The Dawn of the Kotturuh offers up some answers about Time Lord Victorious but teases the reader with even more intriguing questions
Subscribers to the official Doctor Who newsletter have now gained access to a free short story set in the world of Time Lord Victorious, The Dawn of the Kotturuh. Written by Time Lord Victorious mastermind James Goss himself, the man behind probably some of your favourite Doctor Who novels and audios, it reveals the origin of the Kotturuh. Sort of.
The story arrives in the form of an email which cheekily acknowledges that it’s arrived a couple of days later than advertised. A Data Worm has been working hard to hack the secret files detailing the first known sighting of the Kotturuh but admits it took longer to crack the database than expected. A link and a password then brings you to the story itself but even this framing sequence gives tantalizing hints about the wider arc. The opening episode of upcoming animated series DALEKS! is called The Archive of Isolas, and the reader here is complicit in the theft of this story from that very archive. So is perhaps the same stolen knowledge of the Dark Times and the Kotturuh that kicks off the Dalek path through Time Lord Victorious?
The free Doctor Who story acts like the pre-credits scene – introducing us to terrors and mysteries to come through the eyes of someone doomed never to meet the Doctor
The Dawn of the Kotturuh itself is essentially Time Lord Victorious’ answer to the cold opens of many a Doctor Who episode. You know the sort, where some poor innocent blunders into a situation beyond their ken only to meet a sticky fate before the Doctor has even arrived on the scene. You can practically hear the cliffhanger scream of the theme tune cut in as you get to the final line. It’s an indication of the scale of this massive event, though, that this time it’s an entire planet that has the poor fortune to cross paths with the Kotturuh. Because its the quiet world of Birinji, with it civilization devoted to quiet contemplation, that’s chosen as the starting point for dispensing the Kotturuh ‘gift’ of death.
We learn quite a bit about the Kotturuh in the process. We know now what it is that they’re trying to achieve with their quest, and the story reveals how they go about assessing the ‘value’ a given form of life brings to the universe. But we also discover that the Kotturuh are not just faceless monsters. Well, okay, they’re literally faceless monsters, but they do argue among themselves about the appropriate lifespan to dole out to the worlds they visit. However, to balance out the revelations there’s a new mystery. Though this is their first appearance among the species of the Dark Times, the bringers of death hold a belief about themselves and their own creation. An apparently impossible belief. Could they actually be right? Or is something even stranger going on than the Kotturuh?
By answering some questions about the bringers of death and their mission, while making them even more mysterious, The Dawn of the Kotturuh acts as the perfect teaser for the adventure to really begin
Like the best of those pre-credits scenes, The Dawn of the Kotturuh whets the appetite and intrigues in equal measure. Now we’re just waiting for the Doctor to arrive to save the day. Or perhaps this one time, to make things so much worse…
Time Lord Victorious: Where to Next?
From The Dawn of the Kotturuh, the Kotturuh’s path through the Time Lord Victorious action continues in The Guide to the Dark Times in Doctor Who: The Official Annual 2021, out now! (Read Blogtor Who’s review)
Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious – The Complete List!
A Dalek Awakens (Escape Hunt, Open Now!)
Defender of the Daleks #1 (Titan Comics, Out Now!) [Tenth Doctor/Daleks]
Doctor Who Annual 2021 (BBC Books, Out Now!) [Tenth Doctor]
Monsterous Beauty Part One (Doctor Who Magazine #556, Out Now!) [Ninth Doctor]
The Dawn of the Kotturuh (Doctor Who Newsletter, Out Now!) [Kotturuh]
The Night, the Fool and the Dead (BBC Books, 1st October) [Tenth Doctor/Kotturuh/Brian the Ood]
Master Thief/Lesser Evils (Big Finish, 7th October) [Kotturuh]
Defender of the Daleks #2 (Titan Comics, 8th October) [Tenth Doctor/Daleks]
He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not (Big Finish, 14th October) [Eighth Doctor/Brian the Ood]
Monsterous Beauty Part Two (Doctor Who Magazine #557, 15th October) [Ninth Doctor]
Canaries (Doctor Who website, October)
Dalek Golden Emperor/Dalek Drone Figurine Set (Hero Collector, 20th October) [Daleks]
DALEKS! (Doctor Who YouTube Channel, October/November) [Daleks]
Dalek Commander/Dalek Scientist Figurine Set (Hero Collector, 1st November) [Daleks]
The Enemy of My Enemy (Big Finish, 11th November) [Eighth Doctor/Daleks]
Monsterous Beauty Part Three (Doctor Who Magazine #558, 12th November) [Ninth Doctor]
Defender of the Daleks Collection (Titan Comics, 18th November) [Tenth Doctor/Daleks]
Dalek Executioner/Dalek Strategist (Hero Collector, 23rd November) [Daleks]
Echoes of Extinction (Big Finish, 27th November) [Eighth/Tenth Doctors]
The Minds of Magnox (BBC Audio/Demon Music Group, 3rd December) [Tenth Doctor/Kotturuh/Brian the Ood]
Mutually Assured Destruction (Big Finish, 9th December) [Eighth Doctor]
All Flesh is Grass (BBC Books, 10th December) [Eighth/Ninth/Tenth Doctors/Daleks/Kotturuh/Brian the Ood]
Time Fracture (Immersive Everywhere, 17th February – 11th April, 2021) [Tenth Doctor/Daleks]
Time Lord Victorious/Brian the Ood Figurine Set (Hero Collector, 1st March) [Brian the Ood]
The Edge of Time: Time Lord Victorious game expansion (Maze Theory, TBA)
The checklist isn’t in the same order as anything on the chart….what order is correct? This is so confusing. And the eighth doctor blue and Dalek blue are almost indistinguishable. And I thought a Dalek awakens was the start of the whole thing but on the chart it’s much later along the Dalek timeline. And some stuff that comes first is being released much later than some of the stuff that comes earlier in the timeline. So time fracture comes out in 2021 but is after defender of the Daleks and before the knight, the foal and the dead. This whole TLV saga is so confusing.