Death

**Death** was a mysterious being and a figure in legends. To some, it was known as "**Duroc**"; and others, simply "**Hunger**". Shortly before succumbing to its power, Dylan Gray referred to it as "**The Lost One**".

Since the 1600s, those who were aware of its existence repelled it through leaving the skull of an animal on their doorstep as well as frequently decorating their home in sage. This was said to weaken its essence.

## History

In the late 14th century, a dying Time Lord, Vargon, at the end of his fourth regeneration cycle, haunted residents of an old European village. In an almost skeletal and emaciated appearance, he fed off the fear and power that he inflicted onto the villagers. He was, according to the Twenty-First Doctor, believed to be responsible for the first recorded depiction of the personified figure of Death. She also remarked how an old friend underwent a similar process, except his was "far more forgiving".

After several years of torment, the residents of this European village took action against Vargon; trapping him inside the mysterious crypt from which he frequently emerged. The following day, it was said that the entire structure had vanished and Vargon's fate was left up to superstition and myth. Some said he was banished back into the underworld to face the likes of Satan himself.

By 2008, a surge of rift activity had caught the attention of Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato and Owen Harper following a chain of disappearances of prominent religious figures across Cardiff and peculiar behaviour from estranged YouTuber Dylan Gray linking back to the aforementioned incidents. Eventually, a crypt was recovered from the ruins of a semi-destroyed chapel in the Brecon Beacons. A crypt which, according to Tosh, bared a striking resemblance to the ones depicted from 14th century texts.

When the Doctor and Kane Solace arrived on the scene, they both investigated the crypt which had been locked away safely inside the basement of the Torchwood Three Hub; the Doctor determining that it was in fact a TARDIS. This prompted her to insist that she takes over the investigation from that point, yet Gwen, the one momentarily in charge in Captain Jack Harkness's absence, refused. In the dispute and the Doctor's interaction with the crypt, Vargon had become aware of the fellow Time Lord's presence. (TV: *Lies To Tell Yourself*)

Using the rift which stretched out directly beneath Cardiff, Vargon refuelled his TARDIS and kidnapped the Doctor using the help of Dylan Gray with the intention of absorbing all of her regeneration energy in order to restore his body and leave hers a decrepit husk.

This plan was foiled by Kane and the Torchwood Three team after Kane used the Doctor's TARDIS to leech onto Vargon's, trapping him in a brief stasis field that disallowed him to pass back through the rift. Vargon then left the TARDIS in order to face off against the team in a final showdown, leaving the safety of his ship which Kane used to his advantage; infiltrating it and reversing the, what the Doctor called, "feeding process". This weakened Vargon indefinitely, as he keeled over and drew his final breaths. In these final moments however, he warned both the Doctor and Gwen of a future of "immeasurable grief" and "inconsolable death". (TV: *Buried Memories*)