Silent Members of the Church of the Silence , formerly the Papal Mainframe , the Confessional Priests ( also known as Silents ) , were genetically engineered by the Church to allow people to confess their sins without remembering doing so , accomplished by fashioning the Priests so anyone looking at them would forget their encounter when they looked away . ( TV : " The Time of the Doctor " ) A renegade sect of Priests became obsessed with preventing the Siege of Trenzalore , and travelled back in time , influencing human history over a long period of time , and attempting to create a fixed death for the Doctor at Lake Silencio . They became known to the Doctor as Silents . ( TV : " The Impossible Astronaut " , " Day of the Moon " , " The Wedding of River Song " ) Appearance . They were tall humanoid s , around seven feet tall , with bulbous head s and grey , mouth less face s . Their hands had four large , spatulate finger s . They had small eye s in deep recesses in the skull . Their eyes lacked sclera and were completely dark . They spoke in deep , raspy voices , made growling or clicking noises , and as they breathed , they often produced highly eerie rattling sounds . The renegade priests of the Kovarian Chapter wore black suit s and ties in the style of 20th century male government workers on Earth ; ( TV : " The Impossible Astronaut " / " Day of the Moon " ) aboard the Papal Mainframe ship above Trenzalore , standard issue priests dressed wholly in black , wearing black suits with black high - collared shirts . ( TV : " The Time of the Doctor " ) Powers and abilities . Amnesia and hypnotic ability . Silence remained hidden on Earth for hundreds of thousands of years , since the early Stone Age . They were uniquely " memory - proof " ; anyone who saw them would instantly forget about them the moment they looked away — even if they saw a photograph of a Silent . Anyone looking at the Silents would recover their memories of previous sightings . The amnesia appeared to take a few seconds before it took effect . While trapped in a bathroom with a Silent , Amy looked away for a few seconds a few times when the lights flickered or when talking with Joy and never forgot the Silent in the room with her . Similarly , after encountering several in a tunnel , River Song remembered long enough to climb a ladder in obvious fear before forgetting she ever saw them . ( TV : " The Impossible Astronaut " ) Although any lifeform would forget the Silents when they weren ' t looking at them it was still possible to hear them , and people who knew they existed could listen for them in order to sense when they were nearby , as when River Song shot down a Silent without even looking at it . According to the Doctor , even information about the Silents erases itself over time . When the Doctor was unable to refresh Canton Everett Delaware III ' s memory of being told about the Silents , he forgot that the Doctor told him in the first place . ( TV : " Day of the Moon " ) The Silents were also impervious to at least some types of scanning devices , as River Song ' s bio scanner did not detect them in the underground tunnels . ( TV : " The Impossible Astronaut " ) She appeared to upgrade the software later to make sure this didn ' t happen again . The Silents influenced the actions of others by issuing commands to anyone looking at them . These orders would remain in a person ' s mind after they had forgotten the encounter with the Silent , acting like post - hypnotic suggestions . Any instruction spoken while a subject looked at a Silent , even a picture of one , would cause this effect . " Repeated memory wipes fry your head eventually " , which was the case for Dr Renfrew , whom the Silence used to keep Graystark Hall Orphanage open beyond its closing day . However , this appeared to grant him a slight immunity to the Silents amnesia as Dr Renfrew remembered the injured Silent long enough to run up a set of stairs and announce that someone needed medical attention before forgetting again . ( TV : " Day of the Moon " ) The Silents employed human or humanoid operatives who wore eye drives , devices worn over the eye that artificially recorded information and fed it directly into the brain , allowing those wearing them to remember the aliens after looking away . However , they could use these to remotely kill their operatives if needed . ( TV : " The Wedding of River Song " ) The Doctor and his companions put marks on their skin so that they knew they ' d had an encounter with something dangerous , even if they couldn ' t remember what it was . After marking themselves so many times , the Doctor was able to figure out why they were doing it , realising that they were fighting a memory proof enemy . ( TV : " Day of the Moon " , " The Wedding of River Song " ) One strategy the Doctor and his companions employed was to use nano - recorder s to leave themselves messages about encounters with the Silence . In this way , they were able to learn about their encounters after the fact and effectively fight back . ( TV : " Day of the Moon " ) The Doctor managed to utilise this power himself when trying to erase all records of himself from history . When it came to dealing with the Inforarium which had been selling information regarding him to the Dalek s , the Cybermen and the Sontaran s , the database was too sophisticated to hack , so the Doctor memory - proofed the information instead and anyone who learned anything instantly forgot it . ( HOMEVID : " The Inforarium " ) Other powers . Silents could also absorb electricity , even the smallest amount of static electricity from the air into their bodies , increase the voltage a hundred - fold and fire it from their hands . These energy discharges could obliterate victims . When absorbing and discharging energy , a hole would appear on the Silent ' s face , under the skin , where a mouth would be . ( TV : " The Impossible Astronaut " , " Day of the Moon " , " The Wedding of River Song " ) During the Siege of Trenzalore multiple Silents demonstrated being able to use their electrical discharges in conjuncture with each other , to unleash one particularly large discharge . ( TV : " The Time of the Doctor " ) The Silents were very strong , able to shatter reinforced glass by pushing on it . They could smash through barricaded doors with ease . One Silent took two direct hits from a handgun at point - blank range and survived , though it was incapacitated . However , Silents could be killed by enough gunfire ; in an alternate timeline , Amy Pond killed three with a machine gun . They could also be killed by a single , direct hit from an energy weapon such as River Song ' s Alpha Meson blaster . ( TV : " Day of the Moon " , " The Wedding of River Song " ) They could hang upside down from ceilings and lie in waiting , much like bat s . ( TV : " The Impossible Astronaut , Day of the Moon " , " The Wedding of River Song " ) The Silents who were hiding in Elizabethan England had the ability to render themselves invisible , thus making any who saw them immediately forget what they saw and what they were doing . These Silents were also more physically robust than other Silents , as it took at least four shots from an energy weapon like River Song ' s Alpha Meson blaster to kill just one of them . ( GAME : " The Eternity Clock " ) History . Origins . The Silents started out in Earth ' s distant future as Confessional Priests — genetically engineered priests of the space church headed by Tasha Lem aboard the Papal Mainframe , whose power allowed sinners to forget their confessions . They also possessed powers of post - hypnotic suggestion . ( TV : " The Time of the Doctor " ) At some point in time , long after the end of the Time War between the Dalek s of Skaro and Time Lord s of Gallifrey , the Time Lords sent a message throughout the universe through a Crack in Time on the planet Trenzalore . Banished to another dimension , the Time Lords sought the Doctor , the Time Lord who saved them at the height of the war and who was responsible for their predicament . The Time Lords ' message also drew much of the universe to Trenzalore , including the Papal Mainframe and the Daleks . To verify the Doctor ' s identity , the Time Lords asked the Question , " Doctor who ? " Due to the Truth Field over Trenzalore , when the Doctor answered correctly , the Time Lords would return to the universe through the crack , meaning Gallifrey ' s enemies would restart the Time War . The Doctor would not answer the question . However , were he to abandon Trenzalore , the planet would be ravaged by aliens and ultimately destroyed by the Papal Mainframe itself . Consequently , the Eleventh Doctor refused to do either , sparking the centuries - long Siege of Trenzalore . ( TV : " The Time of the Doctor " ) The official church ' s position was that the Doctor must remain silent , and it planned to destroy Trenzalore should the Doctor vacate . Becoming dedicated to the Doctor ' s continued silence , the church became known as the Church of the Silence . Over hundreds of years , the Doctor defended Trenzalore from invasions by Daleks , Cybermen and numerous other alien species . During this time , a batch of Confessional Priests ( and other associates of the church such as Madame Kovarian ) became a breakaway sect , ( TV : " The Time of the Doctor " ) the religious order known as the Silence . ( TV : " Let ' s Kill Hitler " ) They became devoted to ensuring that silence would fall when the Question is asked . ( TV : " The Wedding of River Song " ) They travelled back in time along the Doctor ' s time stream to use any means necessary to prevent the Eleventh Doctor from triggering the siege in the first place . ( TV : " The Time of the Doctor " ) Their crusade became a prophecy — that silence " must " fall when the question is asked . ( TV : " The Wedding of River Song " ) Their first strategy was to destroy the Doctor ' s TARDIS , which inadvertently caused their dilemma through the creation of Cracks in Time . ( TV : " The Time of the Doctor " ) Their second was to raise a child to kill the Doctor and make his death a fixed point in time , ( TV : " A Good Man Goes to War " , " The Wedding of River Song " ) although this child , River Song , would eventually fall in love with and marry the Doctor , and proved to be an asset to him in conflicts with the Silence . ( TV : " Day of the Moon " , " The Wedding of River Song " , " The Time of the Doctor " ) History on Earth . The latter plan involved them integrating themselves into human history over thousands of years , during which time they abandoned their priestly collars and began wearing conventional black suits and white shirts . Eventually the Confessional Priests came to be known as Silents . Having long since forgotten their original vocation as Confessional Priests , the Silents became twisted and cruel . ( TV : " Day of the Moon " , " The Time of the Doctor " ) The Silents travelled very far back in time — thousands of years into the Earth ' s past — since at least the time the wheel and fire were developed . Their power allowed them to go unnoticed by the human race . The Doctor called them parasites ; the Silents living on Earth were unable to develop any science or technology on their own . Instead they relied on other species . Their manipulation of humankind may all have been related to their end goal of preventing the Doctor reaching Trenzalore . For example , they used post - hypnotic suggestion to make humans do their bidding in such things as going to the Moon , seemingly to spark the development of an astronaut suit , ( TV : " Day of the Moon " ) which would be the template for the suit they would use in a later plan to kill the Doctor . ( TV : " Closing Time " ) In 1561 , Silents took notice of a time storm and the arrival of River Song and the Eleventh Doctor . They managed to separate them across time , sending the Doctor two centuries into the future . Around this time , they were experimenting with stasis field technology . They were harnessing the temporal energy to further their endeavours , but River stole their generator . The Doctor and River Song arrived later to steal a Silence Time Capsule to break through the Daleks ' Time Lock . The Silents used a piece of the Eternity Clock to change fixed points in time . The Silents were defeated by River Song and the Doctor stole the Time Capsule . ( GAME : " The Eternity Clock " ) Silents appeared in London 1605 , while Amy , Rory and the Doctor solved the mystery that involved the Rutan Host and the gunpowder plot . At least one Silent was in the Houses of Parliament when it was in orbit . It was seen by Rory Williams whilst he was fixing an EMP generator . ( GAME : " The Gunpowder Plot " ) A Silent was in the White House in 1969 ( WC : " Prequel ( The Impossible Astronaut ) " ) and killed a woman named Joy in front of Amy Pond before delivering a post - hypnotic suggestion for her to " tell the Doctor what he must know , and what he must never know " . ( TV : " The Impossible Astronaut " ) Before July in 1969 , a great number of Silents had taken up residence at a disused orphanage where the little girl was held . They used post - hypnotic suggestions to make the director believe the orphanage was still in operation . They showed great interest in the little girl , putting her in a life support " astronaut " suit to keep her healthy and safe — even equipping the suit with a built - in weapons system . The Silents kidnapped Amy when she was investigating the orphanage with Canton Everett Delaware III . They took her to their underground lair and cryptically told her that she would help " bring the Silence . " ( TV : " Day of the Moon " ) The Doctor inflicted a crushing defeat on the Silents when he ensured that humanity saw footage of a wounded Silent they held captive spliced into the footage of the Moon landing broadcast . In it , the Silent said " You should kill us all on sight " ; it had said this to Canton , sneering at human mercy while he tried to help heal it after it had been shot . This footage was immediately viewed by half a billion humans , It would be seen every time anyone saw the " Apollo 11 " landing , one of the most famous and frequently viewed film sequences in the history of humanity . Without enough time to implant more post - hypnotic suggestions when humans looked at them , the remainder of the Silents on Earth in 1969 seemed doomed , although at least one did survive to 2011 . ( TV : " Day of the Moon " ) A single Silent spied on the Doctor , Amy , Rory and River in 2011 Utah . Amy noticed it before she was distracted . ( TV : " The Impossible Astronaut " ) Two Silents witnessed Madame Kovarian kidnap River Song from the Luna University and force her into an astronaut suit as part of Kovarian ' s plan to kill the Doctor . When River asked Kovarian what they were , Kovarian replied , " your owners . " ( TV : " Closing Time " ) In the Area 52 Pyramid in an alternate timeline , over a hundred Silents were " captured " by Amy Pond ' s troops and placed in specimen tanks filled with water to prevent them from drawing electricity . ( WC : " Prequel ( The Wedding of River Song ) " ) This turned out to be a trap to get to the Doctor . The Silents easily broke out and killed the guards . Three Silents tried to kill Rory , but were gunned down by Amy . ( TV : " The Wedding of River Song " ) A group of Silents took refuge in Helena Faversham ' s house , these Silents planned to regroup with the rest of their species in an attempt to escape from Earth . After UNIT attacked the house they decided that they no longer had need for Faversham and killed her . ( AUDIO : " House of Silents " ) They started to use subliminal messaging to undo the Doctor ' s message to kill them and then to trust Kenneth LeBlanc . ( AUDIO : " Square One " ) They ordered Josh Carter to assassinate LeBlanc at his constituency count , and then to destroy the counting hall . When Josh hesitated they ordered the crowd to kill him instead . They couldn ' t get the double assassination but they used the results to get a message out to conteract the Doctor ' s original subliminal message . ( AUDIO : " Silent Majority " ) They decided to get off the planet but destroy it their wake . They manipulated the Earth ' s government to the brink of war by using Osgood to display all the spy satellites . They all transmatted to the Telokni ship and got them to shoot the platform . ( AUDIO : " In Memory Alone " ) Loyalists . Some priests , however , remained loyal to the Papal Mainframe and did not become members of the Kovarian Chapter . The " Silents " on board the Papal Mainframe — along with the rest of the Mainframe ' s crew — were converted into Dalek puppet s when the Dalek s invaded the Mainframe . They helped set a trap for the Doctor , and allowed three Daleks to enter the conference room where the Doctor was conversing with Tasha Lem . Later , multiple ( presumably non - converted ) Silents assisted the Doctor and the people of Trenzalore against the horde of the Doctor ' s enemies attacking the planet . Tasha Lem remarked at the sight of " old enemies " fighting side by side . They fought together for 600 years before being overrun , destroying or forcing to retreat all but the Dalek s in that time . ( TV : " The Time of the Doctor " ) Other references . When the telepathic Emily Fairfax read the mind of the Hypothetical Gentleman , a Silent was among the images she saw . ( COMIC : " Hypothetical Gentleman " ) Behind the scenes . Inspiration . Steven Moffat has said that he was inspired by Edvard Munch ' s " The Scream " when creating the Silence ' s appearance . He has also cited that the urban legends of the Men in Black inspired him to have Silents wear a black suit and tie . Additionally , the Silents ' hand structure was inspired by the aye - aye , a nocturnal mammal found in Madagascar . " The Brilliant Book 2012 " " The Brilliant Book 2012 " . " The Brilliant Book 2012 " , a book that contains based information , included numerous speculations on the Silents ' activity on Earth :