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| “ | To hold in my hand, a capsule that contained such power. To know that life and death on such a scale was my choice. To know that the tiny pressure on my thumb, enough to break the glass, would end everything. Yes! I would do it! That power would set me up above the gods! And through the Daleks, I! Shall! Have! That! Power! | „ |
| ~ Davros to the Fourth Doctor. |
| “ | Your voice is different, yet... its arrogance is unchanged. Welcome to my new empire, Doctor. It is only fitting that you should bear witness to the resurrection and the triumph of Davros, lord and creator of... the Dalek race. | „ |
| ~ Davros to the Tenth Doctor. |
| “ | Across the entire Universe. Never stopping, never faltering, never fading. People, planets and stars will become dust, and the dust will become atoms, and the atoms will become... nothing. And the wavelength will continue, breaking through the rift of the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every dimension, every parallel, every SINGLE CORNER OF CREATION! THIS is my ultimate victory, Doctor: the destruction of reality ITSELF! | „ |
| ~ Davros about the Reality Bomb. |
Davros is one of the overarching antagonists of the Doctor Who franchise.
An ingenious, yet scarred and disabled scientist from the planet Skaro, he is the infamous creator of the Daleks - the single most recurring and dangerous of the Doctor's many enemies. Despite having been killed many times, he always returns leading some to believe that he is immortal, which he has claimed to be.
He was portrayed by the late Michael Wisher in 1975, David Gooderson in 1979, Terry Molloy from 1984 to 1988 in the TV series and the current run of Big Finish audio series, and Julian Bleach in the revival series since 2008.
Personality[]
Davros suffered from megalomania and narcissistic personality disorder (bordering on psychopathy) and was an omnicidal maniac.
However, despite this, he also possesses a sympathetic side. Born a child in a thousand-year war on the planet Skaro against the Kaleds and the Thals and then being dangerously crippled left him with barely any of his original self and witnessed his mother murder his father, sister and aunt before using her dead body as scientific research. As a child, Davros was extremely determined and followed his dream to become a scientist despite all of his ancestors becoming a soldier. While other people feared him, his mother was the only person who believed in him. Davros was a militaristic genius and the chief in charge of designing weaponry and gadgets for the Kaleds and then was able to build a life support for himself after he was wounded by a Thal bombardment.
Even before his descent into madness, Davros was a clear-cut egomaniac, experimenting on living organisms and then teaching them to speak his name. After he did lose whatever remained of his sanity Davros' narcissistic tendencies became even more noticeable, believing that the Reality Bomb was the "apotheosis of (his) genius" and an entire empire of Daleks praising his name only fed his already superego. Davros showed a level of respect for the Fourth Doctor, but this did not stop him from ignoring his pleas to make the Daleks a peaceful race. In a way what Davros considered to be a strength also proved to be a downfall, when he had just activated his creations, the Daleks they exterminated his assistant Nyder and then planned to make their creator a second victim, he pled for mercy only for the Daleks to have none.
While in the past he had a sound mind, Davros is now an insane, depraved, megalomaniacal, zealous and twisted tyrant. Davros became even more malevolent and cruel, he was especially sadistic towards the Doctor and took great pleasure in psychologically tormenting the Tenth Doctor after he had abducted him and his companions aboard the Crucible, saying that he turned people into weapons and murderers. He truly believed that his Daleks were the pure species and believed that they should be the only thing allowed to live in the universe and in doing so created the Reality Bomb that would wipe out every other race in the universe.
Davros was devoted towards the Dalek cause and as were they to him which was shown when they became an intergalactic power and then sought a way to revive their creator so that might offer a way out of the impasse of a war with the Movellans. However, when he was saved from his death at the Nightmare Child, the Daleks refused him as a leader and instead installed a Supreme Dalek as their commander but still did not exterminate him. However, when the detonation of the Reality Bomb failed to detonate, the Supreme Dalek came close to actually murdering him. Davros appeared to value his creations as his children even if he didn't treat them like it but he did revive the entire Empire using his own cells. The Doctor even commented that Davros has become the pet of the Daleks but despite this he still has some command over them and assisted the stealing of 27 planets to construct the Reality Bomb. He does care about them in some aspects.
He can also be an exceedingly arrogant narcissist at times, but he is still a fierce and cunning mind, he was also intelligent enough to imprison the Doctor when he had him aboard The Crucible because even a defenseless Time Lord was still a threat. Near his deathbed, Davros was able to trick the Doctor into allowing him to absorb his regenerative energy and use it to revitalize himself and the entire Empire.
Davros remains fairly level-headed and calm through most of the series, he is able to carry a very hushed and somewhat gentle tone of voice. However, this only covered up his obvious derangement. When he either became enraged or excited his voice would rise to an extremely high pitch and reveal his obvious fury. He is a hypocrite as well, when the Crucible was in self-destruct mode, he named the Doctor "the Destroyer of Worlds." In his subsequent appearance, he attempted to coax the Doctor into triggering a genocide of the Daleks, either due to expecting the Doctor's morality preventing him to do it, or believing the Doctor could do it, but the act of committing genocide outside the chaos of war would forever scar the Time Lord, therefore constitute a triumph over him at last.
What's interesting is that Davros has seen to have died dozens of time which has led many people to believe that he was immortal, but this proved false as he was seen on his deathbed by the Twelfth Doctor. Davros is also extremely intelligent, considered by the Doctor to be an intellectual equal, but can also be manipulated as Dalek Caan did when blinded by sheer pride.
Biography[]
Origin[]
Davros is a scientist from the planet Skaro whose people, the Kaleds, were engaged in a bitter thousand-year war of attrition with their enemies, the Thals. As a young boy, Davros was surrounded by Handmines and shouted for help. The Twelfth Doctor attempted to help, but upon discovering who the boy was, he fled. However, the Doctor returned from the future and used a Dalek gun to kill the Handmines and took Davros to safety, reasoning that this act of kindness was what caused the Daleks and Davros himself to understand the concept of "mercy" in the future.
The conflict left him horribly scarred and crippled, with one functioning hand and one cybernetic eye mounted on his forehead to take the place of his real eyes and a self-designed mobile life-support chair which encloses the lower half of his body. As head of the Elite Scientific Division, Davros created to devise new military strategies in order to win the war yet realized that the overuse of nuclear and biological weapons is mutating his people.
Artificially accelerating the process to examine the ultimate evolutionary end product, he created the beings that he would christen the Daleks.
First encounter with the Doctor[]
The fourth incarnation of the Doctor, along with his companions Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan, was sent to Skaro by the Time Lord to negate the creation of the Daleks to avert a future time when Daleks would dominate the universe. However, the attempt failed as the Doctor eventually realized the consequences that would occur. As a result, Davros's research was frown upon as he schemed to have the remaining Kaleds opposing him killed off. But Davros, finding his creations to be beyond his control, is shot by a Dalek and placed in suspended animation while buried in the underground of Skaro.
Revival in the Movellan War[]
Destiny of the Daleks[]
Many centuries after in supposed death, in Destiny of the Daleks, Davros is sought by the Daleks to help them break a logical impasse in their war against the android Movellans. When he was awoken, Davros found himself confronted by the Doctor once more, who attempted to bluff the Daleks by killing Davros with a makeshift explosive, but was forced to back off when the Daleks began executing their slave force. Davros agreed to aid the Daleks against the Movellans, devising a plan to destroy their ship. However, the Doctor destroys the Dalek groups and hands Davros over to be placed in cryogenic suspension to stand trial on Earth.
Dalek Universe 3[]
to be added
Dalek Civil War[]
In Resurrection of the Daleks, it turned out that Davros was found guilty, and was placed in a space station prison for nine decades until he is freed by a small Dalek force aided by human mercenaries and Dalek duplicates. Vowing to get revenge on the Doctor, Davros learns that Daleks lost their war against the Movellans due to the development of a virus that specifically attacks Dalek tissue, and have awakened Davros to find a cure. Despite Lytton's reservations, Davros demands that he remain on the prison ship while working on the virus, as it may be necessary for him to be refrozen. However, feeling his creations to be too treacherous as he placed them and the humans under his control, Davros ultimately releasing the virus to kill off the Daleks with the intention to create a new and improved Dalek race. But the virus appeared to kill him, too, and he was seeminly killed when the prison ship blew up.
After eluding the Doctor's fifth incarnation, Davros assumed the identity of the planet Necros's "The Great Healer". Davros used the position to create new white-colored Imperial Daleks from frozen bodies, and turn those who were too unintelligent into food. Davros also created a clone of his head to serve as a decoy for assassins, and lured the Sixth Doctor to him. After his rival Kara hired Orcini to assassinate Davros, they destroyed his fake head, and the real Davros subdued them. Davros then brought the Doctor to him, gleefully informing him that, while his allies, Natasha and Grigory, had destroyed the lab, they had been killed, and his main force of Daleks was elsewhere. During this encounter, Orcini's squire, Bostock, destroyed Davros' hand. However, the Daleks loyal to the Supreme Dalek learned of their creator's location and manage to take Davros to face judgement at Skaro for his actions against them, with his army being destroyed by Orcini.
However, the Imperial Daleks followed with a civil war among the Daleks with Davros physically transplanted into a customized Dalek casing and calling himself Emperor of the Daleks. On his mother ship, Davros as Emperor commanded the operation to retrieve the Time Lord artifact the Hand of Omega from 1963 Earth, fighting off the Renegade Dalek faction. In a confrontation with the Seventh Doctor, Davros revealed himself, and his intentions to advance the Daleks to the point of overthrowing the Time Lords. After the Doctor provoked him, Davros activated the Hand, using it on Skaro's sun. However, as had been planned in advance by the Doctor, it caused the sun to go supernova, destroying Skaro. After the Hand began travelling to destroy the mothership, Davros begged for mercy, which the Doctor didn't give, and Davros entered his escape pod and escaped the destruction.
Time War[]
Eventually, Daleks and the Time Lords led by Rassilon engaged in a mutually destructive Time War with Davros leading his creations before what was thought to be his final death during the first year of the Time War, when his command ship was devoured by the eldritch entity known as the Nightmare Child at the Gates of Elysium, despite the Doctor's failed efforts to save him.
Creation of the New Dalek Empire[]
But in reality, though the event was time-locked to prevent temporal tempering, Davros was saved by Dalek Caan of the Cult of Skaro. Guided by the maddened Caan's gained prophetic visions, Davros created new Dalek race using most of his flesh. Though Davros talks about his "new empire", he is kept prisoner in the Crucible's Vault and used by the Daleks for his scientific knowledge as he instructs them to steal 27 planets, including Earth, and hide them in the Medusa Cascade, one second out of sync with the rest of the universe. Davros planned to detonate a "reality bomb", a wavelength transmitted by the stolen planets which cancels out the electrical field binding atoms, reducing the whole of creation to nothingness with only the Crucible and the Daleks unaffected, thus leaving them the only living beings in all existence.
Though the Tenth Doctor attempted to stop him, Davros breaks him by pointing out that he turned his companions into killers and caused countless deaths in the process. By that time, however, Davros finds himself betrayed by Caan, who realized the evilness of his race from seeing the entirety of time and his prophecies and influence to cause the Daleks' destruction with the Doctor's companion Donna Noble being infused with Time Lord DNA and the human Doctor clone created in the process. Though the Doctor attempted to save him, Davros furiously refuses the Doctor's offer to take him to safety while screaming his final words as the Crucible self-destructs: "Never forget, Doctor, you did this! I name you forever: You are the Destroyer of Worlds!"
The Magician's Apprentice[]
Davros survived the destruction and returned to Skaro and sometime later sent his servant, a snake-like creature called Colony Sarff to find the Doctor and bring him to him. Sarff failed to find the Doctor, but Davros told him that to find the Doctor, he should find his friends.
Sarff, followed the Doctor's companion Clara Oswald and Missy to 12th century Essex and found the Doctor and brought him, Clara and Missy to Skaro, where the Doctor was brought to Davros and Clara and Missy remained in their cell. They escaped but where caught and supposedly exterminated by the Daleks. Davros says that what the Doctor did to him, caused this to happen.
The Doctor later removed Davros from his chair and fled the infirmary in it, but Sarff's snakes recapture him and return him to Davros. Back at the infirmary, Davros says he is glad that the Doctor saved Galifrey and looks at him with his actual eyes for the first time. Davros says that he wishes to see the sunrise one last time before death, so the Doctor places him next to a window. When Davros says that he can't open his eyes, the Doctor uses his regeneration energy to try and help. However, when he touches the cables there, it is revealed to be a trap and that the cables where Sarff's snakes who drain the energy from the Doctor to improve the Daleks and make them stronger than ever before.
Just then Missy arrives and frees the Doctor, who reveals that he knew it was a trap and that the Daleks living in Skaro's sewers where affected by the regeneration energy and they come above land to attack and kill the other Daleks, causing the city to collapse. Missy, honoured to meet him at last, poked Davros in his eye before leaving.
Quotes[]
| “ | Now, Davros has created a machine creature, a monster which will terrorize and destroy millions and millions of lives and lands throughout all eternity. He has given this machine a name, a Dalek. It is a word new to you, but for a thousand generations it is a name that will bring fear and terror. Now undoubtedly Davros has one of the finest scientific minds in existence, but he has a fanatical desire to perpetuate himself in his machine. He works without conscience, without soul, without pity, and his machines are equally devoid of these qualities. | „ |
| ~ The Fourth Doctor on Davros and the Daleks. |
| “ | Evil? No. No, I will not accept that. They are conditioned simply to survive. They can survive only by becoming the dominant species. While all other life forms are suppressed. When the Daleks are the supreme rulers of the Universe, than we will have peace. Wars will end. They are a power not of evil, but of good! | „ |
| ~ Davros about the Daleks. |
| “ | So, they have returned to their creator. Like an errant child, they have come home once more, but this time they will not abuse me. This time, I shall take my rightful place as their Supreme Being, and under my control, the Daleks shall once more become triumphant! | „ |
| ~ Davros to Lytton. |
| “ | You are soft, like all Time Lords. You prefer to stand and watch. Action requires courage, something you lack. | „ |
| ~ Davros to the Fifth Doctor. |
| “ | Goodbye, Doctor. I shall... miss you. [snickers] but then... a nuclear bomb [chuckles] — that couldn't possibly miss! NOT AT THAT RANGE! | „ |
| ~ Davros to the Sixth Doctor in the audio drama Davros. |
| “ | The Doctor: But did you bother to tell anyone that they might be eating their own relatives? Davros: Certainly not! That would have created what I believe is termed... "consumer resistance". |
„ |
| ~ Davros to the Sixth Doctor. |
| “ | Are you threatening me? If so it is most unwise. | „ |
| ~ Davros to the Seventh Doctor. |
| “ | Fascinating. If I had not elevated you beyond crude emotions, I could mistake that tone for one of victory. Beware your pride. | „ |
| ~ Davros curious but warning of the Supreme Dalek's arrogance. |
| “ | Davros: But it took one stronger than you: Dalek Caan himself Dalek Caan: I flew into wild and fire. I danced and died, a thousand times! Davros: Emergency temporal shift took him back into the Time War itself. The Doctor: But that's impossible, the entire war is time-locked! Davros: And yet he succeeded. Oh, it cost him his mind, but imagine, a single, simple Dalek succeeded where Emperors and Time Lords have failed. A testament, don't you think? To my remarkable creations. |
„ |
| ~ Davros explaining how he escaped the Time War, then arrogantly proclaiming the fruits of his intellect. |
| “ | The Doctor: And you made a new race of Daleks. Davros: I gave myself to them - quite literally - each one grown from a cell of my own body. New Daleks; true Daleks. I have my children, Doctor. What do you have? Now? |
„ |
| ~ The end of the first conversation between Davros and the Doctor at the Medusa Cascade. |
| “ | Across the entire Universe. Never stopping, never faltering, never fading. People, planets and stars will become dust, and the dust will become atoms, and the atoms will become... nothing. And the wavelength will continue, breaking through the rift of the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every dimension, every parallel, every SINGLE CORNER OF CREATION! THIS is my ultimate victory, Doctor: The destruction of reality ITSELF! | „ |
| ~ Davros about the Reality Bomb. |
| “ | So very full of fire, is he not! The man who butchered millions. There he is... Why so shy? Show your companion, show her your true self. | „ |
| ~ Davros attempting to demonise the Doctor to Rose Tyler. |
| “ | The Doctor, the man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But here's the truth, Doctor, you take ordinary people and you fashion them into weapons; behold, your Children of Time transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this. | „ |
| ~ Davros attempting to shame the Doctor by reminding him of how he inspires people, but often to violence. |
| “ | The Doctor, the man who keeps running, never looking back, because he dare not... out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor: I have shown you yourself. | „ |
| ~ Davros |
| “ | I was wrong about your warriors, Doctor. They are pathetic. | „ |
| ~ Davros degrading the Children of Time when it seems he is victorious. |
| “ | Never forget, Doctor, YOU did this! I name you, forever: YOU ARE THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS! | „ |
| ~ Davros |
| “ | I approve of your new face, Doctor. So much more like mine. | „ |
| ~ Davros, in a way, complimenting the Twelfth Doctor's appearance, while establishing an initial connection between them during their latest reunion. |
| “ | Compassion, Doctor. It has always been your greatest indulgence. Let this be my final victory. Let me hear you say it, just once. Compassion is wrong. | „ |
| ~ Davros to the Twelfth Doctor in The Magician's Apprentice'. |
| “ | Genocide, not during war or out of desperation, but genocide by choice. So many backs with a single knife; join me, won't you, Doctor? | „ |
| ~ Davros unnerving the Doctor by asking him to repeat another attempted genocide of the Daleks. |
Gallery[]
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Trivia[]
- In continuing the Nazi themes with the Daleks, Davros could be compared to Josef Mengele in inhuman experiments for the sake of genetic perfection.
- In his debut of Genesis of the Daleks, Davros was portrayed by Michael Wisher, however, for some reason, he was unable to reprise the role in Destiny of the Daleks, thus David Gooderson was brought in to replace him; yet there wasn't sufficient time to create new special make-up, thereby they had to reuse the original prosthetics for Davros's face, which were only designed to fit over Wisher's facial structure, therefore it was ill-fitting on Gooderson, which made the appearance of Davros's face either melting or collapsing inward (it also often slipped, making it difficult for the actor to see at times). When Terry Molloy took over the part, there were new prosthetics made to fit him properly, thus preventing a repeat of the unintentionally extra malformed facial features; likewise, prosthetics specific to Julian Bleach were available when he inherited the character.
- In The Magician's Apprentice, the Doctor is implied to consider Davros his archenemy, even over the Master. This is likely due to the Doctor and the Master being classmates and childhood friends, whereas the Doctor's relationship with Davros, while sometimes expressing admiration, was always antagonistic.
- Having made the Daleks, Davros is one of the most important Doctor Who villains. Ironically however, he appears only seven times in both the Classic and Revival shows (five times in the Classic series, and twice in the Revival series), which is far less than The Master's number of appearances.
- Since regeneration technically causes a version of a Time Lord to "die". The Doctor and The Master are in a way less immortal than Davros since Davros always appears as the same incarnation, ironically in a decayed form.
- It appeared as though Davros's original organic eyes had eroded due to a lab accident and/or advanced age, however, it was revealed in The Magician's Apprentice storyline that he still had his original eyes, which he voluntarily had kept shut, likely due to the mechanical eye on his forehead lacking weaknesses of organic eyes.
- Before his reintroduction into the revival era, Davros was referred to by the Ninth Doctor in Dalek, describing him as a "king of his own little world", unfavourably comparing Henry Van Statten to him.
- He was also mentioned again, though not by name, in Evolution of the Daleks when the Tenth Doctor was discussing how Davros thought removing emotions would make Daleks superior, which the Human-Dalek Sec rejecting his creator's conclusion, hinting how the Cult of Skaro leader was beginning to reform.
- In the Magician's Apprentice two-parter, the Twelfth Doctor believes Davros blames him for abandoning him in the minefield. However, it is later revealed the Doctor does eventually go back and rescue him, and Davros is disgusted by what he sees as the Doctor's weakness, however, this display of mercy to Davros's child mind left a tiny trace of understanding about the value of compassion, thus it would end up in some of his future Daleks.
- The BBC Children in Need 2023 had a skit featuring the Fourteenth Doctor and a pre-disfigured Davros prior to the events of his first appearance in Genesis of the Daleks, with Julian Bleach reprising the role. Showrunner Russell T Davis confirmed this would be Davros' new appearance, in order to avoid his classic look giving people with disabilities a bad image and being associated with "evil". This caused a mixed reception with the fanbase over such a big change to a classic Doctor Who design. The only logical way this can even work is if Davros cloned a new body for himself to escape the confinement of his chair.
External Links[]
- Davros on the Pure Evil Wiki
- Davros on the Doctor Who Wiki
