Dark Times
The Dark Times, (PROSE: The Five Doctors, The Pit, TV: The Runaway Bride, The Infinite Quest) or Dark Time, (PROSE: The Eight Doctors, Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible, TV: The Infinite Quest) were a time of chaos and monsters that predated the Doctor's reality. (TV: The Infinite Quest) In terms of universal history, the Dark Times were billions of years before the 21st century. (TV: The Runaway Bride) Some accounts placed the Dark Time as being synonymous with the Old Time, (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible) but others indicated they were distinct eras. (PROSE: A Brief History of Time Lords) Additionally, some perspectives viewed this era as the pre-universe. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet)
The Dark Times were a prehistoric period in Gallifreyan history. (PROSE: Introduction) Rassilon created the Time scoop in the Dark Times, (PROSE: The Five Doctors, The Eight Doctors) and his rise to power and foundation of Time Lord civilisation ended the Dark Times, (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible, A Brief History of Time Lords) with the anchoring of the thread and Time Wars eradicating the monstrous creatures of the era and creating the Web of Time. (PROSE: The Infinity Doctors, So Vile a Sin, et al.) After this, it was believed Time Lords were unable to time travel to the Dark Time, (PROSE: No Future, Goth Opera) but the Master (AUDIO: Lesser Evils) and multiple incarnations of the Doctor would do just that. (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times)
History
Beings of the Dark Times
Species that flourished in the Dark Times included the Dæmons, Eternals, Gods of Ragnarok, (PROSE: No Future) Great Vampires, (PROSE: Goth Opera) Racnoss, (TV: The Runaway Bride, et al.) Nestene, (TV: The Infinite Quest) Qwerm, Narlok, (PROSE: River of Time) Osirans, (COMIC: Old Girl, PROSE: River of Time) Jagaroth, and Kastrians. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen) The Mandragora Helix also originated from the Dark Times. (PROSE: Beautiful Chaos)
At the "dawn of the universe", the Carrionites waged a war with the Hervoken. (PROSE: Forever Autumn) The Eternals were present during this time period, banishing both the Carrionites and the Hervoken to the Deep Darkness, although some of them escaped. (TV: The Shakespeare Code, PROSE: Forever Autumn)
Among the first species in the universe were the Kotturuh, which set out to distribute mortality to the beings of the universe, (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times) starting with the planet Birinji. (PROSE: The Dawn of the Kotturuh) As the Kotturuh spread, various races responded in different ways. The Eternals fled, losing the ability to live their own lives in the process. The Osiran Sutekh bargained with them and gained the gift of death for himself. The Daemons tried to fight back, resulting in them being driven to extinction. (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times) The Master witnessed a Kotturuh woman at work on the planet Alexis and attempted to influence her decision. (AUDIO: Lesser Evils)
The Great Old Ones were present in the universe at this time. It was during this time period, too, that the legendary spaceship Infinite was created. (TV: The Infinite Quest)
The Kamishi, also known as the First Race, one of the earliest known civilisations, lived in this time period as well. (AUDIO: The Rulers of the Universe)
The elder books of the Dark Times, created by elder powers such as the Dæmons, Eternals, and Gods of Ragnarok, had details on how to capture and harness a Chronovore. Part of the necessary ritual, according to the books, involved spheres from the Sisterhood of Karn and a pentancle drawn in the blood of five species who "had their genetic destinies changed by the Capitol": Minyans, Silurians, Daleks, Humans, and Mandrels. (PROSE: No Future)
Gallifreyans in the Dark Times
Missing crucial information from Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible.
Gallifrey was "born before the Dark Times". (COMIC: Agent Provocateur) In the Fifth Doctor's era, Scandrius once stole a TARDIS and accidentally sent it hurdling backwards in history, beyond even the Dark Time, where it created a paradox threatening the existence of Gallifrey. (AUDIO: Time in Office)
In the Dark Times, (COMIC: The Wishing Well Witch) Gallifreyans evolved under the influence of the Untempered Schism. (COMIC: Old Girl) The Tenth Doctor once encountered an amalgam of young Gallifreyans who had been thrown into the Schism during the Dark Times. (COMIC: The Wishing Well Witch) He and Cindy Wu later visited this era of Gallifrey, which was billions of years before the Doctor's native era and "before Rassilon and his Black Scrolls, before time travel was even invented". (COMIC: Old Girl)
Gallifreyans examining their own future wrote the Green Book of Gallifrey and the Black Book of Gallifrey, which foretold the Timewyrm devouring Rassilon at the end of the universe (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation) and the Event. (PROSE: The Ancestor Cell) Another Gallifreyan prophecy from the Dark Times said that a Vampire would survive on "a world that will be called Ravolox". (PROSE: Goth Opera)
Under the rule of the Pythias, a line of female seers, Gallifrey built an interstellar empire. (PROSE: Cat’s Cradle: Time’s Crucible)
Thr Kotturuh visited Gallifrey and judged it’s people as having much to offer. (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead) They imposed death, which the Gallifreyans called “the Ultimate”. (COMIC: Monstrous Beauty)
According to differing accounts, Gallifreyans caused the release of the Great Vampires into N-Space. (AUDIO: Project Twilight, PROSE: The Pit, Interference) The Great Vampires caused mass destruction and chaos throughout the cosmos. (TV: State of Decay) River Song believed they were forced to adopt a lifestyle of feeding on mortal beings as part of a deal with the Kotturuh to keep their immortality. (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times)
The Eternal War began between Gallifrey and the Great Vampires, with Gallifreyan commanders leading the fight including Kopyion Liall a Mahajetsu (PROSE: The Pit) and Rassilon. (COMIC: Monstrous Beauty)
Time Scoops were created on Gallifrey in the Dark Times. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors, World Game)
End of the Dark Times
All of the monstrous species of the Dark Times eventually died out. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen) The Racnoss were wiped out by the Time Lords' Fledgling Empires during the Racnoss Wars, which the Fifth Doctor characterised as “a long and bloody affair”. (AUDIO: Empire of the Racnoss) Two Webstars were known to have survived: those of the Empress and her children. The children’s Webstar arrived in the Sol system, with its occupants in hibernation, and became the first rock in the formation of Earth. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
The Jagaroth were among the last of this era's species to survive, but eventually they too went extinct when Scaroth hunted down Racnoss energy signals to Earth. (PROSE: City of Death)
A herd of War TARDISes once suggested to Compassion that one monstrous force survived: the Rassilon Imprimatur. From the TARDISes' perspective, the Imprimatur lived in the blood of the Time Lords and controlled them, "dancing to the old agenda of the Dark Times." (PROSE: The Taking of Planet 5)
The Dark Times were followed by the Old Time. (PROSE: A Brief History of Time Lords) During the creation of the Hand of Omega, Omega's body was muscular and wide-shouldered, leading some Gallifreyan it differed from the regenerative norm because it was a "genetic memory" from the Dark Time. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks)
Artifacts of the Dark Times
The Black Scrolls of Rassilon were relics of the Dark Times. (PROSE: The Five Doctors, Divided Loyalties)
The Valeyard claimed that The Doctor's Black Scrolls contained knowledge from the Dark Times that the Doctor used to extend their life and create the Valeyard. (AUDIO: Trial of the Valeyard)
Returning to the Dark Times
The Timewyrm once tried to return to the Dark Times to see the composition of the Green and Black books of Gallifrey, but was blocked by "fierce security and powerful temporal baffles". (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation)
Ruath once attempted to force the Fifth Doctor to pilot his TARDIS to the Dark Times to meet Rassilon and save the Great Vampires, but the Doctor thought that was impossible. (PROSE: Goth Opera)
The Monk mentioned to Ace that the Dark Times were "where none can visit". (PROSE: No Future)
When the Tenth Doctor and Cindy Wu visited Dark Times Gallifrey, the Doctor speculated that the time lock did not apply to pre-Time Lord Gallifrey. (COMIC: Old Girl)
External links
- The Whoniverse - History of the Whoniverse: Event One onwards (A history from pre-universe to the creation of the Earth)
- RASSILON, OMEGA and that OTHER Guy - The Dark Time: Event Zero and Ancient Gallifrey (A history from pre-universe to the creation of the prototype Hand of Omega)
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