Listen, I love Adric angst as much as the next person. I love stories that interrogate his motives and his loneliness and his isolation and his relationships with the other TARDIS crew members. I love empathetic analyses of his character. I’ve noticed that a lot of younger people (read: teenagers) have correctly identified that Adric probably did need help and was self-sacrificial to a very bad degree. I appreciate that people can project onto Adric as this outcast misfit character who is misunderstood and isolated. My favourite Adric story, Hearts of Stone, is literally all of the above and it’s deeply compelling and interesting to read.
However, the most important thing about Adric is just how resilient he is. He’s gone through things that have destroyed other people. He’s lost his parents, lost his brother, lost Romana and K9, and lost “his” Doctor. He’s broken bones and been shot and beaten down. He’s constantly throwing himself into danger and being rewarded by the narrative for doing so. He thinks that it feels right for him to be dead, and he eventually does die, and a lot of stories imply that he died not knowing how loved he was, and how much people truly wanted him around.
All of this combined could’ve led him down a very dark path, darker than his eventual fate in Earthshock. He could have been bitter and cruel and angry, but he chooses, constantly, to be kind. He chooses loyalty to the Doctor, a man he sees as good, even when the Doctor berates him or leaves him in the dark. He cares about his TARDIS team and he views them as family. He fights for what’s right, he fights against monsters and villains, and he seems to care deeply about the universe around him. He’s idealistic to a fault, to the point that he’s accidentally sided with the bad guys because he wants to make the world a better place. He strikes me as someone who loves people very much.
The tragedy of his death isn’t just because it was preventable, nor is it just because he was a child. Granted, both of these are true, but it’s not the main reason. I would argue that it’s not even because of the waste of Adric’s potential. It’s definitely not because his death is necessary or predetermined as some stories suggest.
No, Adric’s death is tragic because the universe lost someone who was simply good. Who wished to see the world prosper, and who was loving and kind and determined and brave. Who, for all his faults and mistakes, had the greater good in his heart at all times. As much as I question the Doctor’s actions towards Adric, as much as I believe that his death was avoidable and that his mind likely went to very dark places, I can never take away the fact that Adric’s sacrifice was done out of sheer love for the universe and what the Doctor swore to protect. He was hard on himself because he cared. He was stubborn because he wanted what he saw as right.
Adric is my favourite character because he’s funny and complex and intelligent and compelling to watch and listen to (and very fun to draw, might I add.) But above all else, he looks at objectively terrible situations and consciously chooses to be kind and good in the face of it all. Nobody would fault him for stumbling. Nobody would fault him if he failed. But he keeps trying because he cares so much and I just think that’s admirable and wonderful and deeply, deeply tragic.
(Also, he needs more fans. Go and watch S18 and S19. Please.)
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