Clara Oswald

Oswin Oswald was a human serving as a Junior Entertainment Manager onboard the starliner Alaska when it crashed into the Dalek Asylum.

Biography
When the Alaska crashed on the Dalek Asylum planet, Oswin escaped down a shaft into the lower levels of the Asylum, where she was found by the Dalek inmates. Unlike other members of the Alaska, who were partially converted by the nanocloud into Dalek puppets, Oswin was fully converted into a Dalek by the Dalek inmates, due to her exceptionally high intelligence. Due to the horror of what had happened to her, she created a dream world for her human mind to dwell in to forget the truth. Under this life, Oswin assumed that she was surviving on soufflés in the Alaska. She also hacked into the Dalek Asylum's systems, heavily damaging it and reducing it to a ruin.



A year later, Oswin aided the Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory Williams in finding safe passage, wiping the memory of the Doctor from the Daleks' Pathweb at one point to save him. The Doctor attempted to rescue her, until he found her and discovered she was a Dalek. The Doctor explained this to Oswin, who first nearly gave in to the Dalek conditioning by attempting to exterminate the Doctor, then broke down over what she had become.

Oswin lowered the Asylum's defences so the Parliament of the Daleks could destroy the planet, and presumably died when the Daleks blew up the Asylum. When Amy, Rory and the Doctor escaped back to the Parliament, they found out that Oswin had erased the Doctor from the memories of all the Daleks in the Parliament as well as the Dalek inmates in the Asylum. (DW: Asylum of the Daleks)

Personality
Oswin possessed a flirtatious and feisty personality, and cheerfully flirted with both the Doctor and Rory. Following her conversion, she was unable to accept the horror of what she'd become, and managed to convince herself that she was still human. Oswin had a strong-willed nature, and even after her conversion, rejected mental conditioning in favour of retaining her humanity. Notably, she was the only Dalek that the Eleventh Doctor displayed any compassion or pity for.

Oswin was selfless, allowing the Doctor to complete his mission of destroying the planet and insisting that he leave her behind and escape with Amy and Rory. She was also extremely intelligent, but unfortunately it was because of her intelligence that she was turned into a Dalek. She had knowledge of Daleks and their technology that exceeded even the Doctor's, because she had been converted into a Dalek herself.

Oswin was a talented actress, being able to pretend convincingly that she was at ease with her situation with cheeky and flirty remarks and was able to change the sound of her voice easily. She also used her flirting to keep Rory cheerful and seemed to provide him with some comfort since he actually asked her to keep flirting with him as reassurance. She did however admit that she was anxious to leave and asked the Doctor to come and fetch her, not entirely trusting him not to leave without her; ironically she later actually asked him to leave without her after discovering that she was a Dalek. Oswin's personality was quite similar to that of Amy Pond but there were differences; for one thing, Oswin was arguably even more brilliant than the Doctor when it came to technology while Amy relied on common sense instead of technological prowess. For another Oswin did not worship or depend on the Doctor the way Amy used to; in fact it was shown that she didn't entirely trust him whereas Amy trusted the Doctor instantly during their first meeting. Her fear of being left behind by a man she'd never met showed that Oswin was wary of strangers. (DW: Asylum of the Daleks)

Behind the scenes
Oswin shares the surname, Oswald, with the man who assassinated American President Kennedy on 22 November 1963, the day before Doctor Who premiered with An Unearthly Child. The assassination and Lee Harvey Oswald have been referenced in "Rose" when a photograph shows the Ninth Doctor at Dallas, witnessing the event; and in the K-9 episode, The Cambridge Spy when a 23 November 1963 newspaper headline reports Oswald's capture. Similarly, Oswin's shipmate who survived until turned into a Dalek puppet was named Harvey.

Oswin Oswald