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{{Infobox Species
{{Infobox Species
|Species name = Carrionite
|image      = Carrionite looks left.jpg
|image = [[Image:Carrionite3.jpg|250px]]
|aka        = [[Witch]]
|aka = Witch
|type       = [[Humanoid]]
|type = [[Humanoid]]
|origin     = [[Rexel IV]], [[Rexel]] system
|origin = Rexel 4, [[Rexel]] system
|affiliation =  
|affiliation = None
|first      = The Shakespeare Code (TV story)
|appearances = [[DW]]: ''[[The Shakespeare Code]]''
|appearances = {{il|[[COMIC]]: ''[[The First (comic story)|The First]]''|[[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Carrionite Curse (audio story)|The Carrionite Curse]]''|[[PROSE]]: ''[[Toil and Trouble (short story)|Toil and Trouble]]''|[[TV]]: ''[[The Unicorn and the Wasp (TV story)|The Unicorn and the Wasp]]''|[[PROSE]]: ''[[The Return of Robin Hood (novel)|The Return of Robin Hood]]''}}
[[DW]]: ''[[The Unicorn and the Wasp]]'' (Cameo)
|individuals = {{csl|[[Lilith (The Shakespeare Code)|Lilith]]|[[Bloodtide|Mother Bloodtide]]|[[Doomfinger|Mother Doomfinger]]}}
|clip        = A Shakespearean villain - Doctor Who - The Shakespeare Code - BBC
|clip2      = Expelliarmus! William Shakespeare Vs The Carrionites - Doctor Who - The Shakespeare Code - BBC
}}{{ImageLink}}
The '''Carrionites''' were a species of [[humanoid]]s which used [[word-based science]] or "[[witchcraft]]" to reshape reality.


|Mentions =
== Biology ==
|individuals = [[Lilith]]<br>[[Mother Bloodtide]]<br>[[Mother Doomfinger]]
The true form of a Carrionite resembled a giant skeletal [[raven]] or crow. They were able to assume a more humanoid form but this used a lot of energy, and so they usually had wrinkled skin, large, clawed hands, and sharp canine teeth. The Carrionite [[Lilith (The Shakespeare Code)|Lilith]] could assume the form of a beautiful young woman, a trick she used to ensnare male victims. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Shakespeare Code (TV story)|The Shakespeare Code]]'')
}}


The '''Carrionites''' are an entirely female species of [[humanoid]]s.  
== Technology ==
Carrionite technology was described as [[witchcraft]]. It was actually a word-based science, as opposed to the mathematics of most species, and relied on the right words and the right places, such as the Carrionite's use of the [[Globe Theatre]]'s structure. They also placed great importance on knowing the name of an individual to give them control.
[[File:Carrionite3.jpg|left|thumb|[[Lilith (The Shakespeare Code)|Lilith]] taking on [[humanoid]] form. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Shakespeare Code (TV story)|The Shakespeare Code]]'')]]


==Biology==
With this linguistic technology for a basis, the Carrionites had a wide variety of abilities. They used both poppets and puppets as [[DNA replication module]]s to cause damage from afar or control a person's actions. This required a tissue sample, such as a hair, to work. They could also fly, dematerialise and rematerialise at will, communicate with other Carrionites from a distance and had the ability to discover a person's name and use it against them, even sensing if those they named were out of their time, like [[Martha Jones]]. [[Tenth Doctor|The Doctor]], however, was mostly immune to such, though Lilith could detect a name that strongly connected to him; [[Rose Tyler|Rose]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Shakespeare Code (TV story)|The Shakespeare Code]]'')
The true form of a Carrionite resembled a female with wrinkled skin and large clawed hands. Inside their mouths are sharp canine teeth. However, Carrionites could assume a [[near-Human]] form, and the Carrionite Lilith was able to assume the form of a beautiful young woman, a trick she used to ensnare male victims.  
[[Image:Carrionite2.jpg|left|thumb|196px|A summoned Carrionite.]]
The Carrionites that were summoned by the final lines of ''[[wikipedia:Love's Labours Won|Love's Labours Won]]'' were even more horrific, with no visible legs, massive claws, beak-like noses and hooked chins. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Shakespeare Code]]'')


==Technology==
== History ==
Carrionites could fly, dematerialise and rematerialise at will, communicate with other Carrionites from a distance and use [[wikipedia:poppet|poppets]] to cause odd deaths in enemies. Though their abilities were described as [[magic|witchcraft]], it was actually based on a word-based science, as opposed to the mathematics of most species. Although this arguably is magic/witchcraft, even admitted by the doctor himself in the first ten minutes of the episode "The shakespare code". This technology relied on the right words and the right places, such as the Carrionite's use of [[Globe Theatre]]'s structure. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Shakespeare Code]]'')
At "[[Dark Times|the dawn of the Universe]]", the Carrionites evolved in their 14-planet star system and developed their word-based science. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Shakespeare Code (TV story)|The Shakespeare Code]]'') Eventually, the Carrionites got into a [[Carrionite-Hervoken War|war]] with the [[Hervoken]]. This war threatened the structure of the [[universe]], so the [[Eternal]]s stepped in and banished both races to the [[Deep Darkness]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Forever Autumn (novel)|Forever Autumn]]'')
[[File:Lilith looks left.jpg|thumb|[[Lilith (The Shakespeare Code)|Lilith]] taking [[human]] form. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Shakespeare Code (TV story)|The Shakespeare Code]]'')]]
Ancient [[Time Lord]]s were aware of the Carrionites, and shunned them. In fact, [[Scintilla|Lady Scintilla]] was imprisoned in [[Shada]] for "conspiring with Carrionites". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Shada (novelisation)|Shada]]'')


:''The fact their science was largely implemented using words alone, without much use of instrumentality, suggests that their powers were derived from the lexical equivalent of [[Block Transfer Computation|block transfer]] (which used pure mathematics to reshape reality).
Several million years later, in the late [[16th century]], a group of three Carrionites — [[Bloodtide]], [[Doomfinger]], and [[Lilith (The Shakespeare Code)|Lilith]] — escaped using words of power from the plays of [[William Shakespeare]], partly the result of the writer's grief at the death of his son. They influenced the design of the 14-sided [[Globe Theatre]], based on the [[planet]]s of their [[star system]], and, in [[1599]], planned to use his new play, ''[[Love's Labour's Won]]'', to free the rest of their race from the Darkness and take over [[Earth]], removing [[human]]ity from it as a pestilence, to establish the "Millennium of [[Blood]]".


The Carrionites also appear to be possess some unknown ability to discover a person's true name; although Lilith was in the room when the Doctor and Martha Jones introduce themselves to Shakespeare she later remarks "there is no name" when trying to name the Doctor.
The last few lines of the play were written by Shakespeare in a trance as a spell to open a portal from the Deep Darkness to this [[universe]]. The portal was opened when the play was performed, but the Tenth Doctor, Martha Jones and Shakespeare managed to close it using the power of words, and all who had come through were sent back into the Darkness. The three previously escaped Carrionites were trapped within a crystal ball, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Shakespeare Code (TV story)|The Shakespeare Code]]'') which the Doctor kept in [[The Doctor's TARDIS|his TARDIS]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Unicorn and the Wasp (TV story)|The Unicorn and the Wasp]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Taking of Chelsea 426 (novel)|The Taking of Chelsea 426]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Carrionite Curse (audio story)|The Carrionite Curse]]'')


==History==
[[Henry Gordon Jago]] and [[George Litefoot]] encountered some Carrionites in [[1899]]. George later wrote about this in his book, ''[[Reminiscences of the Peculiar]]''.
At "[[Dark Times|the dawn of the Universe]]", the Carrionites evolved in their 14-planet star system and developed their word-based science. ([[DW]]: [[The Shakespeare Code]])


The Carrionites waged a war on a species called the [[Hervoken]] who had similar powers. ([[TDA]]: [[Forever Autumn]]). However, the [[Eternal]]s banished them and the Hervoken to the [[Deep Darkness]] using a special word of power. In time, they passed into legend like most species from the Dark Times.
The [[Sixth Doctor]] encountered a set of Carrionites in the [[1980s]]. They inhabited some of the locals in [[Birmingham]] and used the [[temporal paradox]] of the fact that the Tenth Doctor defeated them in their past and the walls of the local council had been built from the remains of the Globe. [[Anachronism]]s gave them power, and the Sixth Doctor's carefully chosen words could weaken the Carrionites. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Carrionite Curse (audio story)|The Carrionite Curse]]'')


Several billion years later in the late [[1500s]], a group of three - Bloodtide, Doomfinger and Lilith - escaped using words of power from the plays of [[William Shakespeare]], partly the result of the writer's grief at the death of his son. They influenced the design of the 14-sided [[Globe Theatre]], based on the [[planet]]s of their [[star system]], and, in [[1599]], planned to use his new play, ''[[Love's Labours Won]]'', to free the rest of their race from the Darkness and take over [[Earth]], removing [[Human]]ity from it as a pestilence, to establish the "Millennium of [[Blood]]".
== Other references ==
When the [[Skith Leader]] scanned the [[Tenth Doctor]]'s mind, a Carrionite was among the alien creatures shown to him. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The First (comic story)|The First]]'')


The last few lines of the play were written by Shakespeare in a trance to be a spell said by one of the cast of the play to open a portal from the Deep Darkness to this [[universe]]. However, the portal was closed and the race of [[witch]]es and all copies of ''Love's Labours Won'' vanished into the Darkness thanks to the help of [[Tenth Doctor|the Doctor]], who told him that he was "the wordsmith" and could create the new words of power to send them back into the Darkness, and [[Martha Jones]], who provided the last word - "''[[w:c:Harrypotter:Expelliarmus|Expelliarmus]]''" - from the ''[[w:c:Harrypotter:Main Page|Harry Potter]]'' series of novels.
During the [[Siege of Trenzalore]], when [[Vida Clatterly]] asked the [[Eleventh Doctor]] if magic was real, one component of his reply, which he delivered "smil[ing] as if with nostalgia", went: "There are some races so ancient that their science appears to be a form of magic – the [[Daemon]]s, the [[Osiran]]s, the Carrionites, the [[Hervoken]]". ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Dreaming (short story)}})


The Carrionites were probably Shakespeare's inspiration for the Weird Sisters of his play, ''Macbeth''.  ([[DW]]: ''[[The Shakespeare Code]]'')
== Behind the scenes ==
Mothers Doomfinger and Bloodtide make a cameo in the animated [[title sequence]] of the [[Series 2 (Totally Doctor Who)|second series]] of ''[[Totally Doctor Who]]''.


{{Series 3 aliens}}
{{Dark Times Species}}


[[Category:Tenth Doctor enemies]]
[[Category:Humanoid species]]
[[Category:Humanoid species]]
[[Category:Mammalian species]]
[[Category:Shapeshifters]]
[[Category:Metamorphic species]]
[[Category:Psychic species]]
[[Category:Aliens which disguise as humans]]
[[Category:All-female species]]
[[Category:CGI monsters]]
[[Category:Species]]
[[Category:Species from the Dark Times]]

Latest revision as of 04:09, 26 June 2024

The Carrionites were a species of humanoids which used word-based science or "witchcraft" to reshape reality.

Biology[[edit] | [edit source]]

The true form of a Carrionite resembled a giant skeletal raven or crow. They were able to assume a more humanoid form but this used a lot of energy, and so they usually had wrinkled skin, large, clawed hands, and sharp canine teeth. The Carrionite Lilith could assume the form of a beautiful young woman, a trick she used to ensnare male victims. (TV: The Shakespeare Code)

Technology[[edit] | [edit source]]

Carrionite technology was described as witchcraft. It was actually a word-based science, as opposed to the mathematics of most species, and relied on the right words and the right places, such as the Carrionite's use of the Globe Theatre's structure. They also placed great importance on knowing the name of an individual to give them control.

With this linguistic technology for a basis, the Carrionites had a wide variety of abilities. They used both poppets and puppets as DNA replication modules to cause damage from afar or control a person's actions. This required a tissue sample, such as a hair, to work. They could also fly, dematerialise and rematerialise at will, communicate with other Carrionites from a distance and had the ability to discover a person's name and use it against them, even sensing if those they named were out of their time, like Martha Jones. The Doctor, however, was mostly immune to such, though Lilith could detect a name that strongly connected to him; Rose. (TV: The Shakespeare Code)

History[[edit] | [edit source]]

At "the dawn of the Universe", the Carrionites evolved in their 14-planet star system and developed their word-based science. (TV: The Shakespeare Code) Eventually, the Carrionites got into a war with the Hervoken. This war threatened the structure of the universe, so the Eternals stepped in and banished both races to the Deep Darkness. (PROSE: Forever Autumn)

Ancient Time Lords were aware of the Carrionites, and shunned them. In fact, Lady Scintilla was imprisoned in Shada for "conspiring with Carrionites". (PROSE: Shada)

Several million years later, in the late 16th century, a group of three Carrionites — Bloodtide, Doomfinger, and Lilith — escaped using words of power from the plays of William Shakespeare, partly the result of the writer's grief at the death of his son. They influenced the design of the 14-sided Globe Theatre, based on the planets of their star system, and, in 1599, planned to use his new play, Love's Labour's Won, to free the rest of their race from the Darkness and take over Earth, removing humanity from it as a pestilence, to establish the "Millennium of Blood".

The last few lines of the play were written by Shakespeare in a trance as a spell to open a portal from the Deep Darkness to this universe. The portal was opened when the play was performed, but the Tenth Doctor, Martha Jones and Shakespeare managed to close it using the power of words, and all who had come through were sent back into the Darkness. The three previously escaped Carrionites were trapped within a crystal ball, (TV: The Shakespeare Code) which the Doctor kept in his TARDIS. (TV: The Unicorn and the Wasp, PROSE: The Taking of Chelsea 426, AUDIO: The Carrionite Curse)

Henry Gordon Jago and George Litefoot encountered some Carrionites in 1899. George later wrote about this in his book, Reminiscences of the Peculiar.

The Sixth Doctor encountered a set of Carrionites in the 1980s. They inhabited some of the locals in Birmingham and used the temporal paradox of the fact that the Tenth Doctor defeated them in their past and the walls of the local council had been built from the remains of the Globe. Anachronisms gave them power, and the Sixth Doctor's carefully chosen words could weaken the Carrionites. (AUDIO: The Carrionite Curse)

Other references[[edit] | [edit source]]

When the Skith Leader scanned the Tenth Doctor's mind, a Carrionite was among the alien creatures shown to him. (COMIC: The First)

During the Siege of Trenzalore, when Vida Clatterly asked the Eleventh Doctor if magic was real, one component of his reply, which he delivered "smil[ing] as if with nostalgia", went: "There are some races so ancient that their science appears to be a form of magic – the Daemons, the Osirans, the Carrionites, the Hervoken…". (PROSE: The Dreaming [+]Loading...["The Dreaming (short story)"])

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

Mothers Doomfinger and Bloodtide make a cameo in the animated title sequence of the second series of Totally Doctor Who.