Fenric: Difference between revisions

"'''Fenric'''", a name drawn from [[Norse mythology]], was the name given by [[Commander]] [[A. H. Millington|Millington]] to the "'''evil force'''" from the dawn of time. The [[Seventh Doctor]] claimed that this sentient force of evil was a surviving fragment of the evil half of the good-evil binary which had shattered into a thousand pieces to create [[the Universe]]. According to him, "[[evil]] has no name" by nature, and thus Fenric was an improper designation. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Curse of Fenric (TV story)|The Curse of Fenric]]'') On account referred to him as simply '''the Entity'''. ([[PROSE]]: {{cite source|Games (short story)|page=22}})

According to the [[Seventh Doctor]], the being later known as Fenric was one of two forces, one [[good]], one [[evil]], which were present at the [[Event One|Dawn of Time]] and became caught in it. Somehow, the evil force survived. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Curse of Fenric (TV story)|The Curse of Fenric]]'') "The Entity", as he was once known, was also posited to be the personification of "pure, undiluted evil", being a "formless [[black]] [[cloud]] that flowed and coalesced, throbbing with a terrible [[passion]]." ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Games (short story)|page=22}}) The Doctor later, however, claimed Fenric was merely a part of nature that was "out of balance", not a force of "evil". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Curse of Fenric (novelisation)|The Curse of Fenric]]'')

Eventually, the Doctor arrived in the city, and agreed to help in exchange for freeing a slave called [[Zeleekhà]]. The Doctor went out to Fenric and challenged him to a game of [[chess]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Curse of Fenric (novelisation)|The Curse of Fenric]]'') with Fenric carving pieces from the bones in the desert to play against the "lonely old man". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Runes of Fenric (short story)|The Runes of Fenric]]'') After forty days of stalemates, the Doctor was able to convince Fenric that with one move, he would win. Fenric spent another forty days trying to figure out what this one move was, growing weaker all the time. Eventually, he became so weak that the Doctor was able to trap Fenric in a [[flask]] and banish him to the [[Shadow Dimensions]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Curse of Fenric (novelisation)|The Curse of Fenric]]'') Just prior, [[the Mandarin]] had been seeking out "the Entity" but was unable to reach him before his imprisonment.

Thus, the Mandarin travelled to the Entity's [[non-world]], challenging him to a [[game]]; after settling the [[stake (gambling)|stakes]] — the Mandarin would relinquish his body to the Entity if he lost or the Entity would become the Mandarin's [[toy]] if he were to lose instead — the Entity chose [[four dimensional chess]] as [[The Mandarin-the Entity chess match|their game]]. They played for an unknowable duration of time, the [[advantage]] shifting between them as the game progressed, and the Entity began to win towards the [[endgame]]. Sensing this, the Mandarin maneuvered his pieces to ensure a [[stalemate]], a new [[concept]] to him, and he thanked the Entity for teaching him this and declined the Entity's demands of a rematch as he believed it to be pointless as they were equally matched. After the Mandarin left, his words remained with the Entity long after. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Games (short story)|page=22}})