The Curator.... Who is he? (SPOILERS for "The Day of the Doctor")

[The Doctor]

I think you'd have to be intentionally obtuse not to see the obvious: the Curator is the final Doctor. There's really no ambiguity. He gives Eleven(Twelve) hope that Trenzalore isn't as fixed a final resting place as it might appear.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I think you'd have to be intentionally obtuse not to see the obvious: the Curator is the final Doctor. There's really no ambiguity.

There's no ambiguity about the fact that he's a future Doctor, but there's no way to know if he's supposed to be the final Doctor.

 

[Awesome Possum]

11 winks at him, it's pretty clear that he's the Doctor who has finally settled down and retired. I like the idea of him being the last Doctor.

He could also be Tom Baker who wandered onto the set and began speaking to Matt Smith who was on break.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

11 winks at him, it's pretty clear that he's the Doctor who has finally settled down and retired. I like the idea of him being the last Doctor.

He could also be Tom Baker who wandered onto the set and began speaking to Matt Smith who was on break.

Or a Zygon.

 

[sidious618]

He's a later Doctor, possibly the last, but I like the lack of certainty on the subject.

 

[Australis]

Essentially, he's Moffat's version of the Woman in White from The End of Time. The Woman, of course was intended by RTD to be the Doctor's mother but her identity wasn't stated on screen so that she could be whoever the fans wanted her to be.

I thought she was Susan. Put photos of them side by side, you'll see why.

As to Baker, a later (but not final) regeneration, going back to an old favourite face. And yes, they don't need to do any more than that, leave it there.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Essentially, he's Moffat's version of the Woman in White from The End of Time. The Woman, of course was intended by RTD to be the Doctor's mother but her identity wasn't stated on screen so that she could be whoever the fans wanted her to be.

I thought she was Susan. Put photos of them side by side, you'll see why.

You know, I DO think so too. Which would be great - it means that, if the Doctor ever finds Gallifrey again, he can find his own granddaughter again.

 

[od0_ital]

Just finished watchin' it, and while I agree that it was both a wink to the fans (the line about revisitin' favorites) and a future regeneration of the Doctor.

I just hope its not the last regeneration, 'cause that would be kind of dull...

 

[Gepard]

Or – and this was my reading of it – it's Moffat laying the first hint at this:

We are aware that Peter Capaldi’s played a big old part in Doctor Who before and we’re not going to ignore the fact… and Torchwood. I’ll let you in on this. I remember Russell [T Davies] told me he had a big old plan as to why there were two Peter Capaldis in the Who universe, one in Pompei and one in Torchwood. When I cast Peter and [Russell] got in touch to say how pleased he was I said “Okay, what was your theory and does it still work?” and he said “Yes it does, here it is.” So I don’t know if we’ll get to it… we’ll play that one out over time. It’s actually quite neat.
The big fun question is, we know that the Doctor when he regenerates, the faces… it’s not set from birth, it’s not that he was always going to be one day Peter Capaldi. We know that’s the case because in The War Games he has a choice of face and all that. We know it’s not set so where does he get those faces from? They can’t just be randomly generated because they’ve got lines and they’ve aged. When he turns into Peter he’ll actually have lines on his face – sorry Peter – so where did that face come from?​

Source.

Along with that whole bit about the Doctor 'going home' to Gallifrey, it seemed like the whole last ten minutes were all about seeding the future story arcs post-Smith.

 

[Captain Crow]

I'll go with him being the 4th Doctor aged up due to shorting out the time differential (see "Time Crash").

Smith: I could be a curator. I'ld be great at curating. I'ld be... The Great Curator. Ha ha, I could retire and do that. I could retire and be the curator of this place.

Baker: You know, I really think you might.

Smith, staring in astonishment: I never forget a face.

Baker: I know you don't. And in years to come you might find yourself revisiting a few, but just the old favorites.

Read what you will into those lines, I took it to mean a future reincarnation of The Doctor, beyond the 13th. A Doctor who's retired and taken up curating.

To me "And in years to come you might find yourself revisiting a few" comes off more as a reference to him crossing his own time stream, which he has a tendency to do, rather than him reusing old faces. The "but just the old favorites." crack was a rather cheeky fourth wall joke alluding to the fact only fan favorites Tom Baker (4th) and David Tennant (11th) reprised there roles for the special.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

In all curiosity, could the Curator eventually become the Watcher that the Fourth meets at the end of his life? The Moment would've been prepared, after all.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Why did the installation on the wall of the gallery look like part of the interior wall of a TARDIS console room? Did the TARDIS also retire and become the National Gallery or did the Curator create the installation as a memento?

 

[RJDiogenes]

He was the Doctor from the far future, maybe millions of years in the future. He was there to say that there is still life beyond the final regeneration and that there will come a day when the Doctor knows peace and fulfillment. He was there to tell himself, and us, that everything will be okay.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

I'll entertain the idea that the Curator is a Flesh Doctor. If I had to come up with a way of making the Curator have a reason, a stabilized Ganger in the fourth Doctor's form with all of the Doctor's memories would work.

I would prefer magic, though. I would infinitely prefer magic.

You're saying that my predictions of a ganger previous Doctor, of a face revisiting Doctor and of the episode being lovely all came true? Holy shit, how did I know that when I didn't even see the series (we don't have TV in the 19th century)? Anyone seen my fob watch?

 

[Mitty]

After watching the scene several times, I fully believe it's a future incarnation who took the face of a past one. The Doctor finds Gallifrey (probably at the end of the next season) and eventually returns the painting to Earth, though we may well not see that.

Personally I'm thrilled Gallifrey is back from the abyss, well at least partially. Opens up a bunch more story possibilities.

I'd imagine even RTD eventually planned for Gallifrey to be restored.

 

[BlastHardcheese]

I imagined he was in some way the spirit of the Doctor. Like the White Guardian -a guardian of time perhaps? And he can take the form of any of his old familiar faces.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

Who is the Curator?
Who knows?

(Doctor) Who Knows

 

[YellowSubmarine]

I'm half-hoping that Gallifrey is hiding in plain sight in the painting with the 27th keeping tabs on it until the 12th finds it. Way too obvious and ridiculous not to be true.

 

[DWF]

Or he could just be a human Curator that we'll never see again.

 

[The Wormhole]

I'd imagine even RTD eventually planned for Gallifrey to be restored.

I sincerely doubt it. RTD hated the Time Lords and that's why he made them extinct. Including Gallifrey in The End of Time started as a suggestion from Julie Gardner which RTD was originally viciously against but eventually relented when he began trying to determine just that the Master's goal should be this time around and restoring Gallifrey popped into his head.

Even then, it took more arm-twisting to get the Time Lords into the story.