Doctor Who Series 12: Ten Huge Questions After Ascension Of The Cybermen
7. Why Did Ashad Make The Cyberman Scream?
As if things weren’t perilous enough, Ravio is disturbed to see a Cyberman who is prepared to cause pain to his own. The avoidance of pain is one of the selling points for conversion, with the emotional inhibitor enabling a pain-free existence. So a Cyberman writhing in agony at the very point in which it is brought back to life suggests that Ashad has different plans for them.
Ashad is being driven not only by his own experiences of being the rejected convert, but also by the Cyberium inside him. The Cyberium has given him a higher calling - a mission beyond the resurrection of the Cybermen. Whatever that higher purpose is, the Cybermen are now only one part of it. Ashad tells the Doctor that he will be the death of everything.
In past adventures, the Cybermen have been destroyed by the switching off of the inhibitor. The memory of who they were pre-conversion causes a meltdown, making it an essential component. The distinctive tear-drops under their eyes add an element of pathos to the dehumanised warriors. Underneath the masks are humans who can no longer cry and yet who now have more reason than ever to do so.
Ashad wants to use memories, whether real or implanted. He wants his Cybermen to be like him. Their tears, their screams, are fuel for his twisted purposes. We saw something similar in Can You Hear Me? with the Eternals.