On screen, the origins of the Valeyard have been hardly explored. But what of his origins in other media?
A couple of months ago, I wrote an article speculating on whether the Valeyard should return in the New Series or not. One of the reasons is that, on television, at least, he wasn’t given much of a decent explanation for where he came from. The expanded media, however, has covered it. At least, to an extent.
*** Spoilers to follow for many Valeyard stories in expanded media. ***
Back in the 1990s, Virgin published Doctor Who: The New Adventures. Initially featuring the Seventh Doctor and Ace, the series was designed as a direct continuation of the original series. It was also meant to be considerably more mature than what the TV series portrayed. For the writers, this meant including sexual scenes, swearing, drug use, and stronger violence.
While the Valeyard never appeared as a character directly, he was quite heavily referenced. One particular arc explored the Sixth Doctor’s death in ‘Time and the Rani.’ The implication was that the presence of his Seventh incarnation was already within his mind. To manifest physically, the Doctor subconsciously allowed his TARDIS to be attacked by the Rani.
Seven started to feel a great weight of guilt within himself and couldn’t face the memory of his Sixth incarnation. There was a danger that the anger and guilt associated with Six would eventually turn into the Valeyard. However, eventually, Seven learned to forgive himself and accept his Sixth incarnation, removing the danger of the Valeyard’s return.
The continuity of the Virgin range has, admittedly, become difficult to reconcile. The issues are not only derived from television — with Seventh Doctor novel Human Nature being heavily adapted into two Tenth Doctor episodes — but with other novel ranges and audios, too.
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It is interesting to note, however, that Six’s regeneration in The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure is essentially caused by the Doctor himself. While it’s not a manifestation of Seven that makes Six pilot his TARDIS to his death on the planet Lakertya, the nature of the circumstances behind the regeneration could lead to the Doctor into believing it was. So Big Finish could cover a version of that particular arc from The New Adventures if they wanted.
Time’s Champion, an unofficial novel, presents the Valeyard’s creation as something more divine. In The New Adventures, another key arc was how the Seventh Doctor had become a champion of one of the Gods of the Doctor Who universe, specifically Time. Time’s Champion drew on this explanation and presented the Valeyard as the creation of these Gods. An alternative champion, the Valeyard was created from the stolen energy of the Doctor’s final regeneration, and altered to suit their will.
Time’s Champion was a novel I rushed to buy, despite knowing that it was purely fan fiction. A final confrontation with the Valeyard, as well as a possible origin story for the character, was just too good to resist, especially for a regeneration story. The fact that it was also the final part of a Sixth Doctor trilogy by Craig Hinton, and that it was the final book that he had worked on before his death in 2006, also made it an essential purchase. It was a very entertaining and epic read, and a great regeneration story that was really well told, even if it was completely unofficial.
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