Howling:What happens when Silence falls?

I have a theory about what will happen when Silence falls and when it will happen. I'd like to present it here to see if there are any major holes in it I've missed.

My first part, which has been suggested before, is that the question is the Doctor's name. That fits the 'oldest question in the universe' motif because the Doctor has travelled to the beginning of time and to the end.

Also, I don't think it will truly be when the question is asked but when it is answered that that answer will be used to make the Silence fall. After all, if it is the oldest question in the universe then it makes sense that it's been asked quite a few times before. However never before has it been honestly answered, and we know the Doctor will tell River his name.

So as for who asks the question, I think it will be River. We know she finds out about it and we know Amy is supposed to help "bring the silence" (as was mentioned in 'Day of the Moon') so it makes sense that as River's mother she would help bring it if River asks the question.

So what is the Silence that will fall? Given we know the Silence make people forget them and they appear to have been involved in the Doctor's TARDIS exploding, which specifically created cracks which removed people from history and resulted in them being forgotten, I'd say 'Silence falling' is likely to continue that theme. I think Silence falling will be erasing everyone from history, meaning there are no more voices ever (it's the logical step up from the Daleks wiping everyone else out in the present; wiping everyone out from ever having existed).

Perhaps there's even some weapon out there whose password is the Doctor's name (hence why he's kept it secret all this time) which would result in everyone being wiped out (with the exception of the Silence themselves, who as a religious order feel they're washing away the 'sin' of other races). That explains why he trusts River so much when he learns she knows his name. The only time he'd have told someone his name is if he were willing to trust the universe itself in their hands.

So, thoughts? 210.49.167.47 12:51, September 18, 2011 (UTC)

Eh? I can't hear you. Boblipton 14:29, September 18, 2011 (UTC)

That theory doesn't quite work. For one thing, he has been hiding his names since well before the time war, and plenty of Time Lords must have known his name. The Master, who we all know isn't actually dead, must still know his name having known the Doctor as a kid. The Tesselecta specifically said that Silence will fall when the question is asked, not when it is answered, and people have been asking "Doctor Who?" since the very beginning. Erasing everyone from existance is clearly what they tried last season, and it almost worked. The other example of Silence falling would be Vampires in Venice, which was never really explained. The idea of using his name as a password for a weapon also doesn't quite work. The most likely candidate would probably be the hand of Omega since he seems to have taken that weapon with him when he initially left Gallifrey, but why would he use his own name as a password. Usually when I try to use my name as a password, my computer says that that password is weak and I have to come up with a stronger password, usually with a few numbers and capital letters thrown in. Apart from that, the Doctor isn't the only Time Lord who seems to have given up his name in order to go by a title(the Master, the Rani, the Corsair). Maybe renegade Time Lords somehow lose their name and are forced to go by a title, though that obviously doesn't explain everything.Icecreamdif 20:13, September 18, 2011 (UTC)

Time Lords aren't the only ones who go by acquired names. In the show, Ace did. That obviously started as a nickname but, because she disliked her given name, she treated "Ace" as her name and there were plenty of people who never knew her by any other name. In the real world, there's the likes of Sting, Lady Gaga, etc. -- stage names, certainly, but of a different kind from (say) Cary Grant or John Wayne. It happens in more ordinary walks of life, too. There are people who are known only or mainly by nicknames. In some cases (I know a few), if you use the "real" name, even their closest friends take a while to work out who you're talking about. The Doctor seems to be a special case, though. In The Girl in the Fireplace, Reinette, Madame de Pompadour said, "It's more than just a secret," and she was reading his mind at the time! Just the same, the name by which the Doctor was known on Gallifrey before he became known as "the Doctor" isn't likely to be the answer to the question. --89.242.66.251 21:33, September 18, 2011 (UTC)

True, but the fact that most renegade Time Lords don't go by actual names, and the fact that they all follow the same formula (The Title) suggests that the other Time Lords names are hidden just like the Doctor's. Wasn't there also a line in Fires of Pompeii about his name being hidden in the Medusa Cascade?Icecreamdif 21:43, September 18, 2011 (UTC)