Great Old One The Great Old Ones , sometimes known simply as the Old Ones , were beings that existed before the universe . More a pantheon than a species , the Old Ones included the Elder God s , Toymaker s , Guardians of Time and even " Greater Old Ones " the Grace . Overview . The Great Old Ones were unimaginably ancient creatures that were preserved in human ity ' s race memory as their worst nightmares . They were conceived as creatures that spread evil , chaos and destruction wherever they went . ( AUDIO : " The Roof of the World " ) Quantum mnemonics was known to be the language of the Old Ones , as they represented physical laws of the Universe that preceded the current one . It was considered the Old Ones ' equivalent of Block Transfer Computation s and allowed them to rewrite reality on the most fundamental of levels . ( PROSE : " Millennial Rites " ) It was known that the Great Old Ones were incapable of being killed in the normal dimension . They also knew of the Time Lord s and considered them a threat . ( PROSE : " White Darkness " ) Biology and power . The Old Ones originally possessed physical bodies in their own universe . Upon entering N - Space , they received new bodies that may or may not have had heads , ( PROSE : " Millennial Rites " ) and some lost theirs when they ran from the Fendahl , abandoning their forms and letting their minds drift into the Time Vortex . ( PROSE : " White Darkness " ) Afterwards they could assume a form for a brief period but not forever , their new natural state being a collective consciousness , possessing neither form nor substance . They existed between dimension s where they created universe s , planes , and whatever else suited them , ( PROSE : " Divided Loyalties " ) including the Land of Fiction ( PROSE : " Conundrum " ) and the Celestial Toyroom , which the Toymaker created and resided in , able to step outside but never fully leave . ( AUDIO : " The Magic Mousetrap " ) They sought to return to their bodies and had a third part of their form which existed in the outer dimensional planes which some believed was where they originated from . They could not be killed in the normal dimension , ( PROSE : " White Darkness " ) the Toymaker explaining that were he to die he would simply reappear . ( AUDIO : " Solitaire " ) They couldn ' t die as the energies their bodies were composed of were not meant to exist in the normal universe , and were they to decay , the released energy would rip apart space and time . They could only safely die in their own universe , or the Board , which caused the Time Vortex to turn inside out . ( AUDIO : " Signs and Wonders " ) The sensors of a TARDIS noted the body of an Old One appeared as a massive quantity of energy which was the equivalent of twenty billion nuclear bombs . ( PROSE : " Millennial Rites " ) While they were considered an actual race , ( PROSE : " Twilight of the Gods " ) their biology differed between individuals . The Celestial Toymaker carried his own mass with him , projected from his original universe . ( AUDIO : " The Nightmare Fair " ) He and the Gods of Ragnarok maintained humanoid appearances , as did the Guardians , although Rassilon theorised that they took on familiar forms to whoever they appeared before . ( PROSE : " Divided Loyalties " ) The Animus , Intelligence , and Fenric were noted for having multi - limbed bodies , a form the Nestene s generally took ; although an Old One , the Nestenes were their own race , albeit a " singular entity " because of their hive mind . The powers of the Old Ones varied between individuals , but included time travel or following someone in time , ( TV : " The Web of Fear " , " The Curse of Fenric " , PROSE : " The Well - Mannered War " ) existing in multiple time zones , ( TV : " The Greatest Show in the Galaxy " ) possession , ( TV : " The Abominable Snowmen " , " The Web of Fear " , " The Curse of Fenric " ) creating thunder and lightning , ( TV : " The Greatest Show in the Galaxy " , " The Curse of Fenric " ) re - animating dead bodies , ( TV : " The Greatest Show in the Galaxy " ) generating fog / fungus and webbing , ( TV : " The Web Planet " , " The Web of Fear " ) stopping a TARDIS in flight , ( TV : " The Web of Fear " ) extending an individual ' s life , ( TV : " The Abominable Snowmen " , PROSE : " White Darkness " , AUDIO : " The Nightmare Fair " ) and manipulating and relocating timelines . ( AUDIO : " Protect and Survive " ) Society . Before arriving in N - Space , the Old Ones were thought to be the equivalent of Time Lord s in their universe . ( PROSE : " Millennial Rites " ) While many Old Ones were imprisoned or located elsewhere , a group known as the Elder God s occasionally came together , usually to watch each other play games on the Board . Despite their great power , they needed the lesser creatures of the universe to give them perspective in spite of their hatred for them . To them the games were all that mattered to make existence worthwhile . Among themselves , it was general consensus that Fenric was too dangerous even by their standards . ( AUDIO : " Gods and Monsters " ) They had previously banded together to lock the Eidolon away in another dimension , fearful of its ambition . ( AUDIO : " Beyond the Ultimate Adventure " ) Despite also playing games , some of the Elder Gods thought of the Eternal s as leading pathetic existences . Within the Old One pantheon were the Guardians , ( PROSE : " Divided Loyalties " ) the Grace , ( AUDIO : " The Chaos Pool " ) the Toymaker s , and reference has been made to the survivors of the pre - universe , including " a handful of baby godlings and Great Intelligence s . " ( PROSE : " Christmas on a Rational Planet " ) History . According to the Time Lord s , the beings that became known as the Old Ones did not originate from this universe , but the one before it . They were originally a powerful race of beings who were the equivalent of the Time Lords in their native space . However , when their Universe ended , the Old Ones shunted themselves into a parallel dimension which collapsed seconds later into the new Universe . This allowed them to pass into the new Universe which had different laws of physics , and they discovered that they had gained god - like powers which allowed them to manipulate the new Universe in which they now existed . ( PROSE : " Millennial Rites " ) However , the Carnival Queen maintained that the Great Old Ones were not from a previous universe , but from an early period in this universe , before the Time Lords imposed reason and order upon it . ( PROSE : " Christmas on a Rational Planet " ) The Great Old Ones ruled the galaxy ( presumably the Mutter ' s Spiral ) , eventually only being left in the memory of half a dozen worlds . ( PROSE : " The Nameless City " ) They were known throughout the universe as terrible creatures that sought to destroy others or incorporate them into their being . ( PROSE : " Twilight of the Gods " ) They were worshipped as gods on Earth by the Silurian s and even the gargantuan entities that ruled Earth before them ; they were also known to a cult of the Shobogan s . According to the legends , it was believed that Azathoth was the weakest of their kind . ( PROSE : " All - Consuming Fire " ) Ancient carvings dating at least fifteen million years ago show that the Old Ones ruled everywhere before they died out and went into hibernation after fleeing from the predators with a touch of decay . They managed to escape from the great cosmic disaster in order to flee into the Time Vortex There they became discorporate entities , thus leaving their bodies behind on Earth . Their minds sought to return to their bodies when the stars were correctly aligned with the tidal forces of the stellar masses , an event which can bring about a sufficient tear in the space - time continuum to create a pathway back to their bodies . However , as the stars were constantly expanding and contracting , they never returned to the same configuration as the time when the Old Ones went into hibernation . Thus , they required the assistance of their followers to attract the attentions of their bodies ; autonomic instincts and allow them a chance to compensate . As they were unable to affect the world physically , they used the influence of their powerful minds to achieve their goals . ( PROSE : " White Darkness " ) The Pharaoh Amenhotep II discovered them at one time on Earth and attempted to harness their power for himself . However , he came to realise that they were beyond his control and lured them into a white pyramid with a structure of infinite reflections where the creature ' s evil was to be trapped forever . This trap succeeded and kept the world safe from their evil . ( AUDIO : " The Roof of the World " ) By the 2020s , when To ' Koth had reached the end of dying of old age over billions of years , the Seventh Doctor took him back to the Board to die , humbling and terrifying the other Elder Gods as he was the first God to die . As a way of ending hostilities , To ' Koth called a truce between the Gods and the Doctor . ( AUDIO : " Signs and Wonders " ) Other references . According to one account , in 1936 human writer H . P . Lovecraft wrote about the “ Old One , a . k . a . Elder Thing " in " At the Mountains of Madness " , which was " widely regarded as real by 25th century fringe archaeologists " . The Elder Things would have been brought to life by a fictional generator . Compassion joked with the Eighth Doctor about him being a Great Old One on his mother ' s side . ( PROSE : " The Taking of Planet 5 " ) List of Great Old Ones . In addition , a Great Old One was said to be within the " Infinite " as a power source . ( TV : " The Infinite Quest " ) External links . Sites with specific references to the Cthulhu Mythos in the Doctor Who universe :