This post discusses Clara Oswald. We think she’ll be the 11th Doctor’s next companion. There are no spoilers in this post, not unless you’ve not yet watched Asylum of the Daleks and The Snowmen, but there is lots of speculation.
Some Clara Oswin Oswald factoids for you;
- On Clara’s gravestone her birth date is 23 November. That’s the same date as the first transmission of Doctor Who.
- Oswin means “god’s friend” and Oswald means “god’s power”
Think of these Clara Oswald theories as pointers as nothing here is fully fleshed out. The theories are not listed in any order but you can vote for your favourite using the voting widget that accompanies each one.
1: Time Lord
Could the Souffle Girl be a time lord? Some fans would like to see Romana back. Romana was another Time Lord and a Companion. She was incredibly intelligent and this reminds some fans of Clara. Some have suggested that Clara might be a regeneration gone wrong for Romana, perhaps her final one.
Another theory that might allow Clara Oswald to be a Timelord is one that suggests she is a projection through (or because of) the time lock around The Last Great Time War by a timelady that results in humans throughout time and space picking it up and becoming an imprint. In the Web of Fear, The Great Intelligence succeeded in suspending the TARDIS in space causing the Second Doctor to wonder whether the TARDIS’ own time lock had slipped.
2: River Song
Some fans theorise that Clara Oswald might be River Song.
There may be space in River Song’s timeline to allow this; before River was Amy and Rory’s best friend Mel she was a little girl in New York. We don’t know much of her history before that.
Others speculate that that River might be “rescued” from the computer in the Library in which her memory is stored. Some have even suggested there may be a connection between the computer and The Great Intelligence although we are yet to see how and if that could work with the Great Intelligence’s previous backstory.
3: Scaroth the Jagaroth
Scaroth is the last of the Jagaorth and he crashed into Earth around about 400 million years BC. His exploding ship caused him to be splintered throughout time. His splinters, aware of one another and able to communicate through telepathy, helped guide mankind’s technology advancement to a point where the twelfth fragment would have the equipment necessary to travel back in time, save the Jagaorth and prevent the explosion.
There are few theories which suggest Clara could also be a Jagaorth but many point out in Scaroth we have someone who appeared as different people throughout time and yet seemed to be one person. Scaroth encountered the Fourth Doctor and Romana in the City of Death. Romana forced to build him a key part of the time field he was using to travel in time.
4: Key to Time
The Key to Time is a powerful artifact that the Doctor once found but then had to hide.
The Doctor was contacted by a mysterious figure called the White Guardian and asked to find the Key to Time. The Key to Time was used to maintain the balance of the universe itself and because of its power had been split into six different parts.
The Fourth Doctor, Lady Romana and K-9 agreed to look for the Key to Time after being told that another figure, the Black Guardian, was also looking for it. The Doctor found all the parts of the Key to Time – the sixth being a female humanoid Princess Astra.
The Black Guardian tries to take the Key of Time from the Doctor by disguising himself as the White Guardian. The Doctor does not fall for the trap, separates the Key of Time again and sends the fragments back out through time and space – except Princess Astra who returns to her old form. In order to escape the Black Guardian, the TARDIS uses a randomiser to make random and unpredictable trips for a period of time.
Could Clara be another fragment of the Key to Time? Could she be Princess Astra being reborn? Would the Black and White Guardians be significant enough characters for the 50th anniversary?
5: Jenny, the Doctor’s daughter
Jenny is created when a Progenation Machine uses some of the Tenth Doctor’s DNA to grow a warrior. The episode, The Doctor’s Daughter, was written by Stephen Greenhorn.
The Doctor does not accept Jenny to begin with, saying; “You’re an echo, that’s all. A Time Lord is so much more. A sum of knowledge, a code, shared history, shared suffering” but later changes his mind.
The Doctor believes that Jenny died in the planet Messaline however the audience saw her experiencing a Time Lord style regeneration. There have been rumours of a possible spin-off series ever since.
6: Faction Paradox
The Faction Paradox is a group of time travellers. They’ve not appeared in any TV episode but in a number of official Doctor Who BBC Books (and a number of less official books).
The Faction Paradox are an organisation involved in a battle between The Great Houses and the Enemy. The mythical founder of the Faction Paradox is Grandfather Paradox who came from one of the Great Houses. It may be the case that the Great Houses are the Time Lords. One unofficial book casts a future Doctor as Grandfather Paradox.
At least one theory reminds us of the use of Remebrance Tanks. Remembrance Tanks are used by the Faction Paradox to reproduce. They were sterile and used the tanks to “remember” more Faction Paradox into existence. The people remembered could be people who had already lived before and died before or even someone still alive which would result in multiple people.
7: Universe’s representative
The Doctor has saved the Universe a number of times. In The Snowmen he makes the point of saying that the Universe does not care and as a result he no longer gets involved in other people’s problems.
Could Clara be the Universe’s response? Is she something/someone that the Universe has created in order to keep the Doctor active?
Is Clara some sort of Universal constant?
In The Big Bang (the episode after The Pandorica Opens), written by Steven Moffat, the Doctor not only restarts the Universe with a second big bang but is then remembered back into existence by Amy Pond. Is this a “Remember me” connection?
8: Clara is the TARDIS
In the episode The Doctor’s Wife, written by Neil Gaiman, the TARDIS is given a humanoid body. Gaiman later indicated that House, the villain, was intended to be The Great Intelligence.
This episode aired a year later than originally planned due to budget issues. Gaiman had to write and re-write the script many times as the number of characters changed according to the needs of the BBC. As a result he had direct, hands on, help from Steven Moffat who wrote some of the lines.
In the episode the TARDIS made it clear she was had picked the Doctor, not the other way around. There’s also this exchange;
The Doctor: Look at us! Talking! wouldn’t it be amazing if we could always talk, even when you’re stuck inside the box?
TARDIS: But you know I’m not constructed that way. I exist across all space and time and you talk and run around and bring home strays!
9: Susan
Susan is the very first Companion. The first Doctor refers to her as “granddaughter”. If Susan is a Time Lord then the Time Lord theories at the start of this post could apply to her – is she the Time Lord who is still, somewhat, active in the Universe?
An attraction of the Susan theory is that the 50th Anniversary is coming up and Moffat might be tempted to pick up some of the oldest loose ends in the series. It’s not clear how much a loose end Susan is, though, as the character appeared in The Five Doctors. The Ninth and Tenth Doctor both indicated that they had no family left. In the BBC Books Legacy of the Daleks by John Peel, Susan comes into possession of the Master’s TARDIS.
10: Created as a lure
A number of theories suggest that Clara Oswin Oswald has been created just for the Doctor. In some ways this echoes the manipulation around Amy Pond for the sake of the Pandorica.
Could The Great Intelligence be behind implanting a memory into a human woman again and again? Could the Doctor have created a perfect Companion (akin to the Dream Lord but the other side of the coin)? Is Clara the creation of the TARDIS wanting to get off the cloud where she had been parked and continue their travels of time and space.
Geek Native welcomes thoughtful comments from our favourite readers. Join in below.
If you rearrange the letters in Clara Oswin Oswald it spells “A window across all”. This could be a clue
Yes, good point! Especially after “Panic Moon” was used as a code name for “Companion”
I especially like this idea because Oswin is such a bizarre name. Clever, clever you. :-)
I stand by my theory that Moffat has not decided yet who she is. No seriously. He admitted once he on purpose will read the theories fans make over months and go out of his way to make the reveal something noone has guessed.
There’s some sense to that — but wouldn’t the BBC need to know? Surely there’s someone there with oversight, they certainly need to start filming and doing all the preparations for that like hiring people and finding sets.
I don’t subscribe to that. Alex Kingston knew pretty much River’s entire story the first time she appeared in Silence in the Library. And Moffat has a great history of putting clues in that are obvious when you go back and rewatch.
Clara Oswin Oswald the twice !? Dead girl. Does that mean she is not a live? And if so does that mean that On the fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the Eleventh, when NO LIVING creature may speak falsely or fail to give answer, a question will be asked. A question that must never, ever be answered.” if she doesn’t have to fallow the laws of trenzalore maby if she asks the question the person doesn’t have to answer Any thoughts on oswin being a somewhat clone from rivers DNA.or even and this is way off rivers and… Read more »
A clone of his wife? Sounds more like an RTD plot! :)
River is completely inftuated with the Doctor, she has loved him all her life. Why would she have a child with Jack (who is still hurting over Ianto)?
One theory. Maybe Rose is part of it. Storyline:
She could be trying to reach the Doctor. I think the Christmas
scene with the Rose & Crown pub sign could suggest
that. The Doctor doesn’t know why, he knows who
is another. The Great Intelligence could most definitely
affect both universes. Maybe it was strong enough of an echo
to connect a few companions. Virginia comes to mind.
On re-watching asylum I feel everybody is neglecting the fact Oswin was in the ‘intensive care’ part of the asylum, in her own room, chained to the floor. She must have done something bad. Notice then how she says the one’s in Intensive care are ‘Survivors of particular wars’.
My assumption was that she was there because she was so mad she didn’t accept she was a Dalek. Assumptions, I know, are dangerous.
She was in there as she still had emotion something Dalek not supposed to have and that much control over it that she had access to the entire Dalek network thing
WOW, all I can say is all of these speculations are spectacular and I absolutely cannot wait to find out where Moffat takes it!! Tissue box in hand of course!
Does anyone else think it’s possible that Captain Jack had a daughter? I mean he flirts enough to imply the possibility. Clara could have inherited his not-being-able-to-die-until-a-giant-head thing.
Also theories about it being River or Jenny? Come on. We all know River has no remaining regenerations and although I’d love to see Jenny again (but only played by the original actress) I highly doubt Clara is her because seriously who flirts with their dad ad kisses him like that?!?
I don’t know if I’m right about any of that. It’s just a possibility and my opinions.
I’ve seen the Daughter of Jack theory before so I’m not going to dismiss it. It just feels a bit… odd to me. I mean; why does it have to be Jack? It’s all a bit of an unlikely circle if it is.
I agree. I’d just really quite like Jac back somehow. Or someone who know/knew him
He had a daughter and a grandson in Torchwood: Children of Earth.
However, they stated neither of them were fixed points. That’s exclusive to Jack, it’s not genetic.
It did say in The Long Game that the Face of Boe was pregnant, so maybe it is a possibility,
Not likely, but good call back and funny theory :)
That was reported by a glorified tabloid that was known for outlandish stories that were rarely if ever true.
I thought I was the only one on the River Song theory. I’m hoping this is true! Not only because Clara has good chemistry with Eleven, but it would be nice to know that River isn’t stuck in the computer for the rest of time.
i personally think that clara is a sort creation of the matrix to retrieve the doctor to save the other time lords or is trying to show the doctor something i mean come on who can hack the daleks it doesnt mater if your a genius you cant do it or the doctor would have sone it before think about the matrix can predict everything but doesnt know everything bit it wants to so it created clara to ask the question for it to be complete.
maybe she was placed in the asylum to trap the doctor, it is odd that they keep meeting, its not a coincidence if it happens three times or it might be only that she was splintered in time by something the doctor did
she did not hack them it just seemed she hacked untill the end when he says no one can hack the dalek network she was a Dalek, however that does raise the question how did she die
doctor whoo
Jenny, River, and Susan have been proposed as being her true Time Lady identity, but what about Romana? Could something have happened to Romana (maybe when escaping the Time War) that wiped her memory? Clara is about as clever as Romana. But then again, it seems unlikely that Clara is a Time Lady since her body is destroyed completely the first time we see her, and the second time her body is interred, so she wouldn’t be able to regenerate. I bet she’s some kind of great cosmic force.
i think clara is to lead him to fields of transenar on the fall of the 11 what dorian said at the end season 6 that a question will be asked and silence will fall i think she is there to lead him there
All this roses stuff made me think. The doctor answers the question in the fields of trazalore. It is possible the future doctor could of created Clara. He could of got god like powers (like bad wolf or something) after saying his name. He sees the roses in the ‘fields’ and he realises he has to create Clara through time to guide of his cloud. Personally I don’t think this theory is great and I just thought of it. I really think it is outer universe. Since the great intelligence is from the pre-universe maybe clara could also be from… Read more »
Certainly think it makes sense to see whether Clara and The Great Intelligence can be linked. After all; Clara has a great intelligence of her own.
Clara reminds me of Bad Wolf, also. She has been scattered through time and space. She may just be a message.
After watching Bells of Saint John, It says rycbar123, three messages to run and remember.
We have heard two already
Run you clever boy and remember… we’ve seen three times now, in the asylum, then the snowmen, and in the final episode of season 7, just when clara enters the doctor’s timeline
that is a good theory
I think Clara is an side-effect what happend like the things in ‘Journey’s End’. Maybe (it’s just coming up in me) is she created from the emotions of the Doctor. In the first episode of season 7 you will see that there are conflicts between Amy and Rory. The Doctor is then the one who act slightly strange, and quess who’s there: Oswin Oswald !!! In the last episode of season 7, episode one, you see the last scene when Amy and Rory disappear, forever (so far known). The doctor is broken, almost crying, ALMOST. (btw i was crying :p… Read more »
My own theory is that the Doctor (as an eternal champion in the Michael Moorcock sense) always has a companion – perhaps this time he has the quintessential companion to champions – ie Clara is the essence of the companion across the multiverse. The constant repeat of the no 23 in all episodes (the latest in Clara’s diary) hints that she is something basic to the Doctor’s universe. What is more basic than the fact that he always has a companion? This is a fact we are continually reminded of.
that is a good theory and she is a little too perfect
I don’t fancy the theories that have Clara somehow related to The Doctor – that’s just creepy, he is obviously infatuated with her. I’ve also heard the theory that Clara is the little girl from the library computer. I’m hoping she’s none of these, that she’s something new. I like new things. New is cool.
Boweties are cool!
I will see you “Time Lord” and raise you…Twelve, at least potentially. Clara’s already said a couple of Tennish things, most notably “Ooo, that’s weird” in Saturday’s episode.
We know that Time Lords can change gender now since “The Doctor’s Wife”. Pre-regeneration images of Time Lords have been seen twice in the series; Cho Je as K’anpo Rimpoche all the way back in “Planet of the Spiders”, and of course there was the Watcher, between Four and Five. Finally, would you put it past Moffat to do it? No, me either.
If Clara`s his 12th generation, that`ll make people stop watching it. That would ruin Dr. Who
There is a rule that TimeLords can not cross their own time stream at any time. It would create a paradox and mess with the universe.
You mean, like making the same person appear randomly throughout human history with the same face, background and personality?
That’s not a paradox. One person meeting/kissing themselves is.
i think 3/4 of the whovian fandom dont want him to become a girl
that would ruin his chemistry patterns
and the fact, it means he kissed himself -_-
lol that would be too creepy
its pretty obvious guys: She’s either K-9, a Zarbi or Kandyman.
I think that the human doctor and rose from the parallel universe created an army of spoon head robots in the form of clara Oswald and sent them to the doctors universe
I was thinking along the same line – Human Doctor and Rose have a kid. : )
She cant be a timelord! TIMELORDS REGENERATE!!!, my opinion is that she’s a fixed point in time. it probably went clara oswald, clara oswin oswald then oswin oswald or some of the genes from jack (I know… he’s had children before and none of them were immortal but maybe she was)
But Jenny doesn’t regenerate. If something went wrong, as a result of the time lock thingy that separated the Time War from the rest of the Universe, and Ramona managed to get out mid-regeneration, I can see it. Or perhaps this is what happens when you die in a Chameleon Arc? Your Time Lord body refuses to die but you can’t regenerate so you hop forward a few generations and are reborn with the same DNA?
I am leaning towards her being the daughter of The Doctor and River making for a strange hybrid that jumps through time through something equivalent to reincarnation. Its not creepy because he isn’t infatuated with her. He is infatuated with the mystery.
actually he kinda is
moffat confirmed that she is his love interest since river has been gone for almost 100 years now
in one episode that she kissed him, you could tell he liked it
they do have a bit of chemistry
I want her to be River Song, pleeeease let it be River Song! I don’t want River stuck in the computer forever …
You all didn’t mention CAL. Catherine Abigail Lux on the main article. Some people say Clara is her. Also, I think she may be Nestene or Autons, either way like clones. But that can go with the “Lure,” I guess.
Personally, I believe that Clara cant be a Time Lord unless some how they can be reborn. Also didn’t the Doctor say he could since other Time Lords?. I don’t believe she can be the TARDIS because in “The Doctor’s Wife” the TARDIS tried to take human form but could only hold it for so long so unless there is a special form it can take on I don’t think it is possible. I don’t know I could be wrong but that’s what I think.
i myself have wondered about her first episode. wasn’t oswin’s dalek being held in the ‘intensive care ward’ which was for daleks that had survived battled with the Doctor? infact, she seemed to have had an even greater position than this, as her cell was at the end of the hall-way contaning the insane daleks…
I’m convinced that she’ll turn out to be Susan especially after last night’s episode, with a nursery and what appeared to be Susan’s voice talking when the TARDIS console was dismantled.
I think that Clara could be a daughter of the face of boe because he could never die and she might be 1/2 human giving her the ability to die but she is just reborn!
My theory is that this season is not happening at all. My theory is that the Doctor is still in the Assylm. They are attempting to covert him like they did Clara and everything that is happening now is his own mind creating its own dream world because whats really happening is just too horrible, The Clara currentinly traveling with him is a manifestation of his own psychie in much the same manner as the “Dream Lord?” (I think that was his name anyway) who also was a manifestation of the Doctors “dark” side. Clara is whats wrong. Clara is… Read more »
Clara is obviously from Gallifrey! but how?
Clara is, and BETTER BE River Song, she may be CAT downloaded, but timeLORD knows its time for some ACTUAL PROPER romance between the Doctor and someone (not this “I hugged you and gave you a peck” crap)… if she’s a lure like POND, I doubt i’ll be watching the show much longer; that scenario has already been played out.
and btw I’m more inclined to believe that she is a relative of a monkey than than that she is Jacks daughter….and also realize both river song and Jack are on a television show called Arrow now…they may not be around much for dr. who.
I love how we came up with all these crazy conspiracy theories about her.
and really she’s just a normal girl who sacrificed herself to save her friend.
Girl in the Library. Perhaps she’s falling in the library core?
Actually, here is a picture of the Girl in the Library along with Clara. Strikingly similar hairstyles and overall persona.
I was just watching Christmas Invasion and doesn’t it look like Rose is wearing the same ring on the same finger as Clara does in the Day of the Doctor? Also, it’s said that Susan’s real name means Rose…I wonder if that’s somehow connected. Though it would be weird if Rose was somehow related to the Doctor.
she is a person spread across all time by saving the doctor she even told him to steal the TARDIS plus Tasha len(Tasha mel)is possibly river amy was a flirt to she kissed him night before her wedding
talkwithgabe oberynmartells gostei, mas preciso dizer que ri:
8: Clara is the TARDIS
racheIhudson talkwithgabe eu ainda quero entender pq a tardis odeia a clara
racheIhudson talkwithgabe preciso ri da 5 seria incesto
oberynmartells talkwithgabe idk kkkkkkkk
oberynmartells talkwithgabe perai dei xa eu ver qual eh o 5
oberynmartells talkwithgabe NOSSA KKKKK
oberynmartells talkwithgabe vcs achariam legal se ela fosse um time lord? ou time lady (????) kkkkk
racheIhudson talkwithgabe não sei, mas ela não seria a susan pq foi mostrado que ela se encontrou com todos os doctors inclusive
racheIhudson talkwithgabe foi ela quem disse pro 1st e pra susan escolherem tal tardis
oberynmartells racheIhudson mas foi a clara que tava espalhada pela história do doctor, não a clara atual, certo?
talkwithgabe oberynmartells pera to confusa, o gabe ta certo, né?
racheIhudson oberynmartells ajuda luciano
talkwithgabe racheIhudson pelo que eu entendi a clara do sec 21 é uma das claras espalhadas pela linha do tempo do doctor
oberynmartells talkwithgabe vcs me confudem
@sarahtheavenger Ermm, matt smith kinda broke the rule with the big red button (or big friendly button i cant remember) when him and clara were captured by the junk yard crew + 50th aniversary