How Much Time Did Doctor Who Sutekh Spend in the TARDIS?
In the most recent season of Doctor Who, the Time Lord was the target of a personal grudge held by an old god, which the Doctor had to battle. We're talking about one of the most potent characters in the Doctor Who universe: Sutekh, the Egyptian deity of wrath and death. You may find it difficult to understand, nevertheless, how Sutekh was able to carry out a scheme that would kill the universe while hiding in the Tardis. Let's explore this major revelation and the transformation of the Doctor's time machine into a massive Trojan horse.
In order to fully comprehend Sutekh's evil scheme, let's go back a little. The Fourth Doctor battled this ancient foe for the first time in the 1975 story Pyramids of Mars. According to the original narrative, Sutekh was imprisoned in a dimensional rift or time tunnel. However, Doctor Who Season 14 totally rewrote the story to show that Sutekh was able to hang onto the Tardis and was never actually trapped in the time tunnel!
Sutekh's Backstory on Doctor Who: What Was His Plan?
It seems that Sutekh was more than just a cosmic bully—he had a more crafty plan. His intention was to eradicate all life from the cosmos by using his divine ability. He needed to gain access to the TARDIS's systems in order to accomplish this. This is when things start to get really interesting because Sutekh wasn't simply a fearful little monster hiding on the roof of the TARDIS. Nope, he sank far down into the machine's core, turning into something akin to a parasite within the Doctor's closest ally.
Sutekh's learning about former companions and his plans to use his abilities to make clones based on them are explained in depth in the Season 14 finale, Empire of Death. Her strong friendship with the Doctor is perhaps the reason he decided to clone her, which makes this personal attack all the more horrifying.
Sutekh Powers from Doctor Who: How Did He Get Inside The TARDIS?
Imagine Sutekh as an internal TARDIS takeover, a technical horror. In addition to learning about the Doctor's previous companions, he was able to access the TARDIS database and take use of the machine's peculiarities. Things start to become extremely chaotic at this point. Sutekh appears to have taken advantage of the TARDIS's notoriously unpredictable nature, employing its incredible leaps across time and space to avoid discovery.
Sutekh was the Doctor's time machine's equivalent of a virus. It appears that an attempt was made by the TARDIS itself to repel the invasion. The TARDIS visited very hazardous areas like E-Space on multiple occasions. But Sutekh turned out to be a very strong foe, eventually taking control of the TARDIS's systems and utilizing it to carry out his sinister scheme.
History of the Doctor Who TARDIS: How Did Sutekh Stay Unnoticed for Fifty Years?
Here's where you might be wondering how the Doctor, a genius who can travel through time, could have gone fifty years without realizing Sutekh was hiding within their beloved TARDIS. Sutekh was a master of deception, after all, and he gradually changed the TARDIS's systems. While the Doctor did observe certain oddities, such as the TARDIS going off course, these were written off as typical events in the life of a time machine. The TARDIS can also have a distinct personality. When the TARDIS tells the Doctor that it brings them where they need to go, do you recall from "The Doctor's Wife"? Like everyone else, the Doctor assumed those odd noises were the TARDIS grumbling about its occupants!
Sutekh's scheme was sluggish, covert, and nearly hard to figure out. It was difficult to determine exactly when things went awry because of the slow burn nature of his takeover of the TARDIS. Sutekh's triumph can also be attributed, in part, to the Doctor's faith in their faithful time machine.
TARDIS Secrets of Doctor Who: How the Doctor Discovered the Truth in the End
The god started to move, and that's when the Doctor fully realized Sutekh's plot. Sutekh had been working on a massive, universe-ending scheme by influencing the TARDIS. It required the assistance of his new friend Ruby and the Doctor to determine Sutekh's true objectives. In the end, they had to face Sutekh and make him retract his acts in order to prevent the universe from collapsing. This fight demonstrated how Sutekh had not only compromised the TARDIS but also changed its features and capabilities.
Despite Sutekh's brilliant and daring scheme, the Doctor emerged as the superior time traveler in the end thanks to his knowledge and a TARDIS that had its own will. The bond between the Doctor and the TARDIS is deepened by this tale, which also emphasizes the richness of Doctor Who lore.
