10 Disturbing Backstories Behind Doctor Who Characters
9. Empress Of Racnoss
The Empress of the Racnoss was introduced in "The Runaway Bride," and while she didn't take up a large amount of screen time, her backstory stands out as one of the most disturbing on the series. In the episode, it's established that the Racnoss existed long ago as a powerful civilization.
They were ultimately destroyed — or very nearly by attacks carried out by the Cybermen and the Time Lords. Their destruction came some 4.6 billion years in the past, and only a scant number of survivors remained, which included the Empress. The other survivors were her children, all of whom are born hungry.
Their ship sat at the center of the accretion disk, which ultimately formed into the Earth. The Empress was in a separate vessel, remaining in hibernation at the edge of the universe. She left when she decided to search for her children, which ultimately took her to Earth.
Desperate to free her children, the Empress hatched a plot to drill to the Earth's center. Because her children would devour all of humanity upon emerging, the Doctor was left with little choice, and flooded the tunnel with the water from the Thames, killing them all.