Dark Doctor Who Theory Reveals 2023’s Biggest Villain Is Hiding In Plain Sight
While the Toymaker was absent from Doctor Who's first 60th anniversary specials, one theory reveals the villain is hiding in plain sight.
Warning: spoilers ahead for Doctor Who 60th anniversary special “The Star Beast.”
Doctor Who‘s Toymaker is coming, but according to one theory emanating from the 60th anniversary specials, Neil Patrick Harris’ villain is already hiding in plain sight. The full story for Russell T Davies’ 60th anniversary specials remains closely guarded, but the BBC’s marketing campaign did confirm Harris as Doctor Who‘s Toymaker in advance. An ancient villain temporarily bested by the First Doctor in 1966, the Toymaker has taken almost 60 years to show up for a rematch. Despite the Toymaker’s involvement being widely-known, however, Doctor Who‘s first 60th anniversary special, “The Star Beast,” omitted the villain entirely.
The Meep’s allusion to a higher entity known as the Boss may be Doctor Who‘s first Toymaker hint. RTD has a long history of foreshadowing larger villains via mysterious buzzwords, and Meep’s “Boss” could certainly be a prelude to the imminent arrival of Neil Patrick Harris. More curiously, another detail from Doctor Who‘s “The Star Beast” episode may signal that the Toymaker is already chin-deep in the Fourteenth Doctor’s affairs, and has actually been hiding in plain sight since the TARDIS first landed in Camden Market.
Rose Is (Literally) The Toymaker In Doctor Who’s 60th Anniversary Specials
“The Star Beast” introduces Rose Noble, the daughter of Donna Noble and Shaun Temple. Aside from ruining school plays and adopting aliens, Rose spends her free time making stuffed toys and selling them online. This hobby is a rare one for any teenager, but looks especially intriguing when considered alongside the identity of Doctor Who‘s incoming main villain. It cannot be a coincidence that Rose Noble makes toys in a story where the “Toymaker” is confirmed as the arch-antagonist.
One possible explanation is that Rose is subconsciously attempting to warn the Doctor of the approaching threat. Rose inherited half of the Time Lord essence that Donna absorbed, and this unknowingly influenced all aspects of her young life, including her name, the design of her shed, and even the toys she created. Rose’s inner Time Lord may have sensed the Toymaker coming, and she started making toys as a subconscious warning signal. If this was true, however, Rose surely would have voiced her concerns after her hidden Time Lord side awakened at the end of Doctor Who‘s first 60th anniversary special. The fact that she didn’t suggests something more sinister is afoot.
How The Toymaker Could Be Connected To Rose
The Toymaker is a celestial being in Doctor Who, and can justifiably claim to be more or less omnipotent. As such, Rose Noble being a literal “toy maker” could have a wide variety of sinister implications. The most obvious is that the Toymaker is influencing Rose from afar. Rose’s connection to the power of Time Lords and personal link to the Doctor makes her a perfect target for the Toymaker’s machinations, especially if the villain’s ultimate goal is getting revenge on the Doctor.
Playing puppeteer with humans – even those with a dash of Gallifreyan in them – sits firmly within the Toymaker’s capabilities. Doctor Who‘s first 60th anniversary special also posited that a mysterious force was bringing Donna and the Doctor together again. The Fourteenth Doctor speculated this was destiny, but Neil Patrick Harris’ Toymaker could be the real culprit, able to weave his influence via Rose. Donna only became involved in the Meep’s shenanigans because Rose brought the alien home, after all. Doctor Who passed this off as an act of kindness, but the Toymaker potentially made Rose take Meep home as a way of forcing Donna into the Doctor’s path.
The theory that a connection exists between Rose Noble and the Toymaker goes deeper still. Rather than just guiding Rose’s hand from the shadows, the Toymaker could actually be hiding within Rose. The Fourteenth Doctor and Donna assume that Rose’s sudden hyper-intelligence was inherited from her mother’s Time Lord energy, but this is merely a hypothesis.
A Time Lord’s power and intelligence would manifest very similarly to the Toymaker’s. Rather than harboring a secret Gallifreyan, therefore, Rose may have been unknowingly playing host to a celestial being – a celestial being that could also give her enormous scientific knowledge and awareness about the Doctor’s many adventures. Whatever entity was inside of her, Rose has now released it, which may explain why the Toymaker soon appears in the flesh.
The connection between Rose Noble and Doctor Who‘s Toymaker may be less direct than divine interference or possession. Donna notes that most of her daughter’s toys are purchased by an unknown woman from Dubai. Since the Toymaker obviously has an interest in fun trinkets and crafted playthings, they might be interfering by posing as Rose’s buyer.
Doctor Who’s Teased Toymaker/Rose Connection Would Be A Cruel Blow
Alongside Jamie and Zoe, as well as the various Doctor Who companions that were killed off, Donna is one of the most tragic TARDIS passengers in Doctor Who‘s 60-year history. On top of that, Donna Noble’s family is financially strained, and Rose faces discrimination from bullies at her school. “The Star Beast” addresses one of those injustices by restoring Donna’s memories without killing her, then solves the metacrisis permanently. If Donna now discovers that her beloved daughter was being secretly swayed by the most powerful villain the Doctor ever faced, the amount of cruelty inflicted upon her as a consequence of traveling in the TARDIS would be huge.
Doctor Who can only dump so much misery on a single companion, and Donna’s daughter being somehow afflicted by the Toymaker would represent the icing on an already upsetting cake. The 60th anniversary was Doctor Who‘s chance to save Donna Noble, not hurt her even more. As such, the fact that Rose Noble makes toys in a story involving the Toymaker may represent nothing more than clever Doctor Who foreshadowing, not an implication that the two characters are somehow inherently connected.
