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At the end of S9E12, the Doctor…

get all of his memories of Clara removed.

He does, however, keep a lot of surrounding information, some of which he lists near the end of the episode.

Does this include the time in the castle? That seems to be less related to what he forgot than some of the things he lists, but if he still knew that he spent such a long time there, he would surely want to know why. And if he does not remember, then that means that he only remembers less than 0.0001% of his lifetime (for some definition of "his lifetime").

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  • It's just me, but i have a nagging suspicion that the Doctor never actually lost any memories. He was just honoring Clara's choice to "move on" as she wished. I have no real evidence to back up my theory. It's just a feeling.
    – MrInfinity
    Feb 21, 2020 at 6:37

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He remembers the things they did, he just didn't remember her specifically. He knew he'd been gallivanting around time and space with someone, but didn't remember her name, her face, or specific emotions he had toward her, and other specifics. The end of the episode, when he's speaking to Clara but doesn't realize it, he knows he doesn't remember the woman he traveled with, but he does know he traveled with one.

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  • He says something like "he can figure it out using the blanks", which would suggest that whatever he said are not actual memories, but deductions from other indicators.
    – Fabian Röling
    Feb 21, 2020 at 7:34
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    Or they are memories! Since he forgot only about her but remember everything else, his memories had some "blank" wich he tries to fill. He knew there was a she, because there was and that knowledge is unchanged. He just can't recall anything about her. It's like delete Clara's voice and appearance from every episode without changing anything else. You realize something is missing, but you don't know what.
    – Rick Starrunner
    Feb 21, 2020 at 9:25
  • The idea of filling in the blanks comes from the Smith years when he tries to erase himself from history, and (IIRD) Solomon from Dinosaurs on a Spaceship points out that someone could extrapolate details of him from the suspicious missing bits.
    – VBartilucci
    Feb 24, 2020 at 19:18

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