Check the behind the scenes section, the revision history and discussion page for additional comments on this article's title.
The resurrected Dalek Empire, commonly regarded as the Dalek Empire like previous regimes controlled by the Dalek species, was the culmination of the New Dalek Paradigm's efforts to restore the Dalek race and subsequent failures to conquer the universe. Although the New Paradigm had restored their species and empire after the Daleks sustained great losses with the end of the Last Great Time War, the New Paradigm's many failures became an embarrassment for the Dalek Empire it had founded. As such, the Daleks reinvented the empire into a new state by establishing the Parliament of the Daleks, where New Paradigm units were included but given little influence. Instead, Bronze Daleks returned as the primary casings of the Daleks. After the Parliament was ultimately destroyed in the Siege of Trenzalore, the Daleks returned to their ancestral homeworld of Skaro, where the Dalek City was rebuilt as the new Imperial capital. In time, the New Paradigm totally vanished from sight amongst the reinvented Dalek Empire's ranks.
Under the Parliament and later Dalek control, the Dalek Empire spread throughout space, through time, and into the Time Vortex itself. As always, the Daleks used their empire as to further their mission to wipe out all other species in the universe. The Dalek Empire also welcomed the creator of their species, Davros, into its ranks, albeit only in an advisor role that did not give him the power to give orders. After the Parliament's destruction, leadership of the empire fell to Dalek High Command and the Supreme Dalek-class, with the Twelfth Doctor also once making reference to a Dalek Emperor. As it expanded, the Dalek Empire repeatedly battled the Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Doctors.
Overview
Time zone
After being established by the survivors of the New Dalek Empire in 1941, the New Dalek Paradigm proceeded to return to their "own time", which the Eleventh Doctor knew to be in "the future", where they were to "begin again". (TV: Victory of the Daleks) In their record of Dalek activity in the linear history of the universe, the Time Lords indicated that the New Dalek Paradigm and, by extension, the resurrected Dalek Empire, was based in the "far future" at some point following the pre-Time War destruction of Skaro, which had followed the 47th century Necros Incident. However, they were unable to date the specific temporal co-ordinates for when the Hybrid Incident took place in history, (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) with the Twelfth Doctor discovering during the incident that he was on a rebuilt but hidden Skaro as the capital of the resurrected Dalek Empire. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice, The Witch's Familiar)
Indeed, as always, the use of time travel made dating specific expansions and campaigns difficult, (TV: Asylum of the Daleks, The Magician's Apprentice, Revolution of the Daleks) with the Dalek invasion of the galaxy and its Good Dalek Incident alone being the subject of much contradiction in terms of when they exactly took place. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual, The Whoniverse, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe, The Secret Lives of Monsters) The empire went so far as to place Dalek flying saucers within the Time Vortex, waiting for any opening to attack planets anywhen in time and space. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks) The Fourteenth Doctor also once noted that the Daleks were more than willing to attack the past of a world to change history itself for their designs. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks)
Indeed, the Time Lords were unable to deduce the exact temporal co-ordinates for when in space and time the Asylum Incident and the Good Dalek Incident took place. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) The Twelfth Doctor observed that Rusty then spent billions of years fighting the Daleks after the Good Dalek Incident. (TV: Twice Upon a Time)
A Dalek state
An empire controlled by the Dalek species after the Last Great Time War, (TV: The Witch's Familiar, Once, Upon Time) the resurrected "Dalek Empire" shared its name with previous empires controlled by the species. However, this post-Time War empire was formed as a "reinvention" of the Daleks after the many failures of the New Dalek Paradigm. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) While the New Paradigm and Resurrected Empire restored the Daleks to their feared position of strength, (COMIC: The Only Good Dalek, TV: Asylum of the Daleks) thereby saving the Dalek species from extinction as well, (TV: Victory of the Daleks) the Daleks remained a diminished force compared to the height they had arisen to during the Time War. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
At first, this Dalek Empire organised itself under the Parliament of the Daleks. New Paradigm Daleks were included, but with a greatly reduced influence. This Parliament also rejected the ruins of Skaro to instead base itself within a mobile capital, the Dalek flying saucer designated Nacrana Va Hateen, which roughly translated to "The Highest Authority". Within, a Prime Minister of the Daleks commanded operations. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) The Prime Minister selected plans channeled by Strategist Daleks from the thousands (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) of Dalek governors within the Parliament. The Parliament was destroyed in the Siege of Trenzalore. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
Afterward, the Twelfth Doctor found that the Daleks had returned to Skaro, restoring it and making it the new capital of the empire. According to Davros, this was the Daleks had a strong concept of home. (TV: The Witch's Familiar) At this time, leadership of the empire had been given to Dalek High Command and the Supreme Dalek–class, (TV: The Magician's Apprentice) which used the red type E casings previously fielded by the original Dalek Empire and New Dalek Empire. (COMIC: Ambush, TV: Journey's End) Other officer classes included the Black Dalek position (TV: The Witch's Familiar) and Bronze Daleks who held commanding positions. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks, The Power of the Doctor) The Twelfth Doctor also once made reference to a "Dalek Emperor" that was active during his life, (WC: The Twelfth Doctor's been Timejacked!) with the Fourteenth Doctor being unsure if the supposed 1966 Dalek invasion of Earth would be carried out under an Emperor or Supreme. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks)
The Dalek army branch of the Empire was regarded as the Dalek Imperial Army, the same name used by the Paradigm before the Empire's restructuring. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) The resurrected Dalek Empire used multiple models of casing for its units. Most Dalek drones fielded by the empire used the Bronze Dalek casing, yet Grey Dalek and Silver Dalek casings, including models of the Dalek War Machine, also saw use. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice, The Witch's Familiar) Human historians noticed that, in time, the New Paradigm seemed to totally vanish from sight. (PROSE: The Monster Vault) Further Red Daleks, White Daleks, and Green Daleks resembled the bronze casing instead. (GAME: The Doctor and the Dalek) The members of the Dalek Death Squads fielded by the regime also used the bronze casing, albeit with a claw instead of a standard manipulator arm. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks)
In addition to the Dalek drones that fought for the empire, Dalek variants used by the regime included Special Weapons Daleks and Imperial Guards. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice, The Witch's Familiar) The aforementioned Death Squad Daleks were deployed to wipe out impure Daleks throughout time, but they were also more than willing to conquer the world they had arrived upon. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks) Meanwhile, squads of Dalek Executioners, while keen to declare the areas they arrived within as Dalek territory, were deployed for smaller scale assassination missions throughout time. Executioners were given bronze casings, but with a claw and repeating blaster instead of standard attachments. (TV: Eve of the Daleks) The Empire made use of Dalek flying saucers and organised its fleet into battalions. (TV: The Vanquishers)
Support of Davros
The creator of the Dalek race, Davros, also aided the resurrected Dalek Empire's operations. According to Davros, the Daleks showcased a form of respect towards him, claiming he had never been able to eliminate the genetic flaw that caused their mercy towards their "father", (TV: The Witch's Familiar) despite the long history of the Daleks, since their very creation, betraying him. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) However, the Daleks had often times decided they needed the help of their creator. (WC: Monster File: Davros) During the time of the resurrected Dalek Empire, the Daleks accepted Davros into their regime to a certain degree. However, Davros also made sure to maintain a force field around his life support chair in case the Daleks ever turned on him. (TV: The Witch's Familiar)
While the scientist had once hoped to rule over his creations, (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks, et. al) Davros eventually decided he simply wanted to live alongside his "children" as part of their regimes. (PROSE: Father of the Daleks, et. al) Indeed, during the reign of the resurrected Dalek Empire, Davros knew he had no control over the empire, but he was allowed to exist as part of it. In fact, the Daleks actively sought to protect their creator and were willing to fulfil Davros' plans if it could produce advantages for the empire, even praising him if his plots were successful. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice, The Witch's Familiar)
Views on purity and alliances
The New Dalek Paradigm had prided itself on its purity, wiping out the "impure" Ironside Daleks from the moment of their creation. (TV: Victory of the Daleks) However, with the advent of the reinvented Dalek Empire, the Parliament, including its Paradigm members, allowed the Dalek Asylum to continue to exist, claiming to respect the hatred of its insane Dalek inhabitants. However, when those insane Daleks posed a threat, the Parliament turned its guns on the asylum planet and destroyed it. The Paradigm Supreme declared this act the "cleansing" of the asylum. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
The Daleks at war with the Combined Galactic Resistance displayed extreme respect for even simple Dalek drones, with all Daleks believing their fellow mutants were comrades in arms; instead of simply destroying the rebel ship Aristotle at the cost of one drone, the Daleks boarded the craft to reunite with their comrade Dalek, all while believing every human aboard the ship needed to be exterminated. (TV: Into the Dalek) The Dalek Empire also allowed old, decaying mutants to live, keeping them under the Dalek City on Skaro in the "sewers". (TV: The Witch's Familiar)
The resurrected empire's views on Dalek purity were contradictory; a Supreme Dalek once approved a plan to make it and every other Dalek on Skaro into hybrids using Time Lord regeneration energy to become even more powerful, (TV: The Witch's Familiar) yet the Dalek Death Squads existed to wipe out impure Daleks, with its members proclaiming that such "impure" units needed to be exterminated on sight and that death was "the only purification". (TV: Revolution of the Daleks) Despite having witnessed Davros' Hybrid plot firsthand, (TV: The Witch's Familiar) the Twelfth Doctor ultimately concluded that, in the end, the Daleks would "never allow" something they deemed impure to survive. (TV: Heaven Sent)
Ultimately, Death Squad Daleks were unwilling to even consider an alliance with Daleks they deemed impure. Furthermore, the Dalek Empire rejected the idea that it required allies of any kind for help with expansion, (TV: Revolution of the Daleks) with a Dalek Executioner once remarking that Daleks did not need "friends." (TV: Eve of the Daleks) During the Flux, the Daleks only joined their combined fleet with the Cybermen and Sontaran Empire because it was deemed the best way to ensure their own survival. (TV: The Vanquishers) While the Thirteenth Doctor observed that they still hated their allies, the Daleks did decide to ally with the Cybermen and the Spy Master, but only on the condition that the Doctor would be destroyed and the Earth would be conquered. Even then, they had different goals than the Cybermen; the Cybermen wanted to convert the human population, while the Daleks wanted them to be destroyed. (TV: The Power of the Doctor)
Expansion and non-Dalek servants
As noted above, the Dalek homeworld of Skaro was restored by the Daleks, resulting in it becoming the capital of their restored empire. The Dalek City was also rebuilt and became the capital city of the empire, making it the heart of Dalek territory. Dalek operations were commanded from Dalek control, where a Supreme Dalek oversaw plans with the aid of many surrounding Dalek units. A Black Dalek officer remained close by the Supreme. (TV: The Witch's Familiar) To expand, the Dalek Empire made use of its Dalek units, starships, and time travel, even stationing flying saucers within the Time Vortex to wait for chances to attack. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks) The Empire established a Dalek War Fleet, staffed by millions of Daleks in total, (TV: Eve of the Daleks) of flying saucers (TV: The Vanquishers) for expansion and conquest. (TV: Once, Upon Time)
To occupy controlled worlds, groups of Daleks were tasked with patrols. (TV: Once, Upon Time) On Skaro alone, numerous Daleks flew through the skies and patrolled on the ground. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice, The Witch's Familiar) The Daleks also established work camps for beings they had enslaved. (TV: Death in Heaven) During the Flux, the Dalek Empire took the opportunity to quickly expand, forming what Bel dubbed the "Dalek Sector." (TV: Once, Upon Time) Dalek puppets, an invention of the New Dalek Paradigm, (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) were also used by the regime, (TV: Asylum of the Daleks, The Magician's Apprentice) even being allowed within the Parliament. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) Colony Sarff oversaw Davros' protection. According to Davros, Sarff's snake agents were "everywhere." (TV: The Witch's Familiar)
History
Establishment of the restored Dalek Empire
Previous Dalek Empires
The first Dalek Empire expanded out from Skaro and into the rest of the universe. Throughout their rule, the Daleks fought to exterminate all other species in the universe and made a major enemy in the Doctor, a renegade Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. Despite suffering a major schism through the Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War, the Daleks were nevertheless able to rebuild (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) and, after the Tenth Dalek Occupation, moved against the Time Lords. The ensuing Last Great Time War ended with the near–total destruction of the Dalek species. Nevertheless, small pockets of Dalek survivors emerged, (PROSE: A Brief History of Time Lords) leading to the establishment of a New Dalek Empire through the efforts of Davros and Dalek Caan. (TV: The Stolen Earth)
Following the fall of the New Empire after an attempt to wipe out all of creation, three survivors of the failed state used a Progenitor to create the New Dalek Paradigm. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) Much of the knowledge and fear of the Daleks had been lost after their near-total destruction at the end of the Time War, (TV: The Parting of the Ways) rendering them the subject of folk stories and myths. (PROSE: A Brief History of the Time Lords) However, the New Paradigm began the work of restoring the Daleks to a position of power and as a feared enemy of the universe, (COMIC: The Only Good Dalek, TV: The Wedding of River Song, et. al) recreating "the Dalek Empire". However, their efforts to conquer the universe were repeatedly foiled, in particular by the Eleventh Doctor. Many of their plans had also relied on the Daleks' past glories and bygone superweapons, such as the Eye of Time and the Eternity Clock. After their many failures, the New Paradigm was becoming an embarrassment for the Dalek species instead of its bright future. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
Despite the New Paradigm's obsession with their own purity, (TV: Victory of the Daleks) the research of human historians indicated that the Dalek Empire they formed was not exclusively staffed by "Paradigm" Daleks, as it seemed this Dalek Empire eventually turned on the idea of Paradigm leadership due to their failures. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) Indeed, while they had originally produced an army of distinctive red Paradigm drones, (GAME: City of the Daleks) the New Paradigm (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) had begun to make heavy use of Bronze Dalek drones instead. (COMIC: The Dalek Project, PROSE: The Dalek Generation) The New Paradigm's (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) Dalek Project was carried out entirely by bronze drones, with a Type VIII Black Dalek even serving as its commanding officer. (COMIC: The Dalek Project)
The "Sunlight Worlds" scheme — which was catalogued by the historians as the last in the long line of Paradigm failures before the reorganisation of the empire and fall of Paradigm influence (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) — also made heavy use of bronze drones. During this operation, the Dalek Time Controller had also successful shown that power could be taken from Paradigm units. While in the presence of other high-ranking Dalek officers, a Paradigm Supreme declared that the Daleks needed to launch their strategy immediately. However, the Time Controller instantly rejected that command, reminding the Supreme that it held final say over temporal operations and declaring that the Supreme's suggestion would ruin the plot. As the other commanders watched, the Time Controller forced the Supreme to admit it would obey its orders. (PROSE: The Dalek Generation)
Fall of a New Paradigm
- Main article: Reinvention of the Dalek Empire
In time, the Dalek Empire the New Paradigm had established was reinvented through the Parliament of the Daleks under a Prime Minister of the Daleks. Human historians, who foregrounded that the New Paradigm was becoming an "embarrassment" as its failures grew in number, noted that this reinvention of the Dalek Empire was "perhaps" launched as a response to the New Paradigm's growing number of failures. Indeed, the Supreme Dalek and, in the words of the historians, "other members of the New Paradigm" were reduced to mere token presences in the Parliament, (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) with the Supreme left to the beck and call of the Prime Minister. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks, PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) Instead, Bronze Daleks, not Paradigm-casing Daleks, were the majority of the Parliament. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
Looking at the Dalek Imperial Army, the Prime Minister further declared that the standard Dalek drone was to return to the bronze casing used throughout the Time War. The Prime Minister reasoned that the bronze design was more likely to promote fear in the empire's enemies, but it also was eager to distance the reinvented empire from the many failures of the New Paradigm. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) The Time Lords of the Time War, looking into their perspective future through the Matrix, saw that the post-War restoration of the Daleks would entail the continued mass production of bronze casings as the standard Dalek design. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
On the order of the Prime Minister, the larger Paradigm casings were reserved for officers kept far from the frontlines of conflict. As such, "the standard bronze units of the Time War" took their place. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) Bronze units became the main soldiers of Dalek expansion and conquest (TV: The Time of the Doctor, et. al) in addition to being the majority of the Parliament. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) The majority of the Dalek Empire, therefore, was filled by bronze units. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks, The Time of the Doctor, et. al)
With that, the reinvented Dalek Empire continued on the Daleks' never-ending crusade against all other species. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) As such, the Daleks had ensured that their empire was not only re-established, but they were still known and feared by the peoples of the universe. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) Beyond their campaigns of conquest and extermination, (TV: Into the Dalek, Once, Upon Time) the Daleks also established internment camps that were said to be inescapable (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) where enslaved workers suffered. (TV: Death in Heaven)
The Doctor eventually learned of the Daleks' reorganisation and that their Parliament met within a Dalek flying saucer, (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) which was designated Nacrana Va Hateen or, via a rough translation, "The Highest Authority". (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) Despite it occurring before the Time War, (TV: Doctor Who, et. al) human historians also believed it was this Parliament that put the Old Master on trial, (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) although numerous other accounts indeed attributed this action to pre-War Dalek factions. (PROSE: The TV Movie, et. al) The resurrected Dalek Empire also continued the Daleks' conflicts and rivalries with the Cybermen and Sontaran Empires, often clashing with those parties for control of territory. (TV: Once, Upon Time)
Forgetting the Doctor
- Main article: Asylum Incident
Meanwhile, the Doctor had focused himself on battling the Silence and faked his own death in 2011 Utah. (TV: The Wedding of River Rong) While the Daleks were aware of the supposed demise of their greatest enemy, they deduced he was still alive (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) and had encountered him during the New Paradigm's Eternity Clock gambit. (GAME: The Eternity Clock) Rumors of the Doctor also spread throughout the universe amongst enemies of the Daleks, regarding him as "a man who fought [the Daleks]", despite the Doctor's efforts to bury his existence (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) after his conflict with the Silence made him believe he had grown too noticeable. (TV: The Wedding of River Rong) Upon learning that the Inforarium was selling information about him to the Daleks, Cybermen, and Sontarans, the Doctor memory-proofed that data with Silence technology, ensuring anything they learned from the Inforarium would be forgotten right afterward. (HOMEVID: The Inforarium) Missy, an incarnation of the Master following the fall of Gallifrey, learnt of the Doctor's survival from an encounter with River Song, by which point she held an outstanding death warrant in the Dalek Empire. (AUDIO: The Bekdel Test)
Amid the Daleks' war against the rest of the universe, (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) a human starship, the Alaska, crashed into the Dalek Asylum planet, where the Daleks had long since deposited insane members of their race. According to the Prime Minister, this practice was observed because they were in awe of the hatred the insane Daleks displayed, deeming it offensive to destroy what they considered beauty. However, the crash of the Alaska damaged the force fields around the asylum. For a year, the corpses of the Alaska crew were left on the planet, converted into Dalek puppets by the world's nanocloud. Junior Entertainment Manager Oswin Oswald, however, was taken prisoner by the insane Daleks and converted into a Dalek herself because of her intelligence. Scared of the Daleks and unwilling to believe what she had become, Oswald made herself live in a delusion where she remained a human fending off the Daleks.
The Dalek Empire became aware of the damage to the Asylum force field upon detecting a transmission, in reality the song "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" being played by Oswald, coming from the world. Aware of the danger an escaping army of insane Daleks would pose to themselves, the Parliament and a fleet of saucers traveled to the planet. However, the force field, despite its damage, could still withstand attack and thus needed to be shut down from the inside. In what the Doctor later reasoned was the Parliament Daleks being "too scared" to face the insane directly, the Dalek Empire eventually decided the best course of action was to capture the Doctor and, because of his knowledge in fighting their kind, force him to shut down the shield, thereby giving the fleet a chance to destroy the planet. To this end, the Daleks also reasoned the Doctor would "require" the help of his two human companions, Amy Pond and Rory Williams. First, the Dalek Empire moved to kidnap the Doctor himself, who was lured to the ruins of Skaro (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) by a hooded agent. (WC: Asylum of the Daleks Prequel)
On Skaro, the Doctor encountered Darla von Karlsen, a former slave of the Dalek camps who, even unknown to herself, had been killed and converted into a Dalek puppet. Instead, Darla truly wanted to rescue her daughter, Hannah, from one of the camps, only for her programming to be activated upon the Doctor realising he had entered a trap. The Doctor was then blasted unconscious, brought aboard a Dalek saucer, and escorted to The Highest Authority. The Daleks also took the the Doctor's TARDIS aboard the Parliament. They also moved to capture Pond and Williams from 21st century Earth, converting Amy's make-up artist Cassandra and a bus driver into puppets to bring them aboard the The Highest Authority. There, the Doctor's assumption that the Daleks intended to simply kill them were disproven when the gathered Daleks demanded he save their empire, (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) beginning what the Time Lords had foreseen as the "Asylum Incident". (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
With the Prime Minister explaining that the Dalek Asylum was more than a mere legend, the Doctor established contact with Oswald and was forced down to the planet with Amy and Rory. Over the course of the mission, Oswald helped the trio move throughout the Asylum and locate her. Upon entering intensive care to rescue Oswald, the Doctor was cornered by a group of Daleks who has all been driven mad by previous battles against him. To save him, Oswald wiped all knowledge of the Doctor from the Dalek Pathweb, thereby saving the Doctor but unintentionally making the entire empire forget about their greatest foe. Meeting Oswald and making her realise she had been a Dalek all along, the Doctor was reminded of the fear he had placed within the Daleks before being told to run. Oswald shut down the force field around the Asylum to let the fleet destroy the planet. Using a teleport, the Doctor and his companions escaped the orbital bombardment.
The Doctor teleported himself and his companions directly into the TARDIS, which was detected by the Parliament as an incoming attack from the Asylum planet. When the Doctor greeted his greatest enemies, the Daleks possessed no knowledge of the figure before them and repeated "Doctor Who?" as he escaped. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) The incident inspired the Doctor to begin erasing himself from the databanks of the universe. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan, Nightmare in Silver) Unknown to all at the time, Oswald had in fact been a temporal splinter of the Doctor's future companion Clara Oswald, who had entered the Doctor's time stream to save him from the Great Intelligence. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)
For the Daleks, the sudden gap in their memories could have opened an opportunity, as it might have allowed the empire to advance across the cosmos without their fear of the Doctor holding them back. Instead, however, the sudden lack of knowledge brought "confusion and doubt" upon the empire, which found itself crippled and frozen in place as the Daleks failed to remember who had defeated so many old plans. The Daleks quickly saw the universe as an uncertain place that was full of dangers: despite being unable to recall who it was, they realised they had a great enemy out there. Instead of advancing the Dalek war effort, the Parliament debated the collective memory loss for centuries, leaving the Empire to look inwards in a vain effort to remember the Doctor. With the collapse of the Dalek war machine marking the start of its fall from grace, the Prime Minister went insane as it debated the mystery. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
Remembering the Doctor
Arrival at Trenzalore
The Dalek Empire's road to remembering the Doctor began when a mysterious message spread throughout time and space. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) Unknown to Daleks and, for many lives, the Doctors themselves, Gallifrey had in fact survived the Time War; while the surrounding Dalek Fleet had destroyed itself in its own crossfire, Gallifrey itself had vanished from the universe thanks to the intervention of many incarnations of the Doctor. Having brought their homeworld into a bubble universe to save their people and stop the War, (TV: The Day of the Doctor) the Doctor was now being lured by the message to the planet Trenzalore (TV: The Time of the Doctor) in "the far future" (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) by the Time Lords, who hoped to ensure they had found their home universe and that it was safe to return.
Instead, by spreading their message across the universe on the order of Lord President Rassilon, the Time Lords made Trenzalore into the most dangerous place in the universe; (PROSE: A Brief History of the Time Lords) all species who heard the message were consumed by fear, resulting in many powers and species dispatching fleets to Trenzalore to investigate. In the Dalek Empire, the Scientist Dalek was unable to translate the message, so a fleet was dispatched, resulting in the Daleks joining the other converging superpowers above a seemingly unimportant planet. However, the typically silent Eternal Dalek suddenly revealed the world was at the center of an ancient prophecy about "a question that must never, ever be answered". Deducing that the transmission came from a simple farming town named Christmas, the Daleks and the other great powers were left to orbit Trenzalore, (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) marking the start of a great Siege of Trenzalore. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
The Church of the Papal Mainframe had established a force field around the planet in order to protect the human colonists below. While the Daleks, like many other gathered superpowers, would be able to easily shatter the shield, they found themselves too scared to attack first. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) The Doctor and his companion "Handles" arrived over Trenzalore as well. Trusting Handles to pick a ship, the Doctor boarded a Dalek saucer without knowing it was a Dalek craft while brandishing a Dalek eyestalk in hand to prove his courage. As such, the Doctor demanded the species aboard identify itself, only for a force of Bronze Dalek drones to emerge and try to exterminate him. He quickly escaped and, bringing his companion Clara Oswald to the ongoing siege, met with Mother Superious Tasha Lem aboard the Papal Mainframe flagship. Granted access to the town below, the Doctor translated the message from Gallifreyan with Handles, revealing to the Daleks and all other species above Trenzalore the two words that had gathered them above the planet: "Doctor Who?"
The point of the Time Lords' message was therefore revealed: if the Doctor answered his real name, the Time Lords would know it was safe to return to the universe. However, if he answered and Gallifrey came through, the forces above would instantly attack, thereby beginning a new Time War. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) When the Daleks heard the two word message translated, they instantly realised it was the same question they had been faced since Asylum incident, with the Supreme Dalek further realising it was the voice of a Time Lord. As such, the Daleks understood Gallifrey had survived the Time War and was attempting to return. Although all the species gathered over Trenzalore would offer a fight at the prospect of Gallifrey returning, it was clear the Daleks would offer the most resistance. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
Indeed, the Daleks themselves recongised that they were not as powerful as they were during the War. The Time Lords believed that the Daleks were fearful of the prospect of Gallifrey's return and thus resolved to prevent the outbreak of another Time War. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) Dalek historians saw the Daleks' ensuing efforts as their latest quest for supremacy, reasoning that the Daleks hoped to rule over the universe unopposed once they ensured the Time Lords could not return. Nevertheless, with the force field still active, the conflict for Trenzalore remained a siege (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) as the fleets remained above the world and small teams launched failed incursions into Christmas, where the Doctor had emerged as a defender of both the humans and hidden Time Lords alike. For the time being, however, the Daleks waited. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
Memories restored
Three hundred years into the siege, (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) the Daleks Empire began preparing its forces over Trenzalore for an all-out-attack and the war it would kick off. To that end, the Daleks above Trenzalore called for reinforcements on a daily basis; (TV: The Time of the Doctor) according to the Time Lords themselves, the Daleks marshalled every one of "their surviving armies" of the post-Time War period to prevent the return of Gallifrey. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
With a massive force prepared, the Daleks then launched a direct attack on the Church. Inside, the Daleks slaughtered the Church's troops and Silent priests. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) After she had managed to strengthen the force field around Trenzalore, (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) Tasha Lem herself was cornered by the Daleks, who killed her as she screamed for the Doctor's help (TV: The Time of the Doctor) in her private chapel. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) Eager to learn how to disable the force field, (TV: The Time of the Doctor) the Daleks resurrected her as a Dalek puppet with a new type of nanogenes and then harvested her memories. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
Instead of how to disable the shield, however, the Daleks were granted a different prize: (TV: The Time of the Doctor) their memories of the Doctor. Upon harvesting Lem's memories, the Daleks' own memories of the Doctor were restored to the Pathweb network. The information from Lem was also transmitted directly to the Parliament. As its own memories of who the Doctor was returned, the Prime Minister, according to later rumors, hit itself against its glass case. Deciding it would be a better leader for the Dalek Empire, the Supreme took this as a chance to declare the Prime Minister unfit to command and exterminated it. Despite the Paradigm Supreme's return to power, (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) however, the bronze Dalek design would remain the standard casing for its soldiers as the siege dragged on. Lem also refused to reveal how to break the force shield, even though the Daleks killed her several more times. As such, the Daleks instead moved to entrap their greatest enemy.
Luring the Doctor aboard the now-puppet filled Church, the Daleks revealed they had converted Lem and remembered their greatest foe, intending to exterminate him or Clara Oswald before he could allow the Time Lords back into the universe. However, the trio of Daleks cornering the Doctor were destroyed when the Doctor broke Lem from the nanogenes' control, giving him and Oswald a chance to escape the occupied Church. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) With Lem then declaring war on any invaders, the Daleks had lost their advantage but pressed on all the same. It was the hope of the Daleks that, if Gallifrey could be forever trapped in its bubble universe, they would have a chance to rule as the supreme beings they had always wanted to be. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) Taking advantage of the now-faltering shield, the Daleks, Cybermen, and other armies attacked Christmas, where they fought the now-allied Doctor and surviving Church forces. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) The conflict dragged on for five more centuries. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
Final assault on Christmas
In the end, the Daleks outlasted all other attackers, attacking and overwhelming the Church's forces, the town's defenses, and Doctor's efforts. Dalek drones attacked on the ground (TV: The Time of the Doctor) while the fleet carpet-bombed Trenzalore, eventually destroying the shield entirely. As the end drew closer, the Supreme ordered The Highest Authority be taken directly to Trenzalore to personally exterminate their hated enemy and ensure his people did not return. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) Being in his final incarnation and having aged greatly over the course of the Siege, the Doctor, meanwhile, was left certain he was facing his final end as the town's people failed to overcome the final Dalek assault. After reuniting with Clara Oswald for what he thought would be the final time, the old Time Lord renegade went to the top of his clock tower and spoke to the Supreme, (TV: The Time of the Doctor) which judged the Doctor to be a broken man after the years of conflict.
With the Daleks even scanning that their great enemy had lost a leg in a previous engagement, the Supreme was certain that the Doctor would finally fall before its empire (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) as their forces ransacked Christmas, with Dalek Attack Ships buzzing through the skies and destroying ground targets while Dalek drones advanced closer to the Doctor. However, Oswald took the moment to beg to the Time Lords through their crack in time, demanding they save the Doctor for all he had done. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) As the Supreme prepared to give the final order to exterminate the Doctor, (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) the Time Lords granted her wish and provided the Doctor with a new set of regenerations, which the Daleks failed to realise until it was too late.
With a new lease on life, the Doctor brought forth a Dalek defeat so great some human historians dubbed it the tentative final destruction of the Dalek race; (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) Dalek Attack Ships were destroyed in bursts of regenerative power, Dalek drones approaching on the ground throughout the town of Christmas were reduced to pieces, (TV: The Time of the Doctor) the Parliament of the Daleks and its Supreme were atomised, (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) and the entire Dalek fleet (PROSE: Twice Upon a Time) in orbit was annihilated. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) The battle was considered by some as the true finale to the Last Great Time War. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters)
The Empire without the Paradigm
The human historians ultimately concluded that the Daleks had survived the Siege of Trenzalore. Earlier in their text, they had even noted they were aware of the survival of Skaro, which they knew existed behind an invisible barrier. They also understood it was was populated by Daleks, all of whom were plotting their next campaigns. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) Indeed, Skaro existed in that state when it was home to the post–Time War Daleks, who continued to organise themselves under the banner of the "Dalek Empire". (TV: The Witch's Familiar) The Time War–era Time Lords dated events involving these Daleks to occur after the Siege. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) However, contradictory information existed as to whether any members of the New Dalek Paradigm still existed (PROSE: The Dangerous Book of Monsters, The Monster Vault, et. al) within the resurrected "Dalek Empire" after the Supreme's great defeat above Trenzalore. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
At the most basic level, the Doctor's further encounters with the Daleks after the Siege overwhelmingly involved bronze Daleks instead of the Paradigm's original casings, (TV: Into the Dalek, The Magician's Apprentice, et. al) with non-Paradigm casings also being used for officers across the empire. (TV: The Witch's Familiar, Revolution of the Daleks, et. al) The white casing used by the Paradigm's Supreme-class (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) was replaced by the red Supreme casing (TV: The Witch's Familiar) seen in previous campaigns, including the Time War. (COMIC: Ambush) The Black Dalek casing also seen in the War (TV: Doomsday, et. al) saw use for lesser officers, (TV: The Witch's Familiar) instead of the Paradigm casings. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) In fact, other Dalek commanders in the regime wore simple bronze casings, resulting in them looking the same as their subordinates. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks, The Power of the Doctor) While many Paradigm Daleks were seen within a Dalek Purity Squad encountered by the Twelfth Doctor, (GAME: The Dalek Invasion of Time) the Thirteenth Doctor encountered a Dalek Death Squad, which fulfilled a similar purpose in destroying impurities but was composed entirely of bronze Daleks. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks)
The Doctor's writings from the later stages of the Siege of Trenzalore implied the New Paradigm was still a major threat in the universe, as he felt the need to warn those who would read a Time Lord guide of their presence. (PROSE: How to be a Time Lord) Indeed, the Twelfth Doctor referred to the New Paradigm in a present tense when writing about them in his guidebook on monsters, (PROSE: The Dangerous Book of Monsters) with the Thirteenth Doctor later including his work into a guide for her successor. (PROSE: A Short History of Everyone) However, the Twelfth Doctor also made specific reference to their "colorful" cases in the present tense. (PROSE: The Dangerous Book of Monsters) With the advent of the Dalek Parliament, the red and blue casings of drone officers and Strategist Daleks had actually taken on a darker sheen, (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) with the Time Lords taking specific note of the "refined shape and darker colouring" of those "additional Drones and Strategists". (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) Whilst thinking of the Daleks, the Twelfth Doctor also once imagined two bronze-designed Daleks laughing at a Paradigm unit. (PROSE: Dalek)
Another group of historians, who had been allowed access to the "Monster Vaults" of the databanks in the Doctor's TARDIS, concluded that the New Paradigm had been "removed from view" amongst Dalek ranks, claiming that their casings had "invited mockery" from other species. (PROSE: The Monster Vault) On the post-War Skaro, a great number of Daleks staffed the Dalek City and Dalek control, (TV: The Magician's Apprentice, The Witch's Familiar) with the former group of historians calling it a grouping of "multiple generations of Daleks". (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) Even the casings of Davros' former impure Imperial faction were represented. However, the original casings of the New Dalek Paradigm were nowhere to be seen within Dalek control, (TV: The Witch's Familiar) matching the latter group of historians in their claim that the Paradigm had been removed "from view" amongst the empire. (PROSE: The Monster Vault)
The resurrected Dalek Empire had originally demonstrated no interest in Skaro after the foundation of the Parliament of the Daleks, leaving their homeworld abandoned. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) However, Davros later explained the Daleks possessed a "strong concept of home" that eventually pushed them to rebuild Skaro and the Dalek City, with old, decaying Dalek mutants even being kept in the "sewers" under the city. Having survived the fall of the Crucible, Davros was welcomed back to the Dalek Empire and their homeworld by his creations. When they returned to and formally rebuilt Skaro, the Dalek Empire made the old Dalek City the centre of their regime. (TV: The Witch's Familiar) While one source argued it was possible this Skaro was not the original planet, (PROSE: The Whoniverse) Davros, along with the Twelfth Doctor and Missy when they discovered the rebuild Dalek homeworld, said it was the original planet, restored at long last. The invisible barrier was placed around Skaro to keep the restoration of the Dalek homeworld a secret. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice, The Witch's Familiar)
Resistance from within and without
The rise of Rusty
- Main article: Dalek invasion of the galaxy
The Combined Galactic Resistance was an anti–Dalek force formed at some point during Dalek history to combat the exterminators (TV: Into the Dalek) and hold back a Dalek invasion of the galaxy, (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) during which a specific Dalek unit that was later nicknamed Rusty fought. (TV: Into the Dalek) The exact time the resistance existed was subject to several different claims; some historical accounts claimed that the Resistance existed before the Last Great Time War, writing that the Dalek faction it had been fighting was the original Dalek Empire. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe, The Whoniverse, The Secret Lives of Monsters) However, the War–era Time Lords, looking into the Doctor's future, believed the events surrounding Rusty occurred after the Time War. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) Indeed, Rusty was able to access memories of post–War events through the pathweb.
No matter the case, the Resistance waged its campaign against the Daleks, who responded with forces including Bronze Dalek drones, human duplicates, and Dalek flying saucers. The Daleks killed all in their path, thus negating the need for the resistance to use hospital ships for their intended purpose due to a lack of wounded. (TV: Into the Dalek) When the Daleks moved into the Ryzak solar system, the Resistance Deep Space Cruiser Aristotle spotted their advance. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters) At the cost of over eight hundred troops and three craft, the Resistance eventually captured Rusty and brought him aboard the Aristotle, (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) only to find that the captured Dalek was seeking a chance to destroy its own kind. The Aristotle hid within an asteroid field while a Dalek saucer searched for the rebel craft.
Around the same time, soldiers Journey Blue and Kai Blue were found by the Dalek fleet, with the pursuing saucer destroying their craft with Kai aboard. Journey was only saved by the arrival of the Twelfth Doctor in his TARDIS, using it to take her back to the Aristotle, where he was introduced to Rusty. Bringing his companion Clara Oswald into the team as well, the Doctor and a team of soldiers were shrunk down to investigate what had turned Rusty against his own kind. However, they found it was a radiation leak the unit experienced, combined with witnessing the birth of a star, that had corrupted the mutant. Repairing the damage reverted Rusty to his former self, with the Dalek exterminating past several rebel troops to transmit the location of the Aristotle to the Dalek Fleet.
As the Dalek saucer bore down on the Aristotle, deploying a force of boarding Daleks to rescue Rusty and wipe out the human rebels, the Doctor was spurred on by Clara to restore Rusty's former emotions. Hoping there was a chance he could turn the entire Dalek Empire into a force for good, the Doctor confronted Rusty, while Clara and Journey unlocked the mutant's hidden memories. Using the opening, the Doctor showcased his own thoughts to Rusty, only for the Dalek to notice the hatred the Doctor felt towards its kind; instead of adopting compassion, Rusty accepted this hate, turning his gunstick on the Dalek boarding party and wiping them out. Once the Doctor, Clara, and Journey were returned to normal size, Rusty left to continue his crusade against the empire, having fooled the saucer into believing the Aristotle would soon self-destruct. (TV: Into the Dalek) Some human historians believed Rusty then destroyed the Dalek command ship from within. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
Before leaving, Rusty had also remarked to the Doctor that, unlike himself, the Time Lord was "a good Dalek" due to his hatred. (TV: Into the Dalek) Those words stuck with the Doctor as he grappled with his self-image. When Missy offered him an army of Cybermen as a birthday gift, even stating he could send the army to liberate those trapped with the Dalek Empire's internment camps, he remembered Rusty's words, but decided he was neither a "good" nor "bad" man, instead simply "an idiot" who helped others. As such, he rejected the Cyber-Army. (TV: Death in Heaven)
The Orb of Fates affair
The Dalek Empire engaged in a race against the weapons-grade Cybermen to obtain the Orb of Fates, the key to a Time Lord warship and superweapon called the Starbane. One Dalek managed to obtain one piece of the Orb and hid it inside its casing after it was taken prisoner by two Cybermen and interrogated as to the artefact's whereabouts. The Dalek sent a distress signal which was answered by the Twelfth Doctor who flattened the interrogating Cybermen with his TARDIS. The Dalek, whom the Doctor called "Lumpy", claimed its nature had been altered by the Cybermen during its imprisonment and it expressed a desire to see both the Daleks and the Cybermen thwarted in their attempts to gain control of the Starbane.
The Doctor and Lumpy teamed up in an unlikely alliance. They discovered the two remaining elements of the Orb of Fates on Telos and on Sontar respectively. Upon piecing back together the Orb, the TARDIS was transported directly to the Starbane. However, by that point it was already under the occupation of the Dalek forces. As Lumpy proceeded deeper into the Starbane, he and the other Daleks soon revealed that Lumpy had never been changed and that the Daleks had tricked the Doctor into literally giving them control of the Starbane. However, the Doctor revealed that when he was repairing Lumpy he fitted in a device to control Lumpy's armour and managed to get Lumpy to the core while he piloted his TARDIS away - with the Daleks pursuing Lumpy unable to catch him. Forcing Lumpy to throw the orb into the core, the Starbane and the Dalek forces inside were destroyed - although Lumpy survived in a badly damaged state, screaming the Doctor's name as the Doctor bid farewell to his unlikely companion. (GAME: The Doctor and the Dalek)
Power of the Hybrid
The Doctor on Skaro
- Main article: Hybrid Incident
In secret, the Time Lords returned to the universe and moved Gallifrey to the end of the universe, living in fear that the rebuilt Dalek Empire or other factions, which would be angry at the Time War, would otherwise find them. As such, the leadership of post-War Gallifrey began to fear prophecies concerning the Hybrid, which they assumed could be a Dalek-Time Lord hybrid that would "stand in [the Homeworld's] ruins". (TV: Hell Bent)
Meanwhile, Davros found himself dying of old age and was placed within the Dalek City infirmary by his creations. According to Davros, he had only returned to Skaro when he began to die, intending to spend his last days at home with "his children," yet he also began to hatch a plan to steal the Doctor's regeneration energy; having learned of a Time Lord prophecy concering a hybrid warrior, Davros, connected to every Dalek on Skaro to prolong his life, plotted to turn each of the mutants into a hybrid, thus saving himself and making his creations more powerful. Remembering an old man had saved him on Skaro during the Thousand Year War and realising it had been the Twelfth Doctor all along, Davros dispatched Colony Sarff to collect the Doctor in 1138, where the snake being captured the Doctor, Missy, and Clara Oswald. Sarff also corrupted the Doctor's servant, Bors, into a Dalek puppet.
As Bors located the Doctor's TARDIS and informed Dalek High Command so it could be brought to Skaro, the Doctor and his allies were bought to the hidden world, where the Doctor reunited with the dying Dalek creator. Missy and Clara were captured upon leaving the infirmary and brought into Dalek control by a Dalek War Machine. The two were seemingly exterminated on order of the Supreme Dalek while the Doctor begged for Clara to be spared. Next, the Supreme had the TARDIS destroyed with a laser, (TV: The Magician's Apprentice) though the Hostile Action Displacement System ensured the ship actually survived. Additionally, Missy had actually used her vortex manipulator to save herself and Clara at the exact seconds they were meant to die. Mad with grief, the Doctor stole Davros' chair and entered Dalek control with a gunstick, only to be captured by Sarff.
Meanwhile, Missy and Clara entered the sewers of decaying mutants under the city. After killing a Dalek drone, Missy had Clara enter the casing so they could enter Dalek control. Meanwhile in the infirmary, Davros began to tempt the Doctor into giving over regeneration energy, with the Doctor at one point revealing to the Dalek creator that Gallifrey had returned. Having realised what Davros was doing, the Doctor allowed himself to be led into the trap; his energy did indeed prolong Davros' life and give new power to every Dalek on Skaro, but the Doctor's energy also rejuvenated the decaying mutants under the city. Rescued by Missy, the Doctor left Davros to die in his crumbling infirmary and rushed to find Clara, only to spot the Dalek casing she was inside. Missy tried to claim it was a drone that had murdered Clara, but, when the companion managed to make the casing say "mercy," the Doctor freed her and ordered Missy to run. (TV: The Witch's Familiar)
Aftermath of the Hybrid plot
The Doctor and his companion rushed into the TARDIS as the city crumbled, enabling them to watch the destruction of the city from nearby mountains. The events also taught the Doctor to travel back to the Thousand Year War once again to teach the young Davros about mercy. (TV: The Witch's Familiar) With that done, the Doctor and Clara departed Skaro. (TV: Under the Lake, et. al) Aware of these events, historians were certain the Dalek City would nonetheless be rebuilt once again; while they claimed at one point in their text that the city's "current status" wasn't known, at another point they wrote that it was rebuilt and populated by the empire. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
As the city had crumbled, Missy had found herself surrounded by Daleks, only to have a "very clever idea". (TV: The Witch's Familiar) She spent some time on Skaro after that, taking on a pet Slyther she named "Doctor" and becoming a menace to the Thals. Her postcard to the Doctor revealed the Dalek City had indeed been rebuilt. (PROSE: Postcards from the Universe) Eventually, she escaped the Daleks using "a teleport, stairs, three bald lies, a classical ballet routine, and a leap into the Time Vortex", only for her TARDIS to end up in a temporal embrace with a Gryphon space-time vessel. There, she was surpised to learn the captain had no knowledge of the Dalek Empire, yet she dropped the subject. (PROSE: The Liar, the Glitch and the War Zone) Some point later, Missy stated that the "word among the Daleks" was that the Doctor had retired on Darillium, (TV: Extremis) where he had spent 24 years with his wife River Song. (TV: The Husbands of River Song)
Davros had also survived the destruction of the city. He remained connected to the lifeforce of every Dalek despite having collected regeneration energy from the Doctor, which he intended to use in future plans. In case of his death, he decided to record a study on the history and science of the Dalek race in order to ensure their purity. However, he nonetheless reflected that he and the Doctor could have made "a true hybrid" if they had allied together. He ended his study by claiming the Daleks were the ultimate lifeform, while every other form of life deserved to be exterminated. (PROSE: Secrets of the Dalek Laboratory) Meanwhile, the Daleks in the rebuilt city plotted new campaigns to bring about the downfall of the rest of the cosmos. (PROSE: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
Attempted invasion of Earth
At some point, a Dalek Supreme began a new attempt to invade Earth, positioning its mothership to secretly orbit the planet while a plane travelled over the Atlantic Ocean; thanks to tweets posted by a writer who claimed to know aliens, the Daleks knew that there was an ambitious British politician aboard the plane who was scheduled to meet with the President of the United States. Believing the politician would be would be easy to brainwash, the Daleks intended to robotise the man and order him to cause a diplomatic crisis with the President, intending to kick off World War III to make an invasion easier. However, the Twelfth Doctor became aware of the plot and boarded the plane.
.jpg)
While the politician squabbled with the tweeting writer, the Doctor interrupted them as Daleks locked the plane into a tractor beam. Explaining that they would be brought aboard an alien spacecraft by "horrible mobile dustin creatures", while the rest of the plane assumed they were going through odd weather conditions, the Doctor explained that the Daleks would try to threaten them, but he would "engage in witty repartee" with the Supreme until the Daleks "[got] all excited they've caught me again". Nonethess, the Doctor assured the two men that he had faced worse and could stop the invasion, claiming that he would use stale bread with "nasty cream cheese", a nylon blanket, and headphones he'd altered with his sonic sunglasses in his plan. (PROSE: Abduction)
Further battles with the Doctor
.jpg)
Information from Emancipation of the Daleks, Purity of the Daleks
Despite the Daleks' assumption that the Doctor had retired, (TV: Extremis) with the Thirteenth Doctor even once implying she thought herself rid of the threat of the Daleks, (TV: Resolution) the threat of Daleks was still very much present, (TV: Revolution of the Daleks, et. al) leading to the conflict between both parties to resume in time. At one point, a Black Dalek encountered and chased after the Twelfth Doctor, who used his sonic screwdriver to close electric doors upon the Dalek. With that, the Dalek was forced to watch as its enemy escaped. (WC: A Hero like the Doctor)
A Dalek Emperor once launched a plot to turn the human race into Dalek drones through the internet, which the Twelfth Doctor was aware of and intended to stop at some point. (WC: The Twelfth Doctor's been Timejacked!) During his final travels with Bill Potts, the Twelfth Doctor also encountered a Dalek harvest ship, but he assumed it was from the Time War. (COMIC: Harvest of the Daleks) He also retained a copy of Daleks' master plan on VHS, which he believed the Daleks would be eager to get into their possession. (PROSE: Twice Upon a Time)
Twelve's final hour
Elsewhere, although his casing grew ancient and, true to his nickname, rusty as it carried on, Rusty continued his crusade to wipe out the Dalek race for billions of years. (PROSE: Twice Upon a Time) Eventually, he isolated himself at the centre of the universe on Villengard, (TV: Twice Upon a Time) taking refuge within what looked like it had once served as a throne room, where he was surrounded by windows he could fire out of and plugged into what appeared to be life support machines. (PROSE: Twice Upon a Time)
The Daleks made attempts to hunt him down and destroy him, but Rusty was persistently successful in fighting them off, blasting all Daleks who were deployed against him. All around his control tower were the shattered remnants of his earlier attackers. Some of the Daleks survived, but they were left without their casings and mutated. A short time prior to his regeneration into his next incarnation, the Twelfth Doctor visited Rusty to learn about the Testimony Foundation, encountering several of the mutants before meeting with Rusty himself. He convinced Rusty to help him upon reminding the Dalek that, if he was helped in any way, the Dalek Empire would be hurt. (TV: Twice Upon a Time)
The ensuing Thirteenth Doctor's first encounter with the Daleks would not be against forces of the post-Time War empire, but instead a Reconnaissance Dalek that had survived from early Dalek history. Nevertheless, the encounter proved to her that she still needed to deal with the threat of the Daleks, (TV: Resolution) which she had known deep down. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks) At some point, she hid behind a Dalek while avoiding a King. (PROSE: The Death List)
2021 Dalek Civil War
Target: Earth
When the Thirteenth Doctor and Team TARDIS defeated the aforementioned Reconnaissance Dalek, its casing was left in GCHQ, allowing it to fall into the hands of businessman Jack Robertson and British Technology Secretary Jo Patterson, who used the design for a new line of Defence Drones. However, scientist Leo Rugazzi found DNA of the original recon scout in the burnt out casing and cloned it, resurrecting the Dalek and giving it a chance to grow a new, albeit impure, New Dalek Army that would use the drone models as casings. While it would be sometime before this army was activated, (TV: Revolution of the Daleks) one Dalek unit, which appeared to have a Defense Drone casing but sounded like the Daleks (AUDIO: Incoming Transmission) of the "pure" empire, (TV: Revolution of the Daleks) hijacked a Twitter account to announce the Earth had fallen to the Daleks, proclaiming the moment to be "Dalek Day".
However, the Dalek learned the Doctor was interfering with its propaganda and then announced the Daleks were departing the Earth. However, the unit claimed the Daleks would return on January 1st, 2021, (AUDIO: Incoming Transmission) the day the Defense Drones were set to launch. On that day, (WC: The Defence Drones) the revived recon scout transmitted its new army into the drone casings, beginning a Dalek takeover of England and forcing the Thirteenth Doctor, who was dealing with the shock of learning new details about her past and seeing Gallifrey destroyed during the restoration of the Cyber-Empire, to take drastic action in preventing the takeover; she knew the "pure" empire would have forces stationed in the Time Vortex and plotted to lure them to England to wipe out the New Army. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks)
Confronting the New Dalek Army
- Main article: Security Drone Incident
Whilst hidden in the Time Vortex, a Dalek saucer belonging to a Death Squad Dalek recieved a Reconnaissance Scout Signal coming from 2021 Earth. Unaware the signal was a trap by the Doctor, the Daleks prepared to travel to the seemingly-annexed planet, only to arrive over England and detect the army of impure Defense Drones. Quickly deploying their full might from the saucer, the Death Squad landed and, despite claiming power over the planet, turned their gunsticks on the impurities instead of focusing on taking control, beginning a campaign to exterminate the New Dalek Army. The Death Squad spread across England and quickly managed to overcome the Defense Drones, wiping them out. In time, the only impure unit left was the cloned reconnaissance scout that had begun the crisis.
At the same time, Jack Robertson broke his ties with the Doctor upon seeing a force of Death Squad Daleks wipe out a team of Defense Drones. Certain the "pure" Daleks were destined to win, he offered himself to the Daleks as an ally with vital information. Upon being taken aboard the saucer, he met with the squad's Dalek leader and revealed the Doctor had led them to Earth. However, the recon scout itself then transported itself aboard the vessel, pleading with its fellow Daleks that it could be purified. Instead, the leader ordered the impure unit be destroyed, a sight that made Robertson regret his choice.
Lucky for the businessmen, members of Team TARDIS under the leadership of Captain Jack Harkness had snuck aboard the vessel to destroy it, and the companions indeed managed to blow up the saucer. Meanwhile, the Doctor tricked the rest of the Death Squad into a "spare TARDIS" rescued from Gallifrey. Before the Daleks could use the TARDIS to pursue her, the vessel was programmed to fold in on itself and take the Daleks to the heart of the Void, which would wipe out the remaining members of the Death Squad. Although one of the Daleks proclaimed the Doctor would not escape them, the Time Lord claimed otherwise, leaving the exterminators to their fate. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks)
Paradox cloud incident
The Daleks moved to invade Earth once more in the 22nd century, (GAME: Hidden Mysteries) which the Daleks had invaded prior in their history, such as in the highly influential First Dalek War. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, et. al) However, a bronze commander and two of its subordinates found themselves within the 21st century instead thanks to the Master's Paradox Cloud, which further trapped the commander in a tree. The two bronze subordinates began capturing local humans, including Erwin Green, and found the Thirteenth Doctor and Yasmin Khan trying to free their prisoners. Although the Doctor was surprised to find these Daleks capturing people instead of simply exterminating, the commander and its Daleks threatened to kill her and Yaz should they fail to free the officer, who believed the Cloud was the Doctor's doing and had been unleashed to counter their invasion.
The Doctor worked with the claim and bluffed that she was indeed responsible. Claiming that only the Daleks could stop her out of control invention, the Doctor tricked the Daleks into entering an area where the cloud was highly concentrated, which ended up turning the three Daleks into toy robots. The Doctor and Yaz then freed the human prisoners with Dalekanium pieces. It was the Doctor's reasoning that people would forget the Daleks because of the Cloud. As the two continued to investigate the Cloud, the Doctor and Yaz found the Master had assembled an army of Daleks with a Tissue Compression Eliminator that had the ability to return them to normal size, being confronted by an entranced Dalek at the site. However, the Doctor used the TCE to shrink that Dalek into a figurine like the others. (GAME: Hidden Mysteries)
The Flux
Taking advantage of the Flux
Earlier, Gallifrey had been brought to ruin once more by the Spy Master. (TV: Spyfall) When the surviving Time Lady Tecteun decided to abandon the universe in favour of another, she unleashed the Flux event to destroy the universe behind her. The first Flux event destroyed many galaxies and greatly reduced the scale of the universe, (TV: Survivors of the Flux) additionally disrupting the flow of time by damaging the Temple of Atropos. (TV: War of the Sontarans) In the ensuing Great Disruption of time and space, the Dalek Empire moved to take advantage of the chaos to expand and exterminate, deploying ground teams of Daleks (TV: Once, Upon Time) and the Dalek War Fleet (TV: Eve of the Daleks) of saucers. (TV: The Vanquishers)
However, numerous other hostile powers, including the Cybermen and Sontaran Empires, thought the same, resulting in the Daleks and other expansionist powers fighting amongst each other, even as space was destroyed around them. The suddenly growing borders of these rival empires were close to each other. The Dalek expansion created an area of space a survivor named Bel dubbed "the Dalek Sector", which quickly expanded as those who would have normally opposed the Daleks were destroyed or in retreat. Indeed, with the Lupari having fled their home galaxy (TV: Once, Upon Time) to protect the Earth and humanity, (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse) the Dalek Empire swept into and annexed Lupari space into their growing borders. Bel, who actually had experience fighting the Daleks with her husband Inston-Vee Vinder, attempted to escape the Daleks by arriving on a forested world, only to find it too had fallen under Dalek control.
As such, she was forced to evade a patrol of Bronze Daleks. In the end, Bel barely made it out of the outer borders of the still-expanding Dalek Sector in an abandoned Lupari ship. As she escaped what she called the "Cyber Sector" a short time later, however, she needed to navigate away from the expanding Sontarans and Dalek Empires. After taking out a squad of Cyber-Warriors, she smiled to herself upon realising the Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, and the like would destroy each other in the end if the Flux destruction continued. (TV: Once, Upon Time) As the final Flux event was unleashed by the Ravagers, the Daleks grew concerned for their own safety and recieved a message from the Sontarans, who claimed to offer negotiation and protection to the Daleks and Cybermen at the still-shielded Earth, which was defended by the Lupari battalion wall, in 2021. (TV: The Vanquishers)
The Dalek War Fleet (TV: Eve of the Daleks) was dispatched to Earth, arriving directly before the Cybermens' battalions. However, the Sontarans quickly revealed their offer was a ruse by moving the Lupari shield back, leaving the Dalek saucers and Cyber-warships to be consumed by the Flux, (TV: The Vanquishers) destroying millions of Daleks in the process. (TV: Eve of the Daleks) However, the Thirteenth Doctor soon revealed her presence to the Sontarans; with the help of her allies, including Vinder and Bel, the Doctor prevented the Sontarans from taking refuge behind the shield and left them to the same destruction they had offered the Daleks and Cybermen. Shortly afterward, the Doctor and her allies used a passenger form to absorb the incoming Flux, (TV: The Vanquishers) thereby, in the words of her companion Dan Lewis, "saving" the universe. (TV: Eve of the Daleks)
Aftermath of the Flux
- Main article: ELF Storage Incident
When the Dalek Empire realised the role of the Doctor in the destruction of the War Fleet during the final Flux event, the Daleks were enraged and pointed all of their hatred at their greatest foe once more. When the Doctor's TARDIS was tracked to ELF Storage on New Year's Eve 2021, a squad of Dalek Executioners was dispatched by Dalek High Command to exterminate the Doctor, her companions Yasmin Khan and Dan Lewis, and any additional humans who appeared in their way, which resulted in the Daleks finding and exterminating business owner Sarah and her only customer, Nick. In the storage building, one of the Executioners declared the building Dalek territory and confronted the Doctor, who attempted to use her sonic screwdriver to override the Dalek's weapon systems.
Having since adapted to that trick, the Dalek overcame the Doctor's signal and exterminated her, Khan, and Lewis. However, the TARDIS, damaged in the Flux but restoring herself, established a time loop around Eve Storage to protect her pilot. Over the course of increasingly shortening loops, the Doctor, her companions, and the two bystanders were exterminated multiple times. In one such loop, two of the Daleks were destroyed in their own crossfire. In the final loop, the Doctor and her allies tricked the Daleks into firing on a stash of fireworks kept by Sarah's employee Jeff. The ensuing explosion destroyed the last three Daleks and ELF Storage itself, leaving the shattered shells of the exterminators in the rubble. (TV: Eve of the Daleks)
Working with the Master and Cybermen
- Main article: The Master's Dalek Plan
Another chance for the Daleks to destroy their greatest enemy came when they were approached by the Spy Master, who offered an ambitious scheme he later dubbed The Master's Dalek Plan; as the Doctor had foiled their plans in large part because of her "fam" of companions, the Master offered the Dalek Empire an alliance with himself, his CyberMasters, and the Cybermen under Cyber-Leader Ashad on the belief that, united as one force, they could finally destroy the Doctor. (TV: The Power of the Doctor) Despite the Daleks' general aversion to alliances because of their belief in their own supremacy, (TV: Doomsday, et. al) they agreed to the plot. By this time, the Dalek Empire was also aware of the razing and destruction of Gallifrey at the Master's hands, with the renegade Time Lord openly discussing his massacre in the presence of the Daleks. The Master also promised the Daleks and Cybermen control over the Earth as a production world once the Doctor was dealt with. To fulfil the plan, the Daleks were to prepare a series of volcanic explosions to wipe out the human race.
As such, the Daleks and Cybermen approached the plan with different goals: the Daleks wanted to exterminate humanity, while the Cybermen hoped to convert them. Nevertheless, both sides were sent to Earth in 2022, where a detachment of Bronze Dalek drones under a Bronze Commander arranged for the volcanic eruption in Bolivia. The plan also involved a Dalek traitor who had emerged within the Empire's ranks; this Dalek believed its species had failed in its original purpose, believing the Daleks were supposed to ensure the survival of Kaled race yet only succeeded in saving themselves. The traitor was allowed to contact the Doctor, luring her to Bolivia. Upon her arrival, the Commander and two drones sprung the trap, exterminated the traitor, and forced the Doctor into its casing, transporting her to St Petersburg in 1916, where the Master had prepared the next phase of his plan. Using a cyber-conversion planet powered by a kidnapped Qurunx, the Master hoped to not only defeat the Doctor, but regenerate into her and tarnish her reputation. As the Daleks and Cyber-Masters gathered in 1916 watched, the Master performed a forced regeneration into the Doctor.
After the Master took the TARDIS to devastate two planets, thereby starting his process of ruining the Doctor's name, Khan briefly took control of the TARDIS. After reuniting with Inston-Vee Vinder, they picked up the Seventh Doctor's old companion Ace from the besieged UNIT headquarters and tasked her with taking out the Dalek operation in Bolivia. At the same time, the Thirteenth Doctor's former companion Graham O'Brien had been investigating the Dalek presence, resulting in both anti-Dalek fighters teaming up. Afterward, Khan pretended to agree to the Master's control over the Doctor's body and returned them to 1916, where the Master allowed the Daleks to begin destroying Earth in 2022. However, Ace and O'Brien used Nitro-999 explosives to destroy the Daleks' control over the volcano. With the Doctor having regained control over her own body with the help of Ace and Vinder, she arrived in the TARDIS and picked up O'Brien and Ace, forcing the Daleks to realise their greatest enemy still lived and was fighting their scheme.
All Daleks within and escaping the volcano were destroyed by its magma thanks to Ace and O'Brien's actions. Next, the volcanic eruptions across Earth caused by the Daleks were countermanded by the Doctor, who used the cyber-planet to freeze the erupting volcanos across Earth. Finally, she had the Qurunx destroy the cyber-planet. Although the dying Master took the opportunity to fatally wound the Doctor, setting her on the path to regeneration, the actions of her and her allies had saved the Earth from the Master, the Daleks, and the Cybermen. (TV: The Power of the Doctor)
The Dalek Dome
However, the newly-regenerated Fourteenth Doctor soon went on his first adventure by following a distress call, which led him into an apparent Dalek invasion of Earth in 1966. Investigating, he learned it was actually a psychoplasmic construct created by the Dalek Dome entertainment company on Earth in 2323, who used the horrors committed by the Daleks as inspirations for attractions. The distress call had been sent by Georgette Gold, who sought the Doctor's assistance for her PhD in Dalek Studies. As the Doctor discovered, the psychoplasmic constructs were fueled by the memories of living Kaled mutants retrieved by human military forces. Dreaming of conquests that spanned Dalek history from the Golden Emperor to the New Dalek Paradigm, the dreams became aware of their nature. Proceeding to break out and sustain themselves in reality, the dream Daleks began the 2323 Dalek invasion of Earth that was soon thwarted by the Doctor, dissolving the psychoplasmic Daleks and leaving the trapped mutants to return to sleep. All the same, the brief invasion left thousands dead. Following the ordeal, the Doctor left the matter of whether or not to destroy the mutants up to Georgette. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks)
Behind the scenes
Overview
- The name "Dalek Empire" was first used to describe the post-Last Great Time War Daleks in the Series 9 episode The Witch's Familiar, later being repeated in the Series 13 episode Once, Upon Time. The last appearance of the New Dalek Paradigm casings came in Asylum of the Daleks in Series 7.
- Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe provides an understanding by revealing the "Dalek Empire" was re-created by the Paradigm, but their repeated failures became an embarrassment. Subsequently, the Dalek Empire was "reinvented" into a new "Dalek Empire" under the Parliament of the Daleks. The Parliament was later destroyed in the Siege of Trenzalore, which Untold History briefly considers could be the ultimate defeat of the Daleks. However, the book affirms earlier that the Daleks had restored Skaro and were active in the rebuilt Dalek City, as seen in The Witch's Familiar.
- The name "resurrected Dalek Empire" comes from DWFC TLV 1.
- While filming The Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar, New Paradigm casings were present on set, yet the crew made the conscious choice to not film any scenes with them due to the overwhelmingly negative fan opinion of the design.[1]
In invalid sources
- According to DWFC TLV 1, the "resurrected Dalek Empire" was formed after a civil war between the New Paradigm and the "Children of Davros". The Parliament of the Daleks thus acted as an alliance between both factions, with the Prime Minister of the Daleks serving as a conduit for the combined hatred of the Dalek species. The magazine uses this new, refined evil as the reason why the Daleks suddenly saw beauty in hate in Asylum of the Daleks.
- The Dalek Invasion Time Zone Playset has the Eleventh Doctor facing a Dalek invasion of Earth in the year 2075, which involves bronze Daleks and Dalek puppets.