For the most part, the Doctor has been devoid of facial hair during his televised Doctor Who adventures. There were occasional moments of facial hair freedom, like when the Eleventh Doctor had his beard, but they were few and far between. For the most part, the Doctor has been clean shaven during his run on the show.
That is what made the War Doctor’s goatee so striking. In his time on Doctor Who, John Hurt kept his goatee as we were able to see the events at the end of the Last Great Time War unfold. It was certainly a unique look for one of the more iconic characters in television history.
Perhaps this decision to have the War Doctor appear with the goatee was intentional. He did specifically state that he was the Doctor ‘no more.’ Given the Doctor’s heroic persona, and the general stereotype of the clean shaven hero, it makes sense. After all, we knew that the other Spock was evil in the original Star Trek episode ‘Mirror Mirror’ because he had a beard.
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The War Doctor, meanwhile, intended on doing anything necessary to end the Time War. In his mind, to save the untold millions who had already been affected by the ongoing war between the Daleks and the Time Lords, the only solution was to destroy both sides. Yes, he would be committing an act entirely outside his usual behavior, but this was a time when the ends justified the means.
Naturally, doing so would be to entirely go away from everything the Doctor believed in. Instead of trying to find a peaceful solution, and save as many innocents as possible, everything would be destroyed. Even if this was not an evil act per se, given the end goal of saving the universe, it would certainly be enough to make the Doctor an anti-hero.
Likewise, in classic episodes of Doctor Who, the Master had his goatee. With the Master being the evil Time Lord, the Doctor’s decision to have a goatee as the War Doctor was certainly an indication that he no longer felt that he was a good person. Do we not recall that overarching question at the beginning of Series Eight, where the Doctor asked if he was a good man? This would seemingly be a direct thought from his time as the War Doctor.
Perhaps we know that the Doctor is a good man because he is clean shaven. Should the Doctor appear once again with a beard or a goatee in Doctor Who, we may know that he will have a difficult decision to make, one that could leave the Doctor questioning his standing.
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