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| The Carrionites |
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 Name: The Carrionites; specific Carrionites faced
by The Doctor were known as Lillith, Doomfinger and Bloodtide
Format:
Television show
Time of Origin: Technically the Howling
Void outside of reality, but they attempted to attack Earth in 1597.
Appearances: "The
Shakespeare Code"
Doctors: Tenth
Doctor
Companions: Martha Jones
History: A particularly interesting detail to
note about the Carrionites - who naturally resemble ravens, although
they can assume a humanoid form through effort - is the fact that
they are essentially a race of witches and magic-users, relying on
a magic control of words and commands in order to influence the world
around them (Possibly a lexical version of the mathematical block
transfer computations used by the Logopolitans ("Logopolis")).
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| The Carrionites |
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Aside
from flight and mental manipulation, they can also use items acquired
from individuals, such as hair or nails, to manipulate the bodies
of others by attaching the acquired items to poppets, The Doctor
comparing such a feat to DNA replication modules. However, their
magic can be weakened by temporal anomalies - to the extent that
a spell that would have killed humans in the present only rendered
Martha Jones unconscious due to her being out of sync with the world
around her -, and The Doctor’s mental barriers were so powerful
that they could not determine his true name to use their magic against
him.
Having been banished to the Deep Darkness
by the Eternals ("Enlightenment") when their manipulation
of reality threatened the fabric of the universe, the Carrionites were
eventually drawn to Earth due to Shakespeare’s grief over the death
of his son, the pain of a genius such as Shakespeare creating a minor
rift that three of their number - identified as Lillith, Doomfinger and
Bloodtide, with Lillith as their leader and human representative - were
able to use to escape their prison.
Making
contact with architect Peter Streete, the Carrionites were able to
dictate the design of the Globe Theatre to him, Streete giving it
its distinctive fourteen sides so that it could serve as a ‘collector’ of
Carrionite energy when the proper words were spoken, the fourteen
sides representing the fourteen planets in their system. To this
end, the Carrionites influenced Shakespeare’s attempt to write
his latest play, Love’s Labours Won, so that the play’s
concluding words would serve as part of a ‘spell’ that
would open the door to the Howling Void and allow the rest of their
race to escape.
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| The Carrionites |
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However, the Carrionites’ plans were derailed when
the Tenth Doctor and his new companion Martha Jones arrived in London
just as they were about to put their plan into action, the TARDIS travellers making contact with Shakespeare after they witnessed him
announcing that he would show Love’s Labours Won the following
night despite The Doctor’s knowledge that it was Shakespeare’s
lost play. Having witnessed Lynley, the Master of the Revels, being
killed when Lillith ‘drowned’ him using a Carrionite
poppet, The Doctor realised that there was more going on here than
the obvious, making mental contact with Streete to learn what had
happened to him before a confrontation with a Carrionite filled in
the remaining blanks.
Although The Doctor and Martha asked Shakespeare to stop
the play, he was unable to halt the production before the final act,
the last words of the play being a ‘spell’ that could
open a rift to the realm of the Carrionites and allow the rest of
their race to reach Earth;
The light of Shadmoch’s
Hollow moon doth shine
Onto a point in space betwixt
Dravidian Shores Linear 5930167.02
And strikes the fulsome grove
Of rexel 4 co-radiating crystal activate |
Despite the rift being opened, The Doctor
and Martha were able to get back to the Globe before it could be
completed - the Carrionites’ attempt to kill The Doctor using
a poppet having failed as their attempt to ‘stab’ him
merely temporarily stopped one heart -, The Doctor subsequently convincing
Shakespeare to use his genius to write a second sonnet to seal the
Carrionites away;
Close up this din of hateful decay,
Decomposition of your witches' plot!
You thieve my brains, consider me your toy,
My doting doctor tells me I am not!
Foul Carrionite specters, cease your show,
Between the points 761290
Banished like a tinker's cuss,
I say to thee, Expelliarmus! |
(The last being the contribution of Martha Jones, inspired
by Harry Potter, when Shakespeare couldn’t think of another
suitable word). With this spell, the Carrionites were trapped in
a crystal ball that Lillith had been using to generate the portal,
The Doctor subsequently keeping the ball in the TARDIS while recommending
that Shakespeare dispose of other copies of Love’s Labours
Won to prevent the Carrionites coming back through any residual magic
that might be in the text. |
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