Nightmare Child
The Nightmare Child was the first and only specimen of a new type of Dalek, created by Davros during the first year of the Last Great Time War. Davros saw it as the "perfect Dalek," rising above the flaws of every other Dalek. (PROSE: The Third Wise Man)
The War Doctor fought to prevent the rise of the Nightmare Child (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor) and made arrangements for it "to never arise and [to] forever be aware of its non-existence". (PROSE: Twice Upon a Time) Cass Fermazzi had an encounter with the Nightmare Child. (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor)
The Nightmare Child quickly became out of control, wanting to consume everything like a hungry child. Davros planned to destroy it by luring it to the Gates of Elysium. He called the War Doctor/Eighth Doctor (disputed which incarnation was present) there, gloating as he and his command ship were swallowed by the Nightmare Child, despite the Doctor's efforts to save Davros. However, after escaping New York, Dalek Caan fell into the Time Lord and saved Davros at the cost of his own sanity. As Dalek Caan recounted, "[he] flew into the wild, and the fire; [he] danced and died a thousand times." Afterward, the Child itself fell into the Gates, and they closed and disappeared behind it. (TV: The Stolen Earth, PROSE: The Third Wise Man)
By the end of the Time War, Earth was duplicated thousands of times over to be used as bullets to fire at the Nightmare Child. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Time War)
Rassilon's plan to return Gallifrey to the universe would have allowed the Nightmare Child and other horrors to come out of the Time War and into reality. (TV: The End of Time)
Legacy
When reliving a memory from his eighth incarnation, the Tenth Doctor recalled "laugh[ing] in the face of the Nightmare Child". (COMIC: The Forgotten) The Testimony Foundation had footage of the Doctor trying to defeat the Nightmare Child. (PROSE: Twice Upon a Time)
Behind the scenes
- According to The Writer's Tale, it was referred to as "the Dalek Emperor's Nightmare Child" in Russell T Davies' early script draft.
- Coincidentally, the Nightmare Child backstory from The Third Wise Man is similar to the one given by John Freeman for "The New Daleks" redesign Raymond Cusick did for the DWMS Tenth Anniversary Special: describing it as the ultimate Dalek and ultimate killing machine coming from plans drawn by Davros.
- The writer of The Third Wise Man, Dave Rudden, stated in a Reddit AMA that he felt he did not fully explain the Nightmare Child, instead only showing a fragment of its newborn form. To Rudden, after going through the gates, the seven deaths of Davros, and more, the Child had much growing to do, especially so if it was to reach the power it had in Russell T Davies' Doctor Who and the Time War.[1]
