10 Crazy Doctor Who Theories Fans Actually Believed

The Master has had many brilliant disguises across NuWho, from Professor Yana and Mr. Razor to Missy, O, and… Rory?

While that last one has never actually been confirmed, fans, for a time, believed that the Eleventh Doctor’s right-hand-man would turn out to be the latest incarnation of his greatest enemy.

The theory goes that Rory, like Professor Yana, was completely unaware of his true identity, with various Freudian slips hinting at the truth. There’s his nonchalance to the TARDIS being bigger on the inside in The Vampires of Venice, his (admittedly quite remarkable) knack for escaping death, and the head-banging he experiences following Mels’ regeneration in Let’s Kill Hitler. The sound of a drum beat, perhaps?

There's also his hospital badge glimpsed during the Doctor's 'detective vision' in The Eleventh Hour, which states that it was issued in 1990. Slightly problematic, considering Rory would've been an infant at that stage.

These details led many fans to believe that Rory was secretly the Master, but to paraphrase the Eighth Doctor, this was merely a textbook example of people seeing patterns in things that weren’t there.

Although, now we mention it, the Master was absent from the Eleventh Doctor's era. Just saying!