The monsters you forget about the second you stop looking at them — basically like every email in your inbox.
Who Are They?
The Silence are one of the creepiest inventions of the Steven Moffat era: tall, skeletal men-in-black with skin like dried leather, mouths like someone wired their teeth shut halfway through, and the delightful ability to make you forget they exist the moment you look away. It’s like meeting the world’s most horrifying magician: “Pick a card! Any card! Oh wait, you’ve forgotten the trick and your card, but hey — you’re screaming!”
First introduced in The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon (2011), the Silence were revealed to have been lurking on Earth since, well… forever. Which is convenient, since none of us would remember them anyway. According to the plot, they’d been secretly influencing humanity’s development, whispering in our ears and nudging our species along — basically the world’s worst self-help gurus. “You will invent fire… and maybe also skinny jeans.”
Their whole shtick was simple but terrifying: you see them, you’re horrified, then the second you look away, you completely forget they exist. To cope, the Doctor and friends scribbled tally marks on their skin every time they spotted one — which escalated very quickly from “mildly unsettling” to “full-body doodle nightmare.”
The Silence were part of a bigger religious order, whose ultimate mission was to prevent the Doctor from reaching Trenzalore, by killing him before a prophecy could come true. This involved manipulating River Song, kidnapping Amy and Rory’s baby, and generally being those behind-the-scenes masterminds that make you wonder if anyone in the Whoniverse just… pays rent and minds their own business.
Despite their ominous presence and arcane plotting, the Silence didn’t get to stick around forever. The Doctor turned their own hypnotic powers against them in a brilliantly sneaky move, broadcasting footage of a Silence to the entire human race with the subliminal order: “You should kill us on sight.” Which was a bit of a mic-drop moment, but also explains why sightings of the Silence kind of dried up after that.
Still, as an idea, they’re one of the most chilling and clever villains in Doctor Who. Because let’s be honest — you’ll probably forget you even read this overview the second you scroll away.
