7. Identity Is Fluid
Identity is an interesting thing in Doctor Who. Superficial appearances, including the Doctors own ever changing face, often mask the true nature of things. The character of Tricky in Journey has had his identity stripped away and altered. Told he was an android, he eventually finds out he is not only human but a Van Baalen brother. He was forcibly removed from his family connection his sight, voice and memory taken away and only partially restored. Tricky does not remember his origins; he cannot recall his birth identity. Yet he is the most cognizant of the situation. He senses almost immediately that the TARDIS is a sentient being and he feels her pain and is sympathetic. He is at once the most blind and the most aware. Tricky and the Doctor are quite similar in that they both were forced to take on false identities. Tricky was betrayed by his brothers but we do not yet know why the Doctor is so keen on hiding who he really is. Clara learns his name during the course of the story but the Doctor makes sure shes forgotten it by the end. Both Tricky and the Doctor rely more on other peoples observations about who they are rather than on their own true natures when deciding how to present themselves to the world. Clara, on the other hand, finally convinces the Doctor that she is exactly what she appears to be a perfectly ordinary woman. This leads me to speculate that its something the Doctor, or perhaps the TARDIS, does to Clara that splinters her throughout space and time. Is that why the TARDIS is so resistant to Clara? The TARDIS had a part in turning Captain Jack into an anomaly and shes not too keen on him either.