Anyone know how the silence will fall speech applied to the finale episode? River answered the question, I think.

This was the speech:

The Silence tried to kill the Doctor to prevent the fruition of a specific prophecy, which stated: "On the fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the eleventh, when no living creature can speak falsely or fail to answer, a Question will be asked, a question that must never, ever be answered."

This question was "The First Question, the oldest question in the Universe, that must never be answered, hidden in plain sight." Dorium Maldovar told the Eleventh Doctor that the question was: "Doctor Who?", which was a question the Doctor had been apparently running from his entire life.

Very confused now ....

I took it to mean that The Silence were adamant that silence MUST fall, he must never answer. And, silence did fall, the answer was essentially spoken silently, as only The Doctor heard River.

I'm likely reading it wrong, but that's my theory.

I dunno about The Silents or Silence or whichever it was...BUT..to me, The question was asked and it was answered (albeit through River) which was to lead to the GI to enter the Doctors timeline and turn his wins to defeats and so kill off every star and planet.

That is what they was trying to avoid and so trying to stop the Doctor from answering it, even going to lengths of blowing up the Tardis so that the Tardis wouldn't be his final resting place

No.

"Doctor Who?" was in the very first series - the Doctor, Susan, Barbara and Ian.

Yes it did. The destruction caused by the GI meant that the Doctor's victories were wiped out and whole planets and star systems were instantly silenced.

Thinking about it, has this been overlooked:

Doctor Who?

Who is Hurt's Doctor

The answer to the question has to yet to be revealed, the G.I plot was the red-herring.

I think silence fell at that horrific ending. Really?! Was that Moffatt's big climax leading into the 50th? The rest was great but the ending ruined things, for me.

Yes. The doctor COULDNT lie on Trenzalore so the Silence settled for the next best thing, his silence which technically isnt a lie

I assume they meant if the question was answered, the Great Intelligence would get into the Doctor's tomb and destroy his timeline- hence silence falling on the planets and systems that the Doctor has saved. This is the why the silence tried to kill the Doctor in series 6. They were trying to prevent the risk of this happening by killing the Doctor before he got to trenzalore.

The episode was great, but I still don't understand why the Silence were trying to prevent the events of the finale. Why stop the name being said, the tomb opening and the Doctor being destroyed? You'd have though they'd encourage it...

They don't just want the Doctor dead, they are not the Daleks.

They wanted him dead to prevent what Clara prevented from happening.

I guess blowing up the TARDIS was a clumsy attempt at this, although I still have no idea how they gained control of it.

Way to hijack the thread and completely change the topic.

Because by doing that they would be encountering their own death. They were actually good guys all along and I think it would make me look at series 6 differently now

Well, I wouldn't call them good guys, they did take pleasure in murdering innocents for no reason.

Except that the Doctor's defeats led to some stars disappearing. Whilst the plan of The Silence (blowing up the TARDIS) led to every star in the universe disappearing.

Good plan guys.

THE PROPHECY WASN'T FINISHED TODAY
The fall of the eleventh will probably will be next season and that's when he dies, end of Who

It seems like there are two questions or one very flexible understanding of the same question "Doctor who?".

1) "Doctor who?" or 2) "Who is the Doctor?"/"What is the Doctor's name?"

Halfway into the episode interpretation 2, his name, is refused to be answered by the Doctor but it must be answered so River does it (unintelligibly/inaudibly). Answering the question leads to silence falling on all the planets and stars that he should have saved when his personal timeline is rewritten.

Towards the end of the episode, the Doctor says his chosen name "Doctor" is the name he took to be the man he chooses to be (which answers Interpretation 1). It's the question that must never be answered or the result will be John Hurt's "Doctor" and all that that entails.

Theories on John Hurt's Doctor are probably suited for a different topic but it's significant enough that he treats as his greatest secret. The one incarnation that he doesn't consider as worthy of the title and name Doctor. Since the Doctor rejects John Hurt's version of himself as the Doctor it's likely to be something rather negative where the flimsy definition of "silence will/must fall" can be easily fitted.

They were indeed a little bit sh*t with that one

I do think however that they'd heard a prophecy about mass destruction (including their own) if he went to Trenzalore and tried to stop it.

Silence fell in many ways.

The name wasn't spoken out loud - it was spoken by River, who was invisible to most people in that room, and therefore silent.

There was actual silence when the tomb opened, from the shock of it.

Silence fell for the worlds the Doctor had saved when his timeline was rewritten to turn victories into defeats, as they ceased to exist.

I've a feeling that Moffat makes up these interesting phrases such as "Silence will Fall" without actually having a plan of what to do with said phrase.
Basically, he makes it up as he goes along.

Silence did start to fall but didn't because Clara saved the universe.

Silence must fall, remember.

So that everything that happened once the tomb was opened couldn't have happened. The Doctor's victories being erased was a far worse fate for the Universe than his death in America.

But it's quite ironic. River opened the tomb. The Silence made River what she is.

Silence Will Fall in the 50th possibly?

Dorium said "silence will fall" was a bad translation, and that the actually prophecy stated "silence must fall" i.e everyone must keep their taps shut so the Great Intelligence couldn't gain access to the Doctor's timeline and destroy the universe. River failed to do so, meaning silence didn't fall on the fields of Trenzalore and the universe got screwed. Well done River.

How about the part where it says "when no living creature can speak falsely or fail to answer"?
You can say that, in this episode, the Doctor couldn't fail to answer because it would kill his friends and couldn't speak falsely because if he said a fake name the door wouldn't open. But "no living creature"? It doesn't seem to apply here.