A Convincing Doctor Who Theory Explains What The Monster In “The Well” Actually Wants

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Doctor Who season 15, episode 3, “The Well.”Doctor Who season 15, episode 3, “The Well,” isn’t the first time the episode’s primary villain has appeared in the show, but the installment provides far more context regarding its motivations, which has allowed me to come up with a solid theory regarding why it behaves the way it does. “The Well” turns out to be a surprise sequel to 2008’s “Midnight” and brings back the monster that David Tennant encountered in Doctor Who season 4, episode 10. The enigmatic creature is different this time around, but Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor manages to work out he’s experiencing an unwanted reunion.

“Midnight” thrives on what’s left unsaid and unseen, and “The Well” obeys that formula too. The Doctor Who season 15 cast also unveiled very little solid information about the “Midnight” monster, but I think I can explain a key aspect of its behavior now that Russell T. Davies has quietly fleshed out the villain in “The Well.” The theory I have could have been formulated back in 2008, but it becomes much easier to prove after the new information in the 2025 sequel episode.

Doctor Who’s “Midnight” Monster Seems To Be A Carbon Parasite

Diamonds and carbon-based life are what the creature seems to be drawn to

The unnamed being that lives on Midnight, or Planet 6767, as it’s referred to in “The Well,” has beaten all the odds by evolving to survive the X-tonic light and galvanic radiation that makes the world uninhabitable to all other forms of life. However, light is rarely enough for an organism to survive – if the “Midnight” monster even needs it in the first place. Instead, what I think is most vital to its continued existence is carbon. Thankfully, the planet is covered with diamonds in “Midnight,” which are made of carbon.

If no other life exists on the planet, the carbon in the diamonds could serve as sustenance. Unfortunately, many other lifeforms are often carbon-based – including humans, Time Lords, and the new Lombardic race from “The Well.” So, when the Crusader Tours vehicle unknowingly takes David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor and his fellow passengers into the vicinity of the monster, it could have sensed a new food source and decided to investigate. It also seems unable to survive independently away from the planet’s diamond-ridden surface. Instead, it draws its energy from carbon-based beings when it’s inside.

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When someone aboard the shuttle in “Midnight” spots a vague shape moving outside the window, they say it looked to be “running” in the vehicle’s direction before the protective shutters needed to be slid back down. Therefore, the entity was obviously quite excited by the presence of something new and was likely ecstatic when it sensed all the carbon within the walls of the cabin. It would seem that toying with and manipulating everyone was just a dark bonus for the monster.

The Monster Emerging From The Well In Doctor Who Season 15 Makes Sense If It Needs Carbon To Survive

The “Midnight” entity was forced into the diamond mines to survive the planet’s drastic transformation

In the 400,000 years between the planet being known as Midnight and Planet 6767, a lot happened to the surface of the once-glimmering world. The X-tonic sun that Midnight revolved around has since burned out and collapsed into a grey star. After that, “The Well” vaguely mentions “the wars” that happened during this era, and the fact that the planet was stripped of all its diamonds. If the monster needs carbon to live, which I think it does, then this would have left it in a very tenuous position. Ultimately, it was forced underground to survive.

Most of “The Well” takes place in a mining colony on Planet 6767. The facility’s purpose is to extract diamonds from five miles beneath the surface, so a mineshaft was put in place. Referred to as carbon 46, Planet 6767’s diamonds only remain underground, so it’s the only place the monster could stay alive due to the lack of anything else up top. When the mining operation reached the beast’s new home, “The Well” reveals that the entity left the shaft while “laughing.” It was probably overjoyed to finally have a new food source and started attacking the Lombardic colonists.

The Monster’s Escape From Planet 6767 Makes It Trickier For The Doctor To Defeat It

The Doctor will need to find a more permanent solution next time it meets the “Midnight” monster

Fifteen admits in “The Well” that “Midnight” was the most scared he’s ever been. That’s probably because, as Ten, he barely survived. If it hadn’t been for the hostess sacrificing herself to pull the entity and its host out of the shuttle, then the paralyzed Doctor would have been mistakenly ejected instead. However, the Doctor probably saw that solution as something of a middle ground. Killing is often a last resort for the Time Lord, so it would have been a small victory that he didn’t have to end the monster’s life. Instead, it just returned to Midnight’s surface.

Fifteen departs Planet 6767 thinking the monster had been plunged back to the planet’s depths, back to the diamond-filled mine. Unfortunately, the episode ends with the last-minute twist of the villain having secretly hitched a ride on a platoon member’s back. The implication is that it will venture further and further into the universe, causing more chaos and bloodshed along the way. The Doctor will find it tricky to locate somewhere like Midnight again, where there are diamonds for it to feed on and nothing else. So, Doctor Who‘s main character may be forced to kill the beast next time.

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  Doctor Who
  

  Release Date

  2005 – 2022-00-00

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  Graeme Harper, Euros Lyn, Douglas Mackinnon, Jamie Magnus Stone, Charles Palmer, Rachel Talalay, Joe Ahearne, James Strong, Jamie Childs, Saul Metzstein, Toby Haynes, Wayne Che Yip, Nick Hurran, Richard Clark, James Hawes, Daniel Nettheim, Colin Teague, Keith Boak, Azhur Saleem, Adam Smith, Andrew Gunn, Nida Manzoor, Lawrence Gough, Paul Murphy

  
  

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    Jodie Whittaker

    The Doctor

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  December 25, 2023
  

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  Douglas Camfield, David Maloney, Christopher Barry, Michael E. Briant, Barry Letts, Michael Ferguson, Richard Martin, Peter Moffatt, Pennant Roberts, Lennie Mayne, Chris Clough, Ron Jones, Paddy Russell, Paul Bernard, Michael Hayes, Timothy Combe, Morris Barry, Gerald Blake, Graeme Harper, Waris Hussein, Rodney Bennett, Mervyn Pinfield, Hugh David, John Gorrie

  
  

  
  

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