Warning: spoilers ahead forDoctor Whoseason 14.
Summary
The true identity of Susan Twist’sDoctor Whocharacter is finally revealed in season 14’s final two episodes, and the answer is rather far removed from many of the theories viewers had about Twist’s cameos. Susan Twist’s ongoing presence inDoctor Who’s Disney erawas one of its biggest mysteries, with her first role coming in “Wild Blue Yonder” as Mrs. Merridew - Isaac Newton’s maid. Now that the secret is out in the open, the speculation over theseDoctor Whodoppelgängers can cease.
Susan Twist is quietly one of the most vital members ofDoctor Who’s season 14 cast, appearing in every single episode of Ncuti Gatwa’s inaugural run in some form or another.The sheer lack of connection between Twist’s various appearances made it incredibly difficult to solve the mysterywithout more context to work with. Thankfully, showrunner and writer Russell T Davies adds the final piece to the puzzle in season 14’s final episodes, “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” and “Empire of Death.”
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Susan Twist’s Real Character In Doctor Who Is Susan Triad
“The Legend of Ruby Sunday” establishes Susan Twist’s character as a seemingly ordinary human named Susan Triad.The episode shows Susan on the verge of releasing free software to the world, the purpose of which is unclear. Nevertheless, she is the frontwoman for a tech company called Triad Technology, which Kate Lethbridge-Stewart explains only became “S. Triad Technology” two years earlier.
All Susan Twist Characters Were Sutekh’s Angels Of Death
“The Legend of Ruby Sunday” reveals thatThe One Who Waits is Sutekh, aDoctor Whovillain who made a lone TV appearance during the show’s classic era. Sutekh is a godlike entity who has since been retroactively made a member ofDoctor Who’s Pantheon of Godsby Russell T Davies.Susan Triad was created, and then quietly controlled, by Sutekh, who had been living within the Doctor’s TARDIS for thousands of years, biding his time.
Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor fought and defeated Sutekh in 1975’s “Pyramids of Mars.”
Susan’s physical transformation near the end ofDoctor Whoseason 14, episode 7, is a direct result of Sutekh pulling her strings, as are the deadly abilities she demonstrates when turning a man to dust. As an avatar for Sutekh, she is incapable of resisting his commands, spoken or otherwise.
In “Empire of Death,” Sutekh explains that every time the TARDIS landed, a Susan Twist character would spawn in that specific place and time. Sutekh used the TARDIS' perception filter to seamlessly weave his creations through the universe’s history and, when the time eventually came to strike, these angels of death would destroy the worlds they were planted on. None of the angels, Susan Triad included, were aware of Sutekh’s hand in their existence.
Why Susan Twist’s Characters Kept Following The Doctor & Ruby
Sutekh is a being of unfathomable power, andbecause the god of death was integrated into the TARDIS, he went wherever the Time Lord and his companion went. The villain’s borderline omnipotence allowed him to place Susan Triad into the nearby environment wherever the blue box landed.
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As per Sutekh’s plan, different Susan Twist characters were seeded onto a planet at multiple periods in that planet’s history, depending on when the TARDIS landed there. The Doctor believes the “idea” of Susan got stronger each time this happened, so in the case of Earth, a Susan was integrated into human history at each point the TARDIS vworped to. This meant Sutekh’s angel of death on Earth started in a more humble role, then eventually rose to become an entrepreneur who dominated Earth’s technology industry.
It is, however, odd that the Doctor only started noticing Sutekh’s Susans in season 14. In theory, these angels of death have been rolling out of the TARDIS since the Fourth Doctor’s era, and none have ever directly interacted with the Doctor. The most likely explanation is that Sutekh deliberately placed his angels into the Doctor’s path as a trap. When the villain was ready to make his grand comeback, he tempted the Doctor with the mystery of one woman recurring throughout time and forced his nemesis to seek answers.
Susan Triad has always been an avatar of Sutekh, but was able to live an independent life. As the Fifteenth Doctor asserts at the end of “Empire of Death,” Triad is exactly who she thought she was - her memories, experiences, emotions, and thoughts are all her own. The only difference is that Triad and her lookalikes were created by the God of Death and scattered throughout time and space as his sleeper agents. Having said that, Sutekh may have gently manipulated their lives for her own purposes - influencing the name of Susan Triad’s company, for example.
Sutekh seemed to have been intentionally misleading the Doctor by making the Time Lord believe Susan Triad could be an older or regenerated version of Susan Foreman, the Doctor’s biological granddaughter from the show’s classic era. Creating an avatar with the same first name is an obvious sign of this deception, butthe S. Triad/TARDIS anagram is yet another indication of Sutekh’s intention to manipulate the Doctor.
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Only after Sutekh successfully lured the Doctor into his trap does the God of Death reveal his ruse:“Did you think I was family, Doctor?“The complex web of lies weaved by Sutekh was seemingly put in place to mock the Doctor, as well as providing him with the false sense of hope that he might eventually be reunited with his granddaughter. While the Doctor may eventually experience that reunion at some point in time, this false alarm was nothing more than Sutekh pulling at the heartstrings ofDoctor Who’s main character and forcing the Time Lord to drop his guard.
A Happily Ever After For Sutekh’s Minions
After the Doctor successfully defeats Sutekh, Susan Triad returns to her normal self. In further good news for the technology whiz, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart offers her a job at UNIT. Susan Triad’s expertise in software development is well-documented, and her systems are already being used at UNIT HQ. Triad would, therefore, have plenty to offer as a consultant or employee on the computing side - something UNIT evidently struggles with after initially being unable to track down Ruby’s mother, who is both a registered nurse and has vacation photos on her social media.
Kate’s offer leaves the door ajar for Susan Twist to continue appearing in future episodes as a member ofDoctor Who’s growing UNIT team. Amusingly, Colonel Ibrahim pleads with Susan Triad to avoid making the tea if she does stick around, which represents an ironic nod to her 1960s counterpart’s job as an Abbey Road tea lady. Based on what happens to Susan Triad inDoctor Whoseason 14’s ending, it can be assumed that her clones across time and space - Gina Scalzi, Mrs. Merridew, etc. each return to their normal selves and can continue life as it was before Sutekh returned.
Doctor Who
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Doctor Who: Released on June 08, 2025, this series follows the Doctor and their companion as they journey across time and space, encountering a range of extraordinary friends and adversaries, expanding the universe of the long-running British science fiction series.
