"Look at you: with your eyes, and your never giving up."
Clara Oswald was smart, funny, and as much of a hero as the Doctor in her own right. As the Impossible Girl she showed how even 'ordinary' people were full of mystery and magic and wonder without having to be anything supernatural.
Clara showed us the struggles that the closest friendships can go through more than any other companion did. She also showed us how a relationship can go so much deeper and complex than just friendship and be something else entirely to romance. Something utterly beautiful and completely undefinable.
Stand out episodes like Flatline showed how compelling to watch in her own right Clara was. A compulsion that spreads not just to the audience but to the Doctor himself. Her ending emphasised the pain and sometimes damn impossibility of having to say goodbye to the most important people in your life. Nobody pushed the Doctor as far as Clara did. He literally would have torn the universe apart from her. And if that relationship isn't absolutely fascinating then I don't know what is.
A very human character with obvious flaws (liar, control freak, adrenaline addict), but also very human compassion for everyone in the world around her, Clara, to me, was something else. She showed how a scared lonely girl could put on the masks she needed to to stare down the world and take control of every situation. Clara was inconsistent, as all real people are, and she changed, as all real people do, but she also hid those things about her that were real but she thought the world would see as weakness behind masks and lies. That's not something everyone does, but it's something very interesting that a lot of people, including myself, do.
Clara showed how you could hold on to those things that make you 'you' like her compassion and her urge to explore, but also build a myth of who you want to be and step into that role whether it comes naturally or not. And she faced her death as the brave hero she wanted to be and will be remembered as by us and, now that Twice Upon A Time has allowed the 12th Doctor his memories back as he finally moves on, the Doctor.
Clara has played such a huge role in the Doctor's life and leaves such a huge hole in his life when she's gone. They're truly best friends and if everyone could be as good a friend to someone as he is to her and she is to him then the world would be fantastic.
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