Hello everyone! Ric here and this video is several things really. A review of the Doctor
Who book, “The Knight, the Fool and the Dead” as well as a look at the lore and
character implications. Therefore there will be mild spoilers ahead, as I want to talk
on some points and inform, but I don’t want to ruin the book for those who wish to get
it themselves. I deliberated about making this video for
a while as, quite simply; this book is part of an ongoing series called the Time Lord
Victorious and therefore only one segment of the overall lore concerning the cross media
story. Plus from the information released up to the book’s launch, we already had
quite a clear description of events that this tale would involve.
Nevertheless, we do get some interesting apocryphal lore from this book, so I want to talk about
it. Last point, it is a book, and therefore, I don’t really have slides to illustrate
my points. I really need to set up a decent camera so that I have something to show for
times like this but until that’s sorted, here are some appropriate images instead.
I won’t be going into all the details concerning the story here, for two reasons, one it’s
still a new book and I don’t want to undermine the hard work by narrating it verbatim but
also because its only one tile in the mosaic and we don’t have the full picture yet.
Which is annoying as 2020 has made it rather difficult to accumulate all those pieces,
but here we are. Lengthy disclaimers and preamble out the way,
let’s jump in. The book features the exploits of the tenth Doctor, immediately after the
Waters of Mars, but before he answers the summons of Ood Sigma to confront the return
of the Master. Obviously, this is number Ten in his most vulnerable frame of mind, having
jumped back into his Tardis with a defiant “No.” at his oncoming fate.
He breaks all Timelord rules by taking the Tardis back to the Dark Ages of the universe.
I’ve already done a video concerning this era of creation, but to use a metaphor I could
image cropping up in Who, it’s a time when the universe wasn’t done cooking yet. The
laws of physics are still a little soft and the rules of life and death are there, just
not quite settled yet. Basically it’s an era from even before the Timelords, before
Galifrey was even that advanced. In classic Who, it was also the time when magic still
existed and the Pythian matriarchy maintained control over Gallifrey. Contemporary Who introduced
the notion of the “Timeless Child” and Gallifreyan’s being “Shobogans”, (a
term also borrowed from older lore) but neither of these are mentioned here, so this story
is either ignoring all that or set way before it.
You know I mentioned that life and death weren’t settled yet? Well that’s kind of the whole
reason the Doctor jumped back in time, as far as he dared into the Dark Ages, to the
point where a majority of life in the universe was immortal. Accidents could still happen,
people could be killed, but lifespans were unlimited all across the cosmos. The reason
given for his excursion into the deep past, is simply because he’s still reliving the
final moments of Adelaide Brooke. You know, that thing she did that I can’t say on Youtube
where she pops her own clogs to protect the integrity of time.
The Tardis objected to him coming here, but, post time war, there’s no one to stop him.
As very little is known about this time, he’s in completely uncharted territory, but has
arrived at the tail end of this period of eternal life in the universe. The arrival
of the Kotturuh is imminent. This species are described as veiled and robed in black,
like a widow’s outfit almost, with crystalline hands and a mass of writhing tentacles for
legs. They can appear and disappear rather easily and are rather strong psychics. They
communicate telepathically and seem to be able to form a connection between those who
have been judged as well as raise the dead. Beneath the veil are large bulbous eyes and
stagnant flesh, almost as if it were rotten. Lovely creatures by all accounts, they’ve
been travelling around the universe sentencing different species to various lifespans, from
thousands of years to months depending on some cryptic criteria that only they are privy
too. We know they can perceive a species’ entire timeline and use that to determine
their worth, and that they both recognize the Doctor as he’s not native to this time
and therefore beyond their scope so their judgements have no effect on him.
Naturally, this whole lifespan thing is new to the inhabitants of this era and many are
panicking while some attempt to fight or bargain with the Kottutuh, to no avail. The necrotic
species maintains this complex algorithm that seems to be dictating their plan of action
across the universe. The reason for it has not been explored, although any sentient who
gazes up on the inscriptions of their reasoning finds their mind being enthralled by it, possibly
to their eternal detriment. What begins as the Doctor simply trying to
save a single person from the Kotturuh, because of course the world he’s on is the next
to be judged, soon delves into a plan to protect certain people from the Kotturuh’s “gift
of death” but then those Time Lord Victorious insecurities of his raise their head and he
begins a descent into undoing death across a universal scale, by halting it, seemingly
at the source. This book suggests that mortal lifespans are
being introduced artificially, and the Doctor begins to adopt the reasoning of the inhabitants
of the era, that the natural law should be immortality, and that it’s the Kotturuh
introducing death that’s the aberration. It sees the Doctor being corrupted in the
way that most befits his character, as seen in “Waters of Mars”. It’s his desire
to help and protect others, mixing with his pain at loss opening the door to the possibility
of such heinous actions. But it’s his developing arrogance that he knows what’s best, combined
with his own sense of mortality that makes him step through it. In his mind, who else
is there? All the while, it’s fuelled by centuries of frustration at not being able
to help and grief he’s not good at dealing with compounding the issues. He hates goodbyes,
after all and loves to run away. In “The Knight, the Fool and the Dead”,
Ten is portrayed pretty well in my opinion, the descriptors of him bouncing around between
points of interest and the way dialogue is written in that way that trails off on tangents
before the Doctor snaps back to the topic at hand is very reminiscent of lines in the
show. I could easily picture Tenant delivering them, although I think it’s the darker moments
that lack that gravitas that he could bring. The book is a rather easy read, I finished
it in just over three hours and it’s easily accessible to younger audiences.
Of one interesting point of… interest… wait. I like Brian. He’s an Ood assassin
who ended up back in the Dark Ages, before the Ood even existed due to time travel. His
story is in another tale (I’m assuming) but he is a perfect companion for the Doctor
to allow for this story to unfold. Brian the Ood as a plain name, but no morals. He’s
not evil; he’s just impartial and impassive. He’s an assassin through and through and
will kill without regret, unless reigned in. Sure, to begin with the Doctor chides him,
but nonetheless, Brian’s not going to say no to the Doctor or tell him when things are
going too far. Companions have served, not only to keep the weary traveller company,
but to reign him in when he starts going off the rails or losses sight of his morality,
especially in modern, post time war Who. Surrounding him with characters like Brian,
as well as others that have their own selfish motivations, takes away Ten’s brakes and
allows the slide in to “Time Lord Victorious” to continue, a name which he has adopted once
again towards the end of the book. As said, its only part one of the book series, and
on top of that, there’s already plot threads at the beginning and end that clearly tie
into other points of this cross media narrative. I’ll continue to try to follow these as
they launch and see if by the end of it all, we’ll see how well this experiment pays
off. Thanks for watching this video and I’ll see you again for another one in the future,
or distant past! Because time travel. I’ve been Ric and I’ll see myself out.