Skaro
Skaro was the homeworld of the Kaleds and the Thals, devastated by the Thousand Year War. It was during this conflict that Davros created the Daleks, who took Skaro for themselves. After its permanent disfigurement by war, Skaro became a nigh inhospitable world infested with hordes of mutant creatures. Subsequent attacks on Skaro caused by the Dalek occupation would nearly destroy it in its entirety, until it was remade by the Daleks and returned to power with the assistance of the Daleks' own creator, Davros.
Astronomical data
Skaro was located in the Seventh Galaxy. (PROSE: The Infinity Doctors) It had a similar atmosphere, climate and gravity to Earth, though it was plagued by sulphuric rain. (GAME: City of the Daleks, TV: Asylum of the Daleks) It was the twelfth planet from its sun. (TV: "The Ambush") Skaro's nearest neighbour was a planet called Alvega. (COMIC: The Amaryll Challenge)
Landscape
Skaro had a single large continent on which the Kaleds and Thals evolved. The continent was divided in two by an immense mountain range. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
- Accounts like Genesis of Evil seem to conflict with this somewhat, showing Daleks and Thals living on different continents.
A jungle once grew near the Dalek City. Following an exchange of neutron bombs, the jungle was petrified. (TV: The Daleks) Much of Skaro was a wasteland, devoid of all life after centuries of war. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) Radiation levels across most of the planet remain high.
There were less irradiated plateaus where the Thals lived. (TV: The Daleks)
Hydrothermal activity was indicated by the presence of place names like "Geyser Swamp". However all bodies of liquid may not have been composed of water. At least one river was known to be comprised of sulphuric acid, and the geysers in Geyser Swamp spewed mercury, rather than steam. (COMIC: Duel of the Daleks)
The planet was known to have polar ice caps. The mountains at one of the poles were known as the Polar Mountains. (COMIC: Legacy of Yesteryear)
After being restored by the Daleks, Skaro appeared to have been, to an extent, returned to the pristine state it held before it became war-torn, as it was safe for Clara Oswald, Missy and the Doctor to walk around without worry of radiation sickness (TV: The Magician's Apprentice) and the skies were clear enough to see the sun rise and fall. (TV: The Witch's Familiar)
Known geographic features
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Continents/regions
Mountains
Rivers, lakes, and oceans
- Ocean of Ooze
- Geyser Swamp
- Drammakin Lake/Lake of Mutations
- Bottomless Sea
- Sea of Acid
- Sea of Rust
- Serpent Sea
- River of Whirling Waters
Islands
Settlements
- Darrien province
- Kaled Dome
- Dalek City/Kaalann
Native life
All Skarosian life had DNA, (AUDIO: Corruption) which was fundamental type 467-989. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan) Most of Skaro's animal and plant life became extinct as a result of the Thousand Year War. (AUDIO: Corruption) Some of the survivors included the Varga plants (TV: Mission to the Unknown) and Slythers. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth) The Lake of Mutations was home to a variety of life-forms, including the terrorkon. (TV: The Daleks, COMIC: The Terrorkon Harvest) At least one area of the planet was inhabited by large dinosaur-like creatures. (COMIC: The Planet of the Daleks) Another Skarosian life form were magnedons, most perished in the war leaving the landscape littered with their metallic exoskeletons. (TV: The Daleks)
Several sentient species evolved on Skaro, including the Dals, Tharons, Kaleds and Thals. By the time of the Thousand Year War, the Tharons and Dals had died out. (AUDIO: Purity) The Mutos were mutated Kaleds and Thals. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
Location
Skaro was described as being "in the next universe but one". (PROSE: Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks)
History
Pre-War history
Though Thals used the same name for their world, in the Kaled language, "Skaro" meant "home". (PROSE: War of the Daleks)
10 million years prior to the Thousand Year War, the Kaleds diverged from the Thals. (AUDIO: Corruption) One account states that both the Kaleds and the Thals were descended from humans transplanted from Earth to Skaro as an experiment by the Halldons. (PROSE: We are the Daleks!)
Creation of the Daleks
- Main article: Creation of the Daleks
According to one account, by the time of the creation of the cyborgs known as the Daleks, the Kaleds and the Thals fought the Thousand Year War over the wasteland adjacent to the Kaled Dome. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) During Davros' childhood, the Twelfth Doctor passed Davros the Doctor's sonic screwdriver to speak to him across a minefield of handmines, not realising who he was going to grow up to be until the boy said his name. The Doctor reconsidered helping Davros get out of the minefield, and later, a future version of the Twelfth Doctor arrived on Skaro and pointed a gunstick at Davros in an attempt to save his friend, "the only way I can". (TV: The Magician's Apprentice) He then proceeded to destroy the handmines and save Davros to teach him the concept of mercy before taking him home. (The Witch's Familiar)
Technology had devolved in this time. A Scientific Elite governed the Kaleds. By this phase of the war, biological and nuclear weapons had begun to cause mutations known as Mutos. The Kaled scientists saw this as the end of their species in its "pure" form. Davros, now the Kaled chief scientist, decided to accelerate the mutations on purpose to determine their "ultimate form" and placed the results in travel machines. These creatures then became the successors to the Kaleds, the Daleks.
The Fourth Doctor, transported to this time period by the Time Lords to prevent a possible future where the Daleks would rule the universe, played a part in entombing the Daleks in the Kaled bunker. The Daleks still survived and promised to re-emerge. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
Despite the predominance of this account about the creation of the Daleks, others were recorded. (COMIC: Genesis of Evil, PROSE: We are the Daleks!)
The aftermath
Centuries passed. Radiation levels dropped, though they still presented a danger to human (and Gallifreyan) life.
The Thals believed they were now of intellectual and physical perfection. They lived a simple pastoral and pacifist lifestyle. The Thals never ventured into the Dalek City near the petrified forest or showed any curiosity about it. Because of their dependence on static electricity to move about, the Daleks stayed within the city.
The First Doctor landed the TARDIS on Skaro, not knowing the planet's dangers. Ironically, the Daleks' discovery of the Doctor and his companions, who came from off-world, caused them to wonder about and to fear the existence of other sentient life on Skaro.
The Doctor's companion, Ian Chesterton, taught the Thals to use violence in self-defence, in order to protect themselves against the xenophobic Daleks who threatened them.
The Daleks came to know, during this time, that they needed high radiation to live. With levels subsiding and their lives threatened, the Daleks proposed to set off another neutron bomb. As this would take too long, the Daleks instead planned to release radiation from nuclear reactors into the atmosphere.
A combined effort by the Doctor, his companions and the Thals resulted in the electricity supply for the city being cut off, leaving the Daleks immobile and powerless. (TV: The Daleks)
Spaceflight era and after
By the 26th century, it seemed that the Thals had reclaimed Skaro from the Daleks. (TV: Planet of the Daleks)
In another era, in the Dalek City, the Dalek Emperor ruled an empire which spanned both space and time. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks)
The Master's execution took place on Skaro and the Seventh Doctor made arrangements to go there to pick up the remains. (TV: Doctor Who) The fact that the Doctor could do this indicated a somewhat less hostile attitude of the Time Lords towards the Daleks under President Romana. (PROSE: Lungbarrow)
At some point, the Daleks made a home on a New Skaro. (PROSE: Birthright)
Supposed Destruction of Skaro
Skaro was apparently destroyed when, as planned by the Seventh Doctor, the Hand of Omega caused its sun to go supernova. The stellar explosion released a shockwave which quickly struck the nearby world. It ripped and burned the planet to smithereens. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) However, at least part of the planet persisted, though in ruins and with the conditions of its environment even worse than after the Thousand Year War. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
Survival of Skaro
The Dalek Prime later claimed that Skaro had not in fact been destroyed. (PROSE: War of the Daleks) The Daleks, during their invasion of Earth in the 22nd century, had discovered records that showed Skaro's destruction. An attempt to change history was unsuccessful. (TV: Day of the Daleks)
The Daleks decided to terraform the planet Antalin to resemble Skaro as a decoy and manipulated Davros and the Doctor into ensuring that Antalin was destroyed in place of the original Skaro. (PROSE: War of the Daleks)
Skaro was said to be destroyed during the Last Great Time War between the Daleks and the Time Lords. Dalek Caan claimed that the planet was "gone, destroyed in a great war." It contrasted what happened to Skaro with New York City, where "versions of this city [stood] throughout history". (TV: Daleks in Manhattan) It is unclear if, like the Fourth Doctor's attempt to destroy the Daleks (TV: Genesis of the Daleks), the Seventh Doctor's act of destroying Skaro was considered an act of the Time War and was what Caan meant (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks), or another act of destruction committed during the war.
Recreation of Skaro
After the new Progenitor Daleks escaped, (TV: Victory of the Daleks) they rebuilt Skaro (TV: The Witch's Familiar) the Dalek Emperor, their city of Kaalann and later their whole empire. The Eleventh Doctor discovered that the New Dalek Empire had invaded Earth in 1963. He went to the rebuilt city of Kaalann and discovered that the Daleks had found the Eye of Time, a Time Lord device that helped them alter Earth's timeline. Using the Eye, the Doctor travelled to Kaalann in its ruined state before the return of the Daleks. He sabotaged the Daleks' vision, allowing him to deactivate the Eye. The timeline returned to normal and the New Dalek Empire and their 1963 invasion of Earth was erased. Skaro reverted to its ruined condition. (GAME: City of the Daleks)
An area of the petrified jungle was salvaged by humans at some point close to the 41st century and taken to Earth's Station 7 for research. (COMIC: The Only Good Dalek)
The Eleventh Doctor revisited the devastated Skaro after being summoned by a woman called Darla, who claimed to have been looking for her daughter, Hannah. He did his with great reluctance, even going as far as avoiding calling its name. However, this was a trap to capture him; Darla had been taken over by the Daleks. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
A dying Davros returned to Skaro, which had been completely restored by this point, after barely surviving the destruction of his Crucible at the hands of the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor, claiming "Where does an old man come to die? But with his children." Davros later sent Colony Sarff to find the Twelfth Doctor and bring him to Skaro. The Doctor willingly came and was joined by Missy and Clara Oswald. The building Sarff's ship landed in appeared to be a space station floating in space, but turned out to actually be on Skaro with the rest of the planet invisible to the rest of the universe. Whilst Davros occupied the Doctor, showing him conversations from their previous encounters, Missy and Clara were seemingly exterminated. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice) However, Missy had rewired their vortex manipulators to absorb the energy and teleport away. Needing to get back into the city, they breached the sewers. There they discovered ancient Dalek mutants who, unable to die, had devolved into sludge. Davros was able to convince the Doctor to give up some regeneration energy to Davros to sustain him until the sunrise. The cables surrounding the Doctor were actually Colony Sarff, who trapped the Doctor. Regeneration energy was transmitted to every Dalek on Skaro, and the Daleks were reborn with new Time Lord powers. However, this was a ruse by the Doctor. The energy regenerated the sewer Daleks, who destroyed the Dalek city. The Doctor and Clara left in the TARDIS, leaving Skaro's Dalek city a crumbling ruin. (TV: The Witch's Familiar)
Alternate timelines
In an alternative 22nd century, the Daleks conquered Earth after a World War III had occurred there in the 20th century. The Daleks transported Earth's mineral wealth back to Skaro. (TV: Day of the Daleks)
In another alternate timeline, the Dalek Emperor destroyed Skaro by exploding the planet in the 43rd century when it came under attack by the Mutant Phase. (AUDIO: The Mutant Phase)
In another alternate timeline, the planet suffered a similar history of desolation after an accidental neutron war the Daleks developed as a peaceful species. Skaro in this timeline was, according to the Doctor, the universal centre of civilisation, philosophy, democracy and art. Species from all over the Universe came to Skaro, even the Time Lords. However this timeline was unstable and solar activity of the sun of Skaro began increasing before the Doctor restored the timeline. (PROSE: The Ripple Effect)
Other Skaros
Just as they colonised "New Skaro," the Daleks made other planets they conquered into "Skaros," as they did to the Seriphia Galaxy (AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element) and planned to do to the Sunlight Worlds. (PROSE: The Dalek Generation)
Minor references
The Tenth Doctor once stated, "A foe that cannot be killed, that would put the fear of Skaro into you". (PROSE: The Resurrection Casket)
Behind the scenes
According to the non-narrative source The Dalek Pocketbook and Space Travellers Guide, the Island of Gushing Gold jetted molten gold into the air.
