Okay idea that is giving me brainworms...
Silent hill 2 inspired post-Journey's End story.
Ten, in a fugue state (not unlike what he thought was happening in The Next Doctor) has suppressed his memories of what happened to Donna, unable to deal with the fact that he took her memories against her will. Maybe he's convinced himself she's 'lost'ā perhaps in a way similar to what happened to Rose. Maybe he thinks she's dead. Until he gets a summons from her from some mysterious location, and despite it being impossible, he must go and see if she could really be there.
And this is where the idea kind of solidified for meā have some impersonation of Rose cast in the role of Maria. Not only does she kind of have a similar vibe to Maria anyway (good for her tbh they're both baddies but I like the writing for one better lol), and the dynamic would translate well, his distance and her insistence, but it's also a tie with how he wishes he could've given Donna an ending like Rose'sā Rose is kind of Ten's biggest success story in his mind, I think. As far as companion endings go. She's safe, she's with her family, she's whole, and she's away from him, where he can't damage her anymore but she's left with good memories of their time together.
So this apparition takes on her form and has that "Do I look like your girlfriend?" energy, playing off the general pop culture perception of Rose being Ten's girlfriend, when he's actually looking for his wife, Donna (this AU is TOTALLY unbiased! Just kidding, it's self indulgent fun and by fun I mean misery!!!)
And the memory loss angle just blends so beautifully with what he ACTUALLY did to Donna, you know? Coming to that dreadful realization at the end, having to reckon with taking responsibility for that, having been lost and stumbling in confusing and terror without his memories that are so importantā terrible and awful. I love it so much.
Also, just how great would it be to have a Silent Hill "projection of your deepest subconscious as horrific monsters" type story with the Doctor? His technological tricks not working so well in a place that's defined by his perception filtered through higher powers, left running and bludgeoning his way through the horrors...
desperate for one of my esteemed doctordonnas to comment on this but I fear the overlap may be too niche... erm was it @paradox-n-bedrock who has also played this game lol?
yooo, okay, I love this so, so much. it does fit so well. I'm already spinning about what kinds of creeping horror would be coming up out of his subconscious. obviously like Dalek sounds would be a big part of it to start off but maybe distorted or he doesn't recognize it because of his mental state
IT JUST!!!!! IS SO GOOD!!!!!
I can imagine lots of monsters with Dalek PARTS, but they're actually versions of him...
Monsters with oversized creeping hands that reach out to grab him by the temples, representing what he did to Donna....
And!!! The Doctor being in a place full of creatures specifically designed to torment him, finding no wonder in these new creatures. Because they represent all the worst parts of himself
ALso I LOVEEEEE the idea of this "Rose" being like Maria, a projection of his desires and guilt who is also... a person. She doesn't want to be just some guy's character foil, but that's what she was made for, and she never quite escapes that. I think that plays REALLY well into the darker aspects of how the Doctor uses his companions
I know nothing about Silent Hill (not my type of game) but this AU does sound really interesting. My first thought for the villain would be someone like the Dream Lord as he proved capable of getting inside the. Doctorās subconscious and messing about in there. Thereās also the bit about being unsure which is the real world and which is the dream one, maybe Ten is more unsure than Eleven was and then when he does manage to wake up he has to fully deal with the horror of what he did to Donna.
OOOOOH, thatās brilliantā¦ thatās actually like such a perfect tie of the vibe Iām going for to the whoniverse!!!
a BIG part of sh2 and Mariaās character in general is this sort of uncannyness, and I think it would be absolutely wicked cool for the entity/dream lord/whatever to sub in Rose for Donna because thatās just soā¦ WRONG. Theyāre in no way interchangeable, not in terms of character or story role and most certainly not in the Doctors hearts. But the whole point is that this place is an aberration, where the most personally vile and disgusting parts of your subconscious come out to torment you. His visceral disgust at the thought is exactly the reason it appears to him in this way, to disgust and disquiet him, to make him question if this is really what he thinks of themā¦
That does sound like a really good idea. I had an idea ages ago and I think I shared it on the PiC discord where Rose did a deal with the trickster to replace Donna and the Doctor wakes up one day just knowing that something is incredibly wrong but he doesnāt know what or how and he has to figure out what it is without alerting Rose as he thinks sheās involved somehow.
OH THAT SOUNDS SO SICK š®š®š® I love that
okAY I have not played Silent Hill because I am a baby about horror, BUT the reciprocal memory loss thing really works imo (sans context)!!! trying desperately to forget his guilt is an interesting reflection of how Ten generally wallows in his guilt about the Time War to punish himself....this way he suffers similarly to how Donna is suffering, though, which sparks something interesting! the whole memory loss thing reminds me of the way Moffat mirrors that with Twelve at the end of series 9, too...
again, without any context, Rose being stuck in this role that's only serving HIM while also having her own agency is a genuinely interesting idea!! could also really work for Martha, who also was sort of there to sop up Ten's angst and flatter his vanity....
and that Dream Lord stuff is ALSO really interesting to me too! having Ten feeling in his gut that the capital-W Wrongness of slotting another companion in Donna's place has a lot of potential
(also that Rose-Trickster idea sounds coooool please feel free to ramble in the discord ANY time)
