The Name of the Doctor

May 25th, 2013 4:51 AM

Ohayo gozaimousu, FFN! Yeah, yeah, I should be working on MOMH, but I'm not... I meant to post chapter 2 on Hibari Kyoya's birthday, but my computer rather (in)conveniently crapped out the week before. BSOD and everything. I'm typing on my iPhone right now. What I NEED to do is recover the scraps from my email account (where iPhone Notepad notes go to die) and from old documents on Jo's PC, and then play a lovely game of connect the plotbunnies. But life has recently dumped a bushel of lemons on top of me, and I'm too preoccupied with sorting them out to make lemonade. Ah, my kiwis! I still love you!

So, I watched the Series 7 Doctor Who Season Finale, and was greatly inspired. I developed a hypothesis as to what the Doctor's name might be, and this is the result of writing it down at 4 AM. It got away from me, but I revised it as best I could and here it is! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't even know how to play chess. So I certainly don't own the Doctor, awesome chess-playing Time Lord that he is. Doctor Who is property of BBC. The Chronicles of Narnia and parts referenced are property of C.S. Lewis.

Please forgive the abundance of line breaks. FFN hated my stanzas.


" 'I have to go in there.'

'Please! Please, no.' "

" 'What I did, I did without choice. In the name of peace and sanity.'

'But not in the name of The Doctor!' "

-quotes from Series 7 (part 2), Episode 13: "The Name of the Doctor"


...What is the name of The Doctor...?


'Wise man' and 'healer' have changed to 'Great warrior'.

"What else might that name come to mean?"

"Witchhhhhcraft?" "Time Lord."

The Lord of Time is he.


"I'm the Doctor." Doctor who?

That's the question, you see

Who is this doctor? Actually,

What does 'Doctor' even mean?


He's the Predator of the Daleks

And the Hero of the Time War.

"Ohhh, Thief? Where's my Thief-!" says Sexy.

The Doctor is, "Basically... Run."


The Valeyard, The Storm, The Beast?

He's just a madman in a box.

A madman? Of course! Who wouldn't be

After all the carnage he has seen?


The Time War— What happened with Doctor Eight?

How and when did he change to a brand-new slate?


Brand-new? Not really

There's scars of war

Each clean slate has scratches

From those come before...


"Give me a day when no one dies!"

A phrase stuck on repeat

Oh, Doctor, is that even possible?

One cannot help but think.


With determination and a screwdriver

He sets off to save the world

Though one man cannot save everyone

He somehow believes that he could.


If only he'd seen this coming-!

If only he'd run a bit faster-!

If he'd only not overlooked-!

He berates himself, ever after.


He's seen the most life in the Universe

And conversely, he's seen the most death.

He's seen It all burst into light

And seen It all draw Its last breath.


A Universe full of things he wants to see

But dear Sexy takes him where he needs to be.


Petrichor: (noun)

the smell of dust after rain.

It's not rain. The Doctor's crying

He's lost someone again.


Doctor who? Who is the Doctor?

What is the Doctor's name?

"You wouldn't be able to pronounce it."

No, 'Doctor' would drive one insane...


Your true name is all of you

—Deeds loves loss your life 'til death

Victories defeats secrets what caused and the effect

Shared moments friends foes history of your thoughts

Every connection ever the feelings inside of your heart—


Whoever could know

Could list all of those

Would be powerful, more than a god

True Name a Deplorable Word


One who knows your Name knows YOU,

Thus from them you never could hide

They would see what makes you tick

Could control you from Inside.


What is the measure of The Doctor?

—sum or product, quotient, square root, exponent?—

It's the white twisting helix, the Tracks of his Tears, the road he walked in life...

A name so long he might not even know it himself.


"In the language of the people of the Gamma Forest, 'Doctor' means 'great warrior'."


A madman, a sad man,

Adrift upon the sea

I saw the Doctor's name then.

His name is simply "Please!"


A/N: I can't quite explain how I reached that conclusion. I suppose the Doctor just wants so many things, wants to save too many people, and feels responsible when he can't— A "God Complex". The inspiration I had came as a short little stanza: "He fights to protect/ He fights to save/ But fight he does/ Until his grave." Basically his life and the path he chose to take in it is full of unavoidable sacrifices that he wants to avoid. Days like he wants, days where no one dies, are often impossible. In the process of protecting those people the Doctor cares for, someone often has to die. He causes pain in some— friends or foes, intentionally or not— trying to save others from pain. Paradoxes within vicious circles within Circular Gallifreyan. Perhaps the Universe just has its due in the end, whether the Laws of Time obey the Doctor or not. (e.g. The Waters of Mars) It's sad and I think sleep deprivation makes me needlessly philosophical and overly wordy! Don't you agree?

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-chocolatecatcupcakecheese