[OOC: application for discedo]
OOC Information
Name: Dessi
LJ: loyaliste
Contact: MayorOfCantown (aim)
Characters played at Discedo: crotchroses
IC Information
Name: (the) Doctor
Canon: Doctor Who
Timeline: End of 'A Good Man Goes to War'
Canon Resource Link:
Doctor Who Wiki
Wiki on Eleven
Personality:
The Doctor, although he appears humanlike, is ultimately and very distinctly not human in personality in his eleventh incarnation. While each of his incarnations has his own distinct personality, and while I'll be outlining only the eleventh, there are also defining traits that have persisted throughout his entire existence. Not only that, but those defining traits of this Time Lord are even then divided into different aspects of who he is, how he sees the universe and himself, and what his motivations are.
He is, to put it bluntly, a terrifyingly complicated man with a lot of contradictions and tics and motivations and fears that roll up into one slightly lanky old man stuck in a young body.
After regenerating into his eleventh incarnation, the Doctor has taken on a very contradictory mantle in his way of thinking and acting. He's still driven by his passion for traveling the universe and his fascination with the wonders it holds, but in attitude, he goes about it differently in comparison to the last three versions of himself. Unlike Nine or Ten, Eleven seems to no longer carry the burden of having wiped out his entire race to such an extent that it wears on him visibly (though he still does carry it heavily). In canon, he speaks to Amy of it only briefly and does not divulge much but a few cryptic words and leaves it at that. Like a recurring theme throughout the entire series, the Doctor is nonetheless constantly running; although when Amy (Eleven's companion) implies to him that he is very old, very kind and the last of his species, he seems moved by this and they reconcile, which brings me to the next aspect of his personality.
Unlike some of his other incarnations and like a few others, Eleven seems to exhibit some flashes of anger or aggression; impatience laced with an edge of superiority. For example, in 'The Beast Below', he finds himself disgusted at the treatment of the Star Whale and bitterly concludes that he would render the creature brain dead in order to save both the nation's ship and keep the creature from enduring the pain forced on it in captivity--and also that he would take Amy home, as she had chosen to forget the truth of the nation's situation when it had been presented to her. Throughout the rest of the episodes, it becomes clear that the Doctor's temper, while perhaps not blindingly so, comes in bursts that seem to display the mindset of one who has spent many years alive and who is impatient and somewhat weary of life and the chaos and presumable stupidity it brings to those who live it. Along with that comes a focused edge in how he handles his more negative moods, which will be discussed below.
In contrast to his sometimes mature demeanor mirroring that presence which might be seen on an old man who has run through his paces time and again, the Doctor in this incarnation can at times act rather childlike with his fascination with everything he experiences; for example, when the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension(s) In Space; his time machine) received intense damage after Ten regenerated into Eleven, despite him knowing very well that the thing was spiraling out of control, on fire and hurtling over England, he simply shut the door and examined his new body with intrigued interest. Even his mannerisms often come with childlike or obtuse overtones; much like someone from an older generation being interested in the new and the changing--someone who is very much a child at heart willing to stop and see the beauty and simplicity in life, while also using one's time wisely in doing so. Along with that comes his very alien behavior. As an example, in 'The Eleventh Hour', he strips down in front of Rory and Amy when changing from his previous incarnation's tattered clothes into a new suit found in the hospital where they were in; he doesn't seem to care at all, indicating how different and driven he can be, despite his appearance and familiarity with humans. Another rather hilarious example is during the episode 'The Lodger', where the Doctor must spend time living in a flat with a roommate--it becomes apparent that he knows little about 21st century human social norms and customs and so the other roommate acts as a foil to emphasize Eleven's odd behavior and eccentricities when he is attempting to function 'normally' on Earth. Even when confronted with Amy's attempts to seduce him, he becomes flustered and seems a bit oblivious to some of her advances; although he appears to care for Amy, his darker side (which will be explained below) is eventually both amused and angered by her apparent lack of priorities with her relationship with himself and her fiance.
The Doctor also has apparent difficulty understanding human feelings of love, loyalty and devotion, despite having apparent strong affection and devotion to his companions throughout all of his incarnations. While he isn't particularly keen on hiding his emotions, the way in which he expresses them is often very different from human social norms would expect. They tend to be cryptic, impulsive, sometimes arrogant and coldly reserved, and even amusingly erratic. Not unlike his Second incarnation, this Doctor has a particular manipulative side. His behavioral conduct can and will be used to trick, trap or lead others where he wants them to go without them realizing it. While he may appear impulsive and without any particular logical plan or strategy--and while that may be somewhat true--when it comes to this Doctor, "thinking by the seat of one's pants" typically means "a circuitous plan of which I will utter nothing until it's said and done."
Where the Ninth and Tenth Doctors were heavily weighed by being the last Time Lord at their own hands and very intent on continuing the Doctor's habit of running (from what is never established, though it's implied it could be a myriad of things), Eleven seems to have realized that--although he's still running--avoiding or disregarding things and delaying in action can and will lead to previously unnecessary loss and detriment to himself and, to his regret, other people. He is exceedingly energetic and open to showing his vast intelligence with a very brash set of mannerisms, and when he is distracted by something it may almost entirely catch his focus to the point where he might block out everything else. Even so, if there is something Eleven wishes to focus on, he will set his mind to it and go at it with fierce, enthusiastic tenacity. Combined with his enigmatic and sometimes jovial demeanor and he becomes something like a speeding train that travels through time and wears a bow tie with a fez. Still, if there is something the Doctor really does not want to do, he will either not do it, or manipulate the situation to his advantage as best he can to get around it, twisting things to his benefit. At one point he says very plainly that "time is not the boss of me." Even if he is quite aware of the unfortunate consequences of his recklessness, the Doctor is still adamant about his place in the universe. His stubborn streak is both a blessing and a curse, and can both help him and drag him down to his knees, or trip him up with blinding arrogance and self-certainty.
Like his other incarnations, the Eleventh Doctor is a man of both wrath and mercy. As shown in 'The Family of Blood', his tenth incarnation punishes the Family for their crimes committed in order to obtain immortality by giving them said immortality in several creatively spiteful ways; one being that the Daughter of Mine was to be trapped in every mirror in existence forever; another example is that the Mother of Mine was left suspended in the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy where she would always remain, forever trapped. His first incarnation allowed another Time Lord, the Lord President Borusa, to be trapped in stone, immortalized in Rassilon's tomb. There are other instances in which the Doctor's darker side manifests itself through somewhat selfish or manipulative behavior--in 'The Christmas Invasion', his tenth incarnation saves the planet from alien invasion yet again, letting the ship go free with the message that the planet is defended and they should not return in hostility. While this is a sign of mercy, his reaction to the next event demonstrates a trait that follows through to his next incarnation. Although the ship was leaving, the Prime Minister gave Torchwood permission to fire on it and destroy it. Horrified, the Doctor says he should have told the aliens to run "as the real monsters, the humans, are coming." Minister Jones justified it by telling him that he could not always be there; that she had defended the planet, but instead he told her he could bring down her government with six words. He whispers "Don't you think she looks tired?" in her aide's ear, marking a chain reaction of events that would lead to her no longer being in office.
In his eleventh incarnation, the Doctor is much less obvious about singling in on his own intentions, although in the 2010 Christmas Special 'A Christmas Carol', he travels back in time to influence the life of a man so that he might control ice clouds on his planet and allow a ship from Earth containing 4,003 passengers (including Rory and Amy) to survive and not crash. Essentially, the Doctor, even in his eleventh and wiser incarnation is not above becoming frustrated when his plans or intentions go awry or at the very least, not as he had planned or hoped them to be. He is also certainly not above having no remorse whatsoever at drastically changing someone's past if it will benefit himself (in 'A Christmas Carol''s case, it also benefited thousands of lives) in some way.
Another manifestation of the Doctor's darker side shows itself in 'Amy's Choice' in which the three travelers (the Doctor, Amy and Rory, Amy's fiance) are sent into a dream state caused by psychic pollen having entered the TARDIS. This manifestation is the Dream Lord, and he puts the three through a trial to see which world is real and which is fake. He mocks the three of them, especially Amy and the Doctor and the platonic and supposed romantic tension between the two. Once the Doctor realizes who the Dream Lord really is, and after three wake safely in the TARDIS the Doctor explains not only the pollen but the Dream Lord.
The so-called "Dream Lord" was a manifestation of the Doctor's darker side; his self-loathing, his frustration concerning the relationship between the three travelers and the cynical part of him that was buried deep in his mind. He can sometimes--or oftentimes--be arrogant and will become very jaded or even angry at other people's dire mistakes, tying in with his frustration at failed plans or distressing events. Still, these things can be softened by his other characteristics and habits. Despite the "Dream Lord" being a part of the Doctor and something of which he's well aware--his faults, his negative traits, the darker sides of his personality and nature as a Time Lord--he is still ultimately very old, and very kind. And very arrogant, too.
In contrast to his sometimes obtuse and random behavior, Eleven is more than capable of intuitive thinking, thoughtful moments and very unexpected resourcefulness. He is even willing to sacrifice himself for the universe and for Amy in 'The Big Bang', where he must enter another universe so that the cracks in the fabric of space and time could heal. At the end before he leaves, he speaks to a young Amy while she sleeps in her bed. He appears visibly upset and distraught, referring to himself as "a daft old man who stole a magic box and ran away." He attempts to keep a jovial attitude, but it's clear that his removal from existence has settled him into a more somber emotional state.
The Doctor, throughout his incarnations but particularly after the Last Great Time War, will make sacrifices (from himself and in the fifth season, an entire species though that's not the first time) if he believes that he has no choice, such as a decision to be made between the existence of the human race or the death of another alien species; if the survival of the alien species was intended to be at the expense of the human race or, on a larger scale, at the expense of the rest of the universe, the Doctor would try to find a solution where "everyone lives". If he could not find a solution, the end result would be a great cost for the sake of the universe's continued existence. In a sense these sort of actions, especially after the Last Great Time War, perhaps may be justified, but he carries these burdens nonetheless.
His anger, particularly in the sixth season, does blind him as well as his grief. It's clear that he is incredibly lonely and, as Amy notes in 'The Doctor's Wife', looking for forgiveness. Or perhaps, just maybe, discovering that there are other Time Lords in the universe that were not sealed away; who didn't burn along with the rest of the Time War. It isn't until River Song finally explains to the Doctor that his fury has led him to twist the meaning of his name. As opposed to being a man known in particular for wisdom and healing, his attitude, devastating actions and swath of ridiculous misadventures speckled with genocide all across the universe… Well, the people of the Gamma Forest know him as a warrior. People have come to fear him and so the abrupt lecture spelled it out for him directly and plainly: He needed to change, else he would go down a much darker path than he would have ever intended.
He is most likely one of the universe's biggest hypocrites, but we love him for it. There are other things we love about him too, though. When it comes down to the last wire, he may very well listen, as he did to River in 'A Good Man Goes to War'. Especially when those words are spoken honestly and in love; although he may not be able to fully recognize that love bit for what it is, platonic or otherwise, he can still see it, and know it. And he, in this most recent set of events, is a chaotic mess of emotions wherein the startling truth of River's identity as Amy and Rory's child has come to light, and the Doctor is about to make a very important decision-- Those he trusts, though few, are so very important to him, it cannot be understated. And now as he's come to trust River, Rory and Amy, he's on the precipice of change and he's quite aware of it--excited, nervous, elated, impatient, frustrated… There are so many emotions to count, but one thing is certain is that given the chance he will do what he feels he must, or what he ought to do; for both his companions and, in this unusual case, River Song.
Overall, the Eleventh Doctor is by no means a simple man. What motivates him is defined by not only his previous incarnations and their experiences, but by the new man he became after regenerating from Ten's death by radiation. After he returns when Amy remembers him at her and Rory's wedding, the Doctor agrees to take the two of them from Earth. It's noted that he allows them trips to various times and places for their honeymoon, implying his more or less established role as the good Doctor and friend of his companions. And, although he handles stressful or exciting situations differently--sometimes with wild hand gestures and rambling, sometimes with a dangerously quiet aura, sometimes with rashness, recklessness or anger, sometimes by thinking aloud--his reactions to a variety of situations are all seemingly sometimes very random, but they all ultimately have an overarching, meaningful purpose in the Doctor's mind.
His character is vast and is such that explaining it in a way that would do it justice would take weeks or months of work. These parts are some of the most important; with him being alien, motivated by his past, his emotional bursts of energy and his animated attitudes, be they positive or negative. This incarnation has begun to slightly heal from his survivor's guilt of having outlived the genocide of his race, has seen what wasting time can cause to the ones he appears to be close to, and is sometimes more than ecstatic to explore and enjoy the good and bad of every place and time he visits with enthusiasm and eclectic fascination. While it's difficult if not impossible for him to see the grandeur of the universe, he is able to see it through his companions and it's the people he trusts--which is very, very few--who keep him on track; in check, as it were.
He is old and he is new; a man who values life but is not unwilling to try and use it with his best (and sometimes not so 'best') intentions; he is, in the end, a daft old man who stole a magic box and ran away, and though he continues to run, he is beginning to see that eventually his past, present and future will inevitably catch up with him, whatever choices he makes.
Powers & Abilities:
The Doctor is highly intelligent; highly, highly intelligent. As a Time Lord and a man who has traveled the universe through time and space for centuries, he contains a vast wealth of knowledge spanning from anatomy to technology. Also as a Time Lord, he has certain psychic abilities--in this incarnation, the ability to link with others and, in canon, transfer memories, thoughts or messages to human minds through physical contact. In canon, he is sometimes capable of telepathic communication with humans, other sentient beings, other Time Lords and even lesser animals.
Additionally, as part of being Gallifreyan, the Doctor's physiological abilities extend to heightened sight (seeing details at a distance), heightened hearing; and with taste and smell is able to identify age, chemical compounds and even the time period, atmosphere and weather forecast. They are also capable of sensing and perceiving the nature of different timelines. They are able to separate the hemispheres of their brain, are capable of photographic memory. Being that his senses are heightened, he is capable (especially in this incarnation) to see and examine details in a way that emulates and rivals Sherlock Holmes; essentially, he has fantastic eyesight and an impeccable eye for seemingly insignificant detail and the ability to connect the pieces of his surrounding circumstances. His other senses are heightened beyond that of normal humans--smell, touch, taste, and hearing. It's noted in 'The Beast Below' that he can hear sounds above or below frequencies inaudible to human ears.
Physically, the Doctor is able to slow or even stop the beating of his two hearts to fake his death or to slow his respiratory system enough to do much the same, or to survive if confined and low on air. Interestingly, aspirin is fatal to him with a single dose but could be remedied with chocolate. The two hearts and their dual vascular system can come in especially handy if a Time Lord is injured--they allow themselves to fall comatose while they heal from their injuries.
It should also be noted that, when in the same dimensional space as the TARDIS, the thing allows for the Doctor to speak, read or write in any language spoken in wherever it lands--that is to say, it 'translates' what others say and what he himself says. Not that this is an issue sans-TARDIS as he is able to speak a staggering amount of languages.
Concerning death: If both the Doctor's hearts are pierced, or if he experiences something highly fatal--terribly immense levels of radiation, a very, very long fall, despite his natural less-fragile-than-human endurance, he will still die. It's at this point when he, as any other normal Time Lord, would be able to regenerate. Regeneration can occur even without impending death, but it's essentially when the Time Lord dies that he or she can choose to live on, where the former body dies, expelling massive amounts of energy, before changing to a completely new body. It's been shown in canon that there is some measure of control over this process, and he could choose not to regenerate if he wished it (though that would definitely not happen in the Doctor's case). It seems his own regenerative cycle could be said to be "set on random"--where the new bodies he takes on are previously unknown and most likely unintentional. During the regenerative process--which can be very painful in some cases--many reactions are different, even for the same Time Lord, but in general energy is typically expelled until the new body has become stable.
The Doctor has a lot of weaknesses; physical, emotional, even mental. Along with his abilities comes a kind of curse of information overload. While it isn't so much a detriment to the Doctor (except in extreme cases), his mind clicks along at such a high speed that occasionally he will work through a situation at full force and trip up. That ties in with his ego, and in this particular incarnation, although he's much more careful and wary underneath the erratic behavior, his protectiveness of what is dear to him and his overconfidence also get in the way of his thinking clearly (though sometimes these things also assist him too). With his fondness for life--prosperous life--death is a very heavy and complicated subject with the Doctor. In 'The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone', the Angels attempt to make the Doctor angry by communicating that he had caused one of the soldier clerics to die afraid and alone--speaking with the cleric's voice (it works to a degree).
After the Time War, he carries the consequences of his actions throughout his lives as a heavy weight. The eleventh incarnation still has the desire to run--from inevitable obligations, from causing greater sacrifices, from his own darker qualities--but in particular, he is beginning to slow himself; not only for the sake of others, but because he is beginning to realize the dire consequences of running blindly. Still, if he finds something disagreeable, whether it's telling a particular truth, giving a straight answer, or something extrinsically involved with him, he will avoid it, play it off, in a sense. And most importantly, he will lie. As good a man as the Doctor may seem, he is in fact, a liar; white lies, black lies, pinstriped lies, tweed lies. he does what he believes he must and what he wants to do, and should something get in the way of that, he will stubbornly find his way around it.
Fortunately, this is... sometimes held in check by his companions and most recently, River.
The Doctor's strengths are as noted in his abilities, and also include physical and mental stamina above human endurance. This incarnation seems particularly able to analyze details, situations and the like in rapid fire. If he wished to learn a sport, for example, he could do so by observing and then taking part and manage with a good degree of success. His other strengths include his respect for life in all its various forms. Along with that comes his knowledge of when to restrain himself--when to step back, although this is... spotty at best sometimes. Despite his fondness for running, fleeing serves another purpose; a warning to others, that his inaction is a sign of mercy and kindness, as opposed to what he would do when cornered and forced to act.
What items will they be bringing with them to Discedo? Clothes on his back, sonic screwdriver, lots of odds and ends in his pockets that are mostly trivial and probably completely useless--string, a bag of jelly babies, a yo-yo, a small snowglobe, oh and his psychic paper, which (unless the reader is trained against it) can look like any kind of identification necessary (it says what the reader would expect to see).
Also a number of spare bow ties, because they're cool.
Posting Samples
Third-Person Sample:
Amy and Rory left the TARDIS together; Rory, beaming in his subtle way, Amy beaming just as much as she turned and gave what probably was supposed to be some kind of alluring and playful look and good-bye wave to the Doctor. He ignored it and waved them off, leaning on the catwalk's rails.
"Off you go Mr. and Mrs. Pond. Oh, and watch out for the swimming birds in the rivers," he called happily. "They bite and I think some of them are poisonous. Well, not all of them--but some, which makes it difficult to watch out. Others are quite friendly or so I'm told." To his amusement, Rory stopped in his tracks, much to Amy's frustration and impatience.
"The what? Poisonous--Amy, we have to--"
"What're you stopping for? We've got a planet resort to see. That's what we have to do," Amy protested as she tugged at her husband's arm. Said husband shook his head after giving a look to the Doctor that said clearly "if something happens, I'll deck you."
Nonetheless grinning, the Doctor waved them off again, and when they were gone, he spread his hands over the dials and knobs and keys of the bright and ready TARDIS console. He was intent on finding the reason the TARDIS had exploded--how something so powerful had managed to control it.
"Right then! We're off, you gorgeous thing--just you and me--and no losing track of the lovebirds. It's right back, mind," he said immediately, jumping to the side to set about piloting the TARDIS to a destination he hoped would be informative.
And perhaps he would make a few unconventional stops along the way. There wasn't any particular rush, but he felt a sense of urgency nonetheless.
Still, though the creeping sense of 'time running out' had begun to tug at the back of his mind since his latest regeneration, he went on to enjoy what he felt, though irrational and probably very inaccurate, was the bounty of having what the humans would refer to as all the time in the universe.
Time.
Time.
The Doctor's spindly fingers spread over part of the console. His hands hovered just above it, right in the air, barely touching, barely grazing the flashing lights and turning knobs. The gaiety of a newly-wed couple bickering happily had drained from the console room, echoing only in the Doctor's mind. He felt a reproachfulness from the TARDIS, as though she would tell him not to stand there and sulk like a child. The Doctor let his hands drop, fingers laid gently.
Something had caught him, pulled him into a fortunately brief moment of musing.
But in a flash, that moment was gone and the Doctor began turning knobs and pushing buttons and pulling levers again, hardly caring where the TARDIS would take him this time.
He glanced upward, smiling fondly as his machine whirled through the vastness of time and space. Everything, he had everything, right there at his fingertips.
His smile faded, only slightly.
"Not quite as much as they have. Oh, do keep going on," he broke off, as he begun pacing around the room, then down the stairs below the glass floor, so that he could inspect the tangle of wires and gadgets situated there. He jumped eagerly into the swing and tugged out his sonic, immediately detecting several inconsistencies in one of the fluctuation quadrant's modules.
That would have to be fixed.
"Complaining. Bah! For amateurs, and that is what I am certainly not." Peering more closely at the jumble of wires.
"Isn't that right, darling? Yes, of course it is," the Doctor grinned.
Hours and hours he spent on his work, speaking with himself and the TARDIS, before she once more took him where he was needed.
First-Person Sample: (note: with his previous memories from having been in the game.)
[This man needs no introduction. But oh, oh he will give himself one hell of a first impression.]
HULLOOO FORTUNA! [This is a man, a young man in a bow tie and tweed and the intellectual, egotistical spark that could start a fire in a rainstorm.] That's where this is, yeah? [his face is pressed almost right up against the device, but he's also looking around while holding the little thing still.]
You certainly are a persistent lot bringing me here. Again. Unceremonious too! You know, I'm not very pleased about this, no, not at all. You see, I've--well, it's a long story actually and I'm in a bit of a rush--I've things to do, people to find, timelines to save, and you--you, the ones who dragged me here--
[The Doctor leans his head back and the mood shifts abruptly. His eyes flash and his expression darkens, because this man--this man is angry, and he is dangerous when he's angry.]
--you're standing in my way. I'll be nice, I'll be fair because that's what I do, but consider this a forewarning.
[and… then a thin smile.]
Sorry, this is a public network, isn't it? I won't reintroduce myself that way, so sorry to disturb you lot sitting 'round trying to survive the rude interruption by these… people. [indignant snort.]
I suppose it's a pleasure to be back, in a way. It's been quite a while, Discedo. Care to tell me what I've missed?
Links:
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Name: Dessi
LJ: loyaliste
Contact: MayorOfCantown (aim)
Characters played at Discedo: crotchroses
IC Information
Name: (the) Doctor
Canon: Doctor Who
Timeline: End of 'A Good Man Goes to War'
Canon Resource Link:
Doctor Who Wiki
Wiki on Eleven
Personality:
The Doctor, although he appears humanlike, is ultimately and very distinctly not human in personality in his eleventh incarnation. While each of his incarnations has his own distinct personality, and while I'll be outlining only the eleventh, there are also defining traits that have persisted throughout his entire existence. Not only that, but those defining traits of this Time Lord are even then divided into different aspects of who he is, how he sees the universe and himself, and what his motivations are.
He is, to put it bluntly, a terrifyingly complicated man with a lot of contradictions and tics and motivations and fears that roll up into one slightly lanky old man stuck in a young body.
After regenerating into his eleventh incarnation, the Doctor has taken on a very contradictory mantle in his way of thinking and acting. He's still driven by his passion for traveling the universe and his fascination with the wonders it holds, but in attitude, he goes about it differently in comparison to the last three versions of himself. Unlike Nine or Ten, Eleven seems to no longer carry the burden of having wiped out his entire race to such an extent that it wears on him visibly (though he still does carry it heavily). In canon, he speaks to Amy of it only briefly and does not divulge much but a few cryptic words and leaves it at that. Like a recurring theme throughout the entire series, the Doctor is nonetheless constantly running; although when Amy (Eleven's companion) implies to him that he is very old, very kind and the last of his species, he seems moved by this and they reconcile, which brings me to the next aspect of his personality.
Unlike some of his other incarnations and like a few others, Eleven seems to exhibit some flashes of anger or aggression; impatience laced with an edge of superiority. For example, in 'The Beast Below', he finds himself disgusted at the treatment of the Star Whale and bitterly concludes that he would render the creature brain dead in order to save both the nation's ship and keep the creature from enduring the pain forced on it in captivity--and also that he would take Amy home, as she had chosen to forget the truth of the nation's situation when it had been presented to her. Throughout the rest of the episodes, it becomes clear that the Doctor's temper, while perhaps not blindingly so, comes in bursts that seem to display the mindset of one who has spent many years alive and who is impatient and somewhat weary of life and the chaos and presumable stupidity it brings to those who live it. Along with that comes a focused edge in how he handles his more negative moods, which will be discussed below.
In contrast to his sometimes mature demeanor mirroring that presence which might be seen on an old man who has run through his paces time and again, the Doctor in this incarnation can at times act rather childlike with his fascination with everything he experiences; for example, when the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension(s) In Space; his time machine) received intense damage after Ten regenerated into Eleven, despite him knowing very well that the thing was spiraling out of control, on fire and hurtling over England, he simply shut the door and examined his new body with intrigued interest. Even his mannerisms often come with childlike or obtuse overtones; much like someone from an older generation being interested in the new and the changing--someone who is very much a child at heart willing to stop and see the beauty and simplicity in life, while also using one's time wisely in doing so. Along with that comes his very alien behavior. As an example, in 'The Eleventh Hour', he strips down in front of Rory and Amy when changing from his previous incarnation's tattered clothes into a new suit found in the hospital where they were in; he doesn't seem to care at all, indicating how different and driven he can be, despite his appearance and familiarity with humans. Another rather hilarious example is during the episode 'The Lodger', where the Doctor must spend time living in a flat with a roommate--it becomes apparent that he knows little about 21st century human social norms and customs and so the other roommate acts as a foil to emphasize Eleven's odd behavior and eccentricities when he is attempting to function 'normally' on Earth. Even when confronted with Amy's attempts to seduce him, he becomes flustered and seems a bit oblivious to some of her advances; although he appears to care for Amy, his darker side (which will be explained below) is eventually both amused and angered by her apparent lack of priorities with her relationship with himself and her fiance.
The Doctor also has apparent difficulty understanding human feelings of love, loyalty and devotion, despite having apparent strong affection and devotion to his companions throughout all of his incarnations. While he isn't particularly keen on hiding his emotions, the way in which he expresses them is often very different from human social norms would expect. They tend to be cryptic, impulsive, sometimes arrogant and coldly reserved, and even amusingly erratic. Not unlike his Second incarnation, this Doctor has a particular manipulative side. His behavioral conduct can and will be used to trick, trap or lead others where he wants them to go without them realizing it. While he may appear impulsive and without any particular logical plan or strategy--and while that may be somewhat true--when it comes to this Doctor, "thinking by the seat of one's pants" typically means "a circuitous plan of which I will utter nothing until it's said and done."
Where the Ninth and Tenth Doctors were heavily weighed by being the last Time Lord at their own hands and very intent on continuing the Doctor's habit of running (from what is never established, though it's implied it could be a myriad of things), Eleven seems to have realized that--although he's still running--avoiding or disregarding things and delaying in action can and will lead to previously unnecessary loss and detriment to himself and, to his regret, other people. He is exceedingly energetic and open to showing his vast intelligence with a very brash set of mannerisms, and when he is distracted by something it may almost entirely catch his focus to the point where he might block out everything else. Even so, if there is something Eleven wishes to focus on, he will set his mind to it and go at it with fierce, enthusiastic tenacity. Combined with his enigmatic and sometimes jovial demeanor and he becomes something like a speeding train that travels through time and wears a bow tie with a fez. Still, if there is something the Doctor really does not want to do, he will either not do it, or manipulate the situation to his advantage as best he can to get around it, twisting things to his benefit. At one point he says very plainly that "time is not the boss of me." Even if he is quite aware of the unfortunate consequences of his recklessness, the Doctor is still adamant about his place in the universe. His stubborn streak is both a blessing and a curse, and can both help him and drag him down to his knees, or trip him up with blinding arrogance and self-certainty.
Like his other incarnations, the Eleventh Doctor is a man of both wrath and mercy. As shown in 'The Family of Blood', his tenth incarnation punishes the Family for their crimes committed in order to obtain immortality by giving them said immortality in several creatively spiteful ways; one being that the Daughter of Mine was to be trapped in every mirror in existence forever; another example is that the Mother of Mine was left suspended in the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy where she would always remain, forever trapped. His first incarnation allowed another Time Lord, the Lord President Borusa, to be trapped in stone, immortalized in Rassilon's tomb. There are other instances in which the Doctor's darker side manifests itself through somewhat selfish or manipulative behavior--in 'The Christmas Invasion', his tenth incarnation saves the planet from alien invasion yet again, letting the ship go free with the message that the planet is defended and they should not return in hostility. While this is a sign of mercy, his reaction to the next event demonstrates a trait that follows through to his next incarnation. Although the ship was leaving, the Prime Minister gave Torchwood permission to fire on it and destroy it. Horrified, the Doctor says he should have told the aliens to run "as the real monsters, the humans, are coming." Minister Jones justified it by telling him that he could not always be there; that she had defended the planet, but instead he told her he could bring down her government with six words. He whispers "Don't you think she looks tired?" in her aide's ear, marking a chain reaction of events that would lead to her no longer being in office.
In his eleventh incarnation, the Doctor is much less obvious about singling in on his own intentions, although in the 2010 Christmas Special 'A Christmas Carol', he travels back in time to influence the life of a man so that he might control ice clouds on his planet and allow a ship from Earth containing 4,003 passengers (including Rory and Amy) to survive and not crash. Essentially, the Doctor, even in his eleventh and wiser incarnation is not above becoming frustrated when his plans or intentions go awry or at the very least, not as he had planned or hoped them to be. He is also certainly not above having no remorse whatsoever at drastically changing someone's past if it will benefit himself (in 'A Christmas Carol''s case, it also benefited thousands of lives) in some way.
Another manifestation of the Doctor's darker side shows itself in 'Amy's Choice' in which the three travelers (the Doctor, Amy and Rory, Amy's fiance) are sent into a dream state caused by psychic pollen having entered the TARDIS. This manifestation is the Dream Lord, and he puts the three through a trial to see which world is real and which is fake. He mocks the three of them, especially Amy and the Doctor and the platonic and supposed romantic tension between the two. Once the Doctor realizes who the Dream Lord really is, and after three wake safely in the TARDIS the Doctor explains not only the pollen but the Dream Lord.
The so-called "Dream Lord" was a manifestation of the Doctor's darker side; his self-loathing, his frustration concerning the relationship between the three travelers and the cynical part of him that was buried deep in his mind. He can sometimes--or oftentimes--be arrogant and will become very jaded or even angry at other people's dire mistakes, tying in with his frustration at failed plans or distressing events. Still, these things can be softened by his other characteristics and habits. Despite the "Dream Lord" being a part of the Doctor and something of which he's well aware--his faults, his negative traits, the darker sides of his personality and nature as a Time Lord--he is still ultimately very old, and very kind. And very arrogant, too.
In contrast to his sometimes obtuse and random behavior, Eleven is more than capable of intuitive thinking, thoughtful moments and very unexpected resourcefulness. He is even willing to sacrifice himself for the universe and for Amy in 'The Big Bang', where he must enter another universe so that the cracks in the fabric of space and time could heal. At the end before he leaves, he speaks to a young Amy while she sleeps in her bed. He appears visibly upset and distraught, referring to himself as "a daft old man who stole a magic box and ran away." He attempts to keep a jovial attitude, but it's clear that his removal from existence has settled him into a more somber emotional state.
The Doctor, throughout his incarnations but particularly after the Last Great Time War, will make sacrifices (from himself and in the fifth season, an entire species though that's not the first time) if he believes that he has no choice, such as a decision to be made between the existence of the human race or the death of another alien species; if the survival of the alien species was intended to be at the expense of the human race or, on a larger scale, at the expense of the rest of the universe, the Doctor would try to find a solution where "everyone lives". If he could not find a solution, the end result would be a great cost for the sake of the universe's continued existence. In a sense these sort of actions, especially after the Last Great Time War, perhaps may be justified, but he carries these burdens nonetheless.
His anger, particularly in the sixth season, does blind him as well as his grief. It's clear that he is incredibly lonely and, as Amy notes in 'The Doctor's Wife', looking for forgiveness. Or perhaps, just maybe, discovering that there are other Time Lords in the universe that were not sealed away; who didn't burn along with the rest of the Time War. It isn't until River Song finally explains to the Doctor that his fury has led him to twist the meaning of his name. As opposed to being a man known in particular for wisdom and healing, his attitude, devastating actions and swath of ridiculous misadventures speckled with genocide all across the universe… Well, the people of the Gamma Forest know him as a warrior. People have come to fear him and so the abrupt lecture spelled it out for him directly and plainly: He needed to change, else he would go down a much darker path than he would have ever intended.
He is most likely one of the universe's biggest hypocrites, but we love him for it. There are other things we love about him too, though. When it comes down to the last wire, he may very well listen, as he did to River in 'A Good Man Goes to War'. Especially when those words are spoken honestly and in love; although he may not be able to fully recognize that love bit for what it is, platonic or otherwise, he can still see it, and know it. And he, in this most recent set of events, is a chaotic mess of emotions wherein the startling truth of River's identity as Amy and Rory's child has come to light, and the Doctor is about to make a very important decision-- Those he trusts, though few, are so very important to him, it cannot be understated. And now as he's come to trust River, Rory and Amy, he's on the precipice of change and he's quite aware of it--excited, nervous, elated, impatient, frustrated… There are so many emotions to count, but one thing is certain is that given the chance he will do what he feels he must, or what he ought to do; for both his companions and, in this unusual case, River Song.
Overall, the Eleventh Doctor is by no means a simple man. What motivates him is defined by not only his previous incarnations and their experiences, but by the new man he became after regenerating from Ten's death by radiation. After he returns when Amy remembers him at her and Rory's wedding, the Doctor agrees to take the two of them from Earth. It's noted that he allows them trips to various times and places for their honeymoon, implying his more or less established role as the good Doctor and friend of his companions. And, although he handles stressful or exciting situations differently--sometimes with wild hand gestures and rambling, sometimes with a dangerously quiet aura, sometimes with rashness, recklessness or anger, sometimes by thinking aloud--his reactions to a variety of situations are all seemingly sometimes very random, but they all ultimately have an overarching, meaningful purpose in the Doctor's mind.
His character is vast and is such that explaining it in a way that would do it justice would take weeks or months of work. These parts are some of the most important; with him being alien, motivated by his past, his emotional bursts of energy and his animated attitudes, be they positive or negative. This incarnation has begun to slightly heal from his survivor's guilt of having outlived the genocide of his race, has seen what wasting time can cause to the ones he appears to be close to, and is sometimes more than ecstatic to explore and enjoy the good and bad of every place and time he visits with enthusiasm and eclectic fascination. While it's difficult if not impossible for him to see the grandeur of the universe, he is able to see it through his companions and it's the people he trusts--which is very, very few--who keep him on track; in check, as it were.
He is old and he is new; a man who values life but is not unwilling to try and use it with his best (and sometimes not so 'best') intentions; he is, in the end, a daft old man who stole a magic box and ran away, and though he continues to run, he is beginning to see that eventually his past, present and future will inevitably catch up with him, whatever choices he makes.
Powers & Abilities:
The Doctor is highly intelligent; highly, highly intelligent. As a Time Lord and a man who has traveled the universe through time and space for centuries, he contains a vast wealth of knowledge spanning from anatomy to technology. Also as a Time Lord, he has certain psychic abilities--in this incarnation, the ability to link with others and, in canon, transfer memories, thoughts or messages to human minds through physical contact. In canon, he is sometimes capable of telepathic communication with humans, other sentient beings, other Time Lords and even lesser animals.
Additionally, as part of being Gallifreyan, the Doctor's physiological abilities extend to heightened sight (seeing details at a distance), heightened hearing; and with taste and smell is able to identify age, chemical compounds and even the time period, atmosphere and weather forecast. They are also capable of sensing and perceiving the nature of different timelines. They are able to separate the hemispheres of their brain, are capable of photographic memory. Being that his senses are heightened, he is capable (especially in this incarnation) to see and examine details in a way that emulates and rivals Sherlock Holmes; essentially, he has fantastic eyesight and an impeccable eye for seemingly insignificant detail and the ability to connect the pieces of his surrounding circumstances. His other senses are heightened beyond that of normal humans--smell, touch, taste, and hearing. It's noted in 'The Beast Below' that he can hear sounds above or below frequencies inaudible to human ears.
Physically, the Doctor is able to slow or even stop the beating of his two hearts to fake his death or to slow his respiratory system enough to do much the same, or to survive if confined and low on air. Interestingly, aspirin is fatal to him with a single dose but could be remedied with chocolate. The two hearts and their dual vascular system can come in especially handy if a Time Lord is injured--they allow themselves to fall comatose while they heal from their injuries.
It should also be noted that, when in the same dimensional space as the TARDIS, the thing allows for the Doctor to speak, read or write in any language spoken in wherever it lands--that is to say, it 'translates' what others say and what he himself says. Not that this is an issue sans-TARDIS as he is able to speak a staggering amount of languages.
Concerning death: If both the Doctor's hearts are pierced, or if he experiences something highly fatal--terribly immense levels of radiation, a very, very long fall, despite his natural less-fragile-than-human endurance, he will still die. It's at this point when he, as any other normal Time Lord, would be able to regenerate. Regeneration can occur even without impending death, but it's essentially when the Time Lord dies that he or she can choose to live on, where the former body dies, expelling massive amounts of energy, before changing to a completely new body. It's been shown in canon that there is some measure of control over this process, and he could choose not to regenerate if he wished it (though that would definitely not happen in the Doctor's case). It seems his own regenerative cycle could be said to be "set on random"--where the new bodies he takes on are previously unknown and most likely unintentional. During the regenerative process--which can be very painful in some cases--many reactions are different, even for the same Time Lord, but in general energy is typically expelled until the new body has become stable.
The Doctor has a lot of weaknesses; physical, emotional, even mental. Along with his abilities comes a kind of curse of information overload. While it isn't so much a detriment to the Doctor (except in extreme cases), his mind clicks along at such a high speed that occasionally he will work through a situation at full force and trip up. That ties in with his ego, and in this particular incarnation, although he's much more careful and wary underneath the erratic behavior, his protectiveness of what is dear to him and his overconfidence also get in the way of his thinking clearly (though sometimes these things also assist him too). With his fondness for life--prosperous life--death is a very heavy and complicated subject with the Doctor. In 'The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone', the Angels attempt to make the Doctor angry by communicating that he had caused one of the soldier clerics to die afraid and alone--speaking with the cleric's voice (it works to a degree).
After the Time War, he carries the consequences of his actions throughout his lives as a heavy weight. The eleventh incarnation still has the desire to run--from inevitable obligations, from causing greater sacrifices, from his own darker qualities--but in particular, he is beginning to slow himself; not only for the sake of others, but because he is beginning to realize the dire consequences of running blindly. Still, if he finds something disagreeable, whether it's telling a particular truth, giving a straight answer, or something extrinsically involved with him, he will avoid it, play it off, in a sense. And most importantly, he will lie. As good a man as the Doctor may seem, he is in fact, a liar; white lies, black lies, pinstriped lies, tweed lies. he does what he believes he must and what he wants to do, and should something get in the way of that, he will stubbornly find his way around it.
Fortunately, this is... sometimes held in check by his companions and most recently, River.
The Doctor's strengths are as noted in his abilities, and also include physical and mental stamina above human endurance. This incarnation seems particularly able to analyze details, situations and the like in rapid fire. If he wished to learn a sport, for example, he could do so by observing and then taking part and manage with a good degree of success. His other strengths include his respect for life in all its various forms. Along with that comes his knowledge of when to restrain himself--when to step back, although this is... spotty at best sometimes. Despite his fondness for running, fleeing serves another purpose; a warning to others, that his inaction is a sign of mercy and kindness, as opposed to what he would do when cornered and forced to act.
What items will they be bringing with them to Discedo? Clothes on his back, sonic screwdriver, lots of odds and ends in his pockets that are mostly trivial and probably completely useless--string, a bag of jelly babies, a yo-yo, a small snowglobe, oh and his psychic paper, which (unless the reader is trained against it) can look like any kind of identification necessary (it says what the reader would expect to see).
Also a number of spare bow ties, because they're cool.
Posting Samples
Third-Person Sample:
Amy and Rory left the TARDIS together; Rory, beaming in his subtle way, Amy beaming just as much as she turned and gave what probably was supposed to be some kind of alluring and playful look and good-bye wave to the Doctor. He ignored it and waved them off, leaning on the catwalk's rails.
"Off you go Mr. and Mrs. Pond. Oh, and watch out for the swimming birds in the rivers," he called happily. "They bite and I think some of them are poisonous. Well, not all of them--but some, which makes it difficult to watch out. Others are quite friendly or so I'm told." To his amusement, Rory stopped in his tracks, much to Amy's frustration and impatience.
"The what? Poisonous--Amy, we have to--"
"What're you stopping for? We've got a planet resort to see. That's what we have to do," Amy protested as she tugged at her husband's arm. Said husband shook his head after giving a look to the Doctor that said clearly "if something happens, I'll deck you."
Nonetheless grinning, the Doctor waved them off again, and when they were gone, he spread his hands over the dials and knobs and keys of the bright and ready TARDIS console. He was intent on finding the reason the TARDIS had exploded--how something so powerful had managed to control it.
"Right then! We're off, you gorgeous thing--just you and me--and no losing track of the lovebirds. It's right back, mind," he said immediately, jumping to the side to set about piloting the TARDIS to a destination he hoped would be informative.
And perhaps he would make a few unconventional stops along the way. There wasn't any particular rush, but he felt a sense of urgency nonetheless.
Still, though the creeping sense of 'time running out' had begun to tug at the back of his mind since his latest regeneration, he went on to enjoy what he felt, though irrational and probably very inaccurate, was the bounty of having what the humans would refer to as all the time in the universe.
Time.
Time.
The Doctor's spindly fingers spread over part of the console. His hands hovered just above it, right in the air, barely touching, barely grazing the flashing lights and turning knobs. The gaiety of a newly-wed couple bickering happily had drained from the console room, echoing only in the Doctor's mind. He felt a reproachfulness from the TARDIS, as though she would tell him not to stand there and sulk like a child. The Doctor let his hands drop, fingers laid gently.
Something had caught him, pulled him into a fortunately brief moment of musing.
But in a flash, that moment was gone and the Doctor began turning knobs and pushing buttons and pulling levers again, hardly caring where the TARDIS would take him this time.
He glanced upward, smiling fondly as his machine whirled through the vastness of time and space. Everything, he had everything, right there at his fingertips.
His smile faded, only slightly.
"Not quite as much as they have. Oh, do keep going on," he broke off, as he begun pacing around the room, then down the stairs below the glass floor, so that he could inspect the tangle of wires and gadgets situated there. He jumped eagerly into the swing and tugged out his sonic, immediately detecting several inconsistencies in one of the fluctuation quadrant's modules.
That would have to be fixed.
"Complaining. Bah! For amateurs, and that is what I am certainly not." Peering more closely at the jumble of wires.
"Isn't that right, darling? Yes, of course it is," the Doctor grinned.
Hours and hours he spent on his work, speaking with himself and the TARDIS, before she once more took him where he was needed.
First-Person Sample: (note: with his previous memories from having been in the game.)
[This man needs no introduction. But oh, oh he will give himself one hell of a first impression.]
HULLOOO FORTUNA! [This is a man, a young man in a bow tie and tweed and the intellectual, egotistical spark that could start a fire in a rainstorm.] That's where this is, yeah? [his face is pressed almost right up against the device, but he's also looking around while holding the little thing still.]
You certainly are a persistent lot bringing me here. Again. Unceremonious too! You know, I'm not very pleased about this, no, not at all. You see, I've--well, it's a long story actually and I'm in a bit of a rush--I've things to do, people to find, timelines to save, and you--you, the ones who dragged me here--
[The Doctor leans his head back and the mood shifts abruptly. His eyes flash and his expression darkens, because this man--this man is angry, and he is dangerous when he's angry.]
--you're standing in my way. I'll be nice, I'll be fair because that's what I do, but consider this a forewarning.
[and… then a thin smile.]
Sorry, this is a public network, isn't it? I won't reintroduce myself that way, so sorry to disturb you lot sitting 'round trying to survive the rude interruption by these… people. [indignant snort.]
I suppose it's a pleasure to be back, in a way. It's been quite a while, Discedo. Care to tell me what I've missed?
Links:
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