8 Doctor Who Fan Theories That Became Fact

Where there's a beloved property, there are fan theories

And where there are fan theories, there are crazy fan theories that should not be taken seriously, except when they are

I'm Will for Who Culture, and here are 8 Doctor Who fan theories that became fact

8. The Doctor's Jacket Wasn't a Mistake The twisty, turny nature of Stephen Moffat's series arcs

inspired a feverish level of fan debate and speculation. And this was at its peak during the complex, timey-wimey

universe destroying shenanigans of series 5. In the middle of the series, in the episode Flesh

and Stone, there's a seemingly out of place scene where the 11th Doctor shows up sporting his

signature tweed jacket, despite having lost it to the Weeping Angels literally moments before

Because the shot seemed to be trying to hide the fact that Smith was wearing a jacket by using an

extreme close-up with his clothing barely visible, there were cries from within the fanbase that

Doctor Who had made a mistake, and this was simply a continuity error. However, those who were

obsessively trying to figure out Moffat's long-term game plan theorized that no, this wasn't a mistake

it was a clue. And the reason the Doctor magically had his jacket on was because this Doctor was from

the future. This was an extremely popular theory at the time, and even though it had a crackpot whiff

about it, those who subscribed to the theory were able to claim their bragging rights at the end of

the series, when the jacket-wearing Doctor travelled back along his own timeline and

ended up in this exact scene from Flesh and Stone. 7. The Doctor can regenerate into an animal

Even though it's been around since the earliest days of the show, the rules of regeneration

have never been explicitly defined. This has led to the long-running fan theory that, in some rare cases, Time Lords might

actually be capable of regenerating into something different, something that isn't humanoid

While the show has never strayed from its Time Lord's look-like-human stance

there is some slight evidence that supports the notion of a Time Lord to animal regeneration

Some fans point to the fact that the Doctor usually checks their body when they regenerate

often appearing relieved that they've got two arms, two legs, two eyes, and other humanoid

features. And then there's the fact that the Master once looked like this, possibly as far

away from a regular human as a Time Lord has ever appeared. Still, without any sort of official

confirmation or acknowledgement this idea remained nothing more than a theory until last year Penned by former showrunner Russell T Davies and featuring the voice of David Tennant the 2020 webcast The Secret of Novice Haim confirmed that The Doctor has had hundreds

of faces and forms, including men, women, and animals. For obvious reasons, we'll probably

never see an animal version of The Doctor leading the show, but this does open the door for the

likes of Big Finish and Titan Comics to tell all sorts of wacky stories

6. The Doctor is a copy of the original. Heaven Sent is one of those episodes that leaves audiences with just the right amount of ambiguity

most of it revolving around the Doctor's confession dial and how exactly it works

In the episode, the 12th Doctor is trapped inside said confession dial, caught in a loop, dying over and over again, and respawning after death

It's a fascinating plot device, but something that isn't made clear is whether or not the real Doctor was the first one to die

making every subsequent version of him nothing more than a clone of the original

Ever since the episode aired back in 2015, many fans have theorized that this is the case

and that, after Heaven Sent, the Twelfth Doctor was actually a copy

And so, when writer Stephen Moffat joined Twitter for a watch-along of the episode

this topic was bound to come up. And sure enough, it did. In response, Moffat pretty much confirmed the clone theory

by referring back to a similar event in a 1964 William Hartnell serial

Moffat said, He first teleported in the Key of Marinus. He's been a copy ever since then

Deal with it, kid. Five, the truth about River Song. Another Stephen Moffat arc

the mystery of River Song didn't run for a single series. It ran through series four, five, and six

before the truth about her backstory was finally made clear. There were so many puzzles surrounding River

her true identity, the identity of the man she killed, the full extent of her relationship with the doctor

And while all of these question marks did have satisfying payoffs, there were many theories that accurately predicted

these payoffs long before the show itself got to them. Right from the moment that River met Amy in Series 5

a good number of fans speculated that the two characters were somehow related

a theory that was proven true with the Series 6 revelation that River is Amy's daughter, Melody

The same thing happened with the slightly more obvious identity of the man River was imprisoned for killing

In Series 5, the show strongly telegraphed that this man was the Doctor

and as a result, pretty much the entire fanbase latched onto this theory

which was again confirmed in the closing episodes of Series 6. The speculation that River was secretly the Rani though yeah that one didn age well Four Gwen is related to Gwyneth Actress Eve Miles first stepped into the Hooniverse in the 2005 episode The Unquiet Dead

portraying Mr. Sneed's clairvoyant servant, Gwyneth. Then, in 2006, Miles joined the cast

of Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood as policewoman Gwen Cooper. Though her second Hooniverse character

was wildly different to her first, fans, for obvious reasons, speculated that they were connected somehow

Despite then showrunner Russell T. Davis telling Doctor Who magazine that there was definitively

no link between the two characters. However, it appears that Davis then changed his mind

or perhaps all the fan theories caught his attention. Whatever the case, Doctor Who's series four finale explains that Gwen was connected to Gwyneth with spatial genetic

multiplicity resulting in their physical similarities. It's also possible that Davis was simply lying about their lack of a connection at first. After all, being in charge of Doctor Who

does mean you have to tell the occasional fib. Three, humans got the word doctor from the doctor

In the mid 90s, an avid Doctor Who fan took to the then primitive internet

eager to share one of their theories on a Doctor Who message board. The theory that humanity's use of the word doctor

actually came from the doctor themselves, due to the Time Lord's many appearances throughout history

as a healer and a wise man. Sounds pretty plausible, right? Well, that fan's name was none other than Stephen Moffat's

the man who would one day take charge of the show and catapult it to international success

And when he finally took the reins, he used that opportunity to work his decades-old theory

into the fabric of the show. Because why not? In the closing moments of Series 6's A Good Man Goes to War

River Song shows up and berates the Doctor for his reckless behavior, reminding him just how powerful his name has become

throughout the universe. In doing so, she tells him where the word Doctor originally came from

and lo and behold, Moffat actually did it. She says, Doctor, the word for healer and wise man throughout the universe

We get that word from you, you know. Funnily enough, though, this wouldn't be the last time Moffat weaved his own fan fictions

into the show he loved so much. Two, the Doctor's name is more than just a secret

Before he was appointed as Doctor Who's head honcho, Moffat was one of showrunner Russell

T Davies' most trusted writers, delivering standout 9th and 10th Doctor stories like

The Empty Child and Blink. The girl in the fireplace, his second effort while working under Davis

sees the 10th Doctor form a special bond with Madame de Pompadour with the two characters getting to know each other both physically and mentally At one point the Doctor looks inside her mind in order to procure some information

but at the same time, she can now see into his mind as well

She feels just how lonely he was as a child, before sensing that his real name

isn't just a simple moniker, and it bears a much greater significance

This was Moffat theorizing that the reason why the Doctor never speaks his name

is because of a higher power, a greater reason, something that makes it important for him to keep his lips sealed

And you know what? He worked it into the show five years later. In the latter stages of series seven

we learn that the doctor's name is the code word that opens the door to his grave

a dangerous place that must never be discovered. Then later on, his name becomes the password

that will allow the Time Lords to return to the prime universe, a return which would incite large-scale warfare

In other words, the Madam's assessment and Moffat's theory were bang on

One, the Morbius Doctors are canon. One of the longest running Doctor Who theories

stems from the 1976 serial, The Brain of Morbius, in which Tom Baker's fourth Doctor

engages in a psychic wrestling match with the titular patchwork creature. During this scene

the Doctor's previous three faces appear on a nearby screen. But interestingly, it doesn't stop there

In fact, we see eight more mystery faces before the Doctor wins the contest

Though some speculation has argued that these faces are past incarnations of Morbius

the far more popular theory is that they are past incarnations of the Doctor

incarnations that came before William Hartnell. This was also the intent of the production team

although the theory was never explicitly confirmed within the show. But in 2020, that changed

Series 12 finale, The Timeless Children, revealed that the Doctor isn't just an ordinary Time Lord

They're a powerful creature from another world, the first ever being to possess the gift of regeneration

The episode also informed us that the Doctor has had more lives than we think

even going so far as to show the Morbius faces during the scene where the 13th Doctor

breaks out of the Matrix. Some fans even believe that the entire point

of the Timeless Child twist was so that current showrunner Chris Chibnall

who grew up watching the fourth Doctor, could make the Morbius Doctors canon

Whether you subscribe to that notion or not, that is exactly what he did

And there you have it, folks. Eight Doctor Who fan theories that became fact

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I'm Will for WhatCulture. Thanks for hanging out, and I'll see you next time