The Waters of Mars is about sacrifice. Not a cheery or romantic topic, youd think. But its protagonist and hero is Adelaide Brooks, the woman who led the first colony on Mars. She survived all the craziness of Earth and led humanity to its first colony, to the beginning of the great and bountiful human empire. And she did all that, made all the hard choices of who lived and who died, without losing touch with her humanity. Without losing her capacity for mercy. The Doctor told her that she could have shot one of the first infected people, but she hadnt. And he loved you for that. Adelaide Brooks, while she was alive, was a symbol of the triumph of romance and intellect. Dead, her memory drove humanity into the stars. Not everything ends; not love, not always, and Adelaide Brooks death and life were both full of meaning, and full of hope.