Well actually, there's two. Yep, cheeky me.

First of all, I firmly believe that Missy is who she says she is. She is the artist formerly known as The Master.

In the body of The Rani. Just a minute, hear me out.

In both the preview trailers for Dark Water and Death in Heaven, there is a snapshot of Missy suddenly waking up in a state of shock. Already wearing her nice new feminine guise. To me, that looks like a possession rather than a regeneration.

The last time we saw The Master, his body was dying. He was teetering on the edge of destruction and one can only theorise - until this Saturday of course - what happened after his battle with Rassilon. Presumably he either defeated him or escaped before too much damage was done.

The Rani, at least I would like to think, would've had some part to play in the events of the Time War. Okay, so Moffat and others have dismissed her as being not really 'iconic' enough to return to the fold these days, but I would disagree. Sure, the two stories she featured in were not exactly...well, they were clangers, let's face it. But the character itself wasn't. She was tipped by many in fandom to be Missy, so she can't be that irrelevant.

Perhaps she had a part to play in Missy's return. She may have had many more regenerations left in her cycle. Thus, The Master either tracked her down and hypnotised her into swapping bodies, or he discovered her recently deceased and possessed her in that fashion.

That way, several ideas are combined and The Rani finally makes a return of sorts, without actually 'being' The Rani, if that makes sense.

Missy somehow sneaks aboard one of The 13 Doctor's TARDISES during the events of Day of Doctor after Gallifrey is saved and takes a pit stop some time between The Snowmen and Bells of St. John where we meet our first couple of Claras, and the Nethersphere Masterplan begins...

My second theory is similar to the first, but doesn't include The Rani and is much more simple and less fan wankery.

Missy is The Master's final, 'Valeyard' form, if you will. She has regenerated several times since Simm's incarnation off-screen, and fully aware of The Doctor's newly awarded regeneration cycle is hell (or heaven) bent on stealing his body. She escaped through the cracks in Time plotted throughout 11's tenure.

And now I'm tired. :-P

I don't even know who the Rani is (never watched classic Who) but Jesus I wish she'd come back so every thread didn't mention her in some way or another. And if they did, they would at least have reason.

Indeed. It was mainly a theory for those who have brought her up so often.

The Rani will never come back anyway, the only people who remember her are the hardcore fans and even amongst us lot it not like the Pip n' Jane (Rani creators) era is fondly remembered.

They wanted another evil or morally ambiguous Time Lord, it'd be far simpler to make another one up.

I doubt anything of the valeyard or Rani would come up. thers's so much the episode needs to explain that it would be far too complex to try and shoehorn in some ancient history as part of the explanation in a way the whole audience could follow.

Possession rather than regeneration could be a possibility, but if that were the case, it would be much simpler just to say he took the body of a random timelord female then somehow managed to get back to earth from wherever gallifrey now resides.

Regarding the Rani/Valeyard in general, I think with the Rani, there isn't exactly a need for her to be brought back, but if the master becomes male again, then I think she could successfully be brought back at some point, it's all just about how they do it. Before series 3, the master was a dusty camp relic of a character from long ago, whom people may have scoffed at the suggestion of bringing back, similarly for davros, the cybermen, ice warriors etc, it would have been hard for people to imagine any of them in the modern interpretation of the show before someone made it happen, heck when the show first returning, from what I understand they almost didn't want to include the daleks. Basic point is that almost any character can be brought back as long as it is handled well, as with all the characters above wherin you introduce the character in such a way which is in keeping with how old fans remember them, but at the same time is explanatory enough to be an introduction to the character for newer viewers.

The only exception to my above paragraph is the valeyard. I don't know much about the character apart from what i've read on here, but if it is as people say supposed to come between his 12th and final incarnation then that would have been in his first regeneration cycle, so any chance to show the character is surely now gone. I would imagine when they did that storyline long ago, they never imagined that one day the show may actually get to the point where the doctor was at that many incarnations, and now it is just a long forgotten idea which possibly could have been utilized, but obviously wasn't. To show the character now, newer fans wouldn't care either way and older fans would just say 'that's not right, he was supposed to be between the 12th and final incarnations' so it would cause anger and confusion more than anything as far as I can see.

I really don't get the clamour (by some) for the Rani's return.

The Rani was a third rate villain in two fifth rate stories from a period in Classic Who history when the show was at its least popular. I really see no demand for her return, and I certainly don't want her back.

If we have to have a returning character from that era (and let's face it, we don't) then how about a lovable rogue type like Sabalom Glitz? And if we have to have a renegade Time Lord, who isn't the Master, return (and, again, we don't) then how about the Meddling Monk, another lovable rogue?

I agree. It's only long-time fans who care about the Rani. To newer or more casual viewers, she's a non-entity. Plus if we keep reintroducing more Time Lords/Ladies into the mix, it kind of dilutes the whole thing about the Doctor supposedly being the last of his kind (well, one of the last two, anyway).

That's basically all there is to it. Bring back an old human involves dealing with age or recasting the characters, while bringing back a Time Lord (or Lady) is much more flexible. The Rani, of course, serves no purpose that the Master can't, so why dilute your characters? The Meddling Monk is similar, but goes back even further, with even fewer remembering him.

Exactly, the new series is going on ten years old and in that time there's not been one, not one iconic foe who deserves a return, all we get is rehashed villains like the Daleks, Cybermen who have proved time and again they are not worthy of all these appearances, find a new threat for Pete's sake.. As for the Master, well he's never been anything more than a hammy pantomime villain.

Not sure I entirely agree. Dalek was a fantastic episode and Into the Dalek also had some great moments. But on the whole, yes, the iconic villains have tended to disappoint - and, in the case of the Daleks in particular, massively overused.

It's easy to forget that classic Who didn't rely on regular enemies all that much. Outside of the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Master, how many appeared more than 3 or 4 times in the 25+ years the original series ran for?

I'm a firm believer that anything can be made scary once if written well, but after that you're into diminishing returns. One-off villains have the advantage of mystery and surprise. But what is fresh and terrifying first time round is much less so the second time. Case in point: the Weeping Angels.

Umm... I assume you're being 'funny'?

I agree, Dalek was a great episode, just that with the exception of maybe Parting of the Ways they have been over used, Daleks with a Parliament,. what's the Who universe coming too.

The last time the Valeyard was seen on screen he was alive and well on Gallifrey (well a Time Lord Space station anyway) so you don't need an origin story to being him back.

For example The Doctor could find a way to bring back Gallifrey only to discover that his own Darkside has seized control of the Planet.



If they do want an origin story they've already introduced the Dreamlord who is basically the Valyard without physical form. Get Toby Jones back for the role and say that something happened on Trenzalore (maybe during the regeneration) that created a physical form for the Valeyard.

lol, I absolutely love this post, so true

Lets put the cat amongst the pigeons - Maybe Missy is Sally Sparrow.