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{{Rename|[[The Great Intelligence]] -- The being is always referred to as "The Great Intelligence", with the "the" intact.}}
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{{You may|Great Intelligence Institute|n1=the Great Intelligence Institute}}
{{pullout|{{Update|Information from [[PROSE]]: ''[[Downtime: Child of the New World (novel)|Downtime: Child of the New World]]'', ''[[Avatars of the Intelligence (novel)|Avatars of the Intelligence]]'', ''[[Night of the Intelligence (novel)|Night of the Intelligence]]'', ''[[An Ordinary Man (novel)|An Ordinary Man]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Web of Time (audio story)|The Web of Time]]'', [[GAME]]: ''[[Legacy (video game)|Legacy]]''}}}}
{{Infobox Individual
{{Infobox Individual
|image = GreatIntelliFace.jpg
|image             = GreatIntelliFace.jpg
|name = Great Intelligence
|alias             = The Master, Staff Sergeant [[Albert Arnold|Arnold]], [[Yog-Sothoth]], the Hollow Man, Maha
|alias = Yog-Sothoth, The Intelligence, Mr. G. Intelligence
|first             = The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)
|species = Great Old One
|appearances       = {{Appears}}
|origin = [[Pre-Universe]]
|actor            = Richard E Grant
|first = The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)
|other actor      = Wolfe Morris
|appearances = [[Great Intelligence - list of appearances|'''''see list''''']]
|other actor2      = Jack Woolgar
|voice actor = Ian McKellen
|other actor3      = Jack Watling
|other voice actor= [[Cameron Strefford]]
|other actor4      = Peter Silverleaf
|other actor = [[Wolfe Morris]]<br>[[Jack Woolgar]]<br>[[Jack Watling]]
|voice actor       = Ian McKellen
|actor = Richard E. Grant
|other voice actor = [[Cameron Strefford]], [[Tim Bentinck]], [[Sam Clemens]]
}}
|clip              = Clara Dies on Christmas Day - Doctor Who - The Snowmen - BBC
}}{{you may|Great Intelligence Institute|n1=the Great Intelligence Institute}}
The '''Great Intelligence''' was a mysterious entity. Few sources could agree exactly what the Intelligence was. The [[Second Doctor]] described it as "a sort of formless, shapeless thing floating about in space like a cloud of mist, only with a mind and will." The Intelligence was capable of possessing deceased bodies, controlling mechanised [[Robot Yeti]], forming fear-dependent [[Snowman|snow creatures]], and was often prone to choosing individuals to do its bidding from a distance.


'''The Great Intelligence''', which usually referred to itself simply as '''the Intelligence''' and was originally known as '''Yog-Sothoth''', was a disembodied sentience who attempted to find a body and physical existence.
== Nature ==
One account identified the creator of [[Robot Yeti]] simply as an "[[evil]] [[alien]] [[intelligence]]". ([[GAME]]: {{cs|Doctor Who Trump Card Game (game)}}) According to certain sources the Great Intelligence was an aspect of [[Sunyata]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Night of the Intelligence (novel)|Night of the Intelligence]]'') an "inter-dimensional being" that resided within [[the Void]], existing in many realities, but always ending up as the "Great Intelligence" and sharing the same basic attributes, although the Intelligences originated in various ways, including an immortal soul, and various [[Great Old One]]s. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Legacies (short story)|Legacies]]'') According to this account, one imprint of the Great Intelligence was the ascended immortal soul which began life as [[James Lethbridge-Stewart]] and ended millennia later as [[Mahasamatman]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Forgotten Son (novel)|The Forgotten Son]]'')


== Existence ==
According to another account, the Great Intelligence was originally the being known as [[Yog-Sothoth]], from [[Pre-universe|the universe]] before [[N-Space|the Doctor's]]; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'') he and his brethren survived the [[end of the universe|end of their universe]] by passing through a [[parallel universe]] that ended one second after theirs. Shifting again allowed them to enter the current universe shortly after it began expanding. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[All-Consuming Fire (novel)|All-Consuming Fire]]'', ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'') Another account agreed that the Great Intelligence was a Great Old One; ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Roof of the World (audio story)|The Roof of the World]]'') another account stated that the Great Old Ones all lost their physical bodies running from the [[Fendahl]], explaining the Intelligence's disembodied nature and perpetual quest for incarnation. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[White Darkness (novel)|White Darkness]]'')
In [[Pre-Universe|the universe]] before [[Normal Space|this one]], Yog-Sothoth had a body that was a mass of tentacles and mouths. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'') Like the other Old Ones, it may have lost its body when it ran from the [[Fendahl]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[White Darkness (novel)|White Darkness]]'') Afterwards, the Intelligence constantly sought physical existence to replace being a shapeless, formless cloud hanging in space. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]'')


The Intelligence had the power to exert influence over human minds, such as Miss [[Kizlet]] and [[Walter Simeon]]. It could consume uploaded humans to survive. It inhabited and could control [[telepathic]] [[snow]] and some [[computer]] systems. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'', ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'') The Intelligence possessed several people as its main instruments, namely [[Padmasambhava]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]''), [[Arnold (The Web of Fear)|Staff Sgt. Arnold]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]''), [[Edward Travers]] ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime]]''), and [[Walter Simeon]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'').
Yet another account suggested that the Great Intelligence was created when a [[human]] boy, [[Walter Simeon]], began speaking to a snowman that, unbeknownst to the boy, had been created from an alien snow-like material which generated a low-level telepathic field. The snowman reflected his most dark beliefs and thoughts, and eventually formed its own consciousness, becoming the "dream [that] outlive[d] the dreamer". After Simeon's memory was erased in an ill-fated attempt to defeat both him and his inhuman creation, the growing Intelligence first displayed the ability to take over other's bodies as it possessed Simeon's mindless husk, and soon after "learned to live as a disembodied consciousness". ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'') Another account suggested these events were not its origin, but instead a later attempt at survival. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Forgotten Son (novel)|The Forgotten Son]]'')
[[File:Downtime balls.jpg|thumb|left|The control sphere pyramid. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime]]'')]]
When not using a living being, it maintained a basic manifestation as a three-sided [[pyramid]] of control spheres ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]'') or an [[ivory]] pyramid. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime]]'') When forcibly summoned to Earth by [[Anne Travers]], and being combined with three sets of physical laws in the [[Great Kingdom]], the Intelligence was an emerald tetrahedron and, because of Travers' meddling, was merged with the god [[Saraquazel]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'')


=== Biology ===
After [[War in Heaven|the War]], the [[Superior]]s sent [[Chris Cwej]] to investigate a disturbance on the surface of the devastated planet [[Nibo]]. Cwej found that a group of abandoned, deteriorating [[Time Engine]]s — weapons designed to emanate harmful [[temporal wave]]s — had generated a swarm of [[Shadow-Mantis]]es. After fighting his way into the Engines, Cwej realised that their waves had generated a life form, a cosmic fungus which metabolised time. Cwej defeated the entity in a psychic battle, but later worried that a surviving spore retained an imprint of his mind, and might grow into "a great intelligence". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Mushroom at the End of the Universe (short story)|The Mushroom at the End of the Universe]])
The Great Intelligence possessed some amount of [[artron energy]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'') At some point it became a swarm of "living [[snow]]"; carnivorous, multi-nuclear crystalline organisms which generated a low level [[telepathic field]] that could detect and respond to thoughts and memories, mimicking and mirroring whatever it found and feeding off thoughts to learn what it could. This snow-form seemed independent, with some ice crystals forming mindless predatory [[snowman|snowmen]] and a [[Ice Governess|perfect duplicate of human DNA in ice form]], while the main Intelligence remained separate. Thoughts affecting a critical mass of snow could affect all the snow, leading to the loss of this body when the snow turned to rain.


In its many attempts to achieve form, the Intelligence tried to manifest as ice people based on the [[human]] form ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'') and a slime that glowed brightly with a piercing light. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]'') It manifested as a dense fog that consumed anything entering it, and a poisonous web/fungus which spread through the [[London Underground]] and trapped [[the Doctor's TARDIS]]. The web could not be destroyed by chemicals, explosives, or flamethrowers. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]'') A fourth invasion of Earth had it trying to perpetuate itself in every machine and being, with the whole planet cocooned in web: one mass of thoughts in one global body. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Downtime]]'')  
== History ==
=== Early history ===
According to one source, the Intelligence was originally Yog-Sothoth, a member, and the military strategist, of a race of beings called the Great Old Ones, who were the equivalent of the [[Time Lord]]s in a [[Pre-universe|previous universe]] to the one [[the Doctor]] resided. They shunted themselves into a [[parallel universe]] to pass into the next universe. Yog-Sothoth discovered it had gained [[god]]-like powers and decided to try the various gambits and games it had only played on [[computer]]s. Over the billennia, it mounted millions of campaigns against inhabited planets. It used the [[Hisk]] version of [[koala]]s on [[Hiskith]] and domestic animals equivalent to [[dog]]s on [[Danos]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'')
 
According to another source, the Intelligence had been exiled from another dimension, and was forced to wander the [[universe]] to find a body to possess. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Web of Fear (novelisation)|Doctor Who and the Web of Fear]]'') Indeed, according to its distorted memories, the Intelligence had been in existence for centuries without a form. It nonetheless sought to collect other minds into its consciousness. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Forgotten Son (novel)|The Forgotten Son]]'') Other accounts suggested it was an avatar of [[Sunyata]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Night of the Intelligence (novel)|Night of the Intelligence]]'') or had origins related to the lives of people active in [[N-Space]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]''; [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Forgotten Son (novel)|The Forgotten Son]]'', ''[[The Mushroom at the End of the Universe (short story)|The Mushroom at the End of the Universe]]'')
 
=== Born in snow ===
According to another account, the Great Intelligence was formed when a young Walter Simeon discovered that a [[snowman]] he had built began to talk back to him. The "snow" was not actually snow but a flock of predatory, but unintelligent, [[space crystal]]s which generated a low-level telepathic field, causing it to respond to the thoughts and emotions of those around them. Because of this, the consciousness which spoke back to Simeon and began identifying itself as "the Intelligence" started out as nothing more than Simeon's own dark thoughts reflected back at him. As an adult, Simeon established the [[Great Intelligence Institute]] as the snow slowly swarmed to Earth, building a "[[big globey thing]]" in which the increasingly intelligent core of the swarm was housed.
 
[[File:GreatIntelligenceSnowGlobe-in-TheSnowmen.jpg|thumb|left|The Great Intelligence's [[big globey thing|snowglobe]] in [[Walter Simeon|Dr Walter Simeon]]'s [[Great Intelligence Institute|institute]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')]]
In [[1892]], its presence was sufficient enough to consume mankind. After Simeon's mind and memories were erased from after meeting the Intelligence, the [[Eleventh Doctor]] was surprised to see the Intelligence survived. The Doctor discovered that it had learned to survive beyond physical form. Controlling the now-mindless Simeon, it attacked the Doctor, but was stopped in the last minutes of [[Christmas Eve]] when the snow changed to "rain", mimicking the form of the tears of [[Captain Latimer]]'s family after [[Clara Oswin Oswald|Clara Oswald]]'s death.
 
The Intelligence did not totally perish, and in fact learned to survive beyond physical form. It continued with the belief that the [[London Underground]] was a key strategic weakness in the [[London]] metropolitan area. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'') Another account of the Intelligence's origins held that these events were not its birth, but instead occurred later in its life after it had lost many memories. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Forgotten Son (novel)|The Forgotten Son]]'')
 
=== The Yetis ===
At some point in the [[18th century]], it possessed the [[Tibet]]an [[lama]] [[Padmasambhava]] while it was travelling the [[astral plane]] and forced him to build its [[Robot Yeti]] over the next two centuries. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]'') According to one account, it was Padmasambhava that called it a "great intelligence", a name it used from that point on. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Forgotten Son (novel)|The Forgotten Son]]'')
 
At the [[Det-Sen Monastery]] in [[1935]], the [[Second Doctor]] and [[Edward Travers]], a westerner determined to find the [[Tibetan Yeti|Yeti]], intervened with the Intelligence's plans to take the mountain the Monastery stood on, the Lama realising that it would want to cover the world as slime. The Intelligence knew of the Doctor, and described him as "a man of great knowledge and intelligence." They destroyed the pyramids that controlled its Yeti and Padmasambhava's physical body died as the Intelligence melted away. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]'')
 
=== The London Event ===
{{Section stub|[[Fear of Light (novel)]]}}
Accounts that claimed the Great Intelligence to be a Great Old One held that the [[London Event]] was launched when the being was placed under pressure from the other Old Ones, who themselves embarked on similar campaigns and conquered other planets. The Intelligence was forced to use the Yeti in London, an environment to which they were not well suited. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'') By other accounts that foregrounded alternate origins, it believed the London Underground was a good strategic point to launch a new campaign. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')
 
No matter the case, approximately 40 years after the events at the Det-Sen Monastery, the Yeti re-activated and the Intelligence manifested as [[the Web|webbing]]. It ensnared [[the Doctor's TARDIS]] in space and forced it to land in the London Underground. Reunited with Travers, the Doctor assisted [[British]] military in their battles with the Yeti. The Intelligence re-animated and possessed the corpse of Staff Sergeant [[Albert Arnold|Arnold]], using him to track the Doctor's actions. The Intelligence captured the Doctor and tried to use a conversion headset to take over the Doctor's body. The Doctor attempted to reverse the process, allowing him to absorb the Intelligence and destroy it. When the control spheres that formed the focus of the Intelligence were smashed by [[Jamie McCrimmon]], the Intelligence vanished, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]'') powerless but still alive, though blinded in unending darkness. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime (home video)|Downtime]]'') One account suggested that the [[Celestial Intervention Agency]] had maneuvered the Second Doctor into his two confrontations with the Great Intelligence in the interests of [[Gallifreyan]] [[security]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Universal Databank (reference book)}})
 
In [[October]] of that same year, the Intelligence followed Lethbridge-Stewart, [[Sally Wright]], and [[Owain Vine]] to [[New York City]], where it attempted to use Yeti and infected [[rat]]s to turn the population of the city into a vast computer. Aided by [[Edward Travers]] and [[Adrienne Kramer]], the three successfully repelled the invasion. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Times Squared (novel)|Times Squared]]'')
 
The Intelligence was still around a couple of years later and controlled [[Norma Vine]]. It was trapped on Earth because of his link to [[Toby Kinsella]] and Travers. It sent Norma around London to find pieces of equipment for a machine. Travers tried to communicate with it and it overtook his mind. It decided to destroy his lab. Kinsella found a door to its base through a temporal tear in [[Hyde Park]]. It didn't realise that his thoughts had been broadcast over the TV and Radio. It wanted to control everyone on Earth. Creating the domain for Vine took a lot of its energy. It hoped to call the Doctor to Earth for it to free him. The combined wills of Travers and Kinsella overwrote the connection to Vine and it fled this plane. Still bound to the Earth it vowed to try again. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Time of the Intelligence (audio story)|Time of the Intelligence]]'')
 
=== Further exploits ===
[[File:Web above New World University.jpg|thumb|The Great Intelligence's web. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime (home video)|Downtime]]'')]]
The [[Fourth Doctor]] once assembled a [[Legendary Legion]] to oppose an [[Fleet of Alien Monsters' attempted destruction of Earth|invasion]] of Earth by a [[fleet of Alien Monsters]] which included the Yeti, created by an "evil alien intelligence". ([[GAME]]: {{cs|Doctor Who Trump Card Game (game)}})
 
In the [[1980s]] while millions of miles away in [[deep space]], the Intelligence again used the Yeti in Tibet in another attempt at world conquest. Possessing the dead body of [[Shiro Sugimoto]], the Intelligence tried to drain knowledge from [[Bruce Healy]], only to be attacked by the Lama [[Gampo]] and the real Tibetan Yeti. It was defeated when Gampo destroyed the [[power-transfuser]], draining the power from the Intelligence's base.  ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Yonder... The Yeti (comic story)|Yonder... The Yeti]]'')
 
The Intelligence — possessing the mind of the now deceased Professor Travers — later contacted the Doctor's former companion [[Victoria Waterfield]] and manipulated her into using computers to return to physical existence in [[1995]], attempting to cover the Earth in web. When the generators to the New World University were destroyed, the main bulk of the Intelligence faded away. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime (home video)|Downtime]]'')


The Intelligence could consume the mental energy (the "[[soul]]") of a human uploaded into a [[data cloud]] that it controlled. This allowed it to grow in power. Sometimes it was possible to reduce, or set free, minds under his influence that still had a body available. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'')
The [[Seventh Doctor]], [[Lysandra Aristedes]] and [[Sally Morgan]] encountered the Great Intelligence during their travels in the [[The Doctor's TARDIS|black TARDIS]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Black and White (audio story)|Black and White]]'')


=== What is it? ===
=== The new millennium ===
The Great Intelligence's exact nature was a mystery. Described as a mind parasite by Lethbridge-Stewart, it was described as a mass of thoughts with a single thought. It once reflected on whether or not it remembered what its original body was:
In [[1999]], [[Anne Travers]], who had been left traumatised by the Intelligence's first attempts to enter the universe, believed millionaire [[Ashley Chapel]] would try to use a special program, the [[Millennium Codex]], to summon the Intelligence to Earth. She prepared a counterspell to force it back into its own reality. However, this had destructive effects, including dragging the Intelligence back to Earth and merging it with the benevolent god [[Saraquazel]] into a single malevolent being.


{{quote|Was it huge with massive claws to crush and maim? A bloated spider-mind filling every cavernous gap with billowing web? Was it a mountain? A bank of mountains looming and rumbling like clouds in another sky or on another continuum?|[[Downtime]]}}
It altered reality around London to form the [[Great Kingdom]], a realm partly obeying the laws of the Intelligence's universe, [[N-Space]], and Saraquazel's universe; here, [[the Doctor's TARDIS]] was worshipped as "the Lady TARDIS" and the Intelligence was worshipped as "the key and the guardian of the gate," forming the triad of gods with Saraquazel. Anne sacrificed herself to fix reality, but instead of destroying the Intelligence, she banished it. The Intelligence became stranded on the [[edge of the universe]], riding the blue shift outwards into infinity. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'')


== Powers ==
=== Losing its memory ===
The Great Intelligence had no physical existence and thus relied on [[possession]] of living creatures and other shapes in order to manipulate its environment. It existed on the [[astral plane]] and could enter the people it encountered. It allowed Padmasambhava to live over 300 years while he created [[Robot Yeti]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]'') and it also reanimated the dead (or near-dead) bodies of Staff Sergeant Arnold and Professor Travers ([[TV]]: ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]''), feeding itself into every cell and having control of every movement. At full strength it could even save a human from fatal illness, or death by extreme age, if only to possess their bodies. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Downtime]]'') It could also exert a mental control similar to hypnosis without completely possessing a human. In the cases of [[Walter Simeon]] and Miss [[Kizlet]], it had done this since childhood. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'', ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')
According to one account, it was at this time when the Intelligence found itself on [[Earth]] in the year [[1842]] and fell as snow. There it met a boy, who he connected to as the boy became a man. The Intelligence grew stronger, but still felt gaps in its memory covering centuries. It chose the name Great Intelligence, as given to him in [[Tibet]]. It continued to use the man's form after his death, lingering for a hundred years in search of minds to use for its own. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Forgotten Son (novel)|The Forgotten Son]]'')
 
=== Wi-Fi ===
At some point in the late [[20th century]], while [[Rosemary Kizlet]] was still a young girl, the Great Intelligence began to "whisper in her ear," leading her to eventually found her company. By [[2013]], the Great Intelligence had influenced Miss Kizlet to establish an organisation based on the 65th floor of [[the Shard]], which used the [[Wi-Fi]] and servants nicknamed [[Spoonhead]]s to capture human minds. The Great Intelligence used the [[internet]] as its "web."
 
Its operation fell apart when the Eleventh Doctor used a captured Spoonhead to trick Miss Kizlet into being trapped in the Wi-Fi after she refused to release the uploaded Clara Oswald, who was under the Doctor's protection. The workers downloaded Clara, Kizlet and others captured in the server, returning them to their bodies.
 
When [[UNIT]] arrived at the Shard, the Great Intelligence ordered Kizlet to restore their employees to their "factory settings", effectively erasing everyone's [[memory|memories]] to avoid detection. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'')
 
=== Entering the Doctor's time stream ===
==== Targeting the Doctor ====
After the [[Siege of Trenzalore]] in [[Alternate timeline (The Name of the Doctor)|a later averted]] [[alternate timeline|timeline]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]'') the Intelligence used the [[Whisper Men]] to kidnap Madame [[Vastra]], [[Strax]] and [[Jenny Flint]] from [[1893]] to [[Trenzalore]]. It spoke through their "[[conference call]]" link with Clara and [[River Song]] to take the Doctor from [[2013]] [[London]] to Trenzalore.


In addition, it could possess animals like [[rat]]s and [[ant]]s by extending its will as well as inhabiting machinery like [[computer]] terminals. It resided in the [[New World University]] network while reaching out into the [[Internet]]. However, the majority of its consciousness was still trapped in the campus mainframe. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime]]'') It also inhabited a computer system with a video monitor linked to the firm run by Miss Kizlet on the 65th floor of [[the Shard]]. The peripheral units linked to this system (computers, including at least one [[tablet]], the walking base stations nicknamed [[Spoonhead]]s, and a wall of video monitors representing the [[data cloud]]) could edit or absorb the mental traits of users. It used this connection to consume humans that had been removed from their bodies by Miss Kizlet's team. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'')
[[File:11GI staredown.jpg|thumb|The Intelligence interrogates the Doctor. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'')]]
The Whisper Men brought the [[Paternoster Gang]] to [[the Doctor's tomb]] on Trenzalore so the Intelligence could have its ultimate revenge by turning all of the Doctor's victories into defeats. It did so by directly entering the Doctor's [[time stream]], which appeared as an open wound in reality inside the tomb. However, this plan was foiled by Clara, who followed the Intelligence through the wound. Just as he was, she was ripped into countless versions of herself throughout history, and saved the Doctor countless times, undoing the damage the Intelligence had done to his timeline. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'')


It had considerable mental powers, namely [[telekinesis]]. It was able to make a [[Eurotrain]] rear up like a [[snake]] and launched missiles, playing with them and engineering near-misses before letting them fall. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Downtime]]'')  It also tracked [[Second Doctor|the Doctor]] and followed him through [[time]] and [[space]], having built a machine that could drain his mind of knowledge and experience for the Intelligence. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]'')  
==== Targeting the Brigadier ====
After interfering with countless points in the Doctor's timeline, the Intelligence returned to the London Event, where another encounter with Clara, and the Second Doctor's attempt to destroy the younger Intelligence, severely damaged it, forcing the Intelligence to leave the Doctor's timestream. Realising that Clara would be waiting at every turn to defeat it, the weakened Intelligence travelled down the timeline of [[Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart]] instead, intending to kill the Doctor's greatest ally. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Forgotten Son (novel)|The Forgotten Son]]'')


The Great Intelligence could manifest itself in simple forms such as a slime that glowed brightly with a piercing light, a dense fog that consumed anything that entered it, or a poisonous web/fungus that could not be destroyed by chemicals, explosives, or flamethowers. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]'')
After one failed attempt, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Funny Turn (short story)|A Funny Turn]]'') the Intelligence arrived in [[1937]] and found itself drawn instead to Alistair's brother, James, who carried the original soul which would, centuries later, be reincarnated as the being who would become the Great Intelligence. Its curiosity drew itself to join with James, but it then found that it could not remove itself from its own soul. After manipulating James into killing himself, the Intelligence became trapped inside [[Remington Manor]] in [[Cornwall]].


[[File:Greatintelligence.jpg|thumb|left|The Great Intelligence deliberately destroys its Walter Simeon form to demonstrate how easily it can be replaced. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'')]]
Weeks after the original London Event, in [[1969]], the Intelligence used [[Owain Vine]], another reincarnation of the Intelligence's immortal soul. A final showdown in Remington Manor between the Intelligence and Lethbridge-Stewart saw the Intelligence finally defeated. Despite this appearing to be the final defeat of the being, the last trace of it permeated the ruins of Remington Manor. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Forgotten Son (novel)|The Forgotten Son]]'')
While on [[Trenzalore]], the Great Intelligence utilised the [[Whisper Men]], who appeared as [[face]]less [[humanoid]]s dressed just as his servant [[Walter Simeon]] was when he died. Their bodies were free for the Intelligence to manifest in. Once taking the body of a Whisper Man, their blank face would change into that of Simeon's. He could easily take another Whisper Man should his current physical form be destroyed. Exactly what a Whisper Man was made of was unknown [[Strax]] sliced one of them, and which quickly repaired itself. They also had the ability to reach into people's [[heart]]s and stop them, killing them. Through unknown means, they were able to bring themselves and their prisoners from [[Earth]] to Trenzalore. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'')


== Personality ==
== Alternate timelines ==
The Great Intelligence was arrogant and thought very highly of itself, informing the Doctor that his brain was too small to grasp its purpose. This arrogance was often reflected by its human servants. It sometimes referred to itself as "we" although this habit had worn off by the time it encountered the [[Second Doctor]]. Without a body, it became obsessed with having physical form, craving symmetry of light, colour, and shape. The Intelligence thought that revenge was a petty emotion which it had no need for. However, this attitude would change after repeated encounters with the Doctor.  The Intelligence came to develop such a hatred for the Doctor that it was willing to sacrifice itself to achieve its revenge. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]'', ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'', ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'')
In an alternative timeline the London Event succeeded, and both Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart and the Doctor were killed in the new timeline. Without them to stand against it, the Intelligence spread its influence throughout Southern England, bringing thousands of minds into its own. The TARDIS, taking on human form, revealed the truth of the Intelligence's being, that it was the imprint of a multi-dimensional being, and a stalemate was called. The Intelligence could never win as long as the TARDIS existed, and the TARDIS could never restore time unless the Intelligence was cast out. Not wishing to continue the stalemate, the Intelligence allowed the TARDIS to cast it out into the void, and time was restored. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Legacies (short story)|Legacies]]'')


It was the unseen but generous Chancellor of New World University, with Victoria as Vice-Chancellor. It designed invasions based on a "Great Plan" it had, having been the military strategist of the Old Ones, and when it thought resistance was useless for humanity, it asked Brigadier [[Lethbridge-Stewart]] which part of its brilliant plan he found most effective. When horribly bound to [[Saraquazel]], it did not care about him or crave his assistance, thinking it possessed enough power and intellect to find its own escape. The Intelligence, however, did warn Saraquazel of the duplicity of human beings. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'')
== Parallel universes ==
On a [[Inferno Earth|parallel Earth]], the Great Intelligence launched an attack on the [[Republic of Great Britain]]. [[Koschei (Inferno Earth)|Koschei]], here having not become the Master, saved the world from the Intelligence but was then captured, tortured, and pumped for information for years by the [[Republican Security Forces]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Face of the Enemy (novel)|The Face of the Enemy]]'')


Miss [[Kizlet]] believed that the Intelligence loved humanity - in the same way Burger King loves cattle. The Intelligence was unconcerned about feasting on people's minds to grow stronger, and showed little concern for its servants, reverting Kizlet back to her childhood state of mind, although it did say goodbye to her first. Kizlet's claim that the Intelligence loved humanity may have been exaggerated, but it wasn't a complete lie because the Intelligence did seem to form an attachment to [[Walter Simeon]] and continued to use his image long after his death. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]], [[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'')
== Personality ==
The Great Intelligence was arrogant and thought very highly of itself, informing the Doctor that his brain was too small to grasp its purpose. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]'') It sometimes spoke in the plural, i.e. referring to itself as "we", although this habit had worn off by the time of the [[London Event]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]'', ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]'', ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'') Without a body, it became obsessed with having physical form, craving symmetry of light, colour, and shape. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'') Eventually, it grew tired of living as "a mind without a body" and went into the Doctor's timestream in order to die. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'')


== History ==
Despite once describing revenge as a petty emotion of which it had no need for, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]'') the Intelligence took its defeats by the Doctor as unforgivable wounds to its pride and after several encounters with him, it had developed such a burning hatred that it went into his timestream in order to take revenge on him in the most painful way imaginable. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'') It was also a malevolent and sadistic being, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]'', ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'') and was also extremely callous and self-absorbed, seeing as how it was unfazed by the fact that undoing all of the Doctor's victories would in turn cause the destruction of the universe. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'')
=== Early history ===
Yog-Sothoth was a being who existed [[Pre-Universe|before the universe]] in which [[the Doctor]] resided. It was a member of a race of beings called the [[Great Old One]]s, who were the equivalent of the [[Time Lord]]s. They shunted themselves into a [[parallel universe]]/dimension to pass into the next universe. Yog-Sothoth discovered it had gained [[god]]-like powers and being the military strategist of its people, the Great Intelligence decided to try the various gambits and games it had only played on [[computer]]s. Over the billennia, it mounted millions of campaigns against inhabited planets. It used the [[Hisk]] version of [[koala]]s on [[Hiskith]] and domestic animals equivalent to [[dog]]s on [[Danos]]. Though it had failed in that the Yeti had failed to take over Earth, it was under pressure from the other Great Old Ones, who themselves embarked on similar campaigns and conquered other planets, forcing him to use the Yeti in London, an environment to which they were not well suited. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'') The Intelligence had been exiled from another dimension, and was forced to wander the [[universe]]  to find a body to possess. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Web of Fear]]'')


[[File:GreatIntelligenceSnowGlobe-in-TheSnowmen.jpg|thumb|left|The Great Intelligence's snowglobe in [[Walter Simeon|Dr Walter Simeon]]'s [[Great Intelligence Institute|institute]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')]]
It was the unseen but generous Chancellor of New World University, with [[Victoria Waterfield|Victoria]] as Vice-Chancellor. It designed invasions based on a "Great Plan" it had, having been the military strategist of the Old Ones, and when it thought resistance was useless for humanity, it asked Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart which part of its brilliant plan he found most effective. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime (home video)|Downtime]]'') When horribly bound to [[Saraquazel]], it did not care about him or crave his assistance, thinking it possessed enough power and intellect to find its own escape. The Intelligence, however, did warn Saraquazel of the duplicity of human beings. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'')


=== Pre-20th century ===
[[Rosemary Kizlet]] believed that the Intelligence loved humanity in the same vein that [[Burger King]] loved cattle. The Intelligence was unconcerned about feasting on people's minds to grow stronger, and showed little concern for its servants, reverting them back to their original state of mind, although it did take the time to say goodbye to Kizlet before doing so. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'')
In the [[19th century]], the Intelligence made an attempt to destroy [[Earth]], manifesting as living [[snow]] that used [[Walter Simeon]] as a host whose dark thoughts powered it. He established the [[Great Intelligence Institute]] as the snow slowly swarmed to Earth over 50 years, and in [[1892]] was sufficient enough to consume mankind. Having erased Simeon's mind, the [[Eleventh Doctor]] was surprised to see the Intelligence survived, thinking it was created by the host Simeon, but it had learned to survive beyond physical form. Controlling the now-mindless Simeon, it attacked the Doctor, but was stopped in the last minutes of [[Christmas Eve]] when the snow was drowned by rain that the Doctor presumed was the tears of [[Captain Latimer]]'s family under [[Clara Oswald]]'s care at her death. During this encounter, the [[Eleventh Doctor]] inadvertently facilitated the Intelligence's later (or earlier, from the Doctor's perspective) attack in the 1960s by showing it a schematic of the [[London Underground]] and making a comment that the Underground was a key strategic weakness in the metropolitan area. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')


In [[1893]], a future version of the Intelligence familiar with the several defeats it received from [[the Doctor]] used [[Whisper Man|Whisper Men]] to kidnap Madame [[Vastra]], [[Strax]] and [[Jenny Flint]]. He spoke through their "conference call" link with another version of Clara to take the Eleventh Doctor from [[2013]] [[London]] to Trenzalore in an unclear timezone. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'')
== Powers ==
The Great Intelligence had no physical existence and thus relied on [[possession]] of living creatures, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]'', ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]'') taking on other shapes, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'') or manipulating allies in order to manipulate its environment. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'', ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'')


At some point, the Great Intelligence possessed the [[Tibet]]an [[lama]] [[Padmasambhava]] while it was travelling the [[astral plane]] and forced him to build its [[Robot Yeti]] over the next centuries. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]'')
Existing on the [[astral plane]], the Intelligence could enter the people it encountered, filling itself in every cell and having control of their every movement. It also increased [[Padmasambhava]]'s lifespan, and reanimated the dead body of [[Albert Arnold|Staff Sergeant Arnold]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]'', ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]'') At full strength it could even save a human from fatal illness, or death by extreme age, if only to possess their bodies. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Downtime (home video)|Downtime]]'')


=== 20th century ===
In addition, it could possess animals, like [[rat]]s and [[ant]]s, by extending its will, as well as inhabiting machinery like [[computer]] terminals. It resided in the [[New World University]] network while reaching out into the [[Internet]]. However, the majority of its [[consciousness]] was still trapped in the campus mainframe. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime (home video)|Downtime]]'') It also inhabited a computer system with a video monitor linked to the firm run by Miss Kizlet in [[the Shard]]. The peripheral units linked to this system could edit or absorb the mental traits of users, enabling Kizlet to feed the Intelligence. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'')
In [[1935]] at the [[Det-Sen Monastery]], the [[Second Doctor]] and [[Edward Travers]], a westerner determined to find the [[Tibetan Yeti|Yeti]], intervened with the Intelligence's plans and destroyed the pyramids that controlled its Yeti. Padmasambhava's physical body died when the Intelligence melted away. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]'')


Thirty-five years or so later, the [[robot Yeti]] re-activated and the Intelligence manifested as webbing. It ensnared [[the Doctor's TARDIS]] in space and forced it to land in the [[London Underground]]. Reunited with Travers, the Doctor assisted [[British]] military in their battles with the Yeti. The Intelligence re-animated and possessed the corpse of Staff Sergeant [[Arnold (The Web of Fear)|Arnold]], using him to track the Doctor's actions. The Intelligence captured the Doctor and tried to use a conversion headset to take over the Doctor's body. The Doctor attempted to reverse the process, allowing him to absorb the Intelligence and destroy it. When the control spheres that formed the focus of the Intelligence were smashed by [[Jamie McCrimmon]], the Intelligence vanished, powerless but still alive. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]'') With everything reversed, it was blinded in unending darkness.
It could also exert a mental control similar to hypnosis without completely possessing a human, as it had with the monks in Tibet, Victoria Waterfield, Walter Simeon and Miss Kizlet. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]'', ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'', ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'') It also had considerable mental powers, namely [[telekinesis]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]'') It was able to make a [[Eurotrain]] rear up like a [[snake]] and launched missiles, playing with them and engineering near-misses before letting them fall. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Downtime (home video)|Downtime]]'') While merged with [[Saraquazel]], it telekinetically constructed robot Yetis from its surroundings to defend itself. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'')


[[File:Web above New World University.jpg|thumb|The Great Intelligence's web. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime]]'')]]
When the Paternoster Gang encountered the Intelligence on Trenzalore, it displayed considerable knowledge of the Doctor's past and future, listing people he had killed, as well as names he'd have by the end of his life, including [[the Valeyard]]. When Madame Vastra asked how it had come by this information, it merely replied that it was information. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'') It also tracked the Second Doctor and followed him through [[time]] and [[space]], having built a machine that could drain his mind of knowledge and experience for the Intelligence. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]'')


At some point in the late [[20th century]], while Miss [[Kizlet]] was still a young girl, the Great Intelligence began to "whisper in her ear," leading her to eventually found her company. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'')
== Biology and appearance ==
{{Quote|"Was it huge with massive claws to crush and maim? A bloated spider-mind filling every cavernous gap with billowing web? Was it a mountain? A bank of mountains looming and rumbling like clouds in another sky or on another continuum?"|The Intelligence ponders its original form|Downtime (novelisation)|Downtime}}
The Second Doctor thought the best way to describe the Great Intelligence was as a "formless, shapeless thing, floating out in space like a cloud of mist, only with a mind and will." ([[TV]]: ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]'') Both Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart and the Eleventh Doctor identified it as a mind parasite, whereas the Intelligence considered itself a mass of thoughts with a single thought. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime (home video)|Downtime]]''; [[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'') It once reflected on whether or not it remembered what its original body was. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Downtime (novelisation)|Downtime]]'')


The Intelligence later contacted the Doctor's former companion [[Victoria Waterfield]] and manipulated her into using computers to return to physical existence in [[1995]], attempting to cover the Earth in web. When the generators to the New World University were destroyed, the main bulk of the Intelligence faded away. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime]]'')  
In all realities, the Intelligence constantly sought physical existence to replace being a shapeless, formless cloud hanging in space, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Legacies (short story)|Legacies]]'') eventually adopting Walter Simeon as a recurring avatar, speaking in that guise through a large wall-mounted video screen, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'') modelling the Whisper Men on Simeon's appearance, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'') and appearing as Simeon to James Lethbridge-Stewart and Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Forgotten Son (novel)|The Forgotten Son]]'')


The Intelligence was flung back into the void, where it could recover from the damage done to its being. In [[1999]], [[Anne Travers]], who had been left traumatised by the Intelligence's first attempts to enter the universe, believed millionaire [[Ashley Chapel]] would try to use a special program, the [[Millennium Codex]], to summon the Intelligence to Earth. She prepared a counterspell to force it back into its own reality. However, this had destructive effects, including dragging the Intelligence back to Earth and merging it with the benevolent god [[Saraquazel]] into a single malevolent being. It altered reality around London to form the [[Great Kingdom]], a realm partly obeying the laws of the Intelligence's universe, this universe, and Saraquazel's universe; here, [[the Doctor's TARDIS]] was worshipped as "the Lady TARDIS" and the Intelligence was worshipped as "the key and the guardian of the gate," forming the triad of gods with Saraquazel. Anne sacrificed herself to fix reality, but instead of destroying the Intelligence and being no better than it, she banished it. The Intelligence became stranded on the edges of the universe, riding the blue shift outwards into infinity. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'')
[[File:Downtime balls.jpg|thumb|left|The control sphere pyramid. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime (home video)|Downtime]]'')]]
When not using a living being, the Intelligence maintained a basic manifestation as a three-sided [[pyramid]] composed of control spheres ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowman]]'') or [[ivory]]. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime (home video)|Downtime]]'') When forcibly summoned to Earth by [[Anne Travers]], and being combined with three sets of physical laws in the [[Great Kingdom]], the Intelligence was an emerald tetrahedron and, because of Travers' meddling, was merged with the god [[Saraquazel]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'')


=== 21st century ===
The Eleventh Doctor commented that the Intelligence was a [[hive mind]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'') which accounted for the "mass of thoughts" theory, ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime (home video)|Downtime]]'') while the Intelligence claimed itself as an embodiment of information, and [[Jenny Flint]] described it as "a mind without a body". ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'')
The Great Intelligence survived at least until the [[21st century]], where it communicated with Miss [[Kizlet]], after it had met her as a [[child]] and trained her most of her life as its operative. It spoke to her and manifested on a large wall-mounted video screen using the face and voice of its 19th-century servant [[Walter Simeon]]. Kizlet established an organisation based on the 65th floor of [[the Shard]], which used the [[Wi-Fi]] and servants nicknamed [[Spoonhead]]s to capture [[human]]s. The Great Intelligence used the [[internet]] as its 'web', similar to what it tried to do at the New World University. Its operation fell apart when the [[Eleventh Doctor]] used a captured Spoonhead to trick Miss Kizlet into being trapped in the Wi-Fi after she refused to release the uploaded [[Clara Oswald]] native to that era, who was under the Doctor's protection. The workers downloaded Clara, Kizlet and others captured in the server, returning them to their bodies. When [[Unified Intelligence Taskforce|UNIT]], itself an organisation created after its attack on the London Underground, arrived at the Shard, the Great Intelligence ordered Kizlet to restore their employees to their 'Factory Settings', effectively erasing everyone's [[memory|memories]] to avoid detection. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'')


=== Other encounters ===
The Great Intelligence possessed some amount of [[artron energy]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'') and could consume the mental energy of humans to grow stronger. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'')
The [[Seventh Doctor]], [[Lysandra Aristedes]] and [[Sally Morgan]] encountered the Great Intelligence during their travels in the [[The Doctor's TARDIS|black TARDIS]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Black and White (audio story)|Black and White]]'')


After using the [[Whisper Man|Whisper Men]] to bring the [[Eleventh Doctor]]'s friends there, the Great Intelligence came to [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the Doctor's tomb]] on [[Trenzalore]] to turn all of the Doctor's victories into defeats so the Intelligence could have his ultimate revenge. He did so by directly entering the Doctor's [[time stream]], which appeared as an open wound in reality inside the tomb. However, this plan was foiled by Clara from 2013, who followed the Great Intelligence through the wound. Just as he was, she was ripped into countless versions of herself throughout history and saved the Doctor countless times. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'')
In its many attempts to achieve form, the Intelligence tried to manifest as ice people based on the [[human]] form, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'') and a slime that glowed brightly with a piercing light. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|The Abominable Snowmen]]'') It also manifested as a dense fog that consumed anything entering it, and a poisonous fungus which spread through the London Underground. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]'') A fourth invasion of Earth had it trying to perpetuate itself in every machine and being, with the whole planet cocooned in web. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Downtime (home video)|Downtime]]'')


''The Intelligence claimed to the Doctor that directly entering the Time Lord's time stream would mean "for me, peace at last - for you, pain everlasting". But has it really gone forever? After all, it is a creature of pure mental energy with no physical form, and the laws of physics — one of the basic rules upon which much of science is based — state that energy can never disappear or be destroyed...''
At the end of its life, the Intelligence had never found substance, but rather used the Whisper Men, who appeared as [[face]]less [[humanoid]]s dressed just as Walter Simeon was when he died, to manifest in empty bodies. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'') The Whisper Men told [[Clarence DeMarco]] that they were a manifestation of the Intelligence when they revealed the location of the Doctor's tomb to him. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Clarence and the Whispermen (home video)|Clarence and the Whispermen]]'')


== Behind the scenes ==
== Behind the scenes ==
* Yog-Sothoth is the name of a fictional deity created by [[H. P. Lovecraft]]. The name first appears in ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward''. It was implied to be one of the most powerful beings in the universe (second to only [[Azathoth]]) and described as existing outside of the space-time continuum in a place where it exists at every point in time and space.
* [[Yog-Sothoth]] is a cosmic entity created by [[H. P. Lovecraft]], part of a pantheon of alien "gods" that appear in his fiction. First mentioned in ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'', Yog-Sothoth is described in ''The Dunwich Horror'' as "the gate" and "the key" through which the [[Old One]]s entered the universe. He is described in ''The Horror in the Museum'' as resembling "a congeries of iridescent globes". In [[Andy Lane]]'s novel ''[[All-Consuming Fire (novel)|All-Consuming Fire]]'', the Doctor mentions having met Yog-Sothoth "[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|in Tibet]] and [[The Web of Fear (TV story)|again in London]]", implying that Yog-Sothoth is the Intelligence. [[Craig Hinton]]'s ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'', which featured the Intelligence, later made this explicit.
* Whether the Great Intelligence should be referred to as 'it' or 'he' is perhaps best left to personal preference. As the Intelligence has no physical body, it is doubtful as to whether it can be said to have a gender. Although a male face resembling that of [[Walter Simeon]] appeared to Miss Kizlet on a large wall-mounted video screen, and it spoke with a male voice in Victorian England and on Trenzalore, this could have been a favoured avatar rather than a gender choice.
* Whether the Great Intelligence should be referred to as "it" or "he" is perhaps best left to personal preference. Being emphatically inhuman and having not only no body, but no set physical avatar when it does incarnate itself, it is doubtful as to whether the Intelligence can be said to have a fixed gender; it is certainly genderless in a biological sense. The most that can be said is that, through borrowing the face of its progenitor [[Walter Simeon]] long after the man's death, the Intelligence as depicted in [[Series 7 (Doctor Who 2005)|Series 7]] can be said to be male-presenting.
* Writer [[Neil Gaiman]] disclosed in ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' that earlier drafts of his script for ''[[The Doctor's Wife (TV story)|The Doctor's Wife]]'' implied that [[House]], the villain of that story, was actually the Great Intelligence. These hints did not make it into the episode as aired. The idea of the Great Intelligence as a villain for the revived series ''Doctor Who'' would later lead to [[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]''.{{fact}}
* Writer [[Neil Gaiman]] disclosed in ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' [[DWM 448|#448]] that earlier drafts of his script for ''[[The Doctor's Wife (TV story)|The Doctor's Wife]]'' implied that [[House (The Doctor's Wife)|House]], the villain of that story, was actually the Great Intelligence. These hints did not make it into the episode as aired. The idea of the Great Intelligence as a villain for the revived series ''Doctor Who'' would later lead to ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]''.
* With a gap of 44 years, the Great Intelligence holds the record for longest period of time between televised ''Doctor Who'' appearances. Following the Great Intelligence is the [[Macra]] with 40 years. In addition, the [[Axos|Axons]] appeared in the [[Doctor Who Magazine|DWM]] comic strip 39 years after their last TV appearance.
* With a gap of forty-four years, the Great Intelligence held the record for longest period of time between televised ''Doctor Who'' appearances, until the return of [[the Toymaker]] in ''[[The Giggle (TV story)|The Giggle]]'', which aired fifty-seven years after his [[The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)|one and only previous television appearance]].
* Unusually, unlike other monsters that have appeared in both the classic and revived series, the original creators of the Great Intelligence ([[Mervyn Haisman]] and [[Henry Lincoln]]) have never been credited at the end of an episode of the revival.
* Another origin for the Great Intelligence was to be featured in the cancelled novel ''[[Day of the Intelligence (novel)|Day of the Intelligence]]''.
 
== External links ==
{{Dwlx|Great Intelligence (enemy)|Great Intelligence}}
{{Great Intelligence stories}}
{{Dark Times Species}}


[[es:Gran Inteligencia]]
[[es:Gran Inteligencia]]
[[he:האינטליגנציה הגדולה]]
[[ru:Великий Разум]]
[[ru:Великий Разум]]
[[he:האינטליגנציה הגדולה]]
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[[Category:Great Old Ones]]
[[Category:Great Old Ones]]
[[Category:Hive minds]]
[[Category:Hive minds]]
[[Category:Space-time anomalies]]
[[Category:Incorporeal species]]
[[Category:Individuals with psychic powers]]
[[Category:Personifications of concepts]]
[[Category:Individuals who have been inside the Doctor's TARDIS]]
[[Category:Mind control]]
[[Category:Snow]]
[[Category:Murderers]]
[[Category:Supposed deities from the real world]]
[[Category:Lethbridge-Stewart family]]
[[Category:Members of the earlier race of Time Lords]]

Latest revision as of 21:07, 29 November 2024

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This article needs to be updated.

Information from PROSE: Downtime: Child of the New World, Avatars of the Intelligence, Night of the Intelligence, An Ordinary Man, AUDIO: The Web of Time, GAME: Legacy

These omissions are so great that the article's factual accuracy has been compromised. Check out the discussion page and revision history for further clues about what needs to be updated in this article.

You may be looking for the Great Intelligence Institute.

The Great Intelligence was a mysterious entity. Few sources could agree exactly what the Intelligence was. The Second Doctor described it as "a sort of formless, shapeless thing floating about in space like a cloud of mist, only with a mind and will." The Intelligence was capable of possessing deceased bodies, controlling mechanised Robot Yeti, forming fear-dependent snow creatures, and was often prone to choosing individuals to do its bidding from a distance.

Nature[[edit] | [edit source]]

One account identified the creator of Robot Yeti simply as an "evil alien intelligence". (GAME: Doctor Who Trump Card Game [+]Loading...["Doctor Who Trump Card Game (game)"]) According to certain sources the Great Intelligence was an aspect of Sunyata, (PROSE: Night of the Intelligence) an "inter-dimensional being" that resided within the Void, existing in many realities, but always ending up as the "Great Intelligence" and sharing the same basic attributes, although the Intelligences originated in various ways, including an immortal soul, and various Great Old Ones. (PROSE: Legacies) According to this account, one imprint of the Great Intelligence was the ascended immortal soul which began life as James Lethbridge-Stewart and ended millennia later as Mahasamatman. (PROSE: The Forgotten Son)

According to another account, the Great Intelligence was originally the being known as Yog-Sothoth, from the universe before the Doctor's; (PROSE: Millennial Rites) he and his brethren survived the end of their universe by passing through a parallel universe that ended one second after theirs. Shifting again allowed them to enter the current universe shortly after it began expanding. (PROSE: All-Consuming Fire, Millennial Rites) Another account agreed that the Great Intelligence was a Great Old One; (AUDIO: The Roof of the World) another account stated that the Great Old Ones all lost their physical bodies running from the Fendahl, explaining the Intelligence's disembodied nature and perpetual quest for incarnation. (PROSE: White Darkness)

Yet another account suggested that the Great Intelligence was created when a human boy, Walter Simeon, began speaking to a snowman that, unbeknownst to the boy, had been created from an alien snow-like material which generated a low-level telepathic field. The snowman reflected his most dark beliefs and thoughts, and eventually formed its own consciousness, becoming the "dream [that] outlive[d] the dreamer". After Simeon's memory was erased in an ill-fated attempt to defeat both him and his inhuman creation, the growing Intelligence first displayed the ability to take over other's bodies as it possessed Simeon's mindless husk, and soon after "learned to live as a disembodied consciousness". (TV: The Snowmen) Another account suggested these events were not its origin, but instead a later attempt at survival. (PROSE: The Forgotten Son)

After the War, the Superiors sent Chris Cwej to investigate a disturbance on the surface of the devastated planet Nibo. Cwej found that a group of abandoned, deteriorating Time Engines — weapons designed to emanate harmful temporal waves — had generated a swarm of Shadow-Mantises. After fighting his way into the Engines, Cwej realised that their waves had generated a life form, a cosmic fungus which metabolised time. Cwej defeated the entity in a psychic battle, but later worried that a surviving spore retained an imprint of his mind, and might grow into "a great intelligence". (PROSE: The Mushroom at the End of the Universe)

History[[edit] | [edit source]]

Early history[[edit] | [edit source]]

According to one source, the Intelligence was originally Yog-Sothoth, a member, and the military strategist, of a race of beings called the Great Old Ones, who were the equivalent of the Time Lords in a previous universe to the one the Doctor resided. They shunted themselves into a parallel universe to pass into the next universe. Yog-Sothoth discovered it had gained god-like powers and decided to try the various gambits and games it had only played on computers. Over the billennia, it mounted millions of campaigns against inhabited planets. It used the Hisk version of koalas on Hiskith and domestic animals equivalent to dogs on Danos. (PROSE: Millennial Rites)

According to another source, the Intelligence had been exiled from another dimension, and was forced to wander the universe to find a body to possess. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Web of Fear) Indeed, according to its distorted memories, the Intelligence had been in existence for centuries without a form. It nonetheless sought to collect other minds into its consciousness. (PROSE: The Forgotten Son) Other accounts suggested it was an avatar of Sunyata (PROSE: Night of the Intelligence) or had origins related to the lives of people active in N-Space. (TV: The Snowmen; PROSE: The Forgotten Son, The Mushroom at the End of the Universe)

Born in snow[[edit] | [edit source]]

According to another account, the Great Intelligence was formed when a young Walter Simeon discovered that a snowman he had built began to talk back to him. The "snow" was not actually snow but a flock of predatory, but unintelligent, space crystals which generated a low-level telepathic field, causing it to respond to the thoughts and emotions of those around them. Because of this, the consciousness which spoke back to Simeon and began identifying itself as "the Intelligence" started out as nothing more than Simeon's own dark thoughts reflected back at him. As an adult, Simeon established the Great Intelligence Institute as the snow slowly swarmed to Earth, building a "big globey thing" in which the increasingly intelligent core of the swarm was housed.

The Great Intelligence's snowglobe in Dr Walter Simeon's institute. (TV: The Snowmen)

In 1892, its presence was sufficient enough to consume mankind. After Simeon's mind and memories were erased from after meeting the Intelligence, the Eleventh Doctor was surprised to see the Intelligence survived. The Doctor discovered that it had learned to survive beyond physical form. Controlling the now-mindless Simeon, it attacked the Doctor, but was stopped in the last minutes of Christmas Eve when the snow changed to "rain", mimicking the form of the tears of Captain Latimer's family after Clara Oswald's death.

The Intelligence did not totally perish, and in fact learned to survive beyond physical form. It continued with the belief that the London Underground was a key strategic weakness in the London metropolitan area. (TV: The Snowmen) Another account of the Intelligence's origins held that these events were not its birth, but instead occurred later in its life after it had lost many memories. (PROSE: The Forgotten Son)

The Yetis[[edit] | [edit source]]

At some point in the 18th century, it possessed the Tibetan lama Padmasambhava while it was travelling the astral plane and forced him to build its Robot Yeti over the next two centuries. (TV: The Abominable Snowmen) According to one account, it was Padmasambhava that called it a "great intelligence", a name it used from that point on. (PROSE: The Forgotten Son)

At the Det-Sen Monastery in 1935, the Second Doctor and Edward Travers, a westerner determined to find the Yeti, intervened with the Intelligence's plans to take the mountain the Monastery stood on, the Lama realising that it would want to cover the world as slime. The Intelligence knew of the Doctor, and described him as "a man of great knowledge and intelligence." They destroyed the pyramids that controlled its Yeti and Padmasambhava's physical body died as the Intelligence melted away. (TV: The Abominable Snowmen)

The London Event[[edit] | [edit source]]

This section's awfully stubby.

Fear of Light (novel)

Accounts that claimed the Great Intelligence to be a Great Old One held that the London Event was launched when the being was placed under pressure from the other Old Ones, who themselves embarked on similar campaigns and conquered other planets. The Intelligence was forced to use the Yeti in London, an environment to which they were not well suited. (PROSE: Millennial Rites) By other accounts that foregrounded alternate origins, it believed the London Underground was a good strategic point to launch a new campaign. (TV: The Snowmen)

No matter the case, approximately 40 years after the events at the Det-Sen Monastery, the Yeti re-activated and the Intelligence manifested as webbing. It ensnared the Doctor's TARDIS in space and forced it to land in the London Underground. Reunited with Travers, the Doctor assisted British military in their battles with the Yeti. The Intelligence re-animated and possessed the corpse of Staff Sergeant Arnold, using him to track the Doctor's actions. The Intelligence captured the Doctor and tried to use a conversion headset to take over the Doctor's body. The Doctor attempted to reverse the process, allowing him to absorb the Intelligence and destroy it. When the control spheres that formed the focus of the Intelligence were smashed by Jamie McCrimmon, the Intelligence vanished, (TV: The Web of Fear) powerless but still alive, though blinded in unending darkness. (HOMEVID: Downtime) One account suggested that the Celestial Intervention Agency had maneuvered the Second Doctor into his two confrontations with the Great Intelligence in the interests of Gallifreyan security. (PROSE: The Universal Databank [+]Loading...["The Universal Databank (reference book)"])

In October of that same year, the Intelligence followed Lethbridge-Stewart, Sally Wright, and Owain Vine to New York City, where it attempted to use Yeti and infected rats to turn the population of the city into a vast computer. Aided by Edward Travers and Adrienne Kramer, the three successfully repelled the invasion. (PROSE: Times Squared)

The Intelligence was still around a couple of years later and controlled Norma Vine. It was trapped on Earth because of his link to Toby Kinsella and Travers. It sent Norma around London to find pieces of equipment for a machine. Travers tried to communicate with it and it overtook his mind. It decided to destroy his lab. Kinsella found a door to its base through a temporal tear in Hyde Park. It didn't realise that his thoughts had been broadcast over the TV and Radio. It wanted to control everyone on Earth. Creating the domain for Vine took a lot of its energy. It hoped to call the Doctor to Earth for it to free him. The combined wills of Travers and Kinsella overwrote the connection to Vine and it fled this plane. Still bound to the Earth it vowed to try again. (AUDIO: Time of the Intelligence)

Further exploits[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Great Intelligence's web. (HOMEVID: Downtime)

The Fourth Doctor once assembled a Legendary Legion to oppose an invasion of Earth by a fleet of Alien Monsters which included the Yeti, created by an "evil alien intelligence". (GAME: Doctor Who Trump Card Game [+]Loading...["Doctor Who Trump Card Game (game)"])

In the 1980s while millions of miles away in deep space, the Intelligence again used the Yeti in Tibet in another attempt at world conquest. Possessing the dead body of Shiro Sugimoto, the Intelligence tried to drain knowledge from Bruce Healy, only to be attacked by the Lama Gampo and the real Tibetan Yeti. It was defeated when Gampo destroyed the power-transfuser, draining the power from the Intelligence's base. (COMIC: Yonder... The Yeti)

The Intelligence — possessing the mind of the now deceased Professor Travers — later contacted the Doctor's former companion Victoria Waterfield and manipulated her into using computers to return to physical existence in 1995, attempting to cover the Earth in web. When the generators to the New World University were destroyed, the main bulk of the Intelligence faded away. (HOMEVID: Downtime)

The Seventh Doctor, Lysandra Aristedes and Sally Morgan encountered the Great Intelligence during their travels in the black TARDIS. (AUDIO: Black and White)

The new millennium[[edit] | [edit source]]

In 1999, Anne Travers, who had been left traumatised by the Intelligence's first attempts to enter the universe, believed millionaire Ashley Chapel would try to use a special program, the Millennium Codex, to summon the Intelligence to Earth. She prepared a counterspell to force it back into its own reality. However, this had destructive effects, including dragging the Intelligence back to Earth and merging it with the benevolent god Saraquazel into a single malevolent being.

It altered reality around London to form the Great Kingdom, a realm partly obeying the laws of the Intelligence's universe, N-Space, and Saraquazel's universe; here, the Doctor's TARDIS was worshipped as "the Lady TARDIS" and the Intelligence was worshipped as "the key and the guardian of the gate," forming the triad of gods with Saraquazel. Anne sacrificed herself to fix reality, but instead of destroying the Intelligence, she banished it. The Intelligence became stranded on the edge of the universe, riding the blue shift outwards into infinity. (PROSE: Millennial Rites)

Losing its memory[[edit] | [edit source]]

According to one account, it was at this time when the Intelligence found itself on Earth in the year 1842 and fell as snow. There it met a boy, who he connected to as the boy became a man. The Intelligence grew stronger, but still felt gaps in its memory covering centuries. It chose the name Great Intelligence, as given to him in Tibet. It continued to use the man's form after his death, lingering for a hundred years in search of minds to use for its own. (PROSE: The Forgotten Son)

Wi-Fi[[edit] | [edit source]]

At some point in the late 20th century, while Rosemary Kizlet was still a young girl, the Great Intelligence began to "whisper in her ear," leading her to eventually found her company. By 2013, the Great Intelligence had influenced Miss Kizlet to establish an organisation based on the 65th floor of the Shard, which used the Wi-Fi and servants nicknamed Spoonheads to capture human minds. The Great Intelligence used the internet as its "web."

Its operation fell apart when the Eleventh Doctor used a captured Spoonhead to trick Miss Kizlet into being trapped in the Wi-Fi after she refused to release the uploaded Clara Oswald, who was under the Doctor's protection. The workers downloaded Clara, Kizlet and others captured in the server, returning them to their bodies.

When UNIT arrived at the Shard, the Great Intelligence ordered Kizlet to restore their employees to their "factory settings", effectively erasing everyone's memories to avoid detection. (TV: The Bells of Saint John)

Entering the Doctor's time stream[[edit] | [edit source]]

Targeting the Doctor[[edit] | [edit source]]

After the Siege of Trenzalore in a later averted timeline, (TV: The Time of the Doctor) the Intelligence used the Whisper Men to kidnap Madame Vastra, Strax and Jenny Flint from 1893 to Trenzalore. It spoke through their "conference call" link with Clara and River Song to take the Doctor from 2013 London to Trenzalore.

The Intelligence interrogates the Doctor. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)

The Whisper Men brought the Paternoster Gang to the Doctor's tomb on Trenzalore so the Intelligence could have its ultimate revenge by turning all of the Doctor's victories into defeats. It did so by directly entering the Doctor's time stream, which appeared as an open wound in reality inside the tomb. However, this plan was foiled by Clara, who followed the Intelligence through the wound. Just as he was, she was ripped into countless versions of herself throughout history, and saved the Doctor countless times, undoing the damage the Intelligence had done to his timeline. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)

Targeting the Brigadier[[edit] | [edit source]]

After interfering with countless points in the Doctor's timeline, the Intelligence returned to the London Event, where another encounter with Clara, and the Second Doctor's attempt to destroy the younger Intelligence, severely damaged it, forcing the Intelligence to leave the Doctor's timestream. Realising that Clara would be waiting at every turn to defeat it, the weakened Intelligence travelled down the timeline of Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart instead, intending to kill the Doctor's greatest ally. (PROSE: The Forgotten Son)

After one failed attempt, (PROSE: A Funny Turn) the Intelligence arrived in 1937 and found itself drawn instead to Alistair's brother, James, who carried the original soul which would, centuries later, be reincarnated as the being who would become the Great Intelligence. Its curiosity drew itself to join with James, but it then found that it could not remove itself from its own soul. After manipulating James into killing himself, the Intelligence became trapped inside Remington Manor in Cornwall.

Weeks after the original London Event, in 1969, the Intelligence used Owain Vine, another reincarnation of the Intelligence's immortal soul. A final showdown in Remington Manor between the Intelligence and Lethbridge-Stewart saw the Intelligence finally defeated. Despite this appearing to be the final defeat of the being, the last trace of it permeated the ruins of Remington Manor. (PROSE: The Forgotten Son)

Alternate timelines[[edit] | [edit source]]

In an alternative timeline the London Event succeeded, and both Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart and the Doctor were killed in the new timeline. Without them to stand against it, the Intelligence spread its influence throughout Southern England, bringing thousands of minds into its own. The TARDIS, taking on human form, revealed the truth of the Intelligence's being, that it was the imprint of a multi-dimensional being, and a stalemate was called. The Intelligence could never win as long as the TARDIS existed, and the TARDIS could never restore time unless the Intelligence was cast out. Not wishing to continue the stalemate, the Intelligence allowed the TARDIS to cast it out into the void, and time was restored. (PROSE: Legacies)

Parallel universes[[edit] | [edit source]]

On a parallel Earth, the Great Intelligence launched an attack on the Republic of Great Britain. Koschei, here having not become the Master, saved the world from the Intelligence but was then captured, tortured, and pumped for information for years by the Republican Security Forces. (PROSE: The Face of the Enemy)

Personality[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Great Intelligence was arrogant and thought very highly of itself, informing the Doctor that his brain was too small to grasp its purpose. (TV: The Abominable Snowmen) It sometimes spoke in the plural, i.e. referring to itself as "we", although this habit had worn off by the time of the London Event. (TV: The Abominable Snowmen, The Web of Fear, The Snowmen) Without a body, it became obsessed with having physical form, craving symmetry of light, colour, and shape. (TV: The Snowmen) Eventually, it grew tired of living as "a mind without a body" and went into the Doctor's timestream in order to die. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)

Despite once describing revenge as a petty emotion of which it had no need for, (TV: The Web of Fear) the Intelligence took its defeats by the Doctor as unforgivable wounds to its pride and after several encounters with him, it had developed such a burning hatred that it went into his timestream in order to take revenge on him in the most painful way imaginable. (TV: The Name of the Doctor) It was also a malevolent and sadistic being, (TV: The Abominable Snowmen, The Snowmen) and was also extremely callous and self-absorbed, seeing as how it was unfazed by the fact that undoing all of the Doctor's victories would in turn cause the destruction of the universe. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)

It was the unseen but generous Chancellor of New World University, with Victoria as Vice-Chancellor. It designed invasions based on a "Great Plan" it had, having been the military strategist of the Old Ones, and when it thought resistance was useless for humanity, it asked Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart which part of its brilliant plan he found most effective. (HOMEVID: Downtime) When horribly bound to Saraquazel, it did not care about him or crave his assistance, thinking it possessed enough power and intellect to find its own escape. The Intelligence, however, did warn Saraquazel of the duplicity of human beings. (PROSE: Millennial Rites)

Rosemary Kizlet believed that the Intelligence loved humanity in the same vein that Burger King loved cattle. The Intelligence was unconcerned about feasting on people's minds to grow stronger, and showed little concern for its servants, reverting them back to their original state of mind, although it did take the time to say goodbye to Kizlet before doing so. (TV: The Bells of Saint John)

Powers[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Great Intelligence had no physical existence and thus relied on possession of living creatures, (TV: The Abominable Snowmen, The Web of Fear) taking on other shapes, (TV: The Name of the Doctor) or manipulating allies in order to manipulate its environment. (TV: The Snowmen, The Bells of Saint John)

Existing on the astral plane, the Intelligence could enter the people it encountered, filling itself in every cell and having control of their every movement. It also increased Padmasambhava's lifespan, and reanimated the dead body of Staff Sergeant Arnold. (TV: The Abominable Snowmen, The Web of Fear) At full strength it could even save a human from fatal illness, or death by extreme age, if only to possess their bodies. (PROSE: Downtime)

In addition, it could possess animals, like rats and ants, by extending its will, as well as inhabiting machinery like computer terminals. It resided in the New World University network while reaching out into the Internet. However, the majority of its consciousness was still trapped in the campus mainframe. (HOMEVID: Downtime) It also inhabited a computer system with a video monitor linked to the firm run by Miss Kizlet in the Shard. The peripheral units linked to this system could edit or absorb the mental traits of users, enabling Kizlet to feed the Intelligence. (TV: The Bells of Saint John)

It could also exert a mental control similar to hypnosis without completely possessing a human, as it had with the monks in Tibet, Victoria Waterfield, Walter Simeon and Miss Kizlet. (TV: The Abominable Snowmen, The Snowmen, The Bells of Saint John) It also had considerable mental powers, namely telekinesis. (TV: The Abominable Snowmen) It was able to make a Eurotrain rear up like a snake and launched missiles, playing with them and engineering near-misses before letting them fall. (PROSE: Downtime) While merged with Saraquazel, it telekinetically constructed robot Yetis from its surroundings to defend itself. (PROSE: Millennial Rites)

When the Paternoster Gang encountered the Intelligence on Trenzalore, it displayed considerable knowledge of the Doctor's past and future, listing people he had killed, as well as names he'd have by the end of his life, including the Valeyard. When Madame Vastra asked how it had come by this information, it merely replied that it was information. (TV: The Name of the Doctor) It also tracked the Second Doctor and followed him through time and space, having built a machine that could drain his mind of knowledge and experience for the Intelligence. (TV: The Web of Fear)

Biology and appearance[[edit] | [edit source]]

"Was it huge with massive claws to crush and maim? A bloated spider-mind filling every cavernous gap with billowing web? Was it a mountain? A bank of mountains looming and rumbling like clouds in another sky or on another continuum?"The Intelligence ponders its original form [Downtime (novelisation) [src]]

The Second Doctor thought the best way to describe the Great Intelligence was as a "formless, shapeless thing, floating out in space like a cloud of mist, only with a mind and will." (TV: The Web of Fear) Both Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart and the Eleventh Doctor identified it as a mind parasite, whereas the Intelligence considered itself a mass of thoughts with a single thought. (HOMEVID: Downtime; TV: The Snowmen) It once reflected on whether or not it remembered what its original body was. (PROSE: Downtime)

In all realities, the Intelligence constantly sought physical existence to replace being a shapeless, formless cloud hanging in space, (PROSE: Legacies) eventually adopting Walter Simeon as a recurring avatar, speaking in that guise through a large wall-mounted video screen, (TV: The Bells of Saint John) modelling the Whisper Men on Simeon's appearance, (TV: The Name of the Doctor) and appearing as Simeon to James Lethbridge-Stewart and Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart. (PROSE: The Forgotten Son)

The control sphere pyramid. (HOMEVID: Downtime)

When not using a living being, the Intelligence maintained a basic manifestation as a three-sided pyramid composed of control spheres (TV: The Abominable Snowman) or ivory. (HOMEVID: Downtime) When forcibly summoned to Earth by Anne Travers, and being combined with three sets of physical laws in the Great Kingdom, the Intelligence was an emerald tetrahedron and, because of Travers' meddling, was merged with the god Saraquazel. (PROSE: Millennial Rites)

The Eleventh Doctor commented that the Intelligence was a hive mind, (TV: The Bells of Saint John) which accounted for the "mass of thoughts" theory, (HOMEVID: Downtime) while the Intelligence claimed itself as an embodiment of information, and Jenny Flint described it as "a mind without a body". (TV: The Name of the Doctor)

The Great Intelligence possessed some amount of artron energy, (PROSE: Millennial Rites) and could consume the mental energy of humans to grow stronger. (TV: The Bells of Saint John)

In its many attempts to achieve form, the Intelligence tried to manifest as ice people based on the human form, (TV: The Snowmen) and a slime that glowed brightly with a piercing light. (TV: The Abominable Snowmen) It also manifested as a dense fog that consumed anything entering it, and a poisonous fungus which spread through the London Underground. (TV: The Web of Fear) A fourth invasion of Earth had it trying to perpetuate itself in every machine and being, with the whole planet cocooned in web. (PROSE: Downtime)

At the end of its life, the Intelligence had never found substance, but rather used the Whisper Men, who appeared as faceless humanoids dressed just as Walter Simeon was when he died, to manifest in empty bodies. (TV: The Name of the Doctor) The Whisper Men told Clarence DeMarco that they were a manifestation of the Intelligence when they revealed the location of the Doctor's tomb to him. (HOMEVID: Clarence and the Whispermen)

Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Yog-Sothoth is a cosmic entity created by H. P. Lovecraft, part of a pantheon of alien "gods" that appear in his fiction. First mentioned in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, Yog-Sothoth is described in The Dunwich Horror as "the gate" and "the key" through which the Old Ones entered the universe. He is described in The Horror in the Museum as resembling "a congeries of iridescent globes". In Andy Lane's novel All-Consuming Fire, the Doctor mentions having met Yog-Sothoth "in Tibet and again in London", implying that Yog-Sothoth is the Intelligence. Craig Hinton's Millennial Rites, which featured the Intelligence, later made this explicit.
  • Whether the Great Intelligence should be referred to as "it" or "he" is perhaps best left to personal preference. Being emphatically inhuman and having not only no body, but no set physical avatar when it does incarnate itself, it is doubtful as to whether the Intelligence can be said to have a fixed gender; it is certainly genderless in a biological sense. The most that can be said is that, through borrowing the face of its progenitor Walter Simeon long after the man's death, the Intelligence as depicted in Series 7 can be said to be male-presenting.
  • Writer Neil Gaiman disclosed in Doctor Who Magazine #448 that earlier drafts of his script for The Doctor's Wife implied that House, the villain of that story, was actually the Great Intelligence. These hints did not make it into the episode as aired. The idea of the Great Intelligence as a villain for the revived series Doctor Who would later lead to The Snowmen.
  • With a gap of forty-four years, the Great Intelligence held the record for longest period of time between televised Doctor Who appearances, until the return of the Toymaker in The Giggle, which aired fifty-seven years after his one and only previous television appearance.
  • Unusually, unlike other monsters that have appeared in both the classic and revived series, the original creators of the Great Intelligence (Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln) have never been credited at the end of an episode of the revival.
  • Another origin for the Great Intelligence was to be featured in the cancelled novel Day of the Intelligence.

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]