After months of speculation, the answers are finally here in Doctor Who. We now know who The One Who Waits is.
Caution: There are major spoilers from Doctor Who Season 14, Episode 7.
Since the arrival of The Toymaker, there have been questions about the identity of The One Who Waits. Fans have had plenty of theories, including that Susan Twist is the real identity. It turned out that Susan Twist’s character was something else entirely.
Twist’s character, Susan Triad, had many names throughout the season. Susan seems to be the main one, and The Doctor pointed out that this was significant due to the name of his granddaughter. However, it wasn’t her who controlled the big evil. She was just a harbinger of it, along with a few others.
The God of Death has arrived in Doctor Who
During the episode, The Doctor and Ruby were able to go into the VHS of the CCTV footage caught the day Ruby was left at the church on Ruby Road. Her mom still wasn’t visible, but she did point directly at The Doctor. Then a dangerous black smoke formed, killing one of the soldiers in with them.
That smoke was around the TARDIS. It turned out that the TARDIS still had that black smoke, and when UNIT worked to get a physical form of it, we learned that he is Sutekh, the God of Death, among his many names. With how powerful he already is and the fact that he’s the God of Death, it’s not surprising that The Toymaker didn’t want to face him.
Doctor Who fans have met Sutekh before
If you’re a fan of the Classic series, you’ll already know of Sutekh. He is also known as The Destroyer, Set, Setekh, and Jackal. He is The Oldest One, as Maestro called him, and it turns out that he leads this new pantheon of gods that Russell T. Davis has focused on creating.
He first turned up against The Fourth Doctor. There have been mentions in other books, comics, and audio adventures, which may or may not now be considered canon, but it’s the Fourth Doctor who we best know Sutekh from.
He appeared in “Pyramids of Mars,” where he is the last of the Osirians, a godlike alien species. He was trapped beneath a pyramid by Horus, his brother, and all he wanted to do was escape. The Fourth Doctor succumbs to Sutekh’s mind-controlling abilities, but he does manage to find a way to break free and prevent Sutekh from escaping.
That is until now. And now, Fifteen will need to figure out a way to tackle this god, who will want revenge against The Doctor.