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In the 2012 Doctor Who Christmas special The Snowmen Vastra gives the Clara of that time the One Word Test to which her answer to Vastra's final question, to give the Doctor a message but with just one word, was "Pond".

We know that this Clara is one of many that created and spread throughout The Doctor's Timeline when she entered it in his tomb on Trenzalore. However this Clara did not know who The Doctor was so I am wondering if she understood the meaning of the word "Pond" to the Doctor as opposed to what she may have thought what it meant?

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    Good question. I've no idea why people are voting to close on it when it's actually quite answerable.
    – Valorum
    Jun 24, 2015 at 6:01
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    It's dramatic irony
    – Huey
    Jun 24, 2015 at 9:43
  • I have the impression that the entire episode is built so that she could use that word, the pond with the frozen woman was introduced to make the word "pond" fit in the story so that Clara can use it with its double meaning (by the way, is it capitalized or not in the screen play?)
    – yannis
    Jan 20, 2021 at 10:19

1 Answer 1

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Consciously, no she doesn't. At this point she has no memory of her prior (future) self's actions. There's no indication that this particular incarnation of Clara ever regains this knowledge.

Subconsciously, however she clearly does retain some knowledge gained from her former (future) self's actions, notably her instant trust of the Doctor and instinctual desire to be with him and help him. It's clear that the contemporary version was aware of Amy Pond (see Clara and the TARDIS) and it's likely that her word choice in this case was also subconscious and instinctual rather than merely coincidental.

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