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The Hand of Omega was a remote stellar manipulator (or one of two stellar manipulators) used by Omega and Rassilon in the antiquity of Gallifrey.
Characteristics
Appearance
The Hand resided within a dull, bronze colored metal box the size and shape of a casket. (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks)
Powers and abilities
The Hand could accelerate or manipulate the life cycle of stars. It also had some basic sentience and the ability to follow voice commands. It could levitate. It was also able, by order of the Doctor, to make Ace's baseball bat into a weapon capable of destroying Daleks. (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks)
- The Hand may have altered the molecular structure of the bat or perhaps infused it with some kind of energy.
History
Origins
There were two Hands of Omega. (PDA: The Infinity Doctors)
- We only have detailed information as to the fate of one of the Hands.
Omega himself stated that the Hand was literally a hand placed in the stellar manipulator which had once belonged to Vandekirian, Omega's treacherous associate. The name "Hand of Omega" was chosen by Rassilon for political reasons. (BFA: Omega)
- However, the story is told largely from the point of view of an insane Omega with confused memories. This ultimately makes the accuracy of the information uncertain.
Rassilon and Omega worked on the project together. The Doctor, curiously, seemed to remember the project, suggesting his presence. (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks) This would imply that the Other, who sought rebirth as the Doctor, had a presence there. (NA: Lungbarrow)
One Hand was a remote stellar manipulator designed to turn Qqaba into a supernova which would serve as a power source great enough to allow the Gallifreyans the power of time travel. In a sense, this Hand made it possible for the Gallifreyans to call themselves Time Lords.
- The Hand of Omega almost certainly created the black hole which would imprison Omega (DW: The Three Doctors). As the Time Lords could retrieve the Hand, unlike Omega himself, possibly Rassilon used it again to create the Eye of Harmony. (DW: The Deadly Assassin)
Acquisition by the Doctor
The Hand was hidden by Rassilon, but escaped. The ancient alarms left by Rassilon were not known and could not be shut off, leaving the Hand to lurk around the Doctor's rooms, who the Hand remembered as the Other. (NA: Lungbarrow)
During a period of violent unrest on Gallifrey, the Doctor made off with the Hand, rather than have it fall into the clutches of any one of the factions. He subsequently began his self-imposed exile with Susan. (DWM: Time & Time Again)
When the Doctor returned to 1963 London to collect it, it resided at a funeral parlour.
The Doctor was laying a trap for the Renegade and Imperial Dalek factions and the Imperial Dalek leader Davros. Davros had hoped to use the Hand to transform the sun of the Dalek homeworld Skaro into a power source for time travel. However, the Doctor had altered the Hand's programming so that instead of enhancing Skaro's sun, the Hand made it go supernova, vaporizing out what the Doctor and Davros believed to be Skaro and, presumably, the Daleks themselves. The Hand of Omega returned to Gallifrey afterwards. (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks)
The sun which the Hand had turned supernova was not Skaro's, but Antalin's. (EDA: War of the Daleks)
- With Gallifrey now destroyed, the Hand's fate remains unknown.
Behind the scenes
- A scene which shows the Other present during the creation of the Hand appears in the Remembrance of the Daleks (novelisation), the first-ever work to mention of the Other in any media. (Although the production team had already conceived of the character when working out the Doctor's backstory.) This reference contradicts known information about the Minyans, who, by implication, destroyed their civilization after an encounter with the Time Lords, rather than the Gallifreyans.