V ~ Valeyard, The - The Valeyard appeared in the 1986 story The Trial of a Time Lord. When the Time Lords place the 6th Doctor on trial and the Valeyard served as the prosecutor.
During the course of the trial, the Doctor was accused of "conduct unbecoming a Time Lord" and transgressing the First Law of Time. As prosecutor, the Valeyard presented the events of The Mysterious Planet and Mindwarp as extracts from the Matrix, the computer network that serves as the repository of all Time Lord knowledge. The Valeyard used these extracts as evidence of the Doctor's meddling in time and space.
What was not discovered until later was that the Matrix extracts had been tampered with to show the Doctor in the worst possible light. In The Mysterious Planet this involved the editing of particular scenes. Scenes of the mercenary Sabalom Glitz attempting to buy "secrets" from the robot Drathro were censored completely. In Mindwarp substantial portions of the extract were falsified entirely by the Valeyard. The most significant alteration was when the Time Lords intervened in the brain transplant experiments of Lord Kiv and his scientist Crozier. In the Matrix extract, it appeared that Yrcanos was possessed and that he killed the Mentors and the Doctor's companion Peri.
When the Doctor presented in his defence the future events of Terror of the Vervoids, he began to suspect that the Valeyard was tampering with the evidence, but lacked proof. The Doctor was forced to destroy the human-plant hybrids known as the Vervoids when they ran rampant on a space liner. If they had been allowed to reach Earth they would have eliminated all animal life. The Valeyard tampered with the scenes and made it appear as if the Doctor had committed genocide.
In The Ultimate Foe, the Master appeared in the Matrix, revealing that it was possible to infiltrate it. Sabalom Glitz and the Doctor's future companion Melanie Bush were presented to the Court to rebut the Valeyard's accusations. It was then revealed that the Valeyard was, in fact, the Doctor himself — or rather, a distillation of the Doctor's evil side, a potential dark version who might exist between his twelfth and final incarnations. The Valeyard was also revealed to be acting at the behest of the High Council of Time Lords to cover its corruption in the Ravalox affair. The "secrets" were information from the Matrix. Ravolox was Earth, but the Time Lords moved it through space, killing virtually every human being living on it. To prevent the Doctor discovering the secret and revealing it, they used the Valeyard to try to have the Doctor executed under the pretence of a trial. The reward for the Valeyard's actions would have been to give him all of the Doctor's remaining regenerations and make his existence concrete. However, the Valeyard would then have slain every member of the Court as well, using a particle disseminator located within the Matrix.
The Doctor entered the Matrix and fought and defeated the Valeyard in a fictional world of his creation. The Valeyard appeared to be trapped in the Matrix, but at the end of the story, the Valeyard was seen disguised as the Keeper of the Matrix.
It remains to be seen if the Valeyard will still manifest himself when and if the Doctor, now in his tenth persona, reaches his final regeneration.
The Valeyard was played by Michael Jayston.
During the course of the trial, the Doctor was accused of "conduct unbecoming a Time Lord" and transgressing the First Law of Time. As prosecutor, the Valeyard presented the events of The Mysterious Planet and Mindwarp as extracts from the Matrix, the computer network that serves as the repository of all Time Lord knowledge. The Valeyard used these extracts as evidence of the Doctor's meddling in time and space.
What was not discovered until later was that the Matrix extracts had been tampered with to show the Doctor in the worst possible light. In The Mysterious Planet this involved the editing of particular scenes. Scenes of the mercenary Sabalom Glitz attempting to buy "secrets" from the robot Drathro were censored completely. In Mindwarp substantial portions of the extract were falsified entirely by the Valeyard. The most significant alteration was when the Time Lords intervened in the brain transplant experiments of Lord Kiv and his scientist Crozier. In the Matrix extract, it appeared that Yrcanos was possessed and that he killed the Mentors and the Doctor's companion Peri.
When the Doctor presented in his defence the future events of Terror of the Vervoids, he began to suspect that the Valeyard was tampering with the evidence, but lacked proof. The Doctor was forced to destroy the human-plant hybrids known as the Vervoids when they ran rampant on a space liner. If they had been allowed to reach Earth they would have eliminated all animal life. The Valeyard tampered with the scenes and made it appear as if the Doctor had committed genocide.
In The Ultimate Foe, the Master appeared in the Matrix, revealing that it was possible to infiltrate it. Sabalom Glitz and the Doctor's future companion Melanie Bush were presented to the Court to rebut the Valeyard's accusations. It was then revealed that the Valeyard was, in fact, the Doctor himself — or rather, a distillation of the Doctor's evil side, a potential dark version who might exist between his twelfth and final incarnations. The Valeyard was also revealed to be acting at the behest of the High Council of Time Lords to cover its corruption in the Ravalox affair. The "secrets" were information from the Matrix. Ravolox was Earth, but the Time Lords moved it through space, killing virtually every human being living on it. To prevent the Doctor discovering the secret and revealing it, they used the Valeyard to try to have the Doctor executed under the pretence of a trial. The reward for the Valeyard's actions would have been to give him all of the Doctor's remaining regenerations and make his existence concrete. However, the Valeyard would then have slain every member of the Court as well, using a particle disseminator located within the Matrix.
The Doctor entered the Matrix and fought and defeated the Valeyard in a fictional world of his creation. The Valeyard appeared to be trapped in the Matrix, but at the end of the story, the Valeyard was seen disguised as the Keeper of the Matrix.
It remains to be seen if the Valeyard will still manifest himself when and if the Doctor, now in his tenth persona, reaches his final regeneration.
The Valeyard was played by Michael Jayston.
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