#fourteen is in his own category that just says ‘retired grandpa’

[quietwingsinthesky]

unpopular opinion: 10 and 12 have essentially the same flaws and hell bent was pretty much 12's time lord victorious era (i love both 10 and 12 ftr)

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

YEAH!!! YEAH YOU GET IT!!!! actually i think this is why i have the nuwho doctors mentally sorted into two categories. one side is the “oh god oh fuck why did i survive that” category (nine, thirteen, fifteen) and the other is the time lord victorious arc and consequences category (ten, eleven, twelve). they’re more loose thematic similarities for the former but for the latter its like. Yeah, this is the point of them. ten kicks it off and then tries at the very end Not to go time lord victorious. eleven is literally All about how he got so big for his britches that the whole fucking universe is scared of him and this is a Bad thing. and twelve is, finally, dealing with all of that but not in like a “healing from his issues” way, in a “trying to moralize his way out of a hole” way where he is replicating the exact same mistakes he’s always made, making the same assumptions that override people’s autonomy and throw the universe out of wack because he feels it is what he should be allowed to do as the doctor.

and i love that about them! what a mess those three are in that semi-arc of trying to figure out. well. Is it a god complex if the power you have over the universe does sort of make you a god? And how does one be a moral god, if there’s any way to do so? and the constant underlying truth that undoes all three of them that they are NOT gods. they’re a man in a box, with all the flaws and biases and attachments and issues of that. it’s fun!!!

and hellbent is such a perfect encapsulation of all of that because its in direct parallel to clara’s “i am owed better” moment in dark water. this is the doctor, punching diamond to dust because HE IS OWED BETTER. he is owed clara’s life, though she chose every step to face that death. and that’s what makes giving up the memory of her more painful than say, letting her die again. because in that moment, her second chance at life becomes not for him to hold onto her, but for her to have for herself. ough.

[unpopular opinion rating]