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I'm just missing something, and can't quite remember the plot:

  • There are cracks in the universe
  • Time Lords calling through them
  • Doctor wants to answer
  • Church wants to stop Doctor
  • Church's Kovarian chapter separates to take matters on its own hands
  • Kovarians break the TARDIS' time capsule
  • TARDIS blows up, creating the cracks in the universe

Why doesn't the Kovarian chapter just not destroy the TARDIS' time capsule? The cracks would not exist, the Time Lords would not call, and the Doctor would not answer any question.

This would rewrite history... which is not a bad thing... (The Doctor does it alllll the time)

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It is implied that the Kovarian Chapter is not aware that destroying the TARDIS will destroy the universe and create the cracks in time. They just see it as a means of killing him, but ironically,they end up creating the very problem that they are trying to solve. The Doctor sums it up as such:

DOCTOR: The destiny trap. You can't change history if you're part of it.

Essentially, causality had already determined the result of their gambit because it had already happened and needed to happen in order for them to do it in the first place, but from their perspective, it hadn't happened yet, so to them, it just looked like another method of killing him.

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  • It strikes me as odd that they were unaware of that - after all, Tasha Lem knows (she mentioned how the Kovarians were at fault for making the cracks), so the most logical thing to do for Tasha would be sending a message to the Kovarians telling them "guys remember the cracks the Time Lords are using? You made them for blowing the TARDIS" or something like that.
    – Saturn
    Commented May 6, 2014 at 9:06
  • Tasha was speaking of the explosion in the past tense. By that point, the Chapter had already attempted to blow up the TARDIS and make River and assassin. Tasha didn't know what would happen in advance. It goes like this: Tasha changes the Church's faith to silence -> a branch of extremists (the Kovarian Chapter) attempt to blow up the TARDIS -> a younger Doctor fixes everything -> Tasha tells the older Doctor what happened, having now experienced it for herself.
    – Amy
    Commented May 6, 2014 at 23:29

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