6. The Rani's Moral Ambiguity
BBCOne of the Rani's many intriguing qualities was her lack of any real moral character. Why was this so fascinating? Well, unlike the Master, who clearly revelled in his evil persona, the Rani didn't view herself as evil. She didn't necessarily consider herself one of the good guys, but neither did she rank herself as a villain. It's not that she was neutral, either; she just simply didn't care about sides. Science was the Rani's life, and she believed that good and evil were irrelevant in the face of completing an experiment. Her opinions on this matter were extremely clear in her two stories, The Mark of the Rani and Time and the Rani. In these, she exploited and manipulated numerous cultures with cold disdain, never truly caring about the consequences her actions had on others. To her, all that mattered were results. In her eyes, letting anything get in the way of her experiments made her weak and less of a scientist. This cold disregard for morals marked her as an extremely dangerous threat - with no rules to hold her back, there were no limits to what she could do. For a scientist as powerful as she was, it was no wonder the Doctor placed so much importance on halting her schemes.