History Fridge / DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived

* The Doctor's speech about how long-lived beings benefit from having short-lived ones for companions isn't limited to him and Ashildr. Of the various other renegade Time Lord characters we've seen or heard who were genuinely wise, good, and/or happy with their lives, K'anpo Rimpoche had his (human) monastic disciples to keep him grounded, and WordOfGod states that the Corsair kept parrots and cats as pets. Even the Master tends to keep non-Time Lord lackeys and catspaws around, and Missy's posthumous conversations with new arrivals to the Nethersphere may have served the same purpose of keeping her aware of mortality.

* The Doctor's speech about how long-lived beings benefit from having short-lived ones for companions isn't limited to him and Ashildr. Of the various other renegade Time Lord characters we've seen or heard who were genuinely wise, good, and/or happy with their lives, K'anpo Rimpoche had his (human) monastic disciples to keep him grounded, and WordOfGod states that the Corsair kept parrots and cats as pets. Even the Master tends to keep a non-Time Lord lackeys and catspaws around, and Missy's posthumous conversations with new arrivals to the Nethersphere may have served the same purpose of keeping her aware of mortality.

** Notice that the flashback to Asildur's memory of losing her children features ''three'' empty cradles, not one, and her diary's wording suggests that all her children died within days or hours of one another. Of course it does: if only ''one'' of her children had been dying, she'd have used the spare implant to save them, but with three of them sick simultaneously she'd have had to choose between them, then live with that choice ''forever''.
** Also they were ''infants.'' Asildur stopped aging when she became immortal leaving her eternally as a very young woman barely out of her teens, using the medkit on one of her children would trap them in the body of an infant ''[[AndIMustScream forever.]]''
** After 800 years of life it seems unlikely that Asildur had only had children in one 'regeneration'. The pages torn from other books may have been times when other children died. She kept the last time to remind her not to take that risk again. Part of the horror for her may be that she doesn't age with her children; She'd have to leave them at a young age so that she wouldn't give away her secret. Being separated from her children, possibly watching them age from a distance, never being able to save them from death... No wonder she became so cold of heart.
* Odds are a young woman in a Viking village would not know how to read and write. Ashildr most likely first learned how to read and write when she realized her memories were fading.
* It's hardly a surprise that Ashildur would remember Clara, even after all this time: she's probably run into a bunch of Clara's timeline-scattered duplicates over the centuries.

See also the [[Headscratchers/DoctorWhoSeries9 headscratchers]] page.

** Also they were ''infants.'' Asildur stoppped aging when she became immortal leaving her eternally as a very young woman barely out of her teens, using the medkit on one of her children would trap them in the body of an infant ''[[AndIMustScream forever.]]''

** Notice that the flashback to Asildur's memory of losing her children features ''two'' empty cradles, not one, and her diary's wording suggests that both infants died within days or hours of one another. Of course it does: if only ''one'' of her children had been dying, she'd have used the spare implant to save them, but with both of them sick simultaneously she'd have had to choose between them, then live with that choice ''forever''.

On the [[Headscratchers/DoctorWhoSeries9 headscratchers]] page.

* Also they were ''infants.'' Asildur stoppped aging when she became immortal leaving her eternally as a very young woman barely out of her teens, using the medkit on one of her children would trap them in the body of an infant ''[[AndIMustScream forever.]]''

The Doctor is reluctant to take Ashildr/Me with him because "it's not good for immortals to be with each other, because they lose perspective". But he previously spent quite a long time as the 4th Doctor travelling with Romana, who was just as long-lived as he was, being also Gallifreyan. The 4th Doctor didn't seem particularly lacking in joie-de-vivre or excitement about reality, which seems to be what he thinks hanging around with shorter-lived species does for you...
* That was earlier in the Doctor's life. It only really seemed to be after the Time War that he became wary of the effects a person like him can have, and it became a theme in the new series that he needs humans to keep him grounded, like Donna in "The Runaway Bride" and "The Fires of Pompeii", Amy in "The Beast Below" and Clara in "Day of the Doctor". The Fourth Doctor, at his point in life, would have seen no problem in travelling with someone like Romana or Ashildr. The Twelfth Doctor knows better.
** It's not clear, though, that he needs ''humans'' to keep him grounded, or ''short lived species in general''. Even post-New Who, this theme is vacillated upon, depending on the writer (and most writers seem to think that it's ''humanity'', not just any old species which lives for less than a few hundred years, which The Doctor needs). In fact, at least some of the time, the argument seemed to be that The Doctor just needs to have some kind of companionship, regardless of their actual species, nature, lifespan or whatever; essentially, he gets broody, distant and disconnected without someone else to talk to. This is most consistent with the Original Series, but unfortunately least consistent with the treatment here.
*** Its not inconsistent at all. The Doctor of the original series is not the same man he is in the new series. He may be a 52 year old character but he still develops all the time. Comparing the 12th Doctor's attitude to an immortal companion to the 4th Doctor's attitude is to forget that characters, like people, change.
* Romana may have been a Time Lady, but she was a very ''young'' one, not long out of the Academy, and had not seen much of the Universe first-hand yet. That qualifies her as a young and un-jaded Companion for him, at least for a while. She left him before they reached the dangerous stage.
* Also, Romana was assigned to him by the White Guardian, a being far more powerful than him, he didn't really choose to have her along.
Notice that the flashback to Asildur's memory of losing her children features ''two'' empty cradles, not one, and her diary's wording suggests that both infants died within days or hours of one another. Of course it does: if only ''one'' of her children had been dying, she'd have used the spare implant to save them, but with both of them sick simultaneously she'd have had to choose between them, then live with that choice ''forever''.
* Also they were ''infants.'' Asildur stoppped aging when she became immortal leaving her eternally as a very young woman barely out of her teens, using the medkit on one of her children would trap them in the body of an infant ''[[AndIMustScream forever.]]''

Notice that the flashback to Asildur's memory of losing her children features ''two'' empty cradles, not one, and her diary's wording suggests that both infants died within days or hours of one another. Of course it does: if only ''one'' of her children had been dying, she'd have used the spare implant to save them, but with both of them sick simultaneously she'd have had to choose between them, then live with that choice ''forever''.

* Also, Romana was assigned to him by the White Guardian, a being far more powerful than him, he didn't really choose to have her along.

* Romana may have been a Time Lady, but she was a very ''young'' one, not long out of the Academy, and had not seen much of the Universe first-hand yet. That qualifies her as a young and un-jaded Companion for him, at least for a while. She left him before they reached the dangerous stage.

*** Its not inconsistent at all. The Doctor of the original series is not the same man he is in the new series. He may be a 52 year old character but he still develops all the time. Comparing the 12th Doctor's attitude to an immortal companion to the 4th Doctor's attitude is to forget that characters, like people, change.

** It's not clear, though, that he needs ''humans'' to keep him grounded, or ''short lived species in general''. Even post-New Who, this theme is vacillated upon, depending on the writer (and most writers seem to think that it's ''humanity'', not just any old species which lives for less than a few hundred years, which The Doctor needs). In fact, at least some of the time, the argument seemed to be that The Doctor just needs to have some kind of companionship, regardless of their actual species, nature, lifespan or whatever; essentially, he gets broody, distant and disconnected without someone else to talk to. This is most consistent with the Original Series, but unfortunately least consistent with the treatment here.

** It's not clear, though, that he needs ''humans'' to keep him grounded, or ''short lived species in general''. Even post-New Who, this theme is vacillated upon, depending on the writer (and most writers seem to think that it's ''humanity'', not just any old species which lives for less than a few hundred years, which The Doctor needs).

* That was earlier in the Doctor's life. It only really seemed to be after the Time War that he became wary of the effects a person like him can have, and it became a theme in the new series that he needs humans to keep him grounded, like Donna in "The Runaway Bride" and "The Fires of Pompeii", Amy in "The Beast Below" and Clara in "Day of the Doctor". The Fourth Doctor, at his point in life, would have seen no problem in travelling with someone like Romana or Ashildr. The Twelfth Doctor knows better.

The Doctor is reluctant to take Ashildr/Me with him because "it's not good for immortals to be with each other, because they lose perspective". But he previously spent quite a long time as the 4th Doctor travelling with Romana, who was just as long-lived as he was, being also Gallifreyan. The 4th Doctor didn't seem particularly lacking in joie-de-vivre or excitement about reality, which seems to be what he thinks hanging around with shorter-lived species does for you...