Timewyrm: Revelation
Encyclopedia
Timewyrm: Revelation is an original Doctor Who
novel, published by Virgin Publishing in their New Adventures
range of Doctor Who novels. It features the Seventh Doctor
and Ace
, as well as cameo appearances by the Doctor's mental representations of his first
, third
, fourth
and fifth
incarnations.
This is the first novel to feature a personification of Death, who turns out to be one of the Eternals, and sets the scene for future New Adventures in which the Doctor becomes Time's Champion. Death has also crossed over into the Big Finish Productions
audio dramas; in Master
, the Master
is described as Death's Champion.
having taken the Seventh Doctor
and Ace
to Ancient Mesopotamia
, 1950s Britain and the edge of the universe at the end of time finally ends within the Doctor's own mind with only his past incarnations to help him after Ace is killed by a playground bully...
The Doctor discovers the illusion, but is surprised to see that his old friend is in fact Lieutenant Hemmings of the British Free Corps (from Timewyrm: Exodus
). The Doctor makes his way back to the TARDIS, where he discovers that he is really on the moon in December 1992. The Timewyrm killed Chad Boyle and Hemmings and sent their minds after Ace’s. She took possession of Boyle’s body and waited for the Doctor to confront her.
Ace wakes up on a pier overlooking a beach. She comes across a receptionist, who informs her that she died as the result of the Doctor finally losing one of his games. Ace is taken to the afterlife to be judged. She found herself in a library where she meets a kindly old Librarian
. After exploring for a while, she decides that she must be dreaming. She concentrates on the village of Cheldon Bonniface.
In Cheldon Bonniface in 1992, the Reverend Ernest Trelaw is conducting the usual Sunday service, the last before Christmas. Present in his church are two newcomers, Peter and Emily Hutchings. Also present is the self-aware non-corporeal intelligence that has existed on the site of the church since long before the church existed. The Rev. Trelaw knows this intelligence as Saul, and both of them are shocked to see their old friend the Doctor run into the church in the middle of the service and deliver a baby into the arms of Emily Hutchings, before running out again. Later in the same service, Saul receives a psychic warning and shouts for all the congregants to leave. Hearing a disembodied voice speak, the congregants exit, except for Emily and Peter. Suddenly, and with a tremendous explosion that devastates the surrounding countryside, the entire church is transported to the surface of the moon. Elsewhere, Ace suddenly gets the feeling that she has done something terribly wrong.
The church materializes around the Doctor and Ace’s body. The Doctor retrieves an amulet the he had hidden in the church the last time he had been there, and gives it to Peter and Emily, telling them to find a use for it. The Doctor leaves the church to confront the Timewyrm. After a brief conversation, the Doctor dances with the personification of Death that the Timewyrm had conjured, and dies. The Timewyrm extracts the Doctor’s memories and sends them after Ace’s, animates the Doctor’s body, and marches it into the church where it collapses.
In Hell, Ace is being subjected to excruciating torment by her childhood nemesis, Chad Boyle. She is once again eight-years-old and helpless to defend herself as Boyle imposes his bigoted eight-year-old worldview on the school. The Doctor arrives and rescues Ace, returning her to adulthood. She responds by punching him in the face, her way of saying “Thanks for getting me killed.” They meet the Librarian in a splendid rose garden. The Librarian gives Ace her bomber jacket, rucksack, and ghetto blaster, and then speaks with the Doctor. The Timewyrm is trying to take control of the garden, but the Librarian is opposing her. Ace hears Boyle’s laugh in the distance, and goes to find him. The Doctor follows. Ace finds Boyle in the center of a maze, covering his eyes and counting, armed with a sub-machine gun and lots of grenades. As she creeps up behind him, she thinks about blasting him with a Nitro-9 canister, but decided that murder was still murder, even in Hell.
The Doctor meditates. Back at the church on the moon, Saul begins chanting a peculiar rhyme. The others try to puzzle out what it might mean. They eventually figure out that it is a message from the Doctor. On the Doctor’s instructions, they find Hemmings’s disembodied head on the moon’s surface, and Saul telekinetically returns it to the church.
Following a battle against Boyle involving grenades and Nitro-9, the Doctor rejoins Ace and explains that they aren’t literally in Hell, but in some alternative dimension to their own. They are soon joined by the Timewyrm, who is trying to drive a wedge between the Doctor and Ace. To that end, she summons a wave of beings: intelligent reptilian people
, soldiers in UNIT
uniforms, and three individuals named Katarina
, Sara Kingdom
, and Adric
, who all blame the Doctor for their deaths. The Doctor is tormented by their accusations. The Timewyrm leaves them to continue their hopeless journey to The Pit, the center of this strange world.
Meanwhile, Hemmings has been given another area of this world to control, and has imprisoned the previous occupant, a tall, elegantly dressed man with a shock of wild white hair
. When the Doctor and Ace arrive, they are arrested by Nazis and placed in a cell with the tall man. While Ace is taken away to be tortured, the Doctor and the Prisoner manage to escape. Back at the church, Saul, Emily, and Peter try to find a way to communicate with the head, over Ernest’s religious objections. They succeed, but only for a moment, after which Hemmings finally dies. The zone Hemmings created begins to fall apart. The Doctor and the Prisoner escape while the zone collapses. The Doctor tells the Prisoner he is making for the Pit, and to that end, they made their way to a river which divides the various zones, and are met by a Ferryman
wearing a floppy brown hat and long multi-colored scarf.
Ace wakes up again, this time in a world where she grew up in a happy and uncomplicated life. She never became a rebellious youth, but merely went along with the prevailing fashions of the time. At the back of her mind, she knows this is wrong. Eventually, she realizes the truth and escapes the trap. She finds the Doctor facing off with Chad Boyle, who stabs him with a sword. Ace helps the Doctor as they continue their journey toward the Pit. The Timewyrm appears again and explains to Ace that they are within the Doctor’s mind.
At the Church, Ernest can see the Doctor’s body is faring poorly. The medallion suddenly began to pulse with energy and grows before their eyes. The runes written on it coalesce into another message from the Doctor, this time telling them to open a dimensional portal. Saul’s psychic powers provide the energies while Peter’s mathematical abilities establish and stabilize the conduit. Emily travels along it to find the Doctor and Ace. She finds them immediately upon arrival and tries to get them back through the medallion portal, but they are being chased by the horde of the Doctor’s demons. Emily manages to get herself and the Doctor away, but Ace is left behind.
Once freed from his own mind, the Doctor knows he can destroy the Timewyrm forever, but not without sacrificing Ace. Meanwhile, Ace decides to continue down into the Pit, where she finds the Doctor’s conscience, a fair-haired man in light-colored clothes being perpetually tortured
. Ace sets him free, and as his wounds heal before her eyes, Ace sees that he is dressed like a cricketer. The Doctor pilots the TARDIS to the intersection between reality and the fiction of his own imagination and rescues Ace. He also spares the Timewyrm, taking her consciousness and depositing it into the body of the baby he had given to Emily. The Hutchings agree to raise the child as their own, and at the Doctor’s behest, name her Ishtar. The battle with the Timewyrm is over.
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...
novel, published by Virgin Publishing in their New Adventures
Virgin New Adventures
The Virgin New Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who...
range of Doctor Who novels. It features the Seventh Doctor
Seventh Doctor
The Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....
and Ace
Ace (Doctor Who)
Dorothy Gale McShane, better known by her nickname Ace, is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
, as well as cameo appearances by the Doctor's mental representations of his first
First Doctor
The First Doctor is the initial incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor William Hartnell from 1963 to 1966. Hartnell reprised the role in the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors in 1973 - albeit in a...
, third
Third Doctor
The Third Doctor is the third incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee....
, fourth
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
and fifth
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....
incarnations.
This is the first novel to feature a personification of Death, who turns out to be one of the Eternals, and sets the scene for future New Adventures in which the Doctor becomes Time's Champion. Death has also crossed over into the Big Finish Productions
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 dramas; in Master
Master (Doctor Who audio)
Master is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It forms a trilogy with Omega and Davros to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the show...
, the Master
Master (Doctor Who)
The Master is a recurring character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is a renegade Time Lord and the archenemy of the Doctor....
is described as Death's Champion.
Synopsis
The battle to defeat the TimewyrmTimewyrm
The Timewyrm is the name of a recurring villain from the Virgin New Adventures spin-off novels based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. The character featured in a four-novel story arc: Timewyrm: Genesys, Timewyrm: Exodus, Timewyrm: Apocalypse and Timewyrm: Revelation.The...
having taken the Seventh Doctor
Seventh Doctor
The Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....
and Ace
Ace (Doctor Who)
Dorothy Gale McShane, better known by her nickname Ace, is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
to Ancient Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
, 1950s Britain and the edge of the universe at the end of time finally ends within the Doctor's own mind with only his past incarnations to help him after Ace is killed by a playground bully...
Plot
Having lost track of the Timewyrm, the Doctor chooses the TARDIS’s next destination apparently at random. The TARDIS arrives in the village of Cheldon Bonniface in the late 19th century. While the Doctor is playing chess with an old friend, Ace is attacked by a child-sized astronaut. Ace evades her attacker, but as she flees the village, she suddenly discovers that they’re actually on the surface of the moon. Away from the protective environment of the faux-village, Ace dies. The astronaut, an eight-year-old boy named Chad Boyle, uses a small device to extract Ace’s memories and transmit them elsewhere.The Doctor discovers the illusion, but is surprised to see that his old friend is in fact Lieutenant Hemmings of the British Free Corps (from Timewyrm: Exodus
Timewyrm: Exodus
Timewyrm: Exodus is an original Doctor Who novel, published by Virgin Publishing in their New Adventures range of Doctor Who novels...
). The Doctor makes his way back to the TARDIS, where he discovers that he is really on the moon in December 1992. The Timewyrm killed Chad Boyle and Hemmings and sent their minds after Ace’s. She took possession of Boyle’s body and waited for the Doctor to confront her.
Ace wakes up on a pier overlooking a beach. She comes across a receptionist, who informs her that she died as the result of the Doctor finally losing one of his games. Ace is taken to the afterlife to be judged. She found herself in a library where she meets a kindly old Librarian
First Doctor
The First Doctor is the initial incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor William Hartnell from 1963 to 1966. Hartnell reprised the role in the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors in 1973 - albeit in a...
. After exploring for a while, she decides that she must be dreaming. She concentrates on the village of Cheldon Bonniface.
In Cheldon Bonniface in 1992, the Reverend Ernest Trelaw is conducting the usual Sunday service, the last before Christmas. Present in his church are two newcomers, Peter and Emily Hutchings. Also present is the self-aware non-corporeal intelligence that has existed on the site of the church since long before the church existed. The Rev. Trelaw knows this intelligence as Saul, and both of them are shocked to see their old friend the Doctor run into the church in the middle of the service and deliver a baby into the arms of Emily Hutchings, before running out again. Later in the same service, Saul receives a psychic warning and shouts for all the congregants to leave. Hearing a disembodied voice speak, the congregants exit, except for Emily and Peter. Suddenly, and with a tremendous explosion that devastates the surrounding countryside, the entire church is transported to the surface of the moon. Elsewhere, Ace suddenly gets the feeling that she has done something terribly wrong.
The church materializes around the Doctor and Ace’s body. The Doctor retrieves an amulet the he had hidden in the church the last time he had been there, and gives it to Peter and Emily, telling them to find a use for it. The Doctor leaves the church to confront the Timewyrm. After a brief conversation, the Doctor dances with the personification of Death that the Timewyrm had conjured, and dies. The Timewyrm extracts the Doctor’s memories and sends them after Ace’s, animates the Doctor’s body, and marches it into the church where it collapses.
In Hell, Ace is being subjected to excruciating torment by her childhood nemesis, Chad Boyle. She is once again eight-years-old and helpless to defend herself as Boyle imposes his bigoted eight-year-old worldview on the school. The Doctor arrives and rescues Ace, returning her to adulthood. She responds by punching him in the face, her way of saying “Thanks for getting me killed.” They meet the Librarian in a splendid rose garden. The Librarian gives Ace her bomber jacket, rucksack, and ghetto blaster, and then speaks with the Doctor. The Timewyrm is trying to take control of the garden, but the Librarian is opposing her. Ace hears Boyle’s laugh in the distance, and goes to find him. The Doctor follows. Ace finds Boyle in the center of a maze, covering his eyes and counting, armed with a sub-machine gun and lots of grenades. As she creeps up behind him, she thinks about blasting him with a Nitro-9 canister, but decided that murder was still murder, even in Hell.
The Doctor meditates. Back at the church on the moon, Saul begins chanting a peculiar rhyme. The others try to puzzle out what it might mean. They eventually figure out that it is a message from the Doctor. On the Doctor’s instructions, they find Hemmings’s disembodied head on the moon’s surface, and Saul telekinetically returns it to the church.
Following a battle against Boyle involving grenades and Nitro-9, the Doctor rejoins Ace and explains that they aren’t literally in Hell, but in some alternative dimension to their own. They are soon joined by the Timewyrm, who is trying to drive a wedge between the Doctor and Ace. To that end, she summons a wave of beings: intelligent reptilian people
Silurian (Doctor Who)
The Silurians are a fictional race of reptile-like humanoids in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The species first appeared in Doctor Who in the 1970 serial Doctor Who and the Silurians...
, soldiers in UNIT
UNIT
UNIT is a fictional military organisation from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures...
uniforms, and three individuals named Katarina
Katarina (Doctor Who)
Katarina is a fictional character played by Adrienne Hill in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who appearing in the programme from November to December 1965....
, Sara Kingdom
Sara Kingdom
Sara Kingdom is a fictional character played by Jean Marsh in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A security officer for Mavic Chen from the 41st century, she would later join the First Doctor and Steven to work against Chen's interests...
, and Adric
Adric
Adric is a fictional character played by Matthew Waterhouse in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was a young native of the planet Alzarius, which exists in the parallel universe of E-Space. A companion of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, he was a regular in the...
, who all blame the Doctor for their deaths. The Doctor is tormented by their accusations. The Timewyrm leaves them to continue their hopeless journey to The Pit, the center of this strange world.
Meanwhile, Hemmings has been given another area of this world to control, and has imprisoned the previous occupant, a tall, elegantly dressed man with a shock of wild white hair
Third Doctor
The Third Doctor is the third incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee....
. When the Doctor and Ace arrive, they are arrested by Nazis and placed in a cell with the tall man. While Ace is taken away to be tortured, the Doctor and the Prisoner manage to escape. Back at the church, Saul, Emily, and Peter try to find a way to communicate with the head, over Ernest’s religious objections. They succeed, but only for a moment, after which Hemmings finally dies. The zone Hemmings created begins to fall apart. The Doctor and the Prisoner escape while the zone collapses. The Doctor tells the Prisoner he is making for the Pit, and to that end, they made their way to a river which divides the various zones, and are met by a Ferryman
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
wearing a floppy brown hat and long multi-colored scarf.
Ace wakes up again, this time in a world where she grew up in a happy and uncomplicated life. She never became a rebellious youth, but merely went along with the prevailing fashions of the time. At the back of her mind, she knows this is wrong. Eventually, she realizes the truth and escapes the trap. She finds the Doctor facing off with Chad Boyle, who stabs him with a sword. Ace helps the Doctor as they continue their journey toward the Pit. The Timewyrm appears again and explains to Ace that they are within the Doctor’s mind.
At the Church, Ernest can see the Doctor’s body is faring poorly. The medallion suddenly began to pulse with energy and grows before their eyes. The runes written on it coalesce into another message from the Doctor, this time telling them to open a dimensional portal. Saul’s psychic powers provide the energies while Peter’s mathematical abilities establish and stabilize the conduit. Emily travels along it to find the Doctor and Ace. She finds them immediately upon arrival and tries to get them back through the medallion portal, but they are being chased by the horde of the Doctor’s demons. Emily manages to get herself and the Doctor away, but Ace is left behind.
Once freed from his own mind, the Doctor knows he can destroy the Timewyrm forever, but not without sacrificing Ace. Meanwhile, Ace decides to continue down into the Pit, where she finds the Doctor’s conscience, a fair-haired man in light-colored clothes being perpetually tortured
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....
. Ace sets him free, and as his wounds heal before her eyes, Ace sees that he is dressed like a cricketer. The Doctor pilots the TARDIS to the intersection between reality and the fiction of his own imagination and rescues Ace. He also spares the Timewyrm, taking her consciousness and depositing it into the body of the baby he had given to Emily. The Hutchings agree to raise the child as their own, and at the Doctor’s behest, name her Ishtar. The battle with the Timewyrm is over.
Continuity
- Ace recalls meeting rock star Johnny Chess, who is a recurring minor character in the Doctor Who novels. His "real" name is John Chesterton, and he is the son of former companions Ian ChestertonIan ChestertonIan Chesterton is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and a companion of the First Doctor. He was played in the series by William Russell, and was one of the members of the programme's very first regular cast, appearing in the bulk of the first two...
and Barbara WrightBarbara Wright (Doctor Who)Barbara Wright is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and a companion of the First Doctor. She was one of the programme's very first regulars and appeared in the bulk of its first two seasons from 1963–65, played by Jacqueline Hill. In the film version...
. Later novels state that he marries then divorces Tegan JovankaTegan JovankaTegan Jovanka is a fictional character played by Janet Fielding in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. An Australian airline stewardess and a native of Brisbane who was a companion of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, she was a regular in the programme from 1981 to...
. - Pg 1 "'But if it wasn't for the snow, how could we believe in the immortality of the soul?' 'What an interesting question, Mr Wilde. But tell me exactly what you mean.' 'I haven't the slightest idea.'" At the end of Human Nature the Seventh Doctor recapitulates this quotation, sort of bookending Paul Cornell's "seasons" cycle of New Adventures.
- Pg 1 "They say that no two snowflakes are the same. But nobody ever stops to check. Above the Academy blew great billows of them, whipping around the corners of the dark building as if to emphasize the structure's harsh lines" This is very similar to the opening sentence of The Infinity DoctorsThe Infinity DoctorsThe Infinity Doctors is a BBC Books original novel written by Lance Parkin and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
- Pg 1 "Mount Cadon, Gallifrey's highest peak, extended to the fringes of the planet's atmosphere, and the Prydonian Academy stood far up its slopes." Mount Cadon is mentioned in The Infinity Doctors.
Continuity errors
- Pg 30 Lt Hemmings' first name changes from Anthony in Timewyrm: ExodusTimewyrm: ExodusTimewyrm: Exodus is an original Doctor Who novel, published by Virgin Publishing in their New Adventures range of Doctor Who novels...
to Rupert here. - Pg 74 "The blast obliterated the Norfolk village of Cheldon Bonniface, the destruction extending to certain parts of WroxhamWroxhamWroxham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish of Wroxham has an area of 6.21 square kilometres and in 2001 had a population of 1532 in 666 households. The village is situated within the Norfolk Broads on the south side of a loop in the middle reaches of...
and nearby Stockbridge." In its first appearance, in DWM#68, StockbridgeStockbridge-Places:In the United States* Stockbridge, Georgia* Stockbridge, Massachusetts* Stockbridge, Michigan* Stockbridge Township, Michigan* Stockbridge, New York* Stockbridge, Vermont* Stockbridge, Wisconsin* Stockbridge , WisconsinIn the United Kingdom...
was in Gloucestershire, which is nowhere near Norfolk.
Featured Alien Races
- The Timewyrm.
- Pg 47 The WyrmBoyle, half Timewyrm, half Chad Boyle, looking like a metallic dragon.
- Pg 71 Giggling monsters drag Hemmings into Hell.