The Thaarn

The Thaarn is the main antagonist of the Blake's 7 episode "Dawn of the Gods".

He was portrayed by the late Marcus Powell.

Biography
The Thaarn was a figure from a legend on the planet Auron, which spoke of seven gods who came to the planet in prehistory and brought many gifts. One of them became jealous and killed another god, causing him to be sent into exile. There seemed to be some truth in the legend since the Thaarn turned out to have taken up residence in a black hole, in which he had created the artificial world Crandor. He had created a gravity field which he used to lure other ships in, harvesting their hulls for metal and enslaving their crews. He was known as Lord Thaarn to his subjects, who had been promised power in return for their co-operation. The Thaarn, whose true appearance was a wizened dwarf, was hidden away, with his orders carried out by his lieutenant, the Caliph. He dreamed of being able to control gravity and becoming master of the universe.

The Thaarn showed a special interest in the Liberator when it was drawn into his world, partly because he sensed the intelligence of Orac (although he was unaware Orac was a computer, something he detested), partly because of the presence of Cally, another telepath. The Thaarn yearned for company and, when the Liberator crew were captured, he had Cally brought to him, remaining hidden behind a screen. The Thaarn's technology rendered all equipment in the area useless but Cally accused him of also trying to influence her mentally. The Thaarn denied it and turned off his field to prove it, at which point Cally opened fire with her now operational gun, destroying the equipment. She confronted the Thaarn face to face, intending to kill him, but his appearance filled her with sympathy. She left him behind and kept the truth from her crew.

Avon and Tarrant had also taken advantage of the field being turned off to organise an escape and the Liberator crew made it back to their ship. One of the Thaarn's slaves, Groff, sacrificed himself to turn off the gravity field that held Crandor together. The world collapsed, allowing the Liberator to fall back into normal space, although the Thaarn's ship also made it out intact, escaping.