Doctor Who and the Main Theme of Loss

Each season, there are different overarching themes on Doctor Who. Yet, there is one constant theme on the show – loss.

Seemingly every season, particularly in NuWho, there are different themes. During Series Nine, the Doctor and Clara were faced with the consequences of their actions, with Clara learning through her own death. We have seen the Doctor question whether or not he is a good man, Bad Wolf, and, from Classic Doctor Who, such themes as the Trial of a Time Lord.

However, even in the early days of the show when the First Doctor was meandering about time and space with his own relatively disjointed adventures, there was another theme. The Doctor, and even his companions, have to handle a constant sense of loss.

It makes sense that loss would be an ongoing theme on Doctor Who. After all, the only constant on the show is change. Everyone leaves at some point in time, as even the Doctor regenerates into another being with a distinctly different personality. Even those companions that walked away of their own accord have to face the loss of adventure and never ending wonders that they could find in their travels.

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Given the larger scale storylines within the season, it is easy to overlook the toll that these departures take on the Doctor and those he comes in contact with. It is also not a coincidence that he remembers those who he has met and travelled with, even if those shared adventures were for a brief time. That constant loss has, depending on the incarnation, hardened the Doctor and made him cautious about others, even his companions.

However, as the Doctor has said, the universe has to move forward. Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it’s a world, or a relationship, everything has its time. And everything ends. Perhaps this is something that no one can understand more than the Doctor, who has seen the birth, and the end, of the universe in his travels.

Next: Doctor Who: The Search for a Different Companion

No one being knows more about loss than the Doctor, but it is something that he typically keeps repressed within. Yet, in a show with grandiose overarching storylines, the main theme of loss will never change.