The Shadows of Avalon (novel)

The Shadows of Avalon
Doctor:	[[doctor::Eighth Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Fitz Kreiner, Compassion
Main enemy:	Romana III, Gander & Cavis
Main setting:	Earth, 2012, July
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::BBC Books]]
Writer:	Paul Cornell
Release details
Release number:	31
Release date:	February, 2000
Format:	Paperback Book, --- Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0 563 55588 2

Publisher’s Summary

The Brigadier’s wife is dead. A terrible accident. Grieving, he searches for death, and finds his way to Avalon, the other-dimensional kingdom of the Catuvelauni.

The Doctor is also in Avalon, marooned. He’s lost his companions, his TARDIS... and his hope for the future.

Now it seems they’ll have to make a new life for themselves with the Celts who live in the Dreamlands. Perhaps even help in the Celts’ negotiations with the Unseelie, the sinister original inhabitants of Avalon, who live far to the North.

But then a gateway opens between Earth and Avalon. The British Army arrives in force. And the Brigadier negotiates a treaty that will lead to war in the Land of Dreams.

With fearsome dragons duelling jet fighters, vicious Gallifreyan agents causing havoc, and Compassion fighting against her ultimate fate, can the Doctor save the world, his best friend, and himself?

Characters

• The Doctor
  • Tries to build/grow a new TARDIS using the magics of Avalon. It's destroyed when the Tower is destroyed by Cavis and Gandar.
  • Rides a dragon.
  • Again sees the future of some of the people he's just met. And is proven wrong when Cavis and Gandar kill one of the UNIT officers for entertainment.
• Fitz Kreiner
• Compassion
  • Spends time on Earth.
  • Is at first terrified by her transformation into a TARDIS and then liberated by it.
• Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
  • Has become suicidally depressed over Doris' death.
  • Cares for his troops, to the point of marching into a no-man's land to rescue one wounded soldier (see above for the other motivation for it).
  • Stays behind in the Dream Realms of Avalon.
• Doris Lethbridge-Stewart
• Queen Regent Ma bab Mab Pendragon
  • Queen Mab is also known as: Queen Regent of the Catuvelauni, Protector of Avalon.
• King Constantine
  • Sleeps to maintain the dream that is Avalon.
• Fair Folk (aka Faerie Folk)
  • Ruled by Brona and Arwen.
  • Compassion realises that they're descendants of Silurians who were also caught up in the creation of Avalon.
• Romana III
  • Has regenerated to prepare for the war
  • Romana’s other names mentioned are: Lady President, War Queen, Mistress of the Nine Gallifreys.
  • Looks a little like the Doctor's mother in her third body. The Doctor finds that unsettling.
• Cavis (Cavisadoratrelundar)
  • Cavis has one heart (and therefore has not regenerated.) She has messy blonde hair.
• Gandar (Gandarotethetledrax)

References

• Romana uses a Space-Time Visualiser to look into near future events.
• Sentient TARDISs are integral to the Future War with The Enemy.
• In the vortex you are vulnerable to such predators as: Kraken, Chronovore and Swimmer’s.

• The People are mentioned in relation to Gallifrey and its narrowly missed war.

• Fitz and Compassion take a brief 'swim' through the Time Vortex.
• England has a king by 2012.
• A Time Lord can regenerate even after decapitation, growing a new head in the process.
• A Time Lord can be killed (without regeneration taking place) by being stabbed through ‘’both’’ hearts.

Notes

to be added

Continuity

• The Brigadier gained a younger body in Happy Endings.

• The Doctor states he hasn’t been Merlin yet, as was hinted at in Battlefield which also featured an alternate dimension (though not this Avalon) where the Doctor had been Merlin.

• Here Compassion evolves into a fully fledged sentient TARDIS (first seen in Alien Bodies, a process which began in The Blue Angel, and for which they (the Doctor, Fitz and Compassion) are pursued by the Time Lords through The Fall of Yquatine, Coldheart, The Space Age and The Banquo Legacy.

• The Ancestor Cell reveals just what happened to the TARDIS after its collision between the dimensional barriers.

• The Doctor contemplates growing a TARDIS with magic. In the TV story DW: The Impossible Planet, he affirms that TARDISes are grown.

• The statement that a Time Lord can be killed (without regeneration taking place) by being stabbed through both hearts is later confirmed by River Song in Forest of the Dead.

Timeline

• This story takes place after ST: Growing Higher
• This story takes place before EDA: The Fall of Yquatine

External links

Doctor Who Reference Guide - Detailed Synopsis of The Shadows of Avalon