Sacrifice
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Sacrifice was the offering of food, objects or lives to a supernatural being.
According to the First Doctor, a sacrifice usually required an altar. (COMIC: The Path of Skulls)
History
Barbara Wright failed to stop the Aztecs practising human sacrifice. (TV: The Aztecs)
The Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon, Polly Wright and Ben Jackson were nearly sacrificed to the goddess Amdo in Atlantis. (TV: The Underwater Menace)
The Master attempted to sacrifice a chicken to Azal, but was stopped by Jo Grant. He then tried to sacrifice her instead, but the Third Doctor rescued her. (TV: The Dæmons)
On Karn, the Sisterhood of Karn offered the Fourth Doctor as a sacrifice to the Sacred Flame. They intended to burn him at the stake. (TV: The Brain of Morbius)
In Nazi Germany during the 1930s, the Black Coven sacrificed an animal on occasion in Heinrich Himmler's castle of Drachensberg. The sacrifices served no purpose other than to maintain Himmler's favour, owing to his obsession with the occult. At the start of World War II, the Coven planned to offer Ace as their first human sacrifice before the Seventh Doctor and Hermann Goering disrupted the ritual. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus)
On the planet P7E, sacrifices were carried out by the Seers. They involved a sword being placed over the victim and tied in place. The lamp of life was then lit and hoisted beneath the cloth. When it burnt through, the sword would fall and kill the sacrifice. Leela asked the Doctor why they went to such trouble and he told her that it was designed to intimidate. (TV: Underworld)
On Delta III, the Swampies offered the Doctor, Romana, and Rohm-Dutt as sacrifices to Kroll. The method chosen was the seventh of the Seven Holy Rituals. The three were tied with vines, called creepers, that would tighten under sunlight. The creepers would constrict, eventually snapping their spines. The Doctor broke a window, wetting the creepers in the rain causing them to loosen and allow escape. (TV: The Power of Kroll)
On Tigella, the Deons offered the Doctor as a sacrifice to Ti. They hoped this would return the Dodecahedron to them. They burnt through ropes that suspended a rock above the Doctor. (TV: Meglos)
Romana was taken by the Three Who Rule as a sacrifice to the King Vampire. She was rescued by the Doctor and Adric. (TV: State of Decay)
The Tremas Master, posing as the mythical "outsider", commanded that the unbelievers on Sarn be sacrificed to Logar through burning. (TV: Planet of Fire)
In December 1981, the Hecate Cult attempted to sacrifice Brendan Richards, but were stopped by Sarah Jane Smith and K9. (TV: A Girl's Best Friend)
