A Song of Waking and Mirrors

[janie_aire]

Doctor Who:  The Rings of Akhaten

spoilers through the episode.

meta: Myth, Chairs, Mirrors, Rings vs. Leaves

Special Guest Star:  Ouroboros

[Open Your Eyes]------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Comments

[janie_aire]

Hi purplefringe, thanks so much for the kind words!

Okay, the Lake District. My first thought is that it's analogous to Lake Silencio, the site of River's wedding. But it's also, interestingly enough, located in Cumbria. Where the Doctor waited in a monastery for Clara to call. And it's been the home or site of pilgrimmage to many poets of the Romantic era; it inspired Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud."

Silver: Silver is what's used to coat the back side of a mirror. So it's a mirror-metal, partaking of the symbology of mirrors -- identity, reversals, a gateway to another world. (So is white gold -- it's the appearance that counts, the story, not the actual atoms.)

I have no idea if the Linden Leaf was a deliberate switcheroo on the part of director Farren Blackburn -- I tend to go with intentional, but it doesn't really matter, because in the end it's the symbol we have to work with. And as such, it's a mercurial symbol, simply by virtue of it changing. I rather prefer it to the Maple, which doesn't seem to have the same rich symbolism, other than being "sweetie." (And yes, I do lots of research.)

Rings a Bell: It means "Remember." I love the Clara-Clock insight, it's the one I'm most proud of!

Now go back to whatever you were doing, you have work to do. ;)

[purplefringe]

I concentrated on my work eventually :-P It's so hard though....I'd much rather just read everyone's meta thoughts and flail.

Thanks for clarifying all that! I have really enjoyed all the references to the Lakes/Cumbria so far, for nostalgic reasons. I hadn't thought of it as a place of pilgrimage though - good thought.

And yes, I agree that I prefer the symbolism of the linden leaf to the maple - I just wish they'd used a linden leaf the first time too....(sometimes the part of my that is happy for things to be fully explained by meta goes to war with the part of me that likes actual plot continuity)

Rings a Bell - omg YES. GENIUS. And if Clara 'rings a bell' (of St John) and is mirrored (literally) to the god-in-a-box, then she is the Doctor's alarm clock and if she is a clock then she is a Lady Of Time.....