Doctor Who Monsters, Aliens and Villains

Azal
Azal
Azal
 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


Bok
Bok
 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").

The Brigadier and UNIT
The Brigadier and UNIT
 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.

Azal is Angered
Azal is Angered
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.
 
Video - The Dæmons
VHS Cover
Book- The Dæmons
Original Target Cover
Book- The Dæmons
Reprinted Target Cover
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Parts of this article were compiled with the assistance of David Spence who can be contacted by e-mail at djfs@blueyonder.co.uk
 
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