Tomb of Valdemar (novel)

Tomb of Valdemar
Doctor:	Fourth Doctor
Companion(s):	Romana I
Main enemy:	Paul Neville
Key crew
Publisher:	BBC Books
Writer:	Simon Messingham
Release details
Release number:	28
Release date:	7 February 2000
Format:	Paperback Book; 16 Chapters, 278 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-563-55591-2
BBC Past Doctor Adventures
← Previous	Last of the Gaderene
Next →	Verdigris

Tomb of Valdemar was the twenty-eighth novel in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Simon Messingham, released 7 February 2000 and featured the Fourth Doctor and Romana I.

This is the second full-length novel to feature the Fourth Doctor and Romana I, the first being 1996's The Shadow of Weng-Chiang.

Publisher's summary

Millennia ago, the great god Valdemar held sway over the universe. Somehow the Old Ones defeated this dark presence and entombed him beneath the acid skies of Ashkellia, before disappearing themselves forever.

Over the centuries, the myths of Valdemar grow, crossing solar systems and races. A novelist, Miranda Pelham, pieces together the Dark God's story. Unfortunately for her, revolution and the rise of a New Protectorate force her to strike an agreement with the decadent necromancer Paul Neville to find the lost Ashkellia.

The Doctor and Romana, despite their best efforts, become embroiled in the complex conspiracies and attempts to re-discover Valdemar. High in the boiling sulphuric acid clouds, in the Palace of the Old Ones, a place where reality and dreams collide, the way is being prepared for the resurrection of the Dark One.

The Doctor faces an agonising choice: should he continue with his quest to gather the segments of the Key to Time, or prevent the rebirth of a being so powerful that its release will alter the entire fabric of the universe?

Plot

to be added

Characters

• Fourth Doctor
• Romana I
• K9 Mark II
• Miranda Pelham
• Paul Neville
• Erik Hass
• Kampp
• Robert Hopkins
• Huvan
• Niles Redfearn
• Ponch
• Prahna
• Tenniel Stanislaus
• Romana III
• Romana IV

Worldbuilding

• The Doctor mentions Eru.

Gallifreyan history

• Whilst at the Academy, the Doctor and the Master travelled into the Matrix to access the secret records of early Gallifreyan history, where they discovered information about Valdemar.

Gallifreyan organisations

• The Dimensional Ethics Committee forbids research into the higher dimensions.

Gallifreyan technology

• When Romana visits Ponch, she has her own TARDIS. It is disguised as the inn Janua Foris.

Individuals

• The Brigadier is mentioned.
• The Doctor tries not to think of Sutekh whilst trying to persuade Huvan to give up his powers.

Locations

• The Doctor compares the Palace of the Old Ones on Ashkellia to the City of the Exxilons.

Songs

• The Fourth Doctor and Romana argue over the song "Ppiffer's Second Ode to the Cepholan Whale".

Notes

• In July 2013, BBC Books reprinted the novel for inclusion in The Fourth Doctor Time Capsule, a box set of various items relating to the Tom Baker era. The box set (and the novel reprint) was a UK-exclusive release, limited to 5,000 copies.

Continuity

• The Doctor mentions the creation of the Daleks (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) and his trips to Peladon. (TV: The Curse of Peladon, AUDIO: The Prisoner of Peladon, TV: The Monster of Peladon)
• Romana I remembers the Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey. (TV: The Invasion of Time)
• Romana recalls the Doctor's involvement in the return of Omega. (TV: The Three Doctors)
• At the start of the novel K9 is affected by the higher dimensions and is left in the TARDIS. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks)
• Huvan writes an eighty-page love poem that begins with the line, "Long ago when love was real..." (PROSE: Love and War)

Additional cover images

• 

  2013 The Fourth Doctor Time Capsule cover

External links

• Tomb of Valdemar at the Doctor Who Reference Guidehttps://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/cloister/vald.htm%7CThe Cloister Library: Tomb of Valdemar
• The Discontinuity Guide to: Tomb of Valdemar at The Whoniverse

• The Cloister Library: Tomb of Valdemar