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| Azal |
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 Name: Azal, last of the Daemons
Format:
Television show
Time of Origin: Came
to Earth in ancient times, but confronted The Doctor at the village
of Devil’s End in 1971.
Appearances: "The
Dæmons"
Doctors: Third
Doctor
Companions: The
Brigadier, Sergeant
Benton, Jo Grant and Captain
Mike Yates
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Bok |
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History: One of The Doctor’s
most unique enemies, Azal was the last of the ancient race known as
the Dæmons, who had influenced Earth’s development in
the past. According to The Doctor, the Dæmons were not evil,
but merely logical and amoral - much like his old friend/future enemy
The
Rani ("Mark of the Rani") -, possessing advanced technology
that allowed them to perform seemingly magical feats. Examples of
this included matter-energy conversion technology which allowed them
to shrink and grow things at will, allowing them to alter their own
size to be anything from microscopic to around thirty feet tall. They
could also generate heat force fields which could disintegrate anything
that moved into it, animate stone statues, and discharge bolts of
electricity.
Originally
arriving on Earth over a hundred thousand years ago, Azal was one
of many Dæmons who helped humans overcome the Neanderthal, leading
their subsequent development with various experiments, such as providing
Atlantis with the Crystal of Kronos, although the subsequent experiment
resulted in Atlantis’s destruction ("The
Time Monster"). Having completed his experiments, Azal placed
himself in suspended animation in his spaceship underneath Devil’s
Hump, until the time came for him to judge if their experiments had
been a success or a failure. During this time, the rest of his species
went extinct in an unspecified war, their skeletal remains being used
by Faction
Paradox as warships ("Interference:
Book Two: Hour of the Geek").
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| The
Brigadier and UNIT |
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Having learned about the Dæmons
from his forbidden research of the Matrix ("Tomb
of Valdemar" and "The
Quantum Archangel"), The
Master learned that the Dæmons could be psychically summoned
by a special ritual, drawing on negative emotions such as fear, the
Dæmon appearing three times before deciding whether or not to
pass on its power to another. Tracking Azal’s resting place
to a church in the village of Devil’s End, The Master set himself
up as the village’s new vicar after murdering his predecessor,
assembling a black magic ‘cult’ to perform the rituals
necessary to awaken Azal. Despite The Master’s attempts to remain
undercover, a television broadcast about an archaeological dig at
the nearby Devil’s Hump prompted the Third Doctor to investigate
events in Devil’s End, aided by local ‘white witch’
Olive Hawthorne, who suspected that evil was present in the village.
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| Azal is Angered |
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Although
The Doctor, Jo
Grant, Captain
Mike Yates and Sergeant
Benton were able to enter the village, The Master’s contact
with Azal allowed him to generate a heat shield around the village
that prevented UNIT from gaining access to it. While The Doctor instructed
UNIT Sergeant Osgood in the construction of a diathermic energy exchanger,
The Master managed to summon Azal, only for Azal to dismiss him for
the moment by saying that he would decide if the Earth ‘experiment’
had succeeded after his next appearance. The Master tried to eliminate
The Doctor with the aid of his ‘cult’ rallying the villagers
into a mob against The Doctor, but some clever trickery by Olive and
Benton - as well as modifications The Doctor had made to his yellow
roadster Bessie - allowed them to convince the villagers that The
Doctor was a benevolent white wizard before they could burn him at
the stake.
Despite The Master’s final efforts
to sacrifice Jo to the Dæmon, Azal instead offered his powers
to The Doctor when the time came, concluding that The Master was unworthy
of his abilities. However, The Doctor rejected the offer, feeling
that mankind should be allowed to develop themselves, prompting Azal
to attempt to kill him before Jo interrupted, asking Azal to kill
her instead of The Doctor. Unable to comprehend Jo’s illogical
willingness to die for another, the confusion caused Azal to lose
control of his power and ‘self-destruct’, the resulting
explosion destroying the church just after The Doctor, The Master,
Jo and The Master’s cult managed to escape, The Master subsequently
being captured when he tried to escape in Bessie without knowing about
The Doctor’s remote control for the car. |
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| VHS Cover |
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| Original Target Cover |
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| Reprinted Target Cover |
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