Doctor Who Series 11: 10 Huge Questions After 'The Battle Of Ranskoor Av Kolos'
8. What About The TImeless Child?
There haven’t been many outstanding questions this year, but the Timeless Child remains an unresolved mystery. Clever editing of the preview clips tricked some into thinking that the voice the Doctor recognised belonged to this unknown figure. Since the character was never referenced again in series 11, it is now almost certain that it is the Doctor herself. Not her long, lost sister, or Susan or Rose.
The Doctor’s identity in series 11 has been handled quite distinctly. Whilst Jodie Whittaker appears to have taken inspiration from David Tennant for some of her mannerisms and delivery, the thirteenth Doctor continues to eschew the old bravado that so often characterised him and the other modern Doctors. Here, instead of a triumphant “I am the Doctor” speech, she even introduces herself as “a nobody”. There is no sense of her being from a highly superior race, one feared across the galaxy. Tim Shaw dismisses her as puny and ignorant and she admits that Stenza technology is beyond her.
The Timeless Child, if it is the Doctor, is not a statement about her mastery over time and space. She has recourse here to pray to the universe and we’ve already been reminded this series that the Doctor isn’t the greatest TARDIS pilot. She’s even made a mistake with the teleportation device, inadvertently corrupting it so that Tim Shaw ended up in the wrong place. The Timeless Child is instead about her lack of roots.