Ice Warrior

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Ice Warrior
Appearances

The Ice Warriors and Ice Lords, also called Warriors of Mars, (GAME: Lost in Time [+]Loading...["Lost in Time (video game)"]) were a race of reptilian humanoids from the planet Mars, identified by the Eleventh Doctor as cyborgs because of their biomechanical armour. (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"]) Bill Potts compared them to Vikings. (TV: Empress of Mars [+]Loading...["Empress of Mars (TV story)"])

The Gandorans, who created the first Ice Warriors, called them the Saurian Evolutionaries. (AUDIO: Lords of the Red Planet [+]Loading...["Lords of the Red Planet (audio story)"]) They were also known as native Martians (TV: Empress of Mars [+]Loading...["Empress of Mars (TV story)"]) and simply Martians (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"]) but at times were given the derogatory name of Greenies. (PROSE: Transit [+]Loading...["Transit (novel)"]) By one account, the term "Ice Warrior" was just a nickname that came from their evolutionary need for a cold environment. (PROSE: The Whoniverse [+]Loading...["The Whoniverse (novel)"]) Another group of historians claimed the name was a title they gave themselves during the war against the Flood. (PROSE: The Monster Vault [+]Loading...["The Monster Vault (novel)"]) By the 27th century, the name was considered offensive. (AUDIO: Silver Lining [+]Loading...["Silver Lining (audio story)"])

Biology[[edit] | [edit source]]

An Ice Warrior without its survival armour. (TV: The Rings of Akhaten [+]Loading...["The Rings of Akhaten (TV story)"])

Adult, fully armoured Ice Warriors were large, imposing reptilian humanoids, up to seven feet tall. Unarmoured, they had flattened, scaly faces with sharp fangs and thin green tongues. (PROSE: Legacy [+]Loading...["Legacy (novel)"], PROSE: The Medusa Effect [+]Loading...["The Medusa Effect (novel)"], TV: The Rings of Akhaten [+]Loading...["The Rings of Akhaten (TV story)"], Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"]) They had either five (COMIC: Ascendance [+]Loading...["Ascendance (comic story)"]) or three fingers, tipped with sharp claws. (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"]) At least some Ice Warriors had large black eyes, (COMIC: Descendance [+]Loading...["Descendance (comic story)"], TV: The Rings of Akhaten [+]Loading...["The Rings of Akhaten (TV story)"]) although Skaldak's were red. (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"])

Jamie McCrimmon remembered the Ice Warriors as "great lumbering lizards." (TV: The Mind Robber [+]Loading...["The Mind Robber (TotT TV story)"]) An Ice Warrior inside their armour was at one with their suit. (TV: Empress of Mars [+]Loading...["Empress of Mars (TV story)"]) They had skeletons much like humans, though with flatter skulls and wider eye sockets. (COMIC: Ascendance [+]Loading...["Ascendance (comic story)"]) Females were built more slightly than males, and had spiny dorsal crests which were sexually attractive in a manner analogous to the breasts of a human female. (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"], Transit [+]Loading...["Transit (novel)"])

They preferred cold climates and could be killed by extreme heat, though small fires were no more dangerous to them than to a human. (COMIC: Descendance [+]Loading...["Descendance (comic story)"] According to the Eleventh Doctor, this weakness was a flaw in their survival armour which couldn't cope with sudden increases in temperature that was never fixed, and not a biological trait. (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"]) Due to differences in atmosphere and gravity, in Earth-like environments, Ice Warriors perpetually wheezed and tended to move slowly, (TV: The Seeds of Death [+]Loading...["The Seeds of Death (TV story)"]) though they could move fast when needed. (PROSE: Legacy [+]Loading...["Legacy (novel)"], TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"]) They spoke in a drawn-out hiss. (TV: The Ice Warriors [+]Loading...["The Ice Warriors (TV story)"])

Ice Warriors lived a long time. Some Martians in 1997 had been alive when Shakespeare was writing his plays. (PROSE: The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"]) The typical lifespan of an Ice Warrior was three hundred Earth years. They had a complicated genetic structure and were herbivores. (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"])

Paul Webster, speculating the Ice Warriors were "more used to nitrogen", knocked out Sub-Commander Sstast with an oxygen cylinder. According to the Fifth Doctor, the Ice Warriors were cold-blooded. (AUDIO: Red Dawn [+]Loading...["Red Dawn (audio story)"])

Society and culture[[edit] | [edit source]]

Overview[[edit] | [edit source]]

The planetary identification glyph of the Martians was a triangle overlaid with a lightning bolt with an artificial burning sun at its centre. (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"]) The Twelfth Doctor described the Ice Warriors as a people who were capable of great compassion and also great bloodshed: as he put it, the Ice Warriors could massacre entire societies and then weep at the simple destruction of a flower. He further stated they were advanced enough to build a whole city under sand, while also being violent enough to cover snow in innocent bloodshed. (TV: Empress of Mars [+]Loading...["Empress of Mars (TV story)"])

Honour[[edit] | [edit source]]

Ice Warriors had a strong sense of personal honour. After the Third Doctor saved the life of the Ice Lord Izlyr, he felt obligated to help the Doctor escape. (TV: The Curse of Peladon [+]Loading...["The Curse of Peladon (TV story)"]) Ice Warriors disliked lying, though they would do so when necessary. (PROSE: Legacy [+]Loading...["Legacy (novel)"]) They believed that a victim of murder would not rest in peace until their killer had atoned for the crime. (PROSE: The Medusa Effect [+]Loading...["The Medusa Effect (novel)"]) When challenged to a ritual blood duel, an Ice Warrior would spit at an opponent's face. Terrorism was anathema. (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"]) An Ice Warrior motto was "Harm one of us, harm all of us". Ice Warriors considered it incredibly dishonourable to remove their armour, and thus only removed it under the most extreme circumstances. (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"]) Even before becoming warriors, the Martian species were seldom seen outside their armour, or otherwise wore similar-looking shells. The Fifth Doctor immediately identified a Martian from this time period as an Ice Warrior, even before he knew he was on Mars, (AUDIO: The Judgement of Isskar [+]Loading...["The Judgement of Isskar (audio story)"]) while the Eleventh Doctor later claimed he never saw a Martian outside of their armour. (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"]) However, at least two Ice Warriors were present on Tiaanamat and in Trap Street in London. (TV: The Rings of Akhaten [+]Loading...["The Rings of Akhaten (TV story)"], Face the Raven [+]Loading...["Face the Raven (TV story)"], PROSE: Susan's Diary [+]Loading...["Susan's Diary (short story)"])

The strict code of honour came from earlier Martians, before they became a warrior species again and their planet began dying. At that time they only hunted for food and avoided physically fighting with one another. In fact, the word "warrior" did not exist in that era. Their belief in honour was reflected in a "gift economy", a system in which people did not pay for things but instead were given freely and gave something in return. In these early years, the Martians were more involved in the arts and crafts rather than warfare. They began to change after disastrous climatic changes. They were also a proud people who refused to admit a problem existed. (AUDIO: The Judgement of Isskar [+]Loading...["The Judgement of Isskar (audio story)"])

This sense of honour was either not shared among all Ice Warriors, or otherwise failed to match that of humans' expectations. When Lord Slaadek and his warriors tried terraforming Mars to wipe out the 300,000 human colonists on it, Professor Boston Schooner didn't understand how he could be "so wrong" in thinking "they were noble creatures. A once-proud race with a code of chivalry." The Eighth Doctor told him, "I don't know, Professor, though I have to ask: which part of the word 'warrior' didn't you understand?" (AUDIO: Deimos [+]Loading...["Deimos (audio story)"])

Religion[[edit] | [edit source]]

Many of the Ice Warrior myths and legends originated in the Primal Wars. (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"]) They worshipped the Osirans, (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice [+]Loading...["Going Once, Going Twice (short story)"]) including Oras (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"]) and Claatris (the god of war). (PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus [+]Loading...["The Crystal Bucephalus (novel)"]) They also worshipped Tuburr, who was thought to be the one who made the Ice Warriors into warriors. In the early years of Ice Warrior civilisation, the young would be sent to the surface as a ritual trial of endurance. If they survived, they took the oath of Tuburr and tried to pull the Sword of Tuburr from a brazier, after which they were considered adults. (PROSE: Legacy [+]Loading...["Legacy (novel)"], COMIC: Descendance [+]Loading...["Descendance (comic story)"] Martian law forbade any forging of copies of the holy Sword. (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"])

An atypical Ice Lord funeral involved cremations, but for a short time in their history they froze the bodies in coffin-sized blocks of ice — a symbol of wealth on the water-scarce planet — and sealed them in crystal spires, a practice inspired by the Osirans. Tomb raiding was punished by summary execution and territorial reparations by the raider's clan. (PROSE: The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"]) Martian tombs, pyramids and burial of the dead was similar to Egyptian civilisation, suggesting that both were influenced by the Osiran race. During funeral rites, the deceased wore metallic clothes known as warding shrouds to protect them before the cremation. (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"])

Society[[edit] | [edit source]]

"The indigenous species. An ancient reptilian race. They built themselves a sort of bio-mechanical armour for protection. The creature within is at one with its carapace. The Ice Warriors. They could build a city under the sand, yet drench the snows of Mars with innocent blood. They could slaughter whole civilisations, yet weep at the crushing of a flower."The Twelfth Doctor, on the Ice Warriors [src]

Ice Warriors lived in clans and had a hereditary caste system. Fathers passed on land to their adult sons. (COMIC: Descendance [+]Loading...["Descendance (comic story)"] Advancement in the hierarchy was decided on merit and skill. (PROSE: Legacy [+]Loading...["Legacy (novel)"]) The skill of cooking was highly prized. (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"]) The highest position in their society was that of the Ice Queen, or Queen-Empress. (TV: Empress of Mars [+]Loading...["Empress of Mars (TV story)"])

Their feudal way of life continued until the era of the Galactic Federation. (TV: The Curse of Peladon [+]Loading...["The Curse of Peladon (TV story)"]) At the start of Ice Warrior culture, conflicts were along clan lines, and struggles for power between different families became more common. When the Eighth Doctor and Stacy came to Mars in this time, they became involved in a fight between the Balazarus Mons and Darsus Mons families. (COMIC: Descendance [+]Loading...["Descendance (comic story)"], Ascendance [+]Loading...["Ascendance (comic story)"])

Clans included the Argyre clan, the Thaumasia clan, the Erythraeum clan (PROSE: The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"]) and the Tanssor clan. (PROSE: The Silent Stars Go By [+]Loading...["The Silent Stars Go By (novel)"])

Marriages were short affairs, made when the participants were young and intended to preserve bloodlines of clans. (PROSE: Placebo Effect [+]Loading...["Placebo Effect (novel)"]) Women and family were sacred, though women sometimes ate their young. (COMIC: Cold Blooded War! [+]Loading...["Cold Blooded War! (comic story)"]) When a marriage bond was broken, it was called Fass-jul-Aqq. (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"])

Much as in ancient Rome, it was not unusual to find graffiti scratched onto walls, often virility symbols young males used to attract females. Martian settlements were typically known as "nests", (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks! [+]Loading...["Emperor of the Daleks! (comic story)"]) a term that was extended to military installations. At the centre of a nest was a room called the Queen's Chamber. Military nests were circular, built around a single spiral passageway referred to as Xssixss, the mouth of which was the only entrance or exit. (PROSE: Transit [+]Loading...["Transit (novel)"])

The Ice Warriors prided beauty and aesthetics above everything else except for those items related to war. The Ice Warriors were not known for their sense of humour. (PROSE: The Medusa Effect [+]Loading...["The Medusa Effect (novel)"]) Nevertheless, Bernice Summerfield wrote a thesis on that very subject and knew at least one "hilarious" Martian joke. (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks! [+]Loading...["Emperor of the Daleks! (comic story)"]) In fact, Martian humour was occasionally elusive to humans and most of it was lost in translation. (PROSE: The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"])

By the time of the Federation, King Peladon considered the term "Ice Warrior" — which "many" still referred to them as — "a xenophobic throwback to a violent heritage", but also knew that this heritage was one "some sought to resurrect". (AUDIO: The Prisoner of Peladon [+]Loading...["The Prisoner of Peladon (audio story)"])

Titles[[edit] | [edit source]]

A Grand Marshall's bejeweled helmet. (TV: The Seeds of Death [+]Loading...["The Seeds of Death (TV story)"])

Other matters[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Ice Warriors were the originators of at least one "obscure" martial arts form, Martian zlynzyx. (GAME: The Iytean Menace [+]Loading...["The Iytean Menace (game)"])

Technology[[edit] | [edit source]]

Armour[[edit] | [edit source]]

Varga retreats into his armour. (TV: The Ice Warriors [+]Loading...["The Ice Warriors (TV story)"])

Ice Warriors were extremely capable engineers (TV: Empress of Mars [+]Loading...["Empress of Mars (TV story)"]) and almost always wore some form of bio-mechanical "survival armour" that matched their skin. (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"]) This survival armour augmented their already considerable strength. This included a half-face helmet and a red blast-screen over each eye. Ice Warrior nobility ("Ice Lords") wore light armour with sleek, bullet-shaped, metallic helmets, a simple breastplate and a cape. (TV: The Seeds of Death [+]Loading...["The Seeds of Death (TV story)"]) An Ice Marshall's helmet contained circuitry beneath its surface and acted as an additional nervous system for its wearer after it bonded with the cranium. (AUDIO: Thin Ice [+]Loading...["Thin Ice (audio story)"]) Common warriors had much heavier and bulkier, intricately patterned full-body armour, and stubby helmets (some designs of which also placed blast screens over the ears). (TV: The Curse of Peladon [+]Loading...["The Curse of Peladon (TV story)"])

An Ice Warrior's full body. (TV: The Ice Warriors [+]Loading...["The Ice Warriors (TV story)"])

Their exoskeletal armour melded with the body of their wearer and an Ice Warrior was described as being one with their armour. (AUDIO: Thin Ice [+]Loading...["Thin Ice (audio story)"]) This armour consisted of carapaces and helmets grown in nutrient tanks and cybernetically augmented to provide the wearer with increased strength, reaction time, spectral sensitivity and biological efficiency. It also gave them a direct link to the Martian battle net. Finally, it boosted the efficiency of their waste management systems. (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"]) The armour technology included locked-sequence communicators and induced muscular hydraulics. (AUDIO: Thin Ice [+]Loading...["Thin Ice (audio story)"]) The armour was tough enough to protect them from a swing of an axe. (PROSE: The Silent Stars Go By [+]Loading...["The Silent Stars Go By (novel)"]) This armour could also be remotely controlled with sonic technology. (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"])

By the late 26th century, some sects of Ice Warriors had undergone extensive cybernetic alteration. An implant at the base of the brain connected their armour directly to their nervous systems, making it a part of their physical makeup. These Ice Warriors also had artificial membranes inside their throats, allowing them to filter out gases not necessary for their survival. (PROSE: The Medusa Effect [+]Loading...["The Medusa Effect (novel)"])

The armour was chiefly designed to protect the wearer from extreme cold; however, a rapid rise in temperature could overwhelm its systems. (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"])

Weapons[[edit] | [edit source]]

Ice Warriors' sonic weapons. (TV: The Ice Warriors [+]Loading...["The Ice Warriors (TV story)"])

Though Ice Warriors had small sonic weapons in the wrist of their armour as a personal defence weapon, (TV: The Ice Warriors [+]Loading...["The Ice Warriors (TV story)"]) as well as making use of sonic disruptors as handheld firearms, (AUDIO: The Prisoner of Peladon [+]Loading...["The Prisoner of Peladon (audio story)"], COMIC: The Wolves of Winter [+]Loading...["The Wolves of Winter (comic story)"]) they tended to use rifles and portable artillery that utilised sonic instead of kinetic or energy damage. (COMIC: 4-Dimensional Vistas [+]Loading...["4-Dimensional Vistas (comic story)"]) One such piece of artillery resembled a rocket launcher and another resembled a sonic harpoon gun. (COMIC: The Wolves of Winter [+]Loading...["The Wolves of Winter (comic story)"])

Similar, more advanced wrist-mounted weapons were also used by both royalty and royal guards. Capable of literally folding anyone it struck to grossly small proportions, it had a slight delay before firing a red tinted ball of white, sonic energy. (TV: Empress of Mars [+]Loading...["Empress of Mars (TV story)"])

The Ice Warriors had cryogenic weapons acting like flamethrowers that they used for sterilising water, land and the sands of Mars. (COMIC: The Wolves of Winter [+]Loading...["The Wolves of Winter (comic story)"])

They also made use of sonic grenades that operated by emitting a sonic impulse which caused a violent implosion of the eardrums of anyone within the vicinity of the blast radius. (AUDIO: Thin Ice [+]Loading...["Thin Ice (audio story)"]) Their sonic guns could be disrupted by the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, although it used up a lot of power. To counter this problem, the Ice Warriors used swords and battle axes. (PROSE: The Silent Stars Go By [+]Loading...["The Silent Stars Go By (novel)"])

They also used genetically-engineered weapons, such as a bacteriological weapon based on Martian sleeping fever, (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"]) as well as the insidious Red Death which was programmed to target individuals with a specific DNA pattern. (PROSE: The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"])

During the 2150s Dalek invasion of Earth, the Ice Warriors had a superweapon named the GodEngine, built from technology left over by the Osirans, god-like visitors to Mars long before. The GodEngine could destroy a star by making it go supernova; its deployment was prevented by the Seventh Doctor. (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"])

Terraforming[[edit] | [edit source]]

An Ice Warrior's sonic weapon. (TV: The Monster of Peladon [+]Loading...["The Monster of Peladon (TV story)"])

The Ice Warriors were capable of engineering planetary ecosystems to better suit their needs; from their perspective the process was known as "aresforming". (PROSE: The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"]) They could deploy seeds on a planet which altered the environment and made it an icy world. (TV: The Seeds of Death [+]Loading...["The Seeds of Death (TV story)"]) Their vessels were equipped with munitions that could knock a planet out of its orbit. (PROSE: Mission to Magnus [+]Loading...["Mission to Magnus (novelisation)"]) A mining-laser which a human expeditionary force dubbed "The Gargantua" was utilised for digging caves deep under the surface of Mars. (TV: Empress of Mars [+]Loading...["Empress of Mars (TV story)"])

Transportation[[edit] | [edit source]]

Martian rockets had remained unchanged for a hundred thousand years and followed the same technological development of tens of thousands of worlds in the galaxy. One of the reasons why the Martians had never conquered their solar system or indeed the rest of the galaxy was scarcity of resources. Their warships used a propulsion system based on electromagnetism that emitted no heat and was capable of playing havoc with primitive guidance systems. (PROSE: The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"])

On their homeworld of Mars, the Ice Warriors used air cars. (COMIC: Descendance [+]Loading...["Descendance (comic story)"]

At some point in the 9th century the Ice Warriors had developed spacecrafts. (COMIC: The Wolves of Winter [+]Loading...["The Wolves of Winter (comic story)"]) One such ship was used to rescue Grand Marshall Skaldak from Earth in the 20th century. (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"])

Other[[edit] | [edit source]]

Martians prided themselves on secrecy. They made use of Chameleon fields to hide certain locations. The Ice Warriors made use of this advanced form of solid holography to black out their fleets.

They bio-engineered a type of fungus for use as a form of illumination.

A notable interrogation tool designed specifically for use on humans was the brain-rack. It created artificial neural pathways in the human mind which dominated the existing thought processes and ultimately ensured obedience in the subject. These machines were said to have no harmful side effects and the process wore off after a week or so when the artificial engrammes began to decay and the natural pathways reasserted themselves. Seen as a potential brainwashing tool, the brain-rack also increased learning rates by three hundred percent. (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"])

Ice Warriors engineered standard stasis-pods in a hive that was buried under Mars, marred in rock, and used for hibernation. Holding warriors in crystal, it had to have a guard outside the hive to active the Queen's sarcophagus who would then activate the rest of the crystalline pods herself. (TV: Empress of Mars [+]Loading...["Empress of Mars (TV story)"])

History[[edit] | [edit source]]

Early history[[edit] | [edit source]]

This section's awfully stubby.

Information on Mars' temporal issues from Going Once, Going Twice

The original Saurian Evolutionaries, later known as Ice Warriors, were created by the Gandorans as a slave warrior race via forced evolution of the non-sentient, turtle-like Saurians. While the original batch of Ice Warriors, used by Gandoran dictator Zaadur to slaughter her own people, was killed, the Doctor, knowing that they would once rule the planet, speculated that Quendril either had more of them created at a later point, or that they evolved naturally from the Saurians. (AUDIO: Lords of the Red Planet [+]Loading...["Lords of the Red Planet (audio story)"])

Accounts differed as to the downfall of the Ice Warriors, with some mentioning being at their peak and active thousands of years BC, (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"], Empress of Mars [+]Loading...["Empress of Mars (TV story)"]) and others claiming their atmosphere to have been destroyed "centuries" before the 21st century, (AUDIO: Red Dawn [+]Loading...["Red Dawn (audio story)"]) or even millions of years BC. (AUDIO: Deimos [+]Loading...["Deimos (audio story)",""])

At some point, a group of Ice Warriors led by Lord Arakssor were convicted for warmongering. Their sentence was to life imprisonment in a prison in Antarctica. An Ice Warrior attacked the prison in an attempt to escape. However, this flooded the prison, trapping everyone beneath the ice in suspended animation. Looking at the body of the Seventh Doctor, who was also trapped beneath the ice, Genevieve Marceau estimated this time as millions of years before 2012. (AUDIO: Frozen Time [+]Loading...["Frozen Time (audio story)"])

The Ice Warriors were once visited by the godlike Osirans, who cruelly and callously used them as little more than labourers on their construction projects. Millions of years BC, the Martians were a migratory species. They evolved to the point that all their waste products were recycled. (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"]) The battle between two Osirans, "the Jackal" and "the Falcon", also affected the Martians by being one of the reasons Mars was left in a state of temporal flux. (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice [+]Loading...["Going Once, Going Twice (short story)"])

Ca. 59,000 BC, the Ice Warriors were part of the Empire of the Gubbage Cones. (PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus [+]Loading...["The Crystal Bucephalus (novel)"])

At some point in the past, the species that became known as the Ice Warriors built a gigantic generation ship that later became known as Phobos and colonised Mars. Human astronomers mistook the ship for a natural moon of Mars. (PROSE: Crimson Dawn [+]Loading...["Crimson Dawn (short story)"])

The Martian Industrial Revolution took place at the same time as the Pliocene on Earth. (PROSE: The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"])

Some exploration of other planets was attempted. Varga went to Earth, but his ship was trapped in a glacier for thousands of years. Some time after this, the Ice Warrior's civilisation went into decline as Mars became more inhospitable. (TV: The Ice Warriors [+]Loading...["The Ice Warriors (TV story)"], PROSE: Legacy [+]Loading...["Legacy (novel)"])

As Mars became colder, the Ice Warriors adapted to use what the Eleventh Doctor called "survival armour" to survive in the freezing cold temperatures. (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"])

Circa 5000 BC, the Ice Warriors realised that complete devotion to the concepts of war would destroy their species in the same manner as the Osirans. Using their legends and race memories, they created a peaceful religion that taught pacifism and compassion. This became the doctrine of the Order of Oras. (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"])

Circa 3000 BC — by Professor Grisenko's reckoning — the Ice Warriors had a mighty empire and a fleet. The fleet was led by the Nix-Thassis and commanded by Grand Marshall Skaldak. In unknown circumstances, Skaldak was trapped under the ice of the North Pole on Earth and was frozen for thousands of years. (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"]) Roughly around the same time, the Ice Warrior Hive led by Queen Iraxxa entered what would become a 5,000 year hibernation. (TV: Empress of Mars [+]Loading...["Empress of Mars (TV story)"])

The fall of the Ice Warriors[[edit] | [edit source]]

At some point, the Martian civilisation was made of peaceful people who were not warriors but artisans who hunted for food and never experienced war. In this era, their world was a thriving planet with the native sentient species thriving for twelve thousand years. Though they preferred the cold, one settlement was built in the equator but the construction of its shelled shaped buildings allowed for a cooler environment and waterways kept the populace fulfilled. Their sense of honour stretched back from this time as their civilisation was based on a gift economy in which things were given freely and receivers gave something back in return.

The Ice Lord Isskar (AUDIO: The Judgement of Isskar [+]Loading...["The Judgement of Isskar (audio story)"])

It was a world of craftsmen, builders and farmers which built wondrous pyramids on their home planet. (AUDIO: The Judgement of Isskar [+]Loading...["The Judgement of Isskar (audio story)"]) During this early period, Martian cities were noted as being much like those on Earth. Food waste and plant matter was left on the streets. (PROSE: The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"]) However, a visit by the Fifth Doctor and his companion Amy led to the fall of the race. The two time travellers were looking for a decaying segment of the Key to Time, which had taken the form of a pyramid's capstone. The segment had begun its decay, causing earthquakes. The Doctor and Amy, along with Zara and Harmonious 14 Zink, who were also looking for the segments, reached the top of the pyramid. Zara, who was a sentient tracer, activated the segment, leaving with Zink's time ring. This led to the formation of a gravity well which sent earthquakes and hurricanes across the planet for three decades.

These disasters devastated the Martian civilisation. Some managed to get off world but most remained on Mars where they fought amongst themselves for food and shelter. After thirty years, the energies from the segment of the Key to Time had been spent and the ground had settled. What remained of their race emerged onto their world where they planned to rebuild, even if it took them a thousand years. (AUDIO: The Judgement of Isskar [+]Loading...["The Judgement of Isskar (audio story)"]) Despite this honourable goal, the Ice Lord Izdaal had been observing the sky. His studies determined that their atmosphere was no longer capable of keeping out radiation from outer space. This would eventually kill them all. He told the government that their turmoil was not over and with the evidence of sickening children, he declared that their world was no longer sustainable. (AUDIO: The Judgement of Isskar [+]Loading...["The Judgement of Isskar (audio story)"])

He was ignored by his people. Izdaal made the ultimate sacrifice. To prove himself right, he elected to step outside and face the Red Dawn, knowing he would die. (AUDIO: Red Dawn [+]Loading...["Red Dawn (audio story)"]) His death led to his people coming to the same conclusion and they worked to survive, slowly becoming a conqueror race that took what they wanted from others. (AUDIO: The Judgement of Isskar [+]Loading...["The Judgement of Isskar (audio story)"]) A group of Ice Warriors remained in suspended animation on Mars to protect Izdaal's tomb. Risking never being woken up, Izdaal's guardians lay inside their tombs waiting for a lifeform with enough honourable intentions to make it past the biometric locks inside the tomb, having "much" to offer to the Ice Warriors as they would to any Earth lifeforms that would discover the tomb. (AUDIO: Red Dawn [+]Loading...["Red Dawn (audio story)"]) Another group of Ice Warriors remained in a hidden hive as sleeping guardians for the Ice Queen Iraxxa, who was also slumbering in suspended animation. (TV: Empress of Mars [+]Loading...["Empress of Mars (TV story)"])

During the 9th century, the Ice Warriors were attacked by a native Martian parasite they called the Flood. Many Ice Warriors died attempting to sterilise their planet. Ultimately, they discovered that the Flood could only be defeated by freezing it in a glacier. However, while they were lowering the Flood into the Gusev Crater, an Ice Warrior was infected and fled to Earth followed by a force of Ice Warriors attempting to stop the Flood from spreading on Earth. The Ice Warriors encountered the Twelfth Doctor as the Haemovores and the original Wolves of Fenric. After learning that Fenric intended to replace the Haemovores with the Flood, a Haemovre sacrificed itself to cause a volcano to erupt, destroying the Flood strain on Earth as the remaining Ice Warriors departed for Mars after creating a distraction for the Doctor. (TV: The Waters of Mars [+]Loading...["The Waters of Mars (TV story)"], COMIC: The Wolves of Winter [+]Loading...["The Wolves of Winter (comic story)"])

The great society of the Ice Warriors was left abandoned, leaving few Martians behind in hives. (TV: Empress of Mars [+]Loading...["Empress of Mars (TV story)"])

After the Abandonment of Mars, eleven World-Ships were sent out to find a new homeland for the Ice Warriors. However, communication between High Marshal Kryss and the World-Ship he was the captain of was severed from the rest of the World-Ships, due to a great cosmic storm known as the Great Desolatrix, which was known for the destruction of entire patches of the universe. With his World-Ship damaged from a crash, Kryss fought on the bridge, claiming that it was his new Mars, slaying anybody who tried to take it, for seven days. However, he was then captured by Sycorax, who took him to an asteroid, forcing him to fight in the Cage.

Eventually, after the Fourth Doctor and Leela arrived, searching for the Great Desolatrix, they were captured by the Sycorax, and Leela and Kryss were forced to fight in the Cage. The Ice Warrior tried to kill Leela in rage, but Leela calmed him down, and he then asked for her to kill him. She refused, and then, through the speakers surrounding the Cage, several of the Ice Warrior captains of the other World-Ships asked for immediate help due to damage from the storm. After the Ice Warriors destroyed parts of the asteroid, Kryss was rescued. (PROSE: Red Planet [+]Loading...["Red Planet (short story)"])

According to the Twelfth Doctor, Mars' atmosphere had "all but evaporated", and the surface was "lifeless" before 1881. He told Queen Iraxxa that the Ice Warriors could not survive without help. The Ice Warrior "Friday" agreed with the Doctor. After a minor skirmish against British troops Friday had led to the planet, Iraxxa and her warriors ultimately departed the planet with the help of a rescue fleet sent by Alpha Centauri which the Doctor believed would spark off the Martian Golden Age. (TV: Empress of Mars [+]Loading...["Empress of Mars (TV story)"])

At some point prior to his travels to ancient Mars, the Fifth Doctor was surprised that there were Ice Warriors still around by the 21st century; he assumed they "all" left Mars after its atmosphere thinned "centuries" before the 21st century, while Lord Zzaal said the Ice Warriors had discovered "primitive, early life" developing on Earth before his people went into suspended animation. (AUDIO: Red Dawn [+]Loading...["Red Dawn (audio story)"]) The Eighth Doctor dated this time as "many millions of years" before the 23rd century. (AUDIO: Deimos [+]Loading...["Deimos (audio story)"])

The Eleventh Doctor claimed that the Ice Warriors were scattered "all across the universe". (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"])

After the fall[[edit] | [edit source]]

Following the destruction of Mars' atmosphere, the Ice Warriors fled to Deimos, one of the planet's moons, where they constructed catacombs and placed themselves in suspended animation in the hope of one day either reclaiming Mars or conquering Earth. A human-made exhibit on Deimos dramatising the lead up to Izdaal's walk into the dawn mentioned that Earth was unsuitable to be conquered and inhabited "at this point in history" and that the Ice Warriors had nowhere to evacuate to. It said that Ice Warriors would one day awaken from the tombs to become "rightful" rulers of the Sol system. (AUDIO: Deimos [+]Loading...["Deimos (audio story)"]) Lord Zzaal, whom had placed himself in suspended animation around the same time as those on Deimos, also told the Fifth Doctor that at that point the Earth's environment was unsuitable for them. According to Lord Zzaal, even without the threat of the dawn, the low temperature and loss of water would mean an Ice Warrior could only survive for a few days. (AUDIO: Red Dawn [+]Loading...["Red Dawn (audio story)"])

As Mars died, one million Martians remained trapped in suspended animation on board the generation ship that had become the moon Phobos. (PROSE: Crimson Dawn [+]Loading...["Crimson Dawn (short story)"]) Similar installations existed in the asteroid belt in the Sol system. (AUDIO: Deimos [+]Loading...["Deimos (audio story)"])

At some point after Izdaal met the red dawn, the tracer, Zara, asked Isskar, now an elderly Ice Lord, to come to Safeplace so she could assemble the rest of the Key to Time and perhaps restore Mars. Isskar and a group of his warriors left in a ship, putting themselves in suspended animation on a spaceship commandeered by Isskar. (AUDIO: The Judgement of Isskar [+]Loading...["The Judgement of Isskar (audio story)"])

Centuries before 1997, Martian scientists concluded that the possibility of oxygen-breathing lifeforms was a complete absurdity. There were many attempts by the Martians to revitalise their world but they lacked the resources to accomplish it. They tried to grow plants in the barren soil of their planet but these were always rotten and dying. (PROSE: The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"])

17th century[[edit] | [edit source]]

In 1609, the Ice Warriors participated in the Armageddon Convention, which convened in Laputa, a floating island in the sky near Venice. (PROSE: The Empire of Glass [+]Loading...["The Empire of Glass (novel)"])

19th century[[edit] | [edit source]]

On Mars in 1881, the Ice Warrior Friday and a group of British soldiers from Earth awoke the Ice Queen Iraxxa. The Twelfth Doctor helped Iraxxa send a distress call and it was answered by Alpha Centauri who sent a fleet to rescue Iraxxa and her warriors. The Doctor believed that this would lead to the Martian Golden Age. (TV: Empress of Mars [+]Loading...["Empress of Mars (TV story)"])

20th century[[edit] | [edit source]]

In 1903, after receiving a wealth of information from the future, Grigori Rasputin saw the Ice Warriors. (AUDIO: The Wanderer [+]Loading...["The Wanderer (audio story)"])

In the 1960s, Jack Harkness helped Torchwood Three defeat an invasion from the Ice Warriors. Torchwood salvaged their sonic cannons once the invaders were defeated. (PROSE: Risk Assessment [+]Loading...["Risk Assessment (novel)"])

The newly regenerated Fifth Doctor appeared to recall, while disorientated, an unrecorded adventure involving the Ice Warriors and UNIT on 1970s Earth during his third incarnation, saying "Not far now, Brigadier, if the Ice Warriors don't get there first..." (TV: Castrovalva [+]Loading...["Castrovalva (TV story)"])

Grand Marshal Skaldak, out of his helmet. (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"])

In 1983, a lone Ice Warrior by the name of Grand Marshal Skaldak, who had been frozen in ice for over 5000 years, was brought aboard the Soviet submarine, the Firebird. Piotr decided to thaw the ice before they reached Moscow, and Skaldak was revived. After revealing himself, Skaldak was attacked by the crew and imprisoned. He used his armour to send a distress call. Managing to escape by leaving his suit, Skaldak noticed that his distress call hadn't been answered. Believing his race to be dead, Skaldak attempted to use the sub's nuclear arsenal to attack the humans on Earth, allowing the two superpowers to strike back in mutually assured destruction. The Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswald attempted to talk him into showing mercy. Before he made a decision, Skaldak was rescued by his people. After being brought onto their ship, Skaldak remotely deactivated the launch procedure. (TV: Cold War [+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"])

By 1997, Mars was in its dying days and its people were racked by sterility and disease. The Argyre clan of Ice Warriors tried to invade Earth, nominally taking over the United Kingdom with human collaborators to form a mutually beneficial relationship, but actually intending a mass terraforming ("ares-forming") of the planet. This was thwarted by the Eighth Doctor and the clan was eradicated. (PROSE: The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"]) However, according to the Twelfth Doctor, Mars was already "lifeless" before 1881 and the Ice Warriors could not survive without help, which Friday agreed with. (TV: Empress of Mars [+]Loading...["Empress of Mars (TV story)"])

21st century[[edit] | [edit source]]

This section's awfully stubby.

Information from Fire and Ice (audio story) needs to be added

In the early 21st century, a team from the Argosy funded by Leo Webster intended to take an Ice Warrior for Paul Webster to create a human clone army augmented by Ice Warrior biology and technology. The Argosy team and the Fifth Doctor and Peri arrived inside Izdaal's tomb, where his guardians awoke from suspended animation. Paul tried kidnapping Sub Commander Sstast in the Argosy, but the ship was shot down.

Paul then held the Doctor and his "cousin", the human-Ice Warrior hybrid, Tanya Webster, as hostages, attempting to escape in the Ice Warriors' rocket. In exchange for the survival of the tomb, Lord Zzaal swapped places with the Doctor. As dawn broke, Zzaal was killed by the ultraviolet rays from the "Red Dawn". With Zzaal no longer in mortal danger, Ssast fired a sonic charge at Paul, killing him. Tanya stayed behind, becoming an ambassador for Earth when communication between Earth and Mars opened. (AUDIO: Red Dawn [+]Loading...["Red Dawn (audio story)"])

In 2008, an invasion was attempted in Sydney, Australia but was thwarted by UNIT. (COMIC: The Age of Ice [+]Loading...["The Age of Ice (comic story)"])

In the year 2012, an expedition under Lord Barset went to Antarctica to follow an earlier expedition by his grandfather in 1929. His ancestor's mission was a complete failure, with only a single survivor who informed others that the expedition had fallen prey to intelligent reptile men with superior technology. Seeking to uncover this advanced weaponry for himself, Barset accidentally freed the imprisoned Arakssor and his fellow murderers from the ice. The Seventh Doctor activated Geldar's distress call and boosted it to contact a Martian warship from the other side of the galaxy. The warship bombarded the prison from orbit, killing the Ice Warriors inside. (AUDIO: Frozen Time [+]Loading...["Frozen Time (audio story)"])

In the 2010s, an Ice Warrior was a resident of the hidden trap street in London which housed lost aliens on Earth under the protection of Mayor Me. As with the rest of the inhabitants it appeared cloaked in human form through use of the lurkworms. (TV: Face the Raven [+]Loading...["Face the Raven (TV story)"])

Another invasion and terraforming was attempted in the mid-21st century, when the Ice Warriors, led by Slaar, invaded the central T-Mat base on the Moon which regulated global T-Mat operations. He attempted to use a fungus, which would turn the Earth into a more hospitable planet for them. The Second Doctor and his companions stopped him. (TV: The Seeds of Death [+]Loading...["The Seeds of Death (TV story)"])

According to Harold, who had watched a documentary about the Ice Warriors on the History Channel, the Ice Warriors were "supposed to have been wiped out" following the T-Mat incident. In the 23rd century, the Ice Warrior expert, Professor Schooner, declared the Ice Warriors "extinct" for "centuries", while Gregson Grenville had learnt in school that "[t]hey were all melted when the invasion fleet spiralled into the Sun". According to Grenville, nobody knew of any Ice Warriors existing after this period until the attack on Deimos Moonbase in the 23rd century.

Human tourists to the catacombs of Deimos in the 23rd century, such as Margaret, considered the moon the "final resting place" of the Ice Warriors and she and Harold expressed shock that "real" Ice Warriors could ever exist. One of the Ice Warriors that awoke from the tombs on Deimos considered him and eight others the last of their race. The Eighth Doctor corrected him, mentioning the tombs in the asteroid belt containing Ice Warriors yet to have been awakened. (AUDIO: Deimos [+]Loading...["Deimos (audio story)"])

Another account stated that in 2086, invasion was attempted yet again, leading to the Thousand Day War. By 2088, the humans had won. (PROSE: GodEngine [+]Loading...["GodEngine (novel)"], The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"]) In 2097, the female Pope made a papal visit to Mars in order to anoint the first Martian bishops. This was done to improve relations between Martians and the humans. The Daleks made an assassination attempt. (PROSE: The Gallifrey Chronicles [+]Loading...["The Gallifrey Chronicles (novel)"])

22nd century[[edit] | [edit source]]

According to one account, by the early 22nd century, the Interstitial Mass Transit System had been established, linking the planetary bodies of the Sol system in a way that allowed humanity to treat Mars as a colony world, marginalising the few remaining survivors of the war (PROSE: Transit [+]Loading...["Transit (novel)"], Fear Itself [+]Loading...["Fear Itself (novel)"]) and, through the 22nd century, marginalised the Ice Warriors on their own home planet. Later, the Ice Warriors became allies of the humans. The Ice Warriors colonised a new planet and named it New Mars or Neo Ares. (PROSE: Legacy [+]Loading...["Legacy (novel)"], The Medusa Effect [+]Loading...["The Medusa Effect (novel)"])

When a passing Dalek fleet attacked Mars on its way to invade Earth, the Ice Warriors helped Mars colonists create a virus which ate away at Dalek cable insulation and which led to the Dalek defeat. (PROSE: The Dalek Invasion of Mars [+]Loading...["The Dalek Invasion of Mars (short story)"])

However, according to the Eighth Doctor, the Ice Warriors would not establish a new homeworld until the Ice Warriors in the tombs in the asteroid belt awoke "a few centuries" from the 23rd century. (AUDIO: Deimos [+]Loading...["Deimos (audio story)"]) The Monk showed Tamsin Drew the Ice Warriors having forcibly taken over the planet Halcyon circa the 33rd century. (AUDIO: The Resurrection of Mars [+]Loading...["The Resurrection of Mars (audio story)"])

The Eighth Doctor mentioned that colonies of humans existed on Mars, numbering 300,000 in the 23rd century according to Temperance Finch, although no Ice Warriors were known to live there. (AUDIO: Deimos [+]Loading...["Deimos (audio story)"]) The Doctor said to the Monk that without the Monk's involvement in awakening them, "there shouldn't even be Ice Warriors on Deimos at this period of history". According to this account, without the Monk's involvement, even the Ice Warriors on Deimos wouldn't have awakened until "a few centuries" afterwards. (AUDIO: The Resurrection of Mars [+]Loading...["The Resurrection of Mars (audio story)"])

According to one account, during the 22nd century, Ice Warriors came into conflict with the Selachian Empire when a colony refused to sell weapons to the Selachians. The Ockorans used their sun-stoker on these colonists to kill them. (PROSE: The Final Sanction [+]Loading...["The Final Sanction (novel)"])

23rd century[[edit] | [edit source]]

According to one account, in the 23rd century, a group of nine Ice Warriors led by Lord Slaadek — noted by one of their kind as "the last of our race", though as the Eighth Doctor pointed out to him, "there [were] some more of you frozen out in the asteroid belt" — (AUDIO: Deimos [+]Loading...["Deimos (audio story)"]) were awakened prematurely by the Monk from their tombs on Deimos in an attempt to change history; the Monk planned for the Ice Warriors to alter the atmosphere of Mars with Deimos Moonbase's atmospheric re-ioniser to revitalise their own home so that they would wipe out 300,000 human colonists, rather than 20 billion Halcyon on the planet Halcyon a thousand years later. (AUDIO: The Resurrection of Mars [+]Loading...["The Resurrection of Mars (audio story)"])

These Ice Warriors commandeered Tourist Shuttle Number 2 from their tombs to take over Deimos Moonbase. The 600 visitors and staff inside the moonbase were squeezed into a passenger rocket to evacuate. Tamsin Drew and Gregson Grenville had placed a bomb inside and planned to activate the bomb as they headed back to the rocket, while the Doctor and Professor Schooner sabotaged the re-ioniser. Professor Schooner was killed while buying time for the Doctor. The Doctor and Tamsin leapt aboard the rocket, but Gregson couldn't reach the rocket in time. The rocket took off, killing Gregson and two Ice Warriors. The Doctor considered activating the bomb remotely himself, but backtracked when the rocket received a "text message" from Lucie Miller, (AUDIO: Deimos [+]Loading...["Deimos (audio story)"]) who had been placed there by the Monk as part of his plans.

When the rocket returned to Deimos thanks to a gravity eddy, Lord Slaadek demanded that they have the Doctor, so that the re-ioniser could be repaired. When the re-ioniser began its process, the Doctor, unable to reverse the effects, brought it "to a very sudden halt with a very loud bang" by reducing a critical feedback in the ionisation beam. At the last minute, the Doctor also made the process alter Mars into an Earth-like atmosphere rather than that of the Mars of long before. With only five minutes to escape to the catacombs, the surviving Ice Warriors failed to make it when the feedback ignited the atmosphere of the moonbase. (AUDIO: The Resurrection of Mars [+]Loading...["The Resurrection of Mars (audio story)"])

24th century[[edit] | [edit source]]

Circa the 24th century, a group of Ice Warriors on the planet Magnus got caught up with the deals of the Mentor, Sil, who said he would lower the temperature of Magnus to make the world a more comfortable environment for Martians. The Sixth Doctor and Peri put an end to this plan. (PROSE: Mission to Magnus [+]Loading...["Mission to Magnus (novelisation)"], AUDIO: Mission to Magnus [+]Loading...["Mission to Magnus (audio story)"], PROSE: Legacy [+]Loading...["Legacy (novel)"])

25th century[[edit] | [edit source]]

In the 25th century, the Fourth Doctor combated the plots of the Ares Corporation and awakened the sleeping Martians in the artificial moon of Phobos; the event became known as Resurrection Day. (PROSE: Crimson Dawn [+]Loading...["Crimson Dawn (short story)"])

26th century[[edit] | [edit source]]

By the 26th century, the Ice Warriors were an isolated species. They had left Mars and, according to one account, were isolated on New Mars. (PROSE: Legacy [+]Loading...["Legacy (novel)"]) However, the Monk showed Tamsin Drew that they didn't even find a new world to live on until the discovery of Halcyon around the 33rd century. (AUDIO: The Resurrection of Mars [+]Loading...["The Resurrection of Mars (audio story)"])

During this century, an Ice Warrior, Harma, accompanied Abslom Daak and his crew in the Kill-Wagon. (COMIC: Star Tigers [+]Loading...["Star Tigers (comic story)"], Nemesis of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Nemesis of the Daleks (comic story)"], Emperor of the Daleks! [+]Loading...["Emperor of the Daleks! (comic story)"]) In the late 26th century, a Martian called Hass became the gardener at the Braxiatel Collection. (PROSE: ...Be Forgot [+]Loading...["...Be Forgot (short story)"])

27th century[[edit] | [edit source]]

Around the early 27th century, two delegates of New Mars were in peace talks with Queen Bastrovan. After leaving this conference, Karter and his partner set off explosives, inadvertently doing severe damage to the space liner the Empress instead of wiping out one floor as planned. The Ice Warrior delegate, Azznesh Azzar, thinking the explosion was the Queen's doing, set a collision course for Ronos Minor that would kill the remaining dignitaries on board and provoke a war against the Queen. Karter, though having escaped was discovered to be involved, preventing the hostilities, while the fake distress call Azzar sent out attracted the attention of Ice Warriors. They brought the survivors of the explosion to safety. (AUDIO: The Dance of the Dead [+]Loading...["The Dance of the Dead (audio story)"])

31st century[[edit] | [edit source]]

Luass. (COMIC: Ascendance [+]Loading...["Ascendance (comic story)"])

In the mid-31st century, the Eighth Doctor and Stacy accidentally interrupted Izaxyrl's rite of ascension. During the distraction, Izaxyrl was kidnapped by Lord Artix in order to stop the ceremony. If Izaxyrl was not an adult, he could not inherit the title of High Lord of Balazarus Mons from his father Uzoxx, which would mean Artix would take over. Though Izaxyrl was eventually rescued, the Doctor and Izaxyrl returned to the fortress of Darsus Mons to try to rescue Stacy and Ssard and were captured. Despite this, Artix was eventually defeated and Izaxyrl became an adult. (COMIC: Descendance [+]Loading...["Descendance (comic story)"], Ascendance [+]Loading...["Ascendance (comic story)"])

In 3049, the Thirteenth Doctor and her companions visited a Martian moon base. Yasmin Khan lost her wallet there. (PROSE: The Secret in Vault 13 [+]Loading...["The Secret in Vault 13 (novel)"])

33rd century[[edit] | [edit source]]

According to one account, Ice Warriors from the asteroid belt had awoken from their stasis some centuries after the 23rd century, and around the 33rd century, as the Monk had shown Tamsin, had found Halcyon, a planet "ideal for their purposes". The Ice Warriors destroyed all life on the planet before settling on it as their new home. The Eighth Doctor told the Monk that the destruction of Halcyon was "a part of the Web of Time". (AUDIO: The Resurrection of Mars [+]Loading...["The Resurrection of Mars (audio story)"])

Galactic Federation era[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Ice Lord Izlyr with Ssorg on Peladon. (TV: The Curse of Peladon [+]Loading...["The Curse of Peladon (TV story)"])

By the late 39th century, (PROSE: Legacy [+]Loading...["Legacy (novel)"]) the Ice Warriors were members of the Galactic Federation and had, for the most part, renounced their war-like ways. (TV: The Curse of Peladon [+]Loading...["The Curse of Peladon (TV story)"], The Monster of Peladon [+]Loading...["The Monster of Peladon (TV story)"])

At some point after their entry into the Federation, the Ice Warriors served as monitors and were dispatched to Draconia to oversee the crisis developing among the Draconians after the ascendance of Empress Adjit Kwan. It was led by Commander Ixzyptir, who was empowered to declare martial law in case the civil unrest became too great, and was charged with guarding the Adjudicators that were to negotiate a peaceful settlement. The Tenth Doctor arrived and was mistaken for the Adjudicator. The Ice Warriors were responsible for the protection of Donna Noble. (COMIC: Cold Blooded War! [+]Loading...["Cold Blooded War! (comic story)"])

An Ice Warrior delegation led by Lord Izlyr was sent to Peladon when it applied to join the Federation. The Third Doctor initially suspected them of being responsible for plots undermining the negotiations, but eventually worked with Izlyr to discover the true culprits. (TV: The Curse of Peladon [+]Loading...["The Curse of Peladon (TV story)"])

Years after Peladon had entered the Federation, the Martians had entered a civil war on New Mars and Grand Marshall Raxlyr had placed the planet under martial law, cutting off contact with the outside world. The Martian royal family had been executed, apart from Princess Lixgaar of New Mars, and she, along with other refugees had been granted refuge by King Peladon of Peladon. Most of the Martians were kept in refugee camps on Peladon, while Princess Lixgaar was held in the chamber of the Prisoner of Peladon until Lord Izlyr could safely take her to Federation headquarters on Io. (AUDIO: The Prisoner of Peladon [+]Loading...["The Prisoner of Peladon (audio story)"])

Late in King Peladon's reign, Lord Ixmari was sent to Peladon to carry out a surprise inspection for the Federation. Ixmari located the king as he'd left the Citadel in search of an alleged prophet, Skarn, and was fatally wounded by one of Skarn's disciples. (AUDIO: The Ordeal of Peladon [+]Loading...["The Ordeal of Peladon (audio story)"])

During the Galactic Federation's war with Galaxy 5 a breakaway group of Ice Warriors led by Lord Azaxyr worked for the enemy and embraced their old martial ways. Working with Eckersley, they went to Peladon under the guise of peacekeepers during a dispute with miners which was endangering the Federation's supply of trisilicate, intending to seize the supply for Galaxy 5. Their scheme was exposed and foiled by the Third Doctor. (TV: The Monster of Peladon [+]Loading...["The Monster of Peladon (TV story)"])

A century after the Doctor's previous visit to Peladon, the Martians were again members of the Federation. By this point, Martian royalty were referred to as princes and princesses of Mars, rather than New Mars. (AUDIO: The Bride of Peladon [+]Loading...["The Bride of Peladon (audio story)"])

Ambassador Ssilas aided the Eighth Doctor in formenting a revolution on Peladon to end the reign of Chancellor Barok. (AUDIO: The Truth of Peladon [+]Loading...["The Truth of Peladon (audio story)"])

41st century[[edit] | [edit source]]

In 4010, a group of Martians were on Cressida to watch a rare chemical reaction in the atmosphere of Uranus. (PROSE: Uranus [+]Loading...["Uranus (short story)"])

51st century[[edit] | [edit source]]

Varga's crew. (TV: The Ice Warriors [+]Loading...["The Ice Warriors (TV story)"])

Circa 5000, during an Ice Age on Earth, Varga was finally revived after being discovered by scientists from Brittanicus Base. Taking Victoria Waterfield hostage, he stole equipment from the base to revive the rest of his crew and planned to seize fuel from the base's reactor to refuel their spaceship to escape Earth, attacking anyone who came near their ship and threatening the base with a sonic cannon. The Second Doctor came to their ship and the Ice Warriors threatened Victoria to get the information they needed about the base, then invaded the facility. The Doctor modified their sonic cannon to incapacitate them, forcing them to retreat back to their ship, and the scientists then activated their Ioniser which destroyed them. (TV: The Ice Warriors [+]Loading...["The Ice Warriors (TV story)"])

Far future[[edit] | [edit source]]

At a point in time after the destruction of Earth, the Tanssor Clan of the Ice Warriors, led by Ixyldir, attempted to alter the technology that humans were using to terraform Hereafter to make the planet more like Mars. After they were stopped by the Eleventh Doctor, the Ice Warriors settled on Atrox 881. (PROSE: The Silent Stars Go By [+]Loading...["The Silent Stars Go By (novel)"])

Undated events[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Ice Warriors meet the Cybermen. (COMIC: Deathworld [+]Loading...["Deathworld (comic story)"])

Ice Warriors were part of a fleet of Alien Monsters whose threat to destroy Earth was opposed by a Legendary Legion assembled by the Fourth Doctor. (GAME: Doctor Who Trump Card Game [+]Loading...["Doctor Who Trump Card Game (game)"])

On the planet Yama-10, the Ice Warriors were mining the hostile world of Trisilicate when their position was attacked by the Cybermen, who wanted that world as part of their empire. Taking the battle to the polar ice caps which were a more suitable condition for the Martians to fight in, the battle raged between the two sides. The ice melted, drowning the Cybermen and entombing the Ice Warriors in ice. (COMIC: Deathworld [+]Loading...["Deathworld (comic story)"])

A group of Ice Warriors led by Arryx sabotaged the weather controls of luxury planet A-Lux, turning it into a snowy and barren land. They were defeated by the Seventh Doctor and Frobisher. (COMIC: A Cold Day in Hell! [+]Loading...["A Cold Day in Hell! (comic story)"])

The Ice Warriors were part of the Alliance of Races, which was formed by Rassilon to defeat the Hyperions. After the Hyperions were defeated, the Alliance then went on to purge the universe of other threats to universal harmony, one of those threats being Count D'if of the Cybock Imperium. (COMIC: Gangland [+]Loading...["Gangland (comic story)"]) They were also part of the Supremo's alliance in the war against Morbius. (PROSE: Warmonger [+]Loading...["Warmonger (novel)"])

A group of Ice Warriors were put in the Doctor's TARDIS by the Tremas Master to fight against the Graak. (GAME: Destiny of the Doctors [+]Loading...["Destiny of the Doctors (video game)"])

The Ice Warriors were among the aliens stuck on Denossus when it was transported to the Time Vortex by the Vortexians. They would remain trapped for over twenty years until the Vortexians were expelled by the Second Doctor. (COMIC: Land of the Blind [+]Loading...["Land of the Blind (comic story)"])

Whilst at a party, the Eighth Doctor saw an Ice Lord. (COMIC: The Glorious Dead [+]Loading...["The Glorious Dead (comic story)"])

The Ice Warriors had a presence on Coralee. (PROSE: Storm Harvest [+]Loading...["Storm Harvest (novel)"])

By a time centuries before the 38th century, some Ice Lords had joined Faction Paradox. Faction agents on New Mars informed the elders of the Eleven-Day Empire of I.M. Foreman's Travelling Show. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two [+]Loading...["Interference - Book Two (novel)"])

At some point, an Ice Warrior named Araxus as well as another Ice Warrior were held as slaves aboard a slaver ship circling the Frenko Bazaar. They were freed by the Second Doctor and led an uprising against their masters. When the slavers departed, the slaves aboard used the ship to return everyone home that wanted to be, and everyone else to become a new crew that would "find [their] destiny among the stars". (COMIC: Bazaar Adventures [+]Loading...["Bazaar Adventures (comic story)"])

An Ice Warrior was one of the judges of the 309th Intergalactic Song Contest. (AUDIO: Bang-Bang-a-Boom! [+]Loading...["Bang-Bang-a-Boom! (audio story)"])

16,000 years after the fall of Mars, the Ice Lord Isskar's ship, guided and used by Zara, arrived on Safeplace to find a segment to the Key to Time, and in doing so began fighting the Valdigians at a castle there. After Isskar was freed from being trapped in the segment, he arrested the Fifth Doctor and Amy to take them to a tribunal. Isskar confiscated Amy's segments and sent the TARDIS overboard while the ship was in hyperspace in the event of the Doctor and Amy's escape. Zara, being unable to detect Amy's segments, travelled back in time with the time ring, having "wrecked the controls" of the ship. The ship was on a collision course with the red giant, Leboon. The Ice Warriors escaped in escape pods, but the Doctor and Amy were forced to stay behind. (AUDIO: The Judgement of Isskar [+]Loading...["The Judgement of Isskar (audio story)"])

An Ice Warrior was exhibited in the Space Museum when the Vashta Nerada invaded. (WC: Hall of Monsters [+]Loading...["Hall of Monsters (webcast)"])

At a point in time prior to their participation in the Galactic Federation, the Ice Warriors settled on the planet Bellona. Humans colonised a neighbouring planet. Enyo, eventually leading to a war over control of the system. The Tenth Doctor recalled this as one of the many wars between the two species. The humans won by deploying a weapon which devastated Bellona, forcing the Ice Warriors to retreat to the polar ice caps. A group of warriors led by Lord Hasskor went into hibernation in the ice, hoping to one day get their vengeance. The humans eventually felt remorse for their actions and allowed refugees from Bellona to settle on Enyo. 500 years later, the ice containing Hasskor’s warriors was scooped up by Coldstar Inc and placed aboard the Coldstar station in orbit over Enyo. A pirate raid on the station led to Hasskor and his warriors awakening and attempting to claim vengeance first by piloting Coldstar towards Enyo and then by hijacking the pirates’ ship to crash into the planet’s capital. They were foiled by the Tenth Doctor, Rose and the pirates. Hasskor eventually abandoned his efforts after Lorna told him about the Ice Warriors living on Enyo. (AUDIO: Cold Vengeance [+]Loading...["Cold Vengeance (audio story)"])

Ice Warriors were present during the Siege of Trenzalore. (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Time of the Doctor (TV story)"]) Three Ice Warriors — Lord Ssardak, Essbur and Zontan — sneaked past the Papal Mainframe's weapon detectors by landing on the planet with no weapons nor any technology or communications inside their armour inside capsules of ice. They had also brought along inert pieces of a sonic cannon to construct on the planet so they could cause an avalanche to kill the Eleventh Doctor and the residents of Christmas, making it appear as if it were an accident or a natural event with his sonic screwdriver. As part of this plan, Zontan sabotaged Christmas' Snow Farm to pile snow on top of the nearby ridge. The Doctor tricked the Ice Warriors into revealing the frequency of the cannon, and used his sonic screwdriver to amplify the cannon, causing the cannon to explode, destroying the Warriors and instantly vaporising the ridge they were on. (PROSE: Let it Snow [+]Loading...["Let it Snow (short story)"]) The Ice Warriors either retreated or died in the fighting which took place after the Daleks broke through the Papal Mainframe's force field and plunged Trenzalore into war. (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Time of the Doctor (TV story)"])

The Ice Warrior Hives were established as a colony on Mars. (TV: Robot of Sherwood [+]Loading...["Robot of Sherwood (TV story)"])

There were Ice Warriors in the Death Zone when several incarnations of Iris Wildthyme were sent there by Ohica. (PROSE: The Scarlet Empress [+]Loading...["The Scarlet Empress (novel)"])

Unbeknownst to the Eleventh Doctor, an Ice Warrior was present (TV: The Rings of Akhaten [+]Loading...["The Rings of Akhaten (TV story)"]) on Tiaanamat. (PROSE: Susan's Diary [+]Loading...["Susan's Diary (short story)"])

Alternate timeline[[edit] | [edit source]]

In an alternate timeline created by the Black Guardian where the First Doctor never left Gallifrey, and became Lord President, the Ice Warriors were one of many aliens that invaded Earth, and fought over the planet with other races against the Silurians and the Sea Devils. This timeline was destroyed when the Seventh Doctor retrieved the Key to Time. (COMIC: Time & Time Again [+]Loading...["Time & Time Again (comic story)"])

In an alternate version of the 27th century created by Doggles' history machine, Hass' brother, Sset, was in negotiations with Irving Braxiatel over the possession of certain Martian artefacts, including carved obsidian from Phobos. Sset eventually sent a ship full of clades, a type of autonomous battlefield weapon, to the Braxiatel Collection killing many civilians. (PROSE: Siege Mentality [+]Loading...["Siege Mentality (short story)"])

Parallel universe[[edit] | [edit source]]

In Pete's World, "big green monsters from Mars" attempted to take over the Arctic but were fought off by UNIT. (AUDIO: The Siege of Big Ben [+]Loading...["The Siege of Big Ben (audio story)"])

References[[edit] | [edit source]]

During his trial, the Second Doctor recalled via a Thought Channel the Ice Warriors' attempted invasion of Earth as one of the "evils" he had broken the Time Lord code of non-interference to fight. (TV: The War Games [+]Loading...["The War Games (TV story)"])

The Third Doctor observed that the Infinite Cocoon could not accommodate a creature as large as an Ice Warrior. (PROSE: Harvest of Time [+]Loading...["Harvest of Time (novel)"])

The Ice Warriors were on the Eleventh Doctor's top five enemies list which he mentioned to the Fourth Doctor and Romana II while they were making up "top five" lists. (AUDIO: Babblesphere [+]Loading...["Babblesphere (audio story)"])

Other information[[edit] | [edit source]]

In the video game Happy Deathday, played by Izzy Sinclair on the Time-Space Visualiser, Ice Warriors were among a host of "every single enemy" that the Doctor had ever defeated, who were assembled by the Beige Guardian and pitted against the Doctor's first eight incarnations. (COMIC: Happy Deathday [+]Loading...["Happy Deathday (comic story)"])

When cyborg hacker Psi was attempting to protect Clara Oswald from the Teller, he ensured that it would focus on his guilt by uploading the memories of some of the worst criminals in history, one of them being an Ice Warrior. (TV: Time Heist [+]Loading...["Time Heist (TV story)"])

Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Conception[[edit] | [edit source]]

The distinctive qualities of the Ice Warriors came out of the design process and rehearsals. Hayles originally conceived of them as cybernetic Viking-like beings, with high tech devices in their armour.[1] The original script does not refer to them as reptilian at all, with the description of the frozen Varga instead being: "The helmet is hood-like and ominous, in the style of the used under the opening titles of 'Hereward the Wake'." Costume designer Martin Baugh used crocodiles as his design inspiration, deciding an 'ice warrior' must be hard and armoured. The distinct hissing voice was conceived by Varga's actor Bernard Bresslaw in rehearsal.[2]

Naming[[edit] | [edit source]]

Strictly speaking, according to their debut story, the Ice Warriors never had that name until Walters gave it to them and Victoria Waterfield carried Walters' description back to the Second Doctor. Subsequent stories would forget this, and have the Ice Warriors use this name to refer to themselves. The writers for Big Finish generally remembered that the Martians of the distant past, such as Lord Zzaal in the audio story Red Dawn, had no reason to recognise the epithet "Ice Warrior" upon hearing others using it. In the audio story Frozen Time, the Seventh Doctor explicitly describes "Ice Warrior" as something the humans called them. However, the issue was addressed in the New Series Adventure novel The Silent Stars Go By when the Eleventh Doctor suggests they at one point forgot their species' name and simply adopted the name given by Walters. Another explanation was given in the audio story Lords of the Red Planet, an audio based on an unproduced television script by Brian Hayles written long before the New Series Adventures and the monthly Big Finish plays like Red Dawn and Frozen Time, where the Second Doctor unintentionally suggests the name to the Gandorans, who created the Ice Warriors. In Empress of Mars, Iraxxa refers to her Warriors as "my Ice Warriors".

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Ice Warriors implies that Mars can no longer support life. This is also implied by Cold War, a story set in 1983, when Skaldak believes that his distress signal not being picked up by Mars means his planet is dead, although the Eleventh Doctor tells Skaldak that Skaldak's people are spread out across the universe and that Mars will rise again at some point. Lord Arakssor makes a similar conclusion in the audio story Frozen Time, set in 2012, when he finds no signal or signs of life from Mars after scanning the planet. Most Ice Warriors in TV and audio stories unconnected to the Galactic Federation originate from a Mars of long before the 20th century. The storyline of The Seeds of Death made it clear that Mars could still support life in the Doctor Who universe even up until approximately the 21st century, when that story took place, when the Second Doctor states that Mars is a dying planet, not a dead one. The audio story Red Dawn, also set in the 21st century — about thirty years after the Mars Probe incident — contradicts this, saying that the Ice Warriors could only survive a few days on the surface with the extremely low temperature and lack of water. Cold War also states that their survival armour existed so the Ice Warriors could survive in the freezing temperatures. The television story The Waters of Mars, set on Mars in 2059, shows no signs of life above ground beyond the human colony of Bowie Base One. The Tenth Doctor also mentions that a flower in Bowie Base One's bio-dome was the "first flower on Mars in ten thousand years", and describes the Ice Warriors as "legends... from long ago". In the television story Empress of Mars, set in 1881, the Twelfth Doctor explains to Iraxxa that Mars' atmosphere has "all but evaporated", the surface is "lifeless", and any other Martians who may be hibernating cannot survive without help.

Unproduced stories[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Ice Warriors were redesigned to feature in the ultimately unproduced film The Dark Dimension.
  • The Ice Warriors were intended to feature in Ice Warrior: Ragnarok, a home video release by Craig Hinton, licensed by the Brian Hayles estate. Plans for the film fell through when the license expired due to Doctor Who returning to television.[3]

Invalid sources[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • In a deleted scene from The Waters of Mars, the Tenth Doctor theorised that the Ice Warriors found the Flood on Mars and froze it, then evacuated the planet, only for the humans to discover it later.

Other matters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ A Brief History of Time (Travel): The Ice Warriors
  2. ↑ Ice Warriors novelisation (2012 edition) "Between the Lines" feature
  3. ↑ https://gallifreybase.com/gb/threads/aborted-ice-warrior-spin-off.139199/

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

v • e
Ice Warrior stories
For the purposes of this list, an "Ice Warrior story" is one in which one living, authentic Ice Warrior plays a part within the confines of the story, outside of flashbacks to previous stories and cliffhangers that lead into the following story.
Television
Audio
Prose
Comics
Video games
Complete list of appearances
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