Great Intelligence: Difference between revisions

|alias            = The Master, [[Yog-Sothoth]], The Hollow Man, Maha

|appearances      = [[Great Intelligence - list of appearances|'''''see list''''']]

The '''Great Intelligence''' was a mysterious entity. Few sources could agree exactly what the Intelligence was. The [[Second Doctor]] described it as "a sort of formless, shapeless thing floating about in space like a cloud of mist, only with a mind and will." The Intelligence was capable of possessing deceased bodies, controlling mechanised [[Robot Yeti]], forming fear-dependent [[Snowman|snow creatures]], and was often prone to choosing individuals to do its bidding from a distance. heheheheh suiiii

According to one account, the Great Intelligence was originally the being known as [[Yog-Sothoth]], from [[Pre-universe|the universe]] before [[N-Space|the Doctor's]]; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'') he and his brethren survived the [[end of the universe|end of their universe]] by passing through a [[parallel universe]] that ended one second after theirs. Shifting again allowed them to enter the current universe shortly after it began expanding. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[All-Consuming Fire (novel)|All-Consuming Fire]]'', ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'') Another account agreed that the Great Intelligence was a Great Old One; ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Roof of the World (audio story)|The Roof of the World]]'') another account stated that the Great Old Ones all lost their physical bodies running from the [[Fendahl]], explaining the Intelligence's disembodied nature and perpetual quest for incarnation. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[White Darkness (novel)|White Darkness]]'')

Yet another account suggested that the Great Intelligence was created when a [[human]] boy, [[Walter Simeon]], began speaking to a snowman that, unbeknownst to the boy, had been created from an alien snow-like material which generated a low-level telepathic field. The snowman reflected his most dark beliefs and thoughts, and eventually formed its own consciousness, becoming the "dream [that] outlive[d] the dreamer". After Simeon's memory was erased in an ill-fated attempt to defeat both him and his inhuman creation, the growing Intelligence first displayed the ability to take over other's bodies as it possessed Simeon's mindless husk, and soon after "learned to live as a disembodied consciousness". ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')

After [[the War]], the [[Superior]]s sent [[Chris Cwej]] to investigate a disturbance on the surface of the devastated planet [[Nibo]]. Cwej found that a group of abandoned, deteriorating [[Time Engine]]s — weapons designed to emanate harmful [[temporal wave]]s — had generated a swarm of [[Shadow-Mantis]]es. After fighting his way into the Engines, Cwej realised that their waves had generated a life form, a cosmic fungus which metabolised time. Cwej defeated the entity in a psychic battle, but later worried that a surviving spore retained an imprint of his mind, and might grow into "a great intelligence". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Mushroom at the End of the Universe (short story)|The Mushroom at the End of the Universe]])

According to another source, the Intelligence had been exiled from another dimension, and was forced to wander the [[universe]] to find a body to possess. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Web of Fear (novelisation)|Doctor Who and the Web of Fear]]'')

According to a third account, the Great Intelligence was formed when a young Walter Simeon discovered that a [[snowman]] he had built began to talk back to him. The "snow" was not actually snow but a flock of predatory, but unintelligent, [[space crystal]]s which generated a low-level telepathic field, causing it to respond to the thoughts and emotions of those around them. Because of this, the consciousness which spoke back to Simeon and began identifying itself as "the Intelligence" started out as nothing more than Simeon's own dark thoughts reflected back at him. As an adult, Simeon established the [[Great Intelligence Institute]] as the snow slowly swarmed to Earth, building a "[[big globey thing]]" in which the increasingly intelligent core of the swarm was housed.

The Intelligence did not totally perish, and in fact learned to survive beyond physical form. It continued with the belief that the [[London Underground]] was a key strategic weakness in the [[London]] metropolitan area. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')

=== The [[London Event]] ===

Now under pressure from the other Old Ones, who themselves embarked on similar campaigns and conquered other planets, the Intelligence was forced to use the Yeti in London, an environment to which they were not well suited. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'')

Approximately 40 years after the events at the Det-Sen Monastery the Yeti re-activated and the Intelligence manifested as [[the Web|webbing]]. It ensnared [[the Doctor's TARDIS]] in space and forced it to land in the London Underground. Reunited with Travers, the Doctor assisted [[British]] military in their battles with the Yeti. The Intelligence re-animated and possessed the corpse of Staff Sergeant [[Albert Arnold|Arnold]], using him to track the Doctor's actions. The Intelligence captured the Doctor and tried to use a conversion headset to take over the Doctor's body. The Doctor attempted to reverse the process, allowing him to absorb the Intelligence and destroy it. When the control spheres that formed the focus of the Intelligence were smashed by [[Jamie McCrimmon]], the Intelligence vanished, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]'') powerless but still alive, though blinded in unending darkness. ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Downtime (home video)|Downtime]]'')

According to one account, the Intelligence soon found itself on [[Earth]] in the year [[1842]]. There it met a boy, who he connected to as the boy became a man. The Intelligence grew stronger, but still felt gaps in its memory covering centuries. It chose the name Great Intelligence, as given to him in [[Tibet]]. It continued to use the man's form after his death, lingering for a hundred years in search of minds to use for its own. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Forgotten Son (novel)|The Forgotten Son]]'')

When [[Unified Intelligence Taskforce|UNIT]] arrived at the Shard, the Great Intelligence ordered Kizlet to restore their employees to their "factory settings", effectively erasing everyone's [[memory|memories]] to avoid detection. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'')

After the [[Siege of Trenzalore]] in [[Alternate timeline (The Name of the Doctor)|an]] [[alternate timeline]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]'') the Intelligence used the [[Whisper Men]] to kidnap Madame [[Vastra]], [[Strax]] and [[Jenny Flint]] from [[1893]] to [[Trenzalore]]. It spoke through their "[[conference call]]" link with Clara and [[River Song]] to take the Doctor from [[2013]] [[London]] to Trenzalore.

Weeks after the original London Event, in [[1969]], the Intelligence used [[Owain Vine]], another reincarnation of the Intelligence's immortal soul. A final showdown in Remington Manor between the Intelligence and Lethbridge-Stewart saw the Intelligence finally defeated. The last trace of it permeated the ruins of Remington Manor. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Forgotten Son (novel)|The Forgotten Son]]'')

In all realities, the Intelligence constantly sought physical existence to replace being a shapeless, formless cloud hanging in space, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Legacies (short story)|Legacies]]'') eventually adopting Walter Simeon as a recurring avatar, speaking in that guise through a large wall-mounted video screen, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'') modelling the Whisper Men on Simeon's appearance, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'') and appearing as Simeon to James Lethbridge-Stewart and Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Forgotten Son (novel)|The Forgotten Son]]'')

* [[Yog-Sothoth]] is the name of a fictional deity created by [[H. P. Lovecraft]], first appearing in ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward''. It was implied to be one of the most powerful beings in the universe (second to only [[Azathoth]]), the key and the gate through which the Old Ones entered the world. Its appearance is often a mass of spheres and it is described as being imprisoned outside of the space-time continuum in a place where it exists at every point in time and space. Although not mentioning the Great Intelligence as such and bearing no mark of having copyright clearance to use the Intelligence, the novel ''[[All-Consuming Fire (novel)|All-Consuming Fire]]'' implied that Yog-Sothoth was the Intelligence, as the Doctor mentioned having met Yog-Sothoth "[[The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)|in Tibet]] and [[The Web of Fear (TV story)|again in London]]". ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'', which used the Intelligence in its own right, later made the connection explicit.

* Whether the Great Intelligence should be referred to as "it" or "he" is perhaps best left to personal preference. Being emphatically inhuman and having not only no body, but no set physical avatar when it does incarnate itself, it is doubtful as to whether the Intelligence can be said to have a fixed gender; it is certainly sexless in a biological sense. The most that can be said is that, through borrowing the face of its progenitor [[Walter Simeon]] long after the man's death, the Intelligence as depicted in [[Series 7 (Doctor Who)|Series 7]] can be said to be male-presenting.

* With a gap of 44 years, the Great Intelligence holds the record for longest period of time between televised ''Doctor Who'' appearances. However, the longest period of time between Doctor Who appearances of an individual ''played by the same performer'' goes to [[Alpha Centauri]], voiced by [[Ysanne Churchman]], with a 43 year gap. However, both of these characters continued to appear in expanded media in the intervening time, so perhaps the honour should instead go to [[Axos]], with thirty nine years between its first two appearances in the franchise.

 

In the story of ''[[Legacy (video game)|Doctor Who: Legacy]]'', the [[Eleventh Doctor]] and his [[companion]]s face the Great Intelligence in London in 1892 while travelling back through the [[timeline]].