The Shadow
- For the Edwardian-style ship see, Shadow.
The Shadow, a mysterious, cowled near-human, served the Black Guardian. He existed to secure the sixth segment of the Key to Time.
Biography
The Guardian gave him the task of ensuring that the Fourth Doctor would never obtain the sixth segment, then disguised as Astra of Atrios. The Shadow had an instinctive aversion to bright light, which the defence systems of the Doctor's TARDIS generated to repel him.
The Shadow waited inside the hollow Third planet, suspended between the planets of Atrios and Zeos. He commanded the silent Mutes who lived there.
The Shadow monitored the Doctor and Romana's quest for the first five segments of the Key to Time. He communicated with the Marshal on Atrios by a secret video communications link and manipulated him. He made sure he would capture Princess Astra, as well as Romana herself, in the Third Planet. He seemed to know of Astra's true identity: not solely as a person, but also as the sixth segment of the Key to Time.
The Doctor saw to it that a nuclear missile, fired by the Marshal's Command Capsule, struck the Third Planet, killing the Shadow. (TV: The Armageddon Factor)
