Skip to main content

Why Do Some Time Lords Use Names (And Why Does The Doctor Keep His Secret)?



We know many of the Time Lords by titles, like The Second, and, of course, The Doctor. There's also Time Lords we know by name, like Lady Romana and Rassilon. We also know of some where we know their names and their titles, like The Master (Koschei) or The Monk (Mortimus).


Why do some Time Lords use names and some use titles? And why, when other Time Lords have freely given their names (even ones that use titles), is the Doctor unwilling to tell his name to anyone other than River Song?



Answer



Here's my take after 30 years of watching Doctor Who. This isn't based on any single particular source and based mostly on the TV shows and movie.


First, it's a personal choice on the part of the Time Lord, which can change during their various life spans. Time Lord culture seems to expect this as a normal occurrence. For example, see how Drax reacts when he meets the Doctor in "The Armageddon Factor".


Second, what we hear as humans isn't necessarily what the Time Lords are actually saying. Time Lord communication is at least partially telepathic and possibly machine enhanced. Our semi-evolved simian brains are making the best of the data a Time Lord brain sends to us. For example, see how Sarah Jane Smith questions how she can understand every alien she encounters exactly as though they were speaking English.


Third, using Romana's name as a example, Time Lord personal names seem to be very complicated and long, so they shorten them or replace them with titles for us simians to use.


Fourth, out-of-universe it allows authors to create any kind of Time Lord they need for a story and immediately give them something instantly identifiable and iconographic.


Fifth, (extra point shot attempt) "Doctor Who?" was the punchline of many of the early episodes. When the Doctor left the final scene, one of the characters remaining would say something like: "He was the Doctor", and another would ask "The Doctor? Doctor Who?" Asking if anyone had actually heard his name.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...