TARDIS Index File

The eternal question that must not be answered

44,956articles in progress

Forum page


Active forums
Forums:Archive indexReference desk archives → The eternal question that must not be answered
This thread has been archived.
Please DO NOT add to this discussion.

Hello, Just wondering : Why is the eternal question that must not be answered "Dr Who?", and if it were to be answered, is it that silence must fall? What does that mean? Why do The Silence want that question never to be answered? Thanks so much for your insight.


No one actually knows, Christina. It's honestly unexplored narrative territory — or, if you're feeling uncharitable towards Steven Moffat, a load of old nonsense. There's literally nothing in the whole history of Doctor Who narratives that in any way explains the last scene of The Wedding of River Song. One imagines that Moffat will eventually make sense of that scene — possibly in Matt Smith's final episodes, but there's nothing which exists right now that explains it in the least.
That said, it is a bit of a fan in-joke. It has been said by Verity Lambert herself, that the production office can never reveal too much about the Doctor, for fear of the whole programme unravelling. The show, she and others have argued, depends on the Doctor remaining an essentially mysterious character — something that would be undermined by suddenly knowing his real name. So, in that sense, answering the programme's implied titular question — Doctor Who? — would be a bad thing, as Wedding implies.
But, again, as for narrative clues to the meaning of that scene, there are none. Unless, maybe, you count the very vague exchange between River Song and the Tenth Doctor: "there's only one time I could tell you my real name", or words to that effect. Who knows what it means, but it does at least offer the suggestion that answering the titular question is something done only in the rarest of circumstances.
czechout@Wikia    03:52: Thu 22 Nov 2012
Actually, I think the question is literally "Doctor Who?" Or maybe "What is the Doctor's name?" or such. Keep in mind the series lasted for nearly 10 years with the Doctor's name known, because at one point it was revealed to be Theta Sigma, although about 10 or 15 years later that was retconned into a nickname. OS25 (talk to me, baby.) 22:17, November 23, 2012 (UTC)
I'm going to take issue with you on that. Theta Sigma was never offered in any narrative as his real, proper name. It was introduced as a nickname the Doctor didn't like in The Armageddon Factor and that's how it remained.
czechout@Wikia    00:00: Sun 25 Nov 2012
Yes, I think that you're right... Hm... OS25 (talk to me, baby.) 04:22, November 25, 2012 (UTC)

Around Wikia's network

Random Wiki