Great Old One

The Great Old Ones, sometimes known as the Old Ones, were beings that existed before the universe, according to the Seventh Doctor. (NA: White Darkness, All-Consuming Fire, MA: Millennial Rites)

Overview

The Great Old Ones were unimaginably ancient creatures that were preserved in humanity's race memory as their worst nightmares. They were conceived as creatures that spread evil, chaos and destruction wherever they went. (BFA: The Roof of the World) The sensors of a TARDIS noted the body of a Great Old One appeared as a massive quantity of energy which was the equivalent of energy from twenty billion nuclear bombs. (MA: Millennial Rites) They were known to possess physical bodies which they sought to return to and had a third part of their form which existed in the outer dimensional planes which some believed was where they originated from. (NA: White Darkness) They were known to be one of a number of creatures that had adapted in a way that made them capable of perceiving the higher dimensions. (PDA: Tomb of Valdemar)

Quantum mnemonics was known to be the language of the Old Ones, as they represented physical laws of the Universe that preceded the current one. It was considered the Old Ones' equivalent of Block Transfer Computations and allowed them to rewrite reality on the most fundamental of levels. (MA: Millennial Rites)

It was known that the Great Old Ones were incapable of being killed in the normal dimension. They also knew of the Time Lords and considered them a threat. (NA: White Darkness)

History

The beings that became known as the Old Ones did not originate from this Universe, but the one before it. They were originally a powerful race of beings who were the equivalent of the Time Lords in their native space. However, when their Universe ended, the Old Ones shunted themselves into a parallel dimension which collapsed seconds later into the new Universe. This allowed them to pass into the new Universe which had different laws of physics, and they discovered that they had gained god-like powers which allowed them to manipulate the new Universe they now existed in. (MA: Millennial Rites)

They were worshipped as gods on Earth during the age of the Silurians, and by an even earlier set of gargantuan entities that once ruled the planet; they were also known to a cult of the Shobogans. According to the legends, it was believed that Azathoth was the weakest of their kind. (NA: All-Consuming Fire)

Ancient carvings dating at least fifteen million years ago show that the Old Ones ruled everywhere before they died out and went into hibernation after fleeing from the predators with a touch of decay. They managed to escape from the great cosmic disaster in order to flee into the Time Vortex where they became discorporate entities thus leaving their bodies behind on Earth.

Their minds have sought to return to their bodies when the stars were correctly aligned as the tidal forces of the stellar masses in conjunction can bring about a sufficient tear in the space-time continuum which can bring about a pathway through which they can reunite with their bodies. However, as the stars were constantly expanding and contracting, they never returned to the same configuration as the time when the Old Ones went into hibernation. Thus, they required the assistance of their followers to attract the attentions of their bodies autonomic insticts and allow them to chance to compensate. As they were unable to affect the world physically, they used the influence of their powerful minds to achieve their goals. (NA: White Darkness)

At one point they attempted to enter into the higher dimensions by using the Palace of the Old Ones to power a gateway. One of their number, known as Valdemar, discovered that his kind were unprepared for the perceptions of this new reality and were being driven mad by it. This breach would have destroyed the universe had Valdemar not sacrificed himself to seal the breach. Legends would spread across the galaxy that he was a dark god that nearly destroyed the Old Ones though the truth was far different. The mystery of Valdemar and the Old Ones were later known as number six in the great mysteries of the universe. (PDA: Tomb of Valdemar)

The Pharaoh Amenhotep II discovered them at one time on Earth and attempted to harness their power for himself. However, he came to realise that they were beyond his control and lured them into a white pyramid with a structure of infinite reflections where the creature's evil was to be trapped forever. This trap succeeded and kept the world safe from their evil. (BFA: The Roof of the World)

List of Great Old Ones

Azathoth

Some Old Ones were, clockwise from top left: Hastur the Unspeakable, Magog, Yog-Sothoth, Nah, Raag, Rok (Gods of Ragnarok) and the Animus.
Cthulhu
Dagon
Hastur the Unspeakable
Several Lloigor, including the Animus
Nyarlathotep
Shub-Niggurath
Yog-Sothoth
Gog
Magog
Nah
Raag
Rok
Valdemar

In addition, Tor-Gasukk and Malefescent were named by Rassilon but little remains known about them. (PDA: Divided Loyalties) An unknown Old One was said to be within the ship Infinite as a power source. (DW: The Infinite Quest)

Possible Great Old Ones

Saraquazel had the qualities of an Old One but was actually from the universe after our own. (MA: Millennial Rites)
Though not an Old One itself, the Nestene Consciousness was the child of Shub-Niggurath. (PDA: Synthespians™)
Though not explicitly described as such, the god-like Golgoth seemed very clearly reminiscent of the entities of the Mythos. (DWM: The Cybermen: The Dark Flame)
Given its immense power, its huge body and its possible Pre-Universe origin, The Beast was considered a potential candidate. (DW: The Satan Pit)
The Ancient Lights were speculated to come from the Pre-Universe.

Behind the scenes

The Great Old Ones originated out of the Cthulhu Mythos, a shared universe based on the writing of H. P. Lovecraft and to an extent, some of his contemporaries with which he had corresponded or made extensive revisions for. A few characters and concepts in televised Doctor Who, such as Sutekh (though partly based on an actual ancient Egyptian god, known more commonly as Seth) and the Fendahl, show the influence of the Mythos, and the latter has similarities with Brian Lumley's Chthonians [1][2]. Not until the novels White Darkness, All-Consuming Fire and Millennial Rites did beings explicitly referred to as Great Old Ones appear in fiction set in the Doctor Who universe.
The latter two books took known Doctor Who enemies, such as the Animus, and retconned them into having links to the Mythos. The Taking of Planet 5 revealed that the Elder Things also existed in the form of fiction in the Doctor Who Universe. Though the established Cthulhu Mythos and the Doctor Who version have some differences, stories set in the Mythos frequently contradict themselves.

External links

Sites with specific references to the Cthulhu Mythos in the Doctor Who universe: