| “ | Can you hear me? | „ |
| ~ Rakaya |
Rakaya is one of the two main antagonists of the Doctor Who episode "Can You Hear Me?". She is an immortal being that gains entertainment from nightmares, and is the lover of Zellin.
She was portrayed by Clare-Hope Ashitey.
Biography
Rakaya was an Eternal, an immortal being that used the thoughts and emotions of so-called "Ephemerals" for its own ends. She and her lover Zellin would torment humans by giving them terrifying nightmares, which they fed on.
Long ago, Rakaya and Zellin discovered two inhabited planets in the same solar system and made a bet to see which one of them could destroy one of the planets first. Claiming to be gods, the two of them manipulated the inhabitants of the planets into going to war with each other. The two planets were driven to the brink of extinction, but eventually they realised what was happening and imprisoned Rakaya in a sphere trapped between the two planets, now abandoned and about to collide. Zellin escaped, feeding human nightmares to Rakaya to keep her sane.
In the year 2020, Rakaya began sending visions to Graham O'Brien begging to be saved from her prison. Graham and the Thirteenth Doctor investigated, eventually releasing Rakaya. Zellin then revealed the story behind Rakaya's imprisonment before the two of them departed for Earth, intent on feeding on the nightmares of all humanity.
After arriving in Aleppo, the Doctor was confronted by Zellin and Rakaya, who had already begun feeding off nightmares. She told Zellin that he was wrong about humans creating their own weaknesses and that they are stronger for living through it every day. Tahira, a woman who was terrorised by monsters created by Zellin, proved her right by summoning and taking control of one of these monsters, which attacked the two immortals and imprisoned them in Rakaya's previous prison, where they would be terrorised by their own worst nightmares for all eternity.
