List of Torchwood creatures and aliens

This is a list of creatures and aliens from the television series Torchwood and related spin-off media.

0–9

The 456

Main article: Children of Earth

The 456 (Pronounced "four-five-six" not "four hundred and fifty-six") served as the main antagonists during the third series.

They are unnamed aliens with whom the government of the United Kingdom made a deal in 1965; the 456 extorted twelve children in return for a cure to an Earth-bound virus which was about to mutate. They are only known by the frequency they are using, 456. When asked for their species name by John Frobisher, they chose to go by this name. They seem to require (or at least prefer) a highly toxic atmosphere, and to be non-humanoid of form, possessing three insect like heads which appear to spew slime whenever the creatures are aggravated or pressured. In Children of Earth: Day Four, parts of the 456 were briefly seen when a government operative entered its cage with a portable video camera. It had 3 heads, which possessed mandibles. The rest of the body is trunklike, like a giant caterpillar. A swelling is briefly shown at the end of the creature. After the 456 return to Earth over forty years later, an ambassador of the species demanded that 10% of the world's children be given to the race as a gift, or else the entire human race would be destroyed. To ensure humanity would accept this deal, the 456 announced their arrival several days in advance by possessing and speaking through every pre-pubescent child on earth. A closer view of the visiting 456 specimen showed it had incorporated the bodies of human children into its own, the two being connected by four vine-like tentacles, because of an unnamed chemical pre-pubescents produce that the creatures use like a drug. According to the 456 themselves, such children 'feel no pain', and 'live long beyond their natural span'. The children do not appear to have physically grown, although they are wizened perhaps mutated in some way and appear to be aware of their surroundings and their own condition; they breathe using respirators. The 456 are responsible for the death of Ianto Jones when they release a deadly virus into a building where Ianto was present. They are eventually defeated when Jack Harkness manages to reverse the frequency of a previous transmission made by the 456 and turn it into a weapon against them, driving them away from Earth, although he is forced to sacrifice his grandson Steven to use him as the source of the frequency broadcast in the first place.

A

Abaddon

Template:Doctorwhocharacter Abaddon, a Biblical demon sealed away "before time" not unlike the Beast from the Doctor Who episodes "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit" (it is described as the "son of the great Beast"), appears in "End of Days", revealed to have been sealed beneath the Rift. The villainous Bilis Manger had schemed to ensure his freedom, manipulating the Torchwood Three crew. Bilis refers to Abaddon as his "god".

Abaddon killed all those who fell in his shadow; he devoured life. Captain Jack attempted to sacrifice himself by using his immortality to destroy the demon when it tried to absorb too much, leaving Jack dead for days but causing the monster to choke to death.

Abaddon is also referred to in The Twilight Streets, where Bilis reveals that Abaddon was actually an agent of the Light, sentient light particles that sought to imprison their Dark counterparts back in the rift; the energies Abaddon took from people were simply 'collateral damage' as Abaddon gathered strength for the coming battle. Like all Torchwood spin-off media, the canonicity of these novels in relation to the television series remains open to interpretation.

Abaddon's design is somewhat reminiscent of the Seventh Doctor's foe, The Destroyer, most notably in the curved horns, long face, blue, scaly skin and animalistic snout.

It is also referred to in Series 2 of Doctor Who by the Ood in the episode "The Impossible Planet" in terms of Beast's various aliases: "Some may call it Abaddon."

Alien tumour

A sentient alien tumour was shown to have grown on the brain of Owen's fiancée, Katie, in flashback sequences in "Fragments". Attempting to operate on the young woman, all doctors present in the room were killed when the alien life form released a rapidly-dissipating toxic nerve gas in self-defence. The effects of the "tumour" caused Katie to exhibit symptoms of early onset Alzheimer's disease.

Arcanus Servitoris

The Arcanus Servitoris is a secret organisation featured in the audiobook Hidden.

Arkan

The Arkan are a race mentioned and briefly glimpsed in "Cyberwoman". They are described by Jack as being incredibly boring and mostly made of liquid, hence "the cells would be a mess" if they were interrogated at Torchwood. One of their leisure ships is spotted over Cardiff Bay. They are politely asked to leave Earth's atmosphere via a message from Toshiko's computer as they are "spooking the locals."

Attention Seeker

Referred to as "the Attention Seekers" by Jack, these are aliens which are viewed as gods, appearing in a 2007 entry to the Torchwood website. Written in a pseudo-blog form, the Cardiffboyoboy blog story relays a young man's series of encounters with Jack Harkness during an alien invasion on the Cardiff gay clubbing scene.

The Attention Seekers are originally a race who are accustomed to worship as deities on their home, which they feed on. They travel place to place and from time to time, masquerading as gods and being worshipped by countless societies until they "go out of fashion" there. Finding themselves in the comparatively more secular but vain 21st century Britain, Captain Jack explains to the narrator Peter that it has been forced to assume the form of a strikingly beautiful person who draws power from all the attention drawn to them. However, rather than copulate with one man every night, Jack ambiguously describes that the creature ends up in the car park where it can "get the serious devotion of a crowd", mentioning how it's "Odd how people still get on their knees to worship, isn't it?". Jack later explains though, that while it was originally relatively harmless in its activities, it has become increasingly hungry and thereby dangerous, so Jack is forced to kill it with a few clicks of his Time Agent Wrist-Strap, which he uses to trigger car alarms to clear the car park, and later a car explosion to kill the creature.

B

Blowfish

Template:Doctorwhocharacter An otherwise unnamed, humanoid, bipedal alien blowfish features in "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang". The blowfish, played by Paul Kasey, holds part of Captain John's puzzle box. It is possible that the Blowfish was known to John. Overcome by Earth's pleasures, the blowfish takes cocaine, steals a sports car and takes a teenage girl hostage, only to attract the attention of Torchwood and the local media, thus leading to its eventual demise.

A young blowfish appears in the episode "Fragments", in flashback sequences involving Jack's first mission for the Torchwood Institute, during which Jack captures the fish for committing various crimes but is then outraged when it is shot after being captured.

A blowfish and two other fish-like creatures appear in the Torchwood Magazine short story The Book of Jahi. The blowfish has taken on the name Mr. Glee and has been operating as a crime boss in Cardiff for some time.

Bruydac

The Bruydac feature in the novel, Another Life. Like all Torchwood spin-off media, its canonicity in relation to the television series remains open to interpretation.

The Bruydac are a race of bipedal, humanoid aliens hailing from the eponymous planet, Bruydac. They are over 7 feet tall, have broad shoulders and long, thin arms ending in thick claws. They have exposed skulls featuring a bony ridge from the bridge of their nose, to the back of their head. Their eyes are covered by heavy lids and are red and white in colour. Bruydac appear to breathe in much the same way humans do, through their mouths, with their lungs in their chest.

They possess slight psychic ability, and are able to possess humans from afar with the aid of a small device inserted into the spine of the victim. When under the control of a Bruydac, a small green-grey starfish-shaped creature begins to grow in the victim's stomach which, when at a certain size, is ejected through the victim's mouth. If placed in water, the starfish begins to grow. When exposed to oxygen the "starfish" gains the ability to digest any natural material, including rubber and living tissue.

Bruydac ships accept several different forms of fuel, including nuclear, and are cylindrical in shape.

In Another Life a Bruydac battle cruiser is slowly pushing its way through the Cardiff Rift causing adverse weather conditions in the entire bay. If the ship were to force its way the entire way through, it would send a wave down the entire Bristol channel comparable to a tsunami. The lone Bruydac warrior aboard the ship, injured after a crash that killed the rest of his crew, is waiting to recover and for a way to power his ship so that he may return home.

Butterfly People

Template:Doctorwhorace A translucent humanoid who possessed the body of a 19th century prostitute named Mary was encountered in the episode "Greeks Bearing Gifts". She was a member of a race which communicated exclusively via telepathic pendants, and claimed to be a political exile, sent to Earth by a teleporter now in Torchwood's possession. At one point, "Mary" calls herself Philoctetes, in reference to his exile on Lemnos. She gave her telepathic necklace to Toshiko, and seduced her into letting her into Torchwood to regain the teleporter.

On arriving on Earth in 1812, the alien killed her guard and possessed Mary. In this form she needed to consume human hearts to maintain the host's youth, taking one a year. "Mary" threatened Tosh in order to regain the teleporter and Jack exchanged it for Tosh. However, Jack had reprogrammed the coordinates, sending "Mary" into the center of the Sun instead of back to her homeworld.

In The Sarah Jane Adventures episode "Invasion of the Bane", Sarah Jane Smith helps an alien of the same race to find its way home. It is later revealed that this alien was a "star poet", from Arcateen V, who gave Sarah Jane a device via which she promised to help her with her poetry whenever she needs it. Mr Smith's Alien Files on the official The Sarah Jane Adventures website described her race as Butterfly People. The Butterfly People are also referenced in the novel Something in the Water (published March 2008) where they are called "Arcateenians". Like all Torchwood spin-off media, its canonicity in relation to the television series remains unclear.

"Mary" possessed strength large enough to shatter human bones in a manner resembling a gunshot and could move at superhuman speeds, also possessing acute senses able to notice that there was something different about Jack. The poet alien in The Sarah Jane Adventures was able to fly home with some assistance from Sarah Jane Smith. "Mary's" opinions of her human form seemed to be mixed: she disliked watching people talk using conventional speech; which was considered archaic on her home world, but she said she liked the body which she found "so soft, so wicked". She also expressed a dim view of human nature, considering humans to be a race who inherently desired to invade others.

A letter to Doctor Who Magazine noted "Mary"'s strong resemblance to Destrii, a companion from the magazine's Eighth Doctor comic strips. The magazine's editors concurred with the observation. Later, The Torchwood Archives by Gary Russell specified that Destrii and Mary are from the same system. Destrii's home planet Oblivion along with Devos, Krant and Arcateen IV, V and VI form the Arcan system.

C

Cell 114

Template:Doctorwhorace Cell 114, their official designation, are a race of invasionary aliens. The arm of Cell 114 featured in the episode "Sleeper" are Sleeper Agents, an advance guard to the main force. The Sleeper Agents are tasked with gathering intelligence. To do so, they hide on their target planet, take on the form of the planet's dominant species, and absorb as much knowledge as they can to aid in the invasion. Sleeper Agents can be stationed in excess of 10 years to aid their integration into society.

To aid their hiding, they are provided with an implant able to gather information subconsciously and protect them against potential attacks. In the case of Earth, the implant is hidden in the arm of the human shell. It provides a blade weapon for use in emergencies, an impenetrable nano-metre thick body shield and a technology mask allowing vital signs to be hidden. When the Sleeper Agents first arrive, their memory is erased and stored in part of the implant to help them maintain their disguise. When the invasion is ready to take place, their memories are reactivated, overriding their "human" personalities and motivations.

In "Sleeper," the Sleeper Agents are planning to hijack 10 nuclear bombs with the aim of devastating the planet and making it easy for their race to take over.

At the end of "Sleeper" the last Sleeper Agent left alive is asked by Jack when the others are getting to Earth; the dying Agent replies: "They're already here".

Chimera

The Chimera is a creature that features in the comic The Legacy of Torchwood One!. It is a regular human spliced with the DNA of an alien in an attempt to make a hybrid DNA supersoldier for the British Special Forces to use in the war on terror. The being became uncontrollable and escaped, determined on tracking down its creator, Rupert Howarth. The Chimera can smell fear and uses this ability to track down its victims. It increases its victims' fear by appearing to them as what they fear most. It is defeated by a special cocktail of drugs, hidden on the Torchwood mainframe.

Communication field

A telecommunications field also known as The Light appears in the audiobook Everyone Says Hello. It is not to be confused with The Light which appear in The Twilight Streets. Like all Torchwood spin-off media, its canonicity in relation to the television series remains open to interpretation.

Cowled ghosts

Three cowled ghosts appear in the episode "Exit Wounds". The ghosts despise humanity's worship of "heathen gods" and carry large scythes. Despite being described as ghosts, they are completely pervious to bullets and are all three killed by Ianto and Tosh. Their leader is played by Paul Marc Davies, who portrayed the cowled Trickster in The Sarah Jane Adventures and the Chieftain of the Futurekind in the 2007 Doctor Who episode "Utopia".

Cyberwoman

Main article: Cyberman

See also: Lisa Hallett

D

The Dark

Allies of The Blue Beast, Pwccm, The Dark are beings made of pure darkness that feature in the novel The Twilight Streets. Normally these beings would have been defeated and sent back to the Rift by Abaddon, but Jack's defeat of Abaddon allowed the Dark free rein. As the team investigated the situation, the Dark showed them glimpses of an alternate future where the Dark corrupted Toshiko, Owen and Gwen, driving them to capture Jack and use his immortality as a means of controlling the Rift, thus gaining access to advanced technology and turning Torchwood into a world-spanning empire. It is only thanks to Ianto's sacrifice that Jack is able to draw the Dark out of his friends by engaging the Rift Manipulator, although he, Tosh and Owen die in the process. With the knowledge of this future driving them, the team are thus convinced to work with Bilis Manger by channelling the Dark into a box and subsequently sending them back into the Rift. Like all Torchwood spin-off media, its canonicity in relation to the television series remains open to interpretation.

The Dead

The Dead are an alien species appearing in the episode Lost Souls, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 to celebrate the switching on of the Large Hadron Collider. In the episode The Dead managed to enter our universe during a test run of the machine, and fed off the neutrons of the humans it came in contact with. It had psychic abilities to persuade humans that it was deceased friends of people it came in contact with, which it used on Dr Harrington and Ianto Jones. It was destroyed when Torchwood, working with Martha Jones and the staff at CERN, fired an anti-proton beam into the Large Hadron Collider.

Death

A being described only as "Death" appears in the episode "Dead Man Walking". An entity connected to the second Resurrection Gauntlet, it manifests by using Owen Harper as a host after Jack Harkness brings him back to life. A strange energy the Torchwood team is unable to explain gradually overtakes him before releasing itself and taking a physical form: a skeleton shrouded in black vapour. Death then proceeds to undertake a cycle it had attempted once before in the middle ages when a young girl, Faith, was resurrected by the glove and brought Death into the world in a similar fashion. If Death can kill 13 people, it will "walk the world forever," taking victims at random to feed its rapacious hunger. However, before it can reach its 13th victim, the already-dead Owen stalls Death for long enough that it weakens and dissipates: the same way in which Faith defeated Death in the Middle Ages. Owen then re-absorbs the energy so that he may continue living in his undead state.

Death was first mentioned as "something in the darkness" by Suzie Costello in "They Keep Killing Suzie".

Dogon

See also: Dogon Sixth Eye

The Dogon are an extraterrestrial species referred to in "Random Shoes". They are a reptilian race with thirteen eyes, each of which grants them especially enhanced perceptions in various respects; the sixth of which is swallowed by Eugene Jones in Random Shoes and after being fatally hit by a car he is able to return as a ghost to look over his life with a fresh perspective. A few years prior to these events a Dogon ship crashed in the Humber and Dogons were subsequently dissected and investigated by Dr. Rajesh Singh under director Yvonne Hartman.

A Dogon Eye was mentioned as having been purchased by Henry Parker in "A Day in the Death".

Doovari

The Doovari are a race of aliens, mentioned on the Torchwood website, who power their spacecraft on sexual energy provided by their incredibly potent crew.

Droon

The Droon feature in the novel, Border Princes. Like all Torchwood spin-off media, its canonicity in relation to the television series remains open to interpretation.

The Droon are a species of small extraterrestrial migratory insects, born from pale blue eggs about 2 inches long. Upon arrival, they take up residence in a warm and moist place, most often the sinus passages of humans where they reside in a fugue state. At this point they are relatively harmless, only causing the host mild, cold-like symptoms. Usually, after a few months, the Droon leave of their own accord or die and, during a sneeze, get ejected without the host even knowing.

However, occasionally an egg, roughly one in ten, will pupate and begin to advance to the next stage of their life cycle. When a Droon is about to hatch from its egg, it causes sudden elevations in alpha-wave patterns making it easy to judge when a Droon is about to be a threat. When a Droon hatches, it is no longer pale blue, but a dark blue, almost black, insect with long, thin limbs. In this stage of their life, they are more dangerous than their pupal stage.

When the Droon are considered dangerous, Torchwood may use their Anti-Droon audio paddle to forcibly extract the Droon from the host.

In Border Princes an elderly husband and wife, Mr and Mrs Peeters are infested by the Droon which have to be exterminated before they hatch.

F

"Fairies"

Called "fairies" by mankind, Jack Harkness notes that these creatures do not actually have a name. Fairies are not alien life-forms, but have lived alongside humanity since the dawn of time, and although mankind has ascribed positive, friendly aspects to them, Jack insists that they are dangerous. Their exact nature is unclear, although Jack vaguely describes them as part myth, part spirit world and part reality jumbled together, mixed with "old moments and emotions", all moving backwards and forwards through time and seen only out of the corner of one's eye.

Fairies and children are linked, and Jack says that fairies were once children, taken from various time periods stretching millennia into the past. These children are the Chosen Ones, who the fairies protect and avenge if harm comes to them, until the time that they claim the children for their own. The fairies require these children in order to continue their race's existence.

In "Small Worlds", fairies are seen in two forms: one a small, glowing humanoid form with butterfly-like wings and the other a much larger, more monstrous form. They are also undetectable by technology, and can appear and disappear at will. They also have control of the elements, able to create sudden gales or rainstorms and direct them with pinpoint accuracy. It is also said that they can make "great storms, wild seas, [and] turn the world to ice."

A common method of killing their victims is to "steal their breath", asphyxiating them by clogging their throats with rose petals. Their ability to move back and forth in time is demonstrated by the appearance of Jasmine, a Chosen One taken in the present, in fairy form in a 1917 photograph.

Jack speculates that fairies may be "part Mara". However, his noting of "Mara" as the origin of the word "nightmare" and their ability to steal the breath from their victims suggests that he is referring to the Mara of Germanic/Scandinavian mythology. It is unclear whether any reference was intended to the Mara of the Doctor Who stories Snakedance and Kinda. Christopher Bailey, writer of Snakedance and Kinda, was a practising Buddhist and named Doctor Who's Mara after the Buddhist demon Mara.

Throughout Torchwood Declassified, they are referred to interchangeably as "maras", "shades" and "fairies". In the Torchwood website's Alien Autopsy featurette, they are described as "demonic fairies"..

"The First Senior"

The First Senior is an organization from an alien planet featured in the novel Border Princes. Like all Torchwood spin-off media, its canonicity in relation to the television series remains open to interpretation.

The race that inhabit the planet are described as "shades," wraith-like shadows covered in thorns. This is their true form but they are able to take on any shape they desire. When taking on a different form, they don't just change appearance, but physically change into the object they are copying. However, when not inhabiting their true form, they lose many of the advantages that stem from it including near invisibility and extreme speed. They do however retain superior strength and an excellent fighting ability. This is evident by the fact a shade can take on a fully functional Serial G unit, and crush The Amok with its bare hands.

Despite being gaseous, they have sentient robotic brains capable of uploading and downloading information from a central server on their planet and performing complex calculations.

Similar to Torchwood Three, The First Senior monitor the Rift, at another of its anchor points on their planet. However, their organization is a lot more advanced than Torchwood; on their home planet, they have an entire royal family dedicated to guarding the Rift (the Border to them), led by the "Border Prince."

When The First Senior discovered the existence of Torchwood, out of curiosity, they sent in an agent known as The Principal. The Principal took the guise of a human, James Mayer, who inserted himself into Torchwood by implanting himself into the team's memories, making them believe he had always been a member. The First Senior then erased The Principal's own memories so that he couldn't inadvertently reveal his true identity.

Also inserted onto Earth was a protector for The Principal, Mr Dine. Mr Dine made sure The Principal didn't come to any harm and that The Principal was efficiently recalled when his time with Torchwood was over. When The Principal is to be recalled, he regains his memory, through a computer signal, and all memories of him are removed from people he has interacted with, through the removal of a 100 mile wide memory-creation radius.

H

Hitchhiker

A parasitic alien which resides in a human host. Hitchhikers are harmless and may release endorphins into the blood, creating a sensation of euphoria in their hosts.

Hoix

Main article: List of Doctor Who monsters and aliens § Hoix

A Hoix features in the episode "Exit Wounds"; the first time its name has been mentioned on screen, having previously been seen in the Doctor Who episode "Love & Monsters" two years before. Owen distracts it by feeding it cigarettes stating that it "lives to eat".

A Hoix was also mentioned in the novel The Twilight Streets.

I

Invincible Vampire

The so-called "Invincible Vampire" is listed by Owen Harper on the Torchwood website as being among the people and creatures cryopreserved at Torchwood Three. The specimen reconstitutes itself when dusted; freezing is the only way to stop it.

K

KVI

The KVI are a Russian organisation who feature in the novel Trace Memory. In Russian, KVI stands for Komitet Vnezemnaya Issledovanye, or The Committee For Extraterrestrial Research. The chapters in which they feature are set in 1967.

L

The Light

Allies of the Grey Beast, Abaddon, The Light are beings made of pure halogen that feature in the novel The Twilight Streets.

M

Mayfly

The Mayfly is an insectoid creature seen in the episode "Reset". It is used by medical research facility The Pharm, run by Professor Aaron Copley as part of a drug that is capable of resetting a human body suffering from normally fatal diseases to a healthy state. However, it eventually kills the host as it reproduces inside the body; at worst, the mayfly kill each other until only one is left. This grows inside the chest until it bursts out, but all human subjects to date have died before they reach that stage. During Torchwood's investigation of The Pharm, Martha Jones is briefly infested with a mayfly, and is the only person to survive because her travels in the TARDIS have apparently improved her immune system. Owen uses the singularity scalpel to remove the mayfly from her body before it can do so itself. After Ianto and Gwen discover the parent mayflies behind the Pharm, Jack has the entire facility destroyed so that the mayflies can no longer be used, and they are allowed to die in peace.

Melkene

The Melkene, referenced in the novel Border Princes, are an extinct race of advanced aliens, capable of creating exceptionally lifelike "artificials." Like all Torchwood spin-off media, its canonicity in relation to the television series remains unclear.

During an interplanetary war with a rival species, the Melkene created a race of robots called the Serial G. These robots reach a height of 14 feet and possess a devastatingly powerful heat ray. The Serial Gs fought back against their creators when the war was over and wiped them out before going to ground across the galaxy. In Border Princes, Mr. Dine of The First Senior attacks and destroys a fully-functioning Serial G.

Midomar

A diminutive race of aliens mentioned on the Torchwood website.. Around 5 cm high, they travel on radio waves and can reconstruct themselves using energy from the receiver. They are often found in radios.

N

Night Travellers

The Night Travellers feature in the episode "From Out of the Rain", portrayed as a travelling circus group in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. They were described as only appearing at night, and "out of the rain". This suggests that some kind of H20 Scoop technology may have been used, but since the Night Travellers were humans, this is unlikely. The Night Travellers stole the breaths of their audiences in order to keep a permanent audience, the people themselves vanishing along with the Night Travellers. However, with the rise of cinema in the 20th Century, travelling circuses diminished, including the Night Travellers. Jack Harkness called them an extinct species. However, the Night Travellers survived on old film reels.

The certain Night Travellers in particular were of the Joshua Joy Travelling Show, led by the creepy ringmaster called the Ghostmaker, who carried a silver flask with him to store the captured breath of his victims. He was infatuated with Pearl, whom he describes as a living mermaid due to her deep love and connection with water. The two escape from a film reel played in the Electro Cinema in Cardiff, and begin collecting breaths again to rebuild their lost audience. However, this time, the victims are left alive but severely dehydrated. The Ghostmaker and Pearl decide to bring the other travellers back into the world and continue travelling again. Stealing the film from the workshop of Jonathon Penn, the two go to the Electro Cinema and play the footage, bringing their other companions out - a weightlifter, a pair of clowns, a tattooed man and a pair of jugglers who doubled as firebreathers.

However, unbeknownst to the Night Travellers, Jack and Ianto Jones record all of them onto a new film strip. Ianto stole the Ghostmaker's silver flask and lures him out into the sunlight. Jack exposes the new film strip to sunlight. Exposed to the light, the Night Travellers are all erased from existence. Seconds before his demise, the Ghostmaker opens the silver flask and casts the captured breaths to the air, destroying all but one breath. Despite their defeat, Jack claimed they could return if more footage of them was recorded. This is also hinted in a final scene of the episode in which a father and son buy an old film reel at a car boot sale. The boy drops the reel which opens, a familiar melody of circus music echoing out, which is heard by Jack. The Ghostmaker was portrayed by Julian Bleach who would go on to play Davros in the finale of Season 4 of Doctor Who.

Nostrovite

The Nostrovites feature in the episode "Something Borrowed". Jack describes them as 'carnivorous alien shape-shifters with a taste for human flesh'. Nostrovites hunt in pairs and mate for life. They are most notable for their method of reproduction; after fertilisation, the female passes her eggs to the male, who stores them in a protective pouch in the throat, where they can be passed into a suitable host through a bite. The eggs are incubated within the host until they are ready to hatch; the female then tracks down the host and tears them open to free the offspring. Female Nostrovites are also resilient to injury; one survives being shot with two full clips of bullets, while her mate is killed by only a few shots from Gwen the previous night (Although Owen speculated that she was being driven by maternal rage more than anything else). They only appear to attack living prey: the female does not attack Owen when she realises he is dead. The female adapts to pose as a woman in a black dress, Rhys's mother Brenda and Jack, after only brief encounters with the latter two, suggesting at some slight psychic power (The female also attempted to use Gwen's attraction to Jack to put her off-guard by posing as him). However, they are unable to imitate smells; Gwen recognises Rhys' real mother by her (disgusting) perfume. When they are revealed as Nostrovites, their eyes turn red and their teeth become elongated and grey.

P

Parasitic alien tapeworms

A race of parasitic alien tapeworms feature in the novel Slow Decay. The parasite starts its life as an egg which hatches in the body of a living creature and lives in the intestines, feeding on the host's food. At a certain age, or when its host is killed, the parasite turns into a winged creature with two sharp ends. It can impale itself into another creature, lay eggs in the corpse, and leave. A scavenger may devour the corpse, and, unwittingly, the parasite eggs, which would hatch and the life cycle continue. The hosts of the parasite feel extreme hunger, gradually grow slimmer and their weakness makes it possible for them to bring down a fully grown Weevil. Rhys eats one of the eggs, thinking that it is a very effective weight loss pill.

Pterodactyl

Template:Doctorwhorace The Torchwood Three team keeps a pterodactyl as a pet (specifically, a Pteranodon). It is first seen in "Everything Changes", flying inside the Torchwood Hub as well as in the skies over Roald Dahl Plass at the end of the episode. The cast and crew have nicknamed the pterodactyl "Myfanwy". On the Torchwood website, the characters also refer to the pterodactyl by the name Myfanwy. The creature came through the Cardiff spacetime Rift and began eating sheep, only to be captured by Torchwood and subsequently domesticated. It is also nocturnal, and is content to "come and go at night", with a few sightings which thus far have not caused any concern, except for a few missing sheep in Barry which have been attributed to "black panthers on the loose", a reference to phantom cat sightings especially common in South West England and South Wales.

In "Cyberwoman" it is revealed that the team use a special type of "barbecue sauce" (the website describes it as a special protein sauce) to help it identify what food is safe for it to eat. While it proved capable of fighting a Cyberman it was not seen again in the first series, leading to the assumption that the Cyberwoman killed it, but this proved not to be the case, as it had a cameo appearance in the 2nd series episode "Meat".

In flashback scenes in "Fragments" the Pteranodon is seen again when Ianto joins Torchwood by helping Captain Jack capture it, Jack deciding to keep it as a watchdog.

Pwccm

The same race as Abaddon, Pwccm features in the novel The Twilight Streets as the master of the Dark before his destruction by Abaddon in their final battle.

R

Ritual motorcycles

A pair of organic motorcycles with AI brains feature in the comic Jetsam. The bikes are used in a ritual by a race of aliens to settle minor conflicts such as turf wars and border disputes. The bikes allow the user to harness their childhood fears to aid their courage in combat. In Jetsam, a pair of bikes get washed ashore after a shipwreck. One possesses Toshiko who, having fought free of the bike's control, convinces her combatant, the leader of a local bike gang, to surrender. However, when the biker tries to stab Toshiko, the bike kills him for breaking the agreement.

S

The Sanctified

The Sanctified are a race of bipedal aliens who appear in the serialised Torchwood Magazine comic Rift War. They exhibit a crimson mane and no facial flesh - just muscles and tendons. Their primary objective upon Earth is to stop Torchwood from using the Rift to destroy the Sanctified - an event which is yet to occur.

Sex gas

Template:Doctorwhorace An unnamed gaseous alien parasite that comes to Earth to feed on orgasmic energy in "Day One". Composed of vorax and ceranium gases, Earth's atmosphere is poisonous to the alien, so it needs to take a human host to survive for prolonged periods. It vies for control with its host, causing physiological changes that will eventually cause the host's internal organs to explode.

The alien also makes its host secrete a blend of ultra-powerful pheromones that cause tremendous sexual attraction in those around it for the purposes of feeding. Coupling with the host is fatal, causing the host's partner to disintegrate into a pile of dust at climax and allowing the alien to absorb the energy from the orgasm.

The BBC Torchwood website lists it as the "Sex gas". Producer Russell T Davies, in the documentary series Torchwood Declassified, refers to it as a "sex monster".

"Simon"

"Simon" was an alien mentioned on the Torchwood website, specifically in an article attached to, and especially in, Amanda Davies' diary. He was travelling on Earth, seeking to discover the source of life. He wandered into a countryside village and was taken in by the Davies family. Simon, having based his appearance on Jon Bon Jovi, near-instantly seduced the family's daughter - Amanda, and ultimately left her pregnant with an alien baby (which itself quickly developed, and began to degrade her health). Simon then disappeared around the same time as Jack Harkness arrived (implying he had been captured or killed by Torchwood), and later Jack met with Amanda's father and (apparently) made an agreement to have the entire village, including Amanda, subjected to amnesia pills, have all records and evidence that the Davies' existed in the village (including Amanda's diary) confiscated, have the alien baby removed before Amanda died, and then send the Davies family away with a new identity.

"Adam Smith"

Further information: List of Torchwood minor characters § "Adam Smith"

Cash Cow

Template:Doctorwhorace A gigantic space whale featured in the episode "Meat." The creature fell through the Rift, into the sea, and beached itself. In its helpless state, it was found and stored in a warehouse where it was then cut up and turned into meat to be sold to food companies. When cut up, as well as exhibiting the ability to regenerate, it also showed a visible increase in size with each regeneration. When Torchwood infiltrate the warehouse with the aim of freeing the creature, the scientists forget to inject it with sedative, causing it to flail about wildly, breaking free from its bonds. This leads Owen to ultimately inject the whale with poison, killing it out of mercy.

V

Vondrax

A race known as the Vondrax appear in the novel Trace Memory by David Llewellyn. According to Jack Harkness, the Vondrax are "said to be one of the oldest sentient lifeforms in the universe", and feed on tachyon radiation. They are capable of time travel, and frequently change shape. In Trace Memory they adopt a humanoid form, wearing suits and bowler hats, and carrying umbrellas. The character of Torchwood agent Valentine says that "in Japan they (the Vondrax) were said to resemble Samurai. In Egypt they came like gods." The Vondrax are able to kill their victims by simply looking at them, a technique that only fails to work on Jack, and in fact seems to have the reverse effect, killing the Vondrax itself.

W

Water hag

A bio-organic race known only as water hags which grow their babies in mens throats because they need testosterone. They appear in the novel Something in the Water.

Weevil

Main article: Weevil (Torchwood)

See also

• List of Doctor Who monsters and aliens
• List of The Sarah Jane Adventures monsters and aliens

External links

• Children of the Earth BBC Torchwood site