River Song is an archaeologist who claims that she has travelled with the Doctor in his relative future (her relative past). She is referred to in Doctor Who Confidential as a "companion-to-come",and although the Doctor first meets her on The Library planet in "Silence in the Library", she states that she has met him on several prior occasions in her relative timeline, but in a time yet to come for the Doctor, referring to specific events and places including the "crash of the Byzantium" "picnic at Asgard" and "the Singing Towers".River indicates some form of intimate relationship as when she whispers the Doctor's real name, in his ear in order to gain his trust.In the later episode "The Time of Angels", companionAmy Pond is convinced that River is indeed the Doctor's wife but this is neither confirmed nor denied by either River or the Doctor.

River appears quite familiar with the TARDIS, which she can also adeptly pilot (shown in "The Time of Angels") and apparently has first-hand knowledge of the Doctor's future encounters with alien races. River is also familiar with the lost language of the Time Lords, and is able to use it to leave a message–"Hello, sweetie"–for the Doctor on a 'Homebox' along with video footage to clue him in to her then location.

She possesses a sonic screwdriver, which she claims a future Doctor gave her. This is cited as evidence of his trust in her, and the Doctor considers it highly surprising she should have it — claiming he would never give anyone else his sonic screwdriver. River Song dies while using her brain as a memory buffer for The Library's data core, thus saving the Doctor, Donna Noble, and the 4,022 people trapped in the data core in "Forest of the Dead", although in the last minutes of the show, the Doctor searches the sonic screwdriver left behind and finds a communications device similar to the ones used in the Lux Industries' suits she and her travelers has been wearing, which is able to store a digital impression of her personality (thus "saving" her), that The Doctor then uploads onto the hard drive in the planet's core.

She re-appears in the episode "The Time of Angels", leaving a message in Old High Gallifreyan for the Doctor on the homebox from the ship Byzantium arranging to be picked up on her escape. River shows she is able to pilot the TARDIS and is able to land it without the 'whirring' sound, stating it only makes this noise because the Doctor leaves the brakes on, mentioning that she learned how to pilot it from "the best" (then teasing that the Doctor was busy that day). She indicates to the Doctor that this is not their first meeting in her relative time-line. River summons the Doctor this time in need of information on a Weeping Angel, which had been stored in the hold of the Byzantium. Amy Pond speculates that River is the Doctor's wife in his future; both the Doctor and River give evasive responses to her hypothesis.

When checking where they are in their relative timelines, River mentions "The Bone Meadows" as a previous adventure. River states in her diary that she has pictures of all the Doctor's faces and that the Doctor still does not know who she is yet. Song had to question the Tenth Doctor on his first and her last meeting, to ascertain where he was on his own timeline. He reveals, inadvertently, to the currently DoctorSong that she will one day be a professor, as in her appearance in "Silence in the Library."

In "The Time of Angels" River Song tells the Bishop that she will not reveal who she really is to the Doctor because then he will refuse to help her. Before his death in "Flesh and Stone", the Bishop reveals to the Doctor that River was in the Stormcage Containment Facility for murdering a man who was considered 'a hero to many'. Later, before being transported to a prison ship, River confirms to the Doctor that she had been imprisoned for killing the best man she had ever known, and that she will see the Doctor again "when the Pandorica opens".

River Song returned for the last two episodes of the current series (Pandorica Opens and Big Bang)

She returned in Series 6 in the Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon. She also appeared in the mid season finale, A Good Man Goes To War. Amy was kidnapped and gave birth to a girl named Melody, and River revealed that she was Amy and Rorys daughter.

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