A Doctor Who companion’s adventures always have to end, but sometimes clues to how they end are hidden in plain sight. This is true for Doctor Who companion Clara Oswald, whose impossible mystery captivated audiences, and the Doctor, for two and a half seasons. As a two-doctor companion, Clara departed during Peter Capaldi’s run, but the show had been leading up to her dramatic finale before Matt Smith had left Doctor Who. Showrunner Steven Moffat made sure to make the first watch compelling, and a re-watch more tragic, by hinting at the Doctor and Clara’s fate throughout their televised run.
Though the various versions of Clara Oswald are both loved and hated for their impact on the Doctor, it’s hard to deny her vital role in his story. Her introduction as Oswin granted audiences a smooth transition after the departure of Doctor Who favorites Amy and Rory; not only had the Doctor met Clara during their tenure, but Clara’s existence would be woven so far into Doctor Who even her theme would become part of the plot. It made Clara’s death one of the most tragic departures of the series. Not only was her death inevitable, it was foreshadowed as early as her first season.
A 2013 Doctor Who Mini-Episode Began Setting Up Clara’s Ending
The Doctor And Clara Were Meant For Each Other
“She Said, He Said” delivers a lot in a short time, including direct hints about Clara’s fate in “Face the Raven”. The mini-episode, released on Doctor Who’s website in 2013, is a direct prequel to “The Name of the Doctor” and features the Eleventh Doctor and Clara questioning each other’s identity. The dual-perspective format of the video grants unique insight into Clara’s character up to that point in season 7. Not only is the Doctor troubled that Clara is “too perfect” of a companion, but Clara is already falling in love with the Doctor’s identity, a recurring theme in later seasons.
At the mini-sode’s beginning, Clara is breaking her own rules for traveling with the Doctor. She advises against falling in love, yet does anyway, alluding to her feelings towards the Eleventh Doctor. It also refers to Clara falling in love with the Doctor as a concept. Clara would later take on the Doctor’s characteristics, even going so far as calling herself “Doctor” and getting her own TARDIS and companion. She becomes enamored with the Doctor’s identity rather than continuing to question it. This behavior, borne in part from her faith in him, leads Clara to accidentally orchestrate her own death.
The Doctor says Clara is too perfect, which is true. Not only does this line set up the reveal of the Clara echoes, but it also refers to her personality. Clara’s personality compliments him in every way, creating a push and pull dynamic with both her Doctors. She is stated to know him the best, can see through him, and is excellent at taking herself to extremes to be a good companion. She is controlling and demanding but fun, a balm on the loss of the Ponds. The Doctor foreshadows an important plot point: they were meant for each other.
Clara & The Doctor Were Always Destined To Become The Hybrid (& That Makes Her Death Sadder)
Their Story Together Was An Inevitable Tragedy
Fate proved stronger than any of Clara and the Doctor’s attempts to separate. They were the Hybrid, two races prophesied to unravel Time and “break a billion hearts to heal their own”. Clara unknowingly acted first by splintering herself across time for the Doctor, creating the Doctor’s Clara obsession. Missy was the mastermind behind Clara’s companionship; she gave Clara the Doctor’s phone number. As Missy’s proxy, Clara was destined to be as intertwined with the Doctor as Missy was. It’s possible Missy had known about the Hybrid. The TARDIS certainly did; she tried in vain to prevent Clara’s stay.
Clara Oswald’s story is a tragedy in Doctor Who , but it couldn’t end any other way.
Clara Oswald’s story is a tragedy in Doctor Who, but it couldn’t end any other way. The Hybrid was a direct comparison to season 4’s metacrisis. Like Donna and the Tenth Doctor, Clara and the Doctor are soulmates who change each other, only to be forced apart by memory loss. The difference is the Hybrid swapped Clara and the Doctor’s roles. As the Doctor, Clara would be the one to leave behind a Doctor who couldn’t remember her. Clara and the Doctor’s mutual devotion created the Hybrid, and because of the danger they posed to the universe and each other, they could never stay together.