The Woman? (Spoilers)

[Emissary of the Prophets]

Claire Bloom played The Woman in The End of Time, but who was she really?
The Doctor locks eyes with her and Wilf asks him who she was. The Sun said that she was the Doctor's mother, but was she?

Was she his mum, a regenerated Susan or Romana, or someone else? It's driving me crazy not knowing.

 

[Kelso]

She was obviously Adric.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

The 13th Doctor.

 

[EyalM]

I wonder if we will ever find out.

I'm going with Susan.

 

[Emissary of the Prophets]

Here's hoping that Moffat picks this up in a couple of years & runs with it (but I doubt it).

 

[Brendan Moody]

In the podcast commentary for the episode, Julie Gardner says it's the Doctor's mother, and RTD acknowledges the possibility but won't commit. I like the ambiguity, mostly because I can't imagine an interesting way to confirm her identity. Certainly the shot of Sylvia and Donna after Wilf asks who she was suggests a familial relationship.

 

[Mitty]

I thought everyone figured it was Susan. But Romana or his mother make just as much sense. Hell, it could have even been Leela.

 

[the Dagman]

Here I was thinking it was a future version of Donna in full Time Lord mode after successfully assimilating the meta-crisis and coming back to warn her grandfather.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

No no no. She's obviously ...

Spoiler: the woman

T'Bonz.

 

[Tom]

Maybe she can be his mother but also be his granddaughter Susan! Time works in funny ways...

 

[OmahaStar]

It's Susan. And it's more than that, it ties in with Children of Earth as well. No, really, it does. First, what you describe above, how Wilf asks who she is, the Doctor looks straight at Donna. Ten isn't saying "She's a future Donna" he's saying she has the same relationship to me that Donna does to you. That's connection one.

In order to save the planet, he is forced to let her be taken back into the time-locked vortexy thingy. He sacrifices his granddaughter Susan to save the planet. Remember what Jack did? He sacrificed HIS grandchild to save the planet. He shows up right where he can do Jack the most good, in effect saying he understands what Jack did, that he acknowledges and forgives him for that terrible choice, because he had to do the same thing. Connection two.

This also means Susan is a full Time Lady, and she has regenerated at least once since we last saw her on the Earth of the future.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

No no no. She's obviously ...

Spoiler: the woman

T'Bonz.

Spoiler: Oh, my god!

That means T'Bonz is a Time Lady! That explains everything!

It's Susan. And it's more than that, it ties in with Children of Earth as well. No, really, it does. First, what you describe above, how Wilf asks who she is, the Doctor looks straight at Donna. Ten isn't saying "She's a future Donna" he's saying she has the same relationship to me that Donna does to you. That's connection one.

In order to save the planet, he is forced to let her be taken back into the time-locked vortexy thingy. He sacrifices his granddaughter Susan to save the planet. Remember what Jack did? He sacrificed HIS grandchild to save the planet. He shows up right where he can do Jack the most good, in effect saying he understands what Jack did, that he acknowledges and forgives him for that terrible choice, because he had to do the same thing. Connection two.

This also means Susan is a full Time Lady, and she has regenerated at least once since we last saw her on the Earth of the future.

Excellent analysis. I'm convinced more than ever that the Woman was Susan.

 

[Brendan Moody]

My reading is that the Doctor is looking at both Sylvia and Donna, who are both visible in the key shot,* because they're a mother and child, and that's what the Woman and he are to each other. (It's nothing to do with answering Wilf- he's conspicuously ignoring the question, as he's ignoring all attempts at real connection in this sequence.) And for me the emotional resonance is much stronger thinking of the character as "his mother," rather than "his granddaughter who used to twist her ankle all the time but now looks older than him and has a maternal presence."

*And arguably he looks from Sylvia to Donna, though the way the camera's angled it's hard to tell.

 

[Australis]

I'm inclined towards Susan too.

 

[Icemizer]

The White Guardian

 

[The]

Susan

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

The Master.

 

[auntiehill]

The White Guardian

Until the end, I thought that, too. But clearly she's a Timelord--one who opposed Rassilon. She somehow was able to contact Wilf and make sure things ended the way they did. Did she actually "ascend" or is she someone who knows The Doctor? One can only guess.

 

[arch101]

I'm in the Susan camp too. Especially after what she said to Wilf about how she was "lost" once.

 

[shivkala]

For a minute I thought the music was Rose's theme and I wouldn't have put it past RTD to make it Rose...somehow.

Though her conversation with Wilf aboard the ship made me think it was Susan and that makes more sense than Rose.