Black Guardian
Encyclopedia
The Black Guardian is a character in the long-running British
science fiction television series
Doctor Who
. He was played by Valentine Dyall
.
The Black Guardian is an anthropomorphic personification
of the forces of entropy
and chaos, the counterpart of the White Guardian
, a personification of order. The two Guardians balance out the forces in the universe, although the Black Guardian seems to desire to upset the balance in favour of chaos and evil while the White Guardian prefers to maintain the status quo. The Guardians both appeared in Season 16 of the programme, where all six serials of that season were linked together in the quest for the Key to Time, an artifact of immense power that would give the wielder supreme power over all existence.
the task of finding the scattered six segments of the Key at the beginning of The Ribos Operation
. Once the Doctor
had assembled the Key, the Black Guardian disguised himself as the White and attempted to trick the Doctor into handing it over. The Doctor saw through the deception after the Guardian appeared indifferent to the fact that the sixth segment — Princess Astra of Atrios — had ceased her independent existence by becoming part of the Key. The Doctor then dispersed the Key, earning the Black Guardian's eternal enmity and forcing the Doctor, for a period, to attach a randomiser to his TARDIS
to avoid being tracked through time and space.
He briefly appears at the end of Logopolis
, in the montage of past enemies taunting the Doctor. The next appearance of the Black Guardian was in the 1983 serial Mawdryn Undead
, the first of three linked serials known as the Black Guardian Trilogy. He enlisted a young public school student named Vislor Turlough
, offering the young man (who was really an alien exiled on Earth
) passage home if he killed the Doctor (then in his fifth incarnation
), and death if he failed. Turlough joined the TARDIS crew, struggling with the dilemma and eventually chose loyalty to the Doctor in Enlightenment
, the last serial of the trilogy. Although extremely powerful, the Guardians apparently cannot be seen to act directly, which is why they can only affect things through agents such as Turlough and the Doctor. Other agents of the Black Guardian include Cessair of Diplos in The Stones of Blood
, The Shadow in The Armageddon Factor
and Captain Wrack in Enlightenment
.
Turlough's choice and the use of the Enlightenment crystal apparently banished the Black Guardian – he is seen to burst into flames and appear in negative again, before disappearing. The White Guardian warned, though, that he would return – angrier now that the Doctor had thwarted him twice. However, the character has yet to make a return appearance in the television series.
spin-off
novel The Well-Mannered War
, by Gareth Roberts
. In that story, the Black Guardian catches up with the Fourth Doctor and Romana following the loss of the Randomiser, trapping them in a situation where they must either remain in the TARDIS and the Time Vortex for all eternity or release a powerful telepathic insect hive on 26th-century Earth, and they are forced to leave the known universe as a consequence. It is of course possible that the Doctor was later able to return to our universe.
The Black Guardian resurfaced again in Paul Cornell
's short story "Time and Time Again", published in an issue of Doctor Who Magazine
commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Doctor Who television programme. In the story, the Black Guardian punishes the Doctor's defiance by altering history so that the Doctor never left Gallifrey. In the revised timeline, the Doctor never visited Earth, and the planet's vulnerability has resulted in repeated alien invasions. The White Guardian commissions the Doctor, Benny, and Ace to journey across the Doctor's own timestream to once again assemble the Key to Time, the fragments of which are disguised as artifacts from the Doctor's past in the possession of each of his past incarnations.
In the BBC Books
spin-off novel The Quantum Archangel
by Craig Hinton
, the Black Guardian appears briefly with the White Guardian and four others, who form a Council of Guardians that oversee reality. The other four Guardians were first mentioned in Divided Loyalties
by Gary Russell, which states that one of them is the Celestial Toymaker
.
The Black Guardian returns in the final moments of the Big Finish
audio drama
The Judgement of Isskar
, and reappears in the proceeding two stories - The Destroyer of Delights
and The Chaos Pool
. Once again, The Key to Time is being sought, but this time with the Fifth Doctor
. In these plays, The Black Guardian is played by David Troughton
. He is portrayed as losing his powers due to the Key decaying, forcing him and the White Guardian to operate on a lower level of existence.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction television series
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
. He was played by Valentine Dyall
Valentine Dyall
Valentine Dyall was an English character actor, the son of veteran actor Franklin Dyall. Dyall was especially popular as a voice actor, due to his very distinctive sepulchral voice, he was known for many years as "The Man in Black", narrator of the BBC Radio horror series Appointment With Fear.In...
.
The Black Guardian is an anthropomorphic personification
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
of the forces of entropy
Entropy
Entropy is a thermodynamic property that can be used to determine the energy available for useful work in a thermodynamic process, such as in energy conversion devices, engines, or machines. Such devices can only be driven by convertible energy, and have a theoretical maximum efficiency when...
and chaos, the counterpart of the White Guardian
White Guardian
The White Guardian is a character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was played by Cyril Luckham, with the exception of a vocal message in The Stones of Blood which was performed by Gerald Cross....
, a personification of order. The two Guardians balance out the forces in the universe, although the Black Guardian seems to desire to upset the balance in favour of chaos and evil while the White Guardian prefers to maintain the status quo. The Guardians both appeared in Season 16 of the programme, where all six serials of that season were linked together in the quest for the Key to Time, an artifact of immense power that would give the wielder supreme power over all existence.
Overview
The White Guardian gave the Fourth DoctorFourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
the task of finding the scattered six segments of the Key at the beginning of The Ribos Operation
The Ribos Operation
The Ribos Operation is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from September 2 to September 23, 1978. This serial introduces Mary Tamm as the companion Romana. After finishing his first year as producer of Doctor Who,...
. Once the Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
had assembled the Key, the Black Guardian disguised himself as the White and attempted to trick the Doctor into handing it over. The Doctor saw through the deception after the Guardian appeared indifferent to the fact that the sixth segment — Princess Astra of Atrios — had ceased her independent existence by becoming part of the Key. The Doctor then dispersed the Key, earning the Black Guardian's eternal enmity and forcing the Doctor, for a period, to attach a randomiser to his TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
to avoid being tracked through time and space.
He briefly appears at the end of Logopolis
Logopolis
Logopolis is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 28 February to 21 March 1981. It was Tom Baker's last story as the Doctor and marks the first appearance of Peter Davison in the role...
, in the montage of past enemies taunting the Doctor. The next appearance of the Black Guardian was in the 1983 serial Mawdryn Undead
Mawdryn Undead
Mawdryn Undead is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in four twice weekly parts from 1 February to 9 February 1983...
, the first of three linked serials known as the Black Guardian Trilogy. He enlisted a young public school student named Vislor Turlough
Vislor Turlough
Vislor Turlough is a fictional character played by Mark Strickson in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was a companion of the Fifth Doctor, being a regular in the programme from 1983 to 1984.-Character history:...
, offering the young man (who was really an alien exiled on Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
) passage home if he killed the Doctor (then in his fifth incarnation
Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....
), and death if he failed. Turlough joined the TARDIS crew, struggling with the dilemma and eventually chose loyalty to the Doctor in Enlightenment
Enlightenment (Doctor Who)
Enlightenment is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from March 1 to March 9, 1983...
, the last serial of the trilogy. Although extremely powerful, the Guardians apparently cannot be seen to act directly, which is why they can only affect things through agents such as Turlough and the Doctor. Other agents of the Black Guardian include Cessair of Diplos in The Stones of Blood
The Stones of Blood
The Stones of Blood is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from October 28 to November 18, 1978...
, The Shadow in The Armageddon Factor
The Armageddon Factor
The Armageddon Factor is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 20 January to 24 February 1979...
and Captain Wrack in Enlightenment
Enlightenment (Doctor Who)
Enlightenment is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from March 1 to March 9, 1983...
.
Turlough's choice and the use of the Enlightenment crystal apparently banished the Black Guardian – he is seen to burst into flames and appear in negative again, before disappearing. The White Guardian warned, though, that he would return – angrier now that the Doctor had thwarted him twice. However, the character has yet to make a return appearance in the television series.
Other appearances
The Black Guardian features in the Virgin Missing AdventuresVirgin Missing Adventures
The Virgin Missing Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which had been cancelled in 1989, featuring stories set between televised episodes of the programme. The novels were published from 1994 to 1997, and...
spin-off
Doctor Who spin-offs
Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....
novel The Well-Mannered War
The Well-Mannered War
The Well-Mannered War is a Virgin Missing Adventures original novel written by Gareth Roberts based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Fourth Doctor, Romana and K-9...
, by Gareth Roberts
Gareth Roberts (writer)
Gareth John Pritchard Roberts is a British television screenwriter and novelist, best known for his work related to the science-fiction television series Doctor Who...
. In that story, the Black Guardian catches up with the Fourth Doctor and Romana following the loss of the Randomiser, trapping them in a situation where they must either remain in the TARDIS and the Time Vortex for all eternity or release a powerful telepathic insect hive on 26th-century Earth, and they are forced to leave the known universe as a consequence. It is of course possible that the Doctor was later able to return to our universe.
The Black Guardian resurfaced again in Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield....
's short story "Time and Time Again", published in an issue of Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Doctor Who television programme. In the story, the Black Guardian punishes the Doctor's defiance by altering history so that the Doctor never left Gallifrey. In the revised timeline, the Doctor never visited Earth, and the planet's vulnerability has resulted in repeated alien invasions. The White Guardian commissions the Doctor, Benny, and Ace to journey across the Doctor's own timestream to once again assemble the Key to Time, the fragments of which are disguised as artifacts from the Doctor's past in the possession of each of his past incarnations.
In the BBC Books
BBC Books
BBC Books is an imprint majority owned and managed by Random House. The minority shareholder is BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation...
spin-off novel The Quantum Archangel
The Quantum Archangel
The Quantum Archangel is a BBC Books original novel written by Craig Hinton and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Sixth Doctor and Mel, the Master, and an appearance by an alternate version of the Third Doctor...
by Craig Hinton
Craig Hinton
Craig Paul Alexander Hinton was a British writer best known for his work on various spin-offs from the BBC Television series Doctor Who....
, the Black Guardian appears briefly with the White Guardian and four others, who form a Council of Guardians that oversee reality. The other four Guardians were first mentioned in Divided Loyalties
Divided Loyalties (Doctor Who)
Divided Loyalties is a BBC Books original novel written by Gary Russell and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Gary Russell, which states that one of them is the Celestial Toymaker
Celestial Toymaker
The Celestial Toymaker is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. He was played by Michael Gough, and featured in the 1966 story The Celestial Toymaker by Brian Hayles.-Character overview:...
.
The Black Guardian returns in the final moments of the Big Finish
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio drama
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
The Judgement of Isskar
The Judgement of Isskar
The Judgement of Isskar is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. -Plot:The Key to Time must be sought again, due to the Doctor's carelessness during its last assembling...
, and reappears in the proceeding two stories - The Destroyer of Delights
The Destroyer of Delights
Destroyer of Delights is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
and The Chaos Pool
The Chaos Pool
The Chaos Pool is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. -Plot:...
. Once again, The Key to Time is being sought, but this time with the Fifth Doctor
Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....
. In these plays, The Black Guardian is played by David Troughton
David Troughton
David Troughton is an English actor, best known for his Shakespearean roles on the British stage.- Biography :David Troughton was born in Hampstead, North London. He comes from a theatrical family: he is the son of Doctor Who actor Patrick Troughton, elder brother of Michael Troughton, and father...
. He is portrayed as losing his powers due to the Key decaying, forcing him and the White Guardian to operate on a lower level of existence.