John Hurt - Doc 12?

Okay so despite all the claims that he is definitely from between McGann and Eccleston, I still don’t buy it, I think he’s from after the 11th Doctor and here’s why…


When Clara enters the Doctor’s timestream she is entering all his lives right up until his entombment, NOT just up to the point that is contemporary to her 11th Doctor.
I know people are dwelling on the “He WAS the one who broke the promise” line, but you have to remember two things there…

Firstly, when talking of Hurt’s Doctor, the past tense is used by the 11th in relation to Hurt’s Doctor,

Also, If 10,11 and Hurt are to meet in the 50th Anniversary special, then 11 may have memories of meeting Hurt’s Doctor when he was the 10th.
People have also concentrated on the costume being a cross between Eccleston’s and McGann’s but I don’t think the waistcoat is the same as McGann’s (His scarf however DOES look like it could be a bit of one of the 11th Doctor's shirts ) and what’s to say the Doctor wouldn’t have dug out his old leather jacket whilst partaking in the “Battle Of Trenzalore” ?

I really do think that could be a deliberate bit of misdirection and I’m not buying the idea that Hurt’s character was only introduced to the script after Eccleston declined, he seems too integral to the plot.


This is how I think it could play out…

The 11th Doctor is rumoured to have memory loss in the 50th special, this could mean that both he and the 10th Doctor meet Hurt’s Doctor without either having any memory of him.
At some point, Hurt becomes “The one who broke the promise” (The promise in question being akin to the “hypocratic oath” taken when one becomes a “Doctor”, he breaks the promise to help where possible and do no harm) and then goes off and becomes the one who according to the GI “…will have other names before the end, The Storm, The Beast, The Valeyard.”.

We still don’t know when The Doctor will tell River his name, but we do know that it is used to seal his tomb/TARDIS, which to me suggests that the “…one time he ever could.” tell someone (as mentioned in SITL/FOTD) was so that they could seal him in there and considering River’s immediate identification of the “secret entrance to the tomb” I don’t think it’s the first time she’s been there, so I think the TARDIS was sealed either by a pre-library River or via the psychic link with Clara.


So WHO is Hurt's "Doctor" ?
The 12th Doctor?
Possibly, but if so with a definite emphasis on, or closer connection to, the "...darker side of his nature..." as personified by The Valeyard (coincidentally namechecked?) and The Dreamlord.

Could it be that the promise Hurt's Doctor broke was one to keep that part of himself subdued an not give it control?
Maybe it was he who told River his name to seal im in there, not the 11th?
Was what he did "...for peace and sanity." releasing that part of himself? (..giving us the "..distillation of his darker side somewhere between his 12th and final incarnations".)


The other option I've considered is some kind of split that staggers the regeneration...
The 11th Doctor has some kind of botched regeneration that leaves him without his memory and creates the 12th (Hurt) with the Valeyard/Dreamlord aspect of his personality in control, so he doesn't act "...in the name of the Doctor" but that's not to say he couldn't redeem himself and become the 12th Doctor, again in a sequence of events that removes that distilled darker side and ties up the "Dreamyard" knot.


My guess is that whatever happens, by the time the 50th anniversary special is over, we WILL know John Hurt as the 12th Doctor, and that the "whole new era for the show" ushered in after the 50th will be when Matt's successor, the 13th Doctor takes over.



(Oh and as for who blew up the TARDIS, I think it's River's programming by the Silence turning itself on and off causing HER to be trying to try to destroy it offscreen inbetween us seeing her onscreen trying to escape, so it's them doing it via her)