The Impossibe Book

Even though "Journey" is not exactly a masterpiece, somehow it is still one of the most remarkable episodes of 'Doctor Who' because we'll always remember it to be the first time that a companion learns the Doctor's actual name. Up to now people weren't sure if he had one in the first place. Others thought that his name is  'the Doctor', as he's been telling people the past 5o years.But Clara's reaction on learning the Doctor's name shows us that there is more to it...

Now, revealing the Doctor's name is something that many fans regard as one of the big, golden Don't-s of 'Doctor Who'. And therefore, the scene in which Clara is reading "The History of the Time War" in the TARDIS library and finds out about the Doctor's name is simply wrong in some Whovians'  opinion.  Thompson tries to compensate this by making Clara forgetting the events of "Journey" as they become rewritten.

But it's not only Clara coming across the Doctor's name which seems to be out of place there. Putting some thinking into it you'll notice that "The History of the Time War" is at least as impossible a book as Clara is an impossible girl.  Because, the first, well second, emerging question after seeing that scene is the story behind that book.

So, what do we know about it? Not much. Taking into consideration that the TARDIS does not translate Gallifreyan automatically ("A Good Man Goes to War") it seems that "The History of the Time War" can't be written in the Time Lords' language, otherwise Clara wouldn't have been able to read it.

Then there is the question regarding its author. Well, it has to be someone who's familiar with the Doctor's name. And this makes the Doctor the most obvious candidate. But then he's trying hard to keep his name a secret, so I don't think he'd write it down in a book, even though it's stored away in the library of the TARDIS, which means that no-one who shouldn't read it is going to get the chance to do so. But the point is still standing. He simply wouldn't take the risk of writing his name down.

Another person about whom we know to know his name is River Song. And although she is an Archaeologist (i.e. interested into history) and an academic expert in all things regarding the Doctor, she didn't write the book either. Knowing the Doctor's secret she might have realised why he's calling himself the Doctor instead, and she's not the kind of woman who'd betray him, at least not in this way. Plus, if the Doctor or River had written that book, it's likely that they would have used Gallifreyan or even Old Gallifreyan to do so.

Then there is the Master. We know he's familiar with the Doctor's name ("Sound of Drums") and that he has reasons to keep his own name a secret. Might their reasons be related? Who knows. What makes the Master a likely candidate is the fact that it's not difficult to imagine that he'd be willing to reveal the secrets of his arch enemy, which would also solve the secret of why the book is not written in Gallifreyan. Besides, unlike River, he has been knowing the Doctor for ages, which is an important point, because the reason why the Doctor is avoiding to mention his real name has to lie far back in time, before he and Susan decided to park the TARDIS at 76 Totter's Lane. Already there he insisted on being called the Doctor.

However, the book could have been also written by some who fought against the Time Lords in one of the Time Wars, or vice versa. I'm partly curious why the Doctor got mentioned in that book, i.e. in which context. These days he seems to have a rather pacifist attitude... Well, not really. That's rather the 1oth Doctor then.

At this point it should be mentioned that it's interesting that the book's title does not say "The History of the Great Time War". Is it relevant? Or a mistake? Or does the obvious THE indicate that the book is about THE one great Time War? And why does Clara seem to recognise that name? She's not an expert on the allies involved in the Time War or Gallifrey's  history. So how does she know that the name she read is that of the Doctor? And why does it seem to be familiar to her? After all, she says "So that's who..." I really hope Moffat won't let us down this time because I guess I'm not the only one wanting some answers.