Once more, I feel the urge to speculate on another Series 12 Mystery. I really thought I was done with this sort of stuff and would just enjoy the last few episodes of the season. But I just can't stop!
You will note that my last few speculative entries about what's been going on in this latest season of Doctor Who have all been POINTS OF DEBATE. This time, however, I'm making this an UNADULTERATED BOORISH OPINION. I'm not going to examine all the theories surrounding the character of Brendan from Ascension of the Cybermen, I'm just going to put forward a vague thesis of my own.
WHAT IS BRENDAN?
For most of the week, I have not given a lot of thought to the Mystery of Brendan.I had just decided I would wait for the next episode to come along and tell me (as, no doubt, it will. It would be pretty silly to have this whole plot thread going on and not reveal how it relates to the main story). But I have re-watched Ascension of the Cybermen a few times, now. With each viewing, wondering who Brendan is ate away at me more and more. Finally, I got online and read several of the basic theories that are floating around about him. And then, believe it or not, I actually had a dream that I was watching the season finale and Brendan's origins were properly revealed. Some of that dream was quite surreal and made no sense - as dreams often do! But there were one or two ideas in that dream that had some genuine logic to them. I really do think that weird Id of mine might actually be on to something!
So, putting aside some of the bizarre stuff that my dream contained (which included the Master disguising himself in a suit of armor and the Eighth Doctor making a surprise appearance), here is the valid stuff that the backwaters of my mind produced:
There is a race of immortal beings that manifest themselves on various civilizations throughout the Universe. They have come to be known as Timeless Children. While it is impossible for them to die, they do actually live out a basic lifespan of sorts. They will age at the regular rate of the species they are living amongst. But when they, at last, die of old age - they will become a newborn, again, and live out another life. They do this over and over for all eternity.
In their earliest days, the Time Lords sought to extend their lifespan for as long as possible. They were able to slow their aging process down considerably. They could live for several centuries before reaching their end. But this still wasn't enough. They wanted to find even more ways to live longer.
The Time Lords discovered that these Timeless Children were out in the Universe and realized they could harness energy from them when they reached their time of renewal and use it to renew themselves, too. It is this energy that they steal from Timeless Children that enables them to regenerate.
Brendan is one of these Timeless Children. He ended up manifesting himself on Earth and continues to renew himself every seventy years or so. He has Time Lords following him along on a regular basis, leeching energy off of him every time he embarks on a new life cycle.
TIME LORD AGENTS
Ascension of the Cybermen allowed us to witness one life cycle of a Timeless Child. In this cycle, he was known as Brendan. He appeared to be growing up in early 20th Century Ireland. A Timeless Child cannot "die" in any other way except old age. This is why when he is shot and plummets off the side of a cliff, he isn't killed.
Two Time Lords infiltrated Brendan's life so that they could be present during his Time of Renewal and harvest regeneration energy from him. One posed as his adopted father, the other as a local police chief. The "father" pretends to find Brendan as a baby and raises him. We all notice how the police chief and the father don't appear to age much as Brendan becomes an old man. This is because they are Time Lords and their aging process moves much more slowly. When they take Brendan into the ominous back office and strap him into the machine, we are seeing the beginning of a process that will extract some of Brendan's life essence and use it for regeneration. The process will also erase Brendan's memory of the whole incident and he will renew himself shortly thereafter.
It's possible that Brendan would remember all his past lives if the Time Lords weren't exploiting him the way they were. But, because of what's done to him, he believes he is a normal human living out a regular life. It might even be possible that extracting regeneration energy from him causes him to live out a normal human lifespan with regular periods of renewal. He might actually be quite similar to an Eternal. Normally, he is ageless. But he has been altered by what the Time Lords do to him and must work within an ever-renewing life cycle, instead.
SEVERAL VARIABLES
How exactly the Time Lords use the Timeless Children is still a bit unclear to me. They seem to work in pairs when they do pursue one for their regeneration energy. I do believe that they are ashamed of what they do and have their memories erased after their stint with a Timeless Child is over.
Since some things are still very unclear, I will entertain a few different ideas:
Theory 1) It is, perhaps, possible that every Time Lord must spend some time following a Timeless Child. They actually have to get their own regeneration energy from them. The torture process we see at the end of Ascension might be enough to get twelve regenerations for both of those Time Lords. Or, perhaps, they have to do this a few times to get their cycles. It might even be possible that each extraction only gets one regeneration and they have to follow a Timeless Child through twenty-four renewals!
Theory 2) Alternatively, it might just be certain Time Lords that elect or are selected to pursue Timeless Children for a bit. They get a special reward for this term of duty. More than likely, it's an extra regeneration in their cycle. But they spend a few centuries of their lives following a Timeless Child along. They assert themselves into the life of a Timeless Child on a regular basis so that they can be present at their time of renewal. The energy the Time Lord agents extract goes into some sort of central storage system on Gallifrey and is dispensed to Time Lords when needed.
Either of these theories seem quite feasible to me. As I mentioned, the period that is spent with a Timeless Child is then erased from a Time Lord's memory once their term is over. But I do believe that certain Time Lords are in charge of administration and are aware of what is being done to Timeless Children but keep it a secret. They take care of the recruiting and training of Time Lords that do go out into the Universe and harness energy from Timeless Children. They probably do a few tours of duty, themselves - and then go into administration. It is my belief that Gath was one such Time Lord.
A POSSIBLE RUTH TIE-IN
If we adhere to the idea I put forward in Theory 2, it may be possible that the Ruth Doctor (still can't call her Doctor Ruth!) did a tour of duty collecting energy from a Timeless Child. That vision Thirteen keeps having is a vague memory of the Timeless Child she was assigned to.
Being the Doctor, of course, meant that torturing a Timeless Child was far too cruel of a thing for her to do and she was unable to accomplish her mission. The Time Lord working with her ended up feeling a similar level of compassion and they chose to flee from their responsibilities and hide on Earth.
This actually gets quite a bit of Ruth's Mystery to line up. The Time Lords recruit the Judoon to help find Ruth and Lee because the whole operation with Timeless Children is meant to be kept secret from the people of Gallifrey. So someone like Gath can be involved because she has pledged to maintain that secrecy. But it's best to keep other Gallifreyans out of the operation as much as possible.
Ruth will, eventually get re-captured. She might fulfill her duty and perform a stint of Timeless Child energy extraction and then gets her memory erased and is given an extra regeneration (If you'll recall, I claimed that an extra regeneration was the reward for performing such a duty). She turns into a young William Hartnell and lives a whole extra life without any memory of the Ruth incarnation. This accounts for Thirteen not knowing who she is. And, of course, Ruth doesn't know Thirteen or what a sonic screwdriver is because none of these events have happened to her, yet.
The TARDIS stuff is about the only thing that still gets a bit wonky. I'm guessing Ruth steals a Type Forty to evade her duty as a Timeless Child Torturer and still retains just the slightest residual memory of this act. Which causes her to re-steal the same TARDIS when she was Hartnell (with a bit of guidance from Clara, of course). The TARDIS keeps getting jammed in a Police Box shape whenever it visits Earth in the 20th or 21st Century.
CONFLICTING RUMORS THAT STILL MIGHT LINE UP A BIT
There are, of course, several rumors circulating in regards to what will be revealed in the season finale. Some of these speculations could largely contradict everything I've just said. But they might not conflict that badly.
The biggest rumor is that we will learn that the Doctor is a Timeless Child, herself. If she is - why would she also be acting as a Time Lord who actually went out and tortured other Timeless Children?
If this is the case: we can take some of the theories I expressed in my last entry where I was theorizing (or "blindly guessing" might be a more accurate term!) about the Timeless Child and use them, here. You can look up that entry if you want, of course. Here is the link: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/02/points-of-debate-who-is-timeless-child.html.
It could be possible that there is still a single Timeless Child that makes a supreme sacrifice to keep the lights on for Gallifrey. Perhaps this Timeless Child discovered what was being done to their kind by Time Lords all across Time and Space and came up with some sort of process that would enable Gallifrey to leech off of just one Timeless Child and leave all the others alone.
Perhaps part of this Special Process of Ultimate Sacrifice involves the Timeless Child having to live out a life as a Time Lord, first. That Time Lord that they become is, of course, the Doctor. Who, by The Timeless Children, has definitely lived a full life and can make the Process of Ultimate Sacrifice complete. That shot we see in the Next Time Trailer at the end of Ascension where the Master says: "This is going to hurt!" could be the Doctor finally preparing herself for the completion of the process.
We don't know for sure what might happen after the Ultimate Sacrifice is made. Does the Doctor fade out of existence? Is she allowed to continue being a Time Lord but knows the truth of things, now? Will Gallifrey actually be restored in some way? And, most importantly, what is up with the Doctor and the Master wearing "floods"?!
Seriously, why do they both roll their pant cuffs up so high?!
With The Timeless Children only a few days away, this will be the last time I write an entry like this for a bit. We'll go back to work on my Dalek Timeline next time I post in here.
Still I must congratulate Chibnall. He has given us a season of Doctor Who that has really gotten us talking. I may even go so far to say that this might be one of the best seasons the show has ever produced.
Strong words, I know. No doubt, any Chib-basher that's reading this is fuming over such a statement. But, to be honest, I'm getting quite tired of them. So I'm happy to cause them any grief I can!
My other entries concerning Series 12 Speculations:
Who is The Ruth Doctor?
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/01/points-of-debate-who-is-ruth-doctor.html
Who is the Timeless Child?
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/02/points-of-debate-who-is-timeless-child.html.
Since I'm so pro-Chibnall, here's some other stuff I've written concerning decisions he's made:
A Female Doctor - Part One:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2017/07/unadulterated-boorish-opinion-female.html
A Female Doctor - Part Two:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/10/unadulterated-boorish-opinion-female.html
A Female Doctor - Part Three:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/12/unadulterated-boorish-opinion-female.html
And something about The Tsuranga Conundrum:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/05/unadulterated-boorish-opinion-was-it-so.html
That's plenty of Chibnall Love to partake in should you so desire!
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