Explanation of the Bad Wolf.

When I first watched Doctor Who, I was like, “What the fuck is Bad Wolf.” Even after watching “The Parting of the Ways,” I was super fucking confused. And for good reason. It’s a confusing concept.

First, I will try to briefly explain it plot-wise.

Rose meets the Doctor. As the season progresses, the two fall in love with each other and grow stronger as individuals because of each other. They begin seeing the words Bad Wolf everywhere, but they mostly brush it off. And then we get to the end of season one, “Bad Wolf”/”The Parting of the Ways,” and suddenly the words Bad Wolf seem relevant. The Doctor wants to know what the Daleks have meant to accomplish by spreading the words so that they follow him and Rose everywhere. He and Rose have assumed that it’s a warning for meant for the Doctor. But the Daleks deny that they had anything to do with it. Meanwhile, Rose is back in London, struggling to find a way back to save the Doctor. She’s beyond frustrated because she thinks that if she loses the Doctor, she loses the part of herself that is brave and adventurous and knowledgeable and independent. Just as she begins to lose hope, she sees the words Bad Wolf printed everywhere, and she realizes that it’s not a warning; it’s a message.

I think that maybe some of her logic in thinking that Bad Wolf is a message is that, if it was a warning, it would have stopped appearing after she was sent back to London. But since the words are still there, teasing her, then logically, the Doctor must be safe. She still believes at this point that exciting things only happen to her because of the Doctor - so it must follow that the Doctor is alive somehow, because otherwise, nothing exciting or strange would ever happen to her again. (I think that this is something that changes in Rose in time, and we don’t really see most of this development, as it happens in her time without the Doctor in Pete’s World when she has to learn to deal with actually being independent. But that’s a different meta altogether.)

Anyway…she thinks that Bad Wolf is a message for her. She doesn’t know who it’s from, but she knows that it can lead her back to the Doctor. So she looks into the heart of the TARDIS and becomes what is named the Bad Wolf, but it is only named Bad Wolf because she named it so. (When she says, “I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself,” she doesn’t mean that her name is Bad Wolf. She means that she has created this time loop, which has lead her to where she is now.)

As the Bad Wolf, she spreads the words Bad Wolf everywhere, leaving herself a message. She knows that she will question the presence of the words and realize what they mean, because as the Bad Wolf, she already has. It’s what led her to where she is.

I think that’s what confuses so many people about the Bad Wolf. How did Rose know that the words were a message telling her she could get back to the Doctor? The real answer is that the words were only a message because Rose thought that they were. If Rose had seen the words and thought, “Well, I keep seeing Bad Wolf everywhere, so that must mean that the Doctor is going to die,” the words would have ceased to exist and she never would have seen them in the first place. It’s only because of her hope and her love for the Doctor that they are spread across time and space in the first place.

It’s a paradox, but it is, in my opinion, the most brilliantly written and executed paradox on the show to date.

I hope this makes sense. I can reiterate if there’s anything else you’re unclear on.

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posted 5 months ago

#bad wolf #jess goes meta #doctor who