History YMMV / DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent

** For all his trouble, the Doctor is the big loser: He lost Clara and his memories of her (he gets better shortly before he regenerates, though), and he's now a fugitive from his people and homeworld -- '''again''' -- for his actions during his SanitySlippage. And will he ever mend his fences with his people and Ohila?

** The premise of the 2016 ''ComicBook/DoctorWhoTitan'' miniseries ''[[ComicBook/DoctorWhoSupremacyOfTheCybermen Supremacy of the Cybermen]]'' is the Doctor having to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong when Rassilon decides to team up with the Cybermen...

** Immortals shouldn't travel together because they'll become jaded and subject to ImmortalityImmorality, as the Doctor explains to the disappointed Me in "The Woman Who Lived". Naturally Clara and Me's HappyEnding is their traveling the universe as functional immortals with no moral companions. So was the Doctor wrong or not?

* BrokenAesop: This entire SeasonFinale storyline makes a big point of the Doctor being dangerous without a MoralityChain, and that Clara is no longer workable as one because she was too similar to him...and then the denouement leaves him '''completely alone''' instead of giving him SOMEONE new to care about and look after him. Great job!

** The resolution of the story arc required Moffat to provide Clara with a happy (if bittersweet) ending, while not undoing the tragedy of her death in "Face the Raven"; the solution is to give her the chance to have further adventures within the last moment of her life provided she goes back to it eventually. At the same time, he had to erase the Doctor's memory of her so he wouldn't be consumed by grief and anguish that would undermine any future relationships -- yet still establish that all the character-development moments of the past three seasons (most specifically those of "The Day of the Doctor", as well as the Twelfth Doctor's own emotional and social evolution) are maintained. The solution: The mind wipe does cause him to lose his memories of how Clara looked, talked, etc., (thus, for those who subscribe to the romantic aspect of the story, this also would include related feelings for her) but his memories of the ''adventures'' he had with with her, and thus the impact they had on his character, turn out to remain substantially intact. This is supported by the fact that the Doctor's warmer personality, which evolved over two seasons thanks to his interaction with Clara, remained such into "The Husbands of River Song" and Series 10, rather than reverting to the colder, harsher Twelfth Doctor of old. Twelve's GrandFinale "Twice Upon a Time" had his memories completely restored shortly before he regenerated, as his obsession would no longer be an issue and the memories were an important part of his identity.

** '''Ten's sins, Twelve's punishments''': The Doctor loses his memories of Clara, possibly ''by choice''. The Tenth Doctor's mind wipe of Donna Noble over her objections, despite being done due to prevent her imminent death, continues to [[BrokenBase divide the fandom]] in part because he suffered no consequences. With regards to nearly crossing the MoralEventHorizon, Ten doesn't atone/accept punishment in "The Waters of Mars", in which he did more damage to others' lives...and ''Twelve'' was the one DrivenToMadness! Does Twelve deserve to suffer for Ten's actions and lose his right to grieve Clara as an AuthorsSavingThrow? That said, while restoring Donna's memories would ''kill'' her no such danger exists for Twelve and he retains substantial memories of Clara, just not personal details, giving plenty of outs for undoing the memory wipe later if the plot demands. Indeed, since "Hell Bent" aired in December 2015 there have been literally ''hundreds'' of fan fiction stories published online that have hypothesized ways in which it can be undone. Ultimately, his memories were completely restored by the Testimony in the denouement of his GrandFinale "Twice Upon a Time"; he regenerated shortly afterwards.

** The Doctor's aversion to travelling with other functional immortals like Ashildr was because they would grow detached from mortals and even heartless -- a problem she was already struggling with on her own for centuries. Thus [[FridgeHorror some fans aren't sure that one-heartbeat-from-death Clara and Ashildr will make an ideal team for jaunting through time and space]] unless they pick up mortal companions. Also, Series 9 hammered home the point that Clara considered the Doctor "essential" to her; it's uncertain whether travelling with Ashildr, who's almost an anti-Doctor, will be everything it's cracked up to be. It goes double with the idea that the Doctor and Clara together are a force for chaos that risks the universe. The Doctor is a hero who even in this episode is breaking the rules to ''save'' someone. Now Clara is traveling with Ashildr, an AntiVillain who is ''already'' on the wrong side of the detachment from humanity the Doctor talked about. ''That is not a step up.''
** Will Clara's mind be able to handle immortality, or will she end up like Ashildr and forget both her original personality and that she needs to go back to her death lest time be destroyed? Clara's had exposure to the Time Vortex, which might help; the ExpandedUniverse novel ''The Crawling Terror'' made a plot point out of her mind being "bigger" than most humans as a result of her travels.

** Just as many fanfic authors came up with ways for Donna Noble to safely reclaim her wiped memories and CharacterDevelopment, stories in which the Doctor somehow regains his wiped memories and crosses paths with Clara again -- the order of said events may be reversed -- have sprung up in the wake of this finale. Many fanfic writers have also come up with their own scenarios detailing how Clara eventually returns to face the raven; most said stories involve the Doctor, of course. The Series 10 finale "The Doctor Falls" subsequently implying that the mind wipe wore off added more fuel to the fire, with the complication that said episode led directly into Twelve's final adventure. "Twice Upon a Time" saw his memories completely restored in its denouement, but he regenerated into Thirteen shortly afterward, shutting the door on this specific pairing for good.
** The above AlternativeCharacterInterpretation that the Doctor either did not actually lose his memories of Clara or managed to successfully reconstruct all of them and simply hid this from her in the diner also has been the basis for fanfics, though again "Twice Upon a Time" rendered them AlternateContinuity.

*** It's really not about ''romance,'' (note that despite WordOfGod saying the feelings are there, we don't get romantic gestures onscreen and the ''last'' person he broke the rules to save - specifically, Ashildr - was someone he'd known for ''hours.'') and it brings us to the UnfortunateImplications of the episode. If the moral of the story is really going to be that his feeling responsible for someone who followed him into danger and going the distance to save someone who is important to him - and all his companions have been very important to him - are Bad Things to the point that he must ''forget Clara for the sake of the universe,'' then the ''whole premise of the show'' becomes a bad thing, because he'll always have companions, always come to care about them very deeply, and always go the distance to protect them, and ''everyone.'' And we wouldn't have him any other way... would we?

** Are the Doctor's efforts to save Clara, which include shooting the General "dead" and risking the existence of the universe, '''that''' much more extreme than the lengths he's gone to for other companions and even ''strangers'' in other episodes and the ExpandedUniverse (Exhibit A: Charley Pollard, whom Eight was willing to risk the universe for ''after their first encounter''[[note]]This is, however, a debatable example as, due to playing the TimeyWimeyBall, it was later retconned that Charley had previously travelled with the Sixth Doctor, so Eight might have had a latent memory of her.[[/note]]) -- or is everyone unjustly picking on a grieving, mentally-damaged man who [[EarnYourHappyEnding earned a happy ending]] and needs to be shown a better way? And if they '''are''' more extreme, why does Clara warrant them but not other beloved companions -- is she ''that'' much of a special snowflake? (The answer to that question by some fans is yes -- from his actions, the Doctor seems to have loved her more than anyone else. "The Husbands of River Song" reveals he was apparently prepared to go to his final death in "The Time of the Doctor" without having said goodbye to his wife River, thus risking a catastrophic paradox. This would make his behaviour towards Clara consistent. In other words, while the Doctor is willing to risk a lot for pretty much anybody, he will go the extra mile for individuals he is actually ''in love with''.)

** The Doctor's aversion to travelling with other functional immortals like Ashildr was because they would grow detached from mortals and even heartless -- a problem she was already struggling with on her own for centuries. Thus [[FridgeHorror some fans aren't sure that one-heartbeat-from-death Clara and Ashildr will make an ideal team for jaunting through time and space]] unless they pick up mortal companions. Also, Series 9 hammered home the point that Clara considered the Doctor "essential" to her; it's uncertain whether travelling with Ashildr, who's almost an anti-Doctor, will be everything it's cracked up to be.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Probably the most ''consistent'' complaint leveled at this episode: Namely that the Doctor's return to Gallifrey after ''nine series'' of taking the long way 'round, and his confronting Rassilon and the other Time Lords, should have been the center of the plot rather than splitting the focus with saving Clara and wrapping up the Doctor/Clara storyline. TrailersAlwaysLie and focused on the return to Gallifrey and the prophecy of the Hybrid. An alternate viewpoint is that the idea that the Doctor would handwave away centuries of searching for Gallifrey, ''especially'' after a stark reminder of how his homeworld was never a shining city on a hill, simply to save a loved one is perfectly in keeping with the character as established in the modern era.

** '''Double standard ending''': His choice to return to the side of good leaves him with ''less'' than what he started with. To his credit, he regards this as LaserGuidedKarma in action. But Ashildr/Me gets to be a KarmaHoudini re: her relationship with him -- she avoids the end of the universe, fulfills her goal of getting a TARDIS, ''and'' runs away with the Doctor's beautiful (her description!) companion to boot. Clara chooses to bop around the universe instead of returning to her death immediately -- '''after''' convincing the Doctor that he has to accept she's gone and move on. Shouldn't he get more than his TARDIS back and a new coat and sonic screwdriver? Suffice to say, this further encouraged complaints that ''both'' women are Steven Moffat's Mary Sues and {{Creators Pet}}s.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The remaining Time Lords, Ohila, and Ashildr, thanks to their show of NoSympathy for the Doctor. Ashildr has a smidgen of compassion for the Doctor's trials but still mocks his sorrow and grief. The General ''and'' Ohila's opinion of what was done to him in the dial is "Well, Rassilon had his reasons; that's the way it goes and the Doctor should have let it slide." Add to that the facts that apparently no Time Lord aware of what was going on was brave and/or compassionate enough to try and free the Doctor, no one even '''considered''' what his grief over Clara's demise might do to him mentally on top of ColdBloodedTorture (no matter how tough he was in the Time War, that doesn't mean he's immune to trauma), and the General and Ohila wring their hands over '''Rassilon''' being exiled for his monstrous deeds, and they not only look stupid in handing him the keys to the kingdom, but their accusations of the Doctor being cruel, cowardly, and selfish come off as hollow.

** Did the Doctor '''really''' lose his key memories of Clara or is he just faking it to make sure both of them can move on with no regrets?
** Since the mind wipe wasn't as thorough on the Doctor's memories of Clara as it was on Donna's memories of the Doctor, might it wear off on him eventually? The ending of the following season's finale, "The Doctor Falls", suggests that it has when Clara appears in his mind's eye montage of past companions.

** The resolution of the story arc required Moffat to provide Clara with a happy (if bittersweet) ending, while not undoing the tragedy of her death in "Face the Raven"; the solution is to give her the chance to have further adventures within the last moment of her life provided she goes back to it eventually. At the same time, he had to erase the Doctor's memory of her so he wouldn't be consumed by grief and anguish that would undermine any future relationships -- yet still establish that all the character-development moments of the past three seasons (most specifically those of "The Day of the Doctor", as well as the Twelfth Doctor's own emotional and social evolution) are maintained. The solution: The mind wipe does cause him to lose his memories of how Clara looked, talked, etc., (thus, for those who subscribe to the romantic aspect of the story, this also would include related feelings for her) but his memories of the ''adventures'' he had with with her, and thus the impact they had on his character, turn out to remain substantially intact. This is supported by the fact that the Doctor's warmer personality, which evolved over two seasons thanks to his interaction with Clara, remained such into "The Husbands of River Song" and Series 10, rather than reverting to the colder, harsher Twelfth Doctor of old.

* [[EsotericHappyEnding Esoteric Bittersweet Ending]]: The ending leaves a lot of troublingly unanswered questions, many of which went unanswered by the time the Twelfth Doctor's tenure ended.

** The women got their newfound freedom on the back of '''the Doctor's''' suffering and anguish, though this can be interpreted as the Doctor unintentionally atoning for putting them in unhappy situations (immortality in Ashildr's case, not honoring her death in Clara's).
** For all his trouble, the Doctor is the big loser: He lost Clara and his memories of her, and he's now a fugitive from his people and homeworld -- '''again''' -- for his actions during his SanitySlippage. And will he ever mend his fences with his people and Ohila?
** Is the Hybrid prophecy still an issue or not? Steven Moffat has confirmed that it was the Doctor and Clara together, so if they ever meet again, will they be able to find happiness despite it all?

** Just as many fanfic authors came up with ways for Donna Noble to safely reclaim her wiped memories and CharacterDevelopment, stories in which the Doctor somehow regains his wiped memories and crosses paths with Clara again -- the order of said events may be reversed -- have sprung up in the wake of this finale. Many fanfic writers have also come up with their own scenarios detailing how Clara eventually returns to face the raven; most said stories involve the Doctor, of course. The Series 10 finale "The Doctor Falls" subsequently implying that the mind wipe wore off added more fuel to the fire, with the complication that said episode leads directly into Twelve's final adventure, suggesting that it will have to be a later Doctor who finds her again unless Moffat and co. are hiding a ''big'' surprise...
** The above AlternativeCharacterInterpretation that the Doctor either did not actually lose his memories of Clara or managed to successfully reconstruct all of them and simply hid this from her in the diner also has been the basis for fanfics.

** The Doctor comes as close as he ever has to crossing this line by becoming TheUnfettered to save Clara since it risks '''destroying the universe''', to say nothing of their friendship. Everything comes down to whether he'll force MindRape on her. In the end, he can't bring himself to do that and accepts losing both her and his memories of her (on top of wounding his prickly friendship with Ohila and now being a fugitive from his homeworld once more) by way of atoning for violating his own principles; it's even possible that he ''intentionally'' mind-wipes himself, given that the audience and other characters ''only'' have his word to go on that he doesn't know what will happen when they activate the device. (An alternate theory is that Clara actually broke the device with her meddling and as such the Doctor actually ''faked'' his memory loss in order to set her free, but it doesn't reconcile very well with the diner scenes and the sequence where the Doctor is alone after Clara leaves, to say nothing of "The Husbands of River Song", ''Series/Class2016'', "The Return of Doctor Mysterio", and Series 10.)

** '''Ten's sins, Twelve's punishments''': The Doctor loses his memories of Clara, possibly ''by choice''. The Tenth Doctor's mind wipe of Donna Noble over her objections, despite being done due to prevent her imminent death, continues to [[BrokenBase divide the fandom]] in part because he suffered no consequences. With regards to nearly crossing the MoralEventHorizon, Ten doesn't atone/accept punishment in "The Waters of Mars", in which he did more damage to others' lives...and ''Twelve'' was the one DrivenToMadness! Does Twelve deserve to suffer for Ten's actions and lose his right to grieve Clara as an AuthorsSavingThrow? That said, while restoring Donna's memories would ''kill'' her no such danger exists for Twelve and he retains substantial memories of Clara, just not personal details, giving plenty of outs for undoing the memory wipe later if the plot demands. Indeed, since "Hell Bent" aired in December 2015 there have been literally ''hundreds'' of fan fiction stories published online that have hypothesized ways in which it can be undone. In June 2016 Creator/PeterCapaldi hinted at a convention appearance that the Doctor may not have mind-wiped himself as thoroughly as the episode suggests, and the final scenes of the Series 10 finale "The Doctor Falls" (July 2017) suggested that it did in fact wear off at some point.

** Since the Doctor's now companion-less (not counting his sojourn with River Song, which creates its own FanficFuel) this opens up a lot of avenues for short-term OriginalCharacter companions or straight-up solo adventures. That there is a longer-than-usual gap between Series 9 (Fall 2015) and 10 (Spring 2017) spelled only by two Christmas specials further encourages speculation.

** Are the Doctor's efforts to save Clara, which include shooting the General "dead" and risking the existence of the universe, '''that''' much more extreme than the lengths he's gone to for other companions and even ''strangers'' in other episodes and the ExpandedUniverse (Exhibit A: Charley Pollard, whom Eight was willing to risk the universe for ''after their first encounter''[note]This is, however, a debatable example as, due to playing the TimeyWimeyBall, it was later retconned that Charley had previously travelled with the Sixth Doctor, so Eight might have had a latent memory of her.[/note]) -- or is everyone unjustly picking on a grieving, mentally-damaged man who [[EarnYourHappyEnding earned a happy ending]] and needs to be shown a better way? And if they '''are''' more extreme, why does Clara warrant them but not other beloved companions -- is she ''that'' much of a special snowflake? (The answer to that question by some fans is yes -- from his actions, the Doctor seems to have loved her more than anyone else. "The Husbands of River Song" reveals he was apparently prepared to go to his final death in "The Time of the Doctor" without having said goodbye to his wife River, thus risking a catastrophic paradox. This would make his behaviour towards Clara consistent. In other words, while the Doctor is willing to risk a lot for pretty much anybody, he will go the extra mile for individuals he is actually ''in love with''.)

** The resolution of the story arc required Moffat to provide Clara with a happy (if bittersweet) ending, while not undoing the tragedy of her death in "Face the Raven"; the solution is to give her the chance to have further adventures within the last moment of her life provided she goes back to it eventually. At the same time, he had to erase the Doctor's memory of her so he wouldn't be consumed by grief and anguish that would undermine any future relationships -- yet still establish that all the character-development moments of the past three seasons (most specifically those of "The Day of the Doctor", as well as the Twelfth Doctor's own emotional and social evolution) are maintained. The solution: The mind wipe does cause him to lose his memories of how Clara looked, talked, etc., (thus, for those who subscribe to the romantic aspect of the story, this also would include related feelings for her) but his memories of the ''adventures'' he had with with her, and thus the impact they had on his character, turn out to remain substantially intact.

** Are the Doctor's efforts to save Clara, which include shooting the General "dead" and risking the existence of the universe, '''that''' much more extreme than the lengths he's gone to for other companions and even ''strangers'' in other episodes and the ExpandedUniverse (Exhibit A: Charley Pollard, whom Eight was willing to risk the universe for ''after their first encounter'') -- or is everyone unjustly picking on a grieving, mentally-damaged man who [[EarnYourHappyEnding earned a happy ending]] and needs to be shown a better way? And if they '''are''' more extreme, why does Clara warrant them but not other beloved companions -- is she ''that'' much of a special snowflake? (The answer to that question by some fans is yes -- from his actions, the Doctor seems to have loved her more than anyone else. "The Husbands of River Song" reveals he was apparently prepared to go to his final death in "The Time of the Doctor" without having said goodbye to his wife River, thus risking a catastrophic paradox. This would make his behaviour towards Clara consistent.)

** The resolution of the story arc required Moffat to provide Clara with a happy (if bittersweet) ending, while not undoing the tragedy of her death in "Face the Raven"; the solution is to give her the chance to have further adventures within the last moment of her life provided she goes back to it eventually. At the same time, he had to erase the Doctor's memory of her so he wouldn't be consumed by grief and anguish that would undermine any future relationships -- yet still establish that all the character-development moments of the past three seasons (most specifically those of "The Day of the Doctor", as well as the Twelfth Doctor's own emotional and social evolution) are maintained. The solution: The mind wipe does cause him to lose his memories of how Clara looked, talked, etc., but his memories of ''adventures'' with her, and thus the impact they had on his character, turn out to remain intact.

** Is the Doctor's choice to exile Rassilon and the High Council as cruel and cowardly as the General and Ohila claim, or is it better than they deserve considering the sum of their crimes, which would make the act a merciful one on his part and thus in line with his previous actions in Series 9 towards young Davros, Bonnie, etc.? Is it even possible he was sparing them from a ''worse'' fate at his hands?

** The Doctor comes as close as he ever has to crossing this line by becoming TheUnfettered to save Clara since it risks '''destroying the universe''', to say nothing of their friendship. Everything comes down to whether he'll force MindRape on her. In the end, he can't bring himself to do that and accepts losing both her and his memories of her (on top of wounding his prickly friendship with Ohila and now being a fugitive from his homeworld once more) by way of atoning for violating his own principles; it's even possible that he ''intentionally'' mind-wipes himself, given that the audience and other characters ''only'' have his word to go on that he doesn't know what will happen when they activate the device. (An alternate theory is that Clara actually broke the device with her meddling and as such the Doctor actually ''faked'' his memory loss in order to set her free, but it doesn't reconcile very well with the diner scenes, the sequence where the Doctor is alone after Clara leaves, and ''any'' of his actions in "The Husbands of River Song", ''Series/Class2016'', "The Return of Doctor Mysterio", and Series 10.)

* BadassDecay: In his last appearance, Rassilon was the iron-fisted BigBad of Time Lord society who casually vaporised people for disagreeing with him. Even the Doctor clearly feared him on some level, going as far as [[BatmanGrabsAGun picking up a gun]] in a desperate attempt to ward him off the last time he came face to face with him. Here, he's a rather ineffectual old man who gets kicked off Gallifrey without even a real fight by a Doctor, who is calmly in control all the time. Possibly explained when one remembers that he was brought back to rule in a time of extreme crisis, so his tyrannical methods were no longer palatable in peacetime. Also, he's [[TheNthDoctor being played by a different actor again]], so this current regeneration may just not be as forceful or effective as the last one. Plus, the military sided with the Doctor and were pointing gunships at him by the time he actually stood down, effectively demonstrating that he'd ''already lost'' control of Gallifrey even if he had put up a fight.
** Still barely an excuse when one factors in how Classic Who portrayed Rassilon as being so powerful that he could turn people into statues with his mind ''while comatose.''

** Clara's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to the Time Lords is either justified in calling out the leadership of the Time Lords for unspeakable cruelty, or flat out blaming ''an entire race'' for the Doctor's ''four billion year hell'' when half of the race was thanking him for saving them. That said, the scene itself makes it clear that she was addressing the leadership. Multiple episodes of the Modern Era and even some of the Classic Era had well-established that the Time Lords ''were'' hated by many, such as [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride the Racnoss]]. Also, as far as the viewer can tell the characters she's addressing (including Ohila) apparently have NoSympathy for the suffering of someone they owe their lives to, seeing his ColdBloodedTorture as a case of the ends justifying the means, and this in itself can be seen as absolutely wicked. It's ''possible'' they have to put their sympathy aside for the moment to stop his universe-risking scheme, but since the Doctor doesn't try mending fences with them after he returns to his right mind, the audience will never know for sure.
** The resolution of the StoryArc of the Hybrid's identity -- via TheUnreveal -- was either a wonderful subversion of expectations or deeply frustrating. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], however, by WordOfGod, when Steven Moffat confirmed the Doctor and Clara as the true Hybrid of the series.

** Who is the woman at the barn who seems to know the Doctor well? Who are "the boys" who never visit that she mentions? And what about Gallifreyan society in general, given that this episode further establishes the planet has a caste system?

** Just as many fanfic authors came up with ways for Donna Noble to safely reclaim her wiped memories and CharacterDevelopment, stories in which the Doctor somehow regains his wiped memories and crosses paths with Clara again -- the order of said events may be reversed -- have sprung up in the wake of this finale. Many fanfic writers have also come up with their own scenarios detailing how Clara eventually returns to face the raven; most said stories involve the Doctor, of course. The Series 10 finale "The Doctor Falls" subsequently implying that the mind wipe wore off added more fuel to the fanfic fire, with the complication that said episode led directly into Twelve's final adventure, suggesting that it would have to be a later Doctor who found her again...
** The above AlternativeCharacterInterpretation that the Doctor either did not actually lose his memories of Clara or managed to successfully reconstruct all of them and simply hid this fact from her in the diner also has been the basis for fanfics.

** The Doctor comes as close as he ever has to crossing this line by becoming TheUnfettered to save Clara since it risks '''destroying the universe''', to say nothing of their friendship. Everything comes down to whether he'll force MindRape on her. In the end, he can't bring himself to do that and accepts losing both her and his memories of her (on top of wounding his prickly friendship with Ohila and now being a fugitive from his homeworld once more) by way of atoning for violating his own principles; it's even possible that he ''intentionally'' mind-wipes himself, given that the audience and other characters ''only'' have his word to go on that he doesn't know what will happen when they activate the device. (An alternate theory is that Clara actually broke the device with her meddling and as such the Doctor actually ''faked'' his memory loss in order to set her free, but it doesn't reconcile very well with the diner scenes or the sequence where the Doctor is alone after Clara leaves.)

** The resolution of the StoryArc of the Hybrid's identity -- via TheUnreveal -- was either a wonderful subversion of expectations or deeply frustrating.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:

* CompleteMonster: [[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors Rassilon]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime again]].

** The above AlternateCharacterInterpretation that the Doctor either did not actually lose his memories of Clara or managed to successfully reconstruct all of them and simply hid this fact from her in the diner also has been the basis for fanfics.

* LesYay: In previous episodes, Clara had told 12 that she'll fight him for Ashildr, and Me tells her she's as beautiful as her pictures, so when it was revealed they're traveling together, fans got instantly excited. They're commonly named Space Girlfriends.

** '''Insanity defense''': Having been DrivenToMadness, he needs a tranquilizer dart and ''help'', not TheReasonYouSuck and WhatTheHellHero lectures.

** '''Double standard ending''': His choice to return to the side of good leaves him with ''less'' than what he started with. To his credit, he regards this as LaserGuidedKarma in action. But Ashildr/Me gets to be a KarmaHoudini re: her relationship with him -- she avoids the end of the universe, fulfills her goal of getting a TARDIS, ''and'' runs away with the Doctor's beautiful (her description!) companion to boot. Clara chooses to bop around the universe instead of returning to her death immediately -- '''after''' convincing the Doctor that he has to accept she's gone and move on. Shouldn't he get more than his TARDIS back and a new coat and sonic screwdriver? Suffice to say, this further encouraged complaints that ''both'' women are Steven Moffat's {{Mary Sue}}s and {{Creators Pet}}s.

** '''Ten's sins, Twelve's punishments''': The Doctor loses his memories of Clara, possibly ''by choice''. The Tenth Doctor's mind wipe of Donna Noble over her objections, despite being done due to prevent her imminent death, continues to [[BrokenBase divide the fandom]] in part because he suffered no consequences. With regards to nearly crossing the MoralEventHorizon, Ten doesn't atone/accept punishment in "The Waters of Mars", in which he did more damage to others' lives...and ''Twelve'' was the one DrivenToMadness! Does Twelve deserve to suffer for Ten's actions and lose his right to grieve Clara as an AuthorsSavingThrow? That said, while restoring Donna's memories would ''kill'' her no such danger exists for Twelve and he retains substantial memories of Clara, just not personal details, giving plenty of outs for undoing the memory wipe later if the plot demands. Indeed, since "Hell Bent" aired in December 2015 there have been literally ''hundreds'' of fan fiction stories published online that have hypothesized ways in which it can be undone, and in June 2016 Creator/PeterCapaldi hinted at a convention appearance that the Doctor may not have mind-wiped himself as thoroughly as the episode suggests.

** Since the mind wipe wasn't as thorough on the Doctor's memories of Clara as it was on Donna's memories of the Doctor, might it wear off on him eventually?

* [[EsotericHappyEnding Esoteric Bittersweet Ending]]: The ending leaves a lot of troublingly unanswered questions. It's likely that at least some of them will be answered in future seasons, particularly those specific to the Doctor.

** For all his trouble, the Doctor is the big loser: He lost Clara and his memories of her, and he's now a fugitive from his people and homeworld -- '''again''' -- for his actions during his SanitySlippage. The exiled Rassilon and his cronies might be tracking him down seeking {{Revenge}}. What will happen when ''Missy'' finds out what happened to him and Clara? Does she already know? And will he ever mend his fences with his people and Ohila?

** Already, the whole premise of the 2016 ''ComicBook/DoctorWhoTitan'' miniseries ''[[ComicBook/DoctorWhoSupremacyOfTheCybermen Supremacy of the Cybermen]]'' is the Doctor having to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong when Rassilon decides to team up with the Cybermen.

** Just as many fanfic authors came up with ways for Donna Noble to safely reclaim her wiped memories and CharacterDevelopment, stories in which the Doctor somehow regains his wiped memories and crosses paths with Clara again -- the order of said events may be reversed -- have sprung up in the wake of this finale. Many fanfic writers have also come up with their own scenarios detailing how Clara eventually returns to face the raven; most said stories involve the Doctor, of course.

** "Heaven Sent" was the most popular episode of Series 9 with the fanbase and professional critics and set an extremely high bar for "Hell Bent" to live up to. While critics were by and large happy with the results, fans were divided, especially over the TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot issues.

* DesignatedEvil: The General and especially Ohila chew out the Doctor for being cruel and cowardly in exiling old Rassilon and the High Council to wherever they can find a home. But given their ('''especially''' Rassilon's) dirty deeds regarding the universe-risking Last Great Time War and the confession dial, which they likely would never apologize or atone for, the Doctor is arguably being merciful -- making sure they're shamed and punished but not ''hurt''. That neither of the chiding characters offers him any comfort or compassion for what he's gone through in the previous two episodes, even as it becomes clear to everyone just how badly he's been damaged, definitely ''hurts''. Meanwhile, ''Supremacy of the Cybermen'' revealing that Rassilon promptly finds a place to go by teaming up with the Cybermen suggests that the Doctor might have been better off just ''killing'' the tyrant, even if other characters would have only chewed him out further for it.

* HilariousInHindsight: When the Doctor visits the last planet in the universe in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E4Listen "Listen"]], he comments on a marooned time traveller, "The last man standing in the universe. I always thought that would be me." Fast forward to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]] and we reach the very last little fragment of the universe, only five minutes to go, and what do you know, the last one standing in the universe is... Me, as in, Ashildr. (Sadly for the Doctor, when he and Ashildr enter the TARDIS, Ashildr follows him in, so he can't win on a technicality unless "man" is taken to specify male.)
* HolyShitQuotient: After the previous episode suggested the Doctor was in the confession dial for more than 2 billion years, viewers - along with Clara - are taken aback by the revelation he was actually in there for ''4.5 billion'' years (which, incidentally, is also the estimated age of the Earth) ... punching a wall harder than diamond. With his fists. For Clara. Clara's facial expression upon learning this reflects the trope name without her having to say anything.

* BrokenAesop: Couched in fantastic terms, the moral is "All things must end no matter how much you try to stave off the inevitable, and this is a truth that can only be accepted and coped with." But apparently that only applies if you're the Twelfth Doctor. If you're a pretty young(-looking) woman or two, summer really ''can'' last forever if you have a time machine. Bonus points for both Clara and Ashildr telling him he '''had''' to accept the former's death, and Ashildr not calling out Clara's choice to go back the long way 'round because now she gets to put off what would have been her own death!

* ShipTease: The episode wraps up the Doctor/Clara storyline and makes the Doctor's love for Clara (and vice versa) even more clear. Even so, there are still factions of fandom who cannot recognize it as a romantic love other than platonic, despite the WordOfGod trinity (the actors, the writer, the director) saying so. Moffat also snuck in a stealth bit of ship teasing as Ashildr/Me talks about how Clara died "for who she loved"; she cannot be referring to Rigsy, who was no more than a friend. As the entire season revolved around Clara becoming more and more like the Doctor, then there is only one candidate for "who she loved"...
** There is a subtle tease between Ashildr/Me and Clara too.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: The viewer is supposed to be horrified by the Doctor's SanitySlippage and resultant VillainProtagonist behavior, but who can blame him for going mad?
** He's suffered '''horrifically''' thanks to the bad and/or misguided choices of other characters: Ashildr making a deal with the Time Lords, the Time Lords wanting to know about the Hybrid and seeing that as justifying ColdBloodedTorture, and Clara trying too hard to be a hero and recklessly risking her life before she knew all the facts. [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished All of them owe him their lives to varying extents]], and only Clara returned the favor unselfishly. (The Time Lords granting him a new regeneration cycle may have only been because he was key to their continued existence, rather than given out of the goodness of their hearts.) When he asks if he's owed the chance to save Clara, between all the amazing universe-saving feats he's pulled off and his recent trials, ''all of which the audience has been privy to'', it's hard to argue that he hasn't [[EarnYourHappyEnding earned his happy ending]], even if it won't be anyone else's happy ending nor last long.
** Moreover, he is effectively '''insane'''. He needs a tranquilizer dart and help, not TheReasonYouSuck and WhatTheHellHero lectures.
** His actions, save for the shooting of the General -- and even then the episode implies the Doctor did him/her a favor -- apparently do no actual ''damage'' to anyone but himself. Usually when a character disrupts time and space as drastically as he does here, the catastrophic effects are seen/felt immediately. But there are no Reapers, no time collapsing in on itself. Clara's got "wiggle room". Who says the other characters aren't wrong or, worse, ''deceitful'' when they condemn the Doctor?
** Almost ALL of the major characters come off as smug, ungrateful jerks who have NoSympathy for the Doctor's suffering but sure are concerned about the fate of poor old Rassilon, ''the sadistic tyrant and torturer''. Clara, perhaps appropriately, is the only one who actually cares about what's been done to the Doctor, and even she has to forcefully make her opinion known when the MindRape approaches.
** The Doctor loses his memories of Clara, possibly ''by choice''. The Tenth Doctor's mind wipe of Donna Noble over her objections, despite being done due to prevent her imminent death, continues to [[BrokenBase divide the fandom]] in part because he suffered no consequences. And with regards to nearly crossing the MoralEventHorizon, Ten doesn't atone/accept punishment in "The Waters of Mars", in which he did more damage to others' lives...and ''Twelve'' was the one DrivenToMadness! Does Twelve deserve to suffer for Ten's actions '''and''' lose his right to grieve Clara as an AuthorsSavingThrow? That said, while restoring Donna's memories would ''kill'' her no such danger exists for Twelve and he retains substantial memories of Clara, just not personal details, giving plenty of outs for undoing the memory wipe later if the plot demands. Indeed, since "Hell Bent" aired in December 2015 there have been literally ''hundreds'' of fan fiction stories published online that have hypothesized ways in which it can be undone, and in June 2016 Creator/PeterCapaldi hinted at a convention appearance that the Doctor may not have mind-wiped himself as thoroughly as the episode suggests.
** In any case, his choice to return to the side of good leaves him with ''less'' than what he started with. To his credit, he regards this as LaserGuidedKarma in action. But Ashildr gets to be a KarmaHoudini re: her relationship with him -- she avoids the end of the universe, fulfills her goal of getting a TARDIS, ''and'' runs away with the Doctor's beautiful (her description!) companion to boot. Clara chooses to bop around the universe instead of returning to her death immediately -- '''after''' convincing the Doctor that he has to accept she's gone and move on. If they get happy outcomes, shouldn't he get more than his TARDIS back and a new coat and sonic screwdriver? Suffice to say, this further encouraged complaints that ''both'' women are Steven Moffat's {{Mary Sue}}s and {{Creators Pet}}s.
** There's a lot of implicit victim blaming in how the Doctor is treated in this storyline: "He sure deserved to be imprisoned and tortured for billions of years ''and'' lose someone he loved as an inadvertent side effect of his capture! That's what he gets for saving Gallifrey and not just leaving Ashildr and her people to be slaughtered by the Mire! And saving Ashildr the only way he could instead of bereaving a family! And why couldn't he just up and confess what he knew or didn't know about the Hybrid? Surely the sadistic Rassilon and his cronies would have rewarded him greatly if he did! Why did he have to banish someone responsible for a war that slaughtered billions anyway?" And so on...
** The Doctor tries to bring Clara back from the grave because he cannot cope with losing her. This is risky, and other characters including her call him out as wrong. But what ''should'' he have done under the circumstances? ThereAreNoTherapists on Gallifrey. Drylanders and soldiers wouldn't be much for providing grief counseling, after what he's been through. Ohila and the Time Lords have NoSympathy. He doesn't have his TARDIS, so he can't just start running again. Even if he could, after all that Clara accomplished, who would he meet who could live up to his DistaffCounterpart quickly enough for him to let her drift off into memory? Poor Martha Jones wasn't able to live up to the memory of Rose Tyler, who didn't even die. The Doctor would have been suffering the way he said he would in "The Girl Who Died", forever haunted by the loss of Clara, possibly not taking on other companions. That would, if Ten and Eleven's examples are anything to go by, render him useless or corrupt. He '''could''' decide to wipe himself of his memories of her immediately, but it's doubtful he would have given them up willingly -- and with a "professional" wipe instead of the flawed one of the tampered neural block, would his CharacterDevelopment survive or would he be a near-BlankSlate with ''centuries'' of his lives missing? '''TL, DR:''' The setup of this story leaves no ''choice'' for the Doctor than to bring Clara back, because she's the only person who can convince him to move on!

* RomanticPlotTumor: A justified case applying to this and the previous two episodes. While many fans argue that the Doctor and Clara's relationship wound up devouring the momentous event of his returning to Gallifrey for the first time since the Last Great Time War in this adventure, if one were to remove the love story, this three-parter would not have a substantial plot.

** He's suffered '''horrifically''' thanks to the bad and/or misguided choices of other characters: Ashildr making a deal with the Time Lords, the Time Lords wanting to know about the Hybrid and seeing that as justifying ColdBloodedTorture, and Clara trying too hard to be a hero and recklessly risking her life before she knew all the facts. [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished All of them owe him their lives to varying extents]], and only Clara has returned the favor unselfishly. (The Time Lords granting him a new regeneration cycle may have only been because he was key to their continued existence, after all, rather than given out of the goodness of their hearts.) When he asks if he's owed the chance to save Clara, between all the amazing universe-saving feats he's pulled off and his recent trials, ''all of which the audience has been privy to'', it's hard to argue that he hasn't [[EarnYourHappyEnding earned his happy ending]], even if it won't be anyone else's happy ending nor last long.
** Moreover, this suffering has effectively left him '''insane'''. Under the circumstances he needs a tranquilizer dart and help, not TheReasonYouSuck and WhatTheHellHero lectures.
** His actions, save for the shooting of the General -- and even then the episode implies the Doctor did him/her a favor -- apparently do no actual ''damage'' to anyone but himself. Usually when a character disrupts time and space as drastically as he does here, the catastrophic effects are seen/felt immediately. But there are no Reapers, no time collapsing in on itself. Clara's got "wiggle room". Who says the other characters aren't wrong or even ''deceitful'' when they condemn the Doctor?

** His choice to return to the side of good leaves him with ''less'' than what he started with. To his credit, he regards this as LaserGuidedKarma in action. But Ashildr gets to be a KarmaHoudini where her relationship with him was concerned -- she avoids the end of the universe, fulfills her goal of getting a TARDIS, ''and'' runs away with the Doctor's beautiful (her description!) companion to boot. Clara chooses to bop around the universe instead of returning to her death immediately, '''after''' convincing the Doctor that he has to accept she's gone and move on. If they get to have happy outcomes, shouldn't he get something more than his TARDIS back and a new coat and sonic screwdriver? Suffice to say, this further encouraged complaints that ''both'' women are Steven Moffat's {{Mary Sue}}s and {{Creators Pet}}s.
** The Doctor loses his memories of Clara, possibly ''by choice''. The Tenth Doctor's mind wipe of Donna Noble over her objections, despite being done due to prevent her imminent death, continues to [[BrokenBase divide the fandom]] in part because he suffered no consequences. And with regards to nearly crossing the MoralEventHorizon, Ten doesn't atone/accept punishment in "The Waters of Mars", in which he did more damage to others' lives...and ''Twelve'' was the one DrivenToMadness! Does Twelve deserve to suffer for Ten's actions '''and''' lose his right to grieve Clara as an AuthorsSavingThrow? That said, while restoring Donna's memories would ''kill'' her no such danger exists for Twelve and he retains substantial memories of Clara, just not personal details, giving plenty of outs for undoing the memory wipe later if the plot demands. Indeed, since "Hell Bent" aired in December 2015 there have been literally ''hundreds'' of fan fiction stories published online that have hypothesized ways in which it can be undone, and in June 2016 Creator/PeterCapaldi hinted at a convention appearance that the Doctor may not have mind-wiped himself as thoroughly as the episode suggests...

** Is the Doctor ''just'' being Time Lord Victorious 2.0 in trying to save Clara? He's coming off of not only her SenselessSacrifice but hideous betrayal and ColdBloodedTorture. Might he have avoided becoming TheUnfettered if he had been allowed to process his grief instead of immediately being forced to survive the confession dial? Could '''anyone''' have sustained their sanity in his situation? This episode is '''not''' the story of a hero gone bad who must be brought back to his best self, but rather the tragic tale of a mentally damaged man denied the help he needs by people so coldhearted that they don't realize/acknowledge there's a problem, who is thus moved to dangerous, desperate acts in hopes of healing himself, and suffers '''even more''' for it in the end. And if that's the case the Doctor is not the real villain -- it's '''everybody except Clara''', most of whom are {{Karma Houdini}}s.

* OnlyFriend: Clara to the Doctor. Although long established as a TrueCompanion, in this episode - much as her memory had been in the previous one - Clara is literally the only person we see who is totally on the Doctor's side once he goes rogue (prior to doing so, the General and Ohila are unambiguously his allies, but he alienates them once he rescues Clara).