Thasmin

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Pairing
Pairing: Thirteen/Yasmin Khan
Alternative name(s): Thasmin
Gender category: Femslash
Fandom: Doctor Who
Canonical?: Canon (Reciprocated feelings, though the pair are not dating)
Prevalence: Popular
Archives:
Other:
"illustration of Yasmin with her arms around the waist of the Thirteenth Doctor and Thirteen has her arm around Yasmin's shoulders. The background is a light blue star filled sky."
[Doctor Who] Thasmin by xXMarilliaXx (2018)
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Thasmin is the femslash pairing of The Thirteenth Doctor and Yasmin Khan from Doctor Who fandom. Fans of the pairing are known as Thassies or occasionally Thasminions.

Fans were shipping the pair prior to the release of their first series, with their earliest (single chapter) fic on Ao3 being from February 2018.[1] Series 11 didn't start until October of that year.

In 2022, the pairing became canon, though the circumstances in which it occurred and its subsequent handling have been controversial, with some fans accusing the show of using a (perhaps atypical) form of queerbaiting, even likening it to Destiel.

Works pairing Yaz with other regenerations of the Doctor also appear, but they are rarer.

Canon & Background

In S4E04, Arachnids in the UK, Yasmin's mother meets the Doctor for the first time:

Najia: Sorry, but who are you? How do you know my daughter? Why’ve I not met you before? Are you two seeing each other?

The Doctor: I don’t think so. Are we?

Yasmin: We’re friends! I owe the Doctor my life, quite a few times over.[2]

Other scenes of note that have fuelled the ship include one from the Series 12 episode The Haunting of Villa Diodati:

Claire: This enigmatic person of yours. Would you trade them for reliable, and dull?

Yasmin: My person's a bit different- [3]

Of the three companions introduced in Series 11, she is the only one to have continued travelling with the Doctor after the conclusion of Series 12.[4]

In the 2019 book The Maze of Doom one scene often brought up as shipping fuel involves The Doctor and Yaz dancing, before the former dips the latter, and there is a brief pause before they end it.

In Flux, a scene in which Yaz rewatches a hologram of The Doctor whilst stuck in the past with no known way of getting back, brought ever more fuel for the ship.

In the 2022 New Year's Day Special Eve of the Daleks, it is confirmed that Yaz at least has feelings towards The Doctor. It's also implied that The Doctor knows this, though it isn't fully confirmed whether the feeling is reciprocated.[5]

At Gallifrey One 2022, Matt Strevens - one of the executive producers of the Chibnall era - revealed that Thasmin had not been planned from the start. Though further specifics weren't given, he indicated that the pairing had no intentional romantic scenes on the part of the creators in at least Series 11.

In the 2022 Easter Special Legend of the Sea Devils, it is confirmed that Thirteen reciprocates these feelings, but is hesitant to enter into a relationship.

Actor Reactions

Mandip Gill, who plays Yaz, has spoken favourably about the ship, stating that:

Me and the Doctor? I love it. The fan art is just out there. It’s good, innit? You want a character and a storyline – even though that storyline wasn’t there – you want people to be talking about it. I don’t want it to just stay on-screen, I want people to relate to it or have seen something in our two characters that they think could go on a different journey. So to me, I’m here for it.[6]

Jodie Whittaker is also aware of the ship:

Mandip’s on social media, so I’ve been aware of it. It’s probably also based on the fact that every time me and Mandip are photographed on set, my arm’s forever draped over her. You can base it on the fact that I absolutely adore her and I’m never more than a foot away from her in real life anyway.[7]

At the previously mentioned Gallifrey One 2022 convention, Matt Strevens revealed in a panel that it was Jodie who introduced the concept of Thasmin to him, suggesting to fans that the shippers on social media made Mandip aware, who then told Jodie, who then told Matt. In response, memes about her being a captain of the ship arose.

Fandom

The pairing was slow to gain traction at first but picked up considerably after Arachnids in the UK thanks to Yaz's speech on wanting to travel with the Doctor so she can spend more time with her, as well as Yaz's mother asking if they were dating, which further spread the Bi!Yaz headcanon within the fandom. The fandom often laments that the Doctor and Yaz have never been shown hugging, making memes and fanart poking fun of the fact. In Series 13 (Flux), the pair finally hugged.

In Season 13, the Doctor and Yaz have many shippy moments including landing on a mattress together while handcuffed, Yaz rewatching the Doctor's hologram message while separated from the Doctor and their reunion in the series finale. Fans were overjoyed that Yaz and the Doctor shared a hug on screen but even more interested in the Doctor's admission, later in the episode, that she wants to tell Yaz everything.[8]

Some fans saw this later scene as queerbaiting, arguing that the pair are positioned as though they are about to kiss before Dan interrupts them. Others disagreed.

When Yaz's feelings were canonised, the fandom were ecstatic. However, the reveal coincided with a tagging system issue on Tumblr, in which it refused to show any new posts in the tags, so fans on the site had to wait several hours before the issue was resolved, and finding posts became a lot easier once again. Given it was Dan who brought it up with Yaz, he's been deemed somewhat of a captain of the ship. The TARDIS is also sometimes headcanoned to want the pair to be together as well.

Though Yasmin is predominantly shipped with Thirteen, the odd fanwork has arisen in which she'll be shipped with original versions of Fourteen

The ship is fairly popular, being relatively well known in sapphic and femslash fandom. According to centrumlumina's Ao3 Ship Stats series, for femslash the ship was at Number. 43 for the July 2019 upload, Number. 31 for the August 2020 upload, and Number. 29 for the July 2021 upload.

A popular parallel that gets brought up is the idea of The Doctor as the universe:

Yaz, to Thirteen: I want more. More of the universe. More of you.

Lord Byron, about Thirteen: She was the universe.

Thirteen: We can't have a universe with no Yaz!

Since at least Eve of the Daleks, two blue emoji hearts 💙💙 are used to represent the pairing.

Shipname

They gained the pairing name "Thasmin" and by the end of November when the 11th season was nearing its finale the Thasmin tag on Tumblr debuted at No. 16 of the top 20 ships that week.[9]

The name Thasmin was in use as early as June of that year, as seen in a fic comment written in said month:

Okay I'm wayyy late but I love this! So gorgeous! Also, I 100% already ship Thasmin just from the PROMO PICTURES. I'm way too gay. Waaaaaay too gay.[10]

The name is a portmanteau of Thirteen and Yasmin. However, questions about whether it was from The Doctor have occured from fans outside the ship fandom.

Reciprocation

Prior to LOTSD, opinions seemed to differ regarding whether Thirteen reciprocated Yaz's feelings or not. Some fans argued she did, pointing out instances in the show that might back this up (perceived heart eyes etc), whilst other fans argued she didn't, and that her reaction in EOTD is down to avoiding having to reject her. Both scenarios are fairly common in fanfics.

During LOTSD, it was implied that The Doctor does in fact reciprocate, validating many fans' thoughts.

Top/Bottom?

Opinions amongst the fandom as which character tops and which one bottoms appears to differ, with fans holding strong (albeit likely sometimes tongue-in-cheek) feelings about the topic.

Some insist Thirteen is the top in the relationship - often seemingly influenced by the desire for her to top them - and Yaz is the bottom. Others insist Yaz is obviously the top, and Thirteen is the bottom. Yet another group of fans will insist they're switches. Opinions on whether the individual characters themselves might change depending on who they're with, have also been discussed.

Some fans, especially those who see The Doctor as ace, might headcanon Thirteen as neither, and generally uninterested in the relationship including sex, though not always.

Characterisation Criticism

Much criticism has been levied against the characterisation of both Thirteen and Yaz, particularly surrounding political & moral issues, inconsistancy, and/or a lack of any meaningful personality traits or character arcs. Because of this, fan characterisation is expecially important within some parts of the Thasmin fandom, especially those who have been critical of the Chibnall era.

Queerbaiting Accusations

Final thought on Doctor Who ... not paying off Yaz being in love with the Doctor, teasing it in the last season as a major dramatic point and not even *mentioning* it feels totally untrue to their relationship. And, if I'm honest it feels like queerbaiting.[11]

Common Tropes

  • Angst: The ship is known to generate a fair amount of angsty concepts from the fandom, in large part due to the circumstances of the canon so far. The Doctor's previous relationships with the likes of Rose and River, and the subsequent heartbreak they endured as a result, is a key factor. Can often occur when the love is unreciprocated by The Doctor.
  • Fix-it fic: Typically the "fix" is having the Doctor and Yaz hug at moments fans felt would have been appropriate.
  • Yaz' Mother: Yaz's mum thinking they were a couple is a jumping off point in some fics, with the Doctor and/or Yaz only realizing their attraction, or discussing their relationship after this scene.
  • Mattress fics: appeared following the 13x01 episode where Yaz and the Doctor land on a strategically placed mattress in the Tardis console room. They were also handcuffed at the time. See The Mattress (Doctor Who: Flux: The Halloween Apocalypse) tag on Ao3. Interestingly, and perhaps somewhat surprisingly given the somewhat *nudge nudge, wink wink* of the reaction elsewhere in the fandom, most of these fics so far have been for General Audiences, followed by Teen and Up, rather than smutty.
  • Post Flux/Eve of the Daleks: fics where Yaz and the Doctor get to talk without Dan interrupting. The talk will often include the former admitting she has feelings for Thirteen, and/or the latter telling Yaz everything on her mind... and also telling her whether she feels the same way. If the feelings are reciprocated, fics often end in kissing or smut. If they're not, the fics are often angsty. An influx of fics of this nature appeared soon after the airing of the aforementioned New Year's Special.
    • Beach scenes: One such scenario involves the pair having this important conversation on a beach, and is based on something brought up in the previously mentioned Special.
  • Coldplay references: Sometimes this can be as simple as naming a fanwork after a lyric from one of their songs. Other times, they'll be mentioned in the work itself. This occurs due to Jodie Whittaker's love of the band.
  • Domestic!fic: Often involving them owning a purple sofa.[12] Often tend to be AU's, though not always.

Variations

Challenges

Fanworks

FanFiction

Fanart

Fanvids

Meta

Archives and Communities

Tumblr

References

  1. ^ 'Letters' - Fanfiction on Ao3 (February 2018)
  2. ^ Plante, Corey (2018-02-11). "'Doctor Who' Season 11 Spoilers: A Romance Between Yasmin and the Doctor?". Inverse. Archived from the original on 2022-04-22.
  3. ^ Writersroom script - The Haunting of Villa Diodati
  4. ^ Gooden, Tai (2021-01-02). "What Can Happen Next on DOCTOR WHO with Thirteen and Yaz?". Nerdist. Archived from the original on 2021-11-30.
  5. ^ Doctor Who New Year's Day special just confirmed important Yaz fan theory - Digital Spy (January 2022)
  6. ^ Molina-Whyte, Lidia (2020-12-02). "Doctor Who's Mandip Gill opens up on Doctor and Yaz romance rumours". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 2022-06-14.
  7. ^ Jodie Whittaker on saying goodbye to Doctor Who: ‘I thought, what if I’ve ruined this for actresses?’ (December 2021) (Archive Link) - The Guardian
  8. ^ Doctor Who fans convinced the Doctor is headed for queer romance after emotional twist, article on pinknews.co.uk, Dec 6 2021
  9. ^ Ships: Week Ending November 19th, 2018 Fandometrics.
  10. ^ Comment on 'Letters' from a deleted account in June 2018
  11. ^ Marc Burrows Tweet (via Nitter.net)
  12. ^ [1]
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