doctornolonger:

thedupshadove:

While We’re On the Subject

I know it’s popular to portray Doctor Nyarlathotep as making every human around them slightly uneasy; as having a fundamental creepy quality that comes from their inhumanity and power. A chilling aura that even those who love them best can never truly escape from. And that’s a valid reading which can certainly lead to interesting stories and interactions.

But what if it’s the opposite? What if one of their alien qualities is an intense, almost supernatural charm? I mean, we know that Time Lords have psychic abilities. The Master has no qualms about dominating the will of anyone who might prove useful, and while The Doctor never does this, I’ve always gotten the impression that they could.

But maybe something like that can’t help but happen anyway. Think of all the situations where The Doctor bluffs their way into a position of trust when, strictly speaking, they probably shouldn’t be able to. Maybe they’re thinking “Please trust me, I need you to trust me, maybe if you like me you’ll trust me.” so hard that that just…winds up happening.

Maybe they don’t know about this effect.

Maybe they do.

Maybe they can’t turn it off.

Maybe they don’t want to.

Much like actual Nyarlathotep in that way.

Into the lands of
civilisation came Nyarlathotep, swarthy, slender, and sinister, always buying strange instruments
of glass and metal and combining them into instruments yet stranger. He spoke much of the sciences—of
electricity and psychology—and gave exhibitions of power which sent his spectators away
speechless, yet which swelled his fame to exceeding magnitude. Men advised one another to see
Nyarlathotep, and shuddered.

I remember when Nyarlathotep came to my city—the great, the old, the
terrible city of unnumbered crimes. My friend had told me of him, and of the impelling fascination
and allurement of his revelations, and I burned with eagerness to explore his uttermost mysteries.