Did the Tenth Doctor cause both of his own regenerations? It is one of the more interesting Doctor Who fan theories to circulate the internet.
The enduring image of the final moments of the Tenth Doctor involve him travelling through time, stopping off to see Rose Tyler once more before regenerating, and stating that he did not want to go. It was one of the more tragic moments of the revival of Doctor Who, as he finally faced his end, becoming the Eleventh Doctor.
However, there is a fan theory by Dan Root which asserts that the Tenth Doctor caused his own death… twice. (His first regeneration happened at the end of ‘The Stolen Earth‘/beginning of ‘Journey’s End‘ and the second at the end of ‘The End of Time.’) This theory traces both of his regenerations back to his visit to 1870s Scotland which led to the formation of Torchwood. There are many steps between that event and his eventual demises, but is a logical argument which is interesting to consider.
The video presenting this theory can be viewed below.
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Root calls the Doctor a “moron” for inadvertently causing his own regenerations, which is highly unfair. There are chains of cause and effect in all of our lives that can only be seen in retrospect. There is no practical way that the Doctor would have known everything that would happen as a result of his actions in ‘Tooth and Claw.’
In any case, it seems that the most important thing that the Doctor could take away from this analysis would be to not piss off the Queen. If his banishment from her kingdom and the creation of Torchwood were not enough to make an impression on him regarding this matter, perhaps his death could be.
Queen Victoria, Lady Isobel, Rose Tyler, and the Tenth Doctor in ‘Tooth and Claw’ (credit: BBC)
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