THE TENDONNA THESIS LIVES - Tumblr Posts

OKAY so I am re-listening to "Death and The Queen" again and I am having Thoughts™.

I can't find any info about when this drama takes place continuity-wise, but my personal placement would be after "Planet of The Ood" (4x3) and before "The Sontaran Stratagem" (4x4) because 4x4-4x6 take place directly following each other with Donna stating at the end of 4x6 that she plans to travel with the Doctor forever. Donna's determination to continue traveling w him is in keeping with the conclusion of Death and The Queen, where she comes to the decision that the Doctor IS her "happily ever after," as it were. Placing the drama after "Fires of Pompeii" and "Planet of The Ood" also makes sense with Donna's desire in the audio drama to have a break from "the extraordinary" of traveling with the Doctor (specifically, horrific death and destruction,) which adds understandable context to her seemingly being so willing to leave the Doctor after searching for him for so long.

 (Don't talk to me about the ending of Forest of The Dead. It's unlikely Donna would have left the Doctor even if she found Lee. Donna's desire to confirm whether Lee was real could be easily contextualized by her wanting to know how much of her experiences inside CAL were a fabrication, and what the supposed "perfect husband" persona would have said about her if it was drawn from her own mind. Also it was written by Moffatt so it shouldn't count anyway.)

ANyway, what I actually wanted to talk about. Notably, considerable emphasis is placed on Donna enjoying her role as Queen and especially caring for her subjects and having power to help people. A greater amount of text is dedicated to her talking about how as Queen she can care for her subjects than her love for Rudolph, even before the reveal that he is human(?) trash. Her attachment to the role of Queen that marrying Rudolph will grant her is established to be largely based upon her passion for helping people rather than luxuries associated with rank, especially in view of the montage of how royal life on Gorotainia is not as glamorous as she hoped but is still enthralled by being Queen. Later in the story, when danger has appeared, her main role in the story is sacrificing and taking the lead to protect her subjects.

Notably, when things start going downhill and Rudolph starts talking to her about the difficult choices that he must make as royalty she comments that Rudolph is “just like HIM” (the Doctor) and that she went with Rudolph to escape these darker aspects of her travels with the Doctor, specifically the hard choices that go with the role the Doctor plays in the universe (while she doesn’t connect these concepts directly, these two statements are placed very close to one another textually.)

Only when her relationship with Rudolph and role as Queen seems like it will involve some of the same dark choices that her travels with Doctor did does Donna decide she doesn’t want to be involved anymore, which is quickly reversed when she finds out she needs to become Queen in order to protect her people. (I love Donna. In case you can’t tell.)

The narrative has established that a large part of Donna’s attachment to her relationship with Rudolph is potential authority to help and guide people, and that her main interest in pursuing a life with Rudolph rather than her travels with the Doctor was her perception that her role as Queen of Gorotainia would not involve the same death and destruction she has seen with the Doctor. Perfectly understandable after experiencing something like Pompeii.

Donna’s compassion and empathy have been essential components of her character since her introduction, with her wanting to protect the Doctor despite being irritated with him and feeling sorrow for the children of a Rancoss that wanted her to be eaten in “The Runaway Bride”, her taking the time to mention Stacy in “Partners In Crime,” and literally everything in “Fires of Pompeii” and “Planet of The Ood’. Donna has always taken the time and the energy to think of others and work to protect them, even this early in her run. In view of how deeply she feels the pain of others, it is understandable that she would find the idea of a world where she could help others from a position of power without all of the death and chaos and destruction appealing, and her outrage at Rudolph for once again putting her in a position where she has to witness (and potentially be responsible for) terrible things happening to innocent people is believable. He proves that being a Gorotainian royal is like being the Last of The Time Lords. On a smaller scale, sure, but still. 

So the text (and Donna) have set up the idea of Rudolph being similar to the Doctor in role, so what is the difference? Rudolph doesn’t much care about people. He is willing to sacrifice his own people quite coldly.

The Doctor does care about people. How good of a person he is, or how good of a job he does caring for people is up for debate, but he cares.

Which all leads me to this quote from “Beautiful Chaos,” that I cannot believe is cannon and real and published.

Why does Donna love the Doctor?

"I wish you could see what I see. We've been to places, to worlds, to futures and pasts you could only dream about. I think half of them I dreamed up because they can't be real. But they are. And everywhere we go, we make a difference. We put things right, we make people happier. That's what the Doctor is all about. He finds a way for the universe to make sense. And I love him for it.”

Donna Noble wants to make a difference. No matter where she goes, she cannot escape the death and pain and suffering and chaos and nonsense that is the universe, and she can’t help but want to help. And right there beside her, the Doctor is working to put things right too. And she loves him for it.

We have this entire drama dedicated to Donna wanting to make a difference, while also escaping the darkness of the universe, and she learns she can’t. There are no happily ever afters.

Except with the Doctor.

I have so many feelings guys.

ONe last RB to have your lovely concluding thoughts on my page :) You're thoughts are so insightful and your delivery is really respectful.

Ten is so terrible. That's why I love him so much. Totally agree about it not being anyone's obligation to fix ten, or anyone. Actually that's kind of why I wrote that long post about Donna's side of the relationship, because often I find that the female character's perspective in relationships is disregarded, so whenever I'm trying to flex my English lit obsession with regards to shipping I make an effort to examine what the female character gets from the relationship (in a 'is this healthy' way as well as how her narrative could be enhanced by the pairing.)

Part of what makes them so compatible imo is that a lot of the time that she’s being/doing what he needs is because it’s what she needs. She searches him out because she wants the excitement and adventure of life on the TARDIS, not because she’s looking for him because he needs her. She expresses concern that he’s still on his own, but I felt like the way she brought it up implied that it wasn’t the reason she was looking for him. She had her own motives, because the adventure was what she decided SHE wanted (ugh the queen). In Pompeii, she doesnt ask him to save someone because it’s what he needs. It’s because she needs it, and it turns out he needed it too. (Take courtesy of my mom lol love u mom)  I see people talking about how she is the Doctor’s equal, but it’s not brought out enough that he is her equal as well. Donna is so smart, talkative, creative, and driven, and he absolutely embraces that. She’s loud, rude, and brash and he appreciates it. I always got the impression that people around her treat her like she’s too much, but with him that’s just being on the same wavelength lol. They are wonderful friends, with so many common goals, and a lot of healthy compromise. They're also totally not perfect and that's another thing I love about them. They feel real to me, because of their bumps and bruises and stupidities and toxicities. Love them to bits.

I will admit it's fun to hate a character or ship sometimes, but not to make people feel bad. I try to tag my critical or anti stuff appropriately so that I can enjoy a good whinge, while making it hopefully easy for people who like that character/ship to avoid.

ALSO SORRY FOR THIS MONSTER POST

Hey random sorry but I love your account

THANK U SO MUCH!!!! I was looking at the tags u left on my Death and The Queen essay the other day and I was like !💖!

mad respect for the nine/rose content btw, they really were phenomenal. I try to be the change I want to see (read: shamelessly stanning tendonna) but I adored the relationship between rose and nine.