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Is there any canon proof (written or televised) that shows Weeping Angels to be immune from seeing themselves? It stands to reason since they cover their eyes (seeing their hands would quantum lock them), but I don't remember it actually saying.

Edit: Each individual angel being immune to itself, like looking in a mirror. Not looking at each other. Like an angel that looks at its own hands, would it not quantum lock itself?

4 Answers 4

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Angels are not immune to the view of another angel. The Doctor used this fact to trap them in the episode "Blink". He enticed them to surround the Tardis, then when it was removed they were left looking at each other. Weeping Angels locked looking at each other.

According to the wiki entry on Weeping angels, there was an incident (apparently from the novel Magic of the Angels) where:

The Doctor, Amy and Rory neutralised the Angel by making it make a duplicate of itself through its reflection on a mirror. After a brief panic of more Angels appearing, the mirror was smashed, leaving the two Angels in quantum lock.

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  • I mean is an individual angel immune to freezing itself, like if it looked in a mirror. Sorry for the confusion.
    – Dragus
    Commented Jan 29, 2013 at 18:16
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    It's best to edit the question for such clarifications... but if the "freezing" is of a quantum nature as suggested in the original episode, then they don't need to be seen so much as observed. Even a mirror should suffice.
    – John O
    Commented Jan 29, 2013 at 18:24
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    Yes. From the wiki: "The Doctor, Amy and Rory neutralised the Angel by making it make a duplicate of itself through its reflection on a mirror. After a brief panic of more Angels appearing, the mirror was smashed, leaving the two Angels in quantum lock."
    – The Fallen
    Commented Jan 29, 2013 at 18:32
  • I did edit the question too, I just left the comment so it would let the person answering know. So, a mirror can capture the image and make another angel to quantum lock it. That makes sense in the case of the Weeping Angels "what holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel," but in looking at itself, would it not freeze by looking at its own hands? Or do they keep their eyes closed? I'm sorry for this question being so vague. I really should have thought it through more.
    – Dragus
    Commented Jan 29, 2013 at 18:49
  • I like both answers, but this answer addresses the issue of Canon, which was part of the question (both in the answer and in the comments). I had been looking at the regular Wiki instead of the TARDIS wiki, which is why I couldn't find the answer to the mirror question.
    – Dragus
    Commented Jan 29, 2013 at 19:40
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As far as I can tell, there are two issues at work here:

  1. Can an angel lock itself by looking at part of itself, say an arm or a hand?

    Clearly not, as pointed out, they cover their eyes, which would de facto risk locking themselves. Given that they lock instantly, chances are they cover their eyes a fair chunk of the time. The nature of the Angles is to be observed, if you get existential, the Angel already "knows" of them-self can thus can not observe it in the same way as an outside creature.

  2. Can an angle lock by looking in the mirror.

    In this case yes, the image of an Angel becomes an Angel, and thus observe each other. Possibly locking each other.

    One could argue that the image is an EXTENSION of the original angel, but evidence points to counting as a separate entity (although the angels do have some signs of telepathic or hive-mind properties)

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  • I like this answer for a point of argument, but it seems to be speculation. There are plenty of good thought processes here though!
    – Dragus
    Commented Jan 29, 2013 at 19:42
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    Well I am operating off of observation, and the rules as presented, but as with all things in Doctor Who, those are not really meaningful in the long run.
    – Ashterothi
    Commented Jan 29, 2013 at 21:19
  • Agreed. The writers just seem to do whatever and not care what has been said or done previously.
    – Dragus
    Commented Jan 29, 2013 at 21:26
  • See this answer of mine: scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/28901/…
    – Ashterothi
    Commented Jan 29, 2013 at 21:28
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    I would say that the you can drop the "de facto risk" because if they can lock themselves, it would be pointless. If they can only lock other angels, then covering their eye's allows OTHER angels to move when they would otherwise be seen by the angel. This would allow them to work together with less risk as it reduces the chance of them locking each other.
    – jmoreno
    Commented Jan 30, 2013 at 2:33
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Ok here's the final answer for this question: Yes, an Angel is immune to seeing itself. That's without a mirror. Because in all the episodes, the Angels had been able to more even after hiding their faces.

enter image description here

However...

In "The Time of the Doctor", a Weeping angel is revealed to actually not be completely immune to seeing its own form, as shown by the mirror the Doctor places with the message attached; "WITH LOVE FROM THE DOCTOR!".

enter image description here

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I'm by far not a Dr. Who follower since I've only watched some episodes, but if an image of an angel is an angel (episode 64) then it stands to reason that a mirror image of an angel is another angel and it would make perfect sense that these two angels would be locked (like in a previous episode), until one is moved out of the visual path. If this is not doable, then there's a storyline hole.

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