Doctor Who Series 8: 10 Reasons The Valeyard Is The Perfect Villain

8. It Could Give Us Some Interesting Alternate Timeline Stories

As explained in The Trial of a Time Lord, the Valeyard had gone back in time to steal the Doctor's regenerations; whether this was due to the fact that he had already used his or that, once physically separated from the Doctor, he was unable to regenerate on his own was unclear. What was clear was that he had every intention of reworking the Doctor's timeline once he had the Doctor's regenerations for himself. There could definitely be some good episodes based on the what-if scenario of the Valeyard's success instead of failure. With the Valeyard as a villain, the writers could definitely give us an episode or two of what could happen if the Valeyard succeeded in claiming the Doctor's regenerations as his own. What would he try to alter in his timeline? Would he try to alter the events of the Time War (even though we already know Gallifrey's real fate from The Day of the Doctor and The Time of the Doctor)? Would he try to change his companions' fates? The possibilities for someone as uninhibited as the Valeyard are virtually limitless. They wouldn't necessarily have to create new stories featuring alternate timelines; the Valeyard appeared in multiple novel and audiobook spinoffs, and the writers could very well adapt one of those the way they did for Human Nature/The Family of Blood in 2007.