Rory Williams is a fictional character portrayed by Arthur Darvill in the
long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Having
been introduced at the start of the 5th series, Rory joins the Eleventh Doctor
as a companion in the middle of Series 5. As Amy Pond's fiancé, Rory is
initially insecure because he believes Amy secretly loves the Doctor more.
Later, however, he proves to be a hero in his own right and he and Amy marry.
The couple conceive a daughter aboard the Doctor's time machine, the TARDIS,
while in the time vortex, but their baby is kidnapped at birth. In "A Good Man
Goes to War", Rory and Amy discover their time-traveler friend River Song is
actually their daughter Melody Pond. The Doctor and River marry in "The Wedding
of River Song", and Rory becomes the Doctor's father-in-law. In "The Angels
Take Manhattan", the fifth episode of the seventh series, he and Amy are
transported back in time by a Weeping Angel, leading to the couple's departure
from the series. Appearances
= Television = Rory is introduced in "The Eleventh
Hour" as a nurse in a coma ward and the "sort of boyfriend" of new companion
Amelia Pond. He is shocked to meet Amy's 'imaginary' "Raggedy Doctor" - the
Eleventh Doctor, whom he instantly recognises from Amy's childhood stories.
Two years later, Amy absconds on the eve of their wedding to travel with the
Doctor, whom at the end of an initial travelling period she tries to seduce.
In response, the Doctor takes Amy and Rory to 1580s Venice to repair and
strengthen the couple's relationship; at the end of the episode Rory joins them
as a travelling companion. In "Amy's Choice", in a shared realistic dream
where he is a doctor married to a pregnant Amy, he tells her with his
dying breath to look after their baby, which causes Amy to realise how much she
loves him. Rory travels with the Doctor and Amy until mid-series when, in "Cold
Blood", he is shot dead by a Silurian after saving the Doctor and then
absorbed by a crack in time and space, erasing him from existence and from
Amy's memory. He next appears in "The Pandorica
Opens", as a Roman soldier in 102 C.E., but is revealed to be an Auton with
Rory's memories. Rory attempts to fight his Auton programming, but unwillingly
shoots Amy. In the Series 5 finale episode,"The Big Bang", the duplicate
Rory preserves Amy in stasis using a futuristic prison called the Pandorica,
voluntarily watching over her for almost two millennia. He becomes known as the
"Last Centurion", guarding the Pandorica wherever it is taken. The Auton Rory
assists the Doctor, Amy, and River Song in saving the universe from the
explosion that caused the cracks in time. Restored to his original human
timeline but still possessing memories of his Auton existence, Rory marries
Amy. The couple continue traveling with the Doctor, who allows them a honeymoon.
They are said to still be on their honeymoon in both The Sarah Jane
Adventures serial Death of the Doctor and the Christmas special "A Christmas
Carol". Series 6 premiere "The Impossible
Astronaut" begins with Amy and Rory living back on Earth when they are
contacted by the Doctor, via a letter, to meet him in America. In Utah they
witness the Doctor dying in his relative future at the hands of a mysterious
assassin. In "The Almost People," it's revealed Amy has been kidnapped and
replaced with a Flesh avatar; the Doctor disintegrates this Avatar after
concluding this, just as the real Amy goes into labour on board a space ship.
Amy gives birth to their daughter, Melody Pond, between "The Almost People"
and "A Good Man Goes To War"; Madame Kovarian and the Silence plan to raise
her as a weapon against the Doctor because she has been born with Time
Lord-like abilities. Dressed in his centurion armor, he faces down a space
fleet of Cybermen to learn Amy's location, and assists the Doctor in
assembling an army to rescue her. Though Amy and Rory are distressed they were
unable to save Melody from being kidnapped by Madam Kovarian, River
appears at the episode's climax and reveals to Amy and Rory that she is
their daughter, Melody. "Let's Kill Hitler" begins by revealing that Melody
went on to become Amy and Rory's childhood friend, Mels, so that she
might one day meet and kill the Doctor. As Amy had initially assumed Rory was
gay due to his lack of interest in other women, a teenage Mels had been the one
to inform Amy of Rory's affections. On 21st century Earth, Mels hijacks the
TARDIS and directs it to 1938, where she is shot by Hitler and regenerates into
River Song. They learn she is the assailant they saw kill the Doctor in
his future. At the episode's conclusion, they decide to let the adult River make
her own way in life and continue their travels.
Rory features prominently in "The Girl Who Waited", where he is confronted with
the horrible consequences time travel has had on a version of his wife. In
"The God Complex", he is the only one of the TARDIS crew who is not hunted by the
creature that feeds on faith because of Rory's rational nature and lack of
personal faith. The Doctor eventually realises the danger he is exposing his
friends to and returns Amy and Rory to Earth, giving them a house and a car as
exit presents. The Doctor next glimpses the couple in "Closing Time", some time
after he left them. The pair appear in his life once again when River creates
an alternate reality by refusing to kill the Doctor. They witness the Doctor
marry River in the alternate universe before returning to the established
course of events where the Doctor once again appears to die. Once reality is
restored, however, they are visited by their daughter River, who tells them the
secret that the Doctor is still alive, and that the version of him that died
had been a robot duplicate. Though he wishes the world to believe he is dead,
the Doctor joins Rory and Amy two years later for Christmas dinner in the
Christmas special "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe".
Series seven opener "Asylum of the Daleks" establishes early on that Amy
and Rory are set to divorce. The Daleks kidnap the Doctor to go on a mission for
them, as well as kidnapping Rory and Amy on the day they are about to sign their
divorce papers because they know the Doctor works better with companions.
During the mission, the Doctor engineers a reconciliation between the two. The
two discuss their feelings for each other. It is revealed Amy left Rory
because she has been infertile since "A Good Man Goes to War", and she knew he
wanted children. The Doctor subsequently embarks on sporadic journeys with the
Ponds. Rory is said to be 31 years old at the time of "Dinosaurs on a
Spaceship". They rejoin him as permanent companions
prior to their last adventure in "The Angels Take Manhattan". In this story,
Rory is sent back to 1930s New York by a Weeping Angel, where he encounters
River, and is tracked there by the Doctor and Amy, where he finds himself
repeatedly the victim of Weeping Angels repeatedly attacking him and dislocating
him in space and time. It is discovered he is in an Angel "battery farm", where
they intend to trap him until he dies of old age. Rory even encounters his dying
older self there. Amy and Rory jump from a building to create a paradox and
destroy the Angels, but one survives and sends Rory back in time. Amy chooses to
let it send her back in time as well, and due to the massive paradox the
Doctor can never reunite with them. From a tombstone he learns that Rory died at
age 82, and Amy at 87. The website-only epilogue "P.S." later reveals that Rory
and Amy adopted a son, in 1946, and named him Anthony Brian Williams. His
middle name was chosen after Rory's father, Brian, to whom Rory sent a
letter in "P.S.". = Literature =
Rory appears alongside the Doctor and Amy in numerous Doctor Who stories found
in the New Series Adventures novels, the 2in1 series chapter books, the Quick
Reads novels, and original audiobooks. Casting and characterisation
For his audition, Arthur Darvill received two scenes from the first
episode and one from the sixth, but beyond the fact Rory was Amy's boyfriend
he was not informed of details of the character. Lead writer and executive
producer Steven Moffat stated that what stood out about Darvill's audition was
"just how funny" he was. Darvill felt "privileged" to be part of the show, and
was pleased with Rory's storyline. Darvill had previously worked with Matt
Smith on a play called Swimming with Sharks. He became a regular with "A
Christmas Carol"; Darvill had his "fingers crossed" that he would become a
regular. Rory was a character who was "completely
in love" with Amy, but Amy had things to do in life before admitting she loved
him too. Moffat described Rory as someone who had grown up in the "shadow"
of Amy's imaginary Doctor. Rory became a nurse because of this. Rory eventually
"mans up" and evolves into a "bumbling action hero". Speaking of Rory's
characterisation in the first series, actor Darvill felt that he was "on the
outside looking into this world he was desperately trying to save Amy from."
Executive producer Steven Moffat had intended to have a married couple on the
TARDIS "from the off". Darvill stated of the couple's marriage that Amy will
always "wear the trousers". However, he felt that Rory's marriage had stopped
the character "feeling so unworthy." In regards to how Rory changed between
series five and six, Darvill stated that "his sense of adventure has awoken" and
that he is more comfortable with himself.
Reception Rory's frequent deaths in the programme
have been subject to criticism. Digital Spy reviewer Morgan Jeffery wrote, "One
of the key elements in Doctor Who is obviously the sense of danger and the
lingering presence of death, but Rory's repeated demises and resurrections are
now becoming so frequent that comparisons to South Park‍‍ '​‍s Kenny
seem almost inevitable." In a review for "The Doctor's Wife", Neela Debnath of
The Independent announced that "Rory-gets-killed fatigue has now
officially set in". On the other hand, SFX awarded Rory the third spot in the
top 10 resurrections of science fiction TV, saying that "it's becoming a cliché.
But it's not one we mind too much, mainly because it's always done with
such gusto. Except, perhaps, in the pirates episode which was a fairly gusto
free zone all round". However, critics have celebrated the
increased opportunities for Rory to be heroic in series 6. Following the airing
of "A Good Man Goes to War", io9's Charlie Jane Anders compared the
character to Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, whose arc in the American television
programmes Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel similarly saw him transition from
laughable comic relief to a genuine warrior. Anders comments: "We're
thrilled that Rory is getting his Wesley Wyndam-Pryce on. Badass Rory is, as we
already observed, totally badass." Sam McPherson of Zap2it believed that Rory
had the most character development of the characters in the fifth series,
evolving into a "generally enjoyable character".
The Radio Times blog singled the character out for praise: "As a
traveller in the Tardis, Rory probably speaks for the audience far more than
past companions have. Sure, we all like to think we'd spring into action just
like the Doctor. But in truth, if we joined an eccentric alien on a journey
through time and space, we'd probably be more Rory than Rose." However, in 2015
Michael Hogan of The Daily Telegraph criticised the general portrayal of male
companion figures in Doctor Who. He described Rory, alongside 2005-2006
character Mickey Smith and 2014 character Danny Pink as all "basically
soppy, sappy, slightly annoying plus-ones to far superior females".
Rory was named "TV Character of the Year" in the Virgin Media TV Awards in
2012. SFX named Amy and Rory the second-best science fiction and fantasy
romance. References
External links Rory Williams on the BBC's Doctor Who
Series 5 website Rory Williams on BBC America's website
Rory Williams on TARDIS Data Core, an external wiki