Grigori Rasputin Grigori Efimovitch Rasputin , also called Father - Twice - Removed Dyavol after his initiation into Faction Paradox , ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) was a controversial Russia n mystic with influence over Tsar Nicholas II and Tsaritsa Alexandra in the later days of Russia ' s Romanov dynasty . ( AUDIO : " The Wanderer " ) Biography . Life . His sister Maria and his brother Dmitri both drowned . Grigori and Dmitri were pulled from the river but only the former survived . Grigori later named his children after his deceased siblings . ( AUDIO : " The Wanderer " ) In 1903 , Ian Chesterton dealt with the eccentric Grigori , a pilgrim in his early thirties , whom he met near the village of Zarechny in Siberia . Rasputin , revealed to be the Mad Monk of historical infamy , gained knowledge of future events from a faulty machine . Things that he foresaw included Alexandra , Kaiser Wilhelm II , Bolshevik s , a great war , the revolution , armistice , Stalin , Nazi s , Hitler , another world war , television , computer s , space flight , Yuri Gagarin , the Cold War , Cuban missiles , the Berlin Wall , the tenth planet , alien s , invasions , a lunar space station , men on Mars , the Doctor ' s people , beings beneath the feet , creatures made of plastic , metal , calcium and silicon , Egyptian gods , werewolves , ghost s and vampire s . He learned detailed information about Ian and Barbara Wright ' s discovery of the TARDIS in Totter ' s Lane in November 1963 , the Doctor being woven through the tapestry of time , his protection of it and his future . The increasingly insane and sickly Grigori desired to use his knowledge to become closer to God than any man in history — preventing Hitler and disasters such as the Blitz and the Holocaust , helping the Tsar and becoming a confidante and a superior to kings and emperors . The only way to save him was to take him into the Time Vortex and use the TARDIS ' telepathic circuit s to remove Rasputin ' s memory of recent and future events . He was left asleep in the Summer Garden in St Petersburg . ( AUDIO : " The Wanderer " ) Death . On meeting Rasputin in St Petersburg , Russia in December 1916 , the Third Doctor , Jo Grant and Liz Shaw realised that the legends about him were just that , and that he was not the evil manipulator that the history books had made him out to be . Liz reluctantly passed on Prince Felix Yusupov ' s invitation to dinner to Rasputin , knowing that he would be killed , but also realising that history must run its proper course . ( PROSE : " The Wages of Sin " ) Only two days before his historical death , Rasputin was whisked away to the Eleven - Day Empire by the Cult of Celebrity Death . The Faction replaced him with a custom - grown biomass duplicate so that the Great Houses wouldn ' t be alerted to any change in the timeline . The next day , one day before Rasputin ' s death , the Celestis offered a deal to the duplicate . The " Rasputin " had been primed to listen to any representatives of the War - time powers , so he accepted the Mark of Indenture . In spite of the Faction ' s precautions , the Great Houses noticed something was amiss . Wrongly assuming the Cult of Celebrity Death would take Rasputin at the time of his actual death , they attached a ghost cluster device to Faux - Rasputin ( weakening its connection to the timeline ) and replaced it with yet another fake Rasputin , which drew stability and tissue from its predecessor . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) Jo Grant posed as a maid in the kitchens at Yusupov ' s Moika Palace , where she disposed of poisoned cakes and wine intended for Rasputin and replaced them with untainted ones . When Rasputin devoured the cakes and remained unharmed , Yusupov became convinced Rasputin was possessed by the Devil and shot him in the back as he knelt in prayer . His accomplice , Vladimir Purishkevich , finished the job , shooting Rasputin repeatedly until he died , then beating his corpse in a fit of rage . ( PROSE : " The Wages of Sin " ) However , the Celestis immediately recorporated what they thought was their agent , and Grigori Rasputin rose up again . The confused triple - zombie attempted to lash out against its killers , and then escape . It was repeatedly bludgeoned , stabbed , and shot , before being dumped in the river Neve . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) The Doctor found " Rasputin " as it clung onto life , but refused to save it . ( PROSE : " The Wages of Sin " ) Its last words were " Thank God " in the Great Houses ' language . In the City of the Saved , three resurrected individuals claimed to be Rasputin . All three were bitter opponents , often publicly denouncing each other , and all three were allied with different political factions . ( PROSE : " Rasputin " ) As Dyavol . In the Eleven - Day Empire , Rasputin joined the Faction under the name Dyavol . He continued to believe that he could purify his soul enough to have his saviour incarnate in him , but he substituted Christ for Grandfather Paradox , who likely would not have liked being embodied either way . Dyavol ascended to the rank of Father and took Cousin Anastasia under his patronage . He encouraged her to found the Thirteen - Day Republic and convinced other Russian Faction members to join them . In the Republic , Dyavol set to re - embodying the Grandfather . He began to frequently wander through the wilderness for longer and longer stretches of time . Two days before the fall of the Republic on Valentine ' s Day , Father Dyavol ' s body was found in the frozen river . He had been poisoned , his throat had been slit , and he had been drowned . Possible explanations posed by " The Book of the War " included suicide , a sacrifice by members of the Thirteen - Day Republic to the spirits , or Anastasia ' s disposal of him as a liability . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) Legacy . After the Rasputin incident , the Great Houses , Faction Paradox , and Celestis alike made an unspoken agreement that historical celebrities were not worth the trouble . ( PROSE : " The Book of the War " ) By the 1970s , at least one film had been made about Rasputin while the band Boney M had written a song about him . ( PROSE : " The Wages of Sin " ) According to Ian , " most people looked at him with terror and with fear . " ( AUDIO : " The Wanderer " ) The " Teselecta " once took the form of Rasputin , but with a green skin colour . ( TV : " Let ' s Kill Hitler " ) Behind the scenes . Tom Baker portrayed Father Gregory in the 1971 film ( which also starred Michael Jayston as Tsar Nicholas II ) and again voiced a character inspired by the real - life figure in " Tsar Wars " .