*EXPECT SPOILERS* The Existence of Clara 'Oswin' Oswald

[Lenny]

River Song is old hat now -- we've got a new confusing character in town!

Before her present day introduction, Clara Oswald made two appearances -- her first was as Oswin the Soufflé Girl in Aslum of the Daleks, the Junior Entertianment Officer of the starliner Alaska which crashed into the Dalek Asylum, who was turned into a Dalek; and as Clara Oswin Oswald in The Snowmen, a barmaid and Governess in Victorian England.

Both characters died.

So how is Clara Oswald alive and well in the 21st Century (revealed at the end of The Snowmen, and confirmed with the start of the second half of series seven, The Bells of Saint John)?

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My favourite theory, and one I'm coming to believe is closest to the truth, is that Clara is a living meme. A meme, for those who don't know, is defined as:

An element of a culture (such as an idea) or system of behaviour that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, esp. imitation

The article I've linked to above explains the theory better than I could, but the general gist of it is that, at the end of each of Moffat's series, the Doctor dies or tries to get away from everything, yet each time this is reversed and he is forced back into service. There is this idea that the Universe can only continue the way it is if the Doctor is there to help -- the Universe needs the Doctor. We know that the Doctor loves mystery, so what better way to bring him back than by presenting him with a perfect mystery: a girl who dies but keeps returning.

Could Clara Oswald be the physical form of an idea? After all, in The Wedding of River Song, River herself said to the Doctor:

River: Those reports of the sun spots and the solar flares. They’re wrong. They’re aren’t any. It’s not the sun. It’s you. The sky is full of a million million voices, saying, “Yes of course. We’ll help.” You’ve touched so many lives, saved so many people. Did you think when you’re time came you’d really have to do more than just ask? You’ve decided that the universe is better of without you. But the universe doesn’t agree.

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Thoughts? Theories? I'm sure others have their own explanations for the existence of Clara 0 let's hear them!

 

[Verse]

Clara as a care-giver of some kind in each incarnation so far. It might be a theme, it might be a red-herring. The Doctor also questioned it, which is why I mention in. The first time we see her as Souffle/Darlek girl, she had been an Entertainment officer on the Alaska. It's not explicit but she may have been responsible for entertaining the kids.

Governess next time and now a Nanny. The next episode, hinted at the end during the credits, seems to involve a child queen. So, there's already a strong theme for Clara looking after and looking out for children.

I guess, we'll just have to see how it develops.

 

[Lenny]

Continuing your carer idea (by the way, can you not say she made herself directly responsible for the well-being of the Doctor, Amy, and Rory in the Dalek episode -- she cared for them), it occurs to me that Oswin was very good with computers, and Clara was spliced with a computer knowledge package during her first upload.

I'm wondering if 21st Century Clara is the original, upon whom all other versions are based - a Clara Template, if you will.

I can't think of anything Moffat has done that doesn't involve weird time in one way or another**, and it's not illogical to assume that all the Clara incarnations have a common base. Why not Companion Clara? It won't be any fun if we don't meet other versions of Clara knocking around space and time, though.




**Moffat has written:

The Doctor Dances double - hospital capsule from the future
Girl in the Fireplace - time jumps, clockwork androids
Blink (and all Weeping Angels) - they steal your time
Library double (River Song) - meetings out of time
Series Five - things being erased from time
Series Six - the mystery of future Doctor's death, and re-writing the fixed point in time
Series Seven Part One - exploring the affect of time travel on Amy and Rory

 

[HoopyFrood]

Having being subtly prodded here () I'll repeat it:

The fact that he just mentioned his granddaughter (The Rings Akhaten) makes me remember that a friend and I were speculating the other day. She said that maybe Clara is his daughter, somehow. I said maybe it's his granddaughter somehow (especially considering the 50th coming up...)

'Course, how that fits in with the fact that we just saw pretty much all of her life playing out, who knows. Just throwing it out there, though, in case she is and I can "ner ner ner ner ner" in everyone's face

Just seemed unusual that he mentioned being a grandfather at this particular point when we rarely hear about it otherwise -- though it was an episode with a grandfather motif.

EDIT: Plus the concept of mysterious people turning out to be somehow related has been done in big style before, so maybe not...I'm starting to talk myself out of this idea now.

 

[Harpo]

Having being subtly prodded here () I'll repeat it:



'Course, how that fits in with the fact that we just saw pretty much all of her life playing out, who knows. Just throwing it out there, though, in case she is and I can "ner ner ner ner ner" in everyone's face

Just seemed unusual that he mentioned being a grandfather at this particular point when we rarely hear about it otherwise -- though it was an episode with a grandfather motif.

EDIT: Plus the concept of mysterious people turning out to be somehow related has been done in big style before, so maybe not...I'm starting to talk myself out of this idea now.

Whatever happened to Jenny from The Doctor's Daughter shown almost five years ago?

 

[HoopyFrood]

Yeah, that's why my friend was thinking it might be her, because she disappeared and we haven't heard anything since.

I can't remember the episode very well, now, but weren't her last words before going off into space something about running?

 

[Lenny]

There's a weird thing about Clara and the number 23.

In 33.07: The Bells of Saint John, "23" is missed off the list of ages in her 101 Places to See book, and the mistypes the end of the Wi-Fi password (rycbar123) as "24".

The fun begins when you look back at the gravestone of Governess Clara:

She was born on November 23rd.

Doctor Who was first broadcast in 1963, on November 23rd.

Coincidence?

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I like the idea that, if the 23s mean something, it's because Clara is related to the Doctor, rather than simply being a message from the Universe.

I completely missed the grandfather/granddaughter parallels in 33.08: The Rings of Akhaten. I want to believe that the parallels aren't coincidence, and that the Doctor's comment about showing his granddaughter around was included for a reason.

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Jenny's comment at the end of her episode was "blah blah meet, blah blah save, blah blah rescue... and an awful lot of running to do".

 

[ctg]

She's an anomaly. And I doubt she will make any sense for quite sometime as I doubt even Moffat really knows what she is, but he is following the muse. The song she's singing is absolutely beautiful, but the episodic execution isn't as magnificent as it could be.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Not sure what to make of all these ideas about Clara.

I don't particularly like the thought of her being some relation of the Doctors, it does not seem to fit. I would like to know what has become of Susan though...

One thought that did occur to me, unlikely as it maybe, is Clara/Oswin being the same person shattered and scattered through time - in a similar way to Scarroth from classic episode(s) The City of Death by Douglas Adams.

Not sure how much bearing it has on things, but a great deal is made about Clara's mum, that Clara has her ring, her book, that she died young. But no mention is made of her dad. Could this be of any importance?

 

[HoopyFrood]

Just read a post on a website elsewhere about Clara being able to sense the TARDIS and apparently also sensing when the creepy face dudes were about to arrive (I missed both of these events; I was seemingly so bored by the episode I wasn't paying attention to anything). Just to note that although Susan never showed regeneration abilities, she did show psychic abilities once...

 

[TheDustyZebra]

A couple of shower-thoughts (that's where things come to me):

Regarding the "physical form of an idea" thing, really, I wonder if several things might be relevant to that. The TARDIS does not seem to recognize her -- I think that's why it wouldn't let her in, and it doesn't translate for her. The Doctor didn't have any trouble understanding the aliens in the marketplace in Akhaten, it was just Clara. And he keeps saying she's impossible. Perhaps she doesn't really exist, somehow.

And everybody's hung up on the "23" thing -- chromosome pairs? 24 an extra?

 

[PTeppic]

The TARDIS does not seem to recognize her -- I think that's why it wouldn't let her in

Or perhaps it was locked (which it is by default) and she didn't have a key

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Or perhaps it was locked (which it is by default) and she didn't have a key

Possibly -- I've always assumed the door locks when it's closed, because nobody ever fiddles around with a key in that direction, but does it shut the door itself? Because both times they got out of it in the Akhaten episode, they didn't even shut the door.

 

[FeedMeTV]

Perhaps she doesn't really exist, somehow.

Particularly love this.

And I will also be keeping an eye out for 23s. I do enjoy these big mysteries as long as there are enough clues to allow you to guess before the big reveal at the end.