“I hate good wizards in fairy tales; they always turn out to be him.”

During “The Pandorica Opens”, upon hearing the story of the Pandorica, River Song makes one of her off-handed snarky comments about the Doctor. “I hate good wizards in fairy tales; they always turn out to be him.” We never got a clear answer as to whether the Doctor was ever a “wizard” who locked a “feared being” in the Pandorica. Maybe River’s assumption was right and the Doctor locked an enemy in there? But so far, we don’t know. However, it did make me wonder if there are any other wizards we’ve heard of who could secretly be the Doctor. Here are a few I thought of.

Seventh Doctor - Radagast the Brown

Indulge me in some headcanon for a second. After the Seventh Doctor said goodbye to Ace (sometime after “Survival”), the Doctor went to another world. Future? Past? Who’s to say? But let’s call this world “Middle Earth”. Here he learned about “magic” and became known as Radagast and enjoyed isolating with forest animals. This is what Sylvester McCoy plays both the Seventh Doctor and Radagast in The Hobbit. It’s a bit of a stretch, but it’s a fun thought.

Post-Seventh Doctor - Merlin

This theory isn’t unique to me. If you’ve watched the Seventh Doctor era of Classic Doctor Who, you may recall the Doctor being called Merlin in “Battlefield”. The Doctor didn’t remember being Merlin, so we can safely assume “Merlin” was an incarnation of the Doctor after the Seventh. Based on different versions of the wizard Merlin, you can see aspects of the Doctor. For example, in Disney’s Sword in the Stone, Merlin appears to time travel and he has a bag that’s bigger on the inside. And in BBC’s Merlin, the young wizard appears to live unaged for thousands of years, much like the Doctor. Maybe someday we’ll get a Merlin story?

Future Doctor - Newt Scamander

This idea will be even more amazing if BBC decides at a future date to cast Eddie Redmayne as the Doctor. My first time watching Fantastic Beasts I got definite Doctor vibes from him. Maybe it was the bigger-on-the-inside suitcase. Maybe it was the running down the hall with Tina in hand (just like a companion). Either way, a British guy with a fantastically out-there outfit… he could be the Doctor. He even licked the ground in Crimes of Grindewald. Although if we’re talking Harry Potter world, maybe the War Doctor as Ollivander would work.

Any Doctor - Wizard of Oz

It doesn’t necessarily fit into the 1930s Wizard of Oz, but let’s think for a second. His clothes are super flamboyant (worse than the Sixth Doctor’s clothes) and his hot air balloon could definitely be the TARDIS (chameleon circuit fixed in the future, of course--it’s been done before). Oz could be an alien world that people visit in their dreams. Maybe the Wicked Witch was Missy in face paint?