a probably incomplete list of times irving braxiatel was ready to (or did) sacrifice himself for someone or something
- “Five-Dimensional Thinking”: (suicide cw) attempted to kill himself in order to correct the timeline and stop an evil future self “Midrash”: was entirely prepared to die to keep a valuable artefact away from a demon
- Death and the Daleks: is explicitly willing to die rather than give his time machine to the Fifth Axis
- Gallifrey: Pandora: not his literal life, but willingly made himself the key to imprisoning Pandora at extremely high personal cost, all so he could protect Gallifrey and Romana
- Gallifrey: Disassembled: sacrificed himself to stop the Burner and protect Romana, Leela, and Narvin
- “Family Man”: (a human version of Braxiatel) sacrificed himself to restore the proper history
I didn’t include instances like him risking his life to go back to Dellah and save Skutloid just because they’re friends and that’s what friends do (Tears of the Oracle) or using himself and his TARDIS as bait to distract the Diendum so he could right the wrongs he did (Escaping the Future), because these are cases where he was ready to risk himself (and he does indeed die in Escaping the Future), but self-sacrifice wasn’t actually part of the plan. The instances highlighted here are cases where he decides that his life matters less than something else (in Pandora’s case, his life in a figurative sense) and is therefore willing to sacrifice it. They are examples of Braxiatel engaging in deliberate self-sacrifice for the sake of another.
some things brax has sacrificed over his very long canon span
BRAXIATEL: Sometimes, it’s necessary to make sacrifices, to save people. To win.
BENNY: It’s funny, isn’t? It’s always someone else who has to make the sacrifice. Who takes the pain. It’s never us, is it? (Tub Full of Cats)
While Benny says it’s never Brax or Benny who makes the sacrifice, that’s clearly not the case (and Benny proves wiling to sacrifice her own life too). Generally speaking, however, Brax has shown a willingness to sacrifice anything for the sake of protecting something that matters more:
- his life and his well-being, for the sake of the timelines or loved ones (see the list above)
- his friendships and personal happiness, for the sake of saving his people (basically everything post-Death and the Daleks in the Collection-era, but see especially how miserable he sounds when he tells Hass, “Nobody does the things I’ve done for kicks!” in Resurrecting the Past and the way that an imprint of his consciousness tries so desperately to apologize to Jason in “Work In Progress”)
- the timelines, for the sake of saving his people (all post-Death and the Daleks manipulation of the timelines, especially the Draconian- Mim conflicts)
- his plans to save his people, for the sake of undoing the wrongs he did (giving up the energy field in Escaping the Future)
Of course, some of these contradict; his goals and values shift depending on when we are and who he is. Indeed, The Medusa Effect, it’s made clear that there are lines Brax will not cross during his time on Dellah, sacrifices he believes must not be made. But that limitation is clearly gone by the time we get to the later Collection era, possibly because he’s not all there at that point.
conclusion, with bonus notes about theatre!
- the consistent thing is that when Brax decides it is his responsibility to protect something, nothing, not even his own life, is off the table
- this ties into Braxiatel as a theatrologist, which is how we’re introduced to him in the Dellah era
- Classical tragedy follows a simple logic: something must always be sacrificed to restore the social order. that’s why the titular character always dies in Shakespeare’s tragedies; they’re the sacrifice necessary to bring order back into the world. Romeo and Juliet must die so their families will stop feuding. Macbeth must die so the rightful ruler can take Scotland’s throne.
- so for Brax, actor-manager (see: Henry Irving) of a universe- spanning performance, anyone and anything can be the tragic sacrifice that must be made to restore the world to what it should be.
- and if necessary, that sacrifice can include and has included Braxiatel himself.
