Weeping Angel: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox Species
|image= [[Image:Twoweepingangels.png|300px]]
|image       = Series5weepingangels.jpg
|Species name= Weeping Angel
|aka        = The Lonely Assassins
|type=  
|first      = Blink (TV story)
|aka= "Lonely Assassin"
|appearances = {{appears}}
|origin=  
|affiliation = [[Order of the Three Angels]], [[the Governors]], [[the Division]]
|appearances= <ul><li>[[DW]]: ''[[Blink]]''</li><li>[[DW]]:''[[The Time of Angels]]''/''[[Flesh and Stone]]''</li><li>[[WC]]:'' [[A Ghost Story for Christmas]]''</li></ul>
|individuals = {{csl|[[Angel Bob]]|[[Statue of Liberty]]|[[Weeping Angel (The Angels Take Manhattan)|Graveyard Angel]]|[[Rogue Angel]]}}
|mentions= <ul><li>[[DW]]: ''[[The Next Doctor]]''</li><li>[[DW]]: ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]''</li></ul>
|clip        = The Weeping Angels attack! - Doctor Who - Blink - Series 3 - BBC
|individuals =
|clip2      = Narrow escape - Doctor Who - BBC
|affiliation =  
|clip3      = The Weeping Angels Return! The Lost Class
}}
}}{{you may|The Weeping Angels (activity book)|n1=the activity book of the same name|The Weeping Angels (box set)|n2=the box set of the same name}}
{{semi-protect}}
The '''Weeping Angels''' were an incredibly powerful [[species]] of [[quantum-locking|quantum-locked]] [[humanoid]]s, so called because their unique nature necessitated that they often covered their faces with their hands to prevent trapping each other in [[petrification|petrified]] form for eternity by looking at one another. This gave the Weeping Angels their distinct "weeping" appearance. They were known for being "kind" murderous psychopaths, eradicating their victims "mercifully" by dropping them into the past and letting them live out their full lives, just in a different time period. This, in turn, allowed them to live off the remaining [[time energy]] of the victim's life. However, when this potential energy paled in comparison to an alternative power source to feed on, the Angels were known to kill by other means, such as snapping their victims' [[neck]]s.
:''For angels in general, see also [[Angel]].''


The '''Weeping Angels''' are a species of winged [[humanoid]]s from the [[Dark Times|early universe]], so called because they cover their faces, giving them a weeping appearance, to prevent trapping themselves in stone form for eternity. ([[DW]]: ''[[Blink]]'')
== Biology ==
With an age almost as old as the universe itself, Weeping Angels that were converted from ordinary [[statue]]s appeared as they did before being taken over. Other Angels resembled [[stone]] statues of [[wing]]ed, humanoid [[angel]]s in chitons. Baby Angels resembled [[cherub]]s — naked, infant-sized versions of adult Angels. Baby angels possessed the same traits as adults, but when unseen, their footsteps and childlike giggles could be heard. Angels sometimes took the form of even bigger statues, such as the [[Statue of Liberty]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'') When showing ferocity, Weeping Angels would bare their fangs and claws. ([[TV]]: ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'')


==Biology==
According to [[River Song]], who had access to the definitive ''[[Book of the Weeping Angels]]'', the angels were, in truth, not really stone, and they only took upon that form when [[Quantum-locking|quantum-locked]] to defend themselves and to hide as statues. As such, she noted they would "become" statues as soon as any [[Sentience|sentient]] life-form looked upon them, only to be freed to their true form when that individual looked away. ([[WC]]: ''[[Monster File: Weeping Angels (webcast)|Monster File: Weeping Angels]]'')
{{Quote|You die in the past, and in the present they consume the energy of all the days you might have had, all your stolen moments. They're creatures of the abstract. They live off potential energy.|The Doctor describing the Weeping Angels.|Blink}}


The Weeping Angels were winged [[humanoid]]s who [[evolution|evolved]] numerous unique survival mechanisms throughout their time, including the ability to move creatures back through [[time]] with a touch. This allowed them to consume the potential energy from the time the victims could have had alive had the Angels not transported the victim back in time. The Doctor describes them as being "the only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely", and apparently it is rare for them not to use this method of murder. The Doctor is caught off guard when the consciousness of one of the murdered soldiers during [[The Time of Angels]]" tells him that the Angel snapped his neck.
[[File:Infant Angels.jpg|left|thumb|Weeping Angels in the form of "babies". ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'')]]
Weeping Angels grew weaker from [[starvation]] without their usual [[time energy|energy]] supplies to keep them fed, with the stone wearing away over years. This wearing could become so severe that they might not look like their original forms anymore, losing their wings and becoming more like a typical statue of great age. Weak Angels did not have the same speed as their "healthy" counterparts. They could regain their appearance and restore themselves if re-energised. A single hour was all it would take for them to restore themselves. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]'') Weakness could hamper their ability to send people through time. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'')


There was no apparent reason as to what time period people were transported, however the Doctor states that each Angel sends it's victims to the same time period. [[Kathy Nightingale]] was transported to the [[1920s]]; [[Tenth Doctor|The Doctor]], [[Martha Jones]] and [[Billy Shipton]] were sent to [[1969]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Blink]]''); and there was an account of one [[Julia Hardwick]] who was transported to [[1887]] ([[WC]]: ''[[A Ghost Story for Christmas]]''). The Angels were able to move people through both space and time, as Kathy (and possibly Julia) were touched in London, but ended up in [[Hull]], while Shipton was touched inside a parking garage, but arrived in [[1969]] in an outdoor location. ([[DW]]: ''[[Blink]]'')
The [[Eleventh Doctor]] once inferred that Weeping Angels had hearts, when stating that he didn't have "hearts of stone" and contrasting himself to the Angels and [[Cybusman|Cybermen]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Doctor, Doctor! (DWA 232 short story)|namedpart=Love is the Answer|page=28}})


[[File:Julia Hardwick.jpg|thumb|left| A Weeping Angel stalking Hardwick (look closely in to the left of Hardwick, you can see the Angel)]]
=== Powers and abilities ===
==== Touch of an Angel ====
The Weeping Angels could displace their victims backwards in [[time]] with a single touch. They would then consume the [[potential energy]] from the lives the victims would otherwise have led. They could move people through [[space]] as well as time, as for instance [[Kathy Nightingale|Kathy]] was touched in [[London]], but ended up in [[Hull]] in [[1920]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'')


The Angels also had a unique and nearly-perfect defence mechanism, [[quantum-locking]], or use of the Quantum Zeno effect, which caused them to turn into stone when being observed. Although the Doctor says that they turn to stone whenever a living creature is looking at them, it seems to only be either sentient or creatures that pose a risk that count, as, during their visit to Earth, they frequently moved about in an area that would be populated by a large amount of mini-beasts. When not being observed, they could move incredibly fast to catch their victims. However, this meant that they had to cover their eyes when in their stony form; otherwise if they saw each other they would be trapped forever.
In some cases, victims were transported over space but in the same time period. This was helpful for directing victims, such as [[Rory Williams]], to [[quantum energy]] farms, like [[Winter Quay]] in [[New York City|New York]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'') Other times, victims were transported back in time in the same place, intentionally isolating them, as in the case of the quantum energy farm, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'') or in the creation of absolute isolation for [[quantum extraction]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'')


The Weeping Angels also seemed to have some [[psychic]] abilities, as demonstrated when one causes a light bulb to flicker just by pointing at it. This could mean, though it is left ambiguous, that the Angels are capable of knowing what is occurring around them while they are in their stone form.
The [[Tenth Doctor]] theorised that getting touched by the same Angel as someone else would send you back to the same time as them when he, [[Martha Jones]] and [[Billy Shipton]] all got sent back to [[1969]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'') This theory would seem to hold as Rory Williams and [[Amy Pond]] both got sent to the [[1930s]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]''). This ability led the [[Fifth Doctor]] to describe them as the most humane psychopaths in the universe. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Fallen Angels (audio story)|Fallen Angels]]'')


The Angels also possessed the ability to create projections of themselves through images. Whenever an image of a Weeping Angel was created, that too can become an Angel whenever the viewer takes their eye away from it. They were also able to take the consciousness of someone who had died and speak through it in order to communicate. It is warned that one should never look into an Angel's eyes, as they are the "doors to the soul". This ability allowed the Angels to create illusions of the mind, making it easier for them to capture their disoriented prey. This could be seen when [[Amy Pond]] looked into an Angel's eyes and was made to believe her hand had turned to stone.
Different sources disagreed on the impact of being touched by a Weeping Angel twice. In [[Medderton]], [[Quantum extraction|isolated]] by the Angels from both space and time, being touched a second time could cause a [[human]] to crumble to [[stone]], destroying [[Gerald (Village of the Angels)|Gerald]] and [[Jean (Village of the Angels)|Jean]] in [[1901]], rather than sending them back a second time. ([[TV]]: ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'') In [[New York City]], however, [[Rory Williams]] was touched several times, being brought from [[Central Park]] to another street, then to Winter Quay, then further back in time in the same location, before time was changed by a younger Rory and [[Amy Williams]], poisoning the stock by creating a [[temporal paradox|paradox]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'')


When Angels became older or grew weaker, they did not appear to age in a biological sense. They appeared to wear away as a normal statue naturally would over many years. This wearing would become so severe that they did not look like their original forms anymore, losing their wings and becoming more like a typical statue of significant age. These older Weeping Angels do not have the same speed as their "healthy" counterparts, but are still just as deadly. They were seen in the Maze Of The Dead and were apparently responsible for killing the temple's constructors.
==== Quantum-locking ====
The Weeping Angels had a unique and nearly perfect defence mechanism: [[quantum-locking]], which caused an Angel to literally turn to [[stone]] when observed, ([[TV]]: ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'') even indirectly. ([[TV]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone (TV story)|Flesh and Stone]]'', ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'') This meant they could not attack while being seen, but also ensured they would not come under attack themselves, as, when transformed into stone, a Weeping Angel could not be killed. ([[TV]]: ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'') Despite being unable to attack directly, being quantum-locked did not inhibit an Angel's ability to send people back in time, provided their prey were the ones to touch them. ([[TV]]: [[Village of the Angels (TV story)|''Village of the Angels'']])


During the ambush by the dormany Angel army, the Doctor describes the Angels as absorbing the energy from their lights, causing them to flicker and dim. This would suggest the Angels have the ability to absorb at least electrical energy from light sources so as to create a dark environment to move around in unseen.
One of quantum-locking's drawbacks was that Weeping Angels had to cover their eyes, to ensure they would not engage each other's defences. If two or more Weeping Angels saw one another, they could be trapped forever. ([[TV]]: ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Fallen Angels (audio story)|Fallen Angels]]'') This caused the [[Tenth Doctor]] to think of them as the universe's loneliest [[assassin]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'')


==History==
When unobserved, a Weeping Angel could move incredibly fast, travelling great distances in the [[blink]] of an eye. ([[TV]]: ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'') They would often slow down the closer they got to their [[prey]], as though "playing with their food". ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Fallen Angels (audio story)|Fallen Angels]]'')
[[Image:Blink doctorwho.jpg|thumb|right|A Weeping Angel covering its eyes.]]
{{Quote|A Weeping Angel, Amy, is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent lifeform evolution has ever produced.|Eleventh Doctor to Amy Pond.|The Time of Angels}}


The Weeping Angels evolved [[Dark Times|near the beginning of the universe]], and were (as the Doctor put it) the kindest of killers and psychopaths since their method of killing was to let their victims "live to death". This perhaps make them the loneliest beings in existence as, due to their defence mechanism, they could not even look at each other. In that respect the Doctor appears to pity them.
Quantum-locking came into effect even when the Angel was observed through a medium like [[glass]], or from another location entirely, viewed remotely on a [[monitor]] with [[CCTV]] footage. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[A Little Help from My Friends (comic story)|A Little Help from My Friends]]'', [[TV]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone (TV story)|Flesh and Stone]]'', ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'') An Angel could also engage their quantum-locking on [[instinct]] when they ''believed'' they were being observed. [[Amy Pond]] acted as though she could see the Weeping Angels, and they turned to stone all the same, though they cautiously began to re-engage as this false belief faltered. ([[TV]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone (TV story)|Flesh and Stone]]'')


In [[2007]], a quartet of Weeping Angels managed to strand [[Tenth Doctor|the Doctor]] in [[1969]] and captured [[the Doctor's TARDIS|his TARDIS]] with the goal of using the [[Time Lord]] technology for its near-unlimited temporal energy, in a process which is capable of turning off the sun. Despite gaining the TARDIS, the Angels could not find a way into the [[police box]]-shaped construct, however they later found the TARDIS's key. Unfortunately for the Angels, [[Sally Sparrow]] gained the key from one of the Angels before they could reach the TARDIS. The Angels started stalking Sally in their attempt to gain access to the TARDIS. They managed to corner her in the basement of the [[Wester Drumlins ]]estate building where the TARDIS was stored by the Angels. She managed to enter it and send it back to the Doctor. When it finished dematerialising the Angels gazed at each other across the empty space where the TARDIS was, which turned each other into stone perpetually thereby ending the group's menace.
Victims could avoid the Angels by winking rather than forcing their eyes open and not blink. The [[Tenth Doctor]] avoided them in this way during [[World War I]], ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Weeping Angels of Mons (comic story)|The Weeping Angels of Mons]]'') and Amy Pond did this briefly, though visibly struggled with it. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]'')


:''It is not known what became of the statues afterward; they could have been left at the Wester Drumlins estate, but seeing as the location was condemned and likely to someday be redeveloped, relocation by the Doctor or another entity is possible.''
==== Physical strength ====
When an Angel was sufficiently fed, and had no need for further resources, it could kill by sneaking up behind their victim and breaking their neck. The Angels showed great physical [[strength]], being able to break through [[steel]] doors, force [[magnetised wheel]]s to turn, and snap [[neck]]s without difficulty. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]''/''[[Flesh and Stone (TV story)|Flesh and Stone]]'', ''[[The Lost (TV story)|The Lost]]'')


Because they are turned to stone when observed, any statue in the Universe could be a Weeping Angel, though most likely just the ones that looked like Weeping Angels. ([[DW]]: ''[[Blink]]'')
==== Psychic powers ====
When victims looked an Angel in the eyes, the Angel could infect their visual centres, creating an image in their mind. The victim could then be mentally influenced by the Angel until it became fully grown, at which point it could escape the person's body, killing them. This ability could only be stopped by shutting down the visual centre, that is, by closing one's eyes. If re-opened, the [[Eleventh Doctor]] theorised this process would continue. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]'' / ''[[Flesh and Stone (TV story)|Flesh and Stone]]'')


During the crash of the space ship [[Byzantium (ship)|Byzantium]], [[River Song|Doctor River Song]] attempted to stop an Angel from taking the people onboard but failed, as the staff on that ship knew that she was a criminal. In doing this, the Angel caused the ship to crash on the planet [[Alfava Metraxis]] on top of a temple which contained a Maze Of The Dead inside. The Doctor and [[Amy Pond |Amy Pond, along]] with River and solders from the Church, entered the temple to find it. Inside the Maze, numerous worn statues were found inside and the Doctor deduced that the Angel must have hidden itself among them to avoid being found. The Angel would go on to kill 3 different soldiers, using the conciousness of one to communicate with the Doctor. It would later be discovered that every statue in the Maze was in fact a Weeping Angel. They had laid dormant for years and years, aging and dying from not being able to consume potential energy. The Byzantium's crash woke them and they too began to stalk the Doctor and the others in the hope of consuming their energy to become strong again. The Angels had the group surrounded just as the Doctor carried out his idea in order to escape. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time of Angels]]'')
Examples of mental influence included making the victim count down the minutes to their death, and making the victim hallucinate that a limb was petrified. They would also dissuade their hosts from closing their eyes, which would shut down their influence. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]'' / ''[[Flesh and Stone (TV story)|Flesh and Stone]]'')


==Weaknesses==
A [[Weeping Angel (Once, Upon Time)|rogue Weeping Angel]] once inhabited the mind of [[Claire Brown]], and made her hallucinate that she had Angel wings. As she began to transform, Claire's extremities did actually start to petrify. ([[TV]]: ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'') Unlike in Amy Pond's case, which did not progress this far, ([[TV]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone (TV story)|Flesh and Stone]]'') others could see this transformation. ([[TV]]: ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'')
*Looking at each other (will cause them to freeze into stone for eternity).
*Being starved of potential energy (will cause them to deform and lose their image).


==Other References==
In one unique case, a single Angel was able to infect and convert the robotic [[Heavenly Host]], only Gabriel being able to resist the change. As the Host were already angelic in appearance, the transformation consisted of liquid rock being expelled from the face and coating them; instead of an Angel "popping" out of their heads. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[A Confusion of Angels (comic story)|A Confusion of Angels]]'')
*[[Rassilon]] declared that the two [[Time Lord]]s who opposed him (who covered their eyes in the same way as the Weeping Angels) were 'monuments to their shame, and will stand witness as the Weeping Angels of old'. ([[DW]]: ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]'')


==Behind the Scenes==
In one instance, two Weeping Angels were able to enter the [[Eleventh Doctor]]'s [[the Doctor's mind|mind]], though [[Weeping Angel (The Angels Take Manhattan)|the second]] obtained his [[consent]] first. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Angel of Redemption (novel)|The Angel of Redemption]]'')
* Although never seen actually moving on screen, the Weeping Angels were in fact portrayed by live actors, as revealed in the episode of ''[[Doctor Who Confidential]]'' corresponding with ''Blink''. The closest they come to moving on screen is during the sequence in which Sally retrieves the key in the attic at Wester Drumlins: through careful timing, the "statues" subtly change their position while the camera's view is momentarily blocked by actress Carey Mulligan.
 
* The Weeping Angels returned in [[Series 5]] in a two-part episode.<ref>[http://gallifreynewsbase.blogspot.com/2009/12/moffat-announces-monster-return.html The Doctor Who News Page - Moffat announces monster return, Tuesday, December 15, 2009] <small>accessed 29th December 2009</small></ref>&nbsp; In the trailer, the Weeping Angels can be seen pursuing a group of people through what appears to be a tunnel, one of which was [[River Song]] in a military outfit. Steven Moffat has stated that the Weeping Angels will be more "deadly" when we see them next. [http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/s7/doctor-who/tubetalk/a210033/video-steven-moffat-bonus-cut.html] In an interview with SFX magazine, Moffat declared, “They have more powers than you thought. And you are not safe just because you can keep your eyes open!”[http://www.sfx.co.uk/2010/03/30/steven-moffat-interview-part-two/]
==== Propagation ====
* The Weeping Angels are rumoured to be appearing in [[Series 4 (The Sarah Jane Adventures)]] [http://tardis-base.blogspot.com/2010/04/nikki-wilson-speaks-to-sfx-magazine.html]
[[River Song]] once stated that there were always Weeping Angels lurking in the [[Darkness|dark]] on any planet and warned that any statue someone encountered could be an angel in hiding, waiting for their target to blink or look away. ([[WC]]: ''[[Monster File: Weeping Angels (webcast)|Monster File: Weeping Angels]]'') She also once indicated that the Angels had an ability to transform ordinary [[statue]]s into Weeping Angels, or at least to inhabit them. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'')
*Curiously, the Weeping Angels also seem to turn into statues even when no one's looking at them, except the viewer. The viewer obviously cannot count as an in-universe character actually physically looking at the Angels. It has yet to be explained then why the Angels are locked when no one is actually looking at them. This could maybe be the show trying to break the fourth wall, between the viewer and the show: ''Blink'' did end with a warning to the viewer that any statue could be an Angel. ''It is possible that the angels can voluntarily freeze themselves into stone, so that they don't raise suspicion, much like the first Weeping Angel in [[The Time of Angels]].''
 
Anything with the image of a Weeping Angel, such as a [[photo]] or a [[video]] recording, also gained the abilities of an Angel, and would eventually become an Angel, provided the image wasn't broken. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]'', [[GAME]]: ''[[The Lonely Assassins (video game)|The Lonely Assassins]]'') [[Weeping Angel (The Lonely Assassins)|One Angel]] was able to escape from a photograph into a [[mobile phone]], ([[GAME]]: {{cs|The Lonely Assassins (video game)}}) where it was able to move digitally, corrupting data, ([[GAME]]: {{cs|The Lonely Assassins (video game)|path="A weeping what now?"}}) and attempted to escape into the phone network. ([[GAME]]: {{cs|The Lonely Assassins (video game)|path="Escape? Where to?"}}) Some attempts to destroy the image, such as the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] burning [[Claire Brown]]'s illustration, could strengthen the Angel, in this case creating a fiery apparation of a Weeping Angel. ([[TV]]: ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'') Though it took a lot of effort, when given a chance, a Weeping Angel could move out from its image, taking physical form as it advanced. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]'', ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'')
 
Even mental images of sufficient presence and clarity could allow a Weeping Angel to take form within that person's mind, taking over and slowly transforming them. Claire Brown had [[premonition]]s of the Weeping Angels and [[the TARDIS]], and became a host for a [[Weeping Angel (Once, Upon Time)|rogue Weeping Angel]] seeking refuge from [[the Division]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'')
 
An Angel could also be created this way if an Angel were to see ''itself'', as in a [[mirror]]. The Angel's reflection would be perpetually staring at itself for as long as the Angel were reflected. However, once the new Angel came into being, so long as the Weeping Angel continued to stare at its own reflection, more would be created. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Magic of the Angels (novel)|Magic of the Angels]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Fallen Angels (audio story)|Fallen Angels]]'')
 
If a Weeping Angel became trapped in a [[CCTV]] system, it would be able to follow its victim in the image created by the camera, but not in the real world. An Angel threw [[Mark Whitaker]] back in time after it chased him through the CCTV systems of a high street. However, the effort this cost the Angel caused it to solidify in the real world and crumble into dust. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Touched by an Angel (novel)|Touched by an Angel]]'') If a video recording of a Weeping Angel was made, then once the video became an Angel, it could exert significant power and influence over and through any system directly exposed to the recording the Angel came from - a projection of [[Angel Bob|one Angel]] created from a looped recording displayed the ability to [[Deadlock seal|deadlock]] a vessel's entire system even when it had no deadlock seal, and protect the vessel's walls against penetration by methods such as thermal cutting. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]'')
 
If a Weeping Angel fed on a [[Time Lord]], they can use the future regeneration energy to create more of themselves. This happened when the [[Sixth Doctor]] was sent back in time and the [[Tenth Doctor]] took him back to his TARDIS, creating seven other angels, equal to the number of regenerations separating them. Displacing the two incarnations of the same time created 49 angels. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Wink (audio story)|Wink]]'')
 
==== Communication ====
The Weeping Angels did not naturally possess intelligible voices, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]'') although they could produce screeches as a form of laughter, ([[TV]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone (TV story)|Flesh and Stone]]'') and the infants could produce childlike giggles. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'')
 
That said, a Weeping Angel could take the [[consciousness]] — and [[voice]] — of someone they had killed. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Side of the Angels (audio story)|The Side of the Angels]]'') As with Cleric [[Bob (The Time of Angels)|Bob]], an Angel could speak through their victim's consciousness to communicate with others. The Angel chose Bob in particular in order to infuriate the [[Eleventh Doctor]], showing a capacity for understanding others' emotions. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]'') In one case, a Weeping Angel took the voice of [[Eustacius Jericho|the person]] they were attempting to communicate with, playing his own voice from his [[television set]] and engaging him in conversation, before taking form. ([[TV]]: ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'')
 
They also possessed the ability to communicate with each other over long distances, even when frozen. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'')
 
==== Other abilities ====
The kiss of a Weeping Angel had various abilities and effects, including transforming kissed people into complete duplicates of other individuals, which died after a matter of weeks; an Angel's kiss could also suck a kissed victim of their life energy, reducing them to dust. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery (novel)|The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery]]'')
 
Weeping Angels also had excellent [[night vision]]. When their prey could not see them, allowing them to act, a Weeping Angel could navigate terrain in total [[darkness]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'' et al.)
 
==== Other energy sources ====
The Weeping Angels could also feed on other types of energy, such as [[radiation]] given off by a [[Galaxy class]] [[Star Liner]], or the [[Electricity|electrical energy]] from power grids or portable devices, such as [[torch]]es. This would cause lights to flicker, making it easier for them to get around their quantum-locking. ([[TV]]: ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'', ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]''/''[[Flesh and Stone (TV story)|Flesh and Stone]]'', ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'')
 
One account suggested the Angels could feed on the energy of a [[temporal paradox]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Touched by an Angel (novel)|Touched by an Angel]]'') whereas another source showed that a paradox could poison their food supply, killing most of the Weeping Angels involved. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'')
 
=== Weaknesses ===
==== Killing an Angel ====
[[File:Deformed Angel DW Time of Angels.jpg|right|thumb|A starved Weeping Angel. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]'')]]
Because of their defence mechanism, Weeping Angels were very hard to kill, being immune to all kinds of [[weapon]]s. However, they were capable of [[starvation|starving]] to death if left without [[time energy]] for too long. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]''/''[[Flesh and Stone (TV story)|Flesh and Stone]]'') It was also possible to defeat Weeping Angels by forcing two Angels to look directly at each other, which would cause them both to constantly see and quantum-lock each other. ([[TV]]: ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'') Another way of defeating them, and the only way of killing them apart from starvation, was to cause a paradox which would poison the time energy they used to feed. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'') When the Angels were starved, they could be vulnerable to [[grenade]]s. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Weeping Angels of Mons (comic story)|The Weeping Angels of Mons]]'') A [[Raxacoricofallapatorian]] was strong enough to behead a Weeping Angel with a single swipe. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[A Confusion of Angels (comic story)|A Confusion of Angels]]'')
 
Weeping Angels appeared to have the ability to reform themselves when destroyed in their stone form, however. [[Weeping Angel (Good as Gold)|An Angel]] reformed itself when it was destroyed by the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, despite missing its right arm. ([[TV]]: ''[[Good as Gold (TV story)|Good as Gold]]'')
 
A group of Angels were also killed (or at least, dispersed to the point where their consciousnesses could no longer affect anyone) when the Doctor used CCTV cameras to film them, while also having each Angel viewing all the others through the screens. This caused the Angels to dissolve into the screens. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Touched by an Angel (novel)|Touched by an Angel]]'')
 
== History ==
=== Early history ===
[[File:Fourth Doctor on the Weeping Angels.jpg|thumb|The Fourth Doctor discussing the Weeping Angels ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Gaze of the Medusa (comic story)|Gaze of the Medusa]]'')]]
According to the [[Time Lord]]s, the Weeping Angels evolved at the [[Dawn of Time]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Side of the Angels (audio story)|The Side of the Angels]]'') However, the Weeping Angels also had a mythological status in Time Lord society, with the [[Fourth Doctor]] being sceptical of their existence. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Gaze of the Medusa (comic story)|Gaze of the Medusa]]'') The Fourth Doctor later encountered Weeping Angels with [[Leela]] and [[Margaret Hopwood]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Stone Cold (audio story)|Stone Cold]]'')
 
The Angels, or at least once sect of them, may also have originated from a plague, as seen on the planet [[Gehanna]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Grey Matter (short story)|Grey Matter]]'')
 
According to a vision shown by the [[Carnival Queen]], a race of [[Painted warrior|stone men]] took care of the [[Original Mammoths]]' gardens before the [[Time Lord]]s ended the [[Dark Times]] by [[Anchoring of the thread|making the universe rational]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Christmas on a Rational Planet (novel)|Christmas on a Rational Planet]]'') with one account specifying that they had been created by the Mammoths and worshipped their ruler, [[Cernunnos]]. Those who survived after the universe was made rational could only move when they were not seen by another being. While these "painted warriors" remained within an [[Alter-time realm (Cobweb and Ivory)|alter-time realm]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cobweb and Ivory (short story)|Cobweb and Ivory]]'') [[Compassion]] implied they could enter the wider universe, as she enlisted a legion of "[[Terracotta]] soldiers" who only moved when not being watched. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Warring States (novel)|Warring States]]'')
 
The Weeping Angels were involved with [[the Division]], a covert [[Gallifrey]]an organisation that ([[TV]]: ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'') had helped establish rational time, ([[TV]]: ''[[Once, Upon Time (TV story)|Once, Upon Time]]'') thereby ending the Dark Times the Mammoths had thrived within. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Christmas on a Rational Planet (novel)|Christmas on a Rational Planet]]'', ''[[Cobweb and Ivory (short story)|Cobweb and Ivory]]'') Weeping Angels became operatives for the Division. ([[TV]]: ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'')
 
When asteroids formed together to create the planet [[Earth]], three Weeping Angels were trapped inside the planet. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Fallen Angels (audio story)|Fallen Angels]]'')
 
During the Egyptian era, a Weeping Angel was found at the entrance to a village. During an eclipse, the Angel killed most of the village, save for one girl. Tracking the survivor to the tomb of the emperor, the Angel was defeated when the girl rearranged the mirrors, trapping the Angel in stone form. However, the girl then looked into the frozen Angel's eyes, and it is indicated that she thus became a Weeping Angel herself and remained with the trapped Angel. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Mirrored Room (short story)|The Mirrored Room]]'')
 
In its section on the Weeping Angels, the book ''[[The Secret Lives of Monsters]]'' that the story of [[Medusa]] was inspired by "an actual monster" that had the ability to turn people to stone with one glance. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Secret Lives of Monsters (novel)|The Secret Lives of Monsters]]'')
 
=== 16th century ===
During the [[Renaissance]], the three Angels who were trapped in Earth as it formed were discovered inside marble blocks. Believing it was a miracle, a group of priests and believers formed the [[Order of the Three Angels]], and commissioned [[Michelangelo]] to "release" the Angels. The Angels were defeated by the [[Fifth Doctor]] and locked under the catacombs of the [[Sistine Chapel]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Fallen Angels (audio story)|Fallen Angels]]'')
 
On [[23 March]] [[1526]] the [[Eleventh Doctor]] and [[Amy Pond]] tried to figure out what happened to the lost city of [[Anglica]]. There they encountered the Weeping Angels, who sent Amy to [[1446]]. ([[GAME]]: ''[[Angels in the Shadows (video game)|Angels in the Shadow]]'')
 
=== 19th century ===
According to a transcription produced by the [[North West Historical Society]] of an article by ''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'' about [[The Crash of the Elysium|the crash]] of the ''[[Elysium (The Elysium)|Elysium]]'' on [[17 July]] [[1888]], there were reports of some sort of sort of [[Weeping Angel (Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm)|angelic statue]] emerging from the wreck; however, the actual newspaper was at odds with this as it instead attributed the crash to a [[force 12]] [[storm]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm (short story)|Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm]]'')
 
In [[1898]], a [[Weeping Angel (Suddenly in a Graveyard)|Weeping Angel]] attempted to attack the Eleventh Doctor and Amy while they were attempting to photograph ghosts for the Society for Psychical Research. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Suddenly in a Graveyard (short story)|Suddenly in a Graveyard]]'')
 
=== 20th century ===
In [[1909]], the [[Galerie d'Art de Parisiennes]] contained a portrait of a Weeping Angel. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Gallery (comic story)|Gallery]]'')
 
In [[August]] [[1914]], before and during the [[Battle of Mons]] in [[Belgium]], Weeping Angels were seen hunting soldiers from both sides. This caused some to believe that angels were coming to save them from the horrors of [[World War I]].
 
Later in the war, in [[July]] [[1916]], the [[Tenth Doctor]] and [[Gabby Gonzalez]] encountered a flock of starving Weeping Angels hunting victims in the town of [[St Michel]] in [[France]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Weeping Angels of Mons (comic story)|The Weeping Angels of Mons]]'')
 
In [[Paris]], [[1923]], the [[Eleventh Doctor]] bought a bundle of comics ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Doctor Shops for Comics (comic story)|The Doctor Shops for Comics]]'') which really contained [[Weeping Angel (Four Doctors)|a miniature Weeping Angel]]. While on the run from the [[Voord]], [[Gabby Gonzalez]] opened the package, causing the Weeping Angel within to grow and displace her back in time to the meeting between the Doctor's companions in Paris, 1923. Gabby guessed that the Weeping Angel was deliberately chosen and placed to send her back the proper length of time to change history. After defeating [[Twelfth Doctor#Multi-Doctor event|an alternate Twelfth Doctor]], the Eleventh Doctor promised to find the correct Weeping Angel and to plant it to ensure history continued on its current course. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Four Doctors (comic story)|Four Doctors]]'') After getting the correct Weeping Angel from the [[Weeping Angel Museum]], [[Alice Obiefune]] planted it for Gabby to find. While the Weeping Angel was in the package, a viewing device kept it docile. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Doctor Shops for Angels (comic story)|The Doctor Shops for Angels]]'')
 
In [[1938]], the Weeping Angels were using [[New York City]] as a "farm" due to its massive population, and transformed most of the statues in the city into Angels themselves. They would keep victims imprisoned in [[Winter Quay]] and send them back in time whenever they tried to escape. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'') At this time, [[Max Kliener]] used the kiss of [[Captive Weeping Angel (The Angels Take Manhattan)|one of these Weeping Angels]] to transform people into duplicates of Kliener's stars and bodyguards. When [[River Song]] investigated Kliener, she used [[hallucinogenic lipstick]] to cause him to kiss the Angel he was using; allowing the Angel to drain Kliener's life energy and kill him. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery (novel)|The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery]]'')
 
Crime lord [[Julius Grayle]] also had the same Angel that Kleiner fed and several baby Angels in his possession at this time. He kept the adult chained in his office, torturing and damaging it, and the babies locked in his dark cellar. In response to the captive adult Angel's distress, at least two other Weeping Angels watched over Grayle's home, disguised as ordinary statues. They eventually attacked when it was left defenseless.
 
[[File:Statue of Liberty at Winter Quay.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Statue of Liberty]] approaches [[Winter Quay]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'')]]
Shortly after the Angels' attack on Grayle's mansion, the Eleventh Doctor, Amy, River and [[Rory Williams]] travelled to Winter Quay, where they were trapped by the Angels. However, Rory jumped from the Quay's roof, creating a time paradox (as an [[alternate timeline]] in which the Angels kept Rory imprisoned in Winter Quay until he died of old age already existed), which poisoned and killed the majority of the Angels. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'')
 
Artist [[Ivan Stockinsky]] painted ''[[Glimpsed in a Graveyard]]'', which depicted two-winged angel statues standing outside a tomb and was a departure from the style he had used throughout his life. He was sent back in time by an angel, leaving the completed painting on its easel and making people assume he had been [[Assassination|assassinated]] by [[Joseph Stalin]]'s agents. Nevertheless, only one angel "statue" remained outside the tomb, with no one ever explaining where the other went. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Secret Lives of Monsters (novel)|The Secret Lives of Monsters]]'')
 
During the [[1970s]], the Weeping Angels of New York formed an alliance with Cardinal [[Ollistra (The Side of the Angels)|Ollistra]] to power Gallifreyan structures that would shield them from the destruction of the universe, in exchange for humans as a source of potential time energy. They maintained communication with Ollistra and {{Hound}} through a quantum communicator. When [[the Eleven]] came, the alliance was broken as he let the Angels feed on Enclave members hiding in the city. The Angels fed off the Monk, who they sent back through time, which gave them a huge amount of energy. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Side of the Angels (audio story)|The Side of the Angels]]'')
 
=== 21st century ===
==== Scavengers of Wester Drumlins ====
{{Section stub|[[A Little Help from My Friends (comic story)]], [[Into The Unknown (series)]]}}
A small group of Weeping Angels took to residing in [[Wester Drumlins]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'') which had not been occupied since [[Mr Satchwell]] and [[Mrs Satchwell]] "disappeared" in the later years of the [[1960s]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Secret Lives of Monsters (novel)|The Secret Lives of Monsters]]'') The house had been the centre of many strange occurrences since the late [[1930s]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Very Real Mystery of Wester Drumlins (short story)|The Very Real Mystery of Wester Drumlins]]'')
 
Thanks to the Angels' presence, ([[TV]]: ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'') Wester Drumlins became regarded as a haunted location, with a number of people who arrived at the house going missing ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Secret Lives of Monsters (novel)|The Secret Lives of Monsters]]'') after being touched by the Angels. ([[TV]]: ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'') Among their victims were nineteen year olds [[Carol Martindale]] and [[Andy Kenyon]], whose disappearances were recounted in a newspaper report a [[week]] later. This report contained an image of one of the Angels, but the paper mistook the statues appearing in different places as local youths moving them around. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Secret Lives of Monsters (novel)|The Secret Lives of Monsters]]'')
 
[[File:Weeping angels trapped.jpg|right|thumb|Angels eternally trapped by the [[Tenth Doctor]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'')]]
In the [[2000s]],{{note|While ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'' itself uncontroversially sets its main setting in [[2007]] and "twenty minutes to [[Red Hatching]]" a year later in [[2008]]—as [[Kathy Nightingale]]'s letter describes taking "one breath in 2007 and the next in [[1920]]", and the [[Tenth Doctor]]'s side of his conversation with [[Sally Sparrow]] in [[1969]] happens 38 years before Sally says hers—these are contradicted by heavily conflicting dates in the ''[[Redacted (audio series)|Redacted]]'' audio series later on regarding both Kathy's disappearance and the Red Hatching. In ''[[Angels (audio story)|Angels]]'', [[Abby McPhail]] identifies 2008 as the year of Kathy's disappearance, which suggests [[2009]] as the year of the Red Hatching. In ''[[Salvation (audio story)|Salvation]]'', the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] recognises the Red Hatching as the cause of death of [[Andy Proctor]], who was last seen by his daughter [[Cleo Proctor|Cleo]] "nearly 20 years" before [[2022]] according to ''[[Recruits (audio story)|Recruits]]''.}} the group of Angels stranded the Tenth Doctor and his companion [[Martha Jones]] in [[1969]] and captured [[the Doctor's TARDIS|his TARDIS]] with the goal of using the [[Time Lord]] technology for its near-unlimited temporal energy in a process which could cause enough damage to "switch off [[the Sun]]". Despite gaining the TARDIS, the Angels could not find a way into the [[police box]]-shaped construct; however, they later found the TARDIS's key. Unfortunately for the Angels, [[Sally Sparrow]] took the key from one of them before they could reach the TARDIS. The Angels stalked Sally in their efforts to gain access to the TARDIS.
 
They also sent [[Kathy Nightingale]] to [[1920]] and [[Billy Shipton]] to [[1969]], unknowingly allowing the Doctor assisted by Martha, to indirectly communicate with Sally through them. Sally and [[Larry Nightingale]] later visited [[Wester Drumlins]] again, the Angels soon cornering them in the basement where the TARDIS was being stored. Despite the Angels turning out the lights, allowing them to move closer, Sally and Larry eventually made it inside the TARDIS and sent it back to the Doctor. When it finished dematerialising, the Angels were stuck looking at each other across the empty space where the TARDIS had been, each turned to stone eternally, their menace ended. ([[TV]]: ''[[Blink (TV story)|Blink]]'') The Eleventh Doctor later recounted these events when asked if he had ever encountered the Weeping Angels, describing these particular Angels as "scavengers, barely surviving". ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]'')
 
==== Other events ====
At some point in the 2000s, [[Julia Hardwick]] found clues that warned her of the Weeping Angels, as well as photos which seemed to depict her in the past. When she investigated, she was sent to the past by an Angel. It was she who had sent herself the warnings. ([[WC]]:'' [[A Ghost Story for Christmas (webcast)|A Ghost Story for Christmas]]'')
 
In [[2009]], a boy named [[Charlie Cause]] disappeared whilst filming an independent movie entitled ''[[Zombie Vixens]]''. The last photos taken of him showed that he was attacked by a Weeping Angel in a graveyard. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Whatever Happened to Charlie Cause? (short story)|Whatever Happened to Charlie Cause?]]'')
 
In the [[2010s]], a group of humans went on an adventure involving the Weeping Angels and the spaceship ''[[Elysium (Analysis Lessons)|Elysium]]'', ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Hello! (short story)}}) which the [[Eleventh Doctor]] had sent a distress message from not long prior. ([[WC]]: {{cs|Analysis Lessons (webcast)}}) After this adventure, the Eleventh Doctor sent the humans a [[letter]] expressing his gratitude to them for saving him and the world. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Hello! (short story)}})
 
In [[2011]], [[Mark Whitaker]] encountered a Weeping Angel which sent him back in time to [[June]] [[1994]]. The Angel was trapped in the CCTV system and crumbled to dust after using all its energy to send Mark back. In the past, Mark followed instructions from a letter he thought to be written by his future self. In fact, it was [[psychic paper]] sent to him by a group of six Weeping Angels. The Angels wanted Mark to save his wife, who had died in a car accident in [[2003]], to create a paradox so they could feed. Mark eventually decided against saving his wife and returned to the present in the Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS after helping the Doctor, Amy and Rory trap the Angels forever in a TV system and disperse their consciousness. During the adventure, Rory got sent back to [[2001]] by a Weeping Angel, but after spending a month setting up a trap for the Angels in 2003 following instructions the Doctor had given him, Rory reunited with the Doctor, Amy and his younger self. After trapping five of the Angels and the sixth accidentally trapping itself, the Doctor realised that the Weeping Angel that sent Mark back in time was trying to change its own past but caused it instead. Mark's time in the past ended up actually leading to him meeting Rebecca and ending up with her with his future self, facilitating many of the events in their lives. If he had changed her death, it would've caused a paradox because it would've changed both the past and the future. The Doctor realised that the Angels planned to do this to everyone eventually, starting with Mark, until they used every person on Earth to create paradoxes and feed. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Touched by an Angel (novel)|Touched by an Angel]]'')
 
[[File:Good As Gold Angel.jpg|thumb|left|A [[Weeping Angel (Good as Gold)|Weeping Angel]] invades [[the Doctor's TARDIS]] in pursuit of the [[Olympic Torch]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Good as Gold (TV story)|Good as Gold]]'')]]
In [[2012]], a single [[Weeping Angel (Good as Gold)|Weeping Angel]] chased an [[Athlete (Good as Gold)|athlete]] across the Olympic stadium in an attempt to steal the [[Olympic Torch|Torch]] and the spirit of the games. It followed him into the TARDIS and grabbed the torch, but the Eleventh Doctor used his [[the Doctor's sonic screwdriver|sonic screwdriver]] to destroy the Angel. However, it reformed moments later, despite missing its right arm. ([[TV]]:'' [[Good as Gold (TV story)|Good as Gold]]'')
 
In 2012, a [[Weeping Angel (Magic of the Angels)|Weeping Angel]] was captured by [[Sammy Star]], who kept it trapped in a lead-lined box. Not entirely knowing what he had, Star found out the Angel's ability to make people disappear and used it to achieve fame in the magic business by having a different "missing" girl be taken by the Angel. The Angel remained placid due to Star "feeding" it every night.
 
However, Star's scheme was stopped by the Eleventh Doctor, who was also indirectly responsible for Star being taken by the Angel, before Star could put his act on television, an act, unbeknownst to Star, that would allow the Weeping Angel to make duplicates of itself appear in every house that watched the show.
 
Star was defeated after being knocked off a walkway and sent back in time by his own Weeping Angel. The Doctor determined that the box only worked because the Weeping Angel was using Star and so allowed itself to be trapped. However, [[Rory Williams]] and [[Amy Pond]] came up with a plan to use a mirror to trap the Angel using its own reflection which would create another Angel, leading to the two quantum locking each other. The plan initially succeeded, but the Weeping Angel started to make more copies of itself until Rory smashed the mirror, leaving the two Angels trapped in quantum lock. The Doctor, making a trip back in time and collecting a few favours, put the two Angels in [[Trafalgar Square]] on the Fourth Plinth, under the title of ''Monument to the Missing'' in memory of the Angel's victims, where the two Angels would be in someone's line of vision for many years to come. ([[PROSE]]:'' [[Magic of the Angels (novel)|Magic of the Angels]]'')
 
On two occasions in 2012, a Weeping Angel in New York displaced Rory Williams in time. The first time was when an Angel disguised as part of a water fountain sent Rory to 1938. On the second occasion, he was displaced by a survivor of the destruction of Winter Quay near his and Amy's gravestone. Amy allowed the Angel to touch her, sending her back with Rory, but preventing the Doctor from ever reaching them again. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'')
 
[[File:Weeping Angel of the Governors.jpg|thumb|right|An [[Weeping Angel (The Lost)|Angel]] punishes [[Dorothea Ames]] for her failure. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Lost (TV story)|The Lost]]'')]]
In [[2016]], a [[Weeping Angel (The Lost)|Weeping Angel]] killed [[Dorothea Ames]] for her failure in stopping [[Charlie Smith]] from using the [[Cabinet of Souls]] against the [[Shadow Kin]]. [[The Governors]] worked for the Angels, preparing for [[the Arrival]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Lost (TV story)|The Lost]]'')
 
The [[Twelfth Doctor]] encountered and defeated a Weeping Angel connected to a [[Gallifreyan stone]] in New York. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Lost Angel (audio story)|The Lost Angel]]'')
 
A [[humans (And now for a story...)|group of humans]] recruited by [[Kate Stewart]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[And now for a story... (short story)|And now for a story...]]'') for [[Operation Time Fracture]] in the [[2020s]] ([[WC]]: ''[[14684 UNIT Field Log (webcast)|14684 UNIT Field Log]]'') fought off Weeping Angels at [[UNIT HQ]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[And now for a story... (short story)|And now for a story...]]'')
 
=== Later history ===
At an unknown time, a [[Book of the Weeping Angels|definitive piece of literature]] about the Angels was created. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]'')
 
On [[20 October]] [[2820]], the [[cathedral]]s of the [[Gothica]] [[colony]] were suddenly filled with [[people]] claiming to be from the [[future]]. They [[warn]]ed that in [[100 (number)|one hundred]] [[year]]s and [[2 (number)|two]] [[day]]s the entire colony would be overrun with Weeping Angels. Indeed, the cathedrals of the Gothica colony were overrun with Weeping Angels on [[22 October]] [[2920]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Time Traveller's Diary (novel)|Time Traveller's Diary]]'')
 
In the [[33rd century]], flocks of Weeping Angels swarmed human colony worlds and darkened the sunlight to feed; worlds such as [[New Moscow]] were asked to take up arms against them. Some said it would not be possible to oppose such powerful creatures. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Legends of the Weeping Angels (short story)|Legends of the Weeping Angels]]'')
 
At some point in the [[47th century]], hundreds of Weeping Angels came to [[Alfava Metraxis]] and wiped out the civilisation of the [[Aplan]]s. Afterwards, they ran out of food and began to starve, going dormant in the [[Aplan Mortarium]]. [[Angel Bob|Another Angel]] somehow learned of this, and feigned dormancy in the ruins of [[Razbahan]] until it was dug up, persisting on to the end of the [[50th century]]. It passed through private hands and eventually was brought to the ''[[Byzantium (spacecraft)|Byzantium]]''. River Song, who had been tracking the Angel, tried to warn the owner, but he didn't listen to her forewarnings and the Angel caused the ship to crash onto Alfava Metraxis, planning to use the radiation as fuel.
[[File:Weeping Angel forest Flesh and Stone 1440.jpg|thumb|The Angels surround the [[Eleventh Doctor]] in the [[Byzantium (spacecraft)|Byzantium]]. ([[TV]]: [[Flesh and Stone (TV story)|''Flesh and Stone'']])]]
 
 
The Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond, along with River and soldiers from [[the Church]], entered the temple to find it. Inside the Maze, they found many worn statues. The Doctor [[deduce]]d that the Angel must have hidden among them to avoid being found. The Angel killed three soldiers and used the consciousness of one to communicate with the Doctor. When the Doctor eventually realised that all the statues were Angels, the awakening Angels attacked. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]'')
 
[[File:Angels in Byzantium.jpg|thumb|left|Angels onboard the ''[[Byzantium (spacecraft)|Byzantium]]''. ([[TV]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone (TV story)|Flesh and Stone]]'')]]
Surrounded, they escaped by destroying a [[gravity globe]], creating an "updraft" and falling onto the ''Byzantium''. The Angels followed them, only for both groups to encounter [[Time field|a crack in one of the ship's walls]]. The Crack was bleeding pure time energy, something the Angels had predetermined would appear, bearing limitless energy for them to feast on. However, after capturing the Doctor, he told them they could not feast upon pure time energy, which was the fire at the end of the universe. This allowed the Doctor to escape and regroup with his posse.
 
Fearing the Crack, the Angels began fleeing to the other side of the ship, being briefly halted by the clerics' gazes. When only Amy, the Doctor and River remained, the Angels confronted the Doctor. They told him the only way he could close the crack was by throwing himself into it. Instead, the Doctor waited for the ''Byzantium''{{'}}s artificial gravity to shut off (because the Angels were absorbing too much energy from the ship itself), which caused the entire Angel army to fall into the Crack, closing it and erasing them from history along with the mental image in Amy's mind. ([[TV]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone (TV story)|Flesh and Stone]]'')
 
[[File:ElevenClaraAngels.jpg|thumb|right|Angels attack the [[Eleventh Doctor]] and [[Clara Oswald|Clara]] on [[Trenzalore]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]'')]]
At an unknown point in time, the Weeping Angels travelled to [[Trenzalore]] along with many other races in response to a mysterious message broadcast through time and space. Unlike the other species, they managed to make it onto the planet, where they were discovered by the Eleventh Doctor and [[Clara Oswald]]. The Weeping Angels surrounded them, but the Doctor summoned the TARDIS and they escaped. During the later [[Siege of Trenzalore]], a Weeping Angel tried to invade the town but was trapped by the Doctor using a mirror on which he wrote "with love from the Doctor!". The remaining Angels eventually retreated, as with all the invaders except the [[Dalek]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]'')
 
In the [[67th century]], a [[vid-briefing]] series entitled ''[[Perils of the Constant Division]]'' provided information on, amongst others, Weeping Angels. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tsuranga Conundrum (TV story)|The Tsuranga Conundrum]]'')
 
In the year fifty squillion, the [[Weeping Angel Museum]] contained hundreds of thousands of Weeping Angels trapped under constant surveillance, many of whom were donated to the museum by the Doctor. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Doctor Shops for Angels (comic story)|The Doctor Shops for Angels]]'') The Doctor borrowed [[Weeping Angel (Four Doctors)|the miniature Weeping Angel]] that would send [[Gabby Gonzalez]] back in time ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Four Doctors (comic story)|Four Doctors]]'') from here after figuring out which one would send Gabby an appropriate length of time back her own timestream. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Doctor Shops for Angels (comic story)|The Doctor Shops for Angels]]'')
 
=== End of the universe ===
On [[Gallifrey]], [[Weeping Angel (Hell Bent)|some cherubs and full-grown Angels]] had gotten trapped in the "[[Fibre-optic cables]]" within [[the Matrix]], and were found by [[Clara Oswald]] and the [[Twelfth Doctor]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Hell Bent (TV story)|Hell Bent]]'')
 
=== Undated events ===
[[File:Strax's Angel.jpg|thumb|left|The Weeping Angel captured by [[Strax]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Adventures of Strax & the Time Shark (comic story)|The Adventures of Strax & the Time Shark]]'')]]
[[Strax]] captured a Weeping Angel. After sending a message to [[Sontar]], Strax decided that he'd figured out a way to become immune to Weeping Angels. He thought that since the Doctor always told him not to blink around Weeping Angels, he'd close his eyes to get rid of the need to blink. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Adventures of Strax & the Time Shark (comic story)|The Adventures of Strax & the Time Shark]]'')
 
[[Jack Harkness]] fought a horde of Weeping Angels in his time as a Time Agent. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Secret Agent Man (comic story)|Secret Agent Man]]'')
 
Four Weeping Angels once trapped someone in the attic of [[House (Don't Blink)|a house]] on Earth. The [[Twelfth Doctor]] helped the trapped person and sent his TARDIS. After the person escaped in the TARDIS, the angels were trapped in a quantum-locked state in the attic. ([[GAME]]: ''[[Don't Blink (video game)|Don't Blink]]'')
 
The Weeping Angels send two children named Tarmin and Izmay into the past where they would eventually become an old couple who would leave sweets out for any kids who would play in the gardens of the house they would end up living in until the end of their lives, including their past selves. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Garden of Statues (short story)|The Garden of Statues]]'')
 
A Weeping Angel was transported to [[Gehanna]] by the planet's Chief Medical Officer, [[Perinne]], who hoped to study it to reverse engineer its [[quantum-locking]] to enhance the planet's quarantine. The Angel sought revenge by spreading its image into the population via the masks every citizen wore, slowly transforming the entire population into Angels. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Grey Matter (short story)|Grey Matter]]'')
 
[[Angela (Revolution of the Daleks)|A Weeping Angel]] was imprisoned in the [[Judoon]] [[Prison (The Timeless Children)|prison]], along with the [[Thirteenth Doctor]], who nicknamed it "Angela". Whilst walking around the cells, the Doctor blinked to make it move. The Angel tried to attack, but was restrained by the electric cage and her shackles, which only scared the Doctor. "Angela" moved back to her previous position, as the Doctor moved on. ([[TV]]: ''[[Revolution of the Daleks (TV story)|Revolution of the Daleks]]'')
 
[[File:Weeping Angel closeup MTB 2022.jpg|thumb|right|A Weeping Angel in [[forest (Meet the Thirteenth Doctor)|a forest]]. ([[EXHIBIT]]: {{cs|Doctor Who (MTB exhibit)|ed=2022 update}})]]
According to one telling of an account, [[Weeping Angel (Doctor Who MTB)|a Weeping Angel]] stalked [[individual (Doctor Who MTB)|an individual]] through [[forest (Meet the Thirteenth Doctor)|a forest]] as they approached the [[Thirteenth Doctor]]. ([[EXHIBIT]]: {{cs|Doctor Who (MTB exhibit)|ed=2022 update}}) According to another telling, there was no Weeping Angel. ([[EXHIBIT]]: {{cs|Doctor Who (MTB exhibit)}})
 
====Working for the Division====
[[File: Fugitive Doctor's TARDIS (Origins).jpg|thumb|left|A Weeping Angel working with the [[Fugitive Doctor]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Origins (comic story)|Origins]]'')]]
A number of Weeping Angels worked for [[the Division]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'') During her time working for the Division, an Angel helped the [[Fugitive Doctor]] rescue the children of the [[Empress of Weavers]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Origins (comic story)|Origins]]'')
 
[[Weeping Angel (Once, Upon Time)|One Angel]] went rogue from the Division, taking with it the memories the Division had erased from the Doctor's mind, so an [[Extraction Squad]] of Angels were tasked with retrieving it. Seeking the Doctor's aid, ([[TV]]: ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'') during the [[Great Disruption]] the Angel appeared in the centre of the [[time storm]] running through the [[Mouri]], the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] and her friends. It infiltrated [[Yasmin Khan]]'s [[time stream]], where the Doctor had hidden her to keep her safe during the storm. Once the Disruption had been resolved, the Angel used Yaz's phone to appear in [[the Doctor's TARDIS]] and hijacked the ship, ([[TV]]: ''[[Once, Upon Time (TV story)|Once, Upon Time]]'') directing it to [[Medderton]] in [[1967]]. The Doctor managed to evict it by resetting the TARDIS, so it took refuge in the mind of [[Claire Brown]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'') who had ended up in Medderton after being attacked by a [[Weeping Angel (The Halloween Apocalypse)|Weeping Angel]] in [[Liverpool]] on [[Halloween]] [[2021]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Halloween Apocalypse (TV story)|The Halloween Apocalypse]]'')
 
[[File:The Doctor in the Village of the Angels.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Extraction Squad]] capture the [[Thirteenth Doctor]], having transformed her into an Angel. ([[TV]]: ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'')]]
As the Extraction Squad closed in on Medderton, sending all the villagers and the Doctor's companions back in time to [[1901]], the Doctor sheltered with Claire and Professor [[Eustacius Jericho]] in his house's basement. Making telepathic contact with Claire, the Doctor spoke with the rogue Angel and it told her the information it held on the Division. The group fled the onslaught of Angels via a secret tunnel, with Jericho being caught and sent back to 1901. The rogue Angel made a deal with its pursuers to handover the Doctor instead to save itself, and she emerged from the tunnel to find herself surrounded. Speaking through Claire, the rogue Angel revealed the deal it had made and that the Doctor was recalled to the Division. The Doctor was transformed into a Weeping Angel and all of the Angels were transported away. ([[TV]]: ''[[Village of the Angels (TV story)|Village of the Angels]]'') The Angels transported her to [[Division Control]] where the Doctor was reverted to normal. ([[TV]]: ''[[Survivors of the Flux (TV story)|Survivors of the Flux]]'')
 
=== Alternate timelines ===
In an [[parallel universe|alternate dimension]] in which [[the Doctor]]'s adventures existed as a fictional TV show called ''[[Doctor Who (The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who)|Doctor Who]]'', a fan dressed as a Weeping Angel was present at a ''Doctor Who'' convention which the [[Eleventh Doctor]] visited with [[Ally (The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who)|Ally]] in [[2013]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who (comic story)|The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who]]'')
 
In an [[Alternate timelines (Four Doctors)|alternate timeline]], [[Weeping Angel (Four Doctors)|the miniature Weeping Angel]] in the [[Eleventh Doctor]]'s comics was discovered by [[Gabby Gonzalez]]. The Weeping Angel sent her back in time to Paris, 1923 to the [[companion]]s meeting, allowing Gabby to alter time. Learning of this event caused the [[Eleventh Doctor]] to plant the Weeping Angel in the comics package in the first place. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Four Doctors (comic story)|Four Doctors]]'')
 
== Other references ==
[[Children]] knew instinctively about the danger of the Weeping Angels and created "play ground games" about how to escape the lonely assassins. As such, [[River Song]] once pondered whether children naturally being afraid of the dark was a natural reaction to the shadows, as any angel could be hiding under the cover of the darkness. ([[WC]]: ''[[Monster File: Weeping Angels (webcast)|Monster File: Weeping Angels]]'')
 
Before the outbreak of the [[War in Heaven]], [[Avus]] journeyed into an [[alter-time]] realm and encountered a malevolent army of [[Painted warrior|statues that only moved when he wasn't looking at them]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cobweb and Ivory (short story)|Cobweb and Ivory]]'')
 
When a museum was made from [[the Doctor]]'s memories in [[the Matrix]], it contained a Weeping Angel. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Forgotten (comic story)|The Forgotten]]'') While trying to jog [[Jackson Lake]]'s memory, the [[Tenth Doctor]] reminded him of his adventures with the Weeping Angels by asking him about the "Don't Blink" meme from his experiences with Sally Sparrow. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Next Doctor (TV story)|The Next Doctor]]'') [[Rassilon]] declared that the two [[Time Lord]]s who opposed him, who covered their eyes in the same way as the Weeping Angels, would "stand as monuments to their shame, as did the Weeping Angels of old". ([[TV]]: ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]'')
 
[[Gibbis]]' biggest fear was of Weeping Angels, which may have caused an apparition of them to appear in a computer-generated hotel. ([[TV]]: ''[[The God Complex (TV story)|The God Complex]]'') While hunting parts of an [[Eternity Clock]], the Doctor came across a stone angel statue in [[1561]] London; he warned [[River Song|River]] not to blink before determining it was just a regular statue. ([[GAME]]: ''[[The Eternity Clock (video game)|The Eternity Clock]]'')
 
When avoiding answering ''[[Doctor Who Adventures]]'' reader [[Lucy (Doctor, Doctor! 232)|Lucy]]'s question about his love life, the [[Eleventh Doctor]] asserted that he didn't have "hearts of stone", nor was he like a Weeping Angel or a [[Cybusman|Cyberman]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Doctor, Doctor! (DWA 232 short story)|namedpart=Love is the Answer|page=28}})
 
When the [[telepathic]] [[Emily Fairfax]] read the mind of the [[Hypothetical Gentleman]], a Weeping Angel was among the images seen. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Hypothetical Gentleman (comic story)|Hypothetical Gentleman]]'') As noted by the [[Twelfth Doctor]] in [[propaganda]] broadcasts to an occupied [[Earth]] in the late [[2010s]], the Weeping Angels were among the menaces to [[human]]ity whom the [[Monk (species)|Monks]] took credit for defeating. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Lie of the Land (TV story)|The Lie of the Land]]'')
 
[[The Toymaker]] would display a [[puppet]] show towards the [[Fourteenth Doctor]] and [[Donna Noble]] about the [[Companion|companions]] he had after Donna's departure, and retold how [[Amy Pond]] was killed by a Weeping Angel, with the Doctor correcting that she died of old age after she was sent back in time. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Giggle (TV story)|The Giggle]]'')
 
== Behind the scenes ==
=== ''The Brilliant Book 2011'' ===
''[[The Brilliant Book 2011]]'', a book that contains non-narrative based information this wiki does not consider a [[valid source]], has put forward many unknown pieces of Angel history, including:
* The [[Time Lord]]s knew of the Weeping Angels and viewed them as nightmarish: an old manuscript on the Weeping Angels, written in [[Gallifreyan (language)|High Gallifreyan]], translated into "It's behind you".
 
===''Doctor Who: Legacy''===
In the story of ''[[Legacy (video game)|Doctor Who: Legacy]]'', the [[Eleventh Doctor]] and his [[companion]]s face the Weeping Angels in New York in 2012 while travelling back through the [[timeline]].
 
=== Video games ===
* There are Weeping Angels in the ''Doctor Who'' level in ''[[LEGO Dimensions (video game)|LEGO Dimensions]]''.
* In the video game ''Call of Duty: Black Ops 3'', an Easter egg was put it the multiplayer map Nuketown (stylized NUK3TOWN): shooting the arms of all the mannequins on the map in the first two minutes of the game will induce the mannequins to a "zombies"-style gameplay, however, the mannequins moves and attack when not seen by the players, and freezes when seen, a clear homage to the Weeping Angels.
* In the Blood and Wine downloadable content for ''The Witcher 3'' video game, there are stone angels that also move when you look away in graveyards.
 
*There's an Easter egg of the Weeping Angels in ''Just Cause 3''. An abandoned ruin on a hilltop features four statues ringed around an amphitheatre-like structure with a dead goat in the middle. If you approach the goat, the statues will close in on you, but only when they're off-screen.
 
=== ''Class'' ===
With the cancellation of ''[[Class (TV series)|Class]]'', the Weeping Angel cliffhanger and the exact details of "[[the Arrival]]" have never been shared. Ideas for [[Series 2 (Class)|''Class'' Series 2]] included a Weeping Angel [[civil war]] and a visit to the Weeping Angel homeworld. [[Patrick Ness]] stated "I'd envisioned the civil war and the planet like that. Something only comprehensible in a small way, with so much of it remaining a mystery, reminding us that there are paths we're just never going to understand."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20211022083230/https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/class-doctor-who-weeping-angels-newsupdate/ Class writers tease scrapped Weeping Angel storylines for cancelled Doctor Who spin-off]</ref>
 
=== Other matters ===
*The collaborative fiction wiki known as the [https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/ SCP Foundation] was first conceptualised in part through a 4chan post in June 22, 2007, thirteen days after ''Blink''<nowiki/>'s initial airing, about a Weeping Angel-esque creature known as [https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-173 SCP-173] otherwise known as ''"The Sculpture"''. This character would be used as the primary antagonist in the freeware horror survival game SCP: Containment Breach. Striking similarities include their appearance as a non-organic statue, their lack of mobility during eye contact with something else and the capability of moving around with surprisingly high speed, when looked away from. SCP-173 is also capable of snapping the neck of its victims, though this is more due to malice than as a method of communication. Connections between the Weeping Angels and SCP-173 were hotly debated until October 8th, 2018, when a Twitter user under the name Jason Scott uploaded the post along with several million more posts from 4chan's /x/ board to the Internet Archive<ref>[https://twitter.com/textfiles/status/1049369826190352389?lang=en Jason Scott on Twitter]</ref>, confirming the closeness of the time of posting in relation to ''Blink'''s release and making it extremely likely that the first SCP entry was inspired by the Weeping Angels.
* The Zeno paradox-like effect, proven in the article ''[http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.140402 Measurement-Induced Localisation of an Ultracold Lattice Gas]'', showing that a particle is unable to move while it is being observed, was referenced in Gizmodo Australia as the 'Weeping Angel' Effect.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/09/quantum-weeping-angel-effect-freezes-atoms-in-place/ |title=Quantum 'Weeping Angel' Effect Freezes Atoms In Place |date of source=18 September 2015 |website name=Gizmodo Australia |accessdate=30 December 2016 |author=Ouellette, Jennifer}}</ref>
* In 2017, BBC news mentioned the Weeping Angels in connection with the CIA hacking tool, "Weeping Angel".
* Weeping Angels named [[Chas (Alien Babies!)|Chas]] and [[Chelsea (Alien Babies!)|Chelsea]] appeared in ''[[Alien Babies!]]''.
 
==External links==
{{Dwlx}}
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==Footnotes==
==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}
=== Notes ===
{{notelist}}
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}
{{Weeping Angel sources}}
{{The Governors}}


{{Series 3 aliens}}
[[Category:Weeping Angels|*]]
{{2009 Specials aliens}}
{{Series 5 aliens}}
[[Category:Humanoid species]]
[[Category:Humanoid species]]
[[Category:Tenth Doctor enemies]]
[[Category:Predators]]
[[Category:Eleventh Doctor enemies]]
[[Category:Time-sensitive species]]
[[Category:Statues]]
[[Category:Causality]]
[[Category:The Governors]]
[[Category:Species that have committed genocide]]
[[Category:Species in the Siege of Trenzalore]]
 
[[cs:Plačící andělé]]
[[es:Ángel Lloroso]]
[[it:Angelo Piangente]]
[[ru:Плачущие ангелы]]
[[Category:Computer viruses]]

Latest revision as of 20:08, 7 December 2024

Weeping Angel
Appearances

You may be looking for the activity book of the same name or the box set of the same name.

The Weeping Angels were an incredibly powerful species of quantum-locked humanoids, so called because their unique nature necessitated that they often covered their faces with their hands to prevent trapping each other in petrified form for eternity by looking at one another. This gave the Weeping Angels their distinct "weeping" appearance. They were known for being "kind" murderous psychopaths, eradicating their victims "mercifully" by dropping them into the past and letting them live out their full lives, just in a different time period. This, in turn, allowed them to live off the remaining time energy of the victim's life. However, when this potential energy paled in comparison to an alternative power source to feed on, the Angels were known to kill by other means, such as snapping their victims' necks.

Biology[[edit] | [edit source]]

With an age almost as old as the universe itself, Weeping Angels that were converted from ordinary statues appeared as they did before being taken over. Other Angels resembled stone statues of winged, humanoid angels in chitons. Baby Angels resembled cherubs — naked, infant-sized versions of adult Angels. Baby angels possessed the same traits as adults, but when unseen, their footsteps and childlike giggles could be heard. Angels sometimes took the form of even bigger statues, such as the Statue of Liberty. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan) When showing ferocity, Weeping Angels would bare their fangs and claws. (TV: Blink)

According to River Song, who had access to the definitive Book of the Weeping Angels, the angels were, in truth, not really stone, and they only took upon that form when quantum-locked to defend themselves and to hide as statues. As such, she noted they would "become" statues as soon as any sentient life-form looked upon them, only to be freed to their true form when that individual looked away. (WC: Monster File: Weeping Angels)

Weeping Angels in the form of "babies". (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)

Weeping Angels grew weaker from starvation without their usual energy supplies to keep them fed, with the stone wearing away over years. This wearing could become so severe that they might not look like their original forms anymore, losing their wings and becoming more like a typical statue of great age. Weak Angels did not have the same speed as their "healthy" counterparts. They could regain their appearance and restore themselves if re-energised. A single hour was all it would take for them to restore themselves. (TV: The Time of Angels) Weakness could hamper their ability to send people through time. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)

The Eleventh Doctor once inferred that Weeping Angels had hearts, when stating that he didn't have "hearts of stone" and contrasting himself to the Angels and Cybermen. (PROSE: "Love is the Answer" [+]Part of Doctor, Doctor! 232, Loading...{"page":"28","namedpart":"Love is the Answer","1":"Doctor, Doctor! (DWA 232 short story)"})

Powers and abilities[[edit] | [edit source]]

Touch of an Angel[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Weeping Angels could displace their victims backwards in time with a single touch. They would then consume the potential energy from the lives the victims would otherwise have led. They could move people through space as well as time, as for instance Kathy was touched in London, but ended up in Hull in 1920. (TV: Blink)

In some cases, victims were transported over space but in the same time period. This was helpful for directing victims, such as Rory Williams, to quantum energy farms, like Winter Quay in New York. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan) Other times, victims were transported back in time in the same place, intentionally isolating them, as in the case of the quantum energy farm, (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan) or in the creation of absolute isolation for quantum extraction. (TV: Village of the Angels)

The Tenth Doctor theorised that getting touched by the same Angel as someone else would send you back to the same time as them when he, Martha Jones and Billy Shipton all got sent back to 1969. (TV: Blink) This theory would seem to hold as Rory Williams and Amy Pond both got sent to the 1930s, (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan). This ability led the Fifth Doctor to describe them as the most humane psychopaths in the universe. (AUDIO: Fallen Angels)

Different sources disagreed on the impact of being touched by a Weeping Angel twice. In Medderton, isolated by the Angels from both space and time, being touched a second time could cause a human to crumble to stone, destroying Gerald and Jean in 1901, rather than sending them back a second time. (TV: Village of the Angels) In New York City, however, Rory Williams was touched several times, being brought from Central Park to another street, then to Winter Quay, then further back in time in the same location, before time was changed by a younger Rory and Amy Williams, poisoning the stock by creating a paradox. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)

Quantum-locking[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Weeping Angels had a unique and nearly perfect defence mechanism: quantum-locking, which caused an Angel to literally turn to stone when observed, (TV: Blink) even indirectly. (TV: Flesh and Stone, Village of the Angels) This meant they could not attack while being seen, but also ensured they would not come under attack themselves, as, when transformed into stone, a Weeping Angel could not be killed. (TV: Blink) Despite being unable to attack directly, being quantum-locked did not inhibit an Angel's ability to send people back in time, provided their prey were the ones to touch them. (TV: Village of the Angels)

One of quantum-locking's drawbacks was that Weeping Angels had to cover their eyes, to ensure they would not engage each other's defences. If two or more Weeping Angels saw one another, they could be trapped forever. (TV: Blink, AUDIO: Fallen Angels) This caused the Tenth Doctor to think of them as the universe's loneliest assassins. (TV: Blink)

When unobserved, a Weeping Angel could move incredibly fast, travelling great distances in the blink of an eye. (TV: Blink) They would often slow down the closer they got to their prey, as though "playing with their food". (AUDIO: Fallen Angels)

Quantum-locking came into effect even when the Angel was observed through a medium like glass, or from another location entirely, viewed remotely on a monitor with CCTV footage. (COMIC: A Little Help from My Friends, TV: Flesh and Stone, Village of the Angels) An Angel could also engage their quantum-locking on instinct when they believed they were being observed. Amy Pond acted as though she could see the Weeping Angels, and they turned to stone all the same, though they cautiously began to re-engage as this false belief faltered. (TV: Flesh and Stone)

Victims could avoid the Angels by winking rather than forcing their eyes open and not blink. The Tenth Doctor avoided them in this way during World War I, (COMIC: The Weeping Angels of Mons) and Amy Pond did this briefly, though visibly struggled with it. (TV: The Time of Angels)

Physical strength[[edit] | [edit source]]

When an Angel was sufficiently fed, and had no need for further resources, it could kill by sneaking up behind their victim and breaking their neck. The Angels showed great physical strength, being able to break through steel doors, force magnetised wheels to turn, and snap necks without difficulty. (TV: The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone, The Lost)

Psychic powers[[edit] | [edit source]]

When victims looked an Angel in the eyes, the Angel could infect their visual centres, creating an image in their mind. The victim could then be mentally influenced by the Angel until it became fully grown, at which point it could escape the person's body, killing them. This ability could only be stopped by shutting down the visual centre, that is, by closing one's eyes. If re-opened, the Eleventh Doctor theorised this process would continue. (TV: The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone)

Examples of mental influence included making the victim count down the minutes to their death, and making the victim hallucinate that a limb was petrified. They would also dissuade their hosts from closing their eyes, which would shut down their influence. (TV: The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone)

A rogue Weeping Angel once inhabited the mind of Claire Brown, and made her hallucinate that she had Angel wings. As she began to transform, Claire's extremities did actually start to petrify. (TV: Village of the Angels) Unlike in Amy Pond's case, which did not progress this far, (TV: Flesh and Stone) others could see this transformation. (TV: Village of the Angels)

In one unique case, a single Angel was able to infect and convert the robotic Heavenly Host, only Gabriel being able to resist the change. As the Host were already angelic in appearance, the transformation consisted of liquid rock being expelled from the face and coating them; instead of an Angel "popping" out of their heads. (COMIC: A Confusion of Angels)

In one instance, two Weeping Angels were able to enter the Eleventh Doctor's mind, though the second obtained his consent first. (PROSE: The Angel of Redemption)

Propagation[[edit] | [edit source]]

River Song once stated that there were always Weeping Angels lurking in the dark on any planet and warned that any statue someone encountered could be an angel in hiding, waiting for their target to blink or look away. (WC: Monster File: Weeping Angels) She also once indicated that the Angels had an ability to transform ordinary statues into Weeping Angels, or at least to inhabit them. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)

Anything with the image of a Weeping Angel, such as a photo or a video recording, also gained the abilities of an Angel, and would eventually become an Angel, provided the image wasn't broken. (TV: The Time of Angels, GAME: The Lonely Assassins) One Angel was able to escape from a photograph into a mobile phone, (GAME: The Lonely Assassins [+]Loading...["The Lonely Assassins (video game)"]) where it was able to move digitally, corrupting data, (GAME: The Lonely Assassins: "A weeping what now?" [+]Loading...{"path":"\"A weeping what now?\"","1":"The Lonely Assassins (video game)"}) and attempted to escape into the phone network. (GAME: The Lonely Assassins: "Escape? Where to?" [+]Loading...{"path":"\"Escape? Where to?\"","1":"The Lonely Assassins (video game)"}) Some attempts to destroy the image, such as the Thirteenth Doctor burning Claire Brown's illustration, could strengthen the Angel, in this case creating a fiery apparation of a Weeping Angel. (TV: Village of the Angels) Though it took a lot of effort, when given a chance, a Weeping Angel could move out from its image, taking physical form as it advanced. (TV: The Time of Angels, Village of the Angels)

Even mental images of sufficient presence and clarity could allow a Weeping Angel to take form within that person's mind, taking over and slowly transforming them. Claire Brown had premonitions of the Weeping Angels and the TARDIS, and became a host for a rogue Weeping Angel seeking refuge from the Division. (TV: Village of the Angels)

An Angel could also be created this way if an Angel were to see itself, as in a mirror. The Angel's reflection would be perpetually staring at itself for as long as the Angel were reflected. However, once the new Angel came into being, so long as the Weeping Angel continued to stare at its own reflection, more would be created. (PROSE: Magic of the Angels, AUDIO: Fallen Angels)

If a Weeping Angel became trapped in a CCTV system, it would be able to follow its victim in the image created by the camera, but not in the real world. An Angel threw Mark Whitaker back in time after it chased him through the CCTV systems of a high street. However, the effort this cost the Angel caused it to solidify in the real world and crumble into dust. (PROSE: Touched by an Angel) If a video recording of a Weeping Angel was made, then once the video became an Angel, it could exert significant power and influence over and through any system directly exposed to the recording the Angel came from - a projection of one Angel created from a looped recording displayed the ability to deadlock a vessel's entire system even when it had no deadlock seal, and protect the vessel's walls against penetration by methods such as thermal cutting. (TV: The Time of Angels)

If a Weeping Angel fed on a Time Lord, they can use the future regeneration energy to create more of themselves. This happened when the Sixth Doctor was sent back in time and the Tenth Doctor took him back to his TARDIS, creating seven other angels, equal to the number of regenerations separating them. Displacing the two incarnations of the same time created 49 angels. (AUDIO: Wink)

Communication[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Weeping Angels did not naturally possess intelligible voices, (TV: The Time of Angels) although they could produce screeches as a form of laughter, (TV: Flesh and Stone) and the infants could produce childlike giggles. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)

That said, a Weeping Angel could take the consciousness — and voice — of someone they had killed. (TV: The Time of Angels, AUDIO: The Side of the Angels) As with Cleric Bob, an Angel could speak through their victim's consciousness to communicate with others. The Angel chose Bob in particular in order to infuriate the Eleventh Doctor, showing a capacity for understanding others' emotions. (TV: The Time of Angels) In one case, a Weeping Angel took the voice of the person they were attempting to communicate with, playing his own voice from his television set and engaging him in conversation, before taking form. (TV: Village of the Angels)

They also possessed the ability to communicate with each other over long distances, even when frozen. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)

Other abilities[[edit] | [edit source]]

The kiss of a Weeping Angel had various abilities and effects, including transforming kissed people into complete duplicates of other individuals, which died after a matter of weeks; an Angel's kiss could also suck a kissed victim of their life energy, reducing them to dust. (PROSE: The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery)

Weeping Angels also had excellent night vision. When their prey could not see them, allowing them to act, a Weeping Angel could navigate terrain in total darkness. (TV: Blink et al.)

Other energy sources[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Weeping Angels could also feed on other types of energy, such as radiation given off by a Galaxy class Star Liner, or the electrical energy from power grids or portable devices, such as torches. This would cause lights to flicker, making it easier for them to get around their quantum-locking. (TV: Blink, The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone, Village of the Angels)

One account suggested the Angels could feed on the energy of a temporal paradox, (PROSE: Touched by an Angel) whereas another source showed that a paradox could poison their food supply, killing most of the Weeping Angels involved. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)

Weaknesses[[edit] | [edit source]]

Killing an Angel[[edit] | [edit source]]

A starved Weeping Angel. (TV: The Time of Angels)

Because of their defence mechanism, Weeping Angels were very hard to kill, being immune to all kinds of weapons. However, they were capable of starving to death if left without time energy for too long. (TV: The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone) It was also possible to defeat Weeping Angels by forcing two Angels to look directly at each other, which would cause them both to constantly see and quantum-lock each other. (TV: Blink) Another way of defeating them, and the only way of killing them apart from starvation, was to cause a paradox which would poison the time energy they used to feed. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan) When the Angels were starved, they could be vulnerable to grenades. (COMIC: The Weeping Angels of Mons) A Raxacoricofallapatorian was strong enough to behead a Weeping Angel with a single swipe. (COMIC: A Confusion of Angels)

Weeping Angels appeared to have the ability to reform themselves when destroyed in their stone form, however. An Angel reformed itself when it was destroyed by the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, despite missing its right arm. (TV: Good as Gold)

A group of Angels were also killed (or at least, dispersed to the point where their consciousnesses could no longer affect anyone) when the Doctor used CCTV cameras to film them, while also having each Angel viewing all the others through the screens. This caused the Angels to dissolve into the screens. (PROSE: Touched by an Angel)

History[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

The Fourth Doctor discussing the Weeping Angels (COMIC: Gaze of the Medusa)

According to the Time Lords, the Weeping Angels evolved at the Dawn of Time. (AUDIO: The Side of the Angels) However, the Weeping Angels also had a mythological status in Time Lord society, with the Fourth Doctor being sceptical of their existence. (COMIC: Gaze of the Medusa) The Fourth Doctor later encountered Weeping Angels with Leela and Margaret Hopwood. (AUDIO: Stone Cold)

The Angels, or at least once sect of them, may also have originated from a plague, as seen on the planet Gehanna. (PROSE: Grey Matter)

According to a vision shown by the Carnival Queen, a race of stone men took care of the Original Mammoths' gardens before the Time Lords ended the Dark Times by making the universe rational, (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet) with one account specifying that they had been created by the Mammoths and worshipped their ruler, Cernunnos. Those who survived after the universe was made rational could only move when they were not seen by another being. While these "painted warriors" remained within an alter-time realm, (PROSE: Cobweb and Ivory) Compassion implied they could enter the wider universe, as she enlisted a legion of "Terracotta soldiers" who only moved when not being watched. (PROSE: Warring States)

The Weeping Angels were involved with the Division, a covert Gallifreyan organisation that (TV: Village of the Angels) had helped establish rational time, (TV: Once, Upon Time) thereby ending the Dark Times the Mammoths had thrived within. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet, Cobweb and Ivory) Weeping Angels became operatives for the Division. (TV: Village of the Angels)

When asteroids formed together to create the planet Earth, three Weeping Angels were trapped inside the planet. (AUDIO: Fallen Angels)

During the Egyptian era, a Weeping Angel was found at the entrance to a village. During an eclipse, the Angel killed most of the village, save for one girl. Tracking the survivor to the tomb of the emperor, the Angel was defeated when the girl rearranged the mirrors, trapping the Angel in stone form. However, the girl then looked into the frozen Angel's eyes, and it is indicated that she thus became a Weeping Angel herself and remained with the trapped Angel. (PROSE: The Mirrored Room)

In its section on the Weeping Angels, the book The Secret Lives of Monsters that the story of Medusa was inspired by "an actual monster" that had the ability to turn people to stone with one glance. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters)

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

During the Renaissance, the three Angels who were trapped in Earth as it formed were discovered inside marble blocks. Believing it was a miracle, a group of priests and believers formed the Order of the Three Angels, and commissioned Michelangelo to "release" the Angels. The Angels were defeated by the Fifth Doctor and locked under the catacombs of the Sistine Chapel. (AUDIO: Fallen Angels)

On 23 March 1526 the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond tried to figure out what happened to the lost city of Anglica. There they encountered the Weeping Angels, who sent Amy to 1446. (GAME: Angels in the Shadow)

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

According to a transcription produced by the North West Historical Society of an article by The Manchester Guardian about the crash of the Elysium on 17 July 1888, there were reports of some sort of sort of angelic statue emerging from the wreck; however, the actual newspaper was at odds with this as it instead attributed the crash to a force 12 storm. (PROSE: Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm)

In 1898, a Weeping Angel attempted to attack the Eleventh Doctor and Amy while they were attempting to photograph ghosts for the Society for Psychical Research. (PROSE: Suddenly in a Graveyard)

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

In 1909, the Galerie d'Art de Parisiennes contained a portrait of a Weeping Angel. (COMIC: Gallery)

In August 1914, before and during the Battle of Mons in Belgium, Weeping Angels were seen hunting soldiers from both sides. This caused some to believe that angels were coming to save them from the horrors of World War I.

Later in the war, in July 1916, the Tenth Doctor and Gabby Gonzalez encountered a flock of starving Weeping Angels hunting victims in the town of St Michel in France. (COMIC: The Weeping Angels of Mons)

In Paris, 1923, the Eleventh Doctor bought a bundle of comics (COMIC: The Doctor Shops for Comics) which really contained a miniature Weeping Angel. While on the run from the Voord, Gabby Gonzalez opened the package, causing the Weeping Angel within to grow and displace her back in time to the meeting between the Doctor's companions in Paris, 1923. Gabby guessed that the Weeping Angel was deliberately chosen and placed to send her back the proper length of time to change history. After defeating an alternate Twelfth Doctor, the Eleventh Doctor promised to find the correct Weeping Angel and to plant it to ensure history continued on its current course. (COMIC: Four Doctors) After getting the correct Weeping Angel from the Weeping Angel Museum, Alice Obiefune planted it for Gabby to find. While the Weeping Angel was in the package, a viewing device kept it docile. (COMIC: The Doctor Shops for Angels)

In 1938, the Weeping Angels were using New York City as a "farm" due to its massive population, and transformed most of the statues in the city into Angels themselves. They would keep victims imprisoned in Winter Quay and send them back in time whenever they tried to escape. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan) At this time, Max Kliener used the kiss of one of these Weeping Angels to transform people into duplicates of Kliener's stars and bodyguards. When River Song investigated Kliener, she used hallucinogenic lipstick to cause him to kiss the Angel he was using; allowing the Angel to drain Kliener's life energy and kill him. (PROSE: The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery)

Crime lord Julius Grayle also had the same Angel that Kleiner fed and several baby Angels in his possession at this time. He kept the adult chained in his office, torturing and damaging it, and the babies locked in his dark cellar. In response to the captive adult Angel's distress, at least two other Weeping Angels watched over Grayle's home, disguised as ordinary statues. They eventually attacked when it was left defenseless.

The Statue of Liberty approaches Winter Quay. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)

Shortly after the Angels' attack on Grayle's mansion, the Eleventh Doctor, Amy, River and Rory Williams travelled to Winter Quay, where they were trapped by the Angels. However, Rory jumped from the Quay's roof, creating a time paradox (as an alternate timeline in which the Angels kept Rory imprisoned in Winter Quay until he died of old age already existed), which poisoned and killed the majority of the Angels. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)

Artist Ivan Stockinsky painted Glimpsed in a Graveyard, which depicted two-winged angel statues standing outside a tomb and was a departure from the style he had used throughout his life. He was sent back in time by an angel, leaving the completed painting on its easel and making people assume he had been assassinated by Joseph Stalin's agents. Nevertheless, only one angel "statue" remained outside the tomb, with no one ever explaining where the other went. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters)

During the 1970s, the Weeping Angels of New York formed an alliance with Cardinal Ollistra to power Gallifreyan structures that would shield them from the destruction of the universe, in exchange for humans as a source of potential time energy. They maintained communication with Ollistra and the Monk through a quantum communicator. When the Eleven came, the alliance was broken as he let the Angels feed on Enclave members hiding in the city. The Angels fed off the Monk, who they sent back through time, which gave them a huge amount of energy. (AUDIO: The Side of the Angels)

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

Scavengers of Wester Drumlins[[edit] | [edit source]]

A small group of Weeping Angels took to residing in Wester Drumlins, (TV: Blink) which had not been occupied since Mr Satchwell and Mrs Satchwell "disappeared" in the later years of the 1960s. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters) The house had been the centre of many strange occurrences since the late 1930s. (PROSE: The Very Real Mystery of Wester Drumlins)

Thanks to the Angels' presence, (TV: Blink) Wester Drumlins became regarded as a haunted location, with a number of people who arrived at the house going missing (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters) after being touched by the Angels. (TV: Blink) Among their victims were nineteen year olds Carol Martindale and Andy Kenyon, whose disappearances were recounted in a newspaper report a week later. This report contained an image of one of the Angels, but the paper mistook the statues appearing in different places as local youths moving them around. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters)

Angels eternally trapped by the Tenth Doctor. (TV: Blink)

In the 2000s,[nb 1] the group of Angels stranded the Tenth Doctor and his companion Martha Jones in 1969 and captured his TARDIS with the goal of using the Time Lord technology for its near-unlimited temporal energy in a process which could cause enough damage to "switch off the Sun". Despite gaining the TARDIS, the Angels could not find a way into the police box-shaped construct; however, they later found the TARDIS's key. Unfortunately for the Angels, Sally Sparrow took the key from one of them before they could reach the TARDIS. The Angels stalked Sally in their efforts to gain access to the TARDIS.

They also sent Kathy Nightingale to 1920 and Billy Shipton to 1969, unknowingly allowing the Doctor assisted by Martha, to indirectly communicate with Sally through them. Sally and Larry Nightingale later visited Wester Drumlins again, the Angels soon cornering them in the basement where the TARDIS was being stored. Despite the Angels turning out the lights, allowing them to move closer, Sally and Larry eventually made it inside the TARDIS and sent it back to the Doctor. When it finished dematerialising, the Angels were stuck looking at each other across the empty space where the TARDIS had been, each turned to stone eternally, their menace ended. (TV: Blink) The Eleventh Doctor later recounted these events when asked if he had ever encountered the Weeping Angels, describing these particular Angels as "scavengers, barely surviving". (TV: The Time of Angels)

Other events[[edit] | [edit source]]

At some point in the 2000s, Julia Hardwick found clues that warned her of the Weeping Angels, as well as photos which seemed to depict her in the past. When she investigated, she was sent to the past by an Angel. It was she who had sent herself the warnings. (WC: A Ghost Story for Christmas)

In 2009, a boy named Charlie Cause disappeared whilst filming an independent movie entitled Zombie Vixens. The last photos taken of him showed that he was attacked by a Weeping Angel in a graveyard. (PROSE: Whatever Happened to Charlie Cause?)

In the 2010s, a group of humans went on an adventure involving the Weeping Angels and the spaceship Elysium, (PROSE: Hello! [+]Loading...["Hello! (short story)"]) which the Eleventh Doctor had sent a distress message from not long prior. (WC: Analysis Lessons [+]Loading...["Analysis Lessons (webcast)"]) After this adventure, the Eleventh Doctor sent the humans a letter expressing his gratitude to them for saving him and the world. (PROSE: Hello! [+]Loading...["Hello! (short story)"])

In 2011, Mark Whitaker encountered a Weeping Angel which sent him back in time to June 1994. The Angel was trapped in the CCTV system and crumbled to dust after using all its energy to send Mark back. In the past, Mark followed instructions from a letter he thought to be written by his future self. In fact, it was psychic paper sent to him by a group of six Weeping Angels. The Angels wanted Mark to save his wife, who had died in a car accident in 2003, to create a paradox so they could feed. Mark eventually decided against saving his wife and returned to the present in the Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS after helping the Doctor, Amy and Rory trap the Angels forever in a TV system and disperse their consciousness. During the adventure, Rory got sent back to 2001 by a Weeping Angel, but after spending a month setting up a trap for the Angels in 2003 following instructions the Doctor had given him, Rory reunited with the Doctor, Amy and his younger self. After trapping five of the Angels and the sixth accidentally trapping itself, the Doctor realised that the Weeping Angel that sent Mark back in time was trying to change its own past but caused it instead. Mark's time in the past ended up actually leading to him meeting Rebecca and ending up with her with his future self, facilitating many of the events in their lives. If he had changed her death, it would've caused a paradox because it would've changed both the past and the future. The Doctor realised that the Angels planned to do this to everyone eventually, starting with Mark, until they used every person on Earth to create paradoxes and feed. (PROSE: Touched by an Angel)

A Weeping Angel invades the Doctor's TARDIS in pursuit of the Olympic Torch. (TV: Good as Gold)

In 2012, a single Weeping Angel chased an athlete across the Olympic stadium in an attempt to steal the Torch and the spirit of the games. It followed him into the TARDIS and grabbed the torch, but the Eleventh Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to destroy the Angel. However, it reformed moments later, despite missing its right arm. (TV: Good as Gold)

In 2012, a Weeping Angel was captured by Sammy Star, who kept it trapped in a lead-lined box. Not entirely knowing what he had, Star found out the Angel's ability to make people disappear and used it to achieve fame in the magic business by having a different "missing" girl be taken by the Angel. The Angel remained placid due to Star "feeding" it every night.

However, Star's scheme was stopped by the Eleventh Doctor, who was also indirectly responsible for Star being taken by the Angel, before Star could put his act on television, an act, unbeknownst to Star, that would allow the Weeping Angel to make duplicates of itself appear in every house that watched the show.

Star was defeated after being knocked off a walkway and sent back in time by his own Weeping Angel. The Doctor determined that the box only worked because the Weeping Angel was using Star and so allowed itself to be trapped. However, Rory Williams and Amy Pond came up with a plan to use a mirror to trap the Angel using its own reflection which would create another Angel, leading to the two quantum locking each other. The plan initially succeeded, but the Weeping Angel started to make more copies of itself until Rory smashed the mirror, leaving the two Angels trapped in quantum lock. The Doctor, making a trip back in time and collecting a few favours, put the two Angels in Trafalgar Square on the Fourth Plinth, under the title of Monument to the Missing in memory of the Angel's victims, where the two Angels would be in someone's line of vision for many years to come. (PROSE: Magic of the Angels)

On two occasions in 2012, a Weeping Angel in New York displaced Rory Williams in time. The first time was when an Angel disguised as part of a water fountain sent Rory to 1938. On the second occasion, he was displaced by a survivor of the destruction of Winter Quay near his and Amy's gravestone. Amy allowed the Angel to touch her, sending her back with Rory, but preventing the Doctor from ever reaching them again. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)

An Angel punishes Dorothea Ames for her failure. (TV: The Lost)

In 2016, a Weeping Angel killed Dorothea Ames for her failure in stopping Charlie Smith from using the Cabinet of Souls against the Shadow Kin. The Governors worked for the Angels, preparing for the Arrival. (TV: The Lost)

The Twelfth Doctor encountered and defeated a Weeping Angel connected to a Gallifreyan stone in New York. (AUDIO: The Lost Angel)

A group of humans recruited by Kate Stewart (PROSE: And now for a story...) for Operation Time Fracture in the 2020s (WC: 14684 UNIT Field Log) fought off Weeping Angels at UNIT HQ. (PROSE: And now for a story...)

Later history[[edit] | [edit source]]

At an unknown time, a definitive piece of literature about the Angels was created. (TV: The Time of Angels)

On 20 October 2820, the cathedrals of the Gothica colony were suddenly filled with people claiming to be from the future. They warned that in one hundred years and two days the entire colony would be overrun with Weeping Angels. Indeed, the cathedrals of the Gothica colony were overrun with Weeping Angels on 22 October 2920. (PROSE: Time Traveller's Diary)

In the 33rd century, flocks of Weeping Angels swarmed human colony worlds and darkened the sunlight to feed; worlds such as New Moscow were asked to take up arms against them. Some said it would not be possible to oppose such powerful creatures. (PROSE: Legends of the Weeping Angels)

At some point in the 47th century, hundreds of Weeping Angels came to Alfava Metraxis and wiped out the civilisation of the Aplans. Afterwards, they ran out of food and began to starve, going dormant in the Aplan Mortarium. Another Angel somehow learned of this, and feigned dormancy in the ruins of Razbahan until it was dug up, persisting on to the end of the 50th century. It passed through private hands and eventually was brought to the Byzantium. River Song, who had been tracking the Angel, tried to warn the owner, but he didn't listen to her forewarnings and the Angel caused the ship to crash onto Alfava Metraxis, planning to use the radiation as fuel.

The Angels surround the Eleventh Doctor in the Byzantium. (TV: Flesh and Stone)


The Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond, along with River and soldiers from the Church, entered the temple to find it. Inside the Maze, they found many worn statues. The Doctor deduced that the Angel must have hidden among them to avoid being found. The Angel killed three soldiers and used the consciousness of one to communicate with the Doctor. When the Doctor eventually realised that all the statues were Angels, the awakening Angels attacked. (TV: The Time of Angels)

Angels onboard the Byzantium. (TV: Flesh and Stone)

Surrounded, they escaped by destroying a gravity globe, creating an "updraft" and falling onto the Byzantium. The Angels followed them, only for both groups to encounter a crack in one of the ship's walls. The Crack was bleeding pure time energy, something the Angels had predetermined would appear, bearing limitless energy for them to feast on. However, after capturing the Doctor, he told them they could not feast upon pure time energy, which was the fire at the end of the universe. This allowed the Doctor to escape and regroup with his posse.

Fearing the Crack, the Angels began fleeing to the other side of the ship, being briefly halted by the clerics' gazes. When only Amy, the Doctor and River remained, the Angels confronted the Doctor. They told him the only way he could close the crack was by throwing himself into it. Instead, the Doctor waited for the Byzantium's artificial gravity to shut off (because the Angels were absorbing too much energy from the ship itself), which caused the entire Angel army to fall into the Crack, closing it and erasing them from history along with the mental image in Amy's mind. (TV: Flesh and Stone)

Angels attack the Eleventh Doctor and Clara on Trenzalore. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)

At an unknown point in time, the Weeping Angels travelled to Trenzalore along with many other races in response to a mysterious message broadcast through time and space. Unlike the other species, they managed to make it onto the planet, where they were discovered by the Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswald. The Weeping Angels surrounded them, but the Doctor summoned the TARDIS and they escaped. During the later Siege of Trenzalore, a Weeping Angel tried to invade the town but was trapped by the Doctor using a mirror on which he wrote "with love from the Doctor!". The remaining Angels eventually retreated, as with all the invaders except the Daleks. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)

In the 67th century, a vid-briefing series entitled Perils of the Constant Division provided information on, amongst others, Weeping Angels. (TV: The Tsuranga Conundrum)

In the year fifty squillion, the Weeping Angel Museum contained hundreds of thousands of Weeping Angels trapped under constant surveillance, many of whom were donated to the museum by the Doctor. (COMIC: The Doctor Shops for Angels) The Doctor borrowed the miniature Weeping Angel that would send Gabby Gonzalez back in time (COMIC: Four Doctors) from here after figuring out which one would send Gabby an appropriate length of time back her own timestream. (COMIC: The Doctor Shops for Angels)

End of the universe[[edit] | [edit source]]

On Gallifrey, some cherubs and full-grown Angels had gotten trapped in the "Fibre-optic cables" within the Matrix, and were found by Clara Oswald and the Twelfth Doctor. (TV: Hell Bent)

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

The Weeping Angel captured by Strax. (COMIC: The Adventures of Strax & the Time Shark)

Strax captured a Weeping Angel. After sending a message to Sontar, Strax decided that he'd figured out a way to become immune to Weeping Angels. He thought that since the Doctor always told him not to blink around Weeping Angels, he'd close his eyes to get rid of the need to blink. (COMIC: The Adventures of Strax & the Time Shark)

Jack Harkness fought a horde of Weeping Angels in his time as a Time Agent. (COMIC: Secret Agent Man)

Four Weeping Angels once trapped someone in the attic of a house on Earth. The Twelfth Doctor helped the trapped person and sent his TARDIS. After the person escaped in the TARDIS, the angels were trapped in a quantum-locked state in the attic. (GAME: Don't Blink)

The Weeping Angels send two children named Tarmin and Izmay into the past where they would eventually become an old couple who would leave sweets out for any kids who would play in the gardens of the house they would end up living in until the end of their lives, including their past selves. (PROSE: The Garden of Statues)

A Weeping Angel was transported to Gehanna by the planet's Chief Medical Officer, Perinne, who hoped to study it to reverse engineer its quantum-locking to enhance the planet's quarantine. The Angel sought revenge by spreading its image into the population via the masks every citizen wore, slowly transforming the entire population into Angels. (PROSE: Grey Matter)

A Weeping Angel was imprisoned in the Judoon prison, along with the Thirteenth Doctor, who nicknamed it "Angela". Whilst walking around the cells, the Doctor blinked to make it move. The Angel tried to attack, but was restrained by the electric cage and her shackles, which only scared the Doctor. "Angela" moved back to her previous position, as the Doctor moved on. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks)

A Weeping Angel in a forest. (EXHIBIT: Doctor Who [+]Loading...{"ed":"2022 update","1":"Doctor Who (MTB exhibit)"})

According to one telling of an account, a Weeping Angel stalked an individual through a forest as they approached the Thirteenth Doctor. (EXHIBIT: Doctor Who [+]Loading...{"ed":"2022 update","1":"Doctor Who (MTB exhibit)"}) According to another telling, there was no Weeping Angel. (EXHIBIT: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (MTB exhibit)"])

Working for the Division[[edit] | [edit source]]

A Weeping Angel working with the Fugitive Doctor. (COMIC: Origins)

A number of Weeping Angels worked for the Division. (TV: Village of the Angels) During her time working for the Division, an Angel helped the Fugitive Doctor rescue the children of the Empress of Weavers. (COMIC: Origins)

One Angel went rogue from the Division, taking with it the memories the Division had erased from the Doctor's mind, so an Extraction Squad of Angels were tasked with retrieving it. Seeking the Doctor's aid, (TV: Village of the Angels) during the Great Disruption the Angel appeared in the centre of the time storm running through the Mouri, the Thirteenth Doctor and her friends. It infiltrated Yasmin Khan's time stream, where the Doctor had hidden her to keep her safe during the storm. Once the Disruption had been resolved, the Angel used Yaz's phone to appear in the Doctor's TARDIS and hijacked the ship, (TV: Once, Upon Time) directing it to Medderton in 1967. The Doctor managed to evict it by resetting the TARDIS, so it took refuge in the mind of Claire Brown, (TV: Village of the Angels) who had ended up in Medderton after being attacked by a Weeping Angel in Liverpool on Halloween 2021. (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse)

The Extraction Squad capture the Thirteenth Doctor, having transformed her into an Angel. (TV: Village of the Angels)

As the Extraction Squad closed in on Medderton, sending all the villagers and the Doctor's companions back in time to 1901, the Doctor sheltered with Claire and Professor Eustacius Jericho in his house's basement. Making telepathic contact with Claire, the Doctor spoke with the rogue Angel and it told her the information it held on the Division. The group fled the onslaught of Angels via a secret tunnel, with Jericho being caught and sent back to 1901. The rogue Angel made a deal with its pursuers to handover the Doctor instead to save itself, and she emerged from the tunnel to find herself surrounded. Speaking through Claire, the rogue Angel revealed the deal it had made and that the Doctor was recalled to the Division. The Doctor was transformed into a Weeping Angel and all of the Angels were transported away. (TV: Village of the Angels) The Angels transported her to Division Control where the Doctor was reverted to normal. (TV: Survivors of the Flux)

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

In an alternate dimension in which the Doctor's adventures existed as a fictional TV show called Doctor Who, a fan dressed as a Weeping Angel was present at a Doctor Who convention which the Eleventh Doctor visited with Ally in 2013. (COMIC: The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who)

In an alternate timeline, the miniature Weeping Angel in the Eleventh Doctor's comics was discovered by Gabby Gonzalez. The Weeping Angel sent her back in time to Paris, 1923 to the companions meeting, allowing Gabby to alter time. Learning of this event caused the Eleventh Doctor to plant the Weeping Angel in the comics package in the first place. (COMIC: Four Doctors)

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

Children knew instinctively about the danger of the Weeping Angels and created "play ground games" about how to escape the lonely assassins. As such, River Song once pondered whether children naturally being afraid of the dark was a natural reaction to the shadows, as any angel could be hiding under the cover of the darkness. (WC: Monster File: Weeping Angels)

Before the outbreak of the War in Heaven, Avus journeyed into an alter-time realm and encountered a malevolent army of statues that only moved when he wasn't looking at them. (PROSE: Cobweb and Ivory)

When a museum was made from the Doctor's memories in the Matrix, it contained a Weeping Angel. (COMIC: The Forgotten) While trying to jog Jackson Lake's memory, the Tenth Doctor reminded him of his adventures with the Weeping Angels by asking him about the "Don't Blink" meme from his experiences with Sally Sparrow. (TV: The Next Doctor) Rassilon declared that the two Time Lords who opposed him, who covered their eyes in the same way as the Weeping Angels, would "stand as monuments to their shame, as did the Weeping Angels of old". (TV: The End of Time)

Gibbis' biggest fear was of Weeping Angels, which may have caused an apparition of them to appear in a computer-generated hotel. (TV: The God Complex) While hunting parts of an Eternity Clock, the Doctor came across a stone angel statue in 1561 London; he warned River not to blink before determining it was just a regular statue. (GAME: The Eternity Clock)

When avoiding answering Doctor Who Adventures reader Lucy's question about his love life, the Eleventh Doctor asserted that he didn't have "hearts of stone", nor was he like a Weeping Angel or a Cyberman. (PROSE: "Love is the Answer" [+]Part of Doctor, Doctor! 232, Loading...{"page":"28","namedpart":"Love is the Answer","1":"Doctor, Doctor! (DWA 232 short story)"})

When the telepathic Emily Fairfax read the mind of the Hypothetical Gentleman, a Weeping Angel was among the images seen. (COMIC: Hypothetical Gentleman) As noted by the Twelfth Doctor in propaganda broadcasts to an occupied Earth in the late 2010s, the Weeping Angels were among the menaces to humanity whom the Monks took credit for defeating. (TV: The Lie of the Land)

The Toymaker would display a puppet show towards the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna Noble about the companions he had after Donna's departure, and retold how Amy Pond was killed by a Weeping Angel, with the Doctor correcting that she died of old age after she was sent back in time. (TV: The Giggle)

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

The Brilliant Book 2011[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Brilliant Book 2011, a book that contains non-narrative based information this wiki does not consider a valid source, has put forward many unknown pieces of Angel history, including:

  • The Time Lords knew of the Weeping Angels and viewed them as nightmarish: an old manuscript on the Weeping Angels, written in High Gallifreyan, translated into "It's behind you".

Doctor Who: Legacy[[edit] | [edit source]]

In the story of Doctor Who: Legacy, the Eleventh Doctor and his companions face the Weeping Angels in New York in 2012 while travelling back through the timeline.

Video games[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • There are Weeping Angels in the Doctor Who level in LEGO Dimensions.
  • In the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, an Easter egg was put it the multiplayer map Nuketown (stylized NUK3TOWN): shooting the arms of all the mannequins on the map in the first two minutes of the game will induce the mannequins to a "zombies"-style gameplay, however, the mannequins moves and attack when not seen by the players, and freezes when seen, a clear homage to the Weeping Angels.
  • In the Blood and Wine downloadable content for The Witcher 3 video game, there are stone angels that also move when you look away in graveyards.
  • There's an Easter egg of the Weeping Angels in Just Cause 3. An abandoned ruin on a hilltop features four statues ringed around an amphitheatre-like structure with a dead goat in the middle. If you approach the goat, the statues will close in on you, but only when they're off-screen.

Class[[edit] | [edit source]]

With the cancellation of Class, the Weeping Angel cliffhanger and the exact details of "the Arrival" have never been shared. Ideas for Class Series 2 included a Weeping Angel civil war and a visit to the Weeping Angel homeworld. Patrick Ness stated "I'd envisioned the civil war and the planet like that. Something only comprehensible in a small way, with so much of it remaining a mystery, reminding us that there are paths we're just never going to understand."[1]

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

  • The collaborative fiction wiki known as the SCP Foundation was first conceptualised in part through a 4chan post in June 22, 2007, thirteen days after Blink's initial airing, about a Weeping Angel-esque creature known as SCP-173 otherwise known as "The Sculpture". This character would be used as the primary antagonist in the freeware horror survival game SCP: Containment Breach. Striking similarities include their appearance as a non-organic statue, their lack of mobility during eye contact with something else and the capability of moving around with surprisingly high speed, when looked away from. SCP-173 is also capable of snapping the neck of its victims, though this is more due to malice than as a method of communication. Connections between the Weeping Angels and SCP-173 were hotly debated until October 8th, 2018, when a Twitter user under the name Jason Scott uploaded the post along with several million more posts from 4chan's /x/ board to the Internet Archive[2], confirming the closeness of the time of posting in relation to Blink's release and making it extremely likely that the first SCP entry was inspired by the Weeping Angels.
  • The Zeno paradox-like effect, proven in the article Measurement-Induced Localisation of an Ultracold Lattice Gas, showing that a particle is unable to move while it is being observed, was referenced in Gizmodo Australia as the 'Weeping Angel' Effect.[3]
  • In 2017, BBC news mentioned the Weeping Angels in connection with the CIA hacking tool, "Weeping Angel".
  • Weeping Angels named Chas and Chelsea appeared in Alien Babies!.

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

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ While Blink itself uncontroversially sets its main setting in 2007 and "twenty minutes to Red Hatching" a year later in 2008—as Kathy Nightingale's letter describes taking "one breath in 2007 and the next in 1920", and the Tenth Doctor's side of his conversation with Sally Sparrow in 1969 happens 38 years before Sally says hers—these are contradicted by heavily conflicting dates in the Redacted audio series later on regarding both Kathy's disappearance and the Red Hatching. In Angels, Abby McPhail identifies 2008 as the year of Kathy's disappearance, which suggests 2009 as the year of the Red Hatching. In Salvation, the Thirteenth Doctor recognises the Red Hatching as the cause of death of Andy Proctor, who was last seen by his daughter Cleo "nearly 20 years" before 2022 according to Recruits.

Citations[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ Class writers tease scrapped Weeping Angel storylines for cancelled Doctor Who spin-off
  2. ↑ Jason Scott on Twitter
  3. ↑ Ouellette, Jennifer (18 September 2015). Quantum 'Weeping Angel' Effect Freezes Atoms In Place. Gizmodo Australia. Retrieved on 30 December 2016.
v • e
Weeping Angel sources
For the purposes of this list, a "Weeping Angel story" is one in which one living, authentic Weeping Angel 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 Lost, The Halloween Apocalypse and Once, Upon Time are not counted due to the Weeping Angels' appearance being defined by their importance to following stories, while stories such as Survivors of the Flux are absent due to the Weeping Angels' only contribution being references to past Weeping Angel stories, and stories such as The God Complex are absent due to the Weeping Angels' only contribution being as illusions. Stories like Hell Bent and Revolution of the Daleks are also not included due to the Weeping Angels' appearance being restricted to a single scene of no consequence to the plot of the story.
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The Governors
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Founded by EverUpwardReach Ltd, 2016
Mission: Preparation for the Arrival
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