Everything about Hand Of Omega totally explained
The Hand of Omega is a fictional device from the
British science fiction television series
Doctor Who.
In
Remembrance of the Daleks the
Seventh Doctor explains that the "Hand of Omega" is the mythical name for the remote stellar manipulator invented by Omega, the first of the
Time Lords of the planet
Gallifrey.
Omega was a stellar engineer who used the Hand to create the supernova which would be the power source for the Gallifreyans experiments and subsequent mastery over
time travel. The attempt resulted in a
supernova that apparently consumed Omega, but instead shunted him into an
antimatter universe. The supernova subsequently collapsed into a
black hole, the
nucleus of which was harnessed by Omega's colleague
Rassilon as the
Eye of Harmony, and giving the Time Lords the power to live up to their name. In homage to Omega, and to live up to their apparent "infinite capacity for pretentiousness", the Time Lords dubbed the manipulator the "Hand of Omega", presumably as a metaphor that Omega changed stars "with his touch".
History
The Hand of Omega was removed from Gallifrey by the
First Doctor prior to his self-imposed exile before the events of the first
Doctor Who episode. He then hid it in a funeral parlour in
London in the year
1963, as seen in the
1988 serial
Remembrance of the Daleks.
The Hand resided in a casket that made it resemble a
coffin. The casket had a dull, bronze appearance to it, but what material it was actually made from is unknown. Seemingly possessed of some basic intelligence, the Hand had the ability to levitate and follow simple orders. It was also able, on the Doctor's orders, to suffuse a
baseball bat with energy, which the Doctor's companion
Ace then used briefly as a weapon.
In
Remembrance, the
Seventh Doctor returned to
1963, apparently to move the Hand to another hiding place. In truth, he was laying a trap for the
Daleks and their creator,
Davros. Davros had hoped to use the Hand to transform the sun of the Dalek homeworld
Skaro into a power source for time travel. However, the Doctor had altered the Hand's programming so that instead of enhancing Skaro's sun, the Hand turned it
supernova, obliterating Skaro and, presumably, the Daleks themselves. The Hand of Omega returned to Gallifrey afterward.
Other appearances
In the
spin-off novel
War of the Daleks by
John Peel, it was revealed that the planet Antalin had been destroyed in Skaro's place. The
canonicity of the novels, as with all spin-off media, is open to interpretation.
The
Virgin New Adventures novel
Lungbarrow by
Marc Platt provides some additional history on the Hand during the early years of its creation on Gallifrey. The Hand was hidden by Rassilon, but escaped just before the Doctor left Gallifrey. The ancient alarms left by Rassilon were not known and couldn't be shut off, leaving the Hand to lurk around the Doctor's rooms.
In the
BBC Books novel
The Eight Doctors by
Terrance Dicks it's revealed that there were two Hands, both used by Omega. The Hand also appears in
The Infinity Doctors by
Lance Parkin.
The origins of the Hand are further explored in
Omega, a
Big Finish Productions audio drama. There it's stated that the Hand was literally a hand placed in the Stellar Manipulator: that of Vandekirian, Omega's treacherous associate. The name "Hand of Omega" was chosen by Rassilon for political reasons. However, aside from the canonicity issues, the story is told largely from the point of view of an insane Omega with confused memories, as well as trying to make a point about the malleability of written history. This ultimately makes the accuracy of the information uncertain.
The Hand of Omega also plays a vital part in
The Seventh Door an ultimately rejected audio script for
Big Finish Productions in 2000, which was Chris McKeon's original Valeyard story concept before his involvement in co-writing
Time's Champion with
Craig Hinton.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Hand Of Omega'.
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