- 🔀 For the group of unique, malignant beings of great power in the fictional cosmology of the Cthulhu Mythos see Great Old One.
The Great Old Ones are a pantheon of malevolent entities in the Doctor Who universe. The first time appearance of the Great Old Ones of the Cthulhu Mythos in Doctor Who was in the 1993 novel White Darkness, by Virgin Publishing, with Cthulhu as the primary antagonist, although he wasn't identified by name until All-Consuming Fire. In 1994-1995, old enemies of the Doctor (e.g. Animus) were retconned into Great Old Ones in the novels All-Consuming Fire and Millennial Rites.
Background[]
The Great Old Ones are entities which existed before the universe. Beings whom, in the race memory of mankind, were its worst nightmares. Entities that spread chaos, evil, and destruction wherever they were. They couldn't be killed within the material universe. The language of the Old Ones was quantum mnemonics, which was their equivalent of Block Transfer Computations, giving them the ability to rewrite reality. They saw the Time Lords as a threat.
In their home universe, the Old Ones had physical bodies. When they entered N-Space, they got new bodies; some of them lost their new bodies when forced to flee from the Fendahl, abandoning their new forms. Afterwards, for brief periods of time, the Old Ones were able to assume physical forms, as their new state of being was as collective consciousnesses. The Old Ones created planes and universes between the dimensions, which became their new home.
It's theorized that the Old Ones were the Time Lords of their universe. The Great Old Ones most active in the universe were known as the Elder Gods, who played cosmic games with each other, using the dimension known as the Board. The powers displayed by the Great Old Ones varied depending on the individual, including re-animation of the dead, extending an individual's lifespan, time travel, manipulating and relocating timelines, creating thunder and lightning, simultaneously existing in multiple time zones, stopping a TARDIS in fight, and generating fog, fungus and webbing.
The Old Ones could not die within the material dimension, simply reappearing if killed--since their bodies were composed of energies that didn't belong in the material universe. If they decayed, those energies would tear apart space and time. The only places that an Old One could safely die were either in its own universe or the Board, causing the Time Vortex to turn inside out. TARDIS sensors revealed that the amount of energy in an Old One's body was the equal of 20 billion nukes.
Departure from Canon[]
In the Doctor Who universe, there are no Outer Gods. Entities which are generally considered Outer Gods in the Cthulhu Mythos (e.g. Yog-Sothoth) are instead regarded as Great Old Ones. Though beings of great power, they were rivaled by the Chronovores and Eternals. The greatest powers in the universe were races with godlike technology, the Time Lords and the Daleks.
Known Great Old Ones[]
- Azathoth
- Nyarlathotep
- Shub-Niggurath
- The Great Intelligence
- Fenric
- Cthulhu
- Dagon
- Grace
- Nestene Consciousness
- Guardians of Time
- Celestial Toymaker
- Gods of Ragnarok
- Hecuba
- Animus
- Tor-Gasukk
- Moloch
- Kai'lizakia
- Lloigor
- Toymakers
- Eidolon
- Derleth
- Gog and Magog
- To'Koth
- Karnas'koi
- Traguam
- Archon
- Mi'en Kalarash
- Kwundaar
- Volund