Daemons' dual legacy exposed
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Benton inquires about the Daemon's purpose, leading the Doctor to reveal that the Daemons have been guiding human progress throughout history, from the Stone Age to the Industrial Revolution, creating debate amongst Yates, Jo and Hawthorne, who struggle to reconcile this with the apparent evil.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Inquisitive but increasingly uneasy—his initial confusion gives way to a quiet determination to understand the threat, but the Doctor’s warning about annihilation leaves him visibly unsettled.
Sergeant Benton sits with his arms crossed, his expression a mix of concentration and frustration as he listens to the Doctor’s explanation. He’s the one who kicks off the revelation with his blunt question—‘Why did they ever come?’—and his follow-up reactions (nodding, frowning) show he’s trying to piece together the implications. When the Doctor mentions the Daemons’ role in human progress, Benton’s skepticism is clear, but he doesn’t interrupt; instead, he absorbs the information, his posture tense as the stakes become clearer. His role here is that of the pragmatist, grounding the team’s fear in tangible questions.
- • To clarify the Daemons’ motives and their historical role, ensuring the team has a solid grasp of what they’re up against.
- • To assess the immediate threat posed by the Master and the Daemons, so UNIT can respond effectively.
- • The Daemons’ experiments on humanity are a direct threat, and their ‘amoral’ nature makes them unpredictable and dangerous.
- • The Master’s ultimatum is a bluff—or worse, a trap—and the team must be prepared for either outcome.
Confused and increasingly alarmed—her initial skepticism gives way to a creeping dread as she realizes the Daemons’ influence spans millennia, and the Master’s threat is not just personal but existential.
Jo Grant leans forward in her chair, her brow furrowed as she processes the Doctor’s revelations. She interrupts with sharp, probing questions—‘What’s all this jazz about witchcraft?’—her confusion giving way to skepticism. Her body language is engaged but tense, her fingers tapping the table as she struggles to reconcile the Doctor’s scientific explanations with the supernatural fears she’s witnessed. When the Doctor frames humanity as a ‘laboratory rat,’ her face pales, and her final line—‘The end of the world’—is delivered in a hushed, disbelieving tone, as if the weight of the revelation has only just settled in.
- • To understand the connection between the Daemons’ scientific experiments and the witchcraft traditions she’s encountered, seeking a coherent framework for the threats they face.
- • To challenge the Doctor’s framing of humanity’s role, ensuring the team doesn’t lose sight of the moral stakes in the Daemons’ ‘experiment.’
- • The Daemons’ influence on human history—whether through science or ‘witchcraft’—demands a deeper explanation, and their motives cannot be taken at face value.
- • The Master’s ultimatum is a direct threat to humanity’s survival, and the team must act before it’s too late.
Triumpphant and calculating—though not physically present, his influence is absolute. The Doctor’s urgency and the team’s fear are proof that his gambit is working.
The Master is absent from the Cloven Hoof physically, but his presence looms over the conversation like a specter. His influence is felt through the Doctor’s warnings about the ‘link’ he’s established with the Daemon and the apocalyptic choice he’s forced upon humanity. The team’s reactions—Yates’ concern, Hawthorne’s fear, Jo’s horror—are all indirect responses to the Master’s machinations, his threat of ‘domination or annihilation’ casting a shadow over the entire exchange. His absence makes him all the more menacing; he doesn’t need to be present to control the narrative.
- • To solidify his control over the Daemons and use their power to force humanity into submission, ensuring his dominance over Earth.
- • To eliminate the Doctor and UNIT as obstacles, either through annihilation or by breaking their resolve with the threat of total destruction.
- • Humanity is weak and easily controlled, especially when faced with the prospect of extinction.
- • The Daemons’ power is the key to his ultimate victory, and their ‘experiment’ is merely a tool to be exploited for his own ends.
Skeptical and alarmed—her initial defiance gives way to a deeper unease as she realizes the Daemons’ influence is far older and more insidious than she imagined. The Doctor’s revelations force her to confront the possibility that her understanding of ‘evil’ is incomplete, and that terrifies her.
Miss Hawthorne sits rigidly in her chair, her hands clenched around her teacup as she listens to the Doctor’s revelations. Her interventions are sharp and defensive, insisting that the Daemons are ‘evil’ and linked to ‘black arts.’ She rejects the Doctor’s scientific framing, her voice rising with conviction as she clings to her understanding of the supernatural. When the Doctor calls humanity a ‘laboratory rat,’ her expression darkens, and she presses the point: ‘They are evil.’ Her fear is palpable, but so is her refusal to accept a world where science and witchcraft can be one and the same.
- • To defend her belief in the Daemons’ evil nature, rejecting the Doctor’s ‘amoral’ framing as a dangerous underestimation of their threat.
- • To ensure the team does not dismiss the supernatural dimensions of the crisis, even if the Doctor insists on a scientific explanation.
- • The Daemons’ actions, no matter how ‘scientific,’ are inherently evil and must be opposed with all available means—including witchcraft if necessary.
- • The Master’s threat of annihilation is real, and the team must act decisively to stop him before it’s too late.
Calm but urgent, with an undercurrent of grave concern—his scientific detachment masks the weight of the stakes, but his insistence on clarity reveals a protective instinct toward the team.
The Doctor stands at the center of the Cloven Hoof, slide projector beam cutting through the smoke as he delivers his revelations with measured precision. His posture is erect, hands occasionally gesturing to emphasize points, but his voice remains calm, almost clinical, as he dismantles the team’s assumptions about the Daemons. He frames their influence as a ‘scientific experiment,’ reducing humanity’s progress to the actions of ‘amoral’ observers. His warning about the Master’s ultimatum—domination or annihilation—hangs in the air like a verdict, his expression unreadable but his tone urgent. He doesn’t shy away from the moral complexity, but his detachment underscores the cold calculus at play.
- • To dismantle the team’s preconceptions about the Daemons and reframe their role in human history as a detached, scientific experiment.
- • To warn the team about the Master’s leverage over the Daemons and the existential threat of annihilation, ensuring they grasp the urgency of the situation.
- • Humanity’s progress has been influenced—if not manipulated—by forces beyond their understanding, and this revelation will challenge their sense of agency.
- • The Daemons’ ‘amoral’ nature makes them unpredictable, and their experiments on Earth could end in catastrophe if the Master’s bargain fails.
Concerned but focused—his sarcasm masks a deeper unease, but he channels it into a clear assessment of the threat, ensuring the team is prepared for what comes next.
Captain Yates leans back in his chair, his arms crossed as he listens to the Doctor’s revelations. His intervention—‘I see, so all we've got to deal with is something which is either too small to see or thirty feet tall, can incinerate you or freeze you to death, turns stone images into homicidal monsters and looks like the very devil’—is delivered with dry, almost sarcastic precision, summarizing the threat in stark terms. His tone is concerned but controlled, and he doesn’t challenge the Doctor’s analysis; instead, he absorbs it, his expression grim as the weight of the situation sinks in. Yates’ role here is that of the voice of reason, ensuring the team doesn’t lose sight of the practical dangers.
- • To summarize the Daemons’ capabilities in a way that underscores the urgency of the situation, cutting through philosophical debates to focus on the immediate dangers.
- • To ensure UNIT is ready to respond to the Master’s threat, whether through confrontation or strategic retreat.
- • The Daemons’ power is real and immediate, and their ‘experiment’ is a direct threat to UNIT’s mission and humanity’s survival.
- • The Master’s ultimatum is a calculated move, and the team must outmaneuver him before he can act on his threats.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The heat wave is invoked by the Doctor as evidence of the Daemons’ arrival and their dimensional manipulation. He explains it as a byproduct of mass loss—‘When you lose mass, the energy has to go somewhere’—tying it directly to the Daemons’ technology. Though not visible in the Cloven Hoof, its mention serves as a visceral reminder of the Daemons’ power: it’s not just a scientific anomaly but a destructive force, capable of scouring the ground and altering the environment. The heat wave, along with the freeze-up, underscores the Daemons’ ability to reshape reality, making their ‘experiment’ feel less like abstract science and more like an immediate, existential threat. The team’s reactions—Yates’ summary of the dangers, Jo’s horror—show that even an environmental phenomenon can feel personal when it’s tied to an intelligence that sees humanity as expendable.
The Daemons’ reanimated stone monsters are referenced by Yates as one of three catastrophic powers the Daemons wield—alongside incineration and freezing. Though not seen in the Cloven Hoof, their mention is chilling: ‘turns stone images into homicidal monsters.’ The Doctor doesn’t deny this, and the team’s reactions (Jo’s horror, Hawthorne’s insistence on evil) show that the monsters are not just a threat but a symbol of the Daemons’ ability to twist the familiar into the terrifying. The stone monsters, like the heat wave and freeze-up, are part of the Daemons’ ‘toolkit,’ proof that their experiments are not just scientific but supernatural in the eyes of those who witness them. Their absence in the room makes them all the more unsettling; they’re a reminder that the Daemons’ power is not just theoretical but tangible, and their influence is already shaping the world in ways the team is only beginning to understand.
The Daemons’ spaceship is referenced indirectly as the Doctor explains its dimensional manipulation—how it ‘diminished’ from 200 feet long to a mere 15 inches, a process that triggered the heat wave and freeze-up. Though not physically present in the Cloven Hoof, its existence is pivotal: it serves as tangible proof of the Daemons’ advanced technology and their ability to alter reality at will. The Doctor uses it to illustrate the Daemons’ power, framing their experiments as a cold, calculated science that treats Earth like a ‘laboratory rat.’ The spaceship’s absence in the room makes its implication all the more unsettling; it’s a reminder that the Daemons’ influence is not just historical but ongoing, and their technology could reshape the planet in an instant.
The freeze-up is mentioned alongside the heat wave as another environmental extreme caused by the Daemons’ dimensional manipulation. The Doctor ties it directly to mass loss, framing it as a dual threat: one moment, the Daemons incinerate; the next, they freeze. Yates’ summary—‘something which is either too small to see or thirty feet tall, can incinerate you or freeze you to death’—highlights the freeze-up’s role as part of an unpredictable, lethal arsenal. Unlike the heat wave, which is tied to a specific moment (the Daemons’ arrival), the freeze-up looms as a ongoing danger, a reminder that the Daemons’ experiments are not just historical but active. The object’s absence in the Cloven Hoof makes it all the more menacing; it’s a force of nature, controlled by an intelligence that doesn’t care about the collateral damage.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Cloven Hoof serves as the neutral ground where the team’s moral and intellectual confrontation unfolds. Its dim, smoke-filled interior—‘tables shoved aside for the Doctor’s slide projector’—creates a claustrophobic, urgent atmosphere, amplifying the tension as the Doctor’s revelations challenge the team’s worldview. The slide projector’s beam cutting through the haze symbolizes the team’s struggle to ‘see’ the truth: the Daemons’ influence is not just supernatural but scientific, and their experiments span millennia. The Cloven Hoof’s role as a pub (a place of respite and community) is subverted; here, it becomes a war room, where the team grapples with the possibility that their greatest achievements were orchestrated by indifferent, otherworldly beings. The location’s mundane details—‘Bert offers food and clears glasses’—ground the existential dread in reality, making the revelations feel all the more personal.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The Master’s faction is the direct antagonist force in this event, though their presence is felt through the Doctor’s warnings and the team’s reactions. The Master’s ‘link’ with the Daemon is the linchpin of the crisis: he has turned their ‘experiment’ into a weapon, offering humanity a choice between ‘domination by the Master or total annihilation.’ The faction’s influence is twofold: they control the Daemons’ power (for now) and threaten the team with extinction. The Master’s absence in the Cloven Hoof makes him all the more menacing; he doesn’t need to be present to dominate the narrative. His henchmen (Girton, Bok) are implied but unseen, a reminder that his faction is not just a lone villain but a network of forces working to enforce his will.
The Daemons’ influence is the invisible hand guiding the entire conversation. Though not physically present, their ‘experiment’ is the subject of the team’s moral and intellectual reckoning. The Doctor frames them as detached scientists, but Hawthorne insists they are ‘evil,’ and Jo questions their connection to witchcraft. The Daemons’ role as the antagonist force (indirectly) is central: their experiments on humanity—from the Stone Age to the Industrial Revolution—are revealed as the true driver of the crisis. The Master’s leverage over them (his ‘link’ with the Daemon) turns their ‘amoral’ science into an existential threat, forcing the team to grapple with whether their greatest achievements were ever truly their own. The Daemons’ absence in the Cloven Hoof makes their presence all the more oppressive; they are the unseen architects of history, and their ‘experiment’ could end in annihilation.
UNIT’s influence in this event is indirect but critical. The team’s reactions—Yates’ strategic summaries, Benton’s pragmatic questions, Jo’s moral concerns—are all shaped by their roles within UNIT’s hierarchy. The Brigadier’s voice crackles over the radio in the background, a reminder of the organization’s broader mission: to counter the Master’s threat before it escalates. Though UNIT is not physically present in the Cloven Hoof, its protocols and priorities (e.g., the Doctor’s role as scientific adviser, Yates’ military precision) frame the team’s responses. The organization’s goal here is twofold: to gather intelligence on the Daemons’ capabilities and to prepare for the Master’s ultimatum, whether through confrontation or evacuation. UNIT’s absence in the room makes its presence all the more felt; it’s the unseen hand guiding the team’s urgency.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The Doctor's continued exposition of the Daemon's background leads to an understanding of the Master's plan, highlighting the Doctor's role as explainer."
Doctor reveals Daemons as ancient cosmic threat"The Doctor's continued exposition of the Daemon's background leads to an understanding of the Master's plan, highlighting the Doctor's role as explainer."
Doctor reveals Daemons as ancient cosmic threat"The Doctor's explanation of the Daemons' influence on human history is echoed when he reveals that the Daemons have been guiding human progress, connecting the historical and current events, generating debate on whether to view this as progress or simply manipulation."
Doctor reveals Daemons as ancient cosmic threat"The Doctor's explanation of the Daemons' influence on human history is echoed when he reveals that the Daemons have been guiding human progress, connecting the historical and current events, generating debate on whether to view this as progress or simply manipulation."
Doctor reveals Daemons as ancient cosmic threatThemes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"BENTON: "Well, I still don't get it. I mean, what's the creature doing here? I mean, why did they ever come?" DOCTOR: "To help Homo sapiens kick out Neanderthal man. They've been coming and going ever since. The Greek civilisation, the Renaissance, the industrial revolution. They were all inspired by the Daemons.""
"HAWTHORNE: "But this thing the Professor let loose is evil, you said so yourself and now you're trying to say they've been helping mankind for a hundred thousand years." DOCTOR: "Amoral, perhaps. They help Earth but on their own terms. It's a scientific experiment to them. Just another laboratory rat.""
"YATES: "Then what's the Master up to?" DOCTOR: "He's established a link with the Daemon. What worries me is the choice. Domination by the Master or total annihilation." JO: "What, this Daemon could destroy the world?" DOCTOR: "What does any scientist do with an experiment that fails? He chucks it in the rubbish bin.""