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"Dalek Emperor" — also "Emperor Dalek" or "Emperor of the Daleks" — was the title held by the supreme ruler of the Dalek Empire and, later in their history, the New Dalek Paradigm, commanding the Dalek race and the planet Skaro.
- You may wish to consult
Emperor of the Daleks (disambiguation)for other, similarly-named pages.
Holders
The Dalek Prime
- Main article: Dalek Prime
The Dalek Prime, or "Golden Emperor", was the first Dalek mutant to have climbed into a Dalek War Machine, (COMIC: Genesis of Evil) or, in other accounts, was the Dalek who had fired on Davros and made a proclamation on behalf of the other entombed Daleks that they would "prepare, grow stronger, and, when the time is right, emerge as the supreme rulers of the Universe". (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) It proclaimed itself the Emperor of the newly-created Dalek race. (COMIC: Genesis of Evil)
The Prime would continue to hold the position throughout his life, occupying several different casings, (TV: The Evil of the Daleks, The Parting of the Ways) although during and immediately following the Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War, it was referred to as simply "the Dalek Prime" by its side of the War — as the opposing side, the Imperial Daleks, referred to their leader Davros as "the Dalek Emperor". (PROSE: War of the Daleks) The eighth (AUDIO: Restoration of the Daleks) and ninth (TV: The Parting of the Ways) incarnations of the Doctor, when crossing paths with the Dalek Prime again, recognised him as "the Emperor of the Daleks". (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks)
Emperor Zeg
- Main article: Zeg
Zeg was an early Dalek scientist who serendipitously discovered the secret of metalert. Having been granted a casing that was invulnerable to all weaponry known to its race, Zeg was effectively invincible and declared himself the new Emperor, hoping to unseat the Golden Emperor. Recognising that both Daleks had a claim to the title, as Zeg lacked provable intelligence but the Golden Emperor lacked provable strength, the Brain Machine ordered that a duel be fought between them to demonstrate who was truly superior. Through guile, the Golden Emperor defeated and killed Zeg, cementing his status as Emperor once more. (COMIC: Duel of the Daleks)
23rd century Emperor
- Main article: Dalek Emperor (Dalek Attack)
One Dalek Emperor ruled Skaro in 2254. It possessed a bronze-coloured casing with a bulbous head and large cannon-like gunsticks. Allied with Davros rather than opposed to him, the Emperor presided over a short-lived Dalek invasion of Earth which was put to an end by the Seventh Doctor. Shortly after the failure of the invasion, the Doctor was sent to Skaro by the Time Lords to retrieve a sacred Time Ring stolen by Davros, and, facing the Emperor, caused its destruction with his screwdriver. (GAME: Dalek Attack)
Davros
- Main article: Davros
Davros was made the Emperor of the Imperial Dalek faction of the Daleks during the Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War. He was encased in a customised Dalek casing with a round dome top which could open and close, his body below his head and shoulders covered in a mass of tubing and cables, implying he had greatly deteriorated physically. He was last seen heading for an escape pod just before his ship was destroyed in the wake of the supernova (set off by the Hand of Omega) that consumed Skaro. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
Later, Davros' increasingly unstable mind caused him to be overtaken by a totally Dalek personality, with him forgetting who he originally was and answering only to the name of Dalek Emperor. (AUDIO: Terror Firma) Still not remembering his name, the Dalek Emperor who had once been Davros began to occupy a casing strikingly similar to the Dalek Prime's, adding an eyestalk to the spherical dome section. (COMIC: Nemesis of the Daleks)
The Emperor of the Restoration
- Main article: Emperor of the Restoration
According to some accounts, the Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War ended with the pyrrhic victory of the Imperial Daleks, despite the flight of their leader Davros, while the Renegade Daleks were completely exterminated. These accounts alleged that a new Emperor then took charge of the remaining Dalek forces, creating a new Empire on Skaro. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe, The Restoration Empire)
Originally a Supreme Dalek and member of Emperor Davros's Supreme Council, this Dalek was known as the Emperor of the Restoration. He adopted a casing similar to the original Golden Emperor's and overhauled Dalek hierarchy to bring it more in line with its glorious path, trying to turn the tide and make the Dalek Empire a universe-wide threat to the "lesser races" once again. (PROSE: The Restoration Empire) He later led the Daleks into the Last Great Time War, trying to fulfil Davros's old ambition for the Daleks to become "the Lords of Time" instead of the Gallifreyans. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe, The Restoration Empire)
According to other accounts, however, the Dalek Emperor who took control of Skaro at the close of the Civil War was instead the Dalek Prime, erstwhile leader of the Renegade Daleks, (PROSE: War of the Daleks) and it was also him (albeit after a death and resurrection) who would later lead the Daleks in the Time War. (AUDIO: Restoration of the Daleks)
The Restoration Empire, and its Emperor, was later brought back after the Time War (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks) by fluctuations in time caused when the Tenth Doctor poisoned the Kotturuh in the Dark Times. (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times, The Knight, The Fool and The Dead) The Emperor learnt of the attack on history, and the Doctor‘s involvement, from a message sent by the only surviving Dalek of a Time Squad that had yet to be sent back in time. (PROSE: The Last Message) The Emperor later sent the Time Squad back in time to rectify the fluctuations to the Daleks’ benefit. (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times)
The Dalek Prime Strategist
- Main article: Dalek Prime Strategist
During the Evacuation of Skaro, an event in the reign of the Emperor of the Restoration, the Dalek Prime Strategist was dispatched to the Fifth Galaxy to reawaken an army of 10,000 dormant Red Daleks. Upon arriving on the planet where the army was hidden in stasis, the Strategist activated the Sentinel android and told it to take him to "my army". The Sentinel immediately acknowledged the Dalek Prime Strategist as "Emperor", to the Strategist's shock.
Although the Strategist told the Sentinel that there must be a flaw in its programming, it persisted in addressing him as "Emperor". After successfully reviving the backup Dalek army, the Sentinel revealed that it had in fact been taken over by The Entity, the very enemy the Strategist wished to use the army against. The Sentinel told the Strategist that although its primary intent was to destroy the Daleks, finding a more reasonable leader for the species than the current Emperor would also be an acceptable solution. Thus, it had changed the programming of all the dormant Daleks, who indeed began addressing the Dalek Prime Strategist as their Emperor as they woke.
The Strategist wavered, but ultimately decided to sacrifice the army rather than rebel against the Emperor of the Restoration. The Entity thus fell back to controlling the reawakened army itself and leading in an ultimately-futile assault on the main Dalek forces. However, when asked by the Emperor if there was truly no way the disaster could have been avoided, the Strategist answered that there was a way, but it "would not have been acceptable… to you". (WC: The Sentinel of the Fifth Galaxy)
By the time of the Restoration Empire Daleks' temporally-abnormal war with the Hond, the Strategist was still subservient to the Emperor of the Restoration. However, the Tenth Doctor, when conversing with the Strategist, correctly divined that he was upset that the Golden Emperor of the Restoration outranked him despite being younger and less experienced than he was. (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks (comic story)
In the Time War
- Main article: Dalek Emperor (The Parting of the Ways)The identity of the Dalek Emperor in The Last Great Time War was up to some debate: some accounts suggested that he was the Emperor of the Restoration, (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) while others stated that he was a resurrected form of the original Dalek Emperor and erstwhile-instigator of the civil war against Davros. (AUDIO: Restoration of the Daleks)
However, there was widespread agreement that a Dalek Emperor other than Davros (TV: Journey's End) was the ultimate authority of the Dalek Empire throughout the better part of the Last Great Time War, up until the very last day. After falling through time (TV: The Parting of the Ways) and the Void, (PROSE: The Whoniverse) the Emperor, who had developed delusions of godhood and proclaimed himself "the God of All Daleks", attempted to recreate a new Dalek race from harvested humans on Satellite Five. This scheme was foiled by the Ninth Doctor, Jack Harkness and Rose Tyler, with Rose using the powers of the Bad Wolf entity to finally obliterate the Emperor, (TV: The Parting of the Ways) "[taking] the Time Vortex and pour[ing] it into his head, and turning him into dust". (TV: Doomsday)
The New Dalek Paradigm's first Emperor
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When the New Dalek Paradigm went back to the ruined Skaro, they created a new Emperor Dalek, reusing the shell of the old one, albeit with new paint. His blue colouring suggests he was a Strategist Dalek, had ties to that role or was the mastermind of all of the Daleks' plans for universal conquest. When the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond travelled back in time to when Skaro was devastated and before the new Daleks arrived with the Eye of Time, they erased the Daleks' alterations and Kaalann was left abandoned. The new Emperor was never created as a result. (GAME: City of the Daleks)
The New Dalek Paradigm's second Emperor
When the New Dalek Paradigm took control of Earth in 2106, they were led by a new Emperor Dalek. This Emperor was different from the Time War Emperor, as it was coloured purple, was able to form a sphere and its weaponry was much larger. This new Emperor wanted to completely change time by using a piece of the Eternity Clock, and remove Gallifrey from existence; the Daleks would then become the new Lords of Time. The Eleventh Doctor and River Song were able to remove the piece of the Eternity Clock from the Dalek's possession, foiling the Emperor's plans and undoing the Dalek invasion of Earth. (GAME: The Eternity Clock)
The Daleks later established a Parliament which took decisions for the whole of Dalek-kind under the leadership of a Prime Minister. When the Eleventh Doctor and his companions were summoned to the Parliament's ship, no Emperor was in evidence. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) After the fall of the Parliament, the New Dalek Paradigm's first Supreme Dalek took control of the Empire, flanked by the original Eternal Dalek. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
Undated Emperors
A Dalek Emperor composed Operation Divide and Conquer, the plan to send the Master to divide the humans and Draconians in 2540, and gave him a squad of Ogrons to complete his task. (AUDIO: The Dalek Conquests)
A Dalek Emperor tried the Old Master, who was consequently exterminated by the Dalek Prelature. (PROSE: The Novel of the Film)
Other references
The Sixth Doctor objected to Jack Harkness marrying Callista while posing as him, likening the situation to a marriage with the Dalek Emperor. Jack countered by pointing out that the Doctor was still fighting the Daleks, and used a hypothetical romance with Davros to taunt him. (AUDIO: Piece of Mind)
The position of Dalek Puppet Emperor also existed. (PROSE: Meet the Doctor)
Behind the scenes
Invalid sources
A Dalek Emperor (identical in voice and appearance to the one in The Parting of the Ways, though it is not confirmed to be the same individual) acts as a secondary villain in LEGO Dimensions, where he is voiced by Nicholas Briggs. In the video game's story, he is unaware that some of his Daleks have been recruited by Lord Vortech to aid him in his conquest of the multiverse, but he is aware of mysterious happenings involving cross-dimensional travel, and has acquired one of the Keystones for himself (the Scale, which allows him to enlarge or shrink himself and other Daleks at will). Believing the goings-on to be the fault of the Twelfth Doctor, he captures the game's protagonists, Batman, Wyldstyle and Gandalf, to try and find out the Doctor's plans, but ends up getting shrunk to mouse-size by the Scale at the end of the ensuing boss battle. The iteration used by Davros in Remembrance of the Daleks appears in a DLC level, and the iteration seen in The Evil of the Daleks appears in a secret area in a level pack themed off The Goonies.
Other matters
- Similar to Dalek Supreme/Supreme Dalek, the terms "Dalek Emperor" and "Emperor Dalek" are used interchangably across media. "Dalek Emperor" is used in The Sound of Drums, while "Emperor Dalek" is used in Remembrance of the Daleks, Nemesis of the Daleks, City of the Daleks and Night Terrors. The Evil of the Daleks simply used the term "Emperor", while the Ninth Doctor identifies the "Emperor of the Daleks" in The Parting of the Ways.
- Depending on the player's progress, "Dalek Emperor" is a potential rank for the Metaltron to attain in the video game NOTVALID: The Last Dalek.