Sutekh, also known as Sutekh the Destroyer, was an Osiran who planned to destroy all life in the universe. He feared all forms of life which might one day challenge his hegemony, and so became the destroyer of all living things.
History
Like in the Egyptian myths on Earth, Sutekh was brother to Horus (TV: Pyramids of Mars) and husband to their sister, Nephthys. (PROSE: The Sands of Time)
Sutekh destroyed his home planet Phaester Osiris and left a trail of destruction across half the galaxy. He became known by many names, including the Typhonian Beast, Set, Sadok, Seth and Satan. (TV: Pyramids of Mars) Among the planets where Sutekh and the Osirans fought was Youkali. (PROSE: Return of the Living Dad)
Sutekh's brother Horus and the remaining seven hundred forty Osirans tracked Sutekh down to Egypt and used their powers to imprison him beneath a pyramid. The Eye of Horus on Mars beamed a signal to suppress Sutekh's powers and hold him prisoner. The tales of the Osirans were remembered in Egyptian mythology. Sutekh still retained a cult of followers, such as Ibrahim Namin. (TV: Pyramids of Mars)
In 1903, after receiving a wealth of information from the future, Grigori Rasputin foresaw, among other things, the coming of this Egyptian god. (AUDIO: The Wanderer)
In the year 1911, the archaeologist Professor Marcus Scarman excavated the inner chamber of the pyramid beneath which Sutekh was imprisoned, discovering Sutekh and thereby accidentally allowing him a chance of escape. Sutekh controlled Scarman's corpse, using it and Osiran service robots to construct a rocket aimed at the Eye of Horus on Mars. The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith were able to destroy the rocket, but the Doctor fell under the psychic control of Sutekh's will as a result. He was made to take Scarman and the robots to Mars in the Doctor's TARDIS. Despite the Doctor's attempt to stop them, Scarman destroyed the Eye and freed Sutekh. Hurrying back to Earth, the Doctor defeated Sutekh by trapping him in a time tunnel for 11,000 years — longer than the lifespan of an Osiran. (TV: Pyramids of Mars)
Sutekh within the time tunnel. (TV: Pyramids of Mars)
Only the body of Sutekh was defeated by the Doctor. Years later, his consciousness found a way into a new body created for him using an Osirian flesh loom. (AUDIO: The Pyramid of Sutekh) He escaped from Mars and travelled back in time to the reign of Hatchepsut, in order to coerce Tutmosis to usurp his mother's throne and start his reign of terror on the world. (AUDIO: The Eye of Horus) He thought he had destroyed the world by the time of the 21st century which surprised Russell Courtland who had predicted it. He went across the Earth devouring in his wake but left his worshippers till last. In fact the Seventh Doctor tricked him and showed him the solar flare ravaged earth in the 29th century. He went back in time to start over again but this created an auroboros loop. (AUDIO: The Tears of Isis)
Powers and abilities
Sutekh possessed immense power: he could change the course of history and destroy entire star systems. Even when he was trapped and his powers limited, he was able to contain the explosive force of gelignite from miles away, although this was difficult and could be easily disrupted by a simple distraction. He had telekinesis, enabling him to levitate the TARDIS key. The Fourth Doctor took Sarah Jane Smith to an alternate 1980, where the Earth had become a ruined and abandoned wasteland orbiting a dead star due to Sutekh's destruction. According to the Doctor, not even the Time Lords could stop Sutekh had he been released from his prison.
He was incredibly powerful and easily able to defeat a Time Lord. His powers became apparent when his eyes glowed green, allowing him to leave a person in agonising pain for centuries. Furthermore, his mental abilities allowed him to easily dominate others, making them puppets to his will. He also appeared to be able to telepathically read other beings like the Doctor and monitor progress several thousand miles away with the aid of Osiran computer technology. This included reanimating corpses for servants, as he did with Marcus Scarman. He could focus his power through these servants, enabling them to burn people to death with a touch, and was able to destroy the Eye of Horus on Mars from Earth when Scarman was within a few metres of it. Sutekh was somewhat paranoid, fearing that all lifeforms might potentially rise up against him and therefore he destroyed all life wherever he found it. Despite this, he was extremely intelligent and patient. Sutekh was able to survive for 7,000 years while paralysed but died within 11,000 years of travel into the future through the time corridor. (TV: Pyramids of Mars)
Behind the scenes
Sutekh in the pseudo-documentary Oh Mummy!
- In ancient Egyptian mythology, Sutekh is one of the many names for Set, the god of the deserts.
- When Pyramids of Mars came out on DVD, included in it was a pseudo documentary called "Oh Mummy!", which told the fictional account of how Sutekh landed the role in the story and his life afterwards.
