Doctor Who‘s Timeless Child felt like a huge retcon when it was revealed in 2020. The Doctor fell out of another universe, was adopted by a Gallifreyan, and then they were used for rewriting the race’s entire biology to create the Time Lords. It’s no understatement to say Chris Chibnall was responsible for the biggest and most controversial shift in Doctor Who canon since the series began in 1963.

And yet, there were always small clues. In the Seventh Doctor’s era, Doctor Who started dropping breadcrumbs to suggest deep secrets in the character’s past. Doctor Who was canceled before the plan could come to fruition, but the Timeless Child has retroactively given them meaning. And before that, “The Brain of Morbius” showed images of several unfamiliar Doctors, implying the regeneration line went back beyond William Hartnell.

These unintentional hints continued during the modern era too, especially with Steven Moffat’s “The Girl in the Fireplace” in Doctor Who season 2.

Did Madame de Pompadour See The Doctor’s Timeless Child Years In Doctor Who Season 2?

“The Girl in the Fireplace” is widely hailed as one of Doctor Who‘s very best episodes, and a highlight of the Tenth Doctor’s adventures with Rose Tyler. Before falling for his companion, however, David Tennant’s Doctor caught the eye of Madame de Pompadour in 18th century France.

In order to figure out why robots from the future were stalking Madame de Pompadour through time, the Doctor performed his version of the Vulcan mind meld, accessing her thoughts and memories to dig out the truth. Quite by accident, Madame de Pompadour received access to the Doctor’s mind also. She noticed his intense loneliness and knowledge of the stars, but also remarked, “Doctor who? It’s more than just a secret, isn’t it.”

The line is a rare example of modern Doctor Who pre-Chibnall signaling that dark secrets from the Doctor’s past had some wider significance to the universe.

What Was Madame de Pompadour Really Referring To?

Since “The Girl in the Fireplace” was written by Steven Moffat, it could be argued that Madame de Pompadour was referring to the Trenzalore situation here – “Doctor who?” being the question that would pull Gallifrey back into the universe after the devastation of the Time War.

But would that information really be locked inside the Tenth Doctor’s mind? Even if (via the War Doctor), Ten had some latent knowledge of Gallifrey’s survival, it was Eleven who discovered that his real name acted as the password to a crack in time from which Gallifrey would emerge.

Despite obviously not being Moffat’s intention, Madame de Pompadour’s “more than just a secret” tease lines up better with the Timeless Child than with Trenzalore. It was a sign that the Doctor’s real identity had been responsible for forging the very race of Time Lords, and had then been lost to the Doctor themselves.

We know those Timeless Child memories would have been locked inside the Tenth Doctor’s head while Madame de Pompadour was poking around in there, and during the process, the Doctor even admitted, “Sorry, you might find old memories reawakening. Side effect.“

If we ignore the behind-the-scenes matter of when each writer came up with each storyline and treat Doctor Who like one consistent canon (don’t laugh), I’d wager that when the Doctor reached into her mind in Doctor Who season 2, Madame de Pompadour received a glimpse of the Time Lord’s forgotten life being experimented on by Tecteun.

Release Date

2005 – 2022-00-00

Directors

Graeme Harper, Euros Lyn, Douglas Mackinnon, Jamie Magnus Stone, Charles Palmer, Rachel Talalay, Joe Ahearne, James Strong, Jamie Childs, Saul Metzstein, Toby Haynes, Wayne Che Yip, Nick Hurran, Richard Clark, James Hawes, Daniel Nettheim, Colin Teague, Keith Boak, Azhur Saleem, Adam Smith, Andrew Gunn, Nida Manzoor, Lawrence Gough, Paul Murphy

Writers

Steven Moffat, Russell T. Davies

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  Jodie Whittaker

  The Doctor

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