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| Aggedor |
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 Name: Aggedor
Format: Television
Show and Audio
Time of Origin: Peladon, distant future
Appearances: "The
Curse of Peladon", "The
Monster of Peladon", and "The
Bride of Peladon"
Doctors: Third
Doctor and Fifth
Doctor
Companions: Jo Grant, Sarah
Jane Smith, Peri Brown and Erimem
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| The Curse of Peladon |
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History: Although the Aggedors are essentially
animals, they have nevertheless been important allies to The Doctor
when the situation calls for it, The Doctor himself referring to
Aggedor as an old friend on more than one occasion.
The
sacred beast of the distant planet Peladon, Aggedors were regarded
as a symbol of hope and the protectors of the Peladonian royal family
for several centuries, ever since an ancient Peladonian king fell
down a cliff and was saved by an Aggedor ("Legacy"). In
appearance, the Aggedors could best be described as large furry warthogs
with paws and a single horn in the centre of their foreheads, possessing
a keen sense of smell to compensate for poor eyesight as they tend
to live in the caves of Peladon, with large teeth and claws and vicious
tempers, although they have been known to be rather gentle to those
they consider friends. However, they were believed to have been hunted
to extinction long before The Doctor’s first visit to the planet,
with no Aggedors having been seen for years before The Doctor arrived.
When
the Third
Doctor and his companion Jo Grant arrived on Peladon while
testing the apparently-repaired TARDIS - although it was later revealed
that the Time Lords had sent The Doctor there to indirectly help
Peladon at a crucial point in its history - ("The
Curse of Peladon"),
they found themselves participating in a conference to determine
Peladon’s admittance to the Galactic Federation, The Doctor
posing as the Federation delegate from Earth to get a better picture
of the current situation. In an attempt to keep his planet ‘safe’ from
outside influences, High Priest Hepesh was using a surviving Aggedor
that he had discovered in the tunnels underneath the palace to attack
others, claiming that the spirit of Aggedor was angry at Peladon
abandoning their old ways. However, this plan failed when The Doctor
exposed his role in the attacks and tamed Aggedor, the creature’s
subsequent attack on Hepesh serving as a public representation of
the spirit of Peladon denouncing his allegiance to the old ways and
a willingness to explore the possibilities of the future presented
by the Federation.
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| The Monster of Peladon |
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Returning to Peladon fifty years later, The
Doctor - now accompanied by Sarah
Jane Smith - discovered that the people
of Peladon were being attacked by what appeared to be Aggedor’s
spirit ("The
Monster of Peladon"), believed to be a punishment
for the increased role that aliens had in Peladonian society. Fortunately,
The Doctor was not only able to expose this illusionary Aggedor as nothing
but a holographic projection that could generate fire - later using this
weapon against its creators, a renegade group of Ice
Warriors -, but
even discovered the real Aggedor, now significantly older but still willing
to consider The Doctor a friend after The Doctor used a Venusian lullaby
he’d previously used to tame Aggedor. With the conspiracy exposed
as Engineer Eckersley, the head of Peladon’s mines, trying to take
control of Peladon’s mineral wealth, Eckersley tried to escape
by taking the Peladonian Queen Thalira hostage, but The Doctor was able
to find and rescue Thalira with Aggedor’s assistance, although
Aggedor was tragically killed when he moved to protect Thalira from an
attack by Eckersley.
Despite
the death of Aggedor on this occasion, when the Fifth
Doctor returned to Peladon a century later - the Seventh
Doctor paid another
visit between
these two occasions as part of a plan to keep Peladon out
of a future war with the Daleks ("Legacy") -, he and his
companion Erimem discovered another Aggedor, apparently the offspring
of the Aggedor The Doctor had known originally, The Doctor quickly
befriending this Aggedor just as his past self had befriended her
father. Investigating current events on Peladon, The Doctor learned
that Sekhmet, a renegade Osirans ("Pyramids
of Mars"), was
attempting to escape her centuries of imprisonment by using four
royal females to break the blood seal keeping her confined, with
the chosen ‘sacrifices’ including Erimem, a former Pharaoh,
and princesses sent from the Ice Warriors and Earth. However, The
Doctor was able to contain Sekhmet thanks to Erimem secretly poisoning
her blood before she was used to unlock the last seal, Aggedor helping
The Doctor and his friends break down the doors leading to Sekhmet’s
tomb in time to rescue Erimem and bury Sekhmet. As The Doctor departed,
he was pleased to note that Aggedor had actually given birth after
over a century of pregnancy, the new Aggedor pups representing a
new hope for Peladon’s future as Erimem remained on the planet
to become its queen. |
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