Native American, also known as Red Indians (TV: "An Unearthly Child" [+]Part of An Unearthly Child, Loading...{"namedep":"An Unearthly Child (1)","1":"An Unearthly Child (TV story)"}) or simply Indians, was a general term for humans who were generally agreed to be the original inhabitants of the Americas; North, Central and South America. (TV: "The Sea of Death" [+]Part of The Keys of Marinus, Loading...{"namedep":"The Sea of Death (1)","1":"The Keys of Marinus (TV story)"}) A racial more than a singular cultural identity, Native Americans were further subdivided into tribes or nations. Despite many significant differences between the tribes, some cultural commonalities were apparent, such as a general religious belief in the Great Spirit, and a naming convention that tended to award metaphorical names to people. (PROSE: Peacemaker [+]Loading...["Peacemaker (novel)"])
Furthermore, most Native American tribes were in some way defined by their opposition to European Americans. Many groups, such as the Lakota Sioux were often involved in armed conflict against the US Army, particularly as the power of the United States government stretched westward in the 19th century. (COMIC: Bad Blood [+]Loading...["Bad Blood (comic story)"])
The Doctor and Native Americans[[edit] | [edit source]]
The First Doctor said that "Red Indians" had "savage minds". (TV: "An Unearthly Child" [+]Part of An Unearthly Child, Loading...{"namedep":"An Unearthly Child (1)","1":"An Unearthly Child (TV story)"}) He later became a legendary figure amongst Native Americans. In his eighth incarnation, he provided counsel to Sitting Bull prior to and after the Battle of Bull Run. (COMIC: Bad Blood [+]Loading...["Bad Blood (comic story)"]) His tenth incarnation was "proud to say [he was] a friend to all tribes", and certainly impressed Walking Crow with his knowledge of the Pawnee tribe. In fact, the Doctor claimed to be generally known to Native Americans as "Rides In Night" — but Walking Crow noted that the Pawnee knew Rides In Night as "Brother of Coyote, the man who defeated the Bad Wolf". (PROSE: Peacemaker [+]Loading...["Peacemaker (novel)"])
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
In the days of the Native Americans, Hetocumtek arrived on Earth and set himself up as a god who was infamous for his cruel and destructive nature. Eventually, a "medicine man" managed to trick the alien into a totem pole, trapping him. They buried the totem pole in the Nevada Desert for fear of Hetocumtek's threats that he would one day break free when the totem pole "fell into the hand of man again". (TV: The Curse of Clyde Langer [+]Loading...["The Curse of Clyde Langer (TV story)"])
The Niantic people lived in New England. They had encountered the Hervoken, which they called Hee-oko. (PROSE: Forever Autumn [+]Loading...["Forever Autumn (novel)"])
After the failure of their first batch of Remote troops, Faction Paradox started many small Remote projects in 19th century Native American tribes like the Kiowa, Paiute, and Cheyenne. These tribes were ideal targets since, like the Faction, they believed in dakina spirits, used ceremonial self-mutilation like Catch-the-Bear's war bonnet, fetishised bones, and used prolonged ritualised torture (as a means to achieve a communal altered state of consciousness through the victim's screams). It was just a bonus that the tribes already had fast and reliable communication and the keen ability to adapt and incorporate invaders' technologies and weapons into their lives. Weapons like the Screaming Skull rifle were considered to be living extensions of the wielder, with their own naming ceremonies and totems. The Nunaha'wu of the Arapaho tribe was a result of these experiments. (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"])
After five Native American tribes including the Seminole were defeated in battle by the Anglos in the Southern United States, a piece of legislation entitled the Indian Removal Act was signed. It forced the tribes to be driven westward to the Indian Territory, where they began living fewer than fifty winters before Spring 1880. The Seminole had been driven westward by 1832. Thousands of them died to cold, disease and hunger during the months-long march, which became known as the Trail of Tears. Among the Seminole was Totika, a medicine woman whose infant child Hachi died in the cold winter of 1832.
In 1880, Totika made a pact with the Stikini chief Malatche to use her psychic abilities to permanently tether them to Earth and make them gain physical form. She did this by banishing her own people, including her husband Holata, to the Red Skies in the Dreamspace, by leading them to a totem and swapping their bodies with that of the Stikini. She believed the Stikini would devour the Anglos in their cities as justice for all the pain inflicted on her life, but they were just using her to escape the Red Skies.
As an act of justice against the outlaws Seth and Frank Shelton, Totika had the Stikini rip out their hearts. She agreed to spare Zeke Tolbert if Bill Potts would tell the truth about her travels to other worlds. Totika successfully performed a ceremony to swap Bill with Malatche's wife, the War-Queen Cocheta, but Bill, along with the trapped Seminole, were able to will themselves out of the Red Skies, forcing the Stikini back to where they came from. Bass Reeves and Joey Two Trees, a Seminole scout, also destroyed the totem she used in her ceremonies. After they were returned to the Red Skies, something burnt all the Stikini to death. (COMIC: The Parliament of Fear [+]Loading...["The Parliament of Fear (comic story)"])
In 1882, Totika was provided with supplies by Reeves, who explained that he understood her feelings of anger and wanted to give her a second chance. Shortly after, they were recruited by the Twelfth General, bringing them to 2018 London, as part of the Twelfth Doctor's plan to defeat the Clockwise Men. Totika joined the Doctor's group in entering the Dreamspace to find Fey Truscott-Sade. When inside, it was revealed that Fey was the one that sent the Stikini to her in the first place, under the subconscious reasoning that Fey had also lost a child in the form of the Absence. It was this revelation that led Fey to realise that the Absence was never real, saving the day in the process. With Totika and Reeves' work done, the General promised to return them to their own time. (COMIC: The Clockwise War [+]Loading...["The Clockwise War (comic story)"])
In 1953, a Native American tribe led by chief Night Eagle helped the alien Rivesh Mantilax when he was shot down by the US Army. In 1958, Night Eagle and his tribe killed Mister Dread and his fellow android agents, saving the Tenth Doctor, Cassie Rice and his grandson, Jimmy Stalkingwolf. He then took them to meet Rivesh in the cave where he was being looked after. (TV: Dreamland [+]Loading...["Dreamland (TV story)"])
In 2009, Elijah Spellman told Sarah Jane Smith that mankind had always needed someone to make them laugh, slave or king. He mentioned that the pharaohs had fools as well as the Native Americans. (PROSE: Day of the Clown [+]Loading...["Day of the Clown (novelisation)"])
In 2011, Dr Samantha Madigan told Clyde Langer that the most famous Native American curse, called the Curse of Tippecanoe, had been supposedly placed on the American Presidents. (TV: The Curse of Clyde Langer [+]Loading...["The Curse of Clyde Langer (TV story)"])