Doctor Who: 4 Theories About John Hurt's Doctor
3. The Valeyard?
Or perhaps he is a future, possibly secret Doctor? In the 1986 serial 'Trial of a Time Lord', the Valeyard is used by the Time Lords in an attempt to prosecute the Doctor. This was a future incarnation which appeared to show that the Doctor had a very dark future in between his twelfth and possibly final incarnation - maybe a result of what occurs at Trenzalore or the currently unknown content of the eighth series. Considering Time Lords can meet other incarnations across their own time lines, it is not possible that John Hurt plays the Valeyard, and that he has witnessed events which the Eleventh Doctor knows about, but has yet to experience. Here's what The Master says to The Sixth Doctor in The Trial Of A Timelord: The Ultimate Foe, which further showcases how plausible this theory might be."There is some evil in all of us, Doctor even you. The Valeyard is an amalgamation of the darker sides of your nature, somewhere between your twelfth and final incarnation, and I may say you do not improve with age."