Doctor Who: An Exit For Clara?

Wil proposes a theory...

We all have theories on what may happen in Doctor Who, and on the odd occasion some of them are proven right. Take last year when Missy appeared out of nowhere in Deep Breath. Instantly fan forums and social media were full of people speculating just who she was - and, to be fair, in that instance it seems 90% of fans theorised correctly that she was the Master.

My theory concerns Miss Clara Oswald. It's one I've considered for some time but has now been reignited thanks to a recent promotional slogan for the show.

I've written before about how I feel it's going to be very difficult to successfully write Clara out of Doctor Who as Steven Moffat has made her such an essential ingredient, arguably more so than any companion has ever been before. I get how this has angered some fans, but not me, I really like the character and the way she's grown on the series. I don't want Clara to leave, but I think it's safe to assume that Jenna Coleman is not going to do another 50 years, and it's most likely that we will be saying goodbye to her, if not this series, then very soon afterwards.

However, the way things have been going, and after everything she's been through, it's going to take something really extraordinary for Clara to leave the Doctor's side. I see two options, a greater calling or death.

I'll dismiss death straight off as I don't believe Moffat would do it to her, it's a bit of a cop out and he couldn't even properly kill off Amy and Rory - I don't think it's either his style or his plan. So this leaves a greater calling. Initially I'd considered motherhood may be the deciding factor, but with Danny seemingly dead in the Nethersphere (and long may he stay there please and thankyouverymuch), and Last Christmas offering no suggestion of a Baby Pink produced before Dan's demise, and Jenna Coleman categorically stating in recent interviews that she will have no new love interest on the show, this idea went out the window.

And yes, I'm waffling, but I'm going to get to my theory now, which first occurred to me last year. I think the Doctor may be training Clara, readying her for when he does find Gallifrey so she can go to the Time Lords Academy. Similar to how the Seventh Doctor was nurturing Ace, and, if the show had not been cancelled, we would've seen happen in Season 27.

After all, as we were told in Flatline, she would make "a very good Doctor"...

So that's pretty much my theory of where I think the Moff is going with Clara now.

But wait, there's more. And it may be a little crazy, but I like crazy.

You know how in the 1996 TV Movie everyone got their pitchforks out when the Eighth Doctor proclaimed he was half-human "on his Mother's side". It's largely been ignored ever since, with Russell T Davies speaking out about it being a moment of madness, but again it's something that never bothered me one bit, and would certainly explain the affinity the Doctor has with Earth and why he chose to camp out here in the first place.

And you've probably already guessed where I'm going with this, but what if Clara is the Doctor's mother?

If there's one thing we've seen in the Moffat era of Who it is that he really really likes to embed his ideas into the shows mythology. (War Doctor anyone? Ten using up an extra regeneration just so Moff could control the whole regeneration limit thing - again, no complaints, he's done good). He's done this so many times that he's almost rewritten the book! (Yet again, I have no problem. I've enjoyed the ride.) So it's not much of a stretch of the imagination to consider this as something Moffat might try and pull off.

We already know that the Impossible Girl was born to save the Doctor, but now we're told she was born to save the universe..

Is Clara destined to eventually give life to the man who will save the universe on countless occasions?

But how could it work? Well I keep thinking about one of last years stand-out episodes, Listen. I've always wondered why the TARDIS would take Clara and the Doctor back to the Doctor's past. Back to that barn on Gallifrey. It's something that's strictly forbidden and could have had grave consequences. But what if it wasn't the Doctor's timeline controlling the TARDIS there? What if it was still Clara's timeline, and it was her future?

I'm getting a little paradoxical but there are currently rumours suggesting that when the Doctor and Clara rediscover Gallifrey it will be dead, and they will be the ones responsible for 'rebooting' it, as such. Maybe Gallifrey's timeline is circular, what has happened will happen again. The Doctor, having locked Gallifrey up during The Day of the Doctor has escaped this loop, but if Clara now stays behind she could end up being the Doctor's mother.

My point behind all this is that someone who can work these things out far better than I (Mr Moffat) could easily work this idea into the series.

I've really enjoyed Clara's time on the show, but really, what an exit that would be...