2024 - Who is Sutekh in Doctor Who?

The Doctor and Ruby finally know who The One Who Waits. They will have to face him in the season finaleepisode 8 broadcast on June 22, 2024. Spoilers.

The grand finale of this season 1 of the new series Doctor Who fast approaching. Alongside the mystery surrounding Ruby’s origins, another common thread has emerged: “The One Who Waits”. A story connected to the same woman who appeared in each adventure, mysteriously. During episode 7, we finally learn who this big threat is. Spoilers.

Who is Sutekh in Doctor Who?

At the end of an episode 7 which gradually increased the pressure, until it made the TARDIS frightening, we learn in The Legend of Ruby Sunday that “he who waits” is a god: Sutekh.

This is not the first time this character has appeared in Doctor Who. But the last time was 50 years ago. We are then in 1975, and it is the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker) who is in command of the TARDIS, accompanied by Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen). An archaeologist then accidentally releases Sutekh from his tomb.

Inspired by the god of death, Set, in Egyptian mythology, he is part of Doctor Who of the Pantheon, a set of transcendental entities capable of acting on matter and reality itself. The Toymaker and the Maestro were among them. Sutekh is the “leader”, and he attacks all forms of life: he is an ultimate destroyer. In 1975, the Doctor managed to stop him by locking him in a sort of time trap causing the god to age very quickly. But how did he come back in The Legend of Ruby Sunday ?

Sutekh in episode 7 of Doctor Who. // Source: BBC

This is what one of its heralds explains: “ He hid in the howling void. He hid in the storm. He braved the storm, the darkness and the pain, and he whispered to the ship. All the while he whispered and delighted and seduced, and the ship obeyed. » In short, he hid in the TARDIS time web. Reason why Susan Triad appeared wherever the Doctor and Ruby traveled. And why it is via the TARDIS that Sutekh reappears at the end of the episode.

Either way, the god is preparing to sow death and destruction in his path. The Doctor, Ruby and UNIT will have to undo it in episode 8, broadcast this Saturday June 22 and which will be the last of the season, before the end-of-year Christmas Special.