Skip to main content

doctor who - Why didn't Rose Tyler die after possessing Time Vortex?


The 9th Doctor took Time Vortex from Rose just for few seconds and his cells started to die leaving him no choice but to regenerate.


Previously, Rose possessed Time Vortex for several minutes (She spent time in TARDIS while coming to The Doctor from 21st century and then her dialogue time while killing Daleks etc), but she didn't die. Why?


Provided that humans are softer than Time Lords and she possessed Time Vortex for longer duration, why didn't she die?



Answer



I believe her conversation afterwards indicates that it's more like she was possessed and the TARDIS kept her safe, as it was her plan to save The Doctor.


We know that the TARDIS is conscious (6x04 The Doctor's Wife), and Rose also seems to indicate this in her line:



I looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked into me.




Sure, the Doctor corrects her ("You looked into the time vortex. Rose, no-one's meant to see that."), but it may be that The Doctor simply doesn't realise this yet (As until The Doctor's Wife, it had been established that only later model TARDISes were known to be conscious).


With all this in mind, I think it makes her final conversation with The Doctor more meaningful:



Rose: What happened?


The Doctor: Don't you remember?


Rose: It's like. . .there was this singing.


The Doctor: That's right, I sang a song and the Daleks ran away!


Rose: I was at home... No, I wasn't, I was in the Tardis and there was this light. I can't remember anything else.



There are also similarities between the look of the "essence" that The Doctor removed from Rose and blew back into the TARDIS, and the "essence" of the TARDIS escaping from Idris in The Doctor's Wife:



Image of the Time Vortex / TARDIS essence from The Parting of the Ways


Image of the TARDIS essence from The Doctor's Wife


As to why it still caused The Doctor to die, that may be because Time Lords are already operating on a similar plane of consciousness to the TARDIS, as the Doctor hints at:



Rose: I can see everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be.


The Doctor: That's what I see, all the time.



Which would make the effect of having another consciousness inhabit their own even more stressful on their physiology than on a human.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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...

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...