Howling:What's the connection between the Big Bads?

So, in Series 6 (Doctor Who), it was The Silence going to great lengths (maybe even causing the TARDIS to explode in Series 5 (Doctor Who) ) to prevent The Doctor from being "on the fields of Trenzalore at the fall of The Eleventh". Nevermind that it didn't look like there were any fields there, in The Name of the Doctor (TV story), Steven Moffat put together some kind of alliance between The Great Intelligence and The Whispermen...I suppose that snowmen were no longer available on a planet that looks volcanic? I'm guessing that that The Whispermen have nothing against The Doctor and are just agents of the Great Intelligence like The Silence had creatures/people working on its behalf.

So what is the connection between the Great Intelligence and the Silence? Moffat could have picked any location for The Name of the Doctor but he chose Trenzalor so there must be some link. However, The GI and The Silence seem to have two different agendas....The Silence need to prevent their own "fall" and The GI is seeking (for unknown reasons) to "undo" the good deeds that The Doctor had done over his lifetime.

All along, I assumed that Moffat would bring The Doctor to Trenzalor when Matt Smith wanted to leave and it was time for a regeneration and a new Doctor (hence, "the fall of the Eleventh"). But, no, he brought him there way before this.

So do any of you clever people see any connection between The GI, The Whispermen and The Silence and the pivotal role of Trenzalore in the missions of both groups? [Unsigned but appears to be Badwolff 20:14, May 19, 2013 (UTC)] Yep it was me...I thought I signed it. 20:09, May 21, 2013 (UTC)

We do seem to have disparate groups of adversaries whose actions are connected, even though there's no apparent connection between the groups themselves. That rather suggests there's something or someone behind all of them -- very possibly something or someone those groups don't themselves know about.

The Whisper Men: I'm not sure they "have nothing against The Doctor and are just agents of the Great Intelligence". They look & sound very like the Trickster. He's only ever appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures but he's been mentioned in both the main show & Torchwood. In Turn Left, members of the Trickster's Brigade tried to use Donna to create a world in which the Doctor died defeating the Racnoss. One of the Trickster's aims (in a few SJA stories) was to remove the Doctor from history. The Great Intelligence has been very fond of using people as tools & it'd be fittingly ironic if, in the end, it was being used as a tool by someone else. The close similarity in appearance, sound & aims between the Whisper Men & the Trickster is a bit suspicious, to say the least. It might just be coincidence, of course.

Unfortunately for anyone trying to work out what's going on, that close similarity might also be a red herring. Even if there's a "Bigger Bad" that we still don't know about, it might have nowt to do with the Trickster.

To answer the main question: No I can't see the connection between the GI, the Whisper Men & the Silence, other than "the pivotal role of Trenzalore" (& we now know why Trenzalore is pivotal), but there's more than enough to suggest that there is a connection, albeit one that's still hidden. --89.241.65.242talk to me 02:33, May 20, 2013 (UTC)

At first glance it seems that the Silence preferred the Doctor die at their hands to prevent him from being undone and the universe destroyed. However, I think it's more likely that the events of Trenzalore mean that 'John Hurt' Doctor has a real chance of existing now. The Silence failed to keep The Doctor's greatest secret: whatever that future Doctor betrays his own promise and will do.

It'd have to be something pretty momentous, so mind-bogglingly huge that it's rippled back through time and The Doctor knows it's been coming for a long time. Alternatively it's something he's already had the misfortune of witnessing a future version himself do, and due to some weird time-effect the consequences of his future self's action can't come until effect until he actually does them.

Maybe he's searching the universe for a way to escape his fate. Psicraft ☎ 05:16, May 20, 2013 (UTC)

The Silence don't want to prevent their own "fall"; that isn't what their core belief ("silence must fall when the Question is asked") is about. They believe that the Doctor must never be allowed to reach Trenzalore to answer the Question. We saw what happens if the Question is answered on Trenzalore; the Great Intelligence gains access to the Doctor's tomb and undoes all the good he's ever done in the universe. The Silence want to prevent this from happening by killing the Doctor before he can go to Trenzalore. By killing him early, they would ensure that when the Question is asked, it would be met with no response, only silence (the Doctor's silence, because he know the answer and if he's dead, no one can answer and give the GI access to the Doctor's tomb). This was all confirmed in "The Wedding Of River Song". What the Silence want is basically the lesser of two evils; by killing the Doctor at Lake Silencio, they will ensure that the GI never rewrites his whole history, and all the worlds the Doctor saved will remain safe. If they fail to kill him (which they did), then silence can no longer fall because the Doctor is still alive and able to answer the Question (although River was able to get around that; no one ever accounts for River, although in this case, it was justified, since she should have been dead). The Doctor will proceed to Trenzalore uninterrupted and the GI will tear apart history through his timeline. Luckily, Clara was around to stop the GI. And speaking of, the GI wants to rip apart the Doctor's history in an act of revenge for defeating him at every turn, and also seems to think that he will acquire some form of peace in death. So basically, the relationship between the Silence and the GI is that of opposites. The Silence want to prevent the Question from being answered at all costs, and want the Doctor's silence to fall (due to him being dead) when the Question is asked so that the GI can't access his timeline. The GI, however, wants the Doctor to answer the Question so that he can get his revenge on him and finally find peace in death. The reason why no connection was pointed out between them in this episode is because the Silence was already dealt with in Series 6, and their plans to make the Doctor's silence fall by killing him were avoided. Thus, they've already failed in their mission (but they don't know they've failed, which is why they don't know about the Doctor being at Trenzalore). Ensephylon ☎  07:42, May 20, 2013 (UTC)

Given what Esephylon said, I think the connection is more than "opposites", but an actual war. The Silence want to stop the Doctor reaching Trenzalore, while The Great Intelligence want to make sure he can do so. If they know so much about The Doctor's future, they'd surely know the Great Intelligence would be involved. So they must have a rivalry, somehow. Gallifrey102 ☎  00:24, May 21, 2013 (UTC)


 * Well, while I do like to interpret it that way, it's also possible that the Silence simply feared what would happen if the Question was answered and because of that, did everything in their power to heed its warning ("a question that must never, ever be answered"). Ensephylon ☎  03:45, May 21, 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes. The Silence do seem to have known about the consequences of the Question being answered -- consequences that appear to be what we saw happening after the GI entered the Doctor's timestream & before Clara retrieved the situation -- but they don't seem to have known how the Question being answered would lead to those consequences.


 * If they'd known about the GI's role, the sensible course would have been to help the Doctor to stop the GI, not to launch an "endless, bitter war" against the Doctor. Helping the Doctor to defeat one of his enemies stands a pretty good chance of success. Becoming one of the Doctor's enemies tends to be a seriously losing game! --89.240.249.124talk to me 07:19, May 21, 2013 (UTC)


 * Hmm. Excellent point; I hadn't thought about that. Ensephylon ☎  08:14, May 21, 2013 (UTC)


 * One of the things I've noticed about the Silence, throughout their dealings with the Doctor, is their propensity for acting on information that's (a) incomplete & (b) misinterpreted. They then make matters worse by closing their minds, so their false ideas can't be corrected. It's not a recipe for success. --89.240.249.124talk to me 11:51, May 21, 2013 (UTC)

Thus far
First, thanks for all of the stimulating ideas everyone has posted. It gives me a lot to think about, I hadn't read up on The Trickster and he definitely has a similar appearance to the Whispermen. Although Moffat has said that the Whispermen were a scary new villain, he also likes to resurrect old ones from the Classic series. Or their physical resemblance could be a coincidence, I guess we will learn more in November and in Series 8.

One thing I can't accept though is that "The Silence must fall when the question is answered" refers to an actual moment of silence and not THE Silence. First, was there even a moment of silence at any point in the episode? I don't recall there being a significant one. And all of this business is supposed to happen only at "on the fields of Trenzalore at the fall of The Eleventh"...I don't think was the fall of the Eleventh. It sure wasn't his "darkest hour" which was at Demon's Run. I still think the fall of the Eleventh will be when he next regenerates.

The idea that this prophecy and the lengths that the Silence would go to to kill the Doctor and avoid the fulfillment of the prophecy (which I don't think has happened yet) is about a moment of silence and not them, is just a terribly bad pun and I don't think Moffat would do this. You could say it is some kind of misdirect for the audience but that would be quite an elaborate tact to take (to create an entire story arc in Series 6 around this) to then pull the rug out from under viewers.

I think there is still some connection between the prophecy, the Great Intelligence, the Silence and the Doctor's timeline that has yet to be revealed. It seems like it is much more like Moffat to hold back answers than to undermine previous storylines. He never answers any questions (in this case, telling us about Clara) without raising even more questions (who is John Hurt's character and what is the effect of the GI on The Doctor's timeline?).

What do you think? Of course, we have SIX months to think about this! Badwolff ☎  20:09, May 21, 2013 (UTC)

The Trickster isn't from the classic series. If you want to see him, you need to watch The Sarah Jane Adventures. (He was meant to reappear in the second half of SJA Series 5, as well, but that couldn't happen after Elisabeth Sladen died.) The Trickster's Brigade has been mentioned in Torchwood (Miracle Day: Immortal Sins) & a couple of its members (the Fortune Teller & the Time Beetle) appeared in DW Turn Left. In SJA The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith we got what the Doctor explicitly said was his first direct encounter with the Trickster.

Moffat being Moffat, there's no guarantee that the resemblance between the Whisper Men & the Trickster isn't a red herring but, to me, it seems an odd one to choose, if it is. The Trickster just isn't well enough known to make a good red herring.

The Great Intelligence is from the classic series, of course, & from fairly early in it, at that.

The business about the Silence isn't "just a terribly bad pun" if (as has been established) the Silence takes it name from the prophecy. However, I'm no more convinced than you are that the prophecy really does refer to the Doctor's silence (i.e., his failure to answer) when the Question is asked. That silence did happen in the episode, even if there was no moment of total silence.


 * I've already explained above that it was indeed revealed in the Series 6 finale that "silence must fall" refers to the Doctor's personal silence when the Question is asked, which the Silence intend to bring about by killing him before he gets to Trenzalore. The Doctor is the man with the secret that they wish to erase from the world forever before it can be spoken, so they are determined to kill him before he is asked the Question on Trenzalore. They want to prevent the Question from being answered, as per the "fall of the eleventh" prophecy's warning, so they devoted themselves to ensuring that the Doctor will remain silent when the Question is asked. That's why "silence must fall when the Question is asked" is their founding principle. It's not a prophecy or anything, just the goal of an organization that wants to keep the Doctor from answering the Question. Ensephylon ☎  22:43, May 21, 2013 (UTC)

The Silence clearly did intend to bring about the Doctor's silence but that was in order to avoid whatever silence the prophecy is about. At least, that's how I interpret the situation. (The multiple uses of the word "silence", probably with different meanings, do tend to make things a bit confusing & that's obviously not an accident.)

"I think there is still some connection between the prophecy, the Great Intelligence, the Silence and the Doctor's timeline that has yet to be revealed." I agree. One thing we need to remember is that the episode ended with "To be continued". We've only seen the first part of a two-part story. Trying, at this point, to work out what's going on with these is a bit like trying to work out the Sontarans' plan and how it would be defeated, on the basis of The Sontaran Stratagem only, without waiting to see The Poison Sky. (Mind you, RTD didn't make us wait 6 months between those episodes!)

"He [Moffat] never answers any questions ... without raising even more questions": All too true! --89.242.69.88talk to me 22:19, May 21, 2013 (UTC)