Possession
Possession was the act of one being taking over the body and mind of another.
Examples of possession[[edit] | edit source]
The Master[[edit] | edit source]
After running out of regenerations, the Master used various means to appropriate the bodies of others, being unable to generate a new incarnation for himself on his own powers.
Michael Masterson[[edit] | edit source]
Shortly after being reduced to a decayed state, the Master's mind was switched with that of his bald future incarnation by the Cult of the Heretic. While inhabited by his future self's mind, the Decayed Master's body wound up being dissipated into nothingness by the explosion of a machine that was meant to stabilise his damaged genetic structure. However, the Master's mind survived within the telepathic circuits of his TARDIS, still keeping the voice and appearance of the Decayed Master. After Michael Robertson, a man whom the Master had adopted as his son and implanted with some of his symbiotic nuclei, walked into the TARDIS, the Master's mind overwhelmed him and possessed him, causing Robertson's body to rapidly evolve and degenerate into a copy of the Master's "true" decayed, Time Lord appearance, with which he escaped thereafter (AUDIO: And You Will Obey Me [+]Loading...["And You Will Obey Me (audio story)"]) to have his mind switched back with that of the Decayed Master in the Reborn Master's body. (AUDIO: The Two Masters [+]Loading...["The Two Masters (audio story)"])
Tremas[[edit] | edit source]
- Main article: Decayed Master's possession of Tremas
His first such victim was Consul Tremas of Traken, with whom the Decayed Master merged using the power of the Source of Traken. The Tremas Master who resulted from this event appeared noticeably changed from Tremas, with a younger, more sinister appearance, but the Master acknowledged that he was inhabiting the preexisting "body" of Tremas, whom he stated was dead. (TV: The Keeper of Traken [+]Loading...["The Keeper of Traken (TV story)","The Keeper of Traken"], Logopolis [+]Loading...["Logopolis (TV story)"]) While the Master would later adit that his new form was "not exactly" a regeneration in the typical sense, (TV: The Five Doctors [+]Loading...["The Five Doctors (TV story)"]) the Fifth Doctor considered it to have essentially been one (AUDIO: The Light at the End [+]Loading...["The Light at the End (audio story)"])
Bruce Gerhardt[[edit] | edit source]
- Main article: Morphant Master's possession of Bruce Gerhardt
After his body was destroyed by the Daleks on Skaro, the Master survived as a Deathworm Morphant and possessed the body of human ambulance driver Bruce Gerhardt in a much more visceral way, inhabiting and puppeteering Gerhardt's decaying body from within. This caused Bruce's eyes to be replaced with the Master's glowing, green, snake-like eyes. The Master initially thought the body would not "last ong", (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"], PROSE: The Novel of the Film [+]Loading...["The Novel of the Film (novelisation)"]) but this form would subsequently be "stabilised" by the Eye of Harmony and this new form of the Master endured for some time. (AUDIO: Day of the Master [+]Loading...["Day of the Master (audio story)"], etc.)
Grace Holloway[[edit] | edit source]
During the Regeneration Operation, (PROSE: The Secret Diary of the Master [+]Loading...["The Secret Diary of the Master (short story)"]) the Master, still primarily housed within Bruce's body, also used his hypnotic powers to take control of Grace Holloway, with Change Lee telling the Doctor that she was indeed "possessed". While her body was under the Master's control, Grace's eyes became pitch-black; when he realised that this would not fulfill the criteria to open the Eye of Harmony, the Master released Grace from his possession by forcibly kissing her and sucking his essence out of her. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"])
Later vessels of the Decayed Master[[edit] | edit source]
By one account, after passing through the Eye of Harmony, the Master lost the body he'd been using, with his gaseous Morphant essence reverting to the voice and appearance of his decayed incarnation. (AUDIO: Mastermind [+]Loading...["Mastermind (audio story)"])
Emerging in 1906 in the body of Sir George Steer, he was stopped by a time-travellingEdward Grainger (whose younger version he was attempting to kill to disrupt the Doctor's timeline) as well as Violet. After being hit with a rolling pin, the Master was forced to leave Steer's body. (PROSE: Prologue to The Centenarian [+]Loading...["Prologue to The Centenarian (short story)"]) The Master then managed to evade the Doctor's detection, and possessed the body of a human named Richard. (PROSE: Forgotten [+]Loading...["Forgotten (short story)"])
After possessing Richard, the Master killed Violet out of revenge. However, the Master discovered his possession had caused the host body to decay at an accelerated rate, so he was forced to steal more bodies to prolong his survival. Realising that the First World War was rapidly approaching, the Master decided to migrate to America to avoid the conflict and boarded a ship to go there in 1912. Ironically, he had boarded the RMS Titanic, unaware of its eventual fate, and escaped in a lifeboat when it sank.
Arriving in New York City, the Master took possession of a member of the Hudson Dusters, quickly becoming the leader of the gang and calling himself "Don Maestro". After twenty years of living in his current body, he occupied the body of his host's son, Michael, and moved to Las Vegas where he owned a casino. He accumulated money to fund experiments towards the elongation of the lifespan of his host body. Fearing the eventual decay of his body, the Master used his money to buy a penthouse to isolate himself from infection. After years living in isolation, his host's son confronted him with the knowledge that he had possessed both his father and his grandfather in some way. He then trapped the Master in the penthouse.
After UNIT were alerted to the presence of penthouse, they discovered the Master in a comatose state. He was imprisoned in the UNIT Vault, awakening every five years for one hour, before returning to a coma. After fifteen years living in the Vault, the Master awoke for a third time and was interrogated by UNIT officers Ruth Matheson and Charlie Sato. However, he managed to hypnotise both of them and escape his imprisonment. Discovering that UNIT had recovered his TARDIS from a sealed tomb in the Valley of the Kings, he used it to escape from the Vault. (AUDIO: Mastermind [+]Loading...["Mastermind (audio story)"])
Other Time Lords[[edit] | edit source]
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The Pandora entity possessed Inquisitor Darkel's mind, killing her. She had previously occupied other host bodies, but she had always been driven out. (AUDIO: Gallifrey [+]Loading...["Gallifrey (audio series)","Gallifrey"])
Others[[edit] | edit source]
Krem-ling and others like him possessed the bodies of the individuals they psychically fed on. (PROSE: The Vampires of Crellium [+]Loading...["The Vampires of Crellium (short story)","The Vampires of Crellium"])
The evil entity known to Commander Millington as "Fenric" was stated by the Seventh Doctor to "need a body". After he was unleashed from the flask in which the Doctor had trapped him centuries prior, he possessed Doctor Judson, then, after burning out his body trying to think about the Doctor's chess puzzle, transferred himself into Captain Sorin. Sorin's body was then destroyed by the Ancient One, seemingly destroying Fenric. (TV: The Curse of Fenric [+]Loading...["The Curse of Fenric (TV story)","The Curse of Fenric"])
The Psionovore Marchosias possessed Senator Waldo Pickering, giving him superhuman strength and allowing him to directly feed on others' fears. (AUDIO: Minuet in Hell [+]Loading...["Minuet in Hell (audio story)","Minuet in Hell"])
The Ravenous were able to learn "new tricks" during their isolation in the prison dimension, including possession. (AUDIO: Deeptime Frontier [+]Loading...["Deeptime Frontier (audio story)","Deeptime Frontier"])
In Styrakos, the warlock Ty Rejutka Lupex learned to transfer his essence into new vessels to replace his body whenever it wore out due to the strain of the powers he had accumulated. One of his victims was Klu, with whom he had discovered that his wife Pyra was cheating on him. Later, an ordinary man was one of many victims he hunted across Styrakos before finally draining them. As his bodies wore out faster every time, he eventually created an android body that would last him forever, but before he could transplant his mind into the technomagical creation, Pyra gave it a mind of its own, creating Death's Head. (COMIC: The Body in Question [+]Loading...["The Body in Question (comic story)"])
The reservoir of evil was capable of possessing sensitives in geographical locations metaphysically close to them. Daniel O'Kane was possessed in 1945 and killed his mother, father and two sisters. In 1994, he was returned to Hawthorne and killed ten people, including William Bruffin and Colin Dove. Peter Russell was later possessed, as was Patient One. (HOMEVID: The Zero Imperative [+]Loading...["The Zero Imperative (home video)","The Zero Imperative"])
The Beast possessed Toby Zed, giving him the ability to breathe fire and survive in areas without oxygen. (TV: The Impossible Planet [+]Loading...["The Impossible Planet (TV story)","The Impossible Planet"] / The Satan Pit [+]Loading...["The Satan Pit (TV story)","The Satan Pit"])
The Torajii sun possessed Hal Korwin, Dev Ashton and the Tenth Doctor, giving them the ability to vaporise a being by looking at them. (TV: 42 [+]Loading...["42 (TV story)","42"])
The Isolus possessed Chloe Webber, giving her the ability to make drawings come to life and living things become drawings. (TV: Fear Her [+]Loading...["Fear Her (TV story)","Fear Her"])
Cassandra O'Brien possessed Rose Tyler by means of an illegal psychograft, when she decided she needed a new human body. She later possessed the Tenth Doctor and her servant, Chip. (TV: New Earth [+]Loading...["New Earth (TV story)","New Earth"])
The Bane possessed humans who consumed Bubble Shock!, turning them into zombies at their command. (TV: Invasion of the Bane [+]Loading...["Invasion of the Bane (TV story)","Invasion of the Bane"])
The Family of Blood possessed four humans, giving the Family non-gaseous bodies to travel around in. (TV: Human Nature [+]Loading...["Human Nature (TV story)","Human Nature"] / The Family of Blood [+]Loading...["The Family of Blood (TV story)","The Family of Blood"])
The Gelth possessed dead humans, giving the Gelth bodies to use as "vehicles". (TV: The Unquiet Dead [+]Loading...["The Unquiet Dead (TV story)","The Unquiet Dead"])
The Midnight entity possessed Sky Silvestry, giving her the ability to steal the voices of others. (TV: Midnight [+]Loading...["Midnight (TV story)","Midnight"])
Death possessed Owen Harper after he was reanimated. (TV: Dead Man Walking [+]Loading...["Dead Man Walking (TV story)","Dead Man Walking"])
Clara Oswald was possessed by Kali. (COMIC: The Swords of Kali [+]Loading...["The Swords of Kali (comic story)","The Swords of Kali"])
Misidentifications[[edit] | edit source]
When UNIT archivist Harriet Arbinger began heralding the return of Sutekh, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart mistakenly thought her to be "possessed". However, it soon became clear that Harriet had secretly been Sutekh's Harbinger all along, and was simply revealing her true nature. (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"])
