10 Oldest Characters In The Doctor Who Universe

2. Every Character From The Dark Times

Doctor Who Ashildr
BBC

Estimated Age: Over 13 billion years.

Whenever a Doctor Who writer is introducing a new character (usually a villain), they often like to say that they're "as old as the universe", or some other variation on that phrase. It's a quick way for the writer to make their new character sound all important and grandiose, and it's something that's been done countless times.

The Weeping Angels and Fenric were both introduced in this way, as was the Beast from Series 2's The Impossible Planet - and those are just a few examples. Now of course, being "as old as the universe" doesn't really give us a precise number, but if we use the date of the original Big Bang - which, in an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures, was said to be 13 billion years ago - then we can say that these characters are roughly 13 billion-plus years old.

On a similar note, there are also characters who are said to be from an era of Doctor Who history called The Dark Times, which, according to the Tenth Doctor in The Runaway Bride, also took place billions of years ago. Hell, The Dark Times were so long ago, it's said that this period might even pre-date our own reality.

Beings who hail from The Dark Times include the Racnoss, the Nestene Consciousness, the Great Vampires, the Eternals, and the Mandragora Helix. In addition, various accounts state that Rassilon himself was active during the Dark Times. Along with fellow Time Lords Omega and The Other, Rassilon founded Time Lord society, so yeah... these three guys are pretty damn old.

You could also chuck the Timeless Child in here too, since this is a being that was around before the Time Lords could even regenerate.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.