History YMMV / DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent

** 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/Me will make an ideal team for jaunting through time and space]] unless they pick up mortal companions. 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 ''already'' on the wrong side of the detachment from humanity the Doctor talked about, who backstabbed him with no remorse. ''That is not a step up.''

** 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). Softened by the ending of "Twice Upon a Time" seeing his memories of Clara restored at last.

* RomanticPlotTumor: If you interpret their relationship as romantic. 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. The opposing argument suggests that their relationship (and the Doctor's fear of losing her) is a fundamental part of the plot as a focal point for the CharacterDevelopment of the Doctor, as he finally accepts (for now) the inevitability of losing everyone he loves.

* 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 (and Gallifrey for that matter) as established in the modern era. It doesn't help that nearly five years later the Series 12 premiere had Gallifrey destroyed ''again'' offscreen, making this episode even more of a wasted opportunity in hindsight.
* UnintentionallySympathetic: The viewer is supposed to be horrified by the Doctor's SanitySlippage and resultant VillainProtagonist behavior, but who can blame him?
** '''DudeWheresMyReward''': He's suffered '''horrifically''' thanks to the bad and/or misguided choices of other characters: Ashildr/Me 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. [[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. 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]]...and if Clara just had a little more faith in him when they fled, he'd have pulled it off in a way that left everyone happy, given how he comes up with plans on the fly.
** '''Insanity defense''': Having been DrivenToMadness, he needs a tranquilizer dart and ''help'', not [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech "The Reason You Suck"]] and "WhatTheHellHero" lectures.
** '''Whom has he hurt?''': In the end, 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". Is her death ''really'' a fixed point in time, or is everyone just ''saying'' it is for whatever reason?

** '''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, and after an episode whose whole premise was that bending the rules of time in ''giving'' her this second chance ''makes the Doctor the villain of the piece.'' She gets to choose to benefit from it and ride into the sunset anyway; shouldn't he get more than a new screwdriver? Suffice to say, this further encouraged complaints that ''both'' women are Steven Moffat's Mary Sues and {{Creators Pet}}s.

** '''Written into a corner''': What options did the Doctor have ''besides'' trying to save Clara that would have led him, even in a roundabout way, back to his best self? ThereAreNoTherapists on Gallifrey. Drylanders and soldiers won'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 and can't start running again. Even if he could, who would he meet who could live up to his DistaffCounterpart Clara Oswald 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 loss, possibly not taking on other companions -- which would, if Ten and Eleven's examples are anything to go by, render him corrupt or useless. He '''could''' wipe himself of his memories of her immediately, but it's doubtful he would give them up willingly -- and with a "professional" wipe instead of a tampered-with neural block, would his CharacterDevelopment survive or would he be a near-BlankSlate?

** 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. However, this was ultimately a Saving Throw that needed another Saving Throw: Twelve's GrandFinale "Twice Upon a Time" had his memories completely restored shortly before he regenerated, as Moffat felt bad about his fate.

** Are the Doctor's efforts to save Clara, which include shooting the General ''only after knowing he'd regenerate'' and risking tampering with a fixed point ''with an ultimately successful plan for '''not''' causing a RealityBreakingParadox'', '''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''.)

* 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. In addition, this storyline furthers the CharacterDevelopment of the Doctor, as he finally accepts (for now) the inevitability of losing everyone he loves.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Beyond the Doctor becoming able, if in a very painful way, to move beyond loss, he learns here (as does the audience) that he must not blame himself for the poor choices of others -- nor try to take away their ability to choose. He must focus on his own choices and their consequences.

* AccidentalAesop: Given how the Doctor's treated in this story for his actions and Me's ultimate fate, it's easy to get the message "Truly good people never punish those who hurt them or their loved ones -- even if the culprit is a tyrannical dictator with many other crimes they haven't been held accountable for -- and should let them be better off than they were before if possible. But a good person who's lashing out ''as a direct result of their dirty deeds'' should be shown NoSympathy, accept their punishment, and accept it with a smile."

** The Hybrid prophecy takes a whole new meaning after watching [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren "The Timeless Children"]], where we see the Master (technically a hybrid himself, since as a Time Lord he carries Gallifreyan DNA mixed with the Doctor's) with an army of Cyber Masters (Time Lords - Cybermen hybrids) standing in the ruins of Gallifrey.
* 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.)

* [[HoYay Les Yay]]: 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.

** Is the Doctor ''just'' returning to his Time Lord Victorious persona 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? With the deck stacked so high against the Doctor, he's less a hero gone bad who must be brought back to his best self and more a mentally damaged man denied the help he needs by people so coldhearted that they don't realize/acknowledge there's a problem, and thus moved to dangerous, desperate acts in hopes of healing himself, and suffers '''even more''' for it in the end. Every major character aside from Clara ends up as a villain in this reading, and most of them thus qualify as {{Karma Houdini}}s to boot.

** 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? With the deck stacked so high against the Doctor, he's less a hero gone bad who must be brought back to his best self and more a mentally damaged man denied the help he needs by people so coldhearted that they don't realize/acknowledge there's a problem, and thus moved to dangerous, desperate acts in hopes of healing himself, and suffers '''even more''' for it in the end. Every major character aside from Clara ends up as a villain in this reading, and most of them thus qualify as {{Karma Houdini}}s to boot.

* BrokenAesop: Two major themes of Series 9 are badly mangled in the denouement.
** The entire SeasonFinale 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!
** Immortals shouldn't travel together because they'll become jaded, unable to appreciate the beauty of fleeting life, and subject to ImmortalityImmorality, as the Doctor explains to the disappointed Me in "The Woman Who Lived". But Clara and Me's HappyEnding is their traveling the universe as functional immortals with no mortal companions. So was the Doctor wrong or not?

* 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.

** It remains to be seen if he (and the show) remembers this lesson in the long run, but the events of the final three episodes -- and indeed the entire Hybrid background arc, coupled with the Doctor's growing concern for Clara's safety throughout Series 9 culminating in the nightmare scenario of "Face the Raven" -- vividly illustrates why the Doctor should never allow himself to fall in love with anyone. He's simply too powerful and too willing to risk everything. '''However''', the very next episode goes on to show that it is possible -- under special circumstances -- for him to romantically love someone and make it work; because he realized the limits of his abilities in this story and forced himself to accept that nothing lasts forever, he is finally able to return River Song's love.
*** It's really not about ''romance,'' 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?

* ToughActToFollow
** Taken as a three-part single story, the finale of Series 9, for some fans, created this with regards to the ''much'' lighter-toned -- not to mention overtly romantic -- 2015 Christmas special that followed.
** "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 issue.

* 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 (and Gallifrey for that matter) as established in the modern era.

** Treated oddly with the "half-human" theory, which is often treated as borderline-heresy and has been the butt of several jokes. Here, however, it's played as a legitimate possibility, although the Doctor doesn't confirm or deny anything.

** The Tenth Doctor's mind-wipe of Donna is commonly believed to be his worst moment, ignoring her consent to die and the show concentrating on ''his'' pain afterwards. The Twelfth Doctor tries to do the same to Clara, even telling her he's done it before, but she calls him out, saying she has the right to remember her past. And then the Doctor finally comes to terms with and accepts the idea of his OWN memories of Clara being wiped, in a roundabout way calling it penance for how he treated Donna.

** 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? [[spoiler: "Twice Upon a Time" put the kibosh on this; his memories are definitively restored in its denouement.]]
** 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? [[spoiler: 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, but in the end the Testimony completely restores them in "Twice Upon a Time".]]

** The Doctor's descent into madness is explicitly the result of him being unable both physically and mentally to move on (or ''run'') from his anguish as he usually does. In the end, his choice to finally accept and move on from what he's gone through -- and will go through in the future -- and just keep running and helping others is presented as the best thing he can do, [[spoiler: and the lessons he learns from this experience will allow him to finally earn a happy ending in "The Husbands of River Song".]]

** 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. [[spoiler: 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. However, this was ultimately a Saving Throw that needed another Saving Throw: Twelve's GrandFinale "Twice Upon a Time" had his memories completely restored shortly before he regenerated, as Moffat felt bad about his fate.]]

** Are the Doctor's efforts to save Clara, which include shooting the General ''only after knowing he'd regenerate'' and risking tampering with a fixed point ''with an ultimately successful plan for '''not''' causing a RealityBreakingParadox'', '''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? [[spoiler: (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''.)]]

** 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? [[spoiler: While the ExpandedUniverse audio stories of 2017 suggested he does with the latter (more or less), 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. Oops.]]
** Is the Hybrid prophecy still an issue or not? Steven Moffat 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? [[spoiler: "Twice Upon a Time" suggests the answer is "Probably", as he will be in a different incarnation if/when that happens onscreen.]]

** 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 regained his wiped memories and crossed paths with Clara again -- the order of said events could be reversed -- sprang up in the wake of this finale. Many writers came up with their own scenarios detailing how Clara eventually returns to face the raven; most of said stories involve the Doctor, of course. [[spoiler: 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 and associated storylines for good except as AlternateContinuity.]]

** It remains to be seen if he (and the show) remembers this lesson in the long run, but the events of the final three episodes -- and indeed the entire Hybrid background arc, coupled with the Doctor's growing concern for Clara's safety throughout Series 9 culminating in the nightmare scenario of "Face the Raven" -- vividly illustrates why the Doctor should never allow himself to fall in love with anyone. He's simply too powerful and too willing to risk everything. [[spoiler: '''However''', the very next episode goes on to show that it is possible -- under special circumstances -- for him to romantically love someone and make it work; because he realized the limits of his abilities in this story and forced himself to accept that nothing lasts forever, he is finally able to return River Song's love.]]
*** 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?

** '''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 retained substantial memories of Clara, just not personal details, giving plenty of outs for undoing the memory wipe later if the plot demanded. After "Hell Bent" aired in December 2015 there were literally ''hundreds'' of fan fiction stories published online that have hypothesized ways in which it could be undone. [[spoiler: '''Very''' notably, Creator/StevenMoffat came to regret this aspect of the ending, and undid it himself: shortly before his regeneration in his GrandFinale "Twice Upon a Time" the Testimony restores all of his memories of Clara Oswald and allows him to bid farewell to an avatar of her.]]

* CompleteMonster: [[YMMV/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors Rassilon]]. See that page for details.

* {{Padding}}: Arguably the journey to the literal end of Time and the Doctor's encounter with Me. Me's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech is thematically the same as the one Ohila gives the Doctor just minutes before. The discussion of the Hybrid prophecy could have been between the Doctor and Clara once they fled in the TARDIS (after all, either way the time loop isn't broken), with her sussing out an alternative reading of it, climaxing with the Doctor admitting to his MindRape scheme. (For that matter, Ohila could just as easily have been the last immortal waiting on him.) However, bringing back Me not only allows the AmbiguousSyntax of the final line in "Heaven Sent" but ties off her StoryArc by resolving the issue of the Doctor's grudge against her, which otherwise would have been a major loose end that later seasons might not have been able to tie off given Creator/MaisieWilliams' other commitments.

** '''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 retained substantial memories of Clara, just not personal details, giving plenty of outs for undoing the memory wipe later if the plot demanded. After "Hell Bent" aired in December 2015 there were literally ''hundreds'' of fan fiction stories published online that have hypothesized ways in which it could be undone. '''Very''' notably, Creator/StevenMoffat came to regret this aspect of the ending, and undid it himself: shortly before his regeneration in his GrandFinale "Twice Upon a Time" the Testimony restores all of his memories of Clara Oswald and allows him to bid farewell to an avatar of her.

** It remains to be seen if he (and the show) remembers this lesson in the long run, but the events of the final three episodes -- and indeed the entire Hybrid background arc, coupled with the Doctor's growing concern for Clara's safety throughout Series 9 culminating in the nightmare scenario of "Face the Raven" -- vividly illustrates why the Doctor should never allow himself to fall in love with anyone. He's simply too powerful and too willing to risk everything. '''However''', the very next episode goes on to show that it is possible -- under special circumstances -- for him to romantically love someone and make it work; because he realized the limits of his abilities in this story and forced himself to accept that nothing lasts forever, he is finally able to return River Song's love.

** The Doctor's descent into madness is explicitly the result of him being unable both physically and mentally to move on (or ''run'') from his anguish as he usually does. In the end, his choice to finally accept and move on from what he's gone through -- and will go through in the future -- and just keep running and helping others is presented as the best thing he can do, and the lessons he learns from this experience will allow him to finally earn a happy ending in "The Husbands of River Song".

** 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. However, this was ultimately a Saving Throw that needed another Saving Throw: Twelve's GrandFinale "Twice Upon a Time" had his memories completely restored shortly before he regenerated, as Moffat felt bad about his fate.

** Are the Doctor's efforts to save Clara, which include shooting the General ''only after knowing he'd regenerate'' and risking tampering with a fixed point ''with an ultimately successful plan for '''not''' causing a RealityBreakingParadox'', '''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''.)

** 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? While the ExpandedUniverse audio stories of 2017 suggested he does with the latter (more or less), 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. Oops.
** Is the Hybrid prophecy still an issue or not? Steven Moffat 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? "Twice Upon a Time" suggests the answer is "Probably", as he will be in a different incarnation if/when that happens onscreen.

** 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 regained his wiped memories and crossed paths with Clara again -- the order of said events could be reversed -- sprang up in the wake of this finale. Many writers came up with their own scenarios detailing how Clara eventually returns to face the raven; most of 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 and associated storylines for good except as AlternateContinuity.

** 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? "Twice Upon a Time" put the kibosh on this; his memories are definitively restored in its denouement.
** 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, but in the end the Testimony completely restores them in "Twice Upon a Time".

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

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

* AccidentalAesop: Given how the Doctor's treated in this story for his actions and Me's ultimate fate, it's easy to get the message "Truly good people never punish those who hurt them or their loved ones -- even if the culprit is a tyrannical dictator with many other crimes they haven't been held accountable for -- and should let them be better off than they were before if possible. But a good person who's lashing out ''as a direct result of their dirty deeds'' should be shown NoSympathy and punished."

* AccidentalAesop: Given how the Doctor's treated in this story for his actions and Me's ultimate fate, it's easy to get the message "Truly good people never punish those who hurt them or their loved ones -- even if the culprit is a tyrannical dictator with many other crimes they haven't been held accountable for -- and should let them be better off than they were before if possible. But a good person who's lashing out ''as a direct result of their suffering'' should be punished."