Your stratagem would be wise if Sontarans feared death, but we do not!
The Sontarans (pronounced "Sohn-TAR-rans") were a race of belligerent and militaristic clones who waged eternal war throughout Mutter's Spiral against the Rutan Host.
Biology
Appearance
The cloned Sontarans were humanoids with large, bulbous heads and short stocky bodies. They had grey-brown skin and deep set features and all appeared roughly the same age, with the exception of General Sontar, who appeared older. (PDA: The Infinity Doctors). Sontaran Blood is green. (DW: The Two Doctors). Ross Jenkins likened them to baked potatoes and Colonel Mace likened them to trolls. (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem/ The Poison Sky)
Sontarans generally had three digits on each hand (two fingers and a thumb). They had great strength and resilience in lower gravity environments like Earth or Gallifrey. (DW: The Two Doctors) The cloned Sontaran species consisted only of males. (DW: The Time Warrior)
- At least one Sontaran, Styre, had five digits (four fingers and a thumb) on each hand. This, along with facial variation seen in the species, indicates some degree of individuality even between clones. (DW: The Sontaran Experiment)
Variation in appearance
Despite being a clone race, over time the Sontaran appearance has changed.
They generally look the same, but may have small deviations in appearence (i.e. Staal had a beard, Skorr had big teeth and a narrower head).
Sontaran Generals
- Staal
- Sontar
Society
The Sontarans are the finest race of soldiers in the galaxy, dedicated to a life of warfare.
The Sontarans were an entirely cloned race, able to produce one million clones every four minutes. All Sontarans were similar in appearance. Sontaran society revolved completely around warfare, Sontarans being a war-obsessed race. Sontarans do not fear death, and they would rather be court martialled than show pain to others. They considered it honourable to face battle open skinned (without a helmet). The Doctor warned that combat with them must be avoided at all costs. Individual Sontarans were treated differently according to rank (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky). Due to their probic vent, Sontarans must always face their enemy as, if they turn, they expose their "weak spot". They have no problem with betraying allies. (DW: The Time Warrior, The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky). They consider humans primitive apes. (DW: The Time Warrior)
Weaknesses
The Sontarans have no weakness!
Despite their strength, Sontaran muscles were designed for load bearing rather than leverage. (DW: The Time Warrior)
One of the few ways to hurt or kill a Sontaran is via the probic vent at the back of the neck. In The Time Warrior Linx was killed by being shot in the proboic vent. Styre in The Sontaran Experiment was killed as the energy fed on him via the probic vent. Commander Stor in The Invasion of Time was killed by a knife thrown into his probic vent. In The Sontaran Strategem the Doctor briefly disabled General Staal by serving a squash ball at his probic vent and in The Poison Sky Donna Noble knocked a Sontaran out by hitting it's probic vent with the TARDIS hammer. In The Last Sontaran Chrissie Jackson (On information from Mr Smith) lodged the end of her shoe into Commander Kaaghs probic vent although Sarah Jane Smith pulled the end of the shoe out and he returned to Sontar. They are also weak to Coronic acid, which causes them to disintegrate and burn. (DW: The Two Doctors) A Sontaran can be killed by a direct shot to the head and depending on the type of bullet can beat the Sontaran Cordelaine Signal.
Technology
The Sontarans were reasonably advanced, though all their technology was designed for use in the war with the Rutan Host. They often used spherical spaceships and could make advanced robots for various purposes.
They could use and make a wide variety of hand-held weapons, though they usually used a thin, metallic weapon, the approximate shape and size of a corkscrew designed to fit the Sontaran hand.
The weapons were used for energy projection and hypnotism. (DW: The Time Warrior) Being able to create around a million clones every four minutes, which allows them to sustain massive casualties. By the 12th century, Sontarans already used crude time-travel technology utilising osmic projection, though nothing comparable to Time Lords. (DW: The Time Warrior) They made other attempts to obtain more effective time-travel technology, specifically those of the Time Lords. (DW: The Two Doctors) Styre also used a miniature camera and a force field while studying the Humans. (DW: The Sontaran Experiment). Sontarans adapted teleportation technology using generators situated at the area of materialisation. Sontaran motherships have 4 claw like appendages coming out of the top and four from the bottom the centre is a giant circle covered in smaller spheres that are Sontaran scout ships. Sontaran scout ships are silver and have a square glass like pane to see from. Each scout ship can hold a single Sontaran. Sontaran leaders also used their batons to cripple their enemies. During the mission to make Earth a clone planet, the Sontarans made a Cordolaine field around themselves that causes metallic copper to expand; when the copper is in the jacket of a bullet, it becomes jammed in the gun's barrel, rendering it useless. This is not always the case, as a Sontaran would think it as honourable to face bullets with dignity, but in this particular mission they needed to stay alive. They also utilised rifle laser weapons during the assault which fired bright beams of red light that could kill a human without any exterior damage. (DW: The Sontaran Strategem/The Poison Sky)
Sontarans wore distinctive battle armour, which resembles a thick and bulky grey space suit. Their helmets were dome-shaped and almost featureless except for two eye holes and a small, flat crest running from the forehead to the back of the neck. They generally carried around their rod-like weapon and a translating device. (DW: The Time Warrior). Later Sontarans had blue armour in a similar design. (DW: The Sontaran Strategem/The Poison Sky)
History
They've been fighting this war for longer than man has been walking upright, and they don’t take prisoners
Originally, Sontarans differed considerably in appearance and reproduced sexually, rather than via cloning. The original Sontarans appeared ganglier and more more like Humans. Prior to the war with the Rutans, the clones forced the purebloods off-world. (DWM: Pureblood)
The cloned Sontarans were engaged in a war with the Rutan Host. During the Millennium War, though, Sontarans and Rutans briefly joined forces. (PDA: The Quantum Archangel)
- Accounts differ as to the date at which the Rutan-Sontaran war started.
In the 12th century, Linx, a scout, landed in England and claimed it for the Sontaran Empire. He proceeded to make an alliance with Irongron, a local warlord, and to transport scientists from the late 20th century into the past using his osmic projection to use hypnosis on them in order to make them work on his ship. (DW: The Time Warrior)
The Sontaran warrior Katsu is haunted by his dreams of dying without honour and failing to win against the alien Levanaxus on the dead world of Keth. Searching for the ultimate weapon he arrives on Aleph-777 a world now of idyllic peace where he demands collection of the weapon. Pursuing an escape craft to Omega-666 he captures and claims the ultimate weapon, a flask of Omega Green Plague which he is tricked into opening by one of the peace loving inhabitants of Aleph-777, away from danger to anyone else. (The Final Quest)
A Sontaran craft lands on the dead world of Goth, and finds the Apocalypse Device, a synthetic creature carrying every conceivable disease and virus. (Black Legacy)
Skrant, a Sontaran, is on a seven year mission to undermine and conquer the planet Braktalis which seems to be analogous to Earth's Middle Ages in development. Demimon, an astrologer and stargazer, witnesses the arrival of Skrant's ship, and seeing it as a sign, allies himself with him. But Demimon’s daughter Alareen, finds out and alerts her soldier lover Kinyor. Although Skrant is dismissive of astrology, Demimon's predictions continue to come true. An army of archers, calvary and foot soldiers from Garnethe attack Skrant and his twenty new Sontaran clones. As Demimon had predicted, the archers are able to kill the newly born Sontarans one-by-one. Demimon warns Skrant of an attack from behind but Skrant informs him that the ship has only one entrance. When Skrant goes to the controls to close the door, Demimon sees his daughter on the viewscreen. Fearing for her life, Demimon strikes the Sontaran's probic vent and kills him. Leaving the Sontaran ship, Demimon is surprised to note that although he has defeated the Sontarans, the astrological charts indicate that he is "coming under the influence of a fire-star." Demimon puts aside his doubt and takes the Sontaran's "magic box" and leaves the ship. As he does this, a stray arrow explodes the Sontaran box which in turn fatally wounds him. As he lies dying in his daughters arms Demimon finally he understands that the fate he had predicted was not the Sontaran's but his own all along. (The Outsider)
The TARDIS materializes in a Chinese fishing village in the year 1522 AD, where warrior monks are fighting pirates with uncharacteristic fierceness -- and the Doctor and Sharon find evidence that an alien weapon has been used. Abbot Yueh, puzzled by the strangers, takes them back to Shaolin monastery as prisoners. The Doctor learns from the novice Chang that the monks have been practising martial arts for centuries; but ever since Yueh took over from the former abbot Hsiang, the monks’ abilities have been tested by the “bronze men” in a secret chamber. The Doctor slips out of the monastery to question Hsiang, who has apparently become a hermit. Hsiang informs him that some time ago a star fell to Earth, and Yueh went to investigate; when he returned, he deliberately crippled Hsiang and left him here on the mountain. The Doctor returns to the monastery, but his absence has been noted and Yueh pursues him into the hall of the bronze men. The Doctor discovers that the “bronze men” are Sontarans, but he manages to escape, and Chang accompanies him and his companions in their flight, seeking answers. Hsiang directs them to the site of the fallen star, a Sontaran scout ship with a damaged hyperspace transmitter. The transmitter requires quartz crystals to function, and Chang informs the Doctor that the Emperor owns a similar crystal the size of a man’s fist. The Doctor questions Chang about his training with the “bronze men”, and realizes the monks have been given post-hypnotic commands. When they learn that the Emperor has invited Yueh to bring his monks to demonstrate their abilities to his court, the Doctor realizes that Yueh intends to order the hypnotised monks to the Emperor. But while Yueh believes he will then become ruler of China, the Sontarans will in fact use the Emperor’s crystal to repair their transmitter, summon reinforcements, and conquer the Earth. The Doctor and his friends return to the monastery with Hsiang and reveal the truth to the monks. Yueh speaks the command phrase which turns the monks into bloodthirsty killers, but K9 records it and plays it back, breaking the spell. Chang, however, only hears the voice once, and attacks the Sontarans in a berserker frenzy, killing them all. The Doctor, Sharon and K9 return to the TARDIS while Hsiang is reinstated as abbot. (Dragon's Claw)
Delicate trade negotiations for uranium are taking place on Desrault with Lady Remadu of Gallifrey accompanied by her escorts Wardog, Cobweb, Millennium and Zeitgeist, as well as the Order of the Black Sun and the Sontarans. Jealous of the relationship that develops between Lady Remadu and Lord Adamath (Black Sun representative for the Rigel sector), the Sontaran uses a psy-snare on Millennium which turns her into an assassin. Millennium attacks the Black Sun leader and accelerating the body of the latter into dust. Wardog kills Millennium, but as the Sontaran prepares to leave the other two sides as enemies, he hadn’t anticipated Wardog’s sudden appearance to return the psy-snare to him personally, uniting the Gallifreyans and the Order to fight the Sontarans together. (Black Sun Rising)
The hieroglyphics of an unopened pyramid tell the tale of Sontar a God from the star’s, arrival in Ancient Egypt. When the Sontaran first arrived he was revered as a God, but was overheard planning the planets use and destruction in a war with the Rutans. Working to stop the Sontaran’s plan, the Pharaoh is misled to believe that Sontar has died (when in fact he was recharging), and accordingly Sontar is given the burial of a Pharaoh and sealed inside a pyramid before he awakes. Many many years later still trapped but rested, Sontar is ready to extract revenge when the pyramid is reopened. As he emerges a door stone falls having been cut by an ancestor of the original entrapment and the Sontaran is once again buried inside. (The Gods Walk Among Us)
The Foreign Hazard Duty (FHD), team led by Captain Geoff Monmouth of the FHD Cruiser Trenhant are on the planet Aleph 777 in the Deneb Sector. FHD are protecting the ruins of a site considered to be of great archaeological significance from the Sontarans. Breaking from the fighting, and under a white flag the leader with an interpreter tries to establish why the other is there. Both sides are under strict orders to protect the site from intrusion. Locked in stalemate, both sides return to their fighting. (Conflict of Interests)
The day starts badly when a Cyberman is awoken half way through its solar regeneration cycle by the needless Sontaran slaughter of an innocent people offering the hand of peace. Unable to start a war with the natives, the Sontaran begin genocide. The Cyberman now fully recharged defends the people and takes on the Sontaran force single handed. Fighting his way aboard their colonisation ship the Cyberman manages to destroy it, along with the bio-energy feed link with the surviving Sontaran ground troops. Returning to the people he walks away, unable to share their joy. They remind him of so much that he has lost. He’s called Kroton, he can’t remember his real name! (Unnatural Born Killers)
In 1609, along with the Rutans, the Sontarans participated in the summit of military powers throughout Mutter's Spiral in the Armageddon Convention, which convened in Laputa, a floating island in the sky near Venice. (MA: The Empire of Glass)
During the later part of the 20th century, Edgar Nelson-Stanley met with the Sontarans. He believed they were "the silliest race in the galaxy". (SJA: Eye of the Gorgon)
In the 1980s, the Sontaran Warburg investigated the possibility of using time ships in order to win the war. At the same point in time they were involved in a battle with the Rutans in the Madillon Cluster. Neither attempt was successful. (DW: The Two Doctors)
The Sontarans were also not 'allowed' to fight in the Last Great Time War, which according to General Staal was the greatest war of all time. How and why they were not allowed to be involved is unknown, though it is apparent they were aware of its outcome.
- The likely reason is the Time-lock.
In the early 21st century, A small Sontaran squad led by Commander Churl had ambushed a Rutan convoy in Mutter's Spiral. They wiped out three of the four Rutan ships, but one damaged one fell to Earth. Churl ordered the rest of his squadron to continue with their mission and ordered Lieutenant Stavv to take them both down to Earth. They reached an old farmhouse and found the burned out Rutan Ship buried there. They found lots of Rutan weapon data and decided to decode it and get it back to Sontar. Churl saw a trail of green liquid and decided to hunt down the survivor. He found two Human bodies: A woman killed from the collapse of the farmhouse roof, and the man from a Rutan strke. He then found a young girl who was blind, and still standing. She said that she had heard the animal go into the barn. He made his way into the barn but found nothing. He turned to find the girl and Stavv gone. He went back to Rutan ship and checked their data to find a new Rutan Development. The ability for a Rutan to disguise itself as another creature. He found Stavv had been heavily wounded so Churl advanced on the girl. He healed the girl's blindness with a tissue rectifier to find out that the Rutan was actually the wounded Stavv. The girl then shot the Rutan, killing it. Churl saluted the girl, then returned to his scoutship and flew back into the war. (Blind Terror)
In 2009, the Sontarans were losing the war against the Rutans. To counter this, the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet (led by General Staal) made plans for invasion of Earth, and carried them out with the help of Luke Rattigan. The Sontarans used a form of hypnosis on the workers of the ATMOS factory, forcing them to start shipping out devices that contained gases poisonous to humans, contained inside plates attached to the Sat-navs they sold. When the Doctor interfered with their plans, they attempted to kill him by using the plate on a UNIT car to drive it into a river. It failed, but this was unknown to them until the Doctor began fiddling with a plate, causing it to become active. The Sontarans activated all the plates in every car containing one. The gas was released into the air, choking people around it. It also deadlocked the car preventing escape from inside. The Sontarans plans were revealed: they actually wanted to change the Earth into a cloning planet to make a billion more Sontarans. The fleet was eventually destroyed by Rattigan. (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky)
Also around 2009, Commander Kaagh the last survior of the Tenth Sontaran Battlefleet and was part of a Special Assualt Squad whose job was to infiltrate deep behind enemy lines in order to predict and anticipate their movements. Kaagh was a more advanced Sontarann because he had a helmet that retracted in to his armour, he had a smaller compact gun, he had a personal cloaking device. He was out for revenge after the Battlefleets defeat his pod crash landed on Earth. He survived the G-Forces and despite his damaged ship he came out of it with scars and damaged battle armour. He used Professor Skinner to bring satellites crashing into Earth's Nuclear Powerplants. He wanted do this because he fought Sontarans would cry his name in battle and be remembered for avenging the Tenth Sontaran Battlefleet. He wanted to take Sarah Jane Smith to Sontar for the Doctor's crime and for her knowledge of the Sontarans. The Plan was stopped when Chrissie Jackson disabled Kaagh with her high heeled shoe but he came round and was forced back to Sontar in his pod. (SJA:The Last Sontaran)
(Lords of the Storm) (Shakedown)
During either the 25th or 26th century, the Rutans destroyed the Sontaran homeworld, Sontar, with photonic bombs, though some escaped with the Sontaran racepool. At the same time, the Sontarans encountered the Pureblood Sontarans. Due to the intervention of the Doctor, the cloned and pureblood Sontarans decided to pool their resources and Marshall Stave promised to remove the Sontarans' memory of Humans from the racepool. (DWM: Pureblood)
Many thousands of years hence, at a time when the Earth had been abandoned for 10,000 years, the Sontarans were separated from the many human worlds like GalSec throughout Mutter's Spiral by a buffer zone. The Grand Strategic Council planned to invade the galaxy, but they had to abandon that plan when a scout, Field Major Styre, was killed while trying to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the humans. After this, the Doctor bluffed, telling the Sontarans that their battle plans had been captured, so they would have to call off their invasion. (DW: The Sontaran Experiment)
On the DVD release of The Sontaran Experiment, an additional story is included called "Built for War". Though mostly a documentary about the fictional history of the Sontarans, some segments follow the journey of Squadron Commander Gron as he lands on the abandoned future Earth on a mission to locate the missing Field Major Styre. As he wanders around, he picks up 'transmissions' from the cast and crew of prior Sontaran serials as they conduct their behind-the-scenes interviews. At the end of the story, Gron recommends that they invade Earth immediately. Dozens of Sontaran pods then land on the empty grasslands. Due to the semi-documentary nature of this production, it is generally not considered canon.
Ranks
As Sontarans tend to introduce themselves with their full title, a number of their ranks have been mentioned. These are some of those ranks:
- Space Marshal Sontar
- Battle Marshal
- Fleet Marshal
- Group Marshal
- Marshal
- General
- Squadron Commander
- Commander
- Battle Major
- Field Major
- Major
- Lieutenant
- Warrior
Note that the above are listed in presumed order of seniority in relation to real-life ranks of Earth armed forces. The precise order is pure speculation, however.
The ranks of individual Sontarans were not prominently displayed on the uniform. The first to wear any significant insignia was the unnamed Marshal who sported two large spiky disks on the front of his collar (DW: The Sontaran Experiment). Commander Stor wore a larger collar than his troops and had a white, three-pointed crown imprinted on his helmet (DW: The Invasion of Time), although the crown may well have been the emblem of the Sontaran Empire (DW: The Time Warrior). Group Marshal Stike had white braiding on his shoulders, akin to epaulets (DW: The Two Doctors).
In the early 21st century, badges of rank were more clearly visible and consisted of various symbols set into the right-hand side of the front of the collar. General Staal wore five diamonds in a crown-shaped pattern. Commander Skorr sported three diamonds in a similar design (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky). Note that Skorr's insignia is very similar in shape to that of Commander Stor's helmet logo (DW: The Invasion of Time).
Forces
The Sontaran military appears to be divided into several different units, regiments and fleets:
- Fifth Army Space Fleet of the Sontaran Army Space Corps (DW: The Time Warrior)
- Sontaran G3 Military Assessment Survey (DW: The Sontaran Experiment)
- Sontaran Special Space Service (DW: The Invasion of Time)
- Ninth Sontaran Attack Group (DW: The Two Doctors)
- Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky)
- Special Assault Squad - Attached to other units, such as the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet (SJA: The Last Sontaran)
- Koda - Military security branch of the Sontaran Armed Forces. (MA: Lords of the Storm)
Individual Sontarans
- St--3u29linxwithouthelmet.jpg
- St--4b28.jpg
- Stor.jpg
- Skorr.jpg
- In SJA.jpg
Behind the scenes
A Sontaran is set to appear in four episodes of Series 2 of The Sarah Jane Adventures: Episodes 1&2 (The Last Sontaran); and Episodes 11&12 (Enemy of the Bane), alongside returning character Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
Set before (The Sontaran Strategem), General Staal is set to make an appearance in the upcoming Quick Reads book, (The Sontaran Games).