Amy Pond

[[File:Doctor who pond in the park by arteclair.jpg|thumb|right|Doctor Who: Pond in the park (April 2012) by arteclair]]
Amy Pond, also known as Amelia as a child and given the moniker The Girl Who Waited by The Doctor, is a character in Doctor Who, and the companion of the Eleventh Doctor. She first meets him as a little girl and goes travelling with him as an adult, leaving on the night before her wedding to Rory Williams.
Fans of her character often emphasise her mental health issues, and the intense trauma she went through during her time on the TARDIS, this often being a point of relatability for some of those fans. Fanworks, fandom discussions, and memes often explore or take into account this, and angst and hurt/comfort are fairly common as a result.
She's a member of The Ponds, a term used to refer to the companion family unit of Amy, Rory, often River, and occasionally the Eleventh Doctor himself. Fanworks focusing on this unit are common, though post-canon fics, sometimes involving their son Anthony Williams, will occasionally also be explored.
She'll also often be in fanworks meeting other characters in the Whoniverse, such as other companions, and will often show up as a minor or secondary character in fics focused on a different, unrelated ship, especially in AUs.
== Canon ==
Amelia Pond is known as The Girl Who Waited. As a little girl, Amelia meets a newly regenerated Doctor when he crash lands in her back garden. She is frightened by a crack in her wall, which the Doctor investigates. The Doctor leaves in his Tardis promising to return in five minutes. She sits in her garden waiting for him to return, but it is 12 years before he does.
The Doctor and a grown up Amy Pond help the Atraxi recapture the escaped Prisoner Zero, an alien that has been living undetected in her house for the past twelve years. The Doctor, who Amy has given the moniker Raggedy Man or Raggedy Doctor, leaves again, but returns two years later. Amy then becomes the companion to the Doctor. They were joined in the Tardis by her fiance (later, her husband) Rory Williams, with River Song occasionally making an appearance. 
It was later revealed that Amy and Rory were the parents of River Song, named Melody Pond by Amy as a newborn. After River and The Doctor marry, Amy realises this also makes her The Doctor's mother in-law. After a Weeping Angel sends Rory back in time, Amy chooses to join him; knowing that she can never see the Doctor or River again, as neither can ever go back for them without causing a paradox. Amy and Rory adopted a son, Anthony Brian Williams, and lived out their lives in New York City.
=== Alternate Timelines ===
In The Girl Who Waited, Amy gets left for 36 years in a quarantine facility after The Doctor fails to land early enough in her timestream to rescue her. He manages to maintain a paradox long enough to save younger!Amy, but older!Amy has to stay and seemingly dies. However, it's heavily implied that she becomes the character Wade in the Faction Paradox short story A Farewell to Arms.
==Fandom==
=== Fan Reactions ===
Amy has a relatively positive reception from the fandom overall, though this will differ depending on the fan and is often linked with their preferred eras of the show. Moffat fans generally tend to be the most positive, often viewing her as a character suffering from abandonment issues largely caused by the Doctor's delayed return to her, who slowly learns she's loved by those around her. For many, her character is an inspiration.
Fans also often love her because of her flaws, admiring that a fictional woman is allowed to be problematic in the same way fictional men are allowed to be. Her violent and self-destructive nature is part of her appeal, alongside her more positive traits 
There were early discussions and wank following Amy's first appearance in DW's fifth season, as it was revealed she worked as a kissogram: a job in which you deliver messages along with a kiss. Amy was also more sexualized than former companions, kissing the Doctor when he came to take her away as his traveling companion. Much early wank related to whether or not kissogram was been used to imply Amy was a sex worker. at doctorwho comm at LJ, 2011 In later years, this appears to have been largely put to rest, likely influenced by a push towards encouraging sex positivity and pro-sex work attitudes in fandom.
As the fifth season developed, some fans who were initially more positive about Amy began to feel that Amy's character was being sidelined. Some fans felt that Amy's strength was being downplayed in order to make Rory appear stronger.
The Doctor calling Amy "Amy Williams" drew a strong reaction from many fans at the time, though doesn't seem to be mentioned much as the years have gone on.
Though not as strong an association as her husband Rory, Amy is also known in fandom for having 'died' multiple times:
*Died twice in the dream worlds of Amy's Choice
* Was fatally shot by Auton!Rory
*Faked her death in 1969 USA
*Her Ganger self was dissolved
*An alternate Older!Amy is killed so Younger!Amy can live
*She and Rory jump off a roof to create a paradox
*Her actual death at age 87
Due to Faction Paradox's relative obscurity, Older!Amy being involved with them isn't common knowledge in most spaces in the fandom.
===Agency===
A fairly common criticism of Amy's arc in the show concerns her loss of agency in Series 6, in which she is unknowingly taken and swapped out for a Ganger so her baby can be used as a weapon against The Doctor. As a counter-point, many fans have argued that Amy's arc allowed the show to have a character deal with the aftermath of that loss of agency, and explore Amy regaining that agency and autonomy after going through a traumatic ordeal.
Within Doctor Who (and Sherlock fandom), the term Moffat Women has become a shorthand for Moffat's perceived to be problematic writing of female characters. Some view Amy as an early example of this phenomenon; she was the first female companion written by Moffat after he became showrunner. Comparisons with earlier female companions are common. Some fans point to Amy's season 6 arc as an example of a female character's pain being used to progress the narrative of a male character. 
Other fans disagree. Many point to the fact that Amy regained her agency in later episodes or seasons. 
The episode A Good Man Goes to War is especially considered a good subversion of the trope in which a woman is violated and an angry man subsequently desires for revenge. Instead, the plan backfires, and River calls the Doctor out on it.
===Mental Illnesses===
There's a prevailing subtext in Amy's time on the show that she suffers from unspecified mental illnesses. In canon, she has had four psychiatrists (after she kept biting them) as a result of waiting 12 years for The Doctor's promised return. Many fans have interpreted her as having abandonment issues as a result, and that this affected her relationship with Rory, such as with her lack of communication in their brief divorce shown in Asylum of the Daleks. What's more, it's implied in Victory of the Daleks that Amy had experienced suicidal thoughts, and in Amy's Choice she does kill herself in one of the dream worlds, though without knowing for absolute certain whether it was reality or not.
In Series 6, Amy has her baby daughter Melody stolen from her, and though Amy knows who she becomes, and even grew up with Melody as best friends, Amy lost the chance to raise Melody as her own. She also almost fails to successfully do life-saving CPR on her husband, and witnesses what she thinks is her best friend dying in front of her. Overall, this series was a lot for her, and fans have acknowledged this.
Her mental health issues are often explored in fanworks, and are a popular topic of discussion in fandom spaces. Headcanons of depression and PTSD. Gifset posted to Tumblr by evilqueenofgallifrey 19 May 2017. Archived 7 October 2022. seem to be the most common. Many of her fans relate to her struggles with mental health issues.
===Sexuality===
Heterosexual appears to be the most common headcanon for her sexuality, however a couple of short Comic Relief specials in 2011, entitled Space and Time, include Amy flirting with herself. As a result, bi!Amy will occasionally show up in fandom.
===Shipping===
Amy is most commonly paired with her canon husband Rory Williams. There is also a small following for Amy/Eleven, and the OT3 Amy/Rory/Eleven. Most ships involving her are overwhelmingly het, with femslash being much rarer. Amy/Clara appears to be one of the more popular of her f/f ships. Occasionally she'll be shipped with herself.
===Common Tropes & Themes ===
*Trauma/PTSD - Often dealing with the aftermath of both her perceived abandonment by The Doctor as a child and the loss of Melody as an adult. Often angsty or hurt/comfort.
*AUs - Various kinds: AUs and canon divergences in which Melody isn't taken by the Silence/Madame Kovarian, and she and Rory are able to raise her, AUs in which the events of The Angels Take Manhatten don't occur etc.
*The Ponds - Many of the fanworks featuring Amy also feature her relationships within the Pond family dynamic: her romance with Rory, her friendship with The Doctor, and her familial relationship with River.
===Notable Fandom Events===
*The Amy Pond MILF Incident - On 2nd August 2022, the Official Doctor Who Twitter page uploaded a tweet about Amy. The replies are awash with fans simply replying with 'milf' (acronym for Mother I'd Like to Fuck).. Posted 2 August 2022. Archived 7 October 2022. Fans have pointed out it was a bit of a slow day for Doctor Who news at the time.
==Example Fanworks ==
=== Fanfic ===
*, by netgirl_y2k, The one where the Doctor comes back for little Amelia Pond.
*, by calapine, Tell stories; be kind; remember. A response to The Big Bang.
* by paperclipbitch, a pregnant!Amy AU
===Fanvids ===
* (Vividcon info), by humansrsuperior
*, by kaydeefalls
*, by such heights
===Meta===
* Amy Pond, the girl who'll save herself(archived) by mllesays (Apr 2010)
* by zahrawithaz (July 2010)
*, discussion by johannamasonsboobs,dave-bowman, and roachpatrol (2012)
*, gifset by sarah531 (2016 or earlier)
*, gifset by taiey (January 2020)
* (January 2016) by taiey
===Fanart===
====Example Art Gallery====
File:Amy pond by mags pi.png|Amy Pond (October 2011) by mags-pi
File:Amy pond anime poster by saiyukimarie39.jpg|Amy Pond anime poster (September 2011) by saiyukimarie39, featuring Amy drawn in the style of anime.
File:Simple amy pond wallpaper by tinaturtle.jpg|Simple Amy Pond Wallpaper (September 2011) by tinaturtle. Amy Pond Wallpaper edit based around the episode The Girl Who Waited.
File:Impossible Astronaut Day.jpg|An edit of Amy from the episode Day of the Moon, encouraging Whovians to take part in the Impossible Astronaut Day. 
==Archives & Fannish Links==
*Amy Pond works on Ao3
*Amy Pond at FanFiction.net
*#amy pond tag on Tumblr
===Livejournal Communities===
* (Amy-centric)
==References==
Category:Whoniverse Characters
Category:2022 Featured Articles