R is for... Ravens

 

Corvus Corax - the raven - has played a significant role in the lives of the Doctor and his companions on several occasions.

Leonard de Vries, who owned Boscombe Hall in the south west of England, had a pet raven. He was the leader of a Druidic sect which worshipped the Celtic witch-goddess Cailleach. The bird was one of her symbols and they acted as her eyes and ears. Romana was troubled by the sight of the bird as it perched on the roof of the TARDIS.

Alien criminal Cesair of Diplos, posing as local Vivien Fey, had taken on the role of the Cailleach whilst donning a bird-like costume.

The Tower of London is famed for its raven population, and legend states that England will fall should they ever leave (which is why the ones kept there have their wings clipped). Kate Stewart of UNIT revealed to the Doctor that they were actually artificial, running on batteries.

Quantum Shades were creatures which could kill anyone at a designated time and space location, and so could be used as assassins or executioners. The immortal Ashildr, now known simply as Me, used one in the form of a raven to enforce the rules of the London Trap Street of which she was mayor. These were small pockets of space / time cut off from the rest of the universe which could be used as refuges for various alien species.

The intended victim was marked with a chronolock - a tattoo which counted down the minutes until their death. Once branded in this way, the only way someone could escape their fate was if another person willingly took it on themself. A young man named Rigsy, who was a friend to the Doctor and Clara Oswald, found himself marked after being accused of murdering an inhabitant of the Trap Street. Clara decided to take his chronolock due to her over-confidence that the Doctor would save her.

However, the whole set up had been a trap for him and he was powerless to stop it killing his companion. On attacking, the Shade would assume the form of smoke and pass through the body, killing the victim.

Appearances: The Stones of Blood (1978), Face the Raven (2015).

• Ravens feature in a number of mythologies. Odin had a pair named Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory) which flew across the world every day to spy on his behalf.
• In Native American tradition, the raven is seen as both a creator spirit and a trickster. They brought the sun, moon and stars to humanity.
• The Celts believed that Morrigan, the goddess of war and death, transformed herself into a raven to fly over battlefields, and the sight of a raven before battle could indicate a warrior's fate.
• Greek god Apollo was angered when a white raven delivered bad news, so he scorched its feathers and so all ravens are now black.
• The Japanese have a legend of a three-legged raven, Yatagarasu, which symbolises the sun.
• And a raven was the first bird which Noah is said to have sent out from the Ark to see if the flood had abated.
• Some of these legends refer to ravens and crows equally. The crow features prominently in The Eaters of Light (2017), and its call is even supposed to echo the name 'Kar', a young woman who sacrificed herself alongside some Roman soldiers to imprison the monsters in another dimension.