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The Crystal Guardian, better known as the Celestial Toymaker, was a Guardian of Time who ensnared sentient beings in apparently childish games, with their freedom as the stakes. However, the Toymaker hated to lose and the games were always rigged in his favour.
History[]
The Toymaker once claimed to be a Guardian of Time, the embodiments of the fundamental forces of the universe. Whereas the White and Black Guardians personified the absolutes of morality, however, the Toymaker was the avatar of games and illusions, known as the Crystal Guardian. (PDA: The Quantum Archangel)
Within his realm, the Celestial Toyroom, the Toymaker commanded immense powers, but they were limited by the rules he set for any particular game, although he could bend these rules or 'forget' to mention them to his opponents if he so chose. During the course of a game, one of the players might die outright or they might lose, in which case, the Toymaker would have total control over their life and personality, perpetually. (DW: The Celestial Toymaker) There is evidence to suggest that if he was fairly beaten in such a game, the other player was allowed to go free, but if his opponent lost or tried to cheat he became another exhibit in the Toyroom. (DWM: The Greatest Gamble)
Encounters with the Doctor[]
Loki learned of the Toymaker when he was a youth at the Prydon Academy. The Time Lords' data banks described him only as a vague legend. Loki and his friends Rallon and Millennia, who belonged to a clique known as the Deca with Loki, investigated the legend, travelling to the Toyroom in a stolen TARDIS. The Toymaker was in a dormant, disembodied state, but on their arrival he possessed Rallon and made Millennia one of his servants. Loki defeated him, and the Toymaker allowed him to leave, knowing that he would become an even more worthy opponent given time to mature. (PDA: Divided Loyalties)
. (DW: The Deca)
Many years later, the Toymaker drew Loki's TARDIS back to his realm and made Loki, now calling himself the Doctor, and his companions play his games again. This time the Toymaker arranged things so that even if they won, the Toyroom would collapse around them at their moment of victory, leaving him the only survivor. The Doctor outwitted the Toymaker again and escaped, leaving his realm in chaos. (DW: The Celestial Toymaker) Rallon had been keeping the Toymaker's powers in check since he was first possessed. He made the Toymaker abide by the rules of his games to allow the Doctor to escape. (PDA: Divided Loyalties)
The Toymaker discovered that after centuries of existence, Rallon's body was dying. He set out to ensnare the Doctor again and hatched a complex plot to turn his companions against him and absorb the Doctor as a new host. He was thwarted when Rallon forced himself to undergo multiple regenerations consecutively. The trauma expelled the Toymaker from his body. A projection of Rallon's potential future self merged with the Toymaker to ensure that the full powers of the immortal continued to be kept under control. (PDA: Divided Loyalties)
The Toymaker, now calling himself the Mandarin due to the trauma of his last defeat, appeared in Blackpool and, using a thrill ride, Space Mountain, as his base of operations, manufactured deadly video arcade games. He was stopped by the Sixth Doctor and placed in an impenetrable force field. Because the Toymaker's mental energy maintained the force field, the Doctor had set it up so that he could never escape it. (TME: The Nightmare Fair)
Eventually, the Toymaker returned, both physically and mentally, trapping the Eighth Doctor in a replica of the village of Stockbridge. Here he forced the Doctor to play games for control of a reality-warping alien device called the Imagineum. The Toymaker's pawn this time was a replica of the Doctor himself. The Doctor persuaded his double to turn against his master. With the Toymaker distracted, the Doctor used the Imagineum to create a replica Toymaker, which he set against the original. A stalemate ensued. The Doctor destroyed the Imagineum and freed Stockbridge from the Toyroom. The Toymaker was trapped in apparently perpetual battle with himself. (DWM: Endgame)
The Toymaker somehow regained full control of his powers and lured several people into his domain, including the Seventh Doctor and his companions Ace and Hex. Working under the Doctor's leadership, the group of victims were successful in defeating the Toymaker and imprisoning his essence in a doll (or so it seemed). Each of them ate a piece of the doll, dividing the Toymaker so that he would no longer be capable of using his powers. The Doctor concocted an elaborate plan to keep control over the fragments of the Toymaker in the minds of each member of the group until the Toymaker withered away forever. As this plan involved the Doctor forgetting having made the plan in the first place, he wound up short-circuiting it. In the end, it was revealed that the Toymaker had been in control all along, allowing himself to be absorbed into humanity so that he could "feel what it was like to lose". Finally, one of the people involved, the chessmaster Swapnil Khan, managed to trap the Toymaker in a perpetual stalemate in his own dimension, but not before the Toymaker had reduced everyone except the Doctor, Ace, Hex, and Khan's daughter Queenie Glasscock to wooden dolls. (BFA: The Magic Mousetrap)
The Toymaker later captured the Doctor's TARDIS and took it to his Toyshop. He transformed the Eighth Doctor into a puppet. The Doctor's companion, Charley, was forced by the Toymaker to take part in his riddle, but was tricked by the Toyshop which shrunk to 0% of its original size and the body he was using was destroyed within it. The Toymaker swore that when his new body had formed he would take his revenge upon the Doctor and Charley, who had escaped the Toyshop's destruction. (CC: Solitaire)
(DW: The Female Doctor)
(DW: The Final Game)
(DW: The Killing Game)
(DW: Pawns, Knights and Kings)
(DW: The Unspeakable Evil)
Undated events[]
- The Toymaker played chess against Fenric during the latter's imprisonment. The Toymaker found himself on the verge of being outplayed, but slowly realised that, in this case, playing for a stalemate would be a victory of sorts. (BE: Games)
Alternate Timelines[]
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Psychological profile[]
Personality[]
The Toymaker is immortal, having already lived for millions of years. Having been cast out from an alternative universe, he obeys a different set of physical laws. The years of isolation have driven him mad, and he seeks distraction in the playing of games. The Toymaker is manipulative and can turn people, as the Doctor commented, "into his playthings". He uses his enormous power for self-satisfaction and bullying, such as threatening to break Sergeant Rugg and Mrs Wiggs like a stack of plates. (DW: The Celestial Toymaker)
Abilities[]
Within his realm, the Celestial Toyroom, the Toymaker commanded immense powers, but they were limited by the rules he set for any particular game, although he could bend these rules or 'forget' to mention them to his opponents if he so chose. He himself was immortal and invulnerable, and appeared capable of space and time travel at will. For some reason he chose to dress as a Chinese mandarin. (DW: The Celestial Toymaker)
During the course of a game, one of the players might die outright or they might lose, in which case, the Toymaker would have total control over their life and personality, perpetually. (DW: The Celestial Toymaker)
Apart from these children's games, the Toymaker sometimes played in person against his 'guests', most often games of chance such as cards or dice. There is evidence to suggest that if he was fairly beaten in such a game, the other player was allowed to go free, but if his opponent lost or tried to cheat he became another exhibit in the Toyroom. Such opponents included professional gamblers from the American west and Roman soldiers. (DWM: The Greatest Gamble)
Appearance[]
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Relationships[]
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Behind the scenes[]
- According to Donald Tosh, the commissioning script editor and (uncredited) co-author of The Celestial Toymaker, the intention was that the Toymaker was, like the Monk who had predated him, a member of the Doctor's own race. (BBC DVD: The Time Meddler)
- In an interview, Peter Cushing stated that he believes that his human incarnation of the Doctor is canon, and that his film version of the Doctor and the television Doctor are bridged together by the Celestial Toymaker. His theory is that his Doctor is a future incarnation kidnapped by the Toymaker, who "wiped his memory and made him relive some of his earlier adventures." Minus the mindwiping, this concept was used for the Thirteenth Doctor's third series.