Doctor Who: Concrete Proof That The Doctor Failed to Save Clara’s Mom
Doctor Who has been known for the best everything-is-connected plot twists, and here is one more.
Clara Oswald was the one mystery that the Doctor couldn’t instantly crack, and for that he deemed her to be “the impossible girl,” which, truth be told, she was in the end. However, most of the time Clara was just an ordinary human – kindhearted, brave, and loyal (the perfect companion).
Clara’s mother, Ellie Oswald, had a great impact on Clara’s life and personality in the years to come. She was the one who gave Clara the leaf, which was then used to feed Akhaten in the season 7 episode The Rings of Akhaten. She was the one who passed on the “Oh my stars!” phrase and the love for baking soufflés to her daughter.
Ellie died on March 5, 2005, to an unknown cause, and losing her deeply affected both Clara and Dave, Ellie’s husband. However, her date of death is important for another reason altogether.
While the audience has never found out why Ellie died, there is a fan theory that explains her passing within the Doctor Who canon. March 5, 2005, was the day of the Auton invasion in the revival show’s first episode Rose.
In 2005, the Autons (shop window dummies) were activated by the Nestene Consciousness and started shooting passers-by. Clara’s mom could easily have been one of the victims of those events, which might be why the circumstances surrounding her death were not disclosed to the public (even her family) or the viewers.
In the end, the Doctor and Rose were able to stop the invasion and deactivate the Autons by killing the Nestene Consciousness. Yet they couldn’t save everyone. Imagine if Ellie had survived back then… Would Clara even have been where she was supposed to be to meet the Doctor and then save him a bunch of times? Who knows.