Doctor Who: The Name Of The Doctor Review – 8 Ways Steven Moffat Defined The Heroine’s Journey

By Mary Ogle / May 19, 2013

5. Reach A Destination

Clara€™s and The Doctor€™s destination is a battlefield burial ground. The TARDIS, as a broken and dying bigger-on-the-outside version of herself, has become the Doctor€™s tomb. After the doors are breached, the Great Intelligence leaps into the Doctor€™s time stream prepared to rewrite every victory, annihilate every friendship, even as it means his own destruction €“ an act of suicidal terrorism. It is here that Clara becomes the heroine as a kind of warrior archetype. As a mirror to the GI€™s actions, she chooses to fight for the Doctor€™s existence even at the expense of her own. She fights for what she believes in, a common good that supersedes her individual need for survival. River has also reached her ultimate goal. The Doctor has declared his love for her and, in a twist on the fairy tale cliché, released her with a kiss. She has fulfilled her duty as guide and is now able to move forward.