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{{FAnom}}  
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{{Infobox Species
{{pullout|{{Update|Information from ''[[Salvation Nine (audio story)|Salvation Nine]]''}}}}
|image = [[Image:Sontaran.jpg|250px]]
{{ImageLink}}
|Species name = Sontaran
{{Infobox Species  
|type = [[Humanoid]]
|image       = Commander Stark.jpg
|aka = Potato Head
|aka        = Sont, [[goblin]], [[troll]]
|affiliation = [[Sontaran Empire]]
|type       = [[Humanoid]]
|origin = [[Sontar]], [[Mutter's Spiral]]
|affiliation = [[Sontaran Empire]], [[The Alliance (Warmonger)|the Alliance]], [[Pandorica Alliance]], [[Androgum]]s
|appearances = [[Sontarans - Lists of Appearances|List of Appearances]]
|origin      = [[Sontar]]
|Mentions = <ul><li>[[DW]]: ''[[Horror of Fang Rock]]'', ''[[The Ultimate Foe]]''</li><li>[[MA]]: ''[[The Crystal Bucephalus]]''</li><li>[[PDA]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel]]''</li><li>[[SJA]]: ''[[Eye of the Gorgon]]''
|first cs    = The Time Warrior (TV story)
|individuals =[[Stike|Group Marshal Stike]]<br>[[Sontar (individual)|General Sontar]]<br>[[General Staal]]<br>[[Linx|Commander Linx]]<br>[[Skorr|Commander Skorr]]<br>[[Stor|Commander Stor]]<br>[[Kaagh|Commander Kaagh]]<br>[[Styre|Field Major Styre]]<br>[[Varl|Major Varl]]
|appearances = {{appears}}
}}
|individuals = {{csl|[[Sontar (The Infinity Doctors)|Sontar]]|[[Sontaran-Prime]]|[[Strax]]|[[Kaagh]]|[[Starn]]|[[Stonn]]|[[Sarg (Mindgame)|Sarg]]|[[Jingo Linx]]|[[Styre]]|[[Stor]]|[[Stike]]|[[Stave]]|[[Steg]]|[[Brilox]]|[[Brak]]|[[Lerox]]|[[Staal]]|[[Stomm]]|[[Stark (The Pandorica Opens)|Stark]]|[[Kragar]]|[[Stenck]]}}
|clip        = First appearance of the Sontarans - The Time Warrior - BBC
|clip2      = A Premature Celebration - The Invasion of Time - Doctor Who - BBC
|clip3      = The Doctor Ignites The Poison Gas - The Poison Sky - Doctor Who - BBC
}}{{you may|Kaveetch|n1=the original natives of Sontar}}
The '''Sontarans''' were a [[humanoid]] race of belligerent and militaristic [[clone]]s from the planet [[Sontar]], created by the [[Kaveetch]]. They waged an [[Rutan-Sontaran War|eternal war]] throughout [[Mutter's Spiral]] against the [[Rutan]]s, though they made no effort to change this nor did they want peace.


The '''Sontarans''' (pronounced "Sohn-TAR-rans") were a race of belligerent and militaristic [[clone]]s who waged eternal war throughout the [[Mutter's Spiral]] against the [[Rutan Host]].
== Biology ==
[[File:Sontaran Cloning.jpg|thumb|left|A Sontaran comes out of the Cloning Chamber. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Outsider (comic story)}})]]
The Sontarans were [[humanoid]]s with large, bulbous heads and short stocky [[body|bodies]]; humans who met them, such as [[Sarah Jane Smith]], [[Clyde Langer]] and [[Bea Nelson-Stanley]], often compared them to "huge [[potato]]es with ray guns". ([[TV]]: {{cs|Eye of the Gorgon (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Last Sontaran (TV story)}}) Alternatively, [[Mickey Smith]] described [[Jask (The End of Time)|one]] as a "[[dumpling]] with a gun". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The End of Time (TV story)}}) They had [[grey]]-[[brown]] [[skin]] and deep set features. Sontarans generally had three digits on each [[hand]] (two [[finger]]s and a [[thumb]]), ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time Warrior (TV story)}}, ''et al'') though some had five fingers on each hand. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)}}) Some Sontarans also had vestigial hair, generally in the form of [[beard]]s, which grew [[white]] with age. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Two Doctors (TV story)}}; [[PROSE]]: {{cs|Shakedown (novelisation)}}; [[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)}}, {{cs|Supremacy of the Cybermen (comic story)}}) Sontaran [[blood]] was mostly [[green]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Two Doctors (TV story)}}, {{cs|A Fix with Sontarans (home video)}}, {{cs|The Last Sontaran (TV story)}}) although it was occasionally red. ([[HOMEVID]]: {{cs|Battlefield (home video)}})


==Biology==
According to [[Strax]], Sontarans' [[height]]s were "to precise warrior specifications". ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|A Photograph to Remember (audio story)}}) Group Marshal [[Stike]] and Major [[Varl]] were noticeably taller than their [[Androgum]] associates [[Shockeye]] and [[Chessene]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Two Doctors (TV story)}})
The Sontarans were [[humanoid]]s with large, bulbous heads and short stocky bodies. They had grey-brown skin and deep set features. Sontarans generally had three digits on each hand (two fingers and a thumb). They had great strength and resilience in lower [[gravity]] environments like [[Earth]] or [[Gallifrey]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Two Doctors]]'') Despite this strength, Sontaran muscles were designed for load bearing rather than leverage. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time Warrior]]'') Sontaran [[Blood]] was green. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Two Doctors]]'') They were also weak to [[Coronic acid]], which caused them to disintegrate and burn. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Two Doctors]]'')


The Sontarans reproduced by cloning, meaning each Sontaran was nearly identical to each other. The cloned Sontaran species consisted only of males. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time Warrior]]'') All appeared roughly the same age, with the exception of General [[Sontar (individual)|Sontar]], who appeared older. ([[PDA]]: ''[[The Infinity Doctors]]'') The rare [[Pureblood Sontaran]] had increased status and were higher in the hierarchy. Occasionally, genetic defects would crop up and the afflicted Sontarans would be sent to work in menial labour. ([[DWM]]: ''[[The Betrothal of Sontar]]'')
The Sontarans reproduced by cloning, meaning every Sontaran was nearly identical to each other. There were some variations over time, such as the number of fingers, ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)}}) [[height]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Two Doctors (TV story)}}) or [[skin colour]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Shakedown (novelisation)}}) Variation was typical across Sontaran [[generation]]s of clone replication. This sometimes led to "throwbacks" to past Sontarans. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|A Photograph to Remember (audio story)}})


It would appear that there was some variation in the genes used for cloning, as Sontarans changed over the years to the extent that their number of fingers was inconsistent. There would also presumably have to be some variation in mental capacity, otherwise the rank system would be meaningless.
At least [[Strax|one Sontaran]] had been gene-spliced for [[milk|nursing]] purposes, such as the ability to produce breast milk. ([[TV]]: {{cs|A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)}}) They used mass cloning techniques that allowed their hatcheries to produce up to a million Sontarans in four minutes. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Lords of the Storm (novel)}})


==Society==
Occasionally, genetic defects would crop up and the afflicted Sontarans would perform menial labour. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)}})
The Sontarans were a martial species, obsessed with war. The highest honour for a Sontaran was to serve in the Imperial Fleet and to be disallowed soldiering was the most dishonourable fate for a Sontaran. ([[DWM]]: ''[[The Betrothal of Sontar]]'') Sontarans did not fear death, and they would rather be court-martialled than show pain to others. They considered it honourable to face battle open skinned, without a helmet on. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]''/''[[The Poison Sky]]'')


Despite being a clone race, the Sontarans still retained the concept of betrothal, which was roughly analogous to ending hostilities by killing your enemy. ([[DWM]]: ''[[The Betrothal of Sontar]]'')
[[File:Sontaran skull.jpg|thumb|A Sontaran skull. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)}})]]
Due to the high [[gravity]] of the moon of Sontar that they were first created on, the Sontarans had great strength and resilience in lower gravity environments like [[Earth]] or [[Gallifrey]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Two Doctors (TV story)}}, [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The First Sontarans (audio story)}}) However, Sontaran [[muscle]]s were designed for load bearing rather than leverage, ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time Warrior (TV story)}}) which could lead to unwieldiness. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)}})


The Sontarans have been known to form alliances with others, such as [[Irongron]], the [[Androgum]]s, the [[Vardan]]s, and [[Luke Rattigan]], but usually betray their allies when the arrangement is no longer convenient.
The Sontaran [[cardiovascular system]] was 210% more efficient than the [[human]] normal. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Shadow Play (audio story)}})


===Ranks===
They were vulnerable to [[coronic acid]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Two Doctors (TV story)}}) If severely wounded, a Sontaran would enter an [[anabolic coma]]. They would usually die, but sometimes they would later wake. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Shakedown (novelisation)}})
:''Note that the ranks are listed in presumed order of seniority in relation to real-life ranks of Earth armed forces. The precise order is pure speculation, however.''
{|width="75%"
||
*Space Marshal
*Battle Marshal
*Fleet Marshal
*Group Marshal
*Marshal
*General
*Squadron Commander
*Commander
||
*Battle Major
*Field Major
*Major
*Captain
*Lieutenant
*Warrior
|}


The ranks of individual Sontarans were generally not prominently displayed on the uniform. The Marshal above [[Styre]] sported two large spiky disks on the front of his collar. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Experiment]]'') Commander [[Stor]] wore a larger collar than his troops and had a white, three-pointed crown imprinted on his helmet ([[DW]]: ''[[The Invasion of Time]]''), although the crown may well have been the emblem of the Sontaran Empire ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time Warrior]]''). Group Marshal [[Stike]] had white braiding on his shoulders, akin to epaulets. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Two Doctors]]'') In the early [[21st century]], badges of rank were more clearly visible and consisted of various symbols set into the right-hand side of the front of the collar. General Staal wore five diamonds in a crown-shaped pattern. Commander Skorr sported three diamonds in a similar design. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]''/''[[The Poison Sky]]'')
Sontarans fed on pure energy through a probic vent in the back of the neck, ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)}}) which was also used as an access point to refill their armour with the chemicals of their native atmosphere. ([[TV]]: {{cs|War of the Sontarans (TV story)}}) This vent was also their crucial weakness, as any sudden blow to the vent would stun them. The penetration of a sharp object into the vent would kill them. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time Warrior (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Invasion of Time (TV story)}}, et al.) Tampering with the energy source could also lead to a reversal effect that could destroy a Sontaran from the inside out. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)}})


===Forces===
Sontarans needed 7.5 minutes of sleep every 27 Earth hours. ([[TV]]: {{cs|War of the Sontarans (TV story)}}) While it was unknown if the rest cycle was a biological necessity, ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Shakedown (novelisation)}}) when they were occupying planets with a significantly different atmospheric composition to their homeworld the Sontarans would use the rest period as an opportunity to refill their suits with the chemicals and nutrients of Sontar's atmosphere. ([[TV]]: {{cs|War of the Sontarans (TV story)}})
The Sontaran military was divided into several different units, regiments and fleets:


*[[Fifth Army Space Fleet of the Sontaran Army Space Corps]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time Warrior]]'')
Sontarans could live into their eighties, but this was uncommon due to their military culture. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)}}) In an [[The Infinity Doctors universe|alternate universe]], all Sontarans appeared, roughly, the same age, with the exception of the older [[General]] [[Sontar (The Infinity Doctors)|Sontar]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Infinity Doctors (novel)}})
*[[G3 Military Assessment Survey]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Experiment]]'')
*[[Sontaran Special Space Service]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Invasion of Time]]'')
*[[Ninth Sontaran Attack Group]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Two Doctors]]'')
*[[Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]''/''[[The Poison Sky]]'')
*[[Twelfth Sontaran Battle Fleet]] ([[TDA]]: ''[[The Sontaran Games]]'')
*[[Special Assault Squad]] - Attached to other units, such as the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet ([[SJA]]: ''[[The Last Sontaran]]'')
*[[Koda]] - Military security branch of the Sontaran Armed Forces. (''[[MA]]: [[Lords of the Storm]]'')


==Technology==
Members of the [[Great Houses]] regarded the Sontarans as "[[goblin]]s"; [[Larissa]] remembered the [[Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey]] as a "goblin infestation", ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Newtons Sleep (novel)}}) and in ''[[Mujun: The Ghost Kingdom]]'' the [[Seventy-Ninth Sontaran Assault Corps]] was represented by a "goblin-hoarde". ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Book of the War (novel)}}, [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Eleven Day Empire (audio story)}})
:''See also [[:Category:Sontaran technology|Sontaran Technology]].''


The Sontarans were reasonably advanced, though all their technology was designed for use in the war with the [[Rutan Host]]. They often used [[Sontaran Scout Ship|spherical spaceships]] and could make advanced robots for various purposes.
Sontarans were biologically both male and female but the high levels of [[testosterone]] produced for combat caused them all to be born male. If a Sontaran was allowed to age, they would steadily turn female. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Salvation Nine (audio story)}})


===Weaponry===
== Society ==
The Sontarans could use and make a wide variety of hand-held weapons, though they usually used a thin, metallic weapon, the approximate shape and size of a [[Wikipedia:corkscrew|corkscrew]]; the [[Rheon Carbine]] which was designed to optimally fit the Sontaran hand. The weapons were used for energy projection and [[hypnosis|hypnotism]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time Warrior]]'', [[NA]]: ''[[Shakedown]]'', [[MA]]: ''[[Lords of the Storm]]'') The Sontarans also utilised [[Sontaran laser|rifle laser]] weapons during the assault of [[2009]], which fired bright beams of red light that could kill a Human without any exterior damage. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Strategem]]''/''[[The Poison Sky]]'')
The Sontarans were a martial species, obsessed with war. They hated the idea of a great war going on without them. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time Warrior (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}}) Sontaran civilisation relied on war, and the continuing war effort of the Sontaran Empire relied upon its civilisation. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)}}) Sontarans trained for war in the [[Sontaran Greater Military Academy]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Devil in the Smoke (novel)}}) [[Jingo Linx]] claimed that [[hatching]]s of a million [[cadet]]s occurred at each Academy [[muster parade]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time Warrior (TV story)}}) The body of power in the empire was the [[Grand Strategic Council]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Conduct Unbecoming (audio story)}})


[[Image:St--4b23.jpg|150px|thumb|left|[[Styre]] in his battle armour ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Experiment]]'')]]
The [[Sontaran Subliminal Education Matrix]]'s entry on the [[Dalek]]s acknowledged that the two species shared a [[bloodlust]] and a will to bend all opposition to their "iron rule", however, it maintained that the Sontarans were motivated by honour and their own "[[superiority]]" whilst the Daleks were motivated by their [[hatred]] for all other [[life form]]s which was characterised as a dishonourable "weakness" and "sickness" that dwarfed the Sontarans' own animosity for the Rutans. It did, however, observe that the Daleks were "the right [[height]]". ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|A Soldier's Education (short story)}})


The Sontarans also made use of [[Sontaran fragmentation grenade|fragmentation grenades]], which could destroy everything in a certain area. ([[DWN]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons]]'', [[NA]]: ''[[Legacy]]'')
The highest honour for a Sontaran was to serve in the [[Imperial Sontaran Fleet]]; conversely, to be disallowed soldiering was the most dishonourable fate for a Sontaran. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)}}) Taking care of the sick and wounded was a humiliating concept. ([[TV]]: {{cs|A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)}}) Fighting for other species was an equally dishonourable fate. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Enemy of the Bane (TV story)}}) Sontarans did not fear death and they would rather be court-martialled than show pain. They considered it honourable to face battle "open skinned", without a helmet on. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}}/{{cs|The Poison Sky (TV story)}})


===Transportation===
The Sontaran Subliminal Education Matrix claimed that each [[drop-pod]] was [[paint]]ed a bright and reflective [[silver]] so that they could be clearly seen against the [[sky]], refusing to adopt the "[[cowardice]]" of [[camouflage]]. At the same time, however, [[Mark VII Battle Armour]] could be modified for the inclusion of a perception-camouflage matrix. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|A Soldier's Education (short story)}}) The Sontarans were known to have used an [[invisibility cloak]] during the [[Siege of Trenzalore]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time of the Doctor (TV story)}})
[[Image:Sontaran Ship.JPG|thumb|right|A Sontaran scout ship. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'')]]
The Sontarans used spherical vessels, which were covered in square plates. They were generally only large enough for one Sontaran. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time Warrior]]'') The [[Sontaran Flagship|Sontaran motherships]] were similar in shape, but had 4 claw like appendages coming out of the top and bottom. The scout ships were attached to the mothership and could be released when needed. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Strategem]]''/''[[The Poison Sky]]'')


When on a planet, the Sontarans would travel by the means of aircrafts. These aircrafts looked like the bottom half of a Sontaran ship, with seats and controls on the top. ([[DWM]]: ''[[The Betrothal of Sontar]]'')
Though they would [[alliance|ally]] with other species, ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Shakedown (novelisation)}}, [[TV]]: {{cs|The Pandorica Opens (TV story)}}) they felt no need to keep these alliances, ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Shakedown (novelisation)}}) with [[Stike]] insisting that the Sontarans did not need allies. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Two Doctors (TV story)}}) Sontarans would only ally themselves with other species, take prisoners, or allow enemies to live, if it served the greater good of the empire. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)}}) The [[Sixth Doctor]] claimed that the Sontarans lacked allies because they were un[[trust]]worthy, whilst the [[Second Doctor]] made the observation that, like the [[Androgum]]s, [[treachery]] was as natural to the Sontarans as [[breathing]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Two Doctors (TV story)}}) Indeed, [[General]] [[Staal]] deceived [[Luke Rattigan]] and [[Rattigan Academy|his academy]] into assisting the [[Sontaran invasion of Earth]] while intending to kill them when their usefulness was at an end. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Poison Sky (TV story)}}) The [[Thirteenth Doctor]] noted that she had seen a lot of [[species]] make alliances with Sontarans, warning [[the Grand Serpent]] that it never ended well. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Vanquishers (TV story)}}) During the [[Last Great Time War]], both the [[Time Lord]]s and the [[Dalek]]s refused to ally with the Sontarans, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Eternity Cage (audio story)}}) excluding them from the conflict. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}})


By the [[Early human history|12th century]], Sontarans already used crude [[time-travel]] technology, utilising [[osmic projection]], though nothing comparable to [[Time Lords]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time Warrior]]'') In the [[20th century]], they made other attempts to obtain more effective time-travel technology, specifically those of the [[Time Lord]]s. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Two Doctors]]'')  
Sontarans who possessed five digits on their hands were generally placed as intelligence operatives. However, these agents had a tendency to be paranoid. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Lords of the Storm (novel)}})


Sontarans adapted teleportation technology using generators situated at the area of materialisation. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Strategem]]''/''[[The Poison Sky]]'')
The Sontarans marched to a tune titled the [[Sontaran Anthem]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Eight Doctors (novel)}})


===Armour===
Despite being a clone race, the Sontarans still retained the concept of betrothal, which was roughly analogous to ending hostilities by killing one's enemy. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)}}) Within their society, there was a rigid clan structure, with clans having different genetic markers. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Lords of the Storm (novel)}}) The clans vied for power. Some had great influence, such as the [[Gunnar Clan]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Shakedown (novelisation)}}) Sontarans were known for Quicksand Wrestling. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Enemy of the Bane (TV story)}})
[[Image:Skorr3.jpg|thumb|right|21st century era armour]]
Sontarans wore distinctive battle armour, which resembled a thick and bulky grey space suit. Their helmets were dome-shaped and almost featureless except for two eye holes and a small, flat crest running from the forehead to the back of the neck. This may be related to the Juggernaut's helmet in the popular comic book series, X-Men. They generally carried around their rod-like weapon and a [[translating device]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time Warrior]]'') During a period in the early [[21st century]] Sontarans had blue, less flexible, armour in a similar design. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Strategem]]''/''[[The Poison Sky]]'')


[[Image:St--3u07linxscontroldevice.jpg|thumb|left|A Sontaran control device. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time Warrior]]'')]]
Sontarans used a {{w|Senary|Base-6}} counting system. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Last Sontaran (TV story)}})


===Other Technology===
Sontarans generally held a chauvinistic attitude towards females, considering them unfit for warfare. They would sometimes insult their enemies by comparing them to women. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}}) They also considered their reproductive systems inferior. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time Warrior (TV story)}}) Some Sontarans, however, had trouble figuring out which gender humans were. ([[TV]]: {{cs|A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Snowmen (TV story)}}) They referred to Earth-born children as "half forms". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Last Sontaran (TV story)}}, {{cs|Enemy of the Bane (TV story)}})
The Sontarans were capable of creating around a million clones every four minutes, which allowed them to sustain massive casualties. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time Warrior]]'') These clones were fed using the [[probic vent]], which was the Sontaran's only weak spot. These clones were grown in vats and were nourished by [[sezerfine gas]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Poison Sky]]'')


[[Styre]] used a miniature camera and a [[force field]] while studying the Humans. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Experiment]]'')  
Some Sontarans bore eponyms, relating to past victories and events that had occurred in their lives. Sontarans would often introduce themselves by their full name ' rank ' and/or title. The [[Tenth Doctor]] pointed out that a title such as [[Staal]]'s ("General Staal the Undefeated") would no longer be accurate if he ''did'' get defeated, joking, that, that would make him "General Staal the Not-Quite-So-Undefeated-But-Never-Mind." ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}}/{{cs|The Poison Sky (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Last Sontaran (TV story)}})


[[Sontaran invasion of Earth|During the mission]] to make [[Earth]] a clone planet, the Sontarans made a [[Cordolaine]] field around themselves that causes metallic copper to expand; when the copper is in the jacket of a bullet, it becomes jammed in the gun's barrel, rendering it useless. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Strategem]]''/''[[The Poison Sky]]'')
If a Sontaran opposed the decision of their commanding officer, they could duel to the death to decide which would be the leader. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Taking of Chelsea 426 (novel)}})


==History==
Sontarans considered informing a person that they looked forward to someday killing them on the battlefield a compliment. ([[TV]]: {{cs|A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)}})
===Early History===
Originally, Sontarans differed considerably in appearance and reproduced sexually, rather than via cloning. The original Sontarans appeared ganglier and more more like [[Human]]s. Prior to the war with the Rutans, the clones forced the [[pureblood Sontaran|pureblood]]s off-world. ([[DWM]]: ''[[Pureblood]]'')


===[[Rutan-Sontaran War]]===
Due to their dedication to warfare and short lifespan, [[Strax]] considered a twelve-year life to be a long one amongst his species. ([[TV]]: {{cs|A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)}}) Incinerators were kept on Sontaran ships to dispose of dead Sontaran soldiers. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Ordeal (audio story)}})
The cloned Sontarans were engaged in a [[Rutan-Sontaran War|war with the Rutan Host]]. During the [[Millennium War]], though, Sontarans and Rutans briefly joined forces. ([[PDA]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel]]'')


:''Accounts differ as to the date at which the Rutan-Sontaran war started.''
The [[Eighth Doctor]] believed that the word "overkill" was made for the Sontarans. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Ordeal (audio story)}})


[[Image:Timewarrior ep1.JPG|thumb|[[Jingo Linx]] on [[Earth]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time Warrior]]'')]]
[[Commander]] [[Kaagh]] followed the [[Laws of Battle]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Last Sontaran (TV story)}})
In [[Early human history#13th century|the 13th century]], [[Linx]], a scout, landed in [[England]] and claimed it for the Sontaran Empire. He proceeded to make an alliance with [[Irongron]], a local warlord, and to transport scientists from the [[20th century|late 20th century]] into the past using his osmic projection. He would then [[hypnosis|hypnotise]] them in order to make them work on his ship. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time Warrior]]'')


In [[1609]], along with the Rutans, the Sontarans participated in the summit of military powers throughout [[Mutter's Spiral]] in the [[Armageddon Convention]], which convened in [[Laputa]], a floating island in the sky near [[Venice]]. ([[MA]]: ''[[The Empire of Glass]]'')  
Following the [[Battle of Demons Run]], [[Madame Vastra]] claimed that Strax was the only Sontaran who had "fought [[brave]]ly in the best of [[cause]]s." ([[WC]]: {{cs|The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later (webcast)}})  


At some point during the [[20th century]], [[Edgar Nelson-Stanley]] met with the Sontarans. He believed they were "the silliest race in the galaxy". ([[SJA]]: ''[[Eye of the Gorgon]]'')
=== Ranks ===
[[File:Suicide Specialist Sontaran.jpg|thumb|[[Suicide Specialist Sontaran]]s went behind enemy lines and detonated [[bomb]]s strapped to their [[chest]]s. These Sontarans were bred to have no will to live. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Judas Goatee (comic story)}})]]
The ranks of individual Sontarans were generally not prominently displayed on the uniform. The Marshal above [[Styre]] sported two large spiky disks on the front of his collar. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)}}) Commander [[Stor]] wore a larger collar than his troops and had a white, three-pointed, crown imprinted on his helmet. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Invasion of Time (TV story)}}) Group Marshal [[Stike]] had white braiding on his shoulders, akin to epaulettes. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Two Doctors (TV story)}})


In the [[1980s]], the Sontaran Warburg investigated the possibility of using [[space-time vessel|time ship]]s in order to win the war. At the same point in time they were involved in a battle with the Rutans in the [[Madillon Cluster]]. Neither attempt was successful. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Two Doctors]]'')
In the early [[21st century]], badges of rank were more clearly visible and consisted of various symbols set into the right-hand side of the front of the collar. General Staal wore five diamonds in a crown-shaped pattern, and also had a crest made up of four diamond shapes on his helmet, a little similar in design to the crown on Stor's helmet. Commanders, such as Skorr and Kaagh, sported three diamonds in a similar pattern. The lowest rank of this badge design was Lieutenant, displayed by a single diamond in the middle of the badge, shown on Lieutenant [[Skree]], an operations officer. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}}/{{cs|The Poison Sky (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Last Sontaran (TV story)}}, {{cs|Enemy of the Bane (TV story)}}) In the [[24th century]], Commander [[Steg]] wore a gold helmet while his troops wore red ones. ([[HOMEVID]]: {{cs|Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans (home video)}})


[[Image:Comander Stall.jpg|left|thumb|General [[Staal]], during the Earth invasion of [[2009]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'')]]
=== Forces ===
The Sontaran military was divided into several different units, regiments, and fleets. These included the [[Fifth Sontaran Army Space Fleet]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time Warrior (TV story)}}) the [[G3 Military Assessment Survey]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)}}) the [[Sontaran Special Space Service]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Invasion of Time (TV story)}}) the [[Eighth Battle Fleet]], ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Instruments of War (comic story)}}) the [[Ninth Sontaran Battle Group]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Two Doctors (TV story)}}) the [[Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}}/{{cs|The Poison Sky (TV story)}}) the [[Twelfth Sontaran Battle Fleet]], ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Games (novel)}}) the [[Special Assault Squad]] attached to other units including the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet, ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Last Sontaran (TV story)}}) the [[Koda]], ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Lords of the Storm (novel)}}) the [[First Assault Battalion]], ([[HOMEVID]]: {{cs|Mindgame (home video)}}) the [[Imperial Sontaran Fleet]], ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)}}) the [[Fourth Sontaran Intelligence Division]], ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Taking of Chelsea 426 (novel)}}) the [[Seventy-Ninth Sontaran Assault Corps]], ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Eleven Day Empire (audio story)}}) and, in [[The Infinity Doctors universe|one universe]], the [[Three Millionth Fleet]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Infinity Doctors (novel)}}) In an [[Alternate timeline (Supremacy of the Cybermen)|alternate timeline]], the [[Last Great Sontaran War Fleet]] was the last surviving Sontaran fleet following the near-complete eradication of the [[Sontaran Empire]] by the [[Cyberman|Cybermen]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Supremacy of the Cybermen (comic story)}})


In [[2009]], the Sontarans were losing the war against the Rutans. To counter this, the [[Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet]] (led by General [[Staal]]) made plans to convert [[Earth]] into a cloning world, and carried them out with the help of [[Luke Rattigan]]. The Sontarans used a form of hypnosis on the workers of the [[ATMOS]] factory, forcing them to start shipping out devices that contained gases poisonous to humans, contained inside plates attached to the [[Sat-nav]]s they sold. When [[Tenth Doctor|the Doctor]] attempted to meddle, the Sontarans activated all the devices already deployed in cars, releasing the poison gas and choking people nearby. The fleet was eventually destroyed by Rattigan. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]''/''[[The Poison Sky]]'')
Sontaran units identified themselves using [[holo-standard]]s. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Judas Goatee (comic story)}})


Following this attempt, Commander [[Kaagh]] was left as the last survivor of the [[Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet]] after he crashed to Earth. He used Professor [[Nicholas Skinner]] to bring [[satellite]]s crashing into Earth's [[nuclear power plant]]s. He wanted to take Sarah Jane Smith to Sontar for the Doctor's crime and for her knowledge of the Sontarans. The plan was stopped when Chrissie Jackson disabled Kaagh with her high heeled shoe, but he came round and was forced back to Sontar in his pod. ([[SJA]]: ''[[The Last Sontaran]]'')
=== Culture ===
==== Militarism ====
[[War]] was paramount to Sontaran culture, with [[Commander]] [[Brak]] stating that it was as essential to them as [[sex|mating]] and [[reproduction]] were to [[human]]s. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)}}) They prided themselves on "star[ing] into the face of death", as the placement of their [[probic vent]] encouraged; ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}}) there was no word for "[[courage]]" in the Sontaran language because the notion was held to be self-evident. According to Brak, there was "no human word" for the disgrace of a Sontaran who survived a battle without having destroyed the enemy in the process, with notions of "cowardice" or "desertion" barely scratching the unthinkability of the notion. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)}}


During either the [[25th century|25th]] or [[26th century]], the Rutans destroyed the Sontaran homeworld,  [[Sontar]], with [[photonic bomb]]s, though some escaped with the Sontaran [[racepool]]. At the same time, the Sontarans encountered the [[Pureblood Sontaran]]s. Due to the intervention of [[Seventh Doctor|the Doctor]], the cloned and pureblood Sontarans decided to pool their resources and Marshall [[Stave]] promised to remove the Sontarans' memory of Humans from the racepool. ([[DWM]]: ''[[Pureblood]]'')  
A Sontaran who had been taken prisoner while still alive, and subsequently rejoined his unit, could typically hope for no greater mercy than an honourable summary [[execution]], which was viewed as a "mercy". ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)}}, [[TV]]: {{cs|War of the Sontarans (TV story)}}) Sontaran warriors were made to memorise the [[Sontaran code]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)}})
{{quote|As a Sontaran warrior, I will ignore laws and constitutions in battle. I will claim spoils only for the greater good of [[Sontaran Empire|the Empire]]. No life-form shall be spared unless for the greater good of the Empire. No treaty or truce will be entered into unless for the greater good of the Empire. No planet, star, or territory will be aided unless for the greater good of the Empire. No species shall be granted immunity from attack unless for the greater good of the Empire. It is an act of treason to divulge information to any species under any circumstances.|[[Commander]] [[Brak]] ([[AUDIO]]: [[Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)|Old Soldiers]])}}


[[Image:sontaranexperiment.jpg|thumb|[[Styre]] examines the results of Experiment 5: Fluid deprivation. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Experiment]]'')]]
==== Clans ====
Historically, Sontaran had a clan structure, ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Shakedown (novel)}}) as typified by the [[Jingo clan]] to which [[Commander]] [[Jingo Linx|Linx]] belonged. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Lords of the Storm (novel)}}) Even after being officially abolished, the clans continued to be unofficially important to Sontaran culture into the [[26th century]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Shakedown (novel)}}) Nevertheless, Sontarans found it distasteful for factions within a single [[species]] to do war with each other, finding the fact that [[Earth]] was not united into a single [[nation]] by the dawn of the [[21st century]] to be primitive. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)}})


Many thousands of years later, at a time when the Earth had been abandoned for 10,000 years, the Sontarans were separated from the many [[human]] worlds like [[GalSec]] throughout [[Mutter's Spiral]] by a [[buffer zone]]. The [[Grand Strategic Council]] planned to invade the galaxy, but they had to abandon that plan when a scout, Field Major [[Styre]], was killed while trying to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the humans. After this, [[Fourth Doctor|the Doctor]] bluffed, telling the Sontarans that their battle plans had been captured, so they would have to call off their invasion. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Experiment]]'')
==== Other matters ====
Early Sontarans believed in [[the Furies]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Furies (audio story)}})


===Undated Events===
According to [[Commander]] [[Brak]], when not in the heat of battle, Sontarans were largely solitary; they did not associate in family units or friend groups as [[human]]s did, and had "no society in any sense [a human] would recognise". However, Brak was insistent that they were nevertheless a civilised species with a culture of their own, largely in evidence in their complex and deeply-held value system. [[UNIT]] [[Captain]] [[Alice Wells]] found Sontaran "culture" contemptible, highlighting that it was founded entirely on the pursuit of death and destruction, and led to nothing constructive or creative; ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)}}) "intellectuals" were openly disrespected by Sontarans. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Name of the Doctor (TV story)}}) A school of Sontaran painters once specialised in apocalyptic landscape, but were ultimately executed for artistic tendencies. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Weeping Angels of Mons (comic story)}}) After much emotionally-charged argument, Brak would come to agree that human values were superior to Sontaran values, though processing this revelation stretched his mental capacities almost to the point of meltdown, and saw him branded as a contemptible deviant by other Sontarans when they caught up with him. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)}})
*The Sontaran mining ship ''[[Betrothal of Sontar]]'' was sent to [[Serac]] as a form of demotion. Colonel [[Snathe]] believed that the [[Thanatos]] was located on Serac, but his attempts to find it were unsuccessful and crew became restless and insubordinate. In an odd coincidence, [[Tenth Doctor|the Doctor]] and [[Rose Tyler]] came to Serac to watch the aurorae, when they were captured by the Sontarans. Though the Doctor was to be killed, he was spared when he agreed to help Snathe find the Thanatos. By modifying a [[Sontaran drone|drone]], he was able to find an energy source, which Snathe assumed to be the Thantos. They found the Thanatos, but when Snathe tried to control it, the Thanatos decided that the Sontarans were stagnant and Sontar needed to be destroyed. Though [[Lerox]] showed that there was still hope for the Sontarans, Snathe was killed when the [[Inuk]] shoved him outside during a [[Silverfire]]. ([[DWM]]: ''[[The Betrothal of Sontar]]'')
:''When this occurred is unknown, though the Sontarans apparently knew of the Humans at this point.''
*The [[Carpalian Witch]]'s favourite hunt was when she hunted a Sontaran. Since her pheromonal lure was ineffective, she waited in his ship for 6 weeks until she stabbed him in the [[probic vent]] when he was about recharge. ([[TDA]]: ''[[The Doctor Trap]]'')  


===Rassilon Era===
Sontarans were known to enjoy beverages, including a particularly potent Sontaran alcohol known as [[Vragg]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Shakedown (novel)}})
:''When these encounters with the Time Lords occurred in unknown, due to the difficulty in dating the [[Time Lord]] stories.''


Though the Sontaran [[Linx]], in the [[12th century]], merely considered the invasion of [[Gallifrey]] as a speculative possibility ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time Warrior]]''), the Sontarans, in concert with the [[Vardan]]s did invade, until beaten back by then-[[Lord President]] [[Fourth Doctor|the Doctor]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Invasion of Time]]'')
== Technology ==
The Sontarans were reasonably advanced, though all their technology was designed for use in the war with the [[Rutan]]s. They often used [[Sontaran Scout Ship|spherical spaceships]] and could make advanced robots for various purposes.


During another period of [[Time Lord]] history, the Warburg, led by [[Sontar (individual)|General Sontar]] himself, the Warburg's supreme commander, and the Rutan Host convened on Gallifrey to meet face to face without violence. ([[PDA]]: ''[[The Infinity Doctors]]'')
=== Weaponry ===
The Sontarans could use and make a wide variety of hand-held weapons, though they usually used the [[rheon carbine]], a [[swagger stick]] used for energy projection and [[hypnosis|hypnotism]]; as well as repairing technology. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time Warrior (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Invasion of Time (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Two Doctors (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}} / {{cs|The Poison Sky (TV story)}}; [[PROSE]]: {{cs|Shakedown (novelisation)}}, {{cs|Lords of the Storm (novel)}}) The Sontarans also utilised [[Sontaran blaster|laser rifles]] that could kill a human without any exterior damage. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}} / {{cs|The Poison Sky (TV story)}}, {{cs|War of the Sontarans (TV story)}}, {{cs|Survivors of the Flux (TV story)}} / {{cs|The Vanquishers (TV story)}}) They also had [[Stenk 11 pistol]]s, ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Undertaker's Gift (novel)}}) and heavy energy-blasters with blades known as [[Meson gun|Meson Blasters]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Two Doctors (TV story)}}; [[HOMEVID]]: {{cs|A Fix with Sontarans (home video)}})


The Sontarans were also not 'allowed' to fight in the [[Last Great Time War]], which according to General [[Staal]] was the greatest war of all time. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'')
They also used melee weapons such as [[sword]]s ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow (short story)}}) including [[cutlass]]es, ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)}}) [[machete]]s, ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)}}) [[spear]]s, ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)}}) [[axe]]s, ([[GAME]]: {{cs|Legacy (video game)}}) and [[staff]]s. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Taking of Chelsea 426 (novel)}})


They also made use of [[Sontaran fragmentation grenade|fragmentation grenades]], which could destroy everything in a certain area. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons (novelisation)}}, {{cs|Legacy (novel)}})
They bought weapons designed by the [[Vess]], who also supplied the [[Cybermen]] and [[Dalek]]s. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Light at the End (audio story)}})
The Sontarans utilised [[battle computer]]s. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Ordeal (audio story)}})
In the [[Infinity Doctor's reality]], the Sontarans began plans to develop a device capable of snuffing out entire [[star]]s in response to the development by the Rutans to create a [[planet]]-killing weapon that was able to destroy a world by converting it from [[matter]] to [[anti-matter]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Infinity Doctors (novel)}})
=== Transportation ===
The Sontarans used spherical vessels, which were covered in square plates. They were generally only large enough for one Sontaran. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time Warrior (TV story)}}, ''et al'') Some had [[Cloaking field|cloaking]] capabilities. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Last Sontaran (TV story)}}) The [[Sontaran flagship|Sontaran motherships]] were similar in shape to the scoutship, but had four claw like appendages coming out of the top and bottom. The scout ships were attached to the mothership and could be released when needed. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}} / {{cs|The Poison Sky (TV story)}})
[[War-Wheel]]s were combat vessels shaped roughly like a bow tie, with two rotating 'wheels' either side of a central spherical core. They were capable of planetary landings. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Shakedown (novelisation)}}, [[COMIC]]: {{cs|Unnatural Born Killers (comic story)}}) [[Sontaran assault ship|Assault ships]] were also used for planetary invasions. Sontaran fleets had a typical arrow formation, with ships composing the head and the shaft. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Invasion of Time (TV story)}})
When on a planet, the Sontarans would travel by the means of aircraft. These aircraft looked like the bottom half of a Sontaran ship, with seats and controls on the top half. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)}})
In the [[13th century]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)}}) Sontarans utilised an [[osmic projector]] for time travel. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time Warrior (TV story)}}) Thousands of years earlier, their time travel technology, which was developed by the [[Kaveetch]], was only capable of sending individuals into the future. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The First Sontarans (audio story)}}) In the [[20th century]], they made other attempts to obtain more effective time travel technology such as the [[Kartz-Reimer module]] developed by [[Kartz]] and [[Reimer]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Two Doctors (TV story)}})
Sontarans adapted [[teleportation]] technology using [[teleport pod|generators]] situated at the area of materialisation. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}}/{{cs|The Poison Sky (TV story)}})
=== Armour ===
[[File:Invasionoftime title.jpg|thumb|Sontaran armour used during their infiltration of [[Gallifrey]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Invasion of Time (TV story)}})]]
Sontarans wore distinctive battle armour, identified by [[Jingo Linx]] as [[Sontaran space armour]], which resembled a thick and bulky grey space suit. Their helmets were dome-shaped and almost featureless except for two eye holes and a small, flat crest running from the forehead to the back of the neck. They generally carried around their rod-like weapon and a [[translating device]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time Warrior (TV story)}})
[[File:Sontaran Group The Poison Sky.jpg|thumb|left|Armour used during the [[Sontaran invasion of Earth]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Poison Sky (TV story)}})]]
During a period in the early [[17th century|17th]] and early [[21st century]] Sontarans had blue, less flexible, armour in a similar design ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}}/{{cs|The Poison Sky (TV story)}}, [[GAME]]: {{cs|The Gunpowder Plot (video game)}}) although those Sontarans may have been solely ship crews, since crew armour was blue. Sontarans of the medical and environmental divisions wore green armour, ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Lords of the Storm (novel)}}) though in [[4037]], the nurse [[Strax]] wore an outfit similar to that of the blue 17th/21st century armour. ([[TV]]: {{cs|A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)}})
=== Other technology ===
Sontarans used two methods of controlling other individuals. They could take over their minds through [[hypnosis]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time Warrior (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}}) or control them with devices attached to the neck. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Last Sontaran (TV story)}}) They also used [[psy-snare]]s for the same purpose. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Black Sun Rising (comic story)}})
Sontaran clones were fed using the [[probic vent]], which was the Sontaran's only weak spot. These clones were grown in vats and were nourished by [[Caesofine gas]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Poison Sky (TV story)}})
The Sontarans could heal their wounds with a device called a [[tissue rectifier]], which was a stubby, tubular device. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Blind Terror (short story)}})
[[Styre]] used a miniature camera and a [[force field]] while studying humans. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)}})
Between 71500 and 72100 [[TL]], the [[Sontaran Empire]] used remote-control [[recon drone]]s for unmanned patrols and security work. The drones were equipped with various sensors, giving them every possible means of detecting the presence of [[Rutan]]s, as well as being armed with "two [[blaster]]s, a [[disruptor]], and a [[small-caliber hypervelocity cannon]]". After 72100, they were phased out in favour of the similar, but deadlier [[Scout Seeker]]s. ([[GAME]]: {{cs|The Legions of Death (game)}})
[[Sontaran invasion of Earth|During the mission]] to make [[Earth]] a [[Sontaran breeding planet|breeding planet]], the Sontarans made a [[Cordolaine]] field around themselves that caused metallic copper to expand; when the copper was in the jacket of a bullet, it became jammed in the gun's barrel, rendering it useless. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}}/{{cs|The Poison Sky (TV story)}})
== History ==
=== Early history ===
The [[Kaveetch]] were the original natives of Sontar, and also considered themselves "Sontarans" (just like Humans could be called "Earthlings"). They appeared more like [[human]]s. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The First Sontarans (audio story)}})
[[File:The Continuity Cap Hyffons.jpg|thumb|right|[[Sontaran (The Continuity Cap)|A single Sontaran]] was involved in a [[Dark Times]]-era [[War (The Continuity Cap)|war]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Continuity Cap (comic story)}})]]
The Sontaran colony that became the home of the [[Pureblood Sontaran]]s was settled at some point before the [[Rutan-Sontaran War]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Pureblood (comic story)}})
After a war with the [[Rutan]]s had reached a stalemate, Meredith Roath proposed the creation of a clone army, namely the Sontaran clones. Within weeks, the clones were not only fighting on the front lines but had turned the tide of the war firmly in the Kaveetch's favour. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The First Sontarans (audio story)}}) However, the Sontarans turned on their creators due to their supposedly inferior nature and unique knowledge of Sontaran physiology. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The First Sontarans (audio story)}}, [[COMIC]]: {{cs|Pureblood (comic story)}})
Even the existence of the Kaveetch was eventually erased from the Sontarans' official history. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The First Sontarans (audio story)}}) According to the Sontarans themselves, before encountering the Rutans, they were split into clans, which would fight amongst themselves. The survivors of these civil wars joined forces and set their aggression on [[alien]]s instead. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Shakedown (novelisation)}})
=== Rutan-Sontaran War ===
==== Distant past ====
[[File:Styx.jpg|thumb|left|A Sontaran in ancient Egypt. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Gods Walk Among Us (comic story)}})]]
The cloned Sontarans were engaged in a [[Rutan-Sontaran War|war with the Rutans]]. During the [[Millennium War]], though, Sontarans and Rutans briefly joined forces. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Quantum Archangel (novel)}})
According to one source, a lone [[Sontaran (The Continuity Cap)|Sontaran]] was present during a "[[War (The Continuity Cap)|terrible war]]" found on the [[Hyffon]]s [[Hyffon's home world|home world]], these events taking place during the [[Dark Times]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Continuity Cap (comic story)}})
During the dying days of the [[Fifty-first Star Fall Campaign]], the Sontarans suffered heavy losses against the Rutans. Sontaran scientists created the world engine weapon [[Warsong]] to change the course of the war. The Sontarans were unable to deploy the weapon, and the "brave warrior" [[Surnat Gaq]] escaped the Rutans, and while mortally wounded, he took the Warsong to primitive [[Earth]], where it lay dormant and undetected. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Instruments of War (comic story)}})
In [[Earth]]'s [[BC#Prehistory|prehistory]], [[Styx (The Gods Walk Among Us)|a Sontaran]] went to [[Egypt]], where he was worshipped as a [[god]]. Eventually, the [[human]]s learned of his plan to destroy Earth for the war, and they buried him alive inside a [[pyramid]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Gods Walk Among Us (comic story)}})
==== 2nd century ====
In [[102]], the Sontarans were among the races who joined the [[Pandorica Alliance]]. They came to [[Stonehenge]] and helped imprison the [[Eleventh Doctor]] in the [[Pandorica]] in order to save the [[universe]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Pandorica Opens (TV story)}})
==== 11th century ====
In the early [[11th century]], a [[Sontaran scout-ship]] crashed at sea on [[Earth]] off the coast of [[Norway]]. The [[Sontaran officer (The Legions of Death)|Sontaran officer]] onboard survived and came aboard a [[Viking]] longship. Single-handedly taking command of the vessel, he set himself up as a local warlord, planning to gradually take over the entire country and ultimately the whole [[planet]] in the name of the [[Sontaran Empire]]. This plan would later be foiled by [[the Colonel]] on behalf of the [[Celestial Intervention Agency]] with help from one of the Sontaran's reluctant Viking underlings, [[Sven Langbard]], who went on to become a [[companion]] to the [[Time Lord]]. Sven held the Sontarans to be his "worthy enemies" and hoped somebody to meet one in one-on-one combat. ([[GAME]]: {{cs|The Legions of Death (game)}})
==== 13th century ====
In the [[13th century]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)}}) [[Linx]], a scout, was forced to perform an emergency landing in [[England]] after being attacked by a squadron of Rutan fighters. He claimed [[Earth]] and "its moons and satellites" for the Sontaran Empire. He proceeded to make an alliance with [[Irongron]], a local warlord, and to transport scientists from the late [[20th century]] into the past using his osmic projection. He would then [[hypnosis|hypnotise]] them in order to make them work on his ship. He was killed when his repaired ship began taking off. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time Warrior (TV story)}})
Linx was remembered with honour by his fellow Sontarans, who viewed him as a great commander. The rest of the [[Sontaran Empire]] sought to fulfil his claim over Earth. ([[TV]]: {{cs|War of the Sontarans (TV story)}})
==== 16th century ====
Later, in the year [[1522]] AD, a Sontaran scoutship crash landed on Earth in [[China]]. As a result of the incident, their hyperspace transmitter was damaged and they required a replacement crystal in order to summon reinforcements as well as to take over the planet. There, they formed a partnership with the Abbot [[Hsiang]] and [[Yueh]] who knew them as the "bronze men" where they used their hypnotic technology to enhance his fighting abilities.
The Emperor of China learnt of the enhanced fighting skills of the monks and came for a demonstration. This was all part of a plan by the Sontarans to kill the Chinese Emperor as he possessed a quartz crystal sufficient to power the hyperspace transmitter and thus placed a hypnotic suggestion designed to turn the monks against the Emperor in order to kill him.
However, the [[Fourth Doctor]] intervened and had [[K9]] record the trigger words and broke the spell but not before [[Chang (Dragon's Claw)|Chang]] went into a berserker attack that killed the Sontarans as a result of him hearing the command phrase once. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Dragon's Claw (comic story)}})
==== 17th century ====
[[File:Sontar-Rutan.jpg|thumb|The [[Eleventh Doctor]] intervenes between a battle of Sontarans and Rutans. ([[GAME]]: {{cs|The Gunpowder Plot (video game)}})]]
In [[1605]], a group of Sontarans came searching for a crashed Rutan ship buried under the [[Houses of Parliament]] that contained two doomsday weapons capable of wiping out an entire species. Both the Sontarans and the Rutans raced to retrieve them but the Eleventh Doctor reached them first, modified them and gave one to each party and told them they could use it on the other but faced a risk of killing their own species instead. ([[GAME]]: {{cs|The Gunpowder Plot (video game)}})
In [[1609]], along with the Rutans, the Sontarans participated in the summit of military powers throughout [[Mutter's Spiral]] in the [[Armageddon Convention]], which convened in [[Laputa]], a floating island in the sky near [[Venice]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Empire of Glass (novel)}})
==== 19th century ====
[[File:The Battle of Demons Run Two Days Later.jpg|thumb|The newly resurrected Strax with [[Vastra]] and [[Jenny Flint|Jenny]]. ([[WC]]: {{cs|The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later (webcast)}})]]
After being resurrected in the aftermath of the [[Battle of Demons Run]], Commander [[Strax]] worked with Madame [[Vastra]] and [[Jenny Flint]] on [[Paternoster Row]] in [[1888]] [[London]]. ([[WC]]: {{cs|The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later (webcast)}}, [[TV]]: {{cs|The Snowmen (TV story)}})
In [[1892]], after the [[Eleventh Doctor]] was brought out of "[[retirement]]", Strax defended Captain [[Latimer (The Snowmen)|Latimer]]'s house from [[snowman|snowmen]] controlled by the [[Great Intelligence]]. He tried and failed to save the life of [[Clara Oswin Oswald]] after she fell off the Doctor's cloud. Said failure was shown to affect him somewhat. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Snowmen (TV story)}})
[[File:Strax fires The Crimson Horror.jpg|left|thumb|Strax firing his weapons in the Victorian times. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Crimson Horror (TV story)}})]]
In [[1893]], Strax worked with the Doctor, the Paternoster Gang and Clara Oswald to defeat [[Mr Sweet]] and [[Winifred Gillyflower]]'s plans to wipe out humanity except for their chosen few. Along the way he befriended a young urchin named [[Thomas Thomas]] and saved his friends from Mrs Gillyflower by shooting at her, causing her to fall to her death. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Crimson Horror (TV story)}}) At some point after this, Strax, along with Vastra, Jenny and Clara, assisted the [[Twelfth Doctor]] in foiling the plans of the [[Half-Face Man]], although at one point when defeat appeared inevitable, Strax briefly considered suicide. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Deep Breath (TV story)}})
At some point during his time in Victorian England, Strax became separated from Vastra and Jenny and assisted investigators [[Henry Gordon Jago]] and [[George Litefoot]] on a case. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Haunting (audio story)}})
==== 20th century ====
Sontaran soldier [[Brak]] visited Earth in [[1916]] and witnessed the [[Battle of the Somme]]. He was captured by British soldiers and imprisoned for eighty years, during which he created powerful weapons for humanity in the hope that they would tear each other apart. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)}}) Elsewhere in the [[20th century]], it was believed that a [[Sontaran scout ship]] crashed in [[Tunguska province|Tunguska]]. Some of this wreckage was obtained by [[UNIT]] and kept in [[The Vault (The Scales of Injustice)|the Vault]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Tales from the Vault (audio story)}})
In the [[1920s]], [[Torchwood One]] agents Sir [[Reginald Dellafield]] and [[AC Forster]] encountered and killed some Sontaran scouts, which Forster subsequently buried. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Art Decadence (audio story)}})
[[File:DWM 482 12 and Sontaran.jpg|thumb|left|Sontarans in [[1941]] confront the [[Twelfth Doctor]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Instruments of War (comic story)}})]]
In [[1941]], a small retinue of the [[Eighth Battle Fleet]] arrived in the [[Sahara Desert]] after they had discovered the world engine the [[Warsong]] had begun to activate after being lost for millennia. They hid among the [[Tuareg]] tribe so as not to alert the Rutans to their presence. After the Rutan [[Heinz Bruckner]] had claimed the world engine with a device which controlled the Warsong's movements. The [[Twelfth Doctor]] tricked [[Kygon Brox]] into believing he would seize the Warsong for the Sontarans. As a result, Kygon gave the Doctor an [[osmic projector]] to send the control device through time, stopping Bruckner's plans. However, instead of allowing the Sontarans to strike at the Rutans with the Warsong, the Doctor blew the weapon up with [[The Doctor's sonic screwdriver|his sonic screwdriver]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Instruments of War (comic story)}})
In [[1945]], the Sontarans were one of 23 races that came to [[Dusseldorf]] in search of the [[persuasion machine]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Persuasion (audio story)}}) At some point during the 20th century, [[Edgar Nelson-Stanley]] met with the Sontarans. He believed they were "the silliest race in the galaxy". ([[TV]]: {{cs|Eye of the Gorgon (TV story)}}) In [[1965]], three hundred Sontarans were killed by [[Captain]] [[Gol Clutha]] when he and his squad hijacked a [[Sontaran timeship]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Hunters of the Burning Stone (comic story)}})
In the [[1980s]], Group Marshal [[Stike]] claimed that the war with the Rutans was "on the contrary" to going badly. The [[Ninth Sontaran Battle Group]] attempted to gain unlimited access to time travel through [[Kartz]] and [[Reimer]]'s experiments. This failed when [[Chessene]] betrayed Stike and Major [[Varl]], and the [[Sixth Doctor]] sabotaged the [[Kartz-Reimer module]]. At the same point in time, the Sontarans were involved in a battle with the Rutans in the [[Madillon Cluster]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Two Doctors (TV story)}})
On [[23 February]] [[1985]], ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Fixing a Hole (short story)}}) [[Group Marshal]] [[Nathan (A Fix with Sontarans)|Nathan]] and [[Turner (A Fix with Sontarans)|his subordinate]] of the [[Tenth Sontaran Battle Brigade]] were inside the [[Sixth Doctor]]'s [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]], planning to destroy it with a [[vitrox bomb]]. With the help of [[Tegan Jovanka|Tegan]] and [[Gareth Jenkins (A Fix with Sontarans)|Gareth Jenkins]] — whom the duo of Sontarans believed was the leader of the [[Earth Defence Force]] that thwarted the Sontarans' [[2001 Sontaran invasion of Earth|future invasion of Earth in 2001]] — the Doctor [[gas]]sed the Sontarans, killing them bloodily. To their shock, the [[TARDIS scanner]] shows them the rest of the Battle Brigade outside, ([[HOMEVID]]: {{cs|A Fix with Sontarans (home video)}}) however, seemingly in a few hours, the ordeal was sorted. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Fixing a Hole (short story)}})
[[File:MAC.JPG|thumb|right|A Sontaran in the [[1990]]s ([[TV]]: {{cs|Untitled 3 (More than 30 Years in the TARDIS home video)}})]]
In [[England]] in the [[1990]]s, one Sontaran confronted a woman who resembled [[Sarah Jane Smith]] and a little girl she was walking with. After capturing the older woman, the Sontaran held the child at gunpoint. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Untitled 3 (More than 30 Years in the TARDIS home video)}})
==== 21st century ====
===== Campaigns in the 21st century=====
In the [[2000s]], Major [[Kreg]] of the [[Ninth Sontaran Battle Brigade]] was sent to survey Earth for the empire. He was intercepted by [[Torchwood Three|Torchwood]] and forcibly resettled at [[Mumbles Bay Caravan Park]]. He eventually came to appreciate his life there, after clashing with the park's owner Mr [[Higgins]] and summoning [[Elemental Mercenary|Rutan mercenaries]] for a battle, and took over running of the park. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Great Sontaran War (audio story)}})
In [[2001]], the Sontarans [[2001 Sontaran invasion of Earth|invaded Earth]], but were defeated by the [[Earth Defence Force]] led by [[Gareth Jenkins (A Fix with Sontarans)|Gareth Jenkins]]. This battle was known of to Sontarans ([[HOMEVID]]: {{cs|A Fix with Sontarans (home video)}}) relative to the [[1980s]] ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Fixing a Hole (short story)}}) and when [[Group Marshal]] [[Nathan (A Fix with Sontarans)|Nathan]] and [[Turner (A Fix with Sontarans)|his subordinate]] tried to destroy the [[Sixth Doctor]]'s [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] and subsequently met a Gareth Jenkins, they tried to kill him to ensure the success of their future invasion. ([[HOMEVID]]: {{cs|A Fix with Sontarans (home video)}})
In [[2009]], the Sontarans appeared as though they were losing the war against the Rutans. To counter this, the [[Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet]], led by the supposedly undefeated General [[Staal]], made plans to convert [[Earth]] into a cloning world, and carried them out with the help of a young human genius named [[Luke Rattigan]].
[[File:Comander Stall.jpg|thumb|left|General [[Staal]], during [[Sontaran invasion of Earth|the Earth invasion of 2009]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}})]]
The Sontarans used a form of hypnosis on the workers of the [[ATMOS]] factory, forcing them to start shipping out devices that contained [[Caesofine gas|gases]] poisonous to humans, contained inside plates attached to the [[SatNav]]s they sold. When the [[Tenth Doctor]] attempted to meddle, the Sontarans activated all the devices already deployed in cars, releasing the poison gas and choking people nearby.
The gas was burnt away by the Doctor's use of an [[atmospheric converter]] and Rattigan, having been betrayed, sacrificed his life by using the converter to destroy the fleet. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}} / {{cs|The Poison Sky (TV story)}}) After these events, [[Jack Harkness]] discussed the Sontarans in a monster file and revealed his money was on the Sontarans ultimately winning their war with the Rutans. ([[WC]]: {{cs|Monster File: Sontarans (webcast)}})
Following the failed ATMOS strategy, Commander [[Kaagh]] was left as the last survivor of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet after he crashed to Earth. He used Professor [[Nicholas Skinner]] to bring [[satellite]]s crashing into Earth's [[nuclear power plant]]s. He wanted to take [[Sarah Jane Smith]] to Sontar for the Doctor's crime and for her knowledge of the Sontarans. The plan was stopped when [[Chrissie Jackson]] disabled Kaagh with her high heeled shoe, but he came round and was forced back to Sontar in his pod. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Last Sontaran (TV story)}})
Following this failure, Kaagh became a mercenary for the [[Bane (Invasion of the Bane)|Bane]]. He met Mrs [[Wormwood (Invasion of the Bane)|Wormwood]] while looking for the remains of [[Horath]] and they agreed to work together. After finding the mind of Horath, he followed Wormwood to Earth, where they took the [[Tunguska Scroll]] from Sarah Jane and kidnapped [[Luke Smith]]. The alliance started to break down when Mrs Wormwood sided with Luke over Kaagh, ending when she betrayed and disabled him. Seeing that he had lost, he dragged Wormwood into the [[wormhole]] containing Horath. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Enemy of the Bane (TV story)}})
[[File:Hologram Sontaran.jpg|thumb|left|A [[data-pod]] of a Sontaran. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Monster Hunt (comic story)}})]]
In [[2009]] one Sontaran was captured by [[the Krulius]] and stored in a [[data-pod]]. The Krulius later used his [[digital bio-converter]] to upload the Sontan's bio data onto the internet. There it was found by [[Mr Smith]], [[Rani Chandra]] and [[Clyde Langer]] who sent the Sontaran back to his home planet. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Monster Hunt (comic story)}}) Another Sontaran was kept at the [[Doloth Star Base]]. When the [[Judoon]] caught the Krulius, all his captured aliens were set free. However the Krulius had managed to take clone cell samples of his former captured aliens with him, which allowed him to grow perfect copies of these aliens. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Return of the Krulius (comic story)}})
[[File:Jask.jpg|thumb|Jask attempts to shoot Martha. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The End of Time (TV story)}})]]
Circa [[2010]], one Sontaran named [[Jask (The End of Time)|Jask]] was on Earth and was chased by [[Martha Jones]] and [[Mickey Smith]]. He managed to get away and tried to kill them with a sniper rifle but was knocked out by the Tenth Doctor. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The End of Time (TV story)}})
In [[2011]] at least one Sontaran weapon was part of a shipment of weaponry stolen by a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] Special Operations Division when it was removed from [[The Hub]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Men Who Sold the World (novel)}})
In the [[2010s]], Commander [[Merx]] of the [[Eighth Sontaran Battle Fleet]] crash landed on Earth and fell into the possession of [[the Auctioneers]]. They supplied him to [[John Torrance]] for use on his cloning experiments, with Torrance attempting to create his own Sontaran clones for human militaries. Marshal [[Skar]] led the Eighth Fleet to Earth to recover Merx, reluctantly collaborating with UNIT forces led by [[Kate Stewart]] and Colonel [[Shindi]]. Their combined forces were able to take over Torrance's facility and destroy the cloning project, rescuing Merx, after which the Sontarans withdrew. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Project (audio story)}})
In the 2010s, a Sontaran was a resident of the hidden [[Trap Street, London|trap street]] in [[London]] which housed lost aliens on [[Earth]] under the protection of [[Ashildr|Mayor Me]]. As with the rest of the inhabitants it appeared cloaked in human form through use of the [[lurkworm]]s. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Face the Raven (TV story)}})
A [[War-Wheel]] crashed on Earth where its wreckage was found by [[Kamen|Mr. Kamen]], who salvaged a host of technology as well as one survivor, [[Group Marshal]] [[Skral]], whom he had forced into servitude as a [[mercenary]]. Ultimately, [[Sam Bishop]], by appealing to Skral's sense of [[honour]], convinced the Sontaran to turn against his master, killing Mr. Kamen at the cost of his own life. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Portrait of a Lady (audio story)}})
In the [[21st century]], two Sontarans were in [[Istanbul]]. The [[Ninth Doctor]] fought them in a sword fight, and had his life saved from one of them by "some sort of spy" called [[Sally Sparrow (What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow)|Sally Sparrow]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow (short story)}})
===== Exploiting the Flux =====
[[File:Ritskaw.jpg|thumb|left|Commander [[Ritskaw]] receives [[Kragar]]'s report on [[the Flux]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Halloween Apocalypse (TV story)}})]]
The Sontarans grew interested in [[the Flux]], with [[Psychic Surveyor]] [[Kragar]] assessing its impact. He reported back to Commander [[Ritskaw]] that the cataclysm was imminent and and forecast "conflict that will dwarf all that has come before", to the Commander's excitement. Ritskaw subsequently ordered an attack ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Halloween Apocalypse (TV story)}}) against [[2021]] Earth. The Sontarans invaded Earth just before the shield of [[Lupari]] ships sealed to protect the planet from the oncoming Flux, occupying [[Liverpool]] where they began construction of a fleet of timeships to invade Earth throughout time. A pilot temporal invasion was conducted in the [[Crimean War]] led by [[Skaak]].
The Sontarans in the Crimea came into conflict with British forces and encountered the [[Thirteenth Doctor]], who sabotaged their supplies to force them to retreat. As their ships began to lift off, a British commander used gunpowder to detonate them. In 21st century Liverpool, the Doctor's companion [[Dan Lewis]] infiltrated the fleet and was rescued from Sontarans by his assigned Lupar [[Karvanista]] who had taken the blame from his people for the Sontaran incursion. Karvanista rammed one of the Sontaran timeships into the rest of the fleet, creating a temporal shockwave which removed the Sontarans from Earth. ([[TV]]: {{cs|War of the Sontarans (TV story)}})
[[File: Sontaran occupied Rio de Janeiro.jpg|thumb|right|The Sontaran occupation of [[Rio de Janeiro]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Vanquishers (TV story)}})]]
In revenge for their defeat, the Sontarans [[2021 Sontaran invasion of Earth|invaded Earth again]] later in the Flux crisis with the aid of the [[Grand Serpent]], attacking the Lupari ships still shielding the planet and breaking into the [[Williamson Tunnels]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Survivors of the Flux (TV story)}}) They wiped out the Lupari and occupied Earth, though were resisted by a resistance led by [[Kate Stewart]]. Exploiting Earth's psychics to identify the origin point of the next Flux event, the Sontarans planned to take advantage of it by luring the [[Dalek War Fleet]] and Cybermen forces there under the pretex of forming an alliance at that location, planning to protect themselves using the Lupari ships they now controlled. Their plan was sabotaged by the Doctor who changed the formation of the Lupari ships to expose the Sontaran fleet to the Flux as well, destroying it. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Vanquishers (TV story)}})
==== 25th and 26th century ====
Circa the [[25th century]], the Sontarans clashed with the forces of the [[Earth Empire]] during the [[Siege of the Hexion Gates]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Taking of Chelsea 426 (novel)}})
Around [[2570]], the Sontarans were engaged in activities in the [[Magellanic Clouds]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Love and War (novel)}})
At some point during the [[26th century]], the Sontarans sent in Commander [[Steg]] to conquer [[Jekkar]] in order to create a buffer around [[Sontar]]. Though he had no difficulty with the [[human]]s, the [[Jekkari]], led by the [[Seventh Doctor]], were able to fight back effectively. The surviving Sontarans destroyed their bases and abandoned the planet. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Shakedown (novelisation)}})
Some time later, an expedition was made to go to [[Sentarion]] and take advantage of the [[wormhole]] connecting it and [[Ruta III]] to kill the [[Rutan Queen]]. Though the Sontarans tried to keep this information classified, a Rutan spy known as [[Karne]] was able to learn that the information had leaked out and tried to return to the Rutans.
[[File:Steg Vorn and other Sontaran.jpg|thumb|Steg, Vorn and another Sontaran. ([[HOMEVID]]: {{cs|Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans (home video)}})]]
Commander Steg was sent in to redeem himself and kill Karne. He was able to track it to the [[space yacht]] ''[[Tiger Moth]]'', where it had hidden in the ship. During the course of his investigations, his soldiers were whittled down by Karne and the human crew. Eventually, Karne was killed and all the Sontarans were believed to be killed. In reality, Karne was able to clone himself before his death and Steg was able to pull through. ([[HOMEVID]]: {{cs|Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans (home video)}}, [[PROSE]]: {{cs|Shakedown (novelisation)}})
The second Karne was able escape to Sentarion, followed by the Seventh Doctor, his companions and the survivors from the ''Tiger Moth''. Commander Steg was able to follow them with a [[War-Wheel]] and forced the Doctor to open the wormhole to Ruta III. The War-Wheel was sent through, but the Doctor was able to reverse the polarity of the wormhole, meaning the War-Wheel would never get to Ruta III. When Steg tried to kill the Doctor in revenge, a fight began, leading to the death of Karne and the Sontaran forces. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Shakedown (novelisation)}})
Also at some point during the 26th century, the Sontarans and [[Rutan]]s took [[Rutan-Sontaran War|their war]] to the colony [[Chelsea 426]]. The [[Fourth Sontaran Intelligence Division]], led by [[Kade|General Kade]], were given the mission of hunting down Rutans that were at the time taking over human bodies. The [[Tenth Doctor]] was present during the event and while he did not side with either warring party, he did stop the Rutans, after which the Sontarans left. However, there was evidence that the Sontaran Division's trouble with the Rutans was not fully over after their ship left the colony. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Taking of Chelsea 426 (novel)}})
During either the [[25th century|25th]] or 26th century, the Rutans destroyed the Sontaran homeworld, [[Sontar]], with [[photonic bomb]]s, though some escaped with the Sontaran [[racepool]]. At the same time, the Sontarans encountered the [[Pureblood Sontaran]]s. Due to the intervention of the [[Seventh Doctor]], the cloned and pureblood Sontarans decided to pool their resources and Marshal [[Stave]] promised to remove the Sontarans' memory of humans from the racepool. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Pureblood (comic story)}})
==== 31st century ====
A group of Sontarans landed on the planet [[ERM 4997]] in the year [[3076]] where they encountered the [[Seventh Doctor]] and [[Melanie Bush]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Terror of the Sontarans (audio story)}})
==== 41st century ====
In [[4037]], eleven year old Commander [[Strax]] was demoted to Nurse for his failure, tending to the [[human]]s in the [[Battle of Zaruthstra]]. He was summoned by the [[Eleventh Doctor]] to [[Demons Run]] ''circa'' the [[52nd century]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)}})
==== Circa 52nd century ====
[[File:Strax hears the TARDIS arriving.jpg|thumb|Strax hears the TARDIS arriving. ([[TV]]: {{cs|A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)}})]]
''Circa'' the [[52nd century]], Commander [[Strax]] died in the [[Battle of Demons Run]] at the hand of the [[Order of the Headless]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)}}) Madame [[Vastra]] and [[Jenny Flint]] brought him back to life. ([[WC]]: {{cs|The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later (webcast)}})
==== 10th millennium ====
According to one account, in the year 10,674, the Sontaran Empire had been reduced to "radioactive remains". ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Crystal Bucephalus (novel)}})
==== Post-11th millennium ====
[[File:Sontaranexperiment.jpg|thumb|left|[[Styre]] examines the results of Experiment 5: Fluid deprivation. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)}})]]
However, according to another account, many thousands of years after the [[20th century]], at a time when the Earth had been abandoned for 10,000 years, the Sontarans were separated from the many [[human]] worlds like [[GalSec]] throughout [[Mutter's Spiral]] by a [[buffer zone]]. The [[Grand Strategic Council]] planned to invade the galaxy, but they had to abandon that plan when a scout, [[Field Major]] [[Styre]], was killed while trying to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the humans. After this, the [[Fourth Doctor]] bluffed, telling the Sontarans that their battle plans had been captured, so they would have to call off their invasion. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)}})
Ultimately, the Sontarans became [[extinct]] by the "twilight years" of the [[N-Space|universe]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Eternal Battle (audio story)}})
=== Undated events ===
Sontarans were part of a [[fleet of Alien Monsters]] whose threat to [[Fleet of Alien Monsters' attempted destruction of Earth|destroy]] [[Earth]] was opposed by a [[Legendary Legion]] assembled by the [[Fourth Doctor]]. ([[GAME]]: {{cs|Doctor Who Trump Card Game (game)}})
The Sontaran mining ship ''[[Betrothal of Sontar]]'' was sent to [[Serac]] as a form of demotion. Colonel [[Snathe]], a pureblood Sontaran, believed that the [[Thanatos (weapon)|Thanatos]] was located on Serac, but his attempts to find it were unsuccessful and crew became restless and insubordinate. When the [[Tenth Doctor]] arrived, Snathe forced him to find the Thanatos - but when Snathe tried to control it, the Thanatos decided that the Sontarans were stagnant and Sontar needed to be destroyed. Though [[Lerox]] showed that there was still hope for the Sontarans, Snathe was killed when the [[Inuk]] shoved him outside during a [[Silverfire]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)}})
The [[Carpalian Witch]]'s favourite hunt was when she hunted a [[Sontaran (The Doctor Trap)|Sontaran]]. Since her pheromonal lure was ineffective, she waited in his ship for 6 weeks until she stabbed him in the [[probic vent]] when he was about recharge. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Doctor Trap (novel)}})
One of the fiercest Sontarans, [[Katsu]], fought and was defeated by the [[Levanaxus]]. In order to become more powerful, he went to [[Aleph-777]] in search of a mythical super-weapon. He was eventually able to track it to [[Omega-666]], where he opened it, revealing it to be [[Omega Green Plague]], which killed him. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Final Quest (comic story)}})
[[File:Destiny of the Doctors Sontaran.jpg|thumb|right|A Sontaran in the TARDIS. ([[GAME]]: {{cs|Destiny of the Doctors (video game)}})]]
{{Ainley|c}} once tried to kill [[the Graak]] with a group of Sontarans, even making the Graak joust with one. ([[GAME]]: {{cs|Destiny of the Doctors (video game)}})
[[Skrant]] was sent on a seven-year mission to conquer [[Braktalis]]. He joined forces with [[Demimon]]. He was defeated by Demimon's daughter [[Alareen]] and her lover [[Kinvor]]'s forces. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Outsider (comic story)}})
The Sontarans attempted an invasion of a planet, but were stopped by [[Kroton (Throwback: The Soul of a Cyberman)|Kroton]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Unnatural Born Killers (comic story)}})
The Sontarans sent a force to investigate the planet [[Goth (planet)|Goth]] for weaponry. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Black Legacy (comic story)}})
Both Sontarans and [[Rutan]]s were trapped in the [[Edifice (building)|Edifice]]. They continued to fight even there. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Forever Trap (audio story)}})
A Sontaran was exhibited in the [[Space Museum]] when the [[Vashta Nerada]] invaded. ([[WC]]: {{cs|Hall of Monsters (webcast)}})
A group of Sontarans chased [[River Song]] across the country after she remarked that they were on a '[[hen night]]'. ([[HOMEVID]]: {{cs|First Night (home video)}}/{{cs|Last Night (home video)}})
The [[Eleventh Doctor]] encountered a group of Sontarans while visiting [[Florinall 9]] and was forced to escape them by surfing on its lava. ([[WC]]: {{cs|Pond Life (webcast)}})
[[File:Strock.jpg|thumb|Commander Strock introduces himself. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|In Their Nature (comic story)}})]]
An unnamed planet (defined as a "worthless rock" by the Sontarans) was an outpost of the Sontaran-Rutan war. The [[Fifth Doctor]] tried to advise the local commander [[Strock]] a strategy to avoid useless loss of soldiers, but the commander still died in vain as they charged the Rutans. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|In Their Nature (comic story)}})
Following the establishment of the [[New Dalek Paradigm]], the [[Dalek]]s built a series of [[space fortress]]es along the [[border]] of Sontaran space, amongst other species. Sontarans were among the species susceptible to the [[nanocloud]] which created [[Dalek puppet]]s. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)}})
The Sontarans were among the many species drawn to [[Trenzalore]] by the asking of [[the First Question]] but locked out of the [[planet]] by the [[force field]] put up by the [[Papal Mainframe]]. Two Sontarans attempted to bypass the force field during the [[Siege of Trenzalore]] by putting on an [[invisibility]] cloak, but the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to make them visible to the Papal Mainframe, which they were then destroyed by. Conforming to protocol, the Mainframe apologised for their deaths and selected an appropriate [[afterlife]]. Later, the [[Dalek]]s attacked the Mainframe and broke through the force field. The Sontarans followed them to the surface and either died in the fighting or possibly retreated. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time of the Doctor (TV story)}})
The Sontarans were notable customers of the information regarding [[the Doctor]] held by the [[Inforarium]]. When the Eleventh Doctor discovered the Sontarans, as well as the [[Dalek]]s and [[Cybermen]], had been purchasing this information, he infiltrated the Inforarium and memory-proofed their database using methods he learned from [[Silent|the Silence]]. The information sold was thus instantly forgotten. ([[HOMEVID]]: {{cs|The Inforarium (home video)}})
[[File:Delgado Sontarans.jpg|thumb|The Sontarans that worshipped {{Delgado}} bore a striking resemblance to him. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Judas Goatee (comic story)}})]]
A black-armoured Sontaran was present at [[Garage 10]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Ministry of Time (comic story)}})
{{Delgado|c}} set himself up as a messiah on a [[Planet (The Judas Goatee)|Sontaran colony planet]]. A century or two after he left the [[17th Veteran Cohort]] came to the colony planet with the purpose of wiping out the [[Apostasy of the Goatee|Sontarans]] infected by the Master. A [[Suicide Specialist Sontaran]] destroyed the bearded Sontarans along with the entire planet. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Judas Goatee (comic story)}})
One Sontaran attended [[Bonjaxx]]'s [[birthday]] party on [[Maruthea]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Party Animals (comic story)}})
Sometime prior to [[Sara Kingdom]]'s time period, the Sontarans began attacking individual human star systems forcing the [[Space Security Service]] to organise an evacuation of millions of humans. An SSS squad was sent to attack a Sontaran facility in the [[Sulgrave Asteroid Belt]], as the fleet needed to go through the pass there. An undercover Sontaran, Gage, used Rutan technology to infiltrate the squad, which encountered the [[First Doctor]], [[Steven Taylor]] and [[Sara Kingdom]]. Commander [[Slite]] led his forces against the squad, killing most of the SSS agents and capturing Steven. Slite tortured Steven for information, including his recent encounters with the [[Dalek]]s. Gage led the survivors into an ambush and Slite held them prisoner, seeking access to [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the Doctor’s capsule]]. When Gage began to waver from his orders whilst interrogating the Doctor and Steven, Slite killed him and took over. As the native [[Nil]] began to rise up against the Sontarans, the Doctor convinced Slite to hold fire on the evacuation fleet, by playing on his potential shame, allowing them to pass. Though the asteroid was liberated, the Doctor and Sara predicted the Sontarans would return. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Sontarans (audio story)}})
A entire Sontaran [[assassination squad]] was wiped out by [[Amanda Steele]] and her [[pest control]] team. Their [[head]]s were [[behead|removed]] and subsequently mounted as trophies. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Night of the Vashta Nerada (audio story)}})
The Sontarans came to [[Luachmhar]] to fight the various races that were [[war]]ring there, having been upset at being left out. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Anything You Can Do (short story)}})
The [[Thirteenth Doctor]] once hid from an army of Sontarans in a cupboard. ([[WC]]: {{cs|Message from the Doctor (webcast)}})
A Sontaran [[army]] was caught in the [[paradox]] formed by the psio-temporal link formed by [[Rose Tyler]] and [[Rose Tyler (Sea Devil Earth)|Empress Rose]]. After briefly appearing during [[the Blitz]], the Sontarans materialised on [[Creerm]] where they pledged themselves to [[D'Pau]]'s ambitions. After helping him overthrow the Empress, the Sontarans boarded the [[space fleet]], ready to wage more war, before the two Roses touched, the [[Blinovitch Limitation Effect]] banishing the Sontarans. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Empire of the Wolf (comic story)}})
''[[The Secret Lives of Monsters]]'' presented an image of Sontarans fighting [[Cybusmen|Cybus]]-style [[Cybermen]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Secret Lives of Monsters (short story)}})
=== Rassilonian Era ===
[[File:Alliance of Races.jpg|thumb|The [[Alliance of Races]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Gangland (comic story)}})]]
In [[Gallifrey]]'s past, the Sontarans joined [[Rassilon]]'s [[Alliance of Races]] in the [[Great Inferno]], a war with the [[Hyperion (species)|Hyperions]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Terrorformer (comic story)}}) After the Hyperions were defeated, the Alliance then went on to purge the universe of other threats to universal harmony, one of those threats being Count [[D'if]] of the [[Cybock Imperium]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Gangland (comic story)}}) The Sontarans were also part of the force which went to war against [[Morbius]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Warmonger (novel)}})
The Sontarans, in concert with the [[Vardan]]s invaded [[Gallifrey]], until beaten back by the [[Lord President]] the [[Fourth Doctor]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Invasion of Time (TV story)}}) This invasion nonetheless brought forth the [[Cloister Wars]], as the Sontaran attack had revealed to the rest of N-Space that [[the Matrix]] existed. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)}})
The Sontarans were part of the [[Fifth Doctor|Supremo]]'s alliance in the war against [[Morbius]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Warmonger (novel)}})
The Sontarans were in negotiation with the [[Time Lord]]s and [[Order of the Black Sun]] for [[uranium]] on [[Desrault]]. When the Time Lords seemed to favour the Order of the Black Sun, the Sontaran [[ambassador]] [[Brilox]] used a [[psy-snare]] to turn one of the [[Special Executive]] escorts, [[Millenium (Black Sun Rising)|Millenium]] into an assassin. After Millenium killed the [[Black Sun Elder]], Brilox believed that with Gallifrey and the Black Sun at war, he'd be able to secure the uranium rights for the Sontarans. However, when [[Wardog]] discovered the psy-snare on Millenium, he returned it to Brilox, wiping his mind. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Black Sun Rising (comic story)}})
A group of Sontarans were sent to an alternate [[Death Zone]] on Gallifrey and fought against the [[Fifth Doctor]] and a group of [[Dalek]]s. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Five Companions (audio story)}})
[[File:The Shadow Play cover art.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Seventy-Ninth Sontaran Assault Corps]] during the [[War in Heaven]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Shadow Play (audio story)}})]]
During the [[War in Heaven]], the [[Seventy-Ninth Sontaran Assault Corps]] invaded the [[Eleven-Day Empire]] on the behest of [[Great House|Houses]] [[House Tracolix|Tracolix]] and [[House Lolita|Lolita]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Eleven Day Empire (audio story)}}) However, [[Lolita]] later betrayed them, consuming them with the rest of the Empire. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Shadow Play (audio story)}})
Despite failed attempts to join in the conflict, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Ordeal (audio story)}}, {{cs|The Eternity Cage (audio story)}}) the Sontarans were not "allowed" to fight in the [[Last Great Time War]]. General Staal understood it to be the greatest war of all time. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}}) After the Time War had ended the Sontarans fought other races for control over time. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Weapons of Past Destruction (comic story)}})
=== Alternate timelines ===
In an [[Alternate timeline (Time & Time Again)|alternate timeline]] created by the [[Black Guardian]], where the [[First Doctor]] never left [[Gallifrey]] and became [[Lord President]], the Sontarans were one of many aliens that invaded [[Earth]], and fought over the planet with other races against the [[Silurian]]s and the [[Sea Devil]]s. This timeline was negated when the [[Seventh Doctor]] retrieved the [[Key to Time]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Time & Time Again (comic story)}})
In an [[Infinity Doctor's reality|altered state of reality]], [[Infinity Doctor|the Doctor]] convened a peace conference between Sontarans and Rutans on Gallifrey, with the Sontaran delegation being led by General [[Sontar (The Infinity Doctors)|Sontar]] personally. After the conference broke down, the Doctor kidnapped Sontar and the Rutan delegate in [[Infinity Doctor's TARDIS|his TARDIS]] to show them the possible outcome of their war, only to find the future universe destroyed by [[the Effect]] which horrified both delegates. The Doctor left them locked in his TARDIS whilst he went to resolve the Effect crisis, and only remembered to release them after defeating [[Omega]]. He discovered in his absence Sontar and the Rutan had actually talked and negotiated a peace, as the TARDIS's [[temporal grace]] had stopped them killing each other. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Infinity Doctors (novel)}})
In an [[alternate timeline]] known as the "[[Cyberverse]]" which started with a change in history in [[1927]], the Sontarans were one of several major powers in the universe who were conquered by the [[Cyberman (Mondas)|Cybermen]] by [[1951]]. ([[WC]]: {{cs|Real Time (webcast)}})
In an alternate timeline where the Daleks were peaceful, the Sontarans remained a dangerous force in the universe alongside the [[Cyberman (Mondas)|Cybermen]]. They won the [[battle of Kharax Rift]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Ripple Effect (short story)}})
[[File:Strax in altered timeline The Name of the Doctor.jpg|thumb|An evil Strax in an alternate timeline. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Name of the Doctor (TV story)}})]]
Following a psychic [[conference call]] with Madame [[Vastra]], [[Jenny Flint]], [[River Song]] and [[Clara Oswald]], [[Strax]] was taken by the [[Whisper Man|Whisper Men]] to [[Alternate timeline (The Name of the Doctor)|an alternate]] [[Trenzalore]] where the Doctor died in [[Siege of Trenzalore|battle]]. On Trenzalore, Strax was able to resurrect a dead Jenny but couldn't defeat the Whisper Men and was nearly killed. When the [[Great Intelligence]] altered [[the Doctor]]'s timeline after accessing a wound in time in the Doctor's grave, Strax turned evil and Madame Vastra was forced to vaporise him. After Clara repaired the timeline, Strax was returned back to his old self and apologised. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Name of the Doctor (TV story)}})
In an [[Alternate timeline (Supremacy of the Cybermen)|alternate timeline]] where the Cybermen used [[Time Lord]] resources to conquer all of [[history]], by the [[24th century]], the [[Sontaran Empire]] had been completely eradicated, save for [[Sontar]] and the [[Last Great Sontaran War Fleet]]. Under the orders of the [[Sontaran-Prime]], Commander [[Sturg]] and a patrol of Sontarans captured the [[Tenth Doctor]], [[Gabby Gonzalez]] and [[Cindy Wu]] at [[Cosmomart]] to lead the Sontarans in a final battle on Sontar to stop the Cybermen taking control of the Sontaran [[clone|cloning]] [[factory|factories]]. Although the Cybermen massacred the Sontarans, despite the efforts of the Tenth Doctor, the [[Twelfth Doctor]] allied with a betrayed [[Rassilon]] at the [[end of the universe]] to use the [[Eye of Harmony]] on [[Gallifrey]] to erase this alternate timeline from history, restoring the Sontaran Empire along with the rest of the original timeline. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Supremacy of the Cybermen (comic story)}})
=== Alternate universes ===
In [[parallel world (Turn Left)|the parallel world]] created around Donna Noble by the [[Time Beetle]] where the Tenth Doctor died before the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet's 2009 invasion of Earth, [[Torchwood Three]] took his place in destroying the flagship and stopping the spread of ATMOS' gas. [[Gwen Cooper]] and [[Ianto Jones]] were killed saving Earth, and the immortal [[Jack Harkness]] was transferred to Sontar. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Turn Left (TV story)}})
== Other references ==
In the [[video game]] ''[[Happy Deathday]]'', played by [[Izzy Sinclair]] on the [[Time-Space Visualiser]], several Sontarans were among a host of "every single [[enemy]]" that [[the Doctor]] had ever [[defeat]]ed, who were assembled by the [[Beige Guardian]] and pitted against the Doctor's first eight [[incarnation]]s. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Happy Deathday (comic story)}})
When the [[Skith Leader]] scanned the [[Tenth Doctor]]'s mind, a Sontaran was among the alien creatures shown to him. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The First (comic story)}})
After [[the Flux]] "jumbled" a number of words relating to the [[Thirteenth Doctor]]'s past, "location of the Sontaran base on Earth" was the clue written by the Doctor to help readers of [[Book (Flux Fixers)|her book]] unscramble the name of [[Liverpool]], in reference to ([[GAME]]: {{cs|Flux Fixers (game)}}) the Sontarans' [[Flux Offensive]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|War of the Sontarans (TV story)}})
Making a point about [[human]]ity's tendency to invent rules to make the inexplicable make sense, [[Kate Stewart]] told [[Ruby Sunday]] that "man saw the sunrise and invented [[God (mythology)|God]]… that, or he saw the arrival of a Sontaran. One or the other". ([[TV]]: {{cs|73 Yards (TV story)}})
== Behind the scenes ==
* The Sontarans were created by [[Robert Holmes]], who conceived of them partially based on the joke of a Doctor Who monster taking off its helmet to reveal a head shaped like that helmet.
*According to [[Bob Baker]], when he and [[Dave Martin]] consulted Holmes as script editor for help with writing ''[[The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)|The Sontaran Experiment]]'', Holmes had drawn out an elaborate backstory for the Sontarans, including that the Sontarans had [[sex]] through the backs of their necks (whether this is through the probic vent or not is unclear).<ref>[[DWM 235|Doctor Who Magazine, #235.]]</ref>
*In the documentary ''[[Built for War (documentary)|Built for War]]'', [[Elisabeth Sladen]] credits [[Linx]] actor [[Kevin Lindsay]] with establishing the pronunciation for "Sontaran" that is now generally accepted. Her description of the filming of ''[[The Time Warrior (TV story)|The Time Warrior]]'' suggests that Lindsay insisted upon stressing the second syllable over the objections of director [[Alan Bromly]], who wanted to emphasise the first. A similar dispute was later seen on screen in ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)|The Sontaran Stratagem]]'', with [[Donna Noble]] adopting Bromly's preferred pronunciation and the [[Tenth Doctor]] using Lindsay's.
* ''[[The Dalek Handbook]]'' identifies the Sontarans as a [[Lesser Species]] as they were unable to take part in the [[Last Great Time War|Time War]].
* According to ''[[The Brilliant Book 2011]]'', a non-narrative based reference book that this wiki does not consider to be a [[valid source]]; on 26 October 1895, the Tenth Doctor was searching for Sontaran grenades when he met up with [[Winston Churchill]].
* ''[[Strax Field Report: The Doctors (webcast)|Strax Field Report: The Doctors]]'' states that Strax and the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet are from the same clone batch, explaining why the costumes of these Sontarans resemble each other instead of their classic series appearance or ''[[Series 13 (Doctor Who 2005)|Flux]]'' redesign.
* The ''[[Star Trek (franchise)|Star Trek]]'' series ''{{iw|memoryalpha|Star Trek: Voyager|Voyager}}'' introduced {{iw|memoryalpha|Overlooker|a species that was physically very similar to Sontarans}}.
* [[J. K. Woodward]], who worked on the ''[[Star Trek]]'' [[crossover]] ''[[Assimilation² (comic story)|Assimilation²]]'', released a piece depicting a Sontaran [[assimilation|assimilated]] by the [[Borg (species)|Borg]].
*In the [[David Walliams]] novel ''Grandpa's Great Ecscape'', kids dress up as Sontarans, along with [[Cyberman|Cybermen]] and [[Dalek|Daleks]], using costumes stolen from a [[Doctor Who exhibition|''Doctor Who'' exhibition]], and pretend that there is an [[alien invasion]] of Earth.
* In 2017, leaked CIA documents listed "sontaran" as the name of a hacking tool used for Skype.
* In both ''[[AHistory]]'' and ''Whoniverse'', Lance Parkin confirms that the "shape-shifting goblins" mentioned in ''[[Father Time (novel)|Father Time]]'' are the hybrid descendants of the [[Rutan]]s and the Sontarans. It is possible that this merging of races is meant to stem from General [[Sontar (The Infinity Doctors)|Sontar]]'s call for peace after seeing the end of the universe. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'')
* In "A Sourcebook for Field Agents" from ''[[The Doctor Who Role Playing Game]]'', the Sontarans were descended from a race called the Anar, who came to be at war with the [[Isari]]. The Anar then turned control of their world to General Sontaris, who after wiping out the Isari refused to give up his dictatorship, having himself cloned into an army and wiping out the rest of the Anar. He then declared himself Emperor, renamed the Anar homeworld Sontara, and gave his newly-cloned race the name Sontarans. ''NOTE: It seems some of this storyline was adapted for the history of the alternate Sontarans depicted in [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]''.''
*If one counts [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Sync (audio story)|Sync]]'' and [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Great Sontaran War (audio story)|The Great Sontaran War]],'' the Slitheen and Sontarans are the only aliens besides the [[Trickster's Brigade]] to appear in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', ''[[Torchwood (series)|Torchwood]]'' and ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]''.
== External links ==
{{Dwlx}}
== Footnotes ==
{{reflist}}
{{Sontaran stories}}
{{Sontaran stories}}
[[Category:Sontarans|*]]
 
[[Category:Sontarans| ]]
[[Category:Clone species]]
[[Category:All-male species]]
[[Category:Humanoid species]]
[[Category:Species with brown skin]]
[[Category:Temporal marauders]]
[[Category:The Alliance]]
[[Category:Species in the War in Heaven]]
[[Category:Species in the Siege of Trenzalore]]
[[Category:Species imprisoned on Shada]]
[[Category:Parallel world (Turn Left)]]
[[Category:Species that fought in the Last Great Time War]]
[[Category:Species from the Dark Times]]
[[Category:Species in the Alliance of Races]]
[[Category:Species in the Civil War]]
[[Category:Species in the Millennium War]]
 
[[cs:Sontarané]]
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[[ru:Сонтаранцы]]

Latest revision as of 22:05, 5 November 2024

Sontaran
Appearances
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Information from Salvation Nine

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 original natives of Sontar.

The Sontarans were a humanoid race of belligerent and militaristic clones from the planet Sontar, created by the Kaveetch. They waged an eternal war throughout Mutter's Spiral against the Rutans, though they made no effort to change this nor did they want peace.

Biology[[edit] | [edit source]]

A Sontaran comes out of the Cloning Chamber. (COMIC: The Outsider [+]Loading...["The Outsider (comic story)"])

The Sontarans were humanoids with large, bulbous heads and short stocky bodies; humans who met them, such as Sarah Jane Smith, Clyde Langer and Bea Nelson-Stanley, often compared them to "huge potatoes with ray guns". (TV: Eye of the Gorgon [+]Loading...["Eye of the Gorgon (TV story)"], The Last Sontaran [+]Loading...["The Last Sontaran (TV story)"]) Alternatively, Mickey Smith described one as a "dumpling with a gun". (TV: The End of Time [+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"]) They had grey-brown skin and deep set features. Sontarans generally had three digits on each hand (two fingers and a thumb), (TV: The Time Warrior [+]Loading...["The Time Warrior (TV story)"], et al) though some had five fingers on each hand. (TV: The Sontaran Experiment [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)"]) Some Sontarans also had vestigial hair, generally in the form of beards, which grew white with age. (TV: The Two Doctors [+]Loading...["The Two Doctors (TV story)"]; PROSE: Shakedown [+]Loading...["Shakedown (novelisation)"]; COMIC: The Betrothal of Sontar [+]Loading...["The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)"], Supremacy of the Cybermen [+]Loading...["Supremacy of the Cybermen (comic story)"]) Sontaran blood was mostly green, (TV: The Two Doctors [+]Loading...["The Two Doctors (TV story)"], A Fix with Sontarans [+]Loading...["A Fix with Sontarans (home video)"], The Last Sontaran [+]Loading...["The Last Sontaran (TV story)"]) although it was occasionally red. (HOMEVID: Battlefield [+]Loading...["Battlefield (home video)"])

According to Strax, Sontarans' heights were "to precise warrior specifications". (AUDIO: A Photograph to Remember [+]Loading...["A Photograph to Remember (audio story)"]) Group Marshal Stike and Major Varl were noticeably taller than their Androgum associates Shockeye and Chessene. (TV: The Two Doctors [+]Loading...["The Two Doctors (TV story)"])

The Sontarans reproduced by cloning, meaning every Sontaran was nearly identical to each other. There were some variations over time, such as the number of fingers, (TV: The Sontaran Experiment [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)"]) height, (TV: The Two Doctors [+]Loading...["The Two Doctors (TV story)"]) or skin colour. (PROSE: Shakedown [+]Loading...["Shakedown (novelisation)"]) Variation was typical across Sontaran generations of clone replication. This sometimes led to "throwbacks" to past Sontarans. (AUDIO: A Photograph to Remember [+]Loading...["A Photograph to Remember (audio story)"])

At least one Sontaran had been gene-spliced for nursing purposes, such as the ability to produce breast milk. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War [+]Loading...["A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)"]) They used mass cloning techniques that allowed their hatcheries to produce up to a million Sontarans in four minutes. (PROSE: Lords of the Storm [+]Loading...["Lords of the Storm (novel)"])

Occasionally, genetic defects would crop up and the afflicted Sontarans would perform menial labour. (COMIC: The Betrothal of Sontar [+]Loading...["The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)"])

A Sontaran skull. (COMIC: The Betrothal of Sontar [+]Loading...["The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)"])

Due to the high gravity of the moon of Sontar that they were first created on, the Sontarans had great strength and resilience in lower gravity environments like Earth or Gallifrey. (TV: The Two Doctors [+]Loading...["The Two Doctors (TV story)"], AUDIO: The First Sontarans [+]Loading...["The First Sontarans (audio story)"]) However, Sontaran muscles were designed for load bearing rather than leverage, (TV: The Time Warrior [+]Loading...["The Time Warrior (TV story)"]) which could lead to unwieldiness. (TV: The Sontaran Experiment [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)"])

The Sontaran cardiovascular system was 210% more efficient than the human normal. (AUDIO: The Shadow Play [+]Loading...["The Shadow Play (audio story)"])

They were vulnerable to coronic acid. (TV: The Two Doctors [+]Loading...["The Two Doctors (TV story)"]) If severely wounded, a Sontaran would enter an anabolic coma. They would usually die, but sometimes they would later wake. (PROSE: Shakedown [+]Loading...["Shakedown (novelisation)"])

Sontarans fed on pure energy through a probic vent in the back of the neck, (TV: The Sontaran Experiment [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)"]) which was also used as an access point to refill their armour with the chemicals of their native atmosphere. (TV: War of the Sontarans [+]Loading...["War of the Sontarans (TV story)"]) This vent was also their crucial weakness, as any sudden blow to the vent would stun them. The penetration of a sharp object into the vent would kill them. (TV: The Time Warrior [+]Loading...["The Time Warrior (TV story)"], The Invasion of Time [+]Loading...["The Invasion of Time (TV story)"], et al.) Tampering with the energy source could also lead to a reversal effect that could destroy a Sontaran from the inside out. (TV: The Sontaran Experiment [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)"])

Sontarans needed 7.5 minutes of sleep every 27 Earth hours. (TV: War of the Sontarans [+]Loading...["War of the Sontarans (TV story)"]) While it was unknown if the rest cycle was a biological necessity, (PROSE: Shakedown [+]Loading...["Shakedown (novelisation)"]) when they were occupying planets with a significantly different atmospheric composition to their homeworld the Sontarans would use the rest period as an opportunity to refill their suits with the chemicals and nutrients of Sontar's atmosphere. (TV: War of the Sontarans [+]Loading...["War of the Sontarans (TV story)"])

Sontarans could live into their eighties, but this was uncommon due to their military culture. (AUDIO: Old Soldiers [+]Loading...["Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)"]) In an alternate universe, all Sontarans appeared, roughly, the same age, with the exception of the older General Sontar. (PROSE: The Infinity Doctors [+]Loading...["The Infinity Doctors (novel)"])

Members of the Great Houses regarded the Sontarans as "goblins"; Larissa remembered the Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey as a "goblin infestation", (PROSE: Newtons Sleep [+]Loading...["Newtons Sleep (novel)"]) and in Mujun: The Ghost Kingdom the Seventy-Ninth Sontaran Assault Corps was represented by a "goblin-hoarde". (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"], AUDIO: The Eleven Day Empire [+]Loading...["The Eleven Day Empire (audio story)"])

Sontarans were biologically both male and female but the high levels of testosterone produced for combat caused them all to be born male. If a Sontaran was allowed to age, they would steadily turn female. (AUDIO: Salvation Nine [+]Loading...["Salvation Nine (audio story)"])

Society[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Sontarans were a martial species, obsessed with war. They hated the idea of a great war going on without them. (TV: The Time Warrior [+]Loading...["The Time Warrior (TV story)"], The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"]) Sontaran civilisation relied on war, and the continuing war effort of the Sontaran Empire relied upon its civilisation. (AUDIO: Old Soldiers [+]Loading...["Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)"]) Sontarans trained for war in the Sontaran Greater Military Academy. (PROSE: Devil in the Smoke [+]Loading...["Devil in the Smoke (novel)"]) Jingo Linx claimed that hatchings of a million cadets occurred at each Academy muster parade. (TV: The Time Warrior [+]Loading...["The Time Warrior (TV story)"]) The body of power in the empire was the Grand Strategic Council. (AUDIO: Conduct Unbecoming [+]Loading...["Conduct Unbecoming (audio story)"])

The Sontaran Subliminal Education Matrix's entry on the Daleks acknowledged that the two species shared a bloodlust and a will to bend all opposition to their "iron rule", however, it maintained that the Sontarans were motivated by honour and their own "superiority" whilst the Daleks were motivated by their hatred for all other life forms which was characterised as a dishonourable "weakness" and "sickness" that dwarfed the Sontarans' own animosity for the Rutans. It did, however, observe that the Daleks were "the right height". (PROSE: A Soldier's Education [+]Loading...["A Soldier's Education (short story)"])

The highest honour for a Sontaran was to serve in the Imperial Sontaran Fleet; conversely, to be disallowed soldiering was the most dishonourable fate for a Sontaran. (COMIC: The Betrothal of Sontar [+]Loading...["The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)"]) Taking care of the sick and wounded was a humiliating concept. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War [+]Loading...["A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)"]) Fighting for other species was an equally dishonourable fate. (TV: Enemy of the Bane [+]Loading...["Enemy of the Bane (TV story)"]) Sontarans did not fear death and they would rather be court-martialled than show pain. They considered it honourable to face battle "open skinned", without a helmet on. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"]/The Poison Sky [+]Loading...["The Poison Sky (TV story)"])

The Sontaran Subliminal Education Matrix claimed that each drop-pod was painted a bright and reflective silver so that they could be clearly seen against the sky, refusing to adopt the "cowardice" of camouflage. At the same time, however, Mark VII Battle Armour could be modified for the inclusion of a perception-camouflage matrix. (PROSE: A Soldier's Education [+]Loading...["A Soldier's Education (short story)"]) The Sontarans were known to have used an invisibility cloak during the Siege of Trenzalore. (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Time of the Doctor (TV story)"])

Though they would ally with other species, (PROSE: Shakedown [+]Loading...["Shakedown (novelisation)"], TV: The Pandorica Opens [+]Loading...["The Pandorica Opens (TV story)"]) they felt no need to keep these alliances, (PROSE: Shakedown [+]Loading...["Shakedown (novelisation)"]) with Stike insisting that the Sontarans did not need allies. (TV: The Two Doctors [+]Loading...["The Two Doctors (TV story)"]) Sontarans would only ally themselves with other species, take prisoners, or allow enemies to live, if it served the greater good of the empire. (AUDIO: Old Soldiers [+]Loading...["Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)"]) The Sixth Doctor claimed that the Sontarans lacked allies because they were untrustworthy, whilst the Second Doctor made the observation that, like the Androgums, treachery was as natural to the Sontarans as breathing. (TV: The Two Doctors [+]Loading...["The Two Doctors (TV story)"]) Indeed, General Staal deceived Luke Rattigan and his academy into assisting the Sontaran invasion of Earth while intending to kill them when their usefulness was at an end. (TV: The Poison Sky [+]Loading...["The Poison Sky (TV story)"]) The Thirteenth Doctor noted that she had seen a lot of species make alliances with Sontarans, warning the Grand Serpent that it never ended well. (TV: The Vanquishers [+]Loading...["The Vanquishers (TV story)"]) During the Last Great Time War, both the Time Lords and the Daleks refused to ally with the Sontarans, (AUDIO: The Eternity Cage [+]Loading...["The Eternity Cage (audio story)"]) excluding them from the conflict. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"])

Sontarans who possessed five digits on their hands were generally placed as intelligence operatives. However, these agents had a tendency to be paranoid. (PROSE: Lords of the Storm [+]Loading...["Lords of the Storm (novel)"])

The Sontarans marched to a tune titled the Sontaran Anthem. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors [+]Loading...["The Eight Doctors (novel)"])

Despite being a clone race, the Sontarans still retained the concept of betrothal, which was roughly analogous to ending hostilities by killing one's enemy. (COMIC: The Betrothal of Sontar [+]Loading...["The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)"]) Within their society, there was a rigid clan structure, with clans having different genetic markers. (PROSE: Lords of the Storm [+]Loading...["Lords of the Storm (novel)"]) The clans vied for power. Some had great influence, such as the Gunnar Clan. (PROSE: Shakedown [+]Loading...["Shakedown (novelisation)"]) Sontarans were known for Quicksand Wrestling. (TV: Enemy of the Bane [+]Loading...["Enemy of the Bane (TV story)"])

Sontarans used a Base-6 counting system. (TV: The Last Sontaran [+]Loading...["The Last Sontaran (TV story)"])

Sontarans generally held a chauvinistic attitude towards females, considering them unfit for warfare. They would sometimes insult their enemies by comparing them to women. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"]) They also considered their reproductive systems inferior. (TV: The Time Warrior [+]Loading...["The Time Warrior (TV story)"]) Some Sontarans, however, had trouble figuring out which gender humans were. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War [+]Loading...["A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)"], The Snowmen [+]Loading...["The Snowmen (TV story)"]) They referred to Earth-born children as "half forms". (TV: The Last Sontaran [+]Loading...["The Last Sontaran (TV story)"], Enemy of the Bane [+]Loading...["Enemy of the Bane (TV story)"])

Some Sontarans bore eponyms, relating to past victories and events that had occurred in their lives. Sontarans would often introduce themselves by their full name ' rank ' and/or title. The Tenth Doctor pointed out that a title such as Staal's ("General Staal the Undefeated") would no longer be accurate if he did get defeated, joking, that, that would make him "General Staal the Not-Quite-So-Undefeated-But-Never-Mind." (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"]/The Poison Sky [+]Loading...["The Poison Sky (TV story)"], The Last Sontaran [+]Loading...["The Last Sontaran (TV story)"])

If a Sontaran opposed the decision of their commanding officer, they could duel to the death to decide which would be the leader. (PROSE: The Taking of Chelsea 426 [+]Loading...["The Taking of Chelsea 426 (novel)"])

Sontarans considered informing a person that they looked forward to someday killing them on the battlefield a compliment. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War [+]Loading...["A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)"])

Due to their dedication to warfare and short lifespan, Strax considered a twelve-year life to be a long one amongst his species. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War [+]Loading...["A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)"]) Incinerators were kept on Sontaran ships to dispose of dead Sontaran soldiers. (AUDIO: The Sontaran Ordeal [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Ordeal (audio story)"])

The Eighth Doctor believed that the word "overkill" was made for the Sontarans. (AUDIO: The Sontaran Ordeal [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Ordeal (audio story)"])

Commander Kaagh followed the Laws of Battle. (TV: The Last Sontaran [+]Loading...["The Last Sontaran (TV story)"])

Following the Battle of Demons Run, Madame Vastra claimed that Strax was the only Sontaran who had "fought bravely in the best of causes." (WC: The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later [+]Loading...["The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later (webcast)"])

Ranks[[edit] | [edit source]]

Suicide Specialist Sontarans went behind enemy lines and detonated bombs strapped to their chests. These Sontarans were bred to have no will to live. (COMIC: The Judas Goatee [+]Loading...["The Judas Goatee (comic story)"])

The ranks of individual Sontarans were generally not prominently displayed on the uniform. The Marshal above Styre sported two large spiky disks on the front of his collar. (TV: The Sontaran Experiment [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)"]) Commander Stor wore a larger collar than his troops and had a white, three-pointed, crown imprinted on his helmet. (TV: The Invasion of Time [+]Loading...["The Invasion of Time (TV story)"]) Group Marshal Stike had white braiding on his shoulders, akin to epaulettes. (TV: The Two Doctors [+]Loading...["The Two Doctors (TV story)"])

In the early 21st century, badges of rank were more clearly visible and consisted of various symbols set into the right-hand side of the front of the collar. General Staal wore five diamonds in a crown-shaped pattern, and also had a crest made up of four diamond shapes on his helmet, a little similar in design to the crown on Stor's helmet. Commanders, such as Skorr and Kaagh, sported three diamonds in a similar pattern. The lowest rank of this badge design was Lieutenant, displayed by a single diamond in the middle of the badge, shown on Lieutenant Skree, an operations officer. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"]/The Poison Sky [+]Loading...["The Poison Sky (TV story)"], The Last Sontaran [+]Loading...["The Last Sontaran (TV story)"], Enemy of the Bane [+]Loading...["Enemy of the Bane (TV story)"]) In the 24th century, Commander Steg wore a gold helmet while his troops wore red ones. (HOMEVID: Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans [+]Loading...["Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans (home video)"])

Forces[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Sontaran military was divided into several different units, regiments, and fleets. These included the Fifth Sontaran Army Space Fleet, (TV: The Time Warrior [+]Loading...["The Time Warrior (TV story)"]) the G3 Military Assessment Survey, (TV: The Sontaran Experiment [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)"]) the Sontaran Special Space Service, (TV: The Invasion of Time [+]Loading...["The Invasion of Time (TV story)"]) the Eighth Battle Fleet, (COMIC: The Instruments of War [+]Loading...["The Instruments of War (comic story)"]) the Ninth Sontaran Battle Group, (TV: The Two Doctors [+]Loading...["The Two Doctors (TV story)"]) the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet, (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"]/The Poison Sky [+]Loading...["The Poison Sky (TV story)"]) the Twelfth Sontaran Battle Fleet, (PROSE: The Sontaran Games [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Games (novel)"]) the Special Assault Squad attached to other units including the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet, (TV: The Last Sontaran [+]Loading...["The Last Sontaran (TV story)"]) the Koda, (PROSE: Lords of the Storm [+]Loading...["Lords of the Storm (novel)"]) the First Assault Battalion, (HOMEVID: Mindgame [+]Loading...["Mindgame (home video)"]) the Imperial Sontaran Fleet, (COMIC: The Betrothal of Sontar [+]Loading...["The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)"]) the Fourth Sontaran Intelligence Division, (PROSE: The Taking of Chelsea 426 [+]Loading...["The Taking of Chelsea 426 (novel)"]) the Seventy-Ninth Sontaran Assault Corps, (AUDIO: The Eleven Day Empire [+]Loading...["The Eleven Day Empire (audio story)"]) and, in one universe, the Three Millionth Fleet. (PROSE: The Infinity Doctors [+]Loading...["The Infinity Doctors (novel)"]) In an alternate timeline, the Last Great Sontaran War Fleet was the last surviving Sontaran fleet following the near-complete eradication of the Sontaran Empire by the Cybermen. (COMIC: Supremacy of the Cybermen [+]Loading...["Supremacy of the Cybermen (comic story)"])

Sontaran units identified themselves using holo-standards. (COMIC: The Judas Goatee [+]Loading...["The Judas Goatee (comic story)"])

Culture[[edit] | [edit source]]

Militarism[[edit] | [edit source]]

War was paramount to Sontaran culture, with Commander Brak stating that it was as essential to them as mating and reproduction were to humans. (AUDIO: Old Soldiers [+]Loading...["Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)"]) They prided themselves on "star[ing] into the face of death", as the placement of their probic vent encouraged; (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"]) there was no word for "courage" in the Sontaran language because the notion was held to be self-evident. According to Brak, there was "no human word" for the disgrace of a Sontaran who survived a battle without having destroyed the enemy in the process, with notions of "cowardice" or "desertion" barely scratching the unthinkability of the notion. (AUDIO: Old Soldiers [+]Loading...["Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)"]

A Sontaran who had been taken prisoner while still alive, and subsequently rejoined his unit, could typically hope for no greater mercy than an honourable summary execution, which was viewed as a "mercy". (AUDIO: Old Soldiers [+]Loading...["Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)"], TV: War of the Sontarans [+]Loading...["War of the Sontarans (TV story)"]) Sontaran warriors were made to memorise the Sontaran code. (AUDIO: Old Soldiers [+]Loading...["Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)"])

As a Sontaran warrior, I will ignore laws and constitutions in battle. I will claim spoils only for the greater good of the Empire. No life-form shall be spared unless for the greater good of the Empire. No treaty or truce will be entered into unless for the greater good of the Empire. No planet, star, or territory will be aided unless for the greater good of the Empire. No species shall be granted immunity from attack unless for the greater good of the Empire. It is an act of treason to divulge information to any species under any circumstances.Commander Brak (AUDIO: Old Soldiers)

Clans[[edit] | [edit source]]

Historically, Sontaran had a clan structure, (PROSE: Shakedown [+]Loading...["Shakedown (novel)"]) as typified by the Jingo clan to which Commander Linx belonged. (PROSE: Lords of the Storm [+]Loading...["Lords of the Storm (novel)"]) Even after being officially abolished, the clans continued to be unofficially important to Sontaran culture into the 26th century. (PROSE: Shakedown [+]Loading...["Shakedown (novel)"]) Nevertheless, Sontarans found it distasteful for factions within a single species to do war with each other, finding the fact that Earth was not united into a single nation by the dawn of the 21st century to be primitive. (AUDIO: Old Soldiers [+]Loading...["Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)"])

Other matters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Early Sontarans believed in the Furies. (AUDIO: The Furies [+]Loading...["The Furies (audio story)"])

According to Commander Brak, when not in the heat of battle, Sontarans were largely solitary; they did not associate in family units or friend groups as humans did, and had "no society in any sense [a human] would recognise". However, Brak was insistent that they were nevertheless a civilised species with a culture of their own, largely in evidence in their complex and deeply-held value system. UNIT Captain Alice Wells found Sontaran "culture" contemptible, highlighting that it was founded entirely on the pursuit of death and destruction, and led to nothing constructive or creative; (AUDIO: Old Soldiers [+]Loading...["Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)"]) "intellectuals" were openly disrespected by Sontarans. (TV: The Name of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Name of the Doctor (TV story)"]) A school of Sontaran painters once specialised in apocalyptic landscape, but were ultimately executed for artistic tendencies. (COMIC: The Weeping Angels of Mons [+]Loading...["The Weeping Angels of Mons (comic story)"]) After much emotionally-charged argument, Brak would come to agree that human values were superior to Sontaran values, though processing this revelation stretched his mental capacities almost to the point of meltdown, and saw him branded as a contemptible deviant by other Sontarans when they caught up with him. (AUDIO: Old Soldiers [+]Loading...["Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)"])

Sontarans were known to enjoy beverages, including a particularly potent Sontaran alcohol known as Vragg. (PROSE: Shakedown [+]Loading...["Shakedown (novel)"])

Technology[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Sontarans were reasonably advanced, though all their technology was designed for use in the war with the Rutans. They often used spherical spaceships and could make advanced robots for various purposes.

Weaponry[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Sontarans could use and make a wide variety of hand-held weapons, though they usually used the rheon carbine, a swagger stick used for energy projection and hypnotism; as well as repairing technology. (TV: The Time Warrior [+]Loading...["The Time Warrior (TV story)"], The Invasion of Time [+]Loading...["The Invasion of Time (TV story)"], The Two Doctors [+]Loading...["The Two Doctors (TV story)"], The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"] / The Poison Sky [+]Loading...["The Poison Sky (TV story)"]; PROSE: Shakedown [+]Loading...["Shakedown (novelisation)"], Lords of the Storm [+]Loading...["Lords of the Storm (novel)"]) The Sontarans also utilised laser rifles that could kill a human without any exterior damage. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"] / The Poison Sky [+]Loading...["The Poison Sky (TV story)"], War of the Sontarans [+]Loading...["War of the Sontarans (TV story)"], Survivors of the Flux [+]Loading...["Survivors of the Flux (TV story)"] / The Vanquishers [+]Loading...["The Vanquishers (TV story)"]) They also had Stenk 11 pistols, (PROSE: The Undertaker's Gift [+]Loading...["The Undertaker's Gift (novel)"]) and heavy energy-blasters with blades known as Meson Blasters. (TV: The Two Doctors [+]Loading...["The Two Doctors (TV story)"]; HOMEVID: A Fix with Sontarans [+]Loading...["A Fix with Sontarans (home video)"])

They also used melee weapons such as swords (PROSE: What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow [+]Loading...["What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow (short story)"]) including cutlasses, (COMIC: The Betrothal of Sontar [+]Loading...["The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)"]) machetes, (TV: The Sontaran Experiment [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)"]) spears, (COMIC: The Betrothal of Sontar [+]Loading...["The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)"]) axes, (GAME: Legacy [+]Loading...["Legacy (video game)"]) and staffs. (PROSE: The Taking of Chelsea 426 [+]Loading...["The Taking of Chelsea 426 (novel)"])

They also made use of fragmentation grenades, which could destroy everything in a certain area. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons [+]Loading...["Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons (novelisation)"], Legacy [+]Loading...["Legacy (novel)"])

They bought weapons designed by the Vess, who also supplied the Cybermen and Daleks. (AUDIO: The Light at the End [+]Loading...["The Light at the End (audio story)"])

The Sontarans utilised battle computers. (AUDIO: The Sontaran Ordeal [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Ordeal (audio story)"])

In the Infinity Doctor's reality, the Sontarans began plans to develop a device capable of snuffing out entire stars in response to the development by the Rutans to create a planet-killing weapon that was able to destroy a world by converting it from matter to anti-matter. (PROSE: The Infinity Doctors [+]Loading...["The Infinity Doctors (novel)"])

Transportation[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Sontarans used spherical vessels, which were covered in square plates. They were generally only large enough for one Sontaran. (TV: The Time Warrior [+]Loading...["The Time Warrior (TV story)"], et al) Some had cloaking capabilities. (TV: The Last Sontaran [+]Loading...["The Last Sontaran (TV story)"]) The Sontaran motherships were similar in shape to the scoutship, but had four claw like appendages coming out of the top and bottom. The scout ships were attached to the mothership and could be released when needed. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"] / The Poison Sky [+]Loading...["The Poison Sky (TV story)"])

War-Wheels were combat vessels shaped roughly like a bow tie, with two rotating 'wheels' either side of a central spherical core. They were capable of planetary landings. (PROSE: Shakedown [+]Loading...["Shakedown (novelisation)"], COMIC: Unnatural Born Killers [+]Loading...["Unnatural Born Killers (comic story)"]) Assault ships were also used for planetary invasions. Sontaran fleets had a typical arrow formation, with ships composing the head and the shaft. (TV: The Invasion of Time [+]Loading...["The Invasion of Time (TV story)"])

When on a planet, the Sontarans would travel by the means of aircraft. These aircraft looked like the bottom half of a Sontaran ship, with seats and controls on the top half. (COMIC: The Betrothal of Sontar [+]Loading...["The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)"])

In the 13th century, (TV: The Sontaran Experiment [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)"]) Sontarans utilised an osmic projector for time travel. (TV: The Time Warrior [+]Loading...["The Time Warrior (TV story)"]) Thousands of years earlier, their time travel technology, which was developed by the Kaveetch, was only capable of sending individuals into the future. (AUDIO: The First Sontarans [+]Loading...["The First Sontarans (audio story)"]) In the 20th century, they made other attempts to obtain more effective time travel technology such as the Kartz-Reimer module developed by Kartz and Reimer. (TV: The Two Doctors [+]Loading...["The Two Doctors (TV story)"])

Sontarans adapted teleportation technology using generators situated at the area of materialisation. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"]/The Poison Sky [+]Loading...["The Poison Sky (TV story)"])

Armour[[edit] | [edit source]]

Sontaran armour used during their infiltration of Gallifrey. (TV: The Invasion of Time [+]Loading...["The Invasion of Time (TV story)"])

Sontarans wore distinctive battle armour, identified by Jingo Linx as Sontaran space armour, which resembled a thick and bulky grey space suit. Their helmets were dome-shaped and almost featureless except for two eye holes and a small, flat crest running from the forehead to the back of the neck. They generally carried around their rod-like weapon and a translating device. (TV: The Time Warrior [+]Loading...["The Time Warrior (TV story)"])

Armour used during the Sontaran invasion of Earth. (TV: The Poison Sky [+]Loading...["The Poison Sky (TV story)"])

During a period in the early 17th and early 21st century Sontarans had blue, less flexible, armour in a similar design (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"]/The Poison Sky [+]Loading...["The Poison Sky (TV story)"], GAME: The Gunpowder Plot [+]Loading...["The Gunpowder Plot (video game)"]) although those Sontarans may have been solely ship crews, since crew armour was blue. Sontarans of the medical and environmental divisions wore green armour, (PROSE: Lords of the Storm [+]Loading...["Lords of the Storm (novel)"]) though in 4037, the nurse Strax wore an outfit similar to that of the blue 17th/21st century armour. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War [+]Loading...["A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)"])

Other technology[[edit] | [edit source]]

Sontarans used two methods of controlling other individuals. They could take over their minds through hypnosis, (TV: The Time Warrior [+]Loading...["The Time Warrior (TV story)"], The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"]) or control them with devices attached to the neck. (TV: The Last Sontaran [+]Loading...["The Last Sontaran (TV story)"]) They also used psy-snares for the same purpose. (COMIC: Black Sun Rising [+]Loading...["Black Sun Rising (comic story)"])

Sontaran clones were fed using the probic vent, which was the Sontaran's only weak spot. These clones were grown in vats and were nourished by Caesofine gas. (TV: The Poison Sky [+]Loading...["The Poison Sky (TV story)"])

The Sontarans could heal their wounds with a device called a tissue rectifier, which was a stubby, tubular device. (PROSE: Blind Terror [+]Loading...["Blind Terror (short story)"])

Styre used a miniature camera and a force field while studying humans. (TV: The Sontaran Experiment [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)"])

Between 71500 and 72100 TL, the Sontaran Empire used remote-control recon drones for unmanned patrols and security work. The drones were equipped with various sensors, giving them every possible means of detecting the presence of Rutans, as well as being armed with "two blasters, a disruptor, and a small-caliber hypervelocity cannon". After 72100, they were phased out in favour of the similar, but deadlier Scout Seekers. (GAME: The Legions of Death [+]Loading...["The Legions of Death (game)"])

During the mission to make Earth a breeding planet, the Sontarans made a Cordolaine field around themselves that caused metallic copper to expand; when the copper was in the jacket of a bullet, it became jammed in the gun's barrel, rendering it useless. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"]/The Poison Sky [+]Loading...["The Poison Sky (TV story)"])

History[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

The Kaveetch were the original natives of Sontar, and also considered themselves "Sontarans" (just like Humans could be called "Earthlings"). They appeared more like humans. (AUDIO: The First Sontarans [+]Loading...["The First Sontarans (audio story)"])

A single Sontaran was involved in a Dark Times-era war. (COMIC: The Continuity Cap [+]Loading...["The Continuity Cap (comic story)"])

The Sontaran colony that became the home of the Pureblood Sontarans was settled at some point before the Rutan-Sontaran War. (COMIC: Pureblood [+]Loading...["Pureblood (comic story)"])

After a war with the Rutans had reached a stalemate, Meredith Roath proposed the creation of a clone army, namely the Sontaran clones. Within weeks, the clones were not only fighting on the front lines but had turned the tide of the war firmly in the Kaveetch's favour. (AUDIO: The First Sontarans [+]Loading...["The First Sontarans (audio story)"]) However, the Sontarans turned on their creators due to their supposedly inferior nature and unique knowledge of Sontaran physiology. (AUDIO: The First Sontarans [+]Loading...["The First Sontarans (audio story)"], COMIC: Pureblood [+]Loading...["Pureblood (comic story)"])

Even the existence of the Kaveetch was eventually erased from the Sontarans' official history. (AUDIO: The First Sontarans [+]Loading...["The First Sontarans (audio story)"]) According to the Sontarans themselves, before encountering the Rutans, they were split into clans, which would fight amongst themselves. The survivors of these civil wars joined forces and set their aggression on aliens instead. (PROSE: Shakedown [+]Loading...["Shakedown (novelisation)"])

Rutan-Sontaran War[[edit] | [edit source]]

Distant past[[edit] | [edit source]]

A Sontaran in ancient Egypt. (COMIC: The Gods Walk Among Us [+]Loading...["The Gods Walk Among Us (comic story)"])

The cloned Sontarans were engaged in a war with the Rutans. During the Millennium War, though, Sontarans and Rutans briefly joined forces. (PROSE: The Quantum Archangel [+]Loading...["The Quantum Archangel (novel)"])

According to one source, a lone Sontaran was present during a "terrible war" found on the Hyffons home world, these events taking place during the Dark Times. (COMIC: The Continuity Cap [+]Loading...["The Continuity Cap (comic story)"])

During the dying days of the Fifty-first Star Fall Campaign, the Sontarans suffered heavy losses against the Rutans. Sontaran scientists created the world engine weapon Warsong to change the course of the war. The Sontarans were unable to deploy the weapon, and the "brave warrior" Surnat Gaq escaped the Rutans, and while mortally wounded, he took the Warsong to primitive Earth, where it lay dormant and undetected. (COMIC: The Instruments of War [+]Loading...["The Instruments of War (comic story)"])

In Earth's prehistory, a Sontaran went to Egypt, where he was worshipped as a god. Eventually, the humans learned of his plan to destroy Earth for the war, and they buried him alive inside a pyramid. (COMIC: The Gods Walk Among Us [+]Loading...["The Gods Walk Among Us (comic story)"])

2nd century[[edit] | [edit source]]

In 102, the Sontarans were among the races who joined the Pandorica Alliance. They came to Stonehenge and helped imprison the Eleventh Doctor in the Pandorica in order to save the universe. (TV: The Pandorica Opens [+]Loading...["The Pandorica Opens (TV story)"])

11th century[[edit] | [edit source]]

In the early 11th century, a Sontaran scout-ship crashed at sea on Earth off the coast of Norway. The Sontaran officer onboard survived and came aboard a Viking longship. Single-handedly taking command of the vessel, he set himself up as a local warlord, planning to gradually take over the entire country and ultimately the whole planet in the name of the Sontaran Empire. This plan would later be foiled by the Colonel on behalf of the Celestial Intervention Agency with help from one of the Sontaran's reluctant Viking underlings, Sven Langbard, who went on to become a companion to the Time Lord. Sven held the Sontarans to be his "worthy enemies" and hoped somebody to meet one in one-on-one combat. (GAME: The Legions of Death [+]Loading...["The Legions of Death (game)"])

13th century[[edit] | [edit source]]

In the 13th century, (TV: The Sontaran Experiment [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)"]) Linx, a scout, was forced to perform an emergency landing in England after being attacked by a squadron of Rutan fighters. He claimed Earth and "its moons and satellites" for the Sontaran Empire. He proceeded to make an alliance with Irongron, a local warlord, and to transport scientists from the late 20th century into the past using his osmic projection. He would then hypnotise them in order to make them work on his ship. He was killed when his repaired ship began taking off. (TV: The Time Warrior [+]Loading...["The Time Warrior (TV story)"])

Linx was remembered with honour by his fellow Sontarans, who viewed him as a great commander. The rest of the Sontaran Empire sought to fulfil his claim over Earth. (TV: War of the Sontarans [+]Loading...["War of the Sontarans (TV story)"])

16th century[[edit] | [edit source]]

Later, in the year 1522 AD, a Sontaran scoutship crash landed on Earth in China. As a result of the incident, their hyperspace transmitter was damaged and they required a replacement crystal in order to summon reinforcements as well as to take over the planet. There, they formed a partnership with the Abbot Hsiang and Yueh who knew them as the "bronze men" where they used their hypnotic technology to enhance his fighting abilities.

The Emperor of China learnt of the enhanced fighting skills of the monks and came for a demonstration. This was all part of a plan by the Sontarans to kill the Chinese Emperor as he possessed a quartz crystal sufficient to power the hyperspace transmitter and thus placed a hypnotic suggestion designed to turn the monks against the Emperor in order to kill him.

However, the Fourth Doctor intervened and had K9 record the trigger words and broke the spell but not before Chang went into a berserker attack that killed the Sontarans as a result of him hearing the command phrase once. (COMIC: Dragon's Claw [+]Loading...["Dragon's Claw (comic story)"])

17th century[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Eleventh Doctor intervenes between a battle of Sontarans and Rutans. (GAME: The Gunpowder Plot [+]Loading...["The Gunpowder Plot (video game)"])

In 1605, a group of Sontarans came searching for a crashed Rutan ship buried under the Houses of Parliament that contained two doomsday weapons capable of wiping out an entire species. Both the Sontarans and the Rutans raced to retrieve them but the Eleventh Doctor reached them first, modified them and gave one to each party and told them they could use it on the other but faced a risk of killing their own species instead. (GAME: The Gunpowder Plot [+]Loading...["The Gunpowder Plot (video game)"])

In 1609, along with the Rutans, the Sontarans participated in the summit of military powers throughout Mutter's Spiral in the Armageddon Convention, which convened in Laputa, a floating island in the sky near Venice. (PROSE: The Empire of Glass [+]Loading...["The Empire of Glass (novel)"])

19th century[[edit] | [edit source]]

The newly resurrected Strax with Vastra and Jenny. (WC: The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later [+]Loading...["The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later (webcast)"])

After being resurrected in the aftermath of the Battle of Demons Run, Commander Strax worked with Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint on Paternoster Row in 1888 London. (WC: The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later [+]Loading...["The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later (webcast)"], TV: The Snowmen [+]Loading...["The Snowmen (TV story)"])

In 1892, after the Eleventh Doctor was brought out of "retirement", Strax defended Captain Latimer's house from snowmen controlled by the Great Intelligence. He tried and failed to save the life of Clara Oswin Oswald after she fell off the Doctor's cloud. Said failure was shown to affect him somewhat. (TV: The Snowmen [+]Loading...["The Snowmen (TV story)"])

Strax firing his weapons in the Victorian times. (TV: The Crimson Horror [+]Loading...["The Crimson Horror (TV story)"])

In 1893, Strax worked with the Doctor, the Paternoster Gang and Clara Oswald to defeat Mr Sweet and Winifred Gillyflower's plans to wipe out humanity except for their chosen few. Along the way he befriended a young urchin named Thomas Thomas and saved his friends from Mrs Gillyflower by shooting at her, causing her to fall to her death. (TV: The Crimson Horror [+]Loading...["The Crimson Horror (TV story)"]) At some point after this, Strax, along with Vastra, Jenny and Clara, assisted the Twelfth Doctor in foiling the plans of the Half-Face Man, although at one point when defeat appeared inevitable, Strax briefly considered suicide. (TV: Deep Breath [+]Loading...["Deep Breath (TV story)"])

At some point during his time in Victorian England, Strax became separated from Vastra and Jenny and assisted investigators Henry Gordon Jago and George Litefoot on a case. (AUDIO: The Haunting [+]Loading...["The Haunting (audio story)"])

20th century[[edit] | [edit source]]

Sontaran soldier Brak visited Earth in 1916 and witnessed the Battle of the Somme. He was captured by British soldiers and imprisoned for eighty years, during which he created powerful weapons for humanity in the hope that they would tear each other apart. (AUDIO: Old Soldiers [+]Loading...["Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)"]) Elsewhere in the 20th century, it was believed that a Sontaran scout ship crashed in Tunguska. Some of this wreckage was obtained by UNIT and kept in the Vault. (AUDIO: Tales from the Vault [+]Loading...["Tales from the Vault (audio story)"])

In the 1920s, Torchwood One agents Sir Reginald Dellafield and AC Forster encountered and killed some Sontaran scouts, which Forster subsequently buried. (AUDIO: Art Decadence [+]Loading...["Art Decadence (audio story)"])

Sontarans in 1941 confront the Twelfth Doctor. (COMIC: The Instruments of War [+]Loading...["The Instruments of War (comic story)"])

In 1941, a small retinue of the Eighth Battle Fleet arrived in the Sahara Desert after they had discovered the world engine the Warsong had begun to activate after being lost for millennia. They hid among the Tuareg tribe so as not to alert the Rutans to their presence. After the Rutan Heinz Bruckner had claimed the world engine with a device which controlled the Warsong's movements. The Twelfth Doctor tricked Kygon Brox into believing he would seize the Warsong for the Sontarans. As a result, Kygon gave the Doctor an osmic projector to send the control device through time, stopping Bruckner's plans. However, instead of allowing the Sontarans to strike at the Rutans with the Warsong, the Doctor blew the weapon up with his sonic screwdriver. (COMIC: The Instruments of War [+]Loading...["The Instruments of War (comic story)"])

In 1945, the Sontarans were one of 23 races that came to Dusseldorf in search of the persuasion machine. (AUDIO: Persuasion [+]Loading...["Persuasion (audio story)"]) At some point during the 20th century, Edgar Nelson-Stanley met with the Sontarans. He believed they were "the silliest race in the galaxy". (TV: Eye of the Gorgon [+]Loading...["Eye of the Gorgon (TV story)"]) In 1965, three hundred Sontarans were killed by Captain Gol Clutha when he and his squad hijacked a Sontaran timeship. (COMIC: Hunters of the Burning Stone [+]Loading...["Hunters of the Burning Stone (comic story)"])

In the 1980s, Group Marshal Stike claimed that the war with the Rutans was "on the contrary" to going badly. The Ninth Sontaran Battle Group attempted to gain unlimited access to time travel through Kartz and Reimer's experiments. This failed when Chessene betrayed Stike and Major Varl, and the Sixth Doctor sabotaged the Kartz-Reimer module. At the same point in time, the Sontarans were involved in a battle with the Rutans in the Madillon Cluster. (TV: The Two Doctors [+]Loading...["The Two Doctors (TV story)"])

On 23 February 1985, (PROSE: Fixing a Hole [+]Loading...["Fixing a Hole (short story)"]) Group Marshal Nathan and his subordinate of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Brigade were inside the Sixth Doctor's TARDIS, planning to destroy it with a vitrox bomb. With the help of Tegan and Gareth Jenkins — whom the duo of Sontarans believed was the leader of the Earth Defence Force that thwarted the Sontarans' future invasion of Earth in 2001 — the Doctor gassed the Sontarans, killing them bloodily. To their shock, the TARDIS scanner shows them the rest of the Battle Brigade outside, (HOMEVID: A Fix with Sontarans [+]Loading...["A Fix with Sontarans (home video)"]) however, seemingly in a few hours, the ordeal was sorted. (PROSE: Fixing a Hole [+]Loading...["Fixing a Hole (short story)"])

A Sontaran in the 1990s (TV: Untitled 3 [+]Loading...["Untitled 3 (More than 30 Years in the TARDIS home video)"])

In England in the 1990s, one Sontaran confronted a woman who resembled Sarah Jane Smith and a little girl she was walking with. After capturing the older woman, the Sontaran held the child at gunpoint. (TV: Untitled 3 [+]Loading...["Untitled 3 (More than 30 Years in the TARDIS home video)"])

21st century[[edit] | [edit source]]

Campaigns in the 21st century[[edit] | [edit source]]

In the 2000s, Major Kreg of the Ninth Sontaran Battle Brigade was sent to survey Earth for the empire. He was intercepted by Torchwood and forcibly resettled at Mumbles Bay Caravan Park. He eventually came to appreciate his life there, after clashing with the park's owner Mr Higgins and summoning Rutan mercenaries for a battle, and took over running of the park. (AUDIO: The Great Sontaran War [+]Loading...["The Great Sontaran War (audio story)"])

In 2001, the Sontarans invaded Earth, but were defeated by the Earth Defence Force led by Gareth Jenkins. This battle was known of to Sontarans (HOMEVID: A Fix with Sontarans [+]Loading...["A Fix with Sontarans (home video)"]) relative to the 1980s (PROSE: Fixing a Hole [+]Loading...["Fixing a Hole (short story)"]) and when Group Marshal Nathan and his subordinate tried to destroy the Sixth Doctor's TARDIS and subsequently met a Gareth Jenkins, they tried to kill him to ensure the success of their future invasion. (HOMEVID: A Fix with Sontarans [+]Loading...["A Fix with Sontarans (home video)"])

In 2009, the Sontarans appeared as though they were losing the war against the Rutans. To counter this, the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet, led by the supposedly undefeated General Staal, made plans to convert Earth into a cloning world, and carried them out with the help of a young human genius named Luke Rattigan.

General Staal, during the Earth invasion of 2009. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"])

The Sontarans used a form of hypnosis on the workers of the ATMOS factory, forcing them to start shipping out devices that contained gases poisonous to humans, contained inside plates attached to the SatNavs they sold. When the Tenth Doctor attempted to meddle, the Sontarans activated all the devices already deployed in cars, releasing the poison gas and choking people nearby.

The gas was burnt away by the Doctor's use of an atmospheric converter and Rattigan, having been betrayed, sacrificed his life by using the converter to destroy the fleet. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"] / The Poison Sky [+]Loading...["The Poison Sky (TV story)"]) After these events, Jack Harkness discussed the Sontarans in a monster file and revealed his money was on the Sontarans ultimately winning their war with the Rutans. (WC: Monster File: Sontarans [+]Loading...["Monster File: Sontarans (webcast)"])

Following the failed ATMOS strategy, Commander Kaagh was left as the last survivor of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet after he crashed to Earth. He used Professor Nicholas Skinner to bring satellites crashing into Earth's nuclear power plants. He wanted to take Sarah Jane Smith to Sontar for the Doctor's crime and for her knowledge of the Sontarans. The plan was stopped when Chrissie Jackson disabled Kaagh with her high heeled shoe, but he came round and was forced back to Sontar in his pod. (TV: The Last Sontaran [+]Loading...["The Last Sontaran (TV story)"])

Following this failure, Kaagh became a mercenary for the Bane. He met Mrs Wormwood while looking for the remains of Horath and they agreed to work together. After finding the mind of Horath, he followed Wormwood to Earth, where they took the Tunguska Scroll from Sarah Jane and kidnapped Luke Smith. The alliance started to break down when Mrs Wormwood sided with Luke over Kaagh, ending when she betrayed and disabled him. Seeing that he had lost, he dragged Wormwood into the wormhole containing Horath. (TV: Enemy of the Bane [+]Loading...["Enemy of the Bane (TV story)"])

A data-pod of a Sontaran. (COMIC: Monster Hunt [+]Loading...["Monster Hunt (comic story)"])

In 2009 one Sontaran was captured by the Krulius and stored in a data-pod. The Krulius later used his digital bio-converter to upload the Sontan's bio data onto the internet. There it was found by Mr Smith, Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer who sent the Sontaran back to his home planet. (COMIC: Monster Hunt [+]Loading...["Monster Hunt (comic story)"]) Another Sontaran was kept at the Doloth Star Base. When the Judoon caught the Krulius, all his captured aliens were set free. However the Krulius had managed to take clone cell samples of his former captured aliens with him, which allowed him to grow perfect copies of these aliens. (COMIC: Return of the Krulius [+]Loading...["Return of the Krulius (comic story)"])

Jask attempts to shoot Martha. (TV: The End of Time [+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"])

Circa 2010, one Sontaran named Jask was on Earth and was chased by Martha Jones and Mickey Smith. He managed to get away and tried to kill them with a sniper rifle but was knocked out by the Tenth Doctor. (TV: The End of Time [+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"])

In 2011 at least one Sontaran weapon was part of a shipment of weaponry stolen by a CIA Special Operations Division when it was removed from The Hub. (PROSE: The Men Who Sold the World [+]Loading...["The Men Who Sold the World (novel)"])

In the 2010s, Commander Merx of the Eighth Sontaran Battle Fleet crash landed on Earth and fell into the possession of the Auctioneers. They supplied him to John Torrance for use on his cloning experiments, with Torrance attempting to create his own Sontaran clones for human militaries. Marshal Skar led the Eighth Fleet to Earth to recover Merx, reluctantly collaborating with UNIT forces led by Kate Stewart and Colonel Shindi. Their combined forces were able to take over Torrance's facility and destroy the cloning project, rescuing Merx, after which the Sontarans withdrew. (AUDIO: The Sontaran Project [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Project (audio story)"])

In the 2010s, a Sontaran was a resident of the hidden trap street in London which housed lost aliens on Earth under the protection of Mayor Me. As with the rest of the inhabitants it appeared cloaked in human form through use of the lurkworms. (TV: Face the Raven [+]Loading...["Face the Raven (TV story)"])

A War-Wheel crashed on Earth where its wreckage was found by Mr. Kamen, who salvaged a host of technology as well as one survivor, Group Marshal Skral, whom he had forced into servitude as a mercenary. Ultimately, Sam Bishop, by appealing to Skral's sense of honour, convinced the Sontaran to turn against his master, killing Mr. Kamen at the cost of his own life. (AUDIO: Portrait of a Lady [+]Loading...["Portrait of a Lady (audio story)"])

In the 21st century, two Sontarans were in Istanbul. The Ninth Doctor fought them in a sword fight, and had his life saved from one of them by "some sort of spy" called Sally Sparrow. (PROSE: What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow [+]Loading...["What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow (short story)"])

Exploiting the Flux[[edit] | [edit source]]
Commander Ritskaw receives Kragar's report on the Flux. (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse [+]Loading...["The Halloween Apocalypse (TV story)"])

The Sontarans grew interested in the Flux, with Psychic Surveyor Kragar assessing its impact. He reported back to Commander Ritskaw that the cataclysm was imminent and and forecast "conflict that will dwarf all that has come before", to the Commander's excitement. Ritskaw subsequently ordered an attack (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse [+]Loading...["The Halloween Apocalypse (TV story)"]) against 2021 Earth. The Sontarans invaded Earth just before the shield of Lupari ships sealed to protect the planet from the oncoming Flux, occupying Liverpool where they began construction of a fleet of timeships to invade Earth throughout time. A pilot temporal invasion was conducted in the Crimean War led by Skaak.

The Sontarans in the Crimea came into conflict with British forces and encountered the Thirteenth Doctor, who sabotaged their supplies to force them to retreat. As their ships began to lift off, a British commander used gunpowder to detonate them. In 21st century Liverpool, the Doctor's companion Dan Lewis infiltrated the fleet and was rescued from Sontarans by his assigned Lupar Karvanista who had taken the blame from his people for the Sontaran incursion. Karvanista rammed one of the Sontaran timeships into the rest of the fleet, creating a temporal shockwave which removed the Sontarans from Earth. (TV: War of the Sontarans [+]Loading...["War of the Sontarans (TV story)"])

The Sontaran occupation of Rio de Janeiro. (TV: The Vanquishers [+]Loading...["The Vanquishers (TV story)"])

In revenge for their defeat, the Sontarans invaded Earth again later in the Flux crisis with the aid of the Grand Serpent, attacking the Lupari ships still shielding the planet and breaking into the Williamson Tunnels. (TV: Survivors of the Flux [+]Loading...["Survivors of the Flux (TV story)"]) They wiped out the Lupari and occupied Earth, though were resisted by a resistance led by Kate Stewart. Exploiting Earth's psychics to identify the origin point of the next Flux event, the Sontarans planned to take advantage of it by luring the Dalek War Fleet and Cybermen forces there under the pretex of forming an alliance at that location, planning to protect themselves using the Lupari ships they now controlled. Their plan was sabotaged by the Doctor who changed the formation of the Lupari ships to expose the Sontaran fleet to the Flux as well, destroying it. (TV: The Vanquishers [+]Loading...["The Vanquishers (TV story)"])

25th and 26th century[[edit] | [edit source]]

Circa the 25th century, the Sontarans clashed with the forces of the Earth Empire during the Siege of the Hexion Gates. (PROSE: The Taking of Chelsea 426 [+]Loading...["The Taking of Chelsea 426 (novel)"])

Around 2570, the Sontarans were engaged in activities in the Magellanic Clouds. (PROSE: Love and War [+]Loading...["Love and War (novel)"])

At some point during the 26th century, the Sontarans sent in Commander Steg to conquer Jekkar in order to create a buffer around Sontar. Though he had no difficulty with the humans, the Jekkari, led by the Seventh Doctor, were able to fight back effectively. The surviving Sontarans destroyed their bases and abandoned the planet. (PROSE: Shakedown [+]Loading...["Shakedown (novelisation)"])

Some time later, an expedition was made to go to Sentarion and take advantage of the wormhole connecting it and Ruta III to kill the Rutan Queen. Though the Sontarans tried to keep this information classified, a Rutan spy known as Karne was able to learn that the information had leaked out and tried to return to the Rutans.

Steg, Vorn and another Sontaran. (HOMEVID: Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans [+]Loading...["Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans (home video)"])

Commander Steg was sent in to redeem himself and kill Karne. He was able to track it to the space yacht Tiger Moth, where it had hidden in the ship. During the course of his investigations, his soldiers were whittled down by Karne and the human crew. Eventually, Karne was killed and all the Sontarans were believed to be killed. In reality, Karne was able to clone himself before his death and Steg was able to pull through. (HOMEVID: Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans [+]Loading...["Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans (home video)"], PROSE: Shakedown [+]Loading...["Shakedown (novelisation)"])

The second Karne was able escape to Sentarion, followed by the Seventh Doctor, his companions and the survivors from the Tiger Moth. Commander Steg was able to follow them with a War-Wheel and forced the Doctor to open the wormhole to Ruta III. The War-Wheel was sent through, but the Doctor was able to reverse the polarity of the wormhole, meaning the War-Wheel would never get to Ruta III. When Steg tried to kill the Doctor in revenge, a fight began, leading to the death of Karne and the Sontaran forces. (PROSE: Shakedown [+]Loading...["Shakedown (novelisation)"])

Also at some point during the 26th century, the Sontarans and Rutans took their war to the colony Chelsea 426. The Fourth Sontaran Intelligence Division, led by General Kade, were given the mission of hunting down Rutans that were at the time taking over human bodies. The Tenth Doctor was present during the event and while he did not side with either warring party, he did stop the Rutans, after which the Sontarans left. However, there was evidence that the Sontaran Division's trouble with the Rutans was not fully over after their ship left the colony. (PROSE: The Taking of Chelsea 426 [+]Loading...["The Taking of Chelsea 426 (novel)"])

During either the 25th or 26th century, the Rutans destroyed the Sontaran homeworld, Sontar, with photonic bombs, though some escaped with the Sontaran racepool. At the same time, the Sontarans encountered the Pureblood Sontarans. Due to the intervention of the Seventh Doctor, the cloned and pureblood Sontarans decided to pool their resources and Marshal Stave promised to remove the Sontarans' memory of humans from the racepool. (COMIC: Pureblood [+]Loading...["Pureblood (comic story)"])

31st century[[edit] | [edit source]]

A group of Sontarans landed on the planet ERM 4997 in the year 3076 where they encountered the Seventh Doctor and Melanie Bush. (AUDIO: Terror of the Sontarans [+]Loading...["Terror of the Sontarans (audio story)"])

41st century[[edit] | [edit source]]

In 4037, eleven year old Commander Strax was demoted to Nurse for his failure, tending to the humans in the Battle of Zaruthstra. He was summoned by the Eleventh Doctor to Demons Run circa the 52nd century. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War [+]Loading...["A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)"])

Circa 52nd century[[edit] | [edit source]]

Strax hears the TARDIS arriving. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War [+]Loading...["A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)"])

Circa the 52nd century, Commander Strax died in the Battle of Demons Run at the hand of the Order of the Headless. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War [+]Loading...["A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)"]) Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint brought him back to life. (WC: The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later [+]Loading...["The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later (webcast)"])

10th millennium[[edit] | [edit source]]

According to one account, in the year 10,674, the Sontaran Empire had been reduced to "radioactive remains". (PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus [+]Loading...["The Crystal Bucephalus (novel)"])

Post-11th millennium[[edit] | [edit source]]

Styre examines the results of Experiment 5: Fluid deprivation. (TV: The Sontaran Experiment [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)"])

However, according to another account, many thousands of years after the 20th century, at a time when the Earth had been abandoned for 10,000 years, the Sontarans were separated from the many human worlds like GalSec throughout Mutter's Spiral by a buffer zone. The Grand Strategic Council planned to invade the galaxy, but they had to abandon that plan when a scout, Field Major Styre, was killed while trying to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the humans. After this, the Fourth Doctor bluffed, telling the Sontarans that their battle plans had been captured, so they would have to call off their invasion. (TV: The Sontaran Experiment [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Experiment (TV story)"])

Ultimately, the Sontarans became extinct by the "twilight years" of the universe. (AUDIO: The Eternal Battle [+]Loading...["The Eternal Battle (audio story)"])

Undated events[[edit] | [edit source]]

Sontarans were part of a fleet of Alien Monsters whose threat to destroy Earth was opposed by a Legendary Legion assembled by the Fourth Doctor. (GAME: Doctor Who Trump Card Game [+]Loading...["Doctor Who Trump Card Game (game)"])

The Sontaran mining ship Betrothal of Sontar was sent to Serac as a form of demotion. Colonel Snathe, a pureblood Sontaran, believed that the Thanatos was located on Serac, but his attempts to find it were unsuccessful and crew became restless and insubordinate. When the Tenth Doctor arrived, Snathe forced him to find the Thanatos - but when Snathe tried to control it, the Thanatos decided that the Sontarans were stagnant and Sontar needed to be destroyed. Though Lerox showed that there was still hope for the Sontarans, Snathe was killed when the Inuk shoved him outside during a Silverfire. (COMIC: The Betrothal of Sontar [+]Loading...["The Betrothal of Sontar (comic story)"])

The Carpalian Witch's favourite hunt was when she hunted a Sontaran. Since her pheromonal lure was ineffective, she waited in his ship for 6 weeks until she stabbed him in the probic vent when he was about recharge. (PROSE: The Doctor Trap [+]Loading...["The Doctor Trap (novel)"])

One of the fiercest Sontarans, Katsu, fought and was defeated by the Levanaxus. In order to become more powerful, he went to Aleph-777 in search of a mythical super-weapon. He was eventually able to track it to Omega-666, where he opened it, revealing it to be Omega Green Plague, which killed him. (COMIC: The Final Quest [+]Loading...["The Final Quest (comic story)"])

A Sontaran in the TARDIS. (GAME: Destiny of the Doctors [+]Loading...["Destiny of the Doctors (video game)"])

The Tremas Master once tried to kill the Graak with a group of Sontarans, even making the Graak joust with one. (GAME: Destiny of the Doctors [+]Loading...["Destiny of the Doctors (video game)"])

Skrant was sent on a seven-year mission to conquer Braktalis. He joined forces with Demimon. He was defeated by Demimon's daughter Alareen and her lover Kinvor's forces. (COMIC: The Outsider [+]Loading...["The Outsider (comic story)"])

The Sontarans attempted an invasion of a planet, but were stopped by Kroton. (COMIC: Unnatural Born Killers [+]Loading...["Unnatural Born Killers (comic story)"])

The Sontarans sent a force to investigate the planet Goth for weaponry. (COMIC: Black Legacy [+]Loading...["Black Legacy (comic story)"])

Both Sontarans and Rutans were trapped in the Edifice. They continued to fight even there. (AUDIO: The Forever Trap [+]Loading...["The Forever Trap (audio story)"])

A Sontaran was exhibited in the Space Museum when the Vashta Nerada invaded. (WC: Hall of Monsters [+]Loading...["Hall of Monsters (webcast)"])

A group of Sontarans chased River Song across the country after she remarked that they were on a 'hen night'. (HOMEVID: First Night [+]Loading...["First Night (home video)"]/Last Night [+]Loading...["Last Night (home video)"])

The Eleventh Doctor encountered a group of Sontarans while visiting Florinall 9 and was forced to escape them by surfing on its lava. (WC: Pond Life [+]Loading...["Pond Life (webcast)"])

Commander Strock introduces himself. (COMIC: In Their Nature [+]Loading...["In Their Nature (comic story)"])

An unnamed planet (defined as a "worthless rock" by the Sontarans) was an outpost of the Sontaran-Rutan war. The Fifth Doctor tried to advise the local commander Strock a strategy to avoid useless loss of soldiers, but the commander still died in vain as they charged the Rutans. (COMIC: In Their Nature [+]Loading...["In Their Nature (comic story)"])

Following the establishment of the New Dalek Paradigm, the Daleks built a series of space fortresses along the border of Sontaran space, amongst other species. Sontarans were among the species susceptible to the nanocloud which created Dalek puppets. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]Loading...["Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)"])

The Sontarans were among the many species drawn to Trenzalore by the asking of the First Question but locked out of the planet by the force field put up by the Papal Mainframe. Two Sontarans attempted to bypass the force field during the Siege of Trenzalore by putting on an invisibility cloak, but the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to make them visible to the Papal Mainframe, which they were then destroyed by. Conforming to protocol, the Mainframe apologised for their deaths and selected an appropriate afterlife. Later, the Daleks attacked the Mainframe and broke through the force field. The Sontarans followed them to the surface and either died in the fighting or possibly retreated. (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Time of the Doctor (TV story)"])

The Sontarans were notable customers of the information regarding the Doctor held by the Inforarium. When the Eleventh Doctor discovered the Sontarans, as well as the Daleks and Cybermen, had been purchasing this information, he infiltrated the Inforarium and memory-proofed their database using methods he learned from the Silence. The information sold was thus instantly forgotten. (HOMEVID: The Inforarium [+]Loading...["The Inforarium (home video)"])

The Sontarans that worshipped the Master bore a striking resemblance to him. (COMIC: The Judas Goatee [+]Loading...["The Judas Goatee (comic story)"])

A black-armoured Sontaran was present at Garage 10. (COMIC: The Ministry of Time [+]Loading...["The Ministry of Time (comic story)"])

The Master set himself up as a messiah on a Sontaran colony planet. A century or two after he left the 17th Veteran Cohort came to the colony planet with the purpose of wiping out the Sontarans infected by the Master. A Suicide Specialist Sontaran destroyed the bearded Sontarans along with the entire planet. (COMIC: The Judas Goatee [+]Loading...["The Judas Goatee (comic story)"])

One Sontaran attended Bonjaxx's birthday party on Maruthea. (COMIC: Party Animals [+]Loading...["Party Animals (comic story)"])

Sometime prior to Sara Kingdom's time period, the Sontarans began attacking individual human star systems forcing the Space Security Service to organise an evacuation of millions of humans. An SSS squad was sent to attack a Sontaran facility in the Sulgrave Asteroid Belt, as the fleet needed to go through the pass there. An undercover Sontaran, Gage, used Rutan technology to infiltrate the squad, which encountered the First Doctor, Steven Taylor and Sara Kingdom. Commander Slite led his forces against the squad, killing most of the SSS agents and capturing Steven. Slite tortured Steven for information, including his recent encounters with the Daleks. Gage led the survivors into an ambush and Slite held them prisoner, seeking access to the Doctor’s capsule. When Gage began to waver from his orders whilst interrogating the Doctor and Steven, Slite killed him and took over. As the native Nil began to rise up against the Sontarans, the Doctor convinced Slite to hold fire on the evacuation fleet, by playing on his potential shame, allowing them to pass. Though the asteroid was liberated, the Doctor and Sara predicted the Sontarans would return. (AUDIO: The Sontarans [+]Loading...["The Sontarans (audio story)"])

A entire Sontaran assassination squad was wiped out by Amanda Steele and her pest control team. Their heads were removed and subsequently mounted as trophies. (AUDIO: Night of the Vashta Nerada [+]Loading...["Night of the Vashta Nerada (audio story)"])

The Sontarans came to Luachmhar to fight the various races that were warring there, having been upset at being left out. (PROSE: Anything You Can Do [+]Loading...["Anything You Can Do (short story)"])

The Thirteenth Doctor once hid from an army of Sontarans in a cupboard. (WC: Message from the Doctor [+]Loading...["Message from the Doctor (webcast)"])

A Sontaran army was caught in the paradox formed by the psio-temporal link formed by Rose Tyler and Empress Rose. After briefly appearing during the Blitz, the Sontarans materialised on Creerm where they pledged themselves to D'Pau's ambitions. After helping him overthrow the Empress, the Sontarans boarded the space fleet, ready to wage more war, before the two Roses touched, the Blinovitch Limitation Effect banishing the Sontarans. (COMIC: Empire of the Wolf [+]Loading...["Empire of the Wolf (comic story)"])

The Secret Lives of Monsters presented an image of Sontarans fighting Cybus-style Cybermen. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters [+]Loading...["The Secret Lives of Monsters (short story)"])

Rassilonian Era[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Alliance of Races. (COMIC: Gangland [+]Loading...["Gangland (comic story)"])

In Gallifrey's past, the Sontarans joined Rassilon's Alliance of Races in the Great Inferno, a war with the Hyperions. (COMIC: Terrorformer [+]Loading...["Terrorformer (comic story)"]) After the Hyperions were defeated, the Alliance then went on to purge the universe of other threats to universal harmony, one of those threats being Count D'if of the Cybock Imperium. (COMIC: Gangland [+]Loading...["Gangland (comic story)"]) The Sontarans were also part of the force which went to war against Morbius. (PROSE: Warmonger [+]Loading...["Warmonger (novel)"])

The Sontarans, in concert with the Vardans invaded Gallifrey, until beaten back by the Lord President the Fourth Doctor. (TV: The Invasion of Time [+]Loading...["The Invasion of Time (TV story)"]) This invasion nonetheless brought forth the Cloister Wars, as the Sontaran attack had revealed to the rest of N-Space that the Matrix existed. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]Loading...["Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)"])

The Sontarans were part of the Supremo's alliance in the war against Morbius. (PROSE: Warmonger [+]Loading...["Warmonger (novel)"])

The Sontarans were in negotiation with the Time Lords and Order of the Black Sun for uranium on Desrault. When the Time Lords seemed to favour the Order of the Black Sun, the Sontaran ambassador Brilox used a psy-snare to turn one of the Special Executive escorts, Millenium into an assassin. After Millenium killed the Black Sun Elder, Brilox believed that with Gallifrey and the Black Sun at war, he'd be able to secure the uranium rights for the Sontarans. However, when Wardog discovered the psy-snare on Millenium, he returned it to Brilox, wiping his mind. (COMIC: Black Sun Rising [+]Loading...["Black Sun Rising (comic story)"])

A group of Sontarans were sent to an alternate Death Zone on Gallifrey and fought against the Fifth Doctor and a group of Daleks. (AUDIO: The Five Companions [+]Loading...["The Five Companions (audio story)"])

The Seventy-Ninth Sontaran Assault Corps during the War in Heaven. (AUDIO: The Shadow Play [+]Loading...["The Shadow Play (audio story)"])

During the War in Heaven, the Seventy-Ninth Sontaran Assault Corps invaded the Eleven-Day Empire on the behest of Houses Tracolix and Lolita. (AUDIO: The Eleven Day Empire [+]Loading...["The Eleven Day Empire (audio story)"]) However, Lolita later betrayed them, consuming them with the rest of the Empire. (AUDIO: The Shadow Play [+]Loading...["The Shadow Play (audio story)"])

Despite failed attempts to join in the conflict, (AUDIO: The Sontaran Ordeal [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Ordeal (audio story)"], The Eternity Cage [+]Loading...["The Eternity Cage (audio story)"]) the Sontarans were not "allowed" to fight in the Last Great Time War. General Staal understood it to be the greatest war of all time. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"]) After the Time War had ended the Sontarans fought other races for control over time. (COMIC: Weapons of Past Destruction [+]Loading...["Weapons of Past Destruction (comic story)"])

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

In an alternate timeline created by the Black Guardian, where the First Doctor never left Gallifrey and became Lord President, the Sontarans were one of many aliens that invaded Earth, and fought over the planet with other races against the Silurians and the Sea Devils. This timeline was negated when the Seventh Doctor retrieved the Key to Time. (COMIC: Time & Time Again [+]Loading...["Time & Time Again (comic story)"])

In an altered state of reality, the Doctor convened a peace conference between Sontarans and Rutans on Gallifrey, with the Sontaran delegation being led by General Sontar personally. After the conference broke down, the Doctor kidnapped Sontar and the Rutan delegate in his TARDIS to show them the possible outcome of their war, only to find the future universe destroyed by the Effect which horrified both delegates. The Doctor left them locked in his TARDIS whilst he went to resolve the Effect crisis, and only remembered to release them after defeating Omega. He discovered in his absence Sontar and the Rutan had actually talked and negotiated a peace, as the TARDIS's temporal grace had stopped them killing each other. (PROSE: The Infinity Doctors [+]Loading...["The Infinity Doctors (novel)"])

In an alternate timeline known as the "Cyberverse" which started with a change in history in 1927, the Sontarans were one of several major powers in the universe who were conquered by the Cybermen by 1951. (WC: Real Time [+]Loading...["Real Time (webcast)"])

In an alternate timeline where the Daleks were peaceful, the Sontarans remained a dangerous force in the universe alongside the Cybermen. They won the battle of Kharax Rift. (PROSE: The Ripple Effect [+]Loading...["The Ripple Effect (short story)"])

An evil Strax in an alternate timeline. (TV: The Name of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Name of the Doctor (TV story)"])

Following a psychic conference call with Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, River Song and Clara Oswald, Strax was taken by the Whisper Men to an alternate Trenzalore where the Doctor died in battle. On Trenzalore, Strax was able to resurrect a dead Jenny but couldn't defeat the Whisper Men and was nearly killed. When the Great Intelligence altered the Doctor's timeline after accessing a wound in time in the Doctor's grave, Strax turned evil and Madame Vastra was forced to vaporise him. After Clara repaired the timeline, Strax was returned back to his old self and apologised. (TV: The Name of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Name of the Doctor (TV story)"])

In an alternate timeline where the Cybermen used Time Lord resources to conquer all of history, by the 24th century, the Sontaran Empire had been completely eradicated, save for Sontar and the Last Great Sontaran War Fleet. Under the orders of the Sontaran-Prime, Commander Sturg and a patrol of Sontarans captured the Tenth Doctor, Gabby Gonzalez and Cindy Wu at Cosmomart to lead the Sontarans in a final battle on Sontar to stop the Cybermen taking control of the Sontaran cloning factories. Although the Cybermen massacred the Sontarans, despite the efforts of the Tenth Doctor, the Twelfth Doctor allied with a betrayed Rassilon at the end of the universe to use the Eye of Harmony on Gallifrey to erase this alternate timeline from history, restoring the Sontaran Empire along with the rest of the original timeline. (COMIC: Supremacy of the Cybermen [+]Loading...["Supremacy of the Cybermen (comic story)"])

Alternate universes[[edit] | [edit source]]

In the parallel world created around Donna Noble by the Time Beetle where the Tenth Doctor died before the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet's 2009 invasion of Earth, Torchwood Three took his place in destroying the flagship and stopping the spread of ATMOS' gas. Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones were killed saving Earth, and the immortal Jack Harkness was transferred to Sontar. (TV: Turn Left [+]Loading...["Turn Left (TV story)"])

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

In the video game Happy Deathday, played by Izzy Sinclair on the Time-Space Visualiser, several Sontarans were among a host of "every single enemy" that the Doctor had ever defeated, who were assembled by the Beige Guardian and pitted against the Doctor's first eight incarnations. (COMIC: Happy Deathday [+]Loading...["Happy Deathday (comic story)"])

When the Skith Leader scanned the Tenth Doctor's mind, a Sontaran was among the alien creatures shown to him. (COMIC: The First [+]Loading...["The First (comic story)"])

After the Flux "jumbled" a number of words relating to the Thirteenth Doctor's past, "location of the Sontaran base on Earth" was the clue written by the Doctor to help readers of her book unscramble the name of Liverpool, in reference to (GAME: Flux Fixers [+]Loading...["Flux Fixers (game)"]) the Sontarans' Flux Offensive. (TV: War of the Sontarans [+]Loading...["War of the Sontarans (TV story)"])

Making a point about humanity's tendency to invent rules to make the inexplicable make sense, Kate Stewart told Ruby Sunday that "man saw the sunrise and invented God… that, or he saw the arrival of a Sontaran. One or the other". (TV: 73 Yards [+]Loading...["73 Yards (TV story)"])

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

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

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ Doctor Who Magazine, #235.
v • e
Sontaran stories
For the purposes of this list, a "Sontaran story" is one in which one living, authentic Sontaran plays a part within the confines of the story, outside of flashbacks to previous stories and cliffhangers that lead into the following story. For this reason, stories such as The Halloween Apocalypse and Survivors of the Flux are not counted due to the Sontarans' appearance being defined by their importance to following stories. Stories like The End of Time and The Time of the Doctor are also not included due to the Sontarans' appearance being no consequence to the plot of the story. Stories featuring Strax of the Paternoster Gang are only included on the Paternoster Gang story template.
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