Council of Eight The Council of Eight were an organisation created to fill the gap when the Time Lord s were wiped out . Biology . The Council of Eight physically resembled eight crystalline entities that bore similarities to the first eight incarnations of the Doctor . ( PROSE : " Sometime Never . . . " ) Technology . The Council had the technology to engineer deaths for people . Their victims included Sarah Jane Smith , Ace and Samantha Jones . Their Time Station , anchored in the Time Vortex , had a treasure trove of technology in the Schrodinger Cell s , specialised facilities for holding prisoners that removed them from time and drew tremendous amounts of energy out of the unfulfilled potential futures of the people within . This , however , had a key flaw : opening a Schrodinger Cell had dire consequences ; all potential futures collapsed as the prisoner shifted back to normal time , therefore shutting off the energy siphoned off by the Cell . ( PROSE : " Sometime Never . . . " ) History . The Council of Eight were created when Jamais released them from their crystalline state and allowed them to be born alongside the Big Bang . ( PROSE : " Timeless " ) After the destruction of Gallifrey , the Council of Eight created their fortress in the heart of the Time Vortex so that they could become the new Lords of Time . As the Council gained power by successfully prophesying future events , they were naturally inclined to remove all free will in the universe and create one where all actions could be accurately predicted by the Council , therefore making them invincible . To this end , they convinced Sabbath that parallel timelines were causing damage to the " prime " reality and that by destroying them he would be able to steer humanity to the path of the masters of the Universe . ( PROSE : " Sometime Never . . . " ) The Council tried to expel many entities from the Vortex , such as the Time Wraith s ( PROSE : " The Slow Empire " ) and the Clock People . The Council went to war with the Clock People for control of the time vortex . They manipulated the Eighth Doctor into destroying their opponents , leaving them in complete control of the vortex . ( PROSE : " Anachrophobia " ) They considered the Doctor to be an unpredictable factor , as he was a ' Rogue Element ' who defied cause and effect and could thus disrupt their predictions , prompting the Council to seek his destruction . To weaken him , they began taking some of his old companions out of history and locking them into Schrodinger Cells in their Time Station - such as Jo Grant - or outright killing them , manipulating history so that timelines where Mel died on Heritage ( PROSE : " Heritage " ) or Harry Sullivan was killed after he turned into a werewolf ( PROSE : " Wolfsbane " ) became more likely . Leading the Doctor to a trap in the Time Station , they began preparing a massive ontological paradox , intending for Sabbath to kill Octan , the leader of the Council , so the rest could ascend to omnipotence ; the prediction of Octan ' s death would serve as the power supply for the weapon that would destroy Earth ' s sun before life could evolve , the prediction that human history would end giving the Council the power to rise up and become the new Lords of Time . However , the Doctor discovered their plans and tricked Octan into revealing his plans and their manipulation of Sabbath . Sabbath , realising his horrific mistake , shot himself rather than fulfil the destiny laid by the Council , thwarting their plans , but not before Miranda Dawkins , the Doctor ' s adopted daughter , had died in the Station . Furious and terrified that the chain of causality they had engineered had failed , they tried to kill the Doctor , only to fail when Octan , mad with horror and confusion , began opening the eight Schrodinger Cells fuelling their Station ; upon being tricked by the Doctor , history began to change so as each Cell opened , the remaining ones were increasingly likely to be empty , therefore shutting down the Station . Desperate for a solution , Soul , the youngest of the Council , opened Schrodinger Cell Eight , releasing the possibility of parallel universes so the Council had a possibility to survive in an alternate world . Soul escaped in the Jonah , Sabbath ' s time travelling vessel , with Zezanne , Miranda ' s daughter , in hopes of finding a better world to live in . He adopted the shape of an old man , and as they escaped , the hourglasses used to keep their time in the Station was damaged , resulting in Soul believing he was the Doctor , with Zezanne thus regarding her as her grandfather . The Jonah then materialised in a London junkyard , assuming the shape of a Metropolitan police box . . . ( PROSE : " Sometime Never . . . " )