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Rand al'Thor ♦
Rand al'Thor ♦
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At leastLower bound: 2-3 days, possibly (probably more).

Summing up, we have a sum of at most half a day in the scenes we see in detail, a day and a half crawling from Room 12 to the teleport chamber, and at least several hours, maybe much more just wandering the castle, mapping it out, getting his bearings, eating, etc. Summing to a minimum of 2-3 days, but potentially a lot more.

Upper bound: 6 years(probably much less).-As in the nice answer by Mike C. Ford, let's look at screenshots of the underwater skulls in order to get an estimate of how many iterations the Doctor must have been through by the time 7000 years have passed. Firstly:

skulls counted

There are over 40 skulls in this shot. But we can do better!

skulls widepan

In this widepan shot from a few seconds later in the episode (around 14:30 on the iPlayer version available on the BBC website), we can see hundreds and hundreds of skulls. Within the red rectangle I've drawn, I estimate there are at least 20 skulls. This rectangle is around 1/60 of the screen, and we don't need to take account of perspective (foreground skulls being larger than background skulls) since the rectangle is roughly in the middle of the screen, front-to-back wise. That gives us an estimate of 1200 skulls (and probably many more).

Dividing 7000 by 1200 gives around 5.8, so let's say 6 years as an absolute maximum for the length of cycle one could fit around 1200 times into around 7000 years.

At least 2-3 days, possibly more.

Summing up, we have a sum of at most half a day in the scenes we see in detail, a day and a half crawling from Room 12 to the teleport chamber, and at least several hours, maybe much more just wandering the castle, mapping it out, getting his bearings, eating, etc. Summing to a minimum of 2-3 days, but potentially a lot more.

Lower bound: 2-3 days (probably more).

Summing up, we have a sum of at most half a day in the scenes we see in detail, a day and a half crawling from Room 12 to the teleport chamber, and at least several hours, maybe much more just wandering the castle, mapping it out, getting his bearings, eating, etc. Summing to a minimum of 2-3 days, but potentially a lot more.

Upper bound: 6 years(probably much less).-As in the nice answer by Mike C. Ford, let's look at screenshots of the underwater skulls in order to get an estimate of how many iterations the Doctor must have been through by the time 7000 years have passed. Firstly:

skulls counted

There are over 40 skulls in this shot. But we can do better!

skulls widepan

In this widepan shot from a few seconds later in the episode (around 14:30 on the iPlayer version available on the BBC website), we can see hundreds and hundreds of skulls. Within the red rectangle I've drawn, I estimate there are at least 20 skulls. This rectangle is around 1/60 of the screen, and we don't need to take account of perspective (foreground skulls being larger than background skulls) since the rectangle is roughly in the middle of the screen, front-to-back wise. That gives us an estimate of 1200 skulls (and probably many more).

Dividing 7000 by 1200 gives around 5.8, so let's say 6 years as an absolute maximum for the length of cycle one could fit around 1200 times into around 7000 years.

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Rand al'Thor ♦
Rand al'Thor ♦
  • 135.8k
  • 65
  • 613
  • 863

At least 2-3 days, possibly more.

WARNING: massive untagged spoilers for the entire episode follow.

  • The first bit of running around, from the teleport chamber to the moment he jumps out of the window, doesn't take long. This time is measured in minutes, and must be less than an hour.

  • He falls for several seconds, emerges from the water, returns into the castle, changes his clothes, and then finds the garden with the spade. Again, all of this takes well less than an hour.

  • Building this height, creature that slow, so what? An hour.

    He spends an hour digging before the Veil comes and finds him, he makes his second confession, and the castle resets again.

  • Then he spends a time of indeterminate length wandering around the castle, counting out time, eating, making a map of the rooms, possibly sleeping.

    Fifty seven minutes? This is how my world works, Clara. I tick off the seconds as they pass. My life is a countdown. If I draw the creature to one extreme of the castle, and I run to the other extreme, I can earn myself a maximum of eighty two minutes. Eighty two minutes to eat, sleep and work. My work is finding Room 12. [...] But how long will I have to be here? Forever?

    It sounds as though this period lasts at least several hours, but conceivably much longer. This is where the unknown creeps in.

  • Next we have his 'BIRD' discovery, the towertop scene, and his arrival in Room 12, where he punches the wall and is mortally injured by the Veil. Again, well less than an hour.

  • Finally, he struggles from Room 12 back to the teleport chamber:

    I think, in my current condition, it'll take me about a day and a half to reach the top of the tower. I think. If I'm lucky, I have a day and a half.

    This last, and hardest, lap of his journey takes him a day and a half, which may be more than all the rest put together.

Summing up, we have a sum of at most half a day in the scenes we see in detail, a day and a half crawling from Room 12 to the teleport chamber, and at least several hours, maybe much more just wandering the castle, mapping it out, getting his bearings, eating, etc. Summing to a minimum of 2-3 days, but potentially a lot more.