle-hugging him into submission]] as he writhes around the console room, clawing and fidgeting out of her grasp. In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E11DarkWater Dark Water]]", when Missy kisses him, he freezes completely up in shock. In the next episode, "Death in Heaven", he explains that the real reason he doesn't like hugs is not so much grouchiness but that "it's just a way to hide your face", in keeping with the whole BeneathTheMask theme he has going on... he's still somewhat awkward, but c'mon, Missy is his arch-enemy...
** Played straight again in "Last Christmas", when Santa tells the group to hold hands and concentrate. He initially refuses to hold hands with anyone but Clara. But as they are in a circle and they have no choice he begrudgingly does so with Shona.
** A sign of his deep affection for Clara in Series 9 is his willingness to hug her in moments of particularly high emotion, and to accept (and clearly enjoy) being hugged by her at her whim, and also embraces Clara's new form of affection, stroking his face.
* HeelRealization: Clara objecting to him planning to mind wipe her in "Hell Bent" triggers this in him, as he realizes his grief and rage has turned him into an AntiVillain.
* HeldGaze: Quite fond of these with Clara.
* HeroicBSOD:
** He goes into a prolonged one at the top of Series 9 after realizing the young boy he was trying to save from a mine field was a young Davros. He gets back into his TARDIS and hightails it. The resultant funk is because he realizes first that this made him a massive hypocrite -- his Fourth incarnation famously used the grey morality of HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct as the reason why he shouldn't kill the Daleks in the infancy of their creation -- and second that he may have invoked CreateYourOwnVillain in the worst possible way.
** He falls into this as he helplessly watches Clara die in "Face the Raven". When he comes out of it, see his comments to Ashildr under BadassBoast above...
** Nearly the entirety of "Heaven Sent" sees him in this state, to the point of having a full-out breakdown and deciding to give up. It takes a mental recreation of Clara to snap him out of it.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation:
** He doesn't ''like'' being an AntiHero. Combined with a deliberate nod to DarkIsNotEvil.
--->'''The Doctor:''' [[HumbleHero Am I a good man?]]
** When confronted with "The Architect" who wants him to rob the bank, Twelve immediately hates him because he's pompous, manipulative, and overbearing. That's how the Doctor realizes ''he'' was the Architect in the first place!
** Calls himself explicitly "an idiot" starting in later episodes of Series 8, and is often willing to break the ice and admit he feels ashamed for some of his decisions and actions, such as abandoning the young Davros as Series 9 begins. His climactic monologue in "The Zygon Inversion" reveals that he is tormented by memories of his dirty deeds as the War Doctor and doesn't want anyone else to know such pain.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: The Doctor -- who has killed ''very many'' Cybermen and Daleks and orchestrated the deaths of others -- is now 2000 years old and getting meaner every year. Just as Rusty the Dalek had an epiphany ("Life prevails") the Doctor learned over the years that evil/bad/nasty/vile things also frequently triumph. The final episodes of Series 9 examine just how far he's willing to go, especially when all he's fighting for is himself after Clara's death.
* HistoryRepeats:
** The Twelfth Doctor and the First Doctor both started out on ''Doctor Who'' as relatively aged Doctors, have school teachers from Coal Hill School as companions, and don’t know how to fly the TARDIS. And both Hartnell and Capaldi were 55 when starting as the Doctor.
** Both Capaldi's and Pertwee's Doctors follow on from the Time Lords interfering in the regeneration cycle, are significantly older in appearance than their companions, display remarkable rudeness, have an emotional reaction to their new eyebrows and favour dark clothing with red for spot colour - Twelve's suit and Three's signature opera cloak. (And Twelve gets a red velvet jacket added to his wardrobe in Series 9...)
** Like the Sixth Doctor, he's also the "darker" successor of the Doctor played by the youngest actor in the role at the time. The actors for both have also appeared in the show in other roles prior to becoming the Doctor.
** Like Seven, he's a pragmatic person looking at the bigger picture, while his companion has gained increased prominence in story importance and screentime. Both twosomes have fallouts and reconciliations, struggling to balance their relationships with each other with the perils and responsibilities they face in their journeys.
** Also, a relatively young incarnation enters a brutal, devastating centuries-long war which ages him into an old man. He regenerates after the war into a middle-aged incarnation who is rather rude and bitter, but still a very good person at heart. [[CatchPhrase Question]]: Are we talking about the War and Ninth Doctors or the Eleventh and Twelfth?
* HughMann: In "The Caretaker", his idea of blending into North London is wearing an orange coat in the same cut and length as his blue one and hanging placards reading "GO AWAY HUMANS" instead of the modest Keep Out sign he intended.
* HumansThroughAlienEyes: He's the most alien of all the revival series Doctors.
* HumbleHero: Zigzagged depending on the subject; he'll gladly point out that everyone else is a "pudding brain" compared to a Time Lord like himself but if you call him a great hero he'll immediately deflect the praise by saying that he's just "passing time". For all his pragmatism, he utilises this trope almost suicidally at one point. He effectively takes the bullet for Maisie Pitt in "Mummy on the Orient Express", despite it looking like he was willing to let her die at first. Luckily, once he diverts the threat's attention to him instead of Maisie, he succeeds in stopping it once and for all.
* HurtingHero:
** Twelve grimly accepts the constant death that surrounds his adventures and that there are some people he just ''can't'' save, and instead focuses on the people that he does have a chance of saving. This however gives the people he encounters in his adventures the impression he's heartless. Much of Series 9 (episode examples below) examines just how much he's hurting over a variety of issues, and how it sometimes leads him to rash decisions -- and ultimately the DespairEventHorizon, whereupon he decides he ''can'' save Clara if he gives up his principles...In the meantime, consider this dialogue from "Mummy on the Orient Express":
---> '''The Doctor:''' We can’t mourn. People with guns to their heads, they cannot mourn. We do not have time to mourn.
** In "The Magician's Apprentice" / "The Witch's Familiar", he near-immediately regrets his choice to abandon rather than save (or kill) the young Davros; he knows he could have done so much better for himself and the universe and is willing to die to atone. In the end, not only does he come out of his ordeal on Skaro alive, he ''does'' manage to do better.
** In "The Girl Who Died", he admits he can't stand eventually losing everyone he cares about, citing it as what keeps him running through space and time -- he's ''trying to'' flee the pain. This and the "constant deaths around him" issue both factor into his rash, tragic decision to revive Ashildr in a way that makes her immortal. He wants to, exists to, '''save people!'''
** He reveals in "The Zygon Inversion" that he's actively '''tormented''' by his memories of the many atrocities he committed as the War Doctor, far more than Doctors Nine, Ten, and Eleven ever were.
** In "Face the Raven", Clara dies. As they make their final goodbyes, he is awash in tears, confessing that he will suffer without her. His pain makes him a danger to anyone who dares cross him. Ultimately, while he saves her from death's door he again goes too far in doing so and realizes that he ''must'' lose her ''and his memories of her'' to atone. The good news is that excising the emotional cancer of his grief and rage means he can move on and be his best self again.
** "The Return of Doctor Mysterio", set shortly after the 24-year TimeSkip that followed "The Husbands of River Song", reveals that having made his final goodbye (from his perspective) to River at last, he is quite lonesome and melancholy. But rather than going without a companion altogether (Donna), withdrawing from the world (Amy and Rory), or risking the universe to undo a loved one's death (Clara), the Doctor decided to "reassemble" Nardole (who understands his situation) and take him on as a companion, and throw himself into new adventures with gusto. While he is bottling up his sorrow more than he should, he also knows he has no choice but to move on, because as sad as endings are, they open up new beginnings and chances for him to be happy.
* IconicItem: His chalkboard and his red-lined coat(s), the one consistent bit of his costuming. Series 9 adds his guitar, sonic sunglasses, and finally in "Hell Bent" a unique sonic screwdriver (he used Eleven's in Series 8).
* IcyBlueEyes: Made all the more prominent by his stare.
* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: Stops Clara from killing the Master/Mistress in the finale of Series 8. He understands her anger and thinks she's justified, but he doesn't want his beloved companion to become a killer, especially after all the awful experiences she's already been through. The Master keeps twisting the blade by mocking the Doctor, gloating that "he wanted to save Clara's poor little soul".
* IHaveNoIdeaWhatImDoing: He starts his life deciding that the TARDIS is ''probably'' crashing before asking Clara how to fly it.
* ImNotAHeroIm: Twelve is extremely prickly about this, insisting that he's "[[BlatantLies just passing the time]]" and isn't interested in heroism. Also, though he brags from time to time, he's much less pompous and vocal about his own exploits than any previous incarnation of the Doctor, hinting at a newly gained bit of maturity and more regret for the many, many mistakes he's made ('''especially''' in the Time War) and is still making. In "The Witch's Familiar" he claims he's just TheStoryteller (see below) and his greatest exploits are just his good days, the days when he lives up to the story he's trying to write for himself that posits him as a doctor.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: He doesn't need a sword to duel Robin Hood... he's got [[Creator/SylvesterMcCoy a spoon]].
* IndyPloy: Seems somewhat fond of them, even counting on others to participate. (When trapped inside a Dalek, he calls on Clara to do "a clever thing". Then he goes to show a Dalek something that'll change its mind forever. What exactly? "Not a clue".) From "Time Heist":
--> '''Saibra:''' That's your plan? A "thing" will happen?
* InnocentlyInsensitive: This incarnation's tendency towards NoSocialSkills and alienness frequently leads to this. He often slips up in interactions with others by seemingly not realising where the boundary between being sarcastic and being rude to people lies.
** The way he treats Danny in "The Caretaker" suggests that he was teasing him and making jabs at him in what he considered a playful way, but to Danny, Clara and everyone else, it just seems like he's being a jerk for no logical reason (in retrospect, however we also know that he was being a bit of a GreenEyedMonster too). The Doctor later begrudgingly backpedals on this, even if he doesn't directly apologise until he tries (and fails) to do it in the finale episode. That he keeps nicknaming Danny "P.E." even as he's dying doesn't help...
** While his decision to avoid helping solve the problem in "Kill the Moon" is [[BlueAndOrangeMorality ultimately based on good intentions]], [[NoSocialSkills he doesn't realise until the very end]] that he scared and insulted his companion and guest and acted in a way that might seem very haughty and patronising towards humanity. The latter is a particularly sad take on this, as he was convinced he did humans a favour by honouring their free will and independent decision-making -- perhaps having learned from his mistakes as Ten.
* InsultOfEndearment: Mockingly calls humans "pudding-brains" on multiple occasions, but he does it in a cheeky way instead of being mean-spirited.
* InsufferableGenius:
** ''Every'' Doctor is an insufferable genius, but Twelve has to take the cake. From "Deep Breath":
---> '''The Doctor:''' I hate being wrong in public. Everyone forget that happened.
** Best lampshaded in ''Mummy on the Orient Express":
---> '''Perkins:''' You know Doctor, I can't tell if you're a genius or just incredibly arrogant.\\
'''The Doctor:''' Well, on a good day I'm both.
* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: Initially this Doctor is basically not nice to anyone at all unless their name is Clara Oswald, which is in part due to seeing everyone's intelligence as inferior to his own. He makes an effort to be warm, but impertinence and ignorance severely test his temper in the heat of the moment. When the dust settles, he's a [[HumbleHero humble]], HurtingHero deep down.
* InternalHomage: His clothing and serious demeanor call to mind the Third Doctor. The lavish use of odd body language, on the other hand, strongly evokes the Fourth.
* IronicEcho: Twelve spends most of Series 9 catastrophizing about losing Clara, something he knows must happen someday (not necessarily tragically) due to his existence as a near-immortal. The irony is that, Clara ends her time with the Doctor as someone who is effectively immortal, will never age, and is probably indestructible to boot. If not for that memory wipe, the Doctor finally has within his grasp a companion who he'd ''never have to worry about again'' - either in terms of her safety and in terms of aging, as she could theoretically outlive him. To put a bow on it, she invites him to just fly away with her instead of pushing the button.
* ItsAllMyFault: He blames himself for Clara's death in "Face the Raven", having seen her act like a cocky FearlessFool during all of Series 9 and only halfheartedly trying to rein her in. That said, he's still '''furious''' at Ashlidr for manipulating the situation that led to Clara's death in the first place, and hungers for {{Revenge}} against both her and the enemy she's delivering him to. In the end, he understands that it wasn't his fault that Clara made the choices she did, but all the trouble his "saving" Clara leads to '''is'''; when he realizes he'll lose his memories of her, he accepts it as just punishment.
* ItsNotYouItsMe: After seeing generations of humans live and die on Trenzalore and seeing Clara (initially) take the regeneration rather badly, he assumes that he has misjudged his place and pulls one of these on Clara. So [[BookEnds both the 1st and the 12th]] episodes of Series 8 end with the protagonists deciding what's better for the other without consulting them, and in both cases, it causes more drama than it averts.
* IWasQuiteAFashionVictim: He opts not to go for the scarf look again, and finds bowties embarrassing (and [[ComicBook/DoctorWhoTitan in the Titan comics]] he expresses similar embarrassment about the fez...). However, First Doctor-esque ribbon ties are okay for a special occasion. His reaction to Adrian's and Osgood's similar attires suggest that he's a lot fonder of his bowtie wearing days [[GuiltyPleasures than he'd like to admit]], and this is further confirmed in "The Magician's Apprentice" when it's revealed he temporarily returned to some of his old sartorial choices (including the scarf) during TheLastDance. Indeed, he wears Second Doctor-style plaid pants in several Series 9 stories.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: This Doctor is grumpy, abrasive, rude, and rather apathetic. He is also very devoted to his companions and friends, few though they may be, still thinks humans are very important (being explicit about it while alone with the Half-Face Man in "Deep Breath"), and ultimately tries to be the best man he can be. And he questions his own actions surprisingly often: He's willing to die if it might atone for abandoning young Davros and regrets his choice to revive Ashildr in a way that grants her immortality, his most dangerously rash decision since he risked undoing all space and time in "The Waters of Mars" (though notably he wasn't trying to ''rewrite'' fate but ''fight'' fate, and the initial stakes weren't as high), almost immediately.
* KleptomaniacHero: In "Listen", he steals a security guard's cup of coffee.
* KnightInSourArmor: Might be a bit too aloof to others at times, but as he notes in his introductory episode, people are never small to him. He might snark at you without remorse, but he'll always treat you with respect and will do his best to help those in need. And though he vocally doubts and even dismisses it at one point, he likes to keep up hope for the Daleks being curable of their evil and obsession with destruction. ("If I could turn one Dalek, I could turn them all...") This is key to his actions at the top of Series 9: his regret over not saving young Davros when he has the chance to -- he could have saved the boy's soul, but instead probably started his destructive ways -- drives him to prepare for TheLastDance by way of atonement. In the end, he winds up being the boy's savior, and while the evil of the Daleks still comes to pass, this Doctor is the reason they understand the concept of mercy.
* KubrickStare: Fond of these. They turn up in "The Day of the Doctor" and "Hell Bent", during the Series 8 trailer, and in the opening credits.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: This incarnation has a habit of occasionally "deleting" unnecessary memories, which can lead to awkward situations, such as in "Last Christmas" when he deletes the names of the base personnel immediately after leaving them the first time, forcing him to resort to [[TheNicknamer nicknames]] and in "Before the Flood" when he realizes he's forgotten how to correctly interpret sign language. This gains a darker significance when he intends to mind wipe Clara of her memories of him to keep her safe from his enemies after he saves her from her moment of death, but she gets wind of the plan and tampers with the device that will do so, insisting that she has a right to those memories even if she must die. He's not sure if it will actually wipe ''his'' mind if it's used, but insists ''someone'' has to lose their memories; they agree to use it together. The result is that he's the one who forgets her. Although he manages to remember his adventures with her, and the lessons of his experiences, he cannot recall or recognize her appearance, etc. He regards this as an appropriate punishment and atonement for his loving but selfish actions.
* LeanAndMean: His fitted, high contrast outfits accentuate his very thin build and long limbs, giving the appearance of a "stick insect" according to Clara. Of course, being an AntiHero he's not a full example, but rather a downplayed one.
* {{Leitmotif}}: His theme is called "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF1Ng0XCUyw A Good Man?]]", which follows the same level of magnificence as "I Am The Doctor".
* LivingEmotionalCrutch: More than most companions, Clara becomes this to him, largely because he has such a hard time interacting with others. Their bond only grows with the horrible tragedies they undergo in the Series 8 finale, and ''he'' becomes ''her'' crutch in Series 9. He genuinely has no idea what he'll do without her. When she dies, though she warns him not to let being alone change him into something evil, he proves unable to cope with her loss in a healthy way, partially because of the vicious torture he undergoes ''immediately'' after he loses her. Thus, he becomes a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds who will risk destroying the universe just to get her back. In the end, she helps him realize that they ''must'' be parted for the greater good, and he accepts losing her and even memories of her so he can be his best self again. While he is traveling alone in "The Husbands of River Song" and grumpy and broody at the start, he turns out to be in much healthier emotional shape when another tragedy looms.
* LivingForeverIsAwesome: Like his previous incarnations, he talks about the drawbacks to immortality but ultimately he comes down on this side of the fence. One of his confessions in "Heaven Sent" is that, even after millennia of adventures and heartache, he's still afraid of dying. If this particular Doctor had his way, the trope would be revised to "living forever ''with Clara'' is awesome"; sad to say, he doesn't get to enjoy that -- nor an endless SecondLove with River Song, for that matter.
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Decides to try defying the laws of time and space to save Clara in "Hell Bent" despite his many experiences of how dangerous and impossible this can be, thanks to being DrivenToMadness in "Heaven Sent".
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Temporarily. His out-of-character actions in "Hell Bent" stem from his fury and grief at losing Clara, exacerbated by the torture he underwent afterwards. He wants to make those involved, however indirectly, in her death '''pay''' -- and deposes Rassilon and his council once he makes it back to Gallifrey. That isn't so bad, but he's ''also'' willing to do anything to get her ''back'', never mind that this threatens the stability of the universe and disregards her feelings. Luckily...
* LoveRedeems: Clara is painfully aware that she can't act as a MoralityChain to the Doctor in "Hell Bent" and has to convince him about the wrongness of his actions in a different manner. It takes a lot of begging, friendly appeals, and even some minor threats, but ultimately she manages to mellow him out from an increasingly irrational, narrow-minded state, by making him realize he's hurting her and their love. In the end, the Doctor is still sensible enough to understand he should respect Clara's wishes about her fate and memories, admitting he's just prolonging the inevitable and has gone too far in breaking his own rules. When ''he'' winds up mind-wiped instead of her, he tells her it's okay and his fault for going too far, and reminds her "Never be cruel and never be cowardly. And if you ever are, always make amends."
* LoveTriangle: Series 8 brings a triangle between the Doctor, Clara and Danny, and illustrates Clara's attemps to maintain her relationships with both men.
** After Danny's passing the Doctor and Clara become even more close, but there goes Missy who desperately wants her friend back. From there, one of Ashildr's theories about the Hybrid in "Hell Bent" is that the reason Missy originally brought the Doctor and Clara together was in hopes of making him more like Missy via LoveMakesYouEvil, since once Clara is KilledOffForReal he's willing to become TheUnfettered.
* ManChild:
** Twelve is rude to almost everyone around him, but sometimes shows a more caring side, and when alone he spends most of his time brooding. In essence, he is a rebellious teenager in the body of a grown man.
** His dislike of having to take orders is very similar to Four. The difference is Four's dislike of taking orders was a reaction to Three's forced exile on Earth and being stuck with UNIT (along with serving as the Time Lords' occasional RogueAgent). Here it's more Twelve's ego at work, with a bit of residual Time War/Trenzalore [=PTSD=] mixed in.
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas Last Christmas]]", when he and Santa Claus are VolleyingInsults, Clara says "behave Doctor"!
** The above is just one example of Clara finding herself acting in a pseudo-mother ("Listen") or even teacher role ("The Caretaker") with the Doctor.
** The Doctor reacts to the impending loss of Clara in "Face the Raven" in an almost childlike manner. ("What about me?")
* MayflyDecemberRomance: With an emphasis of the "mayfly" with regards to Clara. Ashildr discusses this directly with the Doctor in "The Woman Who Lived" and this becomes an ongoing issue with the Doctor in Series 9 as he spends part of it obsessing over the possibility of someday losing Clara ... and then he does.
* TheMentallyDisturbed: Becomes this over the course of his torment in "Heaven Sent", and spends most of "Hell Bent" in that state -- broken by torture and loss, obsessed with a TragicDream, and willing to risk the destruction of the universe to make it possible. It's tragically telling that only MindRape can fully restore him to his best self.
* MerlinAndNimue: After seeing the extent of Clara's capabilities all throughout Series 7, he comes to rely on them as a strategical asset. She adapts to his world, which involves becoming a more pragmatic person, but they both realize that this isn't necessarily a good thing in every context, given that one of the skills she acquires is being a ConsummateLiar. There is even a "betrayal scene" where she ''attempts'' to trap him somewhere. While she, a girl who once believed that "people always have plans", learned the [[IndyPloy value of improvisation from him]], ("It's not a plan, it's a thing") and certainly sees him as an inspiration or muse, Clara (as explicitly stated by WordOfGod in an interview discussing "Kill the Moon") does not, in any way, see herself as the junior partner in their team. The title "The Magician's Apprentice" explicitly references this archetype (though it also refers to his impact on Davros), and of course they ''look'' the part now! The Doctor worries he's only made her want to be something she can't be -- him -- and his guilt over her death in "Face the Raven" is huge. He saves her from the moment of death in "Hell Bent", but his going too far to do so leads to him forgetting her existence...so he never learns that her ultimate fate is to travel around the universe in a TARDIS of her own until the day she must return to her death, with Ashildr as her companion! It's worth noting that the 1989 episode "Battefield" establishes in canon that a future incarnation of the Doctor would become Merlin!
* MoralityChain: Clara is his, more than usual. She's fearful of the Doctor travelling alone, though she's estranged from him for a while after "Kill the Moon". In "Listen", his increasing paranoia terrifies her. Inverted in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E11DarkWater Dark Water]]" and in the epilogue of "Flatline", where it falls to him to be ''hers'', bringing the motif of role reversals in their relationship arc full circle. Doubly subverted in "Death in Heaven" where instead of the usual scenario of keeping him from going too far, she makes sure [[ShootTheDog he doesn't go soft on the Mistress]], who has repeatedly proven too dangerous to contain. In Series 9, the inversion continues. She rarely questions his actions and ''encourages'' him to be a fighter and plotter. He recognizes this is problematic. It also contributes to his impulsive choice to revive Ashildr in "The Girl Who Died"; he's the only one, initially, who doubts he's done the right thing, even though ''not'' saving her would have violated his principles as a healer.
* MoralityChainBeyondTheGrave: Clara is KilledOffForReal in "Face the Raven". This results in a FreakOut on his part, and before she goes to her death, she warns him not to become a vengeful warrior again -- i.e. hurting others and/or seeking revenge for her demise. While he does exile Rassilon and the High Council bloodlessly, it's apparently as much over what they did in the Last Great Time War as anything else (as well as part of his ploy to be named Lord President, allowing him to use the extraction chamber to get Clara). When she is pulled out of time, Clara is horrified to realize he was DrivenToMadness and from there gave up on his principles in order to ''save'' her life.
* MoralityPet: He serves as this to the now-immortal Ashildr/Me in "The Woman Who Lived". Because of her bitterness over what he did to her, despite his good intentions, she isn't initially willing to listen to him most of the time. But when her bargain with Leandro proves the DealWithTheDevil the Doctor warned her it would be and she realizes her self-centeredness is hurting innocents, she regains empathy and helps him stop the threat. From there she decides to take TheSlowPath, looking after others the Doctor inevitably leaves behind -- and thus becomes another person who will help keep ''him'' in line, albeit in a different way from his companions. However, to protect the trap street in 2015, she is willing to betray him. She tries to serve as this in "Hell Bent" to convince him to give up his TragicDream of saving Clara, but utterly fails at it because she does not understand why he can't just let her go.
** This seems to be one reason he takes Nardole on as a companion after he parts from River Song for good -- he knows he has to move on, and that he must not be alone when he does so.
* MustMakeAmends: In "Hell Bent", the Doctor honestly believes that by saving Clara from the grave and giving her an ordinary life by mind-wiping her of her memories of him, he can make amends for being a bad influence on her and setting her on the path of heroism that led to her SenselessSacrifice. But as both Ashildr and Clara explain to him, it was '''not''' his fault that the latter's fate was what it was, for it was her choices that shaped it. In the end, he realizes that he doesn't have to make amends for her death -- instead, he must make up for being unwilling to accept her loss and respect her wishes, almost destroying the universe in the process. Thus, he amends his creed to "Never be cruel and never be cowardly. And if you ever are, always make amends" as he succumbs to the mind wipe himself.
* MyGreatestFailure:
** Is unwilling to discuss what might have driven him to be more open about his personality. In later episodes of Series 8 and throughout Series 9, he is visibly distraught when he realises Clara picked up some bad habits from him; meanwhile he looks decidedly embarrassed when Danny rightfully chews him out over his previous behaviour to him. He undergoes this trope several times in Series 9, not realizing that he's actually developing a bad GuiltComplex...
*** First, he sees not saving young Davros when he had the chance as the catalyst for Davros creating the Daleks. In the process of atoning for this, he becomes the boy's savior instead. Davros became evil on his own...but the Doctor '''is''' the reason Daleks understand the concept of mercy. From there...
*** He almost immediately fears his choice to revive Ashildr will prove to be this if she turns out to have been immortalized. When he learnes that she was, his empathetic efforts to reach out and help her have some positive effect in "The Woman Who Lived". In the end, however, NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished since Ashildr's deal with a villain in "Face the Raven" indirectly leads to...
*** Clara's death, which '''on the surface''' appears to be the culmination of both his positive and negative influence on her personality and his choice to revive Ashildr. He's a '''doctor''' and he couldn't save the person he cared about the most, and people he did save -- Ashildr and, as it turns out, the '''Time Lords''' -- chose to betray him. He does wind up finding a way to save Clara and tries to give her a life free of him, but goes so far in the process that he not only loses her again but his memory of her appearance, etc. is wiped (he is able to remember -- or piece together -- aspects of their adventures together, but he basically loses the memories related to being in love with her). This has a bittersweet upside in that Clara and Ashildr are able to travel together for many years to come before the former meets her final death, and the Doctor is free of his anguish and can be his best self again. But he still has a "Clara-shaped hole" in his memory. Will it ever be filled?
* {{Necromantic}}: Becomes this in "Hell Bent", pulling Clara out of time at the moment of her death, which renders her OnlyMostlyDead. But he cannot figure out a way to fully bring her back to life, the initial act threatens to destroy the universe as it is, and she isn't happy at all to find he's willing to go to such lengths to begin with.
* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead:
** Tactless as he may be, one of the indications that he's ultimately a decent person is that he still adheres to this even with people he cannot stand one bit. Once he learns of Danny's death, he immediately tones down the hostility, starts using his name (at least when talking to Clara) and tries to help him with everything in his might. This is also how the lies from the end of "Death in Heaven" ultimately come to light -- in "Last Christmas", thinking that Danny is alive, and therefore, fair game for random outrageous/insuting remarks to distract Clara from the Dream Crabs' psychic assault, he enrages her enough for her to reveal the truth through a kneejerk reaction to enforce this trope.
** Inverted in the case of the Time Lords and Gallifrey -- now that he knows that they did ''not'' all horribly die by his hand, he's free to state that the place he considers "his world" is ''Earth''.
* NiceShoes: He wears Loake-style Brogue boots as well as Dr. Martens boots.
* TheNicknamer:
** He takes to addressing people he's met as "that one" (in Clara's case, the "[[TheWatson asking questions one]]"), or by their appearance ("This is Gun Girl. She's [[ShapedLikeItself got a gun and she's a girl"]]). It's unclear whether this is due to his wafer-thin attention span, or if he really cares ''that'' little, as shown with "P.E." (a.k.a. Danny Pink). This trope quickly becomes a signature quirk of his both in the show and the ExpandedUniverse.
** In "Flatline", he dubs Rigsy "Local Knowledge." In "Face the Raven", it's when he calls Rigsy by his "proper" name that the young man realizes something serious is happening. (Ironically, "Rigsy" is itself a nickname.)
** He goes overboard in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas Last Christmas]]" where after he "deletes" the names of the Arctic research crew he calls them "pudgy one" and "sexy one"!
** He doesn't even bother to learn any of the villagers' names (aside from Ashildr's) in "The Girl Who Died", as he doesn't have the time when he's trying to prepare them for a battle the next day. He skips straight to the nicknames! (But the name of Ashildr's father, Einarr [whom he nicknamed "Chuckles"], stuck with him at the very least -- he mentions it in "The Woman Who Lived".)
** In "The Zygon Invasion", it turns out he even nicknames ''himself!'' Call him "Doctor Disco" or "Doctor Funkenstein"!
** Generally, Clara avoids getting the nickname treatment. A notable exception is in "Heaven Sent" when he starts calling her "Teacher".
* NightmareFetishist: He's excited when he's inside a Dalek, enthusiastically tries to find out the cause of his childhood nightmare, and gets positively giddy over finding out the existence of ghosts. He also at least tries to look on the bright side of being trapped within his nightmares in the confession dial. After all, "Hell is just Heaven for bad people."
* NoHuggingNoKissing: Tries to take a step back from the ChickMagnet nature of Ten and Eleven. He ends up being hugged by Clara and snogged by Missy despite his protests, and a sign of his CharacterDevelopment and HurtingHero nature as Series 9 begins is that he actually hugs Clara upon his reunion with her in "The Magician's Apprentice" and again in "The Girl Who Died" (this after accepting, with evident pleasure, a kiss on the cheek from her in "Last Christmas") and no longer objects to being hugged by Clara - in "The Woman Who Lived" he clearly enjoys a spontaneous mini-[[TheGlomp glomp]] Clara gives him. Finally, after one last hug, he kisses her hand before she heads off to her death in "Face the Raven". (AllThereInTheManual: The original shooting script for "Hell Bent" had the Doctor wrap Clara into a hug as he told her about her heartbeat; this was never filmed and instead Clara rebuffs his attempt at hugging her in the final episode.)
* NoSocialSkills: While most Doctors fail to grasp social norms, they at least have a jovial and friendly attitude to make up for that. Twelve outright seems to consider common courtesies and pleasantries superfluous and a waste of time, so he comes off as more egotistic, callous, and arrogant. It eventually drives Clara away for a brief period in Series 8 when his well-meant choice to let her and humanity choose Earth's fate in "Kill the Moon" appears condescending and cruel. The introduction of Clara's [[CueCard cue cards]] in Series 9 was an attempt by Clara to help the Doctor improve his social skills, with the [[WordOfGod writers and actors]] confirming so (even naming the trope) in interviews.
* NotDistractedByTheSexy: Not nearly as easily and overtly as Eleven anyways, mostly through a combination of being ObliviousToHints and his usual absent-mindedness, which causes Clara a bit of consternation at first. He's still quite capable of implying that Danny is screwing Clara's neighbor as a means to provoke her into an emotional reaction, offhandedly referring to a random bystander as "Sexy One", or brazen little forays like the "compelling masculine figure" incident, which Eleven probably couldn't even have pronounced without blushing and stuttering. In a more innocent example, he's amusingly clueless about Clara's looks when asked by her whether she's dressed well for a date with Danny. Although he remains above such considerations in Series 9, he no longer makes any negative comments about Clara's appearance and in fact pays her a public compliment in "The Magician's Apprentice" by playing the opening riff to "Oh Pretty Woman" when he spots Clara in a crowd, and even flirts with her by saying she's the only one he saw among all the faces in the crowd. Later in the season, he specifically mentions Clara's eyes as a feature he'll miss, and his last request to her in "Hell Bent" is for her to smile for him one last time.
* NotSoAboveItAll:
** A DarkerAndEdgier Doctor he might be, but he's ''still'' the Doctor. In "Listen" he's seen reading a ''Where's Wally?'' (UK version of "Where's Waldo?") book in an attempt to connect with a young child -- only to be told it's not a ''Where's Wally?'' book. This ticks off the Doctor, because he apparently thought you could find Wally in literally every book.
** In "The Magician's Apprentice" he's been living at a medieval castle in Essex for three weeks and when someone challenges him to an axe fight he brings a ''guitar axe'' and does an awesome riff on top of a '''tank'''. It's not how a Time Lord usually has TheLastDance, but mere meditation and contemplation just isn't his style.
* NotSoDifferent: His enemies regularly point out he's just as bad as them.
** "Rusty" the Dalek points out the Doctor has as much rage in his heart as the Daleks he hates in "Into the Dalek".
--->'''Rusty:''' I see into your soul, Doctor. [[InLoveWithYourCarnage I see beauty, I see divinity, I... see... hatred]]!\\
'''Doctor:''' Hatred?\\
'''Rusty:''' I see your hatred of the Daleks and it is good.
** The Doctor also gets this one-liner at the end of "Into the Dalek":
--->'''Rusty:''' I am not a good Dalek. ''You'' are a good Dalek.
** Missy's plan in Series 8 is to show the Doctor is just as bad as her by giving him ultimate power.
--->'''Missy:''' I need you to know we're not so different! I need my friend back.
** At the top of Series 9, his failure to save young Davros makes him realize on his own that in abandoning the boy, he probably "created" the creator of the Daleks. When this comes to haunt him externally, he's ready to die by way of atoning...but in the process reveals how different from them he actually is, and becomes not a creator of evil, but the reason his foes understand the concept of mercy!
** In a (usually) more positive way, he and Clara continue to have certain parallels. As he's her friend, he becomes rather unnerved once he notices she's been picking up some habits and attitudes from him that she shouldn't have (lying especially), and in Series 9 is concerned she'll come to a bad end. He's right, and in the end they must be parted forever both to keep the universe stable and to be their best selves, as together they just egg each other on.
** In another positive way, Robin Hood, having learned who the Doctor is from Clara, commented that he and the Doctor have a few similarities;
--->'''Robin Hood:''' Is it so hard to credit? That a man born into wealth and privilege should find the plight of the oppressed and weak too much to bear... until one night, [[BaitAndSwitchComparison he is moved to steal a TARDIS? Fly among the stars, fighting the good fight?]]
** He quickly realizes that his rash, well-meant decision to save Ashildr's life dooms her to a perpetually lonely existence as an immortal, watching everyone she comes to care about die. He knows ''that'' feeling, and leaves her with the means to have an immortal "companion" of her own -- but she never finds one "good enough". She becomes callous towards others and bitter towards him as centuries pass, but his understanding of her plight (and the ways it differs from his; for instance, her memory isn't nearly so long) helps her come around to empathy again. The reason he cannot make her a companion is because their hearts would "rust" and lose sight of the true beauty of existence without the perspective of mortals who cherish their fleeting lives. Initially, he became fond of her upon realizing she was TheStoryteller (see below) and was seen as an odd duck in her village, much the way he was seen as an oddball on Gallifrey.
** His climactic monologue in "The Zygon Inversion" has him tearfully explaining to Bonnie -- a Zygon rebel commander who wants to provoke a war her kind likely won't win, with no concern over the suffering that will result -- that as the War Doctor he was not so different from her...he was '''much, much worse''', in fact.
** In "Hell Bent", Ashildr thinks Missy teamed the Doctor and Clara up because she knew he'd become so close to her that he'd willingly risk the universe just to keep her by his side, making the two Time Lords equally destructively selfish. But in the end, LoveRedeems the Doctor and he embraces selflessness again.
** In a more positive example along the lines of "Robot of Sherwood", when he complains to Nardole about Grant Gordon going against his instructions ''not'' to use his powers in public and becoming a {{Superhero}} in "The Return of Doctor Mysterio", Nardole points out that Time Lords aren't supposed to interfere with the goings-on of the rest of the universe. Both Grant and the Doctor have chosen to defy their "superiors" in the name of helping the helpless!
* NotSoStoic: Underneath the gruff exterior, he's actually the same jovial and kind-hearted fellow he's always been. He just doesn't show it much.
* OhCrap:
** When Missy reveals herself to be the Master in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E11DarkWater Dark Water]]".
** In "The Magician's Apprentice", he finds out that the young boy he's trying to save from a mine field is ''Davros''...
** "Face the Raven": Both he and Clara have one upon learning that Ashildr can't lift the death sentence Clara conferred upon herself from Rigsy -- and thus Clara will be KilledOffForReal in a few minutes because not even the Doctor has a means of doing so.
** Has an ''epic'' one in "Heaven Sent" when he finally works out what's going on, that leaves his body poleaxed with an anguished ThousandYardStare while his psyche rants and whimpers to Clara's image inside his mental TARDIS.
** PlayedForLaughs in "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" when he realizes that young Grant ''swallowed'' the gemstone, believing it to be medicine.
* OneHeadTaller: He is this to "short and roundish" Clara.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** Happens to him in the finale two-parter of Series 8, where he gets to show more of his mellow and vulnerable side. In a moment of grief and anger, after realising the Master had cruelly given him false hope, he calmly walks over to the TARDIS console and then explodes in a fit of pent-up rage, smashing the console with his fists while bursting into tears. Only several scenes after that, we see him and Clara meeting some time later, preparing to part ways. When she hugs him, he overcomes his usual attitudes and returns her hug for the very first time.
** As much as he tries to avoid hugs, he overcomes himself and gives Clara a very kind one before they part ways for a few months) at the end of "Death in Heaven". Earlier in that same episode, though he hates the Master, he surprises her by kissing her on her lips and explaining that he nevertheless understands the reasons that drive her to tempt him to do evil. At the end of "Last Christmas", he also accepts Clara giving him a tiny kiss on his cheek.
** His noticeably more distracted, wackier behavior during TheLastDance in "The Magician's Apprentice" and its precursor short "The Doctor's Meditation" is remarked upon by others; it's the result of his guilt over abandoning Davros and from there fear of what he now sees as an inevitable, deserved death. When he actually ''hugs Clara'' she realizes that he is under incredible stress. However, after the crisis of this story is over, he is still willing to enjoy playful pastimes.
** The final three episodes of Series 9 put the Doctor through the wringer and leave him at the DespairEventHorizon. He threatens Ashildr and the trap street's residents with destruction upon realizing Clara is about to die in "Face the Raven". By "Hell Bent", he's acting purely out of rage and self-interest, with no one who can hold him back in his efforts to save Clara -- not even Clara herself -- because he simply can't bear coping with her loss. It's only when she demands he not mind wipe her that he realizes he's become a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.
** During "The Return of Doctor Mysterio", Nardole notices that the Doctor's a little ''too'' eager and gleeful to undo Harmony Shoal's plot by ''setting the bomb both of them are inside on course for New York City'' and points out he's trying too hard to tamp down his lingering melancholy over his final separation from River Song. "I know you miss her, but couldn't you just write a poem?"
* OverprotectiveDad: He's not really Clara's "space dad" like Danny Pink thought, but he acts like it with his anger over Clara dating ''a soldier'' because he's not good enough for her.
* PerpetualFrowner: His brow is constantly furrowed into an unhappy-looking expression.
-->'''The Doctor:''' Look at the eyebrows! These are attack eyebrows! You could take bottle tops off with these! They're cross!
* {{Polyamory}}: Much of Series 8 and 9 deals with his deepening relationship with Clara, and the fact his feelings for her go beyond simple friendship are unambiguous in the trilogy of episodes that ends Series 9. At the same time, however, he was still technically married to River Song and, after losing Clara, went on to show his devotion to River as well.
* {{Protectorate}}: He's got a "duty of care" towards Clara, which he takes seriously up to [[DespairEventHorizon tragic extremes]].
* ThePowerOfFriendship: Despite their numerous fallouts and rough spots in Series 8, he and Clara stick together through each other's darkest times and end up learning more about themselves and each other in the process. This comes into play in the opening two-parter of Series 9 -- both Clara and Missy are willing to track him down because of this, though the natures of their respective friendships with him are substantially different. Sadly, this is turned against him by his enemies.
* ThePowerOfHate: His hatred for the Daleks is such that when he links his mind to that of the repaired Rusty, the Dalek finds it so much more powerful than its programmed hatred that it goes back through the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor into being willing to exterminate its own kind. The Doctor is ''heartbroken'' to learn he has such hate within him; he wanted to convert the Dalek via TheWorldIsJustAwesome.
* ThePowerOfLove: A cycle of suffering and death unfolds over billions of years in "Heaven Sent" because it's the only way he can get back to Gallifrey and achieve the means of saving Clara's life. Sadly, between his love, grief, and rage, this sends him into LoveMakesYouEvil territory temporarily, as saving her risks universal destruction. But LoveRedeems, too.
* ThePowerOfTrust: Subverted in "Kill The Moon". The Doctor and Clara both absolutely trusted each other, but it still ended in a major fallout, as he didn't want to play God with humanity's fate as an outsider and avoid another thing like deposing Harriet or the Mars debacle, leaving everything in the hands of people he deemed more capable -- although he never ''meant'' to patronize, disrespect or let her down in any way, she still ''perceived'' it that way (and his "stabilizers of the bike" line and general lack of people skills surely didn't help). Part of it was also due to her immense fear of losing control of things and the challenge this posed her perfectionist/idealist self image as someone who finds the right solution no matter what. ("I almost didn't press that button!") There was no 'obvious right option' or 'third option' here, but when one of the options wound up less destructive than she thought, she assumed that the 'right' reason was simply witheld from her for some kind of mind game -- we're not given any reason to suspect that he actually knew any more than he said he did. Ultimately doubly subverted in the end: While she refused to talk to him for several months, she ultimately forgave him and came to understand his point of view in the next episode; If anything, their bond came out much stronger in the end, although the experience also left Clara with a more pragmatic world view. In the S8 finale, she still proudly declares that he's the one man she'll always trust no matter what.
* PragmaticHero: While still trying to do good and help people, he shows a greater willingness to be ruthless and cut his losses in order to complete his goals. If he thinks a bit of collateral damage is unavoidable, he won't go out of his way to prevent it, but rather try to see if there is some way he can use said damage to his advantage anyway. Sometimes, as he puts it to Clara in "Flatline" when she has to invoke this trope for a day, "Goodness [has] nothing to do with" being the Doctor, and he doesn't feel good about it when that's the case. To make matters worse, when he goes the extra mile to ''save'' Ashildr in "The Girl Who Died" (which comes after he was chewed out in "Before the Flood" for letting O'Donnell die for pragmatic reasons), it causes ''more'' trouble for him in the long run than the cold, "heartless" choice (let her die after she helped him and bereaving a family to boot) would have.
* PretendPrejudice: Despite claiming he ''really'' hates soldiers due to their "shoot first, ask later" tactics, he can be decent to them if he has some understanding of their plight or a previously-established relationship with them. In "Mummy on the Orient Express" he seems pleased to finally give a semi-immortal soldier who just ''can't'' stop fighting peace. In "Death in Heaven" he gives the Brigadier, whom he gradually steered towards more diplomatic solutions in his past lives, the one thing he never got from those previous selves: a salute. Part of the reason he is able to convince Zygon rebel leader Bonnie to stand down from waging a doomed war on humanity is because he understands the cycles of rebellion and war and how easy it is to let a cause and sense of "rightness" blind one to the suffering of innocents, having fought in the most brutal war the universe has ever known, and is capable of forgiving her for her dirty deeds up to this point (which he sees as not a drop in the bucket compared to what he did).
* TheProfessor: A genius, as are all incarnations of the Doctor, but also becomes a literal professor at St. Luke's University in Series 10. (Or a lecturer. Or as Bill calls him: 'Doctor What?')
* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: His arc in the final three episodes of Series 9, which begins with Clara's death, climaxes with his willingness to risk the universe to get her back, and ends with his redemption as he repents and has the burden of his pain lifted from him via mind wipe, allowing him the chance to be his best self again. There's {{Foreshadowing}} of this arc throughout the season, as his concern over losing Clara gradually increases and his actions to save her become more desperate, and as he makes a rash decision to save Ashildr's life out of grief, self-pity, and a desperate need to hold himself to his duty of care as a doctor.
* PunyEarthlings:
** [[InsultOfEndearment "Pudding brains"]], indeed! He's not particularly nice to the humans he meets, but it is possible for them to eventually gain his respect and praise.
** His solution to the "Tell Courtney she's special" problem is a novelty: When he eventually caves in to Clara's insistence, he doesn't say "Courtney, you're special." Instead, he says 'Wanna be the first woman on the Moon? ''That'll'' be special!'.
* ReachingTowardsTheAudience: His pose for showcasing his official outfit.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** Delivers a [[TearJerker pretty heartbreaking]] one to Clara after she fails her SecretTestOfCharacter in "Dark Water". Doesn't mean that he hates her. He follows it up immediately with an offer to help, as he sees she's been hurt and needs to get a grip on herself.
** The Doctor's anti-revolution speech/rant in "The Zygon Inversion" includes elements of this addressed to Bonnie and her insurgents.
* RenaissanceMan: He is a man of many talents: explorer, engineer, doctor, bank robber, musician (guitar), caretaker, scientist. His renovation of the TARDIS also has a great many more books than his previous incarnations -- and not just in the huge library but the control console.
* {{Revenge}}: In the wake of Clara's death, he wants to make anyone who had a hand in the plot that left her dead '''''pay'''''. Before she dies, Clara orders him not to seek this and/or harm others in his rage and grief, but "Heaven Sent" and "Hell Bent" reveal he's not particularly inclined to listen. He does manage to depose Rassilon and the High Council without violence (and it's not just over her death, but over their exploits in the Last Great Time War), and the only person hurt is the General when the Doctor shoots him to flee the extraction chamber with the rescued Clara -- and the Doctor only shoots when he's sure he'll regenerate ([[AllThereInTheManual the published shooting script contains cut dialogue that makes this clearer]]). But he ultimately can't keep her forever.
* SecondLove: River Song. As much as River loves the Doctor, she reveals in "The Husbands of River Song" that she never thought he truly loved her back, and came to believe he was above that particular emotion. But she's thinking of his ''previous'' self. Twelve is not above love at all; in fact, when Clara died he tries to save her by risking all of space and time, just like River once did for Eleven -- and he was so broken that he needed MindRape to return to his best self and let her go. However, this left him with a new, healthier understanding of love. When his path crosses with River's again, he is absolutely delighted to see her and subtly jealous of her other husbands...and heartsbroken to realize how unloved she feels with regards to him. It was the Eleventh Doctor who married River Song, but it is the Twelfth Doctor who is truly her '''husband''', who stays with her for twenty-four years -- and has the strength to let her go to her destiny in the end. It breaks his hearts again to do this, and "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" reveals he is trying to hide his pain from others, even new companion Nardole. He knows he just has to keep running and find new happiness rather than linger on the past.
* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: The Doctor seems to enjoy playing up the "forgetful old man" angle just a wee bit.
-->'''Danny:''' ''(for the umpteenth time)'' I'm not a P.E. teacher, I'm a ''maths'' teacher.\\
'''Doctor:''' [[{{Jerkass}} No. No, I can't retain that. It's just not going in.]]
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Explored in Series 9. In "Before the Flood" he is willing to try and defy the rules of time and space in the former to save Clara at least (after he is chided for not doing more to save O'Donnell; it turns out threatening Clara was a way to spur him into action), and in "The Girl Who Died" breaks the rules of life and death (something he'd just condemned the Fisher King for) to save Ashildr in a way that leaves her ''unable'' to die. He regrets that decision long before he knows its actual consequences. He doesn't want to ''be'' a god (that's ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem), but he is willing to ''defy'' the gods to preserve life, because ''saving people is what a doctor does''. In her case, when faced with ToBeLawfulOrGood he's choosing good. Tragically, his choice leaves her unhappy and will ultimately pave the path to Clara's death in "Face the Raven", and then he goes '''even further''' with this trope in "Hell Bent" by saving her in a way that threatens the stability of the universe. Since she's already DeaderThanDead, whereas Ashildr's life was still capable of being saved at the time he made that choice, he's not being lawful, good, or right, but selfish and wrong -- and again it involves disregarding what the woman in question might want (though Ashildr can't tell him at the crucial moment and Clara can). Thus, saving Clara is a deconstruction of the trope.
* SharpDressedMan: Twelve favors a rather stylish suit that evokes the Third Doctor without the frills, with a rotation of dress shirts. Sometimes he's wearing the matching vest with his red-lined jacket, sometimes not. ("I was hoping for minimalism -- but I think I just came out with [[StageMagician magician.]]") Notably among Doctors he does not sport any kind of neckwear (scarf or tie) at all. The only other Doctors to eschew those items were Five and Nine. This look softens in Series 9, thanks first to a hoodie introduced to the suit in "Last Christmas" and a red velvet coat in the finale 3-parter.
* SherlockScan: Takes after Eleven's habit, giving one in "Mummy on the Orient Express".
* ShipTease: Despite telling Clara [[ShesNotMyGirlfriend "Clara, I'm not your boyfriend"]] in his first full episode, there's a surprising amount of ShipTease between him and Clara:
** Her comments on the Twelfth Doctor's accent and the 'mood lighting' thing.
** "Beat that for a date" at the end of "Time Heist".
** "Mummy on the Orient Express" is particularly stuffed with it, especially with Jenna Coleman's statement that her deliberately loud "I love you" at the end was not primarily intended for Danny.
** Maisie, Robin Hood, and even Danny himself assume that there's something between them in Series 8.
** In "Last Christmas", while under the mistaken assumption that they hadn't seen each other for 62 years, the Doctor asks her if she ever married. When he first assumes it was because she never got over the loss of Danny, she goes as far as to outright state that there ''was'' one other man she would have deemed a worthy husband: The Doctor. The episode ends with her kissing him on the cheek like she always did with Eleven, and the two of them running away hand in hand for further adventures.
** Then, of course, the BBC's official twitter [[https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/status/566504653073170432 put out]] [[https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/status/566514733097181184 12/Clara themed]] ''Valentine's Day Cards'' in a 2015 set that otherwise contained only canon marriages or established official couples like 10/Rose or Amy/Rory.
** Mid-"concert" in "The Magician's Apprentice", upon realizing Clara's in the crowd the guitar-playing Doctor plays "Pretty Woman"! Not long after this, he hugs her of his own accord (granted, he is under ''extreme'' emotional duress at the time). (Some fans think the song is meant for Missy, but this is not the case, both based upon the [[AllThereInTheManual shooting script]] and the fact the Doctor later plays "Mickey", the Toni Basil song Missy had co-opted as her own theme tune, for his other friend.
** In "The Girl Who Died," the Doctor makes this decidedly un-platonic statement regarding what might happen if he ever lost Clara: "One day, the memory of (you) will hurt so much that I won't be able to breathe, and I'll do what I always do. I'll get in my box and I'll run and I'll run, in case all the pain ever catches up. And every place I go, it will be there."
** At last, he kisses Clara's hand before she goes to her death in "Face the Raven". While YMMV as always, between this and what he does to save her from her demise in "Heaven Sent" and "Hell Bent", there is enough evidence to suggest that the Doctor not only loved Clara more than any other companion, but was ''in'' love with her, the first time since Rose Tyler that the Doctor had romantic feelings for a companion (River Song, who the Eleventh Doctor married, is not actually officially considered a companion) -- and this was why he had to part with and forget her, in the end, because he couldn't be the Doctor if he had a need to put their relationship first.
* ShoutOut: When he flashes the Psychic Paper to the 3W curator in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E11DarkWater Dark Water]]", the man asks why there's so much swearing on it. Twelve replies that he has some "pent up" issues he's working on. Peter Capaldi's most famous role before the Doctor was Malcolm Tucker, famous for [[SirSwearsALot reinventing the swear word]], on ''Series/TheThickOfIt'' and ''Film/InTheLoop''. The "Shuttity up!" lines in other episodes also reference this.
%%* SilverFox
* SlobsVersusSnobs: There is a deliberate class conflict going on between the working class Danny and the "upper class" Doctor. Although this might just be all in Danny's head/his bad first impression, given that the Doctor is actually pretty anti-authoritarian and (equally mistakenly) seems to think that there is instead Nerds vs. Jocks going on.
* SnarkToSnarkCombat: For a guy that's against banter, he trades sarcastic quips with a lot of people. And some of his back-and-forth with Clara is epic, especially during their "sounding out each other" period in Series 8. "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" picks this up with Nardole.
* StableTimeLoop:
** He gives the final push for the salvation of Gallifrey, making it possible for the Time Lords to later allow his existence.
** At the top of Series 9, he is trying to save a frightened young boy from a hand minefield -- encouraging him to focus on surviving, and tossing him the sonic screwdriver -- until he realizes the boy is Davros, creator of the Daleks. Abandoning the boy after this realization apparently traumatizes the boy enough to send him down an evil path, and it's suggested that the screwdriver is reverse-engineered into Dalek guns. The Doctor is burdened by guilt and shame, but in trying to atone comes to realize that he is ''actually'' the reason the Daleks have an understanding of mercy. He just needs to complete the ''real'' loop by returning to that battlefield and saving the boy at last.
** The death of Clara counts. In order for him to later save her (or, at least, extend her life a while) he has to see her die in agony in front of him, leading him to execute his confession dial gambit. He attempts to break the loop in "Hell Bent" but is unsuccessful in doing so; however, this ultimately allows Clara to ''delay'' the inevitable for so long as she chooses.
** In "The Husbands of River Song", the starliner he and River Song are on crash-lands on Darillium -- which he knows to be the planet where she enjoyed her last night with him, at a restaurant looking out upon the Singing Towers. Upon saving themselves via TARDIS and his seeing that the ship landed not far from the towers, while she is unconscious he gives the priceless diamond she "married" to a bystander and instructs him to sell it and use the money to build a restaurant on the spot. Traveling a few years forward in time, he makes sure that this comes to pass (and that he can get reservations) and when she comes to he is in the new suit she mentioned him as having, gifts her the sonic screwdriver that she will have in a certain library, and they enjoy one last night together...a night that will last twenty-four years.
* TheStoic: While Eleven was a hyperactive SadClown, Twelve keeps his sense of humor and emotions hidden behind a calm, serious and (usually) introverted exterior.
* TheStoryteller: In "The Witch's Familiar", he has a monologue suggesting that he sees himself as more this than a hero -- "a bloke in a box, telling stories" who sees the name he's chosen for himself as the reflection as what he strives to be and sometimes is. As Series 9 progresses, "story" becomes one of the ArcWords as he and other characters share stories with each other and he finds himself effectively writing/rewriting new stories with his travels, trying to bring them to good endings, with mixed results. His affinity for Ashildr partially stems from recognizing her as a straight example of this trope. In "Hell Bent", he reconstructs his recalled, vague memories of his final days with Clara into a story that he tells her without ever realizing who he's talking to.
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Known to tag when he's asking or answering a question.
--> "Question: Why do we talk out loud even when we know we're alone?"
--> "Conjecture: Because we know we're not."
* SugarAndIcePersonality: The ice side predominates from the beginning and has to defrost a bit (see DefrostingIceKing above) in Series 8 so that the sugar side can show through more/better. Even then, his softer side usually comes out only around specific people -- Clara, children, Osgood, and River Song in particular.
* SympathyForTheDevil: A major theme of Series 9: Despite his ruthlessness he shows amazing compassion to some of his enemies, like Missy, Davros, and Bonnie the Zygon, as well as to the resentful post-revival Ashildr. In Bonnie's case it helps her do a HeelFaceTurn, while Ashildr/Lady Me is brought back from being TheSociopath in "The Woman Who Lived". This presages his gigantic FreakOut and new potential for ruthless behavior in the final three episodes, starting with his reaction to Ashildr's betrayal of him in "Face the Raven" going awry and leaving Clara dead.
* TameHisAnger: He is constantly struggling to control the anger that has built up in him over 2,000+ years -- hence his noticeably pricklier personality than most incarnations and at least two {{Berserk Button}}s. He comes down ''hard'' on villains who can't be reasoned with, as in his BadassBoast to the Boneless in the climax of "Flatline", and his riskier exploits in Series 9 stem partially from frustration that he's not supposed to do more to save others' lives due to those pesky rules of space and time. When Clara is KilledOffForReal and his enemies effectively torture him for ''four-and-a-half billion years'', he emerges from their prison as TheUnfettered WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, so damaged that the only thing that can tame and restore him to his best self is forgetting her, though he manages to recall the experiences he had with her. In the ExpandedUniverse novel ''Silhouette'', he actually survives being dosed with concentrated human anger because he's had so much experience controlling his own -- and ''proceeds to weaponize it'' to keep an EmotionEater from killing him, overwhelming him with both the human anger and some of his own.
* TemptingFate: His predecessor vowed to never forget one day as being that particular Doctor as part of his FamousLastWords. As soon as he regenerates into Twelve, he temporarily forgets how to fly the TARDIS! And eventually, he must forget what his dear Clara looked like, sounded like, said, etc. (though not the time he spent with her), lest he stop being the Doctor for good.
* ThinkingOutLoud:
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E4Listen Listen]]" Twelve [[DiscussedTrope theorizes]] the reason people think aloud is because their subconscious realizes that they're not, in fact, [[ParanoiaFuel alone]] and that there's ''something'' hiding with them.
** "Heaven Sent" is essentially an hour of the Doctor thinking to himself (for the viewers; for the Doctor it's ''billions'' of years).
* ThisBananaIsArmed: Better not laugh at an old guy who can send you to the cleaners with [[FunnySpoon a spoon.]] Robin Hood learned the hard way!
* ThousandYardStare: His post-regeneration empty-eyed stare at Clara after regenerating in "The Time of the Doctor".
* TookALevelInJerkass:
** Twelve is more abrasive, aloof, and less jolly than his previous incarnations. He's still a good person, but his attitude really rubs people the wrong way.
** The last three Doctors disliked soldiers because they were still coping with the Time War. Twelve at first sight apparently dislikes them more because they take orders and he doesn't (he gives them or rebels against them). "The Zygon Inversion" reveals just how sore a spot his actions in the Time War remain with him.
** In Series 9, he seems to have [[TookALevelInKindness re-taken a level in kindness]], hugging Clara willingly and treating strangers a lot better. The events of the final episodes, starting with Clara's tragic death in "Face the Raven", threaten to completely undo this and worse, but he comes through.
* TorturePorn: In "Heaven Sent" poor Twelve, mortally wounded by the Veil, with his burned clothes, blooded hands and particularly horrible burn on his face, spends about ''a day-and-a-half'' dragging himself up through the whole castle, back where the teleporter chamber is. This is only to sacrifice himself in order to recharge the teleporter and create a new copy of his younger self to restart the cycle. And he goes through this for ''four-and-a-half-billion years''. For Clara.
* TotallyRadical: In Series 9, his sonic screwdriver is replaced in favor of sonic sunglasses and he's introduced in several episodes playing the electric guitar. So much for him being more willing to act his age.
* TrademarkFavouriteFood: More subtle than the others, but Twelve really enjoys coffee.
* TragicDream: Saving Clara from her final death is this, because it's a fixed point in time and she must be returned to it at some point before the universe is undone -- and it isn't what she wants; she'd ordered him to heal himself of his grief and move on. But that was before all that ColdBloodedTorture drove him mad. He ends up losing both her and his memories of her in the wake of trying to achieve his mad dream, though he reconstructs many of said memories, and is at last freed from the anger and grief that he let drive him too far.
* TragicHero: Becomes this over the course of Series 9. His long-standing, personal duty to save everyone he can, already problematic due to ChronicHeroSyndrome, causes him great grief when he saves Ashildr by turning her into a functional immortal who eventually collaborates with the Time Lords to capture him -- which inadvertently leads to Clara's death. Losing the woman he loved and then being stuck in a torture chamber drives him around the bend with rage and anguish. He decides to fight his way out of it (which takes ''four-and-a-half-billion years'') and back to his home world to find some means of saving someone who's already DeaderThanDead. He becomes an AntiVillain heedless of anyone's desires save his own, risking the safety of the entire universe because he ''just can't take the pain anymore''. In the end, the first step in restoring things to rights is not only his losing her again, but losing his memories of her, and he realizes this is only right and proper punishment for his selfishness. He is a sadder, wiser man as "Hell Bent" concludes, free to be his best self again.
* TranquilFury:
** Just acts quietly disappointed in Clara when she betrays his trust in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E11DarkWater Dark Water]]", only to start yelling at the end.
-->'''Doctor:''' You betrayed me. You betrayed my trust. You betrayed our friendship. You betrayed everything that I've ever stood for. YOU LET ME DOWN!
** When Twelve is angry, he doesn't shout at first. He hisses with rage very quietly.
** He's firmly in this mode at the end of "Face the Raven", warning Ashildr that she should steer clear of him from now on owing to her part in the plot that resulted in Clara's death. His last words to her are basically a growl.
** The Doctor's first spoken words in "Heaven Sent", in a scene taking place moments after the above, are again delivered as a growl.
** In the opening (post-titles) stretch of "Hell Bent" he's seething -- not even speaking as he prowls the Gallifreyan Dry Lands, not giving so much as a word to the massed might of the Gallifreyan military until Rassilon himself arrives. Just in case you missed that, the Doctor, a character prone to doing {{Character Filibuster}}s in all of his incarnations, ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness doesn't speak for an extended period of time]].''
* {{Tsundere}}: A sort of opposite to Eleven (who acted happy and childish but was shown to have a darker side), Twelve acts more serious and grumpy but can be affectionate and childlike at times, especially as his CharacterDevelopment kicks in.
* UndyingLoyalty: For Clara. He explicitly calls her his friend in "Death in Heaven" and she states it as well in that same episode (though not in his presence). Even after she attempts to threaten him in "Dark Water" into saving Danny, he still wants to help her.
--> '''The Doctor:''' Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me could make a difference?
* TheUnfettered: Becomes this temporarily in "Hell Bent"; to save Clara from her fixed-point-in-time death, he throws out all his rules. He remains sympathetic: His selfish behavior stems from extreme grief and rage compounded by the torture he underwent in "Heaven Sent", leaving him TheMentallyDisturbed.
* UnlimitedWardrobe: The first Doctor to make use of the gigantic wardrobe in the TARDIS and change his clothes with great frequency.
* VillainProtagonist: Spends most of "Hell Bent" as this; due to being DrivenToMadness by a TraumaCongaLine he exiles Rassilon and the High Council from Gallifrey (not so bad) and becomes obsessed with a TragicDream of saving Clara from her fixed-point death and almost destroys the universe to pull it off (''very bad'').
* ViolentGlaswegian: In "The Caretaker". Decked out in janitor's overalls and insulting humanity left and right, he's like a Time Lord version of Groundskeeper Willie from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Clara. Though they constantly tease each other, and even get into arguments about conflicting values on occasion, [[PlatonicLifePartners they still care very deeply for one another]]. The kind and tender moments between them really shine through. The finale of Series 8, when both come face to face with one awful tragedy after another, brings out the best in them as friends. They even both outright declare in front of other people that they are friends, unconditionally, and will never betray each other. (This is particularly heartwarming in light of them both failing each other in their weaker moments in some earlier episodes.)
* VolleyingInsults: He and Santa Claus engage in one in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas Last Christmas]]"!
--> '''Doctor''': No. No. No, no, no. Line in the sand. Santa Claus does not do the scientific explanation.\\
'''Santa Claus''': Alright, as the Doctor might say: (''imitates Doctor'') "Aww, it's all a bit dreamy-weamy.''\\
'''Doctor''': Why don't you just go and make a naughty list?\\
'''Santa Claus''': I have made it, and you're on it.\\
'''Doctor''': Don't give me that. You're supposed to be warm and friendly and cheerful. \\
'''Santa Claus''': Oh yeah, look at your great bedside manner. \\
'''Doctor''': Don't be so hostile.
* WaistcoatOfStyle: Trends to wear navy or black waistcoat under his navy/red velvet coat.
* WeUsedToBeFriends:
** "Mummy on the Orient Express" has this to a degree as Clara, though she cannot hate the Doctor, nonetheless has been pushed too far too often by him and has agreed to go on one last adventure before, effectively, terminating their relationship/friendship. The Doctor has clearly agreed to this and actually doesn't put too much effort into trying to change her mind.
** He has prickly quasi-friendships with both Ohila and post-revival Ashildr/Me that are severely damaged, if not ruined, over the course of the Series 9 finale. He holds a grudge against the latter for betraying him and accidentally getting Clara killed in the process, although he ultimately chooses not to leave her to die at the end of time (allowing her to become a companion to ''Clara'', as it happens). Ohila is furious with him over both his choice to exile Rassilon and the High Council and his desperate efforts to save Clara in "Hell Bent", which she sees as cowardly betrayals of his principles. Considering that neither woman extends compassion to the Doctor for the suffering he went through that drove him to these actions -- Ohila is actually more concerned for ''Rassilon'' than him -- the Doctor might be better off without them. Even when the universe's survival is at stake, picking on someone who is both TheMentallyDisturbed ''and'' a torture victim isn't a mark of a good person.
* WhamShot: His cameo in "The Day of the Doctor" points to an incarnation of the Doctor beyond the 12 limit.
* WhatTheHellHero: Poor guy gets called out a lot on his AntiHero tendencies and even outright heroic acts when they prove to have downsides.
** Clara gives him an ArmorPiercingSlap in "Into The Dalek" for being happy that the "good" Dalek going on a killing spree reinforces his belief there are no good Daleks.
** Clara shouts him out at the end of "Kill the Moon", for not being her friend when she needed him and for acting patronising towards humanity just to prove a point. The Doctor is at first baffled by this reaction, but soon realises what he did wrong, despite his genuinely good intentions.
** The Doctor returns the favor in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E11DarkWater Dark Water]]", telling Clara she betrayed him and everything their friendship stood for by trying to threaten him into saving Danny by changing time. This doesn't change their relationship but the anger of the trope is still present and played straight.
** Danny gives him crap for being a BoomerangBigot, as a "commander" who hates soldiers, in "The Caretaker" and "Death in Heaven". In the latter case, the Doctor is more willing to admit that it was wrong for him to act that way, but he shows embarassment at most.
** Davros, of all people, delivers one to him for abandoning him as a child on Skaro in "The Magician's Apprentice". He even replays the Fourth Doctor's words from "Genesis of the Daleks" at his current incarnation.
** In "Before the Flood", Bennett chews him out for not doing more to prevent O'Donnell's death when he realizes the Doctor had reason to believe she'd be next to die at the Fisher King's hands based on the message the Doctor's future ghost was relaying. (The Doctor advised her to stay in the TARDIS, in fact, but when she insisted on coming he didn't put up a fight.)
** In "The Woman Who Lived", Ashildr/Me chews him out for choosing to save her life in a way that made her immortal and ageless, then moving on -- leaving her lonely as everyone she ever cares for dies. Never mind that the other option was just letting her die and violating his principles as the Doctor.
** He calls Ashildr out on this more than once in "Face the Raven" over her callous attitude towards keeping the peace, allowing dangerous creatures like Cybermen to live on the trap street, and finally her complicity in Clara's death.
** His severely out-of-character, self-centered behavior in "Hell Bent" gets him ''a lot'' of lecturing from the General, Ohila, Ashildr, and Clara. Because he is at the DespairEventHorizon after his horrific suffering in the previous two episodes, the Time Lords and Ashildr both had a hand in said suffering, most of them (save Clara) have NoSympathy and instead only encourage his anger with their inability to show compassion to his plight, and Clara's the whole reason he's going to extremes, their objections don't affect him the way they ordinarily would. It's only when Clara objects to being mind wiped that he is moved, and even then only the wiping of his memories of her fully return him to his best self.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: During one of his travels without Clara at the top of "The Magician's Apprentice", Twelve stumbles upon a war-torn planet and tries to help a young boy trapped in a mine field...and then he finds out that the boy is '''Davros'''. Though the boy's still relatively innocent, it doesn't stop Twelve from getting the hell out of Skaro and back to the TARDIS leaving a scared and confused little boy behind. And Twelve is all too aware of what he has done. In the second part of this story, "The Witch's Familiar", he makes up for this mistake.
* WhenSheSmiles: For all his frowning, whenever his cocky grin shows up he's rather hilarious.
** In "Deep Breath", he tries to smile at Clara in the restaurant but she's having none of it because she's upset with him for (apparently) playing some obscure game to contact her.
** When Clara decides to keep travelling with him at the end of "Mummy on the Orient Express", his face melts into an expression of genuine, unfiltered happiness. He's honestly delighted that his companion changed her mind and will keep travelling with him.
** In "The Zygon Inversion", Osgood says she's never seen the Doctor really smile before when the Doctor can't stop from grinning once he realizes that Clara is still alive. Later in the episode, the Doctor gives Bonnie a very kind smile when he finally convinces her to see reason.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Has the occasional moment of this. While he will die for good one day, the nature of his existence and travels means he'll outlive many of the people he loves, and he thus spends his days running through time and space partially to escape SurvivorGuilt, as he explains in "The Girl Who Died ([[DrivingQuestion Was it a loss that caused him to flee Gallifrey to begin with?]]). However, despite moments like this, while he does acknowledge the drawbacks he still overall falls firmly on the LivingForeverIsAwesome camp.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Temporarily becomes this in "Hell Bent" thanks to the TraumaCongaLine of the previous two episodes driving him around the bend -- never mind the fate of the universe, '''he just wants Clara back!''' Technically, he actually begins heading towards becoming a Woobie, Destroyer of ''Time''.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: The lead-in to Clara's FinalSpeech to him in "Face the Raven" is partially this, as she insists that his threats to destroy Ashildr/Me and the trap street are fundamentally hollow: "Your reign of terror will end with the sight of the first crying child, and you know it!"
* YouAreWhatYouHate: This Doctor wants to move past his bloodstained days as a soldier/commander in the Time War, etc., but the nature of his travels and friendships effectively precludes it. Friends of the Doctor inevitably become those who fight alongside/under him, even if his battles aren't those of traditional warfare. That Danny Pink realizes this and resents him for it is a huge reason they don't like each other, and the Doctor worries greatly about how much Clara changes over the course of their travels.
* YouLookFamiliar: In-universe and out of it: Capaldi previously played John Frobisher in ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'', and Caecilius in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E2TheFiresOfPompeii "The Fires of Pompeii"]]. In-universe because even the Doctor acknowledges it, finally figuring out why it happened in "The Girl Who Died": to remind him of what happened in Pompeii, remind him of Donna asking him to save someone, even if he couldn't save the town, and to hold him to that mark. He '''saves people'''. But when he makes the choice of "good" in ToBeLawfulOrGood, tragedy begins to unfold: He makes Ashildr immortal and sets in motion events that culminate in Clara's death. Creator/StevenMoffat expanded on this at the 2015 Doctor Who Festival: they couldn't work this detail into the episode, but Frobisher [[IdenticalGrandson is a descendant of Caecilius]] whose PaterFamilicide ends that bloodline -- time itself compensating for the Doctor's interference. Twelve reclaims the face of both men as an act of defiance along the lines of his BadassBoast ("And if anyone happens to be listening, and you've got any kind of a problem with that, then to ''HELL'' with you!").
* YouRemindMeOfX: Unflatteringly tells Clara she reminds him of an old teacher of his (possibly the much-hated Borusa).
* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry: Unfortunately for pretty much everyone, this Doctor is [[TameHisAnger always angry]], even for a Doctor, and barely keeps his rage in check. He's almost always a hair's breadth from imparting a FateWorseThanDeath on anyone he considers an enemy. Just ask Ashildr:
-->'''The Doctor:''' [[SaveTheVillain She was saving]] ''you.'' I’ll do my best, but I strongly advise you to keep out of my way. [[YouCanRunButYouCantHide You'll find that it's a very small universe when I'm angry with you]].
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* OneHeadTaller: He is this to "short and roundish" Clara, his love interest.
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* OneHeadTaller: He is this to "short and roundish" Clara, his love interest. Clara.
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* TheProfessor: A genius, as are all incarnations of the Doctor, but also becomes a literal professor at St. Luke's University in Series 10. (Or a lecturer. Or as Bill calls him: 'Doctor What?')
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** He has prickly quasi-friendships with both Ohila and post-revival Ashildr that are severely damaged, if not ruined, over the course of the Series 9 finale. He holds a grudge against Ashildr for betraying him and accidentally getting Clara killed in the process. Ohila is furious with him over both his choice to exile Rassilon and the High Council and his desperate efforts to save Clara in "Hell Bent", which she sees as cowardly betrayals of his principles. But on the other side of the coin, Ohila extends no compassion to the Doctor for the suffering he went through that drove him to these actions in the first place (and Rassilon '''was''' a murdering tyrant anyway), and Ashildr doesn't seem to care much either.
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** He has prickly quasi-friendships with both Ohila and post-revival Ashildr Ashildr/Me that are severely damaged, if not ruined, over the course of the Series 9 finale. He holds a grudge against Ashildr the latter for betraying him and accidentally getting Clara killed in the process.process, although he ultimately chooses not to leave her to die at the end of time (allowing her to become a companion to ''Clara'', as it happens). Ohila is furious with him over both his choice to exile Rassilon and the High Council and his desperate efforts to save Clara in "Hell Bent", which she sees as cowardly betrayals of his principles. But on the other side of the coin, Ohila Considering that neither woman extends no compassion to the Doctor for the suffering he went through that drove him to these actions in -- Ohila is actually more concerned for ''Rassilon'' than him -- the first place (and Rassilon '''was''' Doctor might be better off without them. Even when the universe's survival is at stake, picking on someone who is both TheMentallyDisturbed ''and'' a murdering tyrant anyway), and Ashildr doesn't seem to care much either.torture victim isn't a mark of a good person.
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A Doctor Who character page for the Eleventh, War and Twelfth Doctors, who appeared during Steven Moffat's time as showrunner (2010–present).
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A Doctor Who character page for the Eleventh, War and Twelfth Doctors, who appeared during Steven Moffat's Creator/StevenMoffat's time as showrunner (2010–present).
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* CharacterTics: The Eleventh has many noticeable ones, such as [[EverythingIsBetterWithSpinning spinning a whole 270 degrees right in order to simply turn left]], [[note]]And props to Creator/MattSmith for making this look completely natural every time![[/note]] dashing a few steps beyond someone (often a few steps up a flight of stairs) when he approaches them, walking or standing with his arms straight down, generally flailing, doing entirely unrelated stuff with his hands while he's kissing someone, holding up both his index fingers when he explains things (often ''while'' spinning), slouching smugly in a chair when he's talking to a villain, crossing his hearts, shifting his jaw when he's upset, and scratching his face when he's utterly perplexed.
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* CharacterTics: The Eleventh has many noticeable ones, such as CharacterTics:
** [[EverythingIsBetterWithSpinningspinning Spinning a whole 270 degrees right in order to simply turn left]], left]] [[note]]And props to Creator/MattSmith for making this look completely natural every time![[/note]] dashing time![[/note]].
** Dashing a few steps beyond someone (often a few steps up a flight of stairs) when he approachesthem, walking them.
** Walking or standing with his arms straightdown, generally down.
** Generally flailing, doing entirely unrelated stuff with his hands while he's kissingsomeone, holding someone.
** Holding up both his index fingers when he explains things (often ''while''spinning), slouching spinning).
** Slouching smugly in a chair when he's talking to avillain, crossing villain.
** Crossing hishearts, shifting hearts.
** Shifting his jaw when he'supset, and scratching upset.
** Scratching his face when he's utterly perplexed.
** [[EverythingIsBetterWithSpinning
** Dashing a few steps beyond someone (often a few steps up a flight of stairs) when he approaches
** Walking or standing with his arms straight
** Generally flailing, doing entirely unrelated stuff with his hands while he's kissing
** Holding up both his index fingers when he explains things (often ''while''
** Slouching smugly in a chair when he's talking to a
** Crossing his
** Shifting his jaw when he's
** Scratching his face when he's utterly perplexed.
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** Drawing things in the air to arrive at epiphanies.
** [[http://cdn1.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/Neil-Gaiman-The-Doctors-wife.jpg Wringing his hands]] when nervous or when musing things over.
** Being VERY awkward when being kissed.
** Fiddling with his bowtie before embarking on a course of action and/or after arguing with someone.
** Repeating words over and over when flustered, often changing their tone each time "Yes yes yes of course yes of course!" etc.
** Eleven also tends to snap his fingers before pointing at someone or something.
** [[http://cdn1.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/Neil-Gaiman-The-Doctors-wife.jpg Wringing his hands]] when nervous or when musing things over.
** Being VERY awkward when being kissed.
** Fiddling with his bowtie before embarking on a course of action and/or after arguing with someone.
** Repeating words over and over when flustered, often changing their tone each time "Yes yes yes of course yes of course!" etc.
** Eleven also tends to snap his fingers before pointing at someone or something.
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** "Clara": At least during Series 8 and 9, the Doctor uses Clara's name so frequently (even in sentences where there is no reason to repeat her given name) that this is widely considered among fans to be a catchphrase. Fans have even done [[http://aprilmaclean.tumblr.com/post/158859981633/why-did-i-spend-time-on-this-a-word-cloud-of word cloud analyses]] examining the Twelfth Doctor's dialogue in Series 8 and 9 to prove that the word carries a ''lot'' of weight with him.
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** A running theme throughout his first series is his uncertainty at who he really is now. He's genuinely terrified that Clara doesn't like him anymore. This is illustrated vividly by the fact that after she tells him to go to hell at the end of "Kill the Moon", he returns and convinces her to go on one last adventure in "Mummy on the Orient Express". There is no evidence of, for example, the ''much'' more amiable Fifth Doctor immediately trying to reconcile with Tegan Jovanka after ''she'' essentially does the same thing under similar circumstances at the end of "Revelation of the Daleks".
** He is still capable of playfulness and wonder despite his gruff exterior, often at the strangest moments. He can fight Robin Hood with a ''spoon'' and win, he's delighted to be pulling Santa's sleigh as "Last Christmas" approaches its climax, and he can play the guitar like a rock star while making a grand entrance on a ''tank'' in medieval Essex! In the ExpandedUniverse, the novel ''The Blood Cell'' reveals him to be wearing socks decorated with cartoon pigs under his shoes, while the comic "The Monsters of Coal Hill School" in the 2015 Annual has him attempt a BannisterSlide.
** He is still capable of playfulness and wonder despite his gruff exterior, often at the strangest moments. He can fight Robin Hood with a ''spoon'' and win, he's delighted to be pulling Santa's sleigh as "Last Christmas" approaches its climax, and he can play the guitar like a rock star while making a grand entrance on a ''tank'' in medieval Essex! In the ExpandedUniverse, the novel ''The Blood Cell'' reveals him to be wearing socks decorated with cartoon pigs under his shoes, while the comic "The Monsters of Coal Hill School" in the 2015 Annual has him attempt a BannisterSlide.
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** A running theme throughout his first series is his uncertainty at who he really is now. He's genuinely terrified that Clara doesn't like him anymore. This is illustrated vividly by the fact that after she tells him to go to hell at the end of "Kill the Moon", he returns and convinces her to go on one last adventure in "Mummy on the Orient Express". There is no evidence of, for example, the ''much'' more amiable Fifth Doctor immediately trying to reconcile with Tegan Jovanka after ''she'' essentially does the same thing under similar circumstances at the end of "Revelation "Resurrection of the Daleks".
** He is still capable of playfulness and wonder despite his gruff exterior, often at the strangest moments. He can fight Robin Hood with a ''spoon'' and win, he's delighted to be pulling Santa's sleigh as "Last Christmas" approaches its climax, and he can play the guitar like a rock star while making a grand entrance on a ''tank'' in medieval Essex! In the ExpandedUniverse, the novel ''The Blood Cell'' reveals him to be wearing socks decorated with cartoon pigs under his shoes, while the comic "The Monsters of Coal Hill School" in the 2015 Annual has him attempt a BannisterSlide. "The Zygon Invasion" also reveals that he wears underpants with question marks on them.
** He is still capable of playfulness and wonder despite his gruff exterior, often at the strangest moments. He can fight Robin Hood with a ''spoon'' and win, he's delighted to be pulling Santa's sleigh as "Last Christmas" approaches its climax, and he can play the guitar like a rock star while making a grand entrance on a ''tank'' in medieval Essex! In the ExpandedUniverse, the novel ''The Blood Cell'' reveals him to be wearing socks decorated with cartoon pigs under his shoes, while the comic "The Monsters of Coal Hill School" in the 2015 Annual has him attempt a BannisterSlide. "The Zygon Invasion" also reveals that he wears underpants with question marks on them.
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** For another, his first meal in this incarnation was fish fingers and custard. It's also his last.
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* TheCharmer: Averted, he's not naturally charismatic as Eleven or Ten which when coupled with his having NoSocialSkills and his GrumpyBear attitude means he has to do a lot of convincing to get people to listen to him -- and even then only with a lot of coaxing from Clara.
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** And while waiting for Van Gogh to finish a painting:
--> '''Doctor:''' Is this how time normally passes? Reaaaally slowly, in the right order?
--> '''Doctor:''' Is this how time normally passes? Reaaaally slowly, in the right order?
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* TheCharmer: Averted, he's not naturally charismatic as Eleven or Ten which when coupled with NoSocialSkills and his grumpy attitude means he has to do a lot of convincing to get people to listen to him - and even then only with a lot of coaxing with Clara.
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* TheCharmer: Averted, he's not naturally charismatic as Eleven or Ten which when coupled with his having NoSocialSkills and his grumpy GrumpyBear attitude means he has to do a lot of convincing to get people to listen to him - -- and even then only with a lot of coaxing with from Clara.
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* TheCharmer: Averted, he's not naturally charismatic as Eleven or Ten which when coupled with NoSocialSkills and his grumpy attitude means he has to do a lot of convincing to get people to listen to him - and even then only with a lot of coaxing with Clara.
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** This Doctor ''really'' doesn't like Daleks. When he's confronted with a Dalek that appears to have changed its moral compass from evil to good in "Into the Dalek", he seems to be actively hoping that he's at last found a Dalek that has permanently changed of its own initiative; when he finds out it hasn't (it was just an internal radiation leak affecting the brain chemistry) he feels validated in his beliefs that a good Dalek is impossible -- which earns him a slap from Clara because he's enjoying it a little too much.
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** This Doctor ''really'' doesn't like Daleks. When However, when he's confronted with a Dalek that appears to have changed its moral compass from evil to good in "Into the Dalek", he seems to be actively hoping that he's at last found a Dalek that has permanently changed of its own initiative; when he finds out it hasn't (it was just an internal radiation leak affecting the brain chemistry) he feels validated in his beliefs that a good Dalek is impossible -- which earns him a slap from Clara because he's enjoying it a little too much.
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** In a completely different way than Eleven. Eleven would often act like a child and join in their fun and games. Twelve is more an encouraging big brother figure, and takes on the youngest solo companion to date: Courtney, who's only 15.
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** In a completely different way than Eleven. Eleven would often act like a child and join in their fun and games. Twelve is more an encouraging big brother grandfather figure, and takes on the youngest solo companion to date: Courtney, who's only 15.
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** Misses relatively obvious points in popular culture. He is surprised to find out that every book isn't a WheresWally book, and has difficulty understanding that it's common knowledge that [[ClarkKenting Clark Kent]] is {{Superman}}. [[spoiler: Possible subversions, as both times he is communicating with young children and may be establishing a rapport.]]
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** Misses relatively obvious points in popular culture. He is surprised to find out that every book isn't a WheresWally book, and has difficulty understanding that it's common knowledge that [[ClarkKenting Clark Kent]] is {{Superman}}. [[spoiler: Possible subversions, as both times he is communicating with young children and may be establishing a rapport.]]
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Not done yet, he has a whole series to come + special.
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->'''Played by:''' Creator/PeterCapaldi (2013–2017)
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->'''Played by:''' Creator/PeterCapaldi (2013–2017)
(2013–present)
