| “ | I am the Rage, and the Bile, and the Ferocity! I am the Prince, and the Fall, and the Agony! I am the Sin, and the Fear, and the Darkness! I shall never die! The thought of me is forever, in the bleeding hearts of men, in their vanity, and obsession, and lust! Nothing shall ever destroy me! NOTHING! | „ |
| ~ The Beast's last words through Toby Zed. |
The Beast is a demon that appears in the British sci-fi series Doctor Who, appearing as the main antagonist in the two-parter "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit" in Series 2.
It was voiced by Gabriel Woolf, who also played Sutekh in the same franchise. It was also voiced by Silas Carson (while possessing the Ood) and played physically by Will Thorp (while possessing Toby Zed).
Biography[]
Origin[]
The origins of the Beast are a mystery, the only thing that is known is that his name is Daemos, but it claims to have been born before the universe began and is the basis of every religion's concept of the Devil. What is known is that the Daemos was captured by the Disciples of the Light and chained inside a pit deep within the planet Krop Tor, which was able to orbit a black hole without being sucked in. Its presence later seeped into the subconscious of all sentient beings to become the basis of the Devil-figure in all religions.
The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit[]
When a Torchwood exploration group arrive to Krop Tor to discover what was preventing the planet from being pulled into the black hole, with the Tenth incarnation of the Doctor and his companion Rose Tyler appearing, the Beast saw its chance at freedom and possess the mind of Toby Zed and then the The Ood to serve as its Legion while making it seem that he left Zed's body. Managing to calm everyone down when the Beast preys on their insecurities, the Doctor has Ida rig up the loose cable, so he can explore the pit to find the Beast while the others manage to escape with Rose realizing that something is amiss.
Finding the Beast after detaching the cable to reach the bottom, the Doctor learns that Beast had transferred its mind into Toby's body to escape and that was chained was a demonic body that acts on base instinct. The Doctor realizes that the Disciples of the Light arranged for oxygen within the Beast's prison so someone can destroy the source of Krop Tor's artificial gravity to thwart the Beast's escape as its mind and body are still linked. As the Doctor destroys the gravity with the Beast's body screaming with Krop Tor is sent falling into the black hole, the Beast's mind with Toby violently reacts to the turn of events before Rose sends the demonic vessel out into space to be sucked into the event horizon, However, it claimed that the Beast's original body and spirit would never be truly destroyed.
The Beast is Back in Town[]
According to the webcomic The Beast is Back in Town, the Beast found itself reconstituted and revived on the other side of the cosmos. It went to Earth where it assumed the form of Martha Jones and used the TARDIS' telepathic circuits to contact the Doctor. As Martha, it asked the Doctor if she could rejoin him in his adventures, but he refused. They were then chased to the TARDIS by the Cybermen, which were actually a psychic projection created by the Beast. There, the Beast revealed itself and told the Doctor that he would use his TARDIS to conquer time and space. The Doctor then asked the Beast to turn into Martha again, so it was small enough to push into the time vortex. The Doctor revealed that he knew all the time it wasn't her, because she would phone him as she didn't know how to use the TARDIS' telepathic circuits. It is unclear if the Beast survived in the time vortex.
Personality[]
The Beast was a narcissistic and overconfident demon that constantly exalted itself and its achievements and referring to itself by variously magnificent and grandiose epithets. It was exceedingly pompous and rude when it dismissed all other creatures as its inferiors and believing itself invincible. The Beast was also quite emphatic about its own importance in the mindsets of other life forms, asserting itself as all of the devils in existence, "the truth behind the myth".
In addition to being very arrogant and egotistical, the Beast was also a destructive and ferocious monster. The Beast had an extremely cunning and manipulative nature, and it was proud of the acts that it set into motion, laughing when the Tenth Doctor deduced its plans to escape Krop Tor. The Beast would even sadistically prey on people's tremendous fear and guilt to shake them and leave them feeling vulnerable. The Beast was also able to see into the future, so it used this precognitive insight against others, foretelling twisted interpretations of what would befall them, with enough truthfully preserved in his statements to keep them plagued with dread.
While holding a sadistic reverie in tearing apart the minds and emotions of its victims, the Doctor realises it is also indicative of the Beast's intelligence and strategy, as it engages psychological warfare to undermine the efficacy of resistance to its will. Similarly, before departing Krop Tor, Rose realises that the Beast had the power to kill them all at anytime, which allows her to understand the Beast's plan wasn't to kill them, but to push them along - deceiving them into believing they were outrunning it - until they escape, with him as a stowaway possessing Toby.
Abilities[]
The Beast could manifest itself through electronic media, including computer voices and hologram viewers. Its mind could leave its body and possess a single hive mind of the Ood collectively and/or a single human individually. It had the power of telepathy and, through a host, telekinesis.
Possession of a human subject affected the host's skin, causing strange markings to appear all over their face and body; and vocal cords, allowing them to speak at different pitches simultaneously. Whether a single human or a hive mind, the eyes of those possessed by the Beast glowed a fiery red.
The Beast could also project fire from his mouth, as could its possessed hosts. Its hosts could also physically survive in a vacuum, also being able to walk normally in reduced gravity environments.
It had a seemingly limitless telepathic power, as even when imprisoned, it sent a telepathic call across the universe that both gave a subconscious perception of a "Devil," while it also enticed spacefaring explorers into traveling to Krop Tor, in spite of its proximity to a black hole, in a bid to free itself. When unleashed, the Beast seemed able to almost instantly read the minds of sentient creatures, absorbing knowledge of their memories, with it largely focusing on recollections of trauma as to determine a weakness or taunt to use against them; even beings with strong wills and a psychically-guarded subconscious, such as the Doctor, could be thoroughly read.
The Beast's existence seeped into the subconscious of all sentient beings across the universe, becoming the basis of the Devil-figure in all religions. Although defeated by the Doctor and Rose, the Beast claimed that it could never be destroyed as the thought of it would live on.
Though, despite the Beast's own manipulation of gravity, it could be overwhelmed, as the gravity well of a black hole was enough to drag it to its seeming death; though, there may be a spiritual implication that not even the Doctor understood, as the Beast seemed immune to any other damage or influence, but as shown with the prison constructed eons ago, an apparent mystical energy could annul its abilities.
Quotes[]
| “ | The Beast and his Armies shall rise from the Pit to make war against God. | „ |
| ~ A sinister message suddenly said by an Ood manipulated by the Beast. |
| “ | These are the words of the Beast. And he has woken. He is the heart that beats in the darkness. He is the blood that will never cease. And now he will rise. | „ |
| ~ Toby, while manipulated by the Beast. |
| “ | We are the Legion of the Beast. The Legion shall be many, and the Legion shall be few. He has woven himself in the fabric of your life since the dawn of time. Some may call him Abaddon. Some may call him Krop Tor. Some may call him Satan or Lucifer. Or the Bringer of Despair, the Deathless Prince, the Bringer of Night. These are the words that shall set him free. I shall become manifest. I shall walk in might. My Legions shall swarm across the worlds. I am the sin and the temptation. And the desire. I am the pain and the loss and the dead will come. I have been imprisoned for eternity. But no more. The Pit is open. And I am free! Bwahahahahahaha! | „ |
| ~ The Beast through the Ood at the end of The Impossible Planet. |
| “ | This is the darkness. This is my domain. You little things that live in the light, clinging to your feeble suns which die in the end. Only the darkness remains. | „ |
| ~ The Beast through the Ood to those not under his control. |
| “ | The Doctor: If you are the Beast, then answer me this. Which one, hmm? Cos the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There's more religions than there are planets in the sky. The Archiphets, Orkology, Christianity, Pash Pash, New Judaism, San Klah, Church of the Tin Vagabond. Which devil are you? The Beast: All of them. The Doctor: What, then you're the truth behind the myth? The Beast: This one knows me as I know him. The killer of his own kind. The Doctor: How did you end up on this rock? The Beast: The Disciples of the Light rose up against me and chained me in the pit for all eternity. The Doctor: When was this? The Beast: Before time. The Doctor: What does that mean? The Beast: Before time. The Doctor: What does before time mean? The Beast: Before light and time and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before this universe was created. The Doctor: That's impossible. No life could have existed back then. The Beast: Is that your religion? The Doctor: ...It's a belief. The Beast: You know nothing. All of you, so small. |
„ |
| ~ The Doctor and the Beast (through the Ood) have a conversation. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Beast is the father of Abaddon, the main antagonist of the first season of Torchwood.
- It was voiced by Gabriel Woolf, who also played Sutekh in the Classic seasons of Doctor Who. Satan was also mentioned by the Doctor as one of the names of Sutekh, making this the second time that Gabriel Woolf has voiced a version of the Devil for Doctor Who.
- The Doctor stated that the Beast's likeness was used to represent the Kaled God of War, along with being the basis for the concept of the Devil throughout all religions in the universe.
- The written language used by the Disciples of the Light, and the script on demonic relics, couldn't be interpreted by the TARDIS translation circuit, which indicated it predated the existence of any language and era in which Time Lords explored, which was supposedly all of them.
