The Silence


 * For the species identified as the leaders of "The Silence", see Silent

The Silence was a religious order of great power and secrecy who referred to themselves as the Sentinels of History. Their core belief was that on the Fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the Eleventh, when no creature can speak falsely or fail to answer, a question that must never be answered will be asked: the first question, hidden in plain sight.

The Silence were bent on killing The Doctor since they believe him to be the only one who knew the answer to The Question and that there will come a time when The Question is asked.

Dorium told The Doctor that “silence will fall [when the question is asked]” was, in fact, a poor translation (DW: The Wedding of River Song). He revealed that the core tenet of The Silence was actually that the question must never be answered and that, in context, “silence must fall [when the question is asked]” was a better translation.

Dorium also revealed to The Doctor that The Question was "doctor who?".

It is currently unknown why The Question cannot (or should not) be answered, although The Question had been asked of The Doctor many times throughout his history (see The "Doctor Who?" running joke).

History
The Silence was the mysterious entity that forced the Doctor's TARDIS to explode on 26th June 2010, creating cracks in time that would erase things throughout the universe, and eventually the universe itself. Although the entity that caused the Doctor's TARDIS to explode was never visible or named, a voice was heard speaking before the TARDIS began exploding, stating "Silence will fall!" (DW: The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang)

The Silence also indirectly played a hand in the destruction of the Saturnyns' homeworld. In 1580 Venice, Rosanna Calvierri said that through some of the cracks, the Saturnynians saw only "silence and the end of all things." This caused them to flee their homeworld to 1580 Earth through a different crack that acted like a wormhole. (DW: The Vampires of Venice)

The Silence, seemingly allied with Madame Kovarian, the Church and Order of the Headless, were also behind the Battle of Demon's Run, as well as the kidnapping and brainwashing of a young River Song. She then made several attempts on the Eleventh Doctor's life. Ultimately, she successfully introduced a poison into his system which killed him, though she broke free of her conditioning and offered him the sum of her regenerative energy. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler).

The Silence, however, managed to track River Song down to the Luna University where they kidnapped her and forced her into an astronaut suit as part of their plan to kill the Doctor. (DW: Closing Time). Their plan was foiled, however, when the Doctor convinced the crew of the Teselecta to disguise their android as himself and take his place.