#also - sidenote about how 11 and Amy give each other names

[camcorderrevival]

 Been thinking more and more about that bit of dialogue in The Pandorica Opens and linking it to Amy and just...!!! (was going to put this is @jochase​​’s ask box but it got too long and disorganised)

 Obviously, the story’s meant to mimic Pandora’s box, with the Doctor being all the evils and Amy being the last bit of hope, trapped in the box. But neither of them fulfil those roles completely, it’s more like the combination of the two of them representing both the hope and the illnesses/evils. They’re both released from the box as the two people with the strongest connections to the cracks in time (the evils), then it’s their joint effort that fixes it (the hope).

 It’s also unclear who’s meant to be Pandora in this situation. Most likely, it’s River or Amy, both of whom play a big part in drawing the Doctor to the Pandorica, triggering it’s opening. The Alliance also fits but it’s unlikely that they were intended to be the Pandora figure, by virtue of the fact that they’re just a group of classic villains.

 A case could be made for the Doctor as Pandora but I think the Doctor fits more with Prometheus, who’s responsible for Pandora’s creation and described as a supreme trickster (”a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior”) + a god of fire (”fire and ice and rage”). He’s a often used to depict the risk of over-ambitiousness, the romantic period using him to symbolise the link between intention and unexpected tragic consequence (”all this, my love, in fear of you”). He’s also depicted as humanity’s protector/saviour in Prometheus Bound (”The word for healer and wise man throughout the universe.”).

(The Doctor as Prometheus could strengthen the case for River as Pandora, with the idea that she’s created to act as retribution for the Doctor’s actions - but I think there’s also links to Amy being used as a vessel for that punishment as well)

 Moving back to the idea that Amy and 11 make up both of the things inside of Pandora’s box, the origin story that 11 delivers in The Pandorica Opens (that describes the creature of the Pandorica, the evils) can be applied to Amy as well as the Doctor:

"There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior" The warrior bit brings The Girl Who Waited to mind - dressed in armour, sword-wielding, has a hideout.  But I think that version of Amy also falls under goblin, she's viewed and presented as a corruption of Lovely Fairytale Amelia Pond. She's the polar opposite of the magical little girl, she's rough and hateful, her hideout doubles as a lair full of things she's managed to rip from the upper levels of the facility, even her armour is made up of stolen things...the fairy tale has essentially been flipped on it's head.

"A nameless, terrible thing" Amy's name is vital to parts of her arc. She's Amelia Pond, then Amy Pond, then Amy Williams, then Amelia Williams. As much as I dislike the name stuff, it’s still significant. But also, none of them are really her name, they all have connections to other people. Even “Amy” is picked in an attempt to shake off the Doctor / her reputation as Leadworth’s mad girl. None of them truly belong to her. She's nameless in that sense.

"And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it." All those moments throughout her run where she has to be restrained, or she rushes into stuff, her fatal flaw being her pride / her blind trust in her ability to make the right choice.

Also, the idea that a good wizard that trapped the creature -> the Doctor being the one that puts Amy in the Pandorica.

(Also, also, the Doctor’s imprisonment being presented as a catastrophic mistake -> the Doctor pushing Amy to the domestic life in The God Complex, eventually leading to their separation in S7)

#this is largely based on imagination and interpretation but still #i'm making links - even if they are vaguely delusional #also - sidenote about how 11 and Amy give each other names #the raggedy man and the girl who waited #both nameless names #and how they're the people who reason with / stop the other #thinking A Town Called Mercy and Cold Blood #Amy Pond #she's the gothic heroine she's the woman in the attic she's the ghost in the castle #dw meta #I <3 just saying words and forcing other people to see them