Board Thread:The Panopticon/@comment-188432-20130129081336/@comment-6433721-20130331224936

The REAL question is: Is the default assumption that all the characters with the same name, personality traits, and appearance are the same woman?

I think that, yes, that's a good default assumption. When we see Amy or the Doctor we rarely assume they're not the same.

So, logically, we start with one page for the Claras. Then, we should collect narrative evidence to split off some.

Of course, in narrative, at this point, only the Doctor thinks she's the same person, and even though he thinks this, he also clearly states that he considers it impossible. That is enough wobbly in the narrative to split off the two versions that definitely lived in other time zones and were actually shown to die.

(As you'll recall, in most narratives, having clearly died in another story would be plenty of evidence that someone is meant to be considered a different person. Doctor Who should have to show us why before they get a pass. I mean - if they'd spread out Auton Rory for longer, or if they hadn't made clear Ganger Amy was actually Amy, we'd be arguing that still.)

So, combine the modern Claras as if they'd never been split, and leave the Oswalds from Asylum and Snowmen as their own pages unless different narrative evidence comes to light showing us how it isn't impossible that she's the same woman.

-> Ha! I just realised it's only logically so difficult because Moffat turned the story inside out on us. It's a timey-wimey metaplot...