Ashildr: More than Meets the Eye?

Guest contributor Joseph Reynolds ponders a theory about Maisie Williams’ character.

Disclaimer: If you have been avoiding spoilers on Hell Bent please stop reading now, this article will contain speculation based on the trailers and promotional pictures for the Series 9 finale, along with interviews from Moffat.

With Hell Bent just around the corner there has been no better time for fans to speculate on what’s going to be revealed about their favorite characters. The purpose of this article is to explore a theory that I have not seen discussed among the community, one that could be divisive, but if done correctly could have immense payoff. So, without any more hesitation, here it is!

Ashildr/The Knightmare/Me/Mayor Me (For the sake of keeping myself and you sane while writing this article I will be primarily calling her Ashildr) is an intriguing character, albeit, one we don’t know much about. She was introduced as a normal Viking girl whose life changed when the Doctor infused her with Mire technology to save her life, with the side­-effect of taking away her mortality. The Doctor describes what he did as a “Tidal wave”, a choice that would have rippling effects across time itself. We see an instance of this in Face the Raven when Ashildr indirectly takes Clara’s life ­ but what if this is only the tip of the iceberg? What if, like Clara, in a sense, Ashildr is vital to the Doctor’s existence? This brings me to the main purpose of this article – ­ what if Ashildr is the Doctor’s mother? All the pieces seem to fit into place, so let’s take a deeper look into the possibility.

The Hybrid

A big point of speculation this series has been the prophecy of the “Hybrid”, and after last episode it would appear we have our answer with the Doctor claiming “The Hybrid, is me.” However, some fans (myself included) have wondered, is he referring to himself, or to Lady Me, Ashildr, instead? I’ve come to the conclusion that he almost certainly is talking about himself, here’s why.

1) He never refers to her as “Me”, trying as hard as possible to call her by her birth name. It would seem out of character for him to suddenly be calling her by the name he tried so hard to avoid.

2) In the trailers for episode 12 the Hybrid is referred to as a male entity, it is stated:

“The Hybrid will stand in the ruins of Gallifrey and destroy a billion hearts to heal his own.”

This could be purposely misleading, but along with reason number one it would very much appear the Doctor is indeed the Hybrid.

This is very important to my theory, we will come back to it in a moment.

Gallifrey

In The Woman Who Lived we see that Ashildr also longs to leave Earth, feeling she no longer fits in with humanity due to her immortality. She tries to leave with the Doctor but he won’t allow it. She tried to strike a deal with Leandro, an alien who promised her just what the Doctor wouldn’t give her and she accepted. This, of course, fell through, leaving her more anxious than ever to find a new home.

Just like the Doctor himself, Ashildr also wants a stable home. One where she feels at peace, and her immortality a normal attribute. We see in Face the Raven that she has been manipulated by a more powerful force, assumed to be the Time Lords, to capture the Doctor ­ but what would she get in return? Logically, the gift of living on Gallifrey, a planet far away, inhabited by immortals. Nothing could make her happier, and we’ve already seen the lengths she would go to to have her wishes fulfilled.

In the trailer for Hell Bent we do see that Ashildr is involved in some way, whether she is on Gallifrey or not remains to be seen, but with so much focus on the Doctor’s home and Ashildr’s interaction with the Time Lords, it would be a reasonable conclusion to assume she is on Gallifrey in the trailers.

How it all Ties Together

Now for the fun part – ­ how do all of the previous points conclude that Ashildr is the Doctor’s mother? Assuming the previous assumptions are correct, she would try to get married on Gallifrey (or, whatever Time Lords do) and have kids. Her spouse and her kids would be able to regenerate, eliminating her fear and despair of outliving them. Her kids of course, would not be pure Time Lord, they would be a mix of Time Lord, Human and maybe even Mire, which would make them ­ wait for it ­ Hybrids (You totally didn’t see that coming).

This would fulfill not only the Hybrid prophecy, but it would also address the Doctor’s comment from the 1996 TV Movie about being half human on his mother’s side. Not only this, but it would also match Steven Moffat’s comment about shaking up the Doctor Who lore in the episode. It would additionally, in a sense, bring Missy’s comment from The Witch’s Familiar full circle when she speaks of the enemy inside the friend, and the friend inside the enemy, in this case it would be in a literal sense, of Ashildr carrying the baby Doctor before giving birth…

Conclusion

Whether Ashildr is the Doctor’s mother remains to be seen. It would be an ambitious, yet controversial move on Moffat’s part, but I for one feel that it would add more depth to not only the Doctor’s character, but more importantly to Ashildr’s character. It would give her a satisfying conclusion, but one that could open up an infinite number of storylines for future episodes, Big Finish stories, novels and comics.

Thank you so much for reading my article, seeing as it is the first I’ve written for Doctor Who TV! I put a lot of work into it, but it wouldn’t be finished without your thoughts in the comments below, so feel free to start speculating away!