Warrior Leela of Gallifrey

posted March 17th 2024

I've been horribly busy this month, so have managed to fall behind on posts alas - that's what happens when you have tech week for a play and the FAA General Mechanic exam happening at the same time. Of course, it's not like there's a particular following of this site (yet?), but I'm still allowed to use this like a diary if I want to, and the entry I'm making therefore is to apologise to and forgive myself for skipping nearly two weeks, and to announce to absolutely no-one's surprise that I have been thinking hard about Leela again. Nobody ask me how many times I've listened to Ambition's Debt...

Gallifrey and its powerful people have only ever cared about Leela when she is useful to them. This sounds obvious to say and indeed is definitely true, but something I have thought about a lot is the way that Leela is always used as a tool by the people around her - even by her closest friends. I think I must have said this on the blog before, but Leela serves two functions on Gallifrey - she is the Alien Other or she is the Warrior. Here, I would like to focus on her identity as a Warrior, and how her perception of herself as 'Warrior of the Sevateem' is very different from the Time Lords' view of her.

The key moments, to me, of Leela being a Warrior to the Gallifreyans come in series 3, and in War Room. Arguably, Time War ought to be included here too, but it is only really in TW1 that Leela is used as a Warrior, while WR manages to challenge the idea of Leela as a Warrior in the way I am exploring. By calling her a Warrior, I am not referring to her chosen identity of being from the Sevateem, but rather the way that she is treated like a utility for her battle intelligence and warrior strategy. This often comes in direct contrast with her identity as an Other, which is what isolates her from Gallifreyan society and causes Time Lords to single her out as both an inferior to be dismissed, but also as someone they can use as an example of why aliens should not belong among them. Leela tends to occupy only one of these spheres at a time, and neither quite reflect her own view of herself as a human.

More than anything, Leela is constantly belittled and dehumanised, and although by being a Warrior, she is allowed some more respect as this is a role the Time Lords can understand as being useful, she is still just a tool to them. Even to Romana, she is 'an asset' before she is a friend. Of course her relationship to Romana, Narvin, and Braxiatel is a little more complex, and it is interesting to me that out of all of her friends, Braxiatel is the only one who has ever met her on her level without speaking down to her. However, for every other Time Lord, she has had to demand that respect, which never comes until they finally see a use for her.

Let's considerWarfare, in series 3. This is, arguably, the first series in which Leela gains any respect from anyone who isn't Brax or Romana as the others realise Leela can be put to use as a tactician. Notably, Hallan gives her recognition for her clever defense of the Academy, even going so far as to compliment her 'impressive fighting', and recognising her 'as an ally'. This is a vast shift from Spirit, just a few episodes before, where he refers to 'the President and her pet' and writes Leela off as an 'unalike' alien 'in skins'. The only difference between Leela in Spirit and in Warfare is her function as a tactical advantage. Annos too recognises her as 'a clever strategist', and even Narvin gives her a compliment, almost, saying that her plan is 'hardy strategy, mere common sense'.

Despite the fact that Leela is given some respect here, she still is not fully seen as a person. Though she recognises she is 'no longer out of place' because she 'understands the rules of war' and 'this planet needs [her] now', she still believes that Hallan will not mind if she is 'shot down and you will be rid of me'. There is a disconnect here between the warrior she knows she is, and the one the Time Lords see her being, as if she knows that, without her knowledge being useful, she will go right back to being the Alien and any use she has as a Warrior will be forgotten. And this is true - in Enemy Lines she tells Romana, 'no matter how many years I spend on Gallifrey, some Time Lords still consider me nothing but a guest. I'm not welcome here at the best of times'. In Warfare, we could say that Leela has been upgraded to more of an equal, but this is a position she will have to fight to achieve. After all, Narvin takes the credit for the win in the Academy fight, and Hallan constantly acts like it is a surprise that Leela has a brain.

We see this surprise again a countless number of times, though the respect does not come again until the Time War. She gains some status as an envoy to the War Council in Celestial Intervention, but it is not until War Room that we see her used as a tool for being a Warrior again. She is older and wiser here than the Leela of series 3, and able to use the Time Lords' double speak against them. The General especially recognises her utility, applauding her tactics in The Last Days of Freme and keeping her secrets for her in WR2. It seems that the General sees her as an equal by Collaborators, including Leela in his assessment that 'thousands of our people's lives are at stake'. However, he is inherently in a position of power over Leela, and no matter how nice he appears to be, he could very easily betray her with little consquence. With Romana and her own freedom being held over her, as well as her relationship with Narvin, there is no way that she can ever truly be an equal to him, or any other member of the War Room, no matter how valuable he finds her input.

In Collaborators, Leela and the General also have this conversation:

General: Do you hear me?
Leela: I hear what you desire.
General: You are very careful with your words. There are many ways to lie, Leela. You're in danger of becoming as adept as any Gallifreyan. Did you lie? Did you tell someone about this mission?
Leela: I did not lie.
General: Again you speak so carefully. The Prince seemed confident, almost as if he knew we're not his only option. What are you not saying, Leela?
Leela: I think I shall get some fresh air

This calls to mind something she said to Andred in series 2: 'I am becoming a liar, like you, and it disgusts me'. While Leela is adamant that she isn't lying in War Room, she is certainly manipulating the truth and using it to her advantage - just like Brax, who is famous for manipulating situations and twisting power to his advantage. Although Leela is perhaps not as hungry to manipulate people for her own gain as Brax is, she has definitely learned the skill of using people's biases towards her against them. This is clearest in War Room where she is constantly using expectations to twist bad situations to her advantage - notably, when saving the day in The Last Days of Freme, but also goes as far back to series 3 where she tells Romana that she deliberately pretends to be stupid to get others to tell her things they think she won't understand.

And while Romana is impressed, Brax seems to be the only one who has ever seen Leela for her true potential. More than anything, Leela's behaviour in WR brings Spirit to mind, when Brax says 'syntactical analysis Leela? I'm impressed'. Though later, Romana and Narvin will also treat Leela as an equal, from the very start it seems that Brax has seen her potential as a Warrior, both as a tool and as someone with great skill in her own right. It makes me wonder, if Brax were to return to The Gallifrey of War Room, would he still be impressed? Because I am certain he would see what he always has - that Leela is not so dissimilar to him at all.