Characters / Doctor Who – Villains

Doctor Who characters index
Incarnations of the Doctor
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | War | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 & 15
The TARDIS
Companions and Supporting Cast
Classic Series Companions (K9, Romana) | Revival Series Companions (Rose Tyler, Captain Jack Harkness, The Ponds, River Song, Clara Oswald) | Other Supporting Cast (The Paternoster Gang) | UNIT Staff
Villains
Immortals and Eldritch Abominations | The Master (John Simm's Master, Missy, Expanded Universe Masters)
Aliens and Monsters
Daleks (Davros) | Cybermen | Robots | The Silence | Silurians | Sontarans | Time Lords | Weeping Angels | Slitheen

Amy: So, you have enemies, then?
Eleventh Doctor: Everyone's got enemies.
Amy: Yeah, but mine's the woman outside Budgens with the mental Jack Russell. You've got, you know, ARCH-enemies.

— "Victory of the Daleks"

The many, many villains of Doctor Who. For information about specific races (villainous or otherwise), see the aliens and monsters page. For tropes concerning the Doctor's Arch-Enemy the Master, see this page.

As with all Doctor Who characters, they appear not only in the televised Whoniverse, but also in the Doctor Who Expanded Universe branches. For their ongoing character tropes in Big Finish Doctor Who, in which the original actors frequently continue to play them, see here.

Time Lord villains can be found here. Villains who are immortals or Eldritch Abominations can be found here.

---

Due to the sheer amount of villains appearing in this Long Runner show, the pages had to be split up.

• Doctor Who Villains Classic Series ^note First Doctor era: Mavic Chen; Second Doctor era: Ramon Salamander; Third Doctor era: Azal, BOSS, the Great One; Fourth Doctor era: Harrison Chase, Eldrad, Xoanon, Magnus Greel, the Collector, Scaroth, Meglos; Fifth Doctor era: The Mara, Morgus, Sharaz Jek; Sixth Doctor era: Mestor, Sil; Seventh Doctor era: The Kandyman
• Doctor Who Villains Revival Series^note Ninth Doctor era: Henry van Statten; Tenth Doctor era: The Wire, the Abzorbaloff, Mr. Finch / Brother Lassar, the Racnoss Empress, Professor Richard Lazarus, Lucy Saxon, Max Capricorn, "Miss Foster" (Matron Cofelia); Eleventh Doctor era: Prisoner Zero, Solomon the Trader, the Gunslinger, Mrs. Winifred Gillyflower; Twelfth Doctor era: The Half-Face Man, the Skovox Blitzer, Gus, the Foretold, Seb, the Fisher King, Bonnie the Zygon, the Veil, King Hydroflax, Lord Sutcliffe, the Giant Monk, Queen Iraxxa; Thirteenth Doctor era: Tzim-Sha, Krasko, Jack Robertson, Daniel Barton, the Grand Serpent; Fourteenth Doctor era: The Most High

Reoccurring Villains

The Master

They have their own page.

Commander Gustave Lytton

Commander Gustave Lytton (Fifth and Sixth Doctors)

Played by: Maurice Colbourne (1984–85)

A semi-villainous figure, the Doctor and Lytton crossed paths twice. Lytton ran into the Fifth Doctor during "Resurrection of the Daleks", where Lytton worked for the Daleks, much to the Doctor's distaste. The Sixth Doctor encountered him in "Attack of the Cybermen", where Lytton actually tried to help an alien species fight the Cybermen, though refused to team up with the Doctor. Thought to be a villain through and through by the Doctor, Lytton actually surprised the Doctor in the latter appearance by having a somewhat Heroic Sacrifice.

---

• Badass Normal: Expanded universe media confirmed that he's just a normal human, although one born in an alien planet, which makes the fact that he held his own against the Daleks and the Cybermen, the two most persistent enemies the Doctor has ever had, all the more impressive.
• Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Partially Cyber-Converted into a Cyberman during his final encounter, Lytton experienced this one personally.
• Expy: He and his mercenary squad, the Dalek Troopers, were clearly inspired by the Imperial Stormtroopers from Star Wars. The Dalek Troopers wear similar body-covering armour with the added visage of a Dalek eyestalk on their helmets.
• Fingore: He gets his wrists crushed by the Cybermen.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: As a mercenary, he has no particular loyalties to any single cause and can change his allegiances on a dime. Fortunately, he settled on the Face side just before his death.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Rather heroic for the character, he ultimately died fighting off the Cyber-Controller. More impressively, he was partially converted into a Cyberman at the time and remains as one of the few human characters to resist the mind-altering effects of the process. After his sacrifice, the Doctor regretfully laments that he had badly misjudged Lytton.
• Jerkass: He can be extremely harsh and demanding of his own subordinates.
• The Quisling: A recurring human adversary who gets involved with both the Daleks and the Cybermen in separate serials. In the latter case, he initially wanted to collaborate with the Cybermen as he did with the Daleks, but ended up sticking with the Cryon resistance fighters until he was partially and unwillingly cyber-converted.
• Only One Name: Commander Lytton had only one name in the televised adventures of the Doctor, but the novelization of "Attack of the Cybermen" gave him the first name of "Gustave". The story also goes further in-depth on Lytton's character, even expanding his relationship with the Doctor somewhat.
• Wild Card: As said, you can never be too certain about which side Lytton will be on. Considering that Lytton once sided with the Daleks, it makes sense that the Doctor doesn't trust him as far as he can throw him.

Cassandra O'Brien.Δ17

Cassandra O'Brien.Δ17 (Ninth and Tenth Doctors)

Look how thin I am. Thin and dainty. I don't look a day over two thousand. Moisturise me!

^{After possessing Rose Tyler}

^{Her younger self in her original body}

Played by: Zoë Wanamaker (2005; 2006) Billie Piper (2006) David Tennant (2006) Sean Gallagher (2006)

Lady Cassandra O'Brien.Δ17 was a human in the far future. Along with other rich and powerful peoples of the universe, Cassandra was on Platform One, a space station orbiting Earth five billion years in the future, set up to witness the final destruction of the planet by the expansion of the Sun. When the Doctor destroyed her body, she retreated into a hospital back room and waited for a chance to reappear. Rose was that chance, and Cassandra merrily took over Rose's body and mind for a while. When the Doctor protested, she made the jump to the Doctor's body instead, enjoying every moment of it.

---

• Absolute Xenophobe: One of her most defining traits are her xenophobic tendencies and supremacist views. She is the only pure human and everyone else is a mongrel and below her. This trait of hers gets further expanded and deconstructed in "New Earth", through her possession of Rose, she is portrayed as something akin to the Evil Brit and with her acceptance of The Flesh as a new form of life, she eventually realizes that there is more that defines people besides superficial looks.
• Accidental Suicide: Averted, the psychograft causes Cassandra's skin to dry out again and her Brain in a Jar to give in, essentially causing her old self to "die". But as Cassandra/Rose explains, it also caused her personality to survive by being turned into particles in the air much like a spirit, allowing her to take over Rose's body.
• Anti-Hero: Operating under Black-and-Grey Morality in New Earth. She’s arguably a Jerk with a Heart of Gold at the end of the same plot.
• Appearance Angst: Averted when she appears in "The End of The World", being rather haughty when it comes to her deformed looks. This gets subverted in "New Earth" where it's revealed she wishes to have a normal body.
  • This gets Zig-Zagged when it comes to judging her appearance as Rose. This is because she has contradictory feelings of admiration and disgust towards her, going from admiring her looks in one moment, to feeling angsty about her poverty.
• Alas, Poor Villain: She has a very touching exit, especially after everything she'd done.
• Attractive Bent-Gender: She was born a male and yet was just as attractive as Zoe Wanamaker at some point. She is unfortunately, a bad example, since she constantly changed sexes in order to fool her previous lovers.
• Attention Whore: She is extremely vain and histrionic.
• Black Widow: She openly boasts about the gruesome ends of her lovers and was about to do the same with the Doctor moments after passionately making out with him.
• Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me: She makes sure that Chip takes care of passing Rose through the disinfectant in the elevator so she is all cleaned up once she takes over her.
• Beauty Is Best: As part of her materialist views. This is the reason Cassandra shows respect towards Rose despite the classist hatred she feels towards her. It's because Rose possesses the qualities she values the most; Beauty and blood-purity.
• Benevolent Boss: This is her only good trait. If you recognize her as your superior and submit to her power she will have your back.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: You can tell she is very bitter about having her plans foiled by the Doctor. It won't stop her from making out with him before killing him in a thousand different ways.
• Best Served Cold: A great part of her motivation in New Earth is to get revenge on the Doctor and Rose for almost killing her. This is also the reason why Cassandra is willing to bite her pride in order to possess Rose's body even if she sees her as being too "brassy" for someone like her. Well, at least until she takes a closer look at the merchandise and her judgement of Rose's appeal changes somewhat.
• Betty and Veronica: Subverted and Played for Laughs. The plot in New Earth even gets described as a love triangle of sorts between the Doctor, Rose and Cassandra, but it's obviously all done for the sake of comedy. Cassandra would be the "Veronica" to Rose's "Betty". Cassandra, however, doesn't allow her lust get in the way of her revenge. Yet once the plot in New Earth is over and Cassandra goes back to her old self, she seems mostly happy with Rose and the Doctor being together. On the other hand, being the greedy old lady that she is, maybe it's because she has grow fond of them and probably wouldn't mind having them both for herself.
• Big-Breast Pride: Cassandra develops this once she possesses Rose. She is at first angsty towards the idea of using her body, describing herself as a Chav. But eventually realizes that her new self is rather well-endowed, with Chip and even Cassandra herself being surprised and lusty at how attractive she has become to the point that she makes sure everyone notices her new front. Vulgar as she may see her new self, Cassandra has become very boastful of her new assets.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Gets her own, long snog with the Doctor through Rose. The Doctor is stunned, although it's a fake kiss when it comes to him and Rose.
• Body Horror: That large sheet of skin connected to a Brain in a Jar is a human being who went through at least a hundred rounds of plastic surgery solely to retain her status as a pure human while the others evolved.
• Body Snatcher: The psychograft grants her this ability.
• Body Surf: During "New Earth".
• Buxom Beauty Standard: In case her "Bouncy Castle" phrase isn't enough of an indication. This is also probably the main reason why she remains in Rose's body the longest.
• Brain in a Jar: Attached to an enormous piece of skin.
• Broken Ace: A high-class lady driven mad by peer pressure and her own conservative ideals. She has cunning and knows how to use it. When the Doctor and Rose meet her she has the influence and likes to show it off, and when they meet again in New Earth and she snatches Rose's body, she comes back as a deadly mix of beauty, brains and brawn in a single, seductive posh villainess.
• Blue Blood: The last "pure" human aristocrat.
• Character Catchphrase: She has a habit of saying "Moisturise me!" to her followers in order to keep her skin from drying.
• Character Tics: After merging with Rose, she gains Rose's habit of playing with her hoop earrings and likes to fondle her hair. Probably because it's been so long since she had hair of her own.
• Classic Villain: She fits this archetype really well in "The End Of The World," being defeated in a rather climatic way by the Doctor for pushing him too far in her plot to seek power in order to extend her lifespan as a "pure" human, putting other people in danger because according to her, they aren't even human either way, forcing him to finish her off. Because of this, a great part of her motivation in New Earth is getting revenge on the Doctor and Rose. She is a very good foil to Rose, having the wealth and charisma that she lacks, but ironically lacking Rose's humanity herself. Since she ends up possessing Rose's body, she turns into something like an evil alter-ego of sorts to Rose for a short time, acting in a more provocative way towards the Doctor and being much more straightforward and honest when it comes to acting in accordance to her feelings towards him. So the vices related to Cassandra's persona are pride, greed, wrath, lust and ambition.
• Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Implied to be one of the reasons why she went as crazy as she did. Even when her apathy is shown as a contrast to Rose's empathy, she is overall more goofy and unrestrained. Probably as a side effect of being merged with Rose who is energetic and fun-loving.
• Cynicism Catalyst: It's hinted that her reputation as an upper-class lady was hit hard when she tried to save Chip (actually her future self in Chip's body) from dying while the other aristocrats could care less. This left her cynical and made her develop her worst traits, mainly her belief that people could only depend on themselves and her obsession with remaining a pure human. This makes her a very good contrast with Rose.
• Call-Back: Back in "The End of the World", Cassandra mentions that Rose could use some surgery in order to improve her looks, to which Rose replies that she would rather die than become like her. After possessing Rose and checking herself out in New Earth, Cassandra mentions that her new appeal isn't bad at all, but she and Rose could still use some work. All probably done intentionally too, since Cassandra knows Rose is horrified by the idea of merging with her.
• Colour-Coded Characters: While Rose leaves her blue jacket on, reflecting her carefree and innocent personality, Cassandra wears Rose's exposed purple shirt, a colour associated with the ruling class, being a darker and seductive woman.
• Curves in All the Right Places: She is impressed with Rose's appearance. Praising her good front and rear side.
• Cult of Personality: She has this sort of relationship with her minions, with Chip even worshipping her as a goddess-like figure. Cassandra doesn't exactly think of herself as a god, but it's hinted she is interested in reaching such a state. In a bit of a subversion, Cassandra herself does seem to value the loyalty they have towards her.
• Dark Lord on Life Support: Cassandra's body is a Brain in a Jar connected to a piece of skin from her original body, having to be constantly moisturised in order to keep it from dying. It helps with the aesthetics in order to make her look disturbing, weak and how much her will to survive has distorted her over the years. Her title of "lady" fits the archetype too.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: She goes from being the monstrous, antagonistic conservative and racist villain of the plot to, proudly becoming the main source of fanservice with a more unrestrained attitude as the lead character. She also finally grows fond of the new forms of life she created with the Doctor. Basically accepting them as her "children" and after accepting that change is a natural part of life, she realizes the error of her ways, finally accepting it's time to move on, parting on good terms with the Doctor, Rose and the Flesh.
• Denser and Wackier: In contrast to her serious portrayal in "The End Of The World," she's a lot goofier in "New Earth", providing most of the fanservice and comedy as well. Probably because of the themes of the episode about things changing. She is still a danger to the Doctor and Rose, however, nearly succeeding in her plans and only failing because she couldn't blackmail the cat nuns. After helping save the Flesh, she even undergoes a Heel–Face Turn.
• Determinator: A dark example: despite having her plans foiled and almost getting killed, nothing will stop her from living on as a "pure" human. Even Rose admires Cassandra's willpower and her desire to survive.
• Dirty Coward: Abandons Chip to the diseased clones when possessing Rose Tyler. Though she's willing to Face Death with Dignity at the end of "New Earth".
• Dirty Old Woman: She makes full use of her new possession ability in "New Earth". Although in her defence, she's been nothing but a Brain in a Jar for quite a long time and lacks the discipline to hold herself back once she uses it on others, all the more after gaining Billie Piper's looks.
• Distracted by My Own Sexy: She is so drunk on her new sex appeal after possessing Rose that besides checking herself out in front of the mirror for a long time, she is completely distracted when the Doctor confronts the cat nurses about their secrets. She gets distracted to a lesser extent when possessing Ten as well.
• Even Evil Has Standards: While Cassandra claims to be willing to throw Rose away once she finds a better host, at the same time, Rose is such a rare breed of "pure" human stock in Cassandra's eyes that she is willing to protect her as long as she remains as her host. Like when she finds one of the Flesh for the first time and gets scared her body could get infected by the diseases.
• Everyone Loves Blondes: Cassandra seems to believe this, judging by her comment before possessing Rose. She admits Rose herself is strikingly beautiful, which is saying something coming from her and her original body's hair colour was also blonde. It may even be related to her racial eugenicist views.
• Evil Brit: As part of being played by Zoe Wanamaker. In her second appearance in "New Earth" she is even more straightforwardly presented as a British white supremacist.
• Evil Counterpart: She is this to Rose when it comes to their roles as the Doctor's companion in New Earth. Otherwise, they are more like Foils to each other. She is the sultry, glamorous Femme Fatale to Rose's loyal companion detective.
• Evil Genius: She is able to trick Rose into falling for her psychograft trap by fooling her into supposedly getting close, has enough technological knowledge to keep up with the Doctor and figures out the secret of the cat nuns minutes after possessing Rose and being able to move on her own, which puts Rose's own detective skills to shame.
• Evil Is Hammy: Despite being centuries old, Cassandra can be... very passionate, to say the least. Whoever ends up hosting her persona is sure to chew the stage. Minutes after taking control of Rose's teenage body full of hormones, she can't help but give the Doctor a passionate kiss once she meets Ten in person.
• Evil Makeover: In the meta sense, Billie wears different clothes and makeup in her Cassandra scenes. She has a darker shade of lipstick, her hair is at first curved to the side to resemble Zoe Wanamaker in her Cassandra scene and she wears a wonderbra to better expose her front. Cassandra herself only wears Rose's shirt after getting rid of her jacket and says that while her new appeal isn't bad at all, she and Rose could use some plastic surgery.
• Evil Old Folks: Oh, come on, she doesn't look a day over two thousand!
• Evil Overlord: She shows traits of this in "The End of the World", commanding at least a small group of mercenaries and a personality cult loyal to her. Her title of "lady" and her status as the last human being are respected to the point that she has gotten away with many of her worst crimes in the past. But this gets completely averted in "New Earth," where, after being gruesomely defeated by the Doctor, she lost most of her followers and even her fortune too in order to get the psychograft, eventually using it to steal Rose's body for extra irony.
• Evil Plan: In "The End of the World", her plan is to create a hostage situation on Platform One in order to collect a reward for her life support treatment. In "New Earth", her plan is to possess Rose's body in order to get revenge on her and the Doctor and impersonate Rose in order to find out the secret of the cat nuns and blackmail them into giving her a fortune so she can make her escape with Rose's body and live on as a "pure" human for centuries.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Rose's voice gets significantly deeper after Cassandra takes over her, gaining her Posh accent as an extra malicious touch.
• Evil Wine Glass: While it never made it to the final cut, an extended scene of Cassandra-possessed-Rose joining the Doctor in Ward 26 included the servants of the Duke of Manhattan offering them drinks, which would have caused Cassandra to slip out of character and reply "Oh, moisturize me", almost exposing her facade. Cassandra was apparently fond of high-quality drinks. Chanpagne also fits her Femme Fatale theme.
• Enemy Within: Cassandra's method of possession works like this. She is able to control Rose's body right away, but Rose's original self is still somewhat conscious inside her head. The effects of the psychograft would have caused Rose's persona to eventually be completely assimilated and replaced by Cassandra's own personality. It's a fitting power considering Cassandra's name.
• Facial Horror: Cassandra's "face" is a pair of eyes and a mouth attached to a piece of her original skin controlled by her brain. Is it any wonder she got rid of her trampoline self in order to take over the body of Rose?
• Fanservice Pack: Cassandra merged with Rose is this when compared to her usual self.
• Fantastic Racism: She's the only pure human. Everyone else is a "mongrel".
• Fatal Flaw: Greed, pride, wrath, lust and ambition. Her obsession with preserving her humanity has made her a cynical and desperately power-hungry individual.
• Fate Worse than Death: While seeing her as a "pure-blood" who fits her conservative views, Cassandra initially chooses Rose as a host because she knows Rose would be horrified at the idea of becoming similar to her, so by possessing her, she can get her revenge with Rose becoming Cassandra's new flesh complete with her xenophobic and supremacist views.
• Female Gaze: Her possession of the Doctor is supposed to invoke this in female viewers. Rose herself is too embarrassed like to do something about it. Since Cassandra constantly changed sexes in the past, she is a predator to both men and women.
• Femme Fatale: She was a very persuasive man-eater when she was younger, taking the lives of many of her lovers in order to get away with their money. In "The End of the World", she sarcastically mentions some of their gruesome ends. In "New Earth", she goes from teasing the Tenth Doctor and giving him the kiss of his life to boasting about all the different ways she has thought about killing him in a matter of minutes. She even helps the Doctor figure out the secret of the hospital by doing detective work before turning on him. Despite the fact that she has been living as a Brain in a Jar for a long time, she still hasn't lost her charm, fooling the Doctor into thinking she is his loyal partner despite showing obvious personality differences with her by seducing him.
• Fetishized Abuser: Downplayed, but her relationship with the Doctor is more or less like this, in contrast to Rose's own relationship that is less direct and based on trust, Cassandra is much more straightforward and aggressive, telling the Doctor what to do. Cassandra herself more or less describes her new self as this; weak and vulgar, but attractive and well-endowed. Strangely, the Doctor himself doesn't seem to mind the change of personality that much and Cassandra herself can't help but kiss him once she gets the chance.
• Foe Romance Subtext:
  • Cassandra has a lot of this with the Doctor in "New Earth" because of Rose's influence while possessing her. However, despite the fact that she does admit some of her lust towards him at the end of the episode when Cassandra goes back to her old self, she seems to be happy with Rose and the Doctor being together and even likes to tease them about it.
  • Cassandra has some of this with Rose too. Basically, Cassandra loves and hates being merged with Rose at the same time (because she admires her beauty, but can't get over her own classist hatred).
• Foil: To Rose. They are both presented as being the last "original humans" in "The End of the World" and "New Earth" (this may be a reference to the stereotypes that they represent in British society and being "human" is a meaningful aspect of their characters). But while Cassandra seems fixated on keeping the material aspects of what she considers make her human, looking down on the hybrids, Rose sees humans evolving as something natural. Despite being shocked by the events of Platform One, Rose doesn't become cynical like Cassandra. This gets further attention when Cassandra takes over Rose's body: she removes nearly all the qualities that make Rose "human". While Rose is one of the youngest characters, Cassandra is one of the oldest. The past vs. the future, or old British values vs. new ones. Finally, and much to the frustration of Cassandra, they come from opposite backgrounds, Rose being from a working-class family and Cassandra being an upper-class lady.
• Fusion Dance: A rather hostile/villainous example, but the psychograft allows her to do this with whoever she possesses. She not only takes control of their body, but forms a mental link with her host, being able to partially see their memories and be influenced by the personality of the host to some extent. This actually plays a role in her character development. While we see her as a huge contrast with Rose, who would be empathetic to the suffering of the Flesh while Cassandra in her place is apathetic at best, she does show some differences when compared to her usual self. After possessing Rose, she is a lot goofier, more playful and bouncier than usual, probably because of Rose's influence who is very carefree herself, even giving the Doctor an energetic kiss. It becomes a more relevant plot point when after she possesses one of the Flesh, her empathy is triggered again and she starts feeling truly sorry for them. This may imply that Cassandra's experiments on herself to extend her lifespan have contributed to her insanity, since she is a lot more empathetic in human form.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: In "New Earth," she wears Rose's exposed purple blouse for most of the story after possessing her, in contrast to Rose's modest blue jacket. These are considered to be Rose's and by extension Cassandra's most Iconic Outfits by many fans. The exposed purple blouse reflects her darker, more mature and seductive character when compared to Rose.
• Grand Theft Me: Her plan in "New Earth" is to use a psychograft to transfer her mind into Rose's younger body in order to live on as a "pure" human and use whatever secret the cat nuns have to her advantage.
• Gold Digger: She killed several of her lovers for their wealth in order to extend her life. Despite starting out as a serial killer towards her lovers, in "The End of the World", she reaches mass-murderer levels.
• Go Seduce My Arch Nemesis: Played For Laughs. Since she sexualizes Rose's appearance to such an extent, It's implied she was willing to do the dirty deed with the two of them if necessary.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Heavily subverted. Both her original self and her new body have yellow hair, but Cassandra is a full-blown villainess despite her few pet the dog moments. What still keeps this straight is that an important part of her story is regaining the humanity that she herself lost a long time ago. The irony is not lost, considering being "human" means so much to Cassandra.
• Half-Breed Discrimination: Played straight at first, with her looking down on all the other human hybrids, but averted at the end of her story in "New Earth," when she at least seems to have accepted the Flesh just the way they are and seems to agree with the Doctor when he suggests that she is technically their mother/progenitor.
• The Hedonist: Having quite a lot of wealth, she likes to enjoy conforts of all kinds.
• Heel Realization: After briefly possessing one of the Flesh, she is so overwhelmed by their feelings of loneliness that she starts showing signs of empathy again. Then, after watching the Doctor risk his life to save them, she realizes she was wrong about being a cynical bitch in general and starts acting in a much more caring way towards the Doctor, Rose and the Flesh.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Subverted. Look above.
• Hypocrite: She verbally abuses Rose everytime she can about how vulgar and slutty she is according to her, but Rose is by far the more modest character when compared to her. She also likes to tease Rose about how it's hormone season inside her head and how she has been lusting after the Doctor, but Cassandra herself is the one who passionately kisses him. For a sophisticated lady, Cassandra surely lets her passions drive her.
• Ice Queen: She is usually hammy and over-the-top but when possessing Rose, her personality seems to change, becoming more aloof, refined and ironically more lady-like. (It could be a way for her to deal with the resentment towards her new host) This coldness of hers eventually causes the Doctor to figure out her ruse.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: She takes her time in order to check out her new figure after possessing Rose in order to let her know she is her property now while Rose can only helplessly watch.
• Immortality Seeker: It's never downright stated, but her main goal seems to be eternal beauty.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Averted the first time she shows up in "The End Of The World," being a serious threat to the Doctor and causing death to the people that oppose her, but she gets this treatment in "New Earth," being painted in a more sympathetic light and having more of her background revealed in order to explain her behaviour. Her villainous traits and characteristics are mocked, her plans fail her and get her into trouble and despite the fact that she is still a villainess out for revenge, she is overall a less serious character, to the point that a lot of the comedy and fanservice in "New Earth" depends on the idea of having an old, snobby and villainous Zoe Wanamaker character inside the young body of Billie Piper's more honest and humble character.
• Irony:
  • Completely accidental, but by freeing all the clones, she effectively restarted her race of "pure" human beings.
  • When Rose finds out that Cassandra's new skin is now taken from her back, she makes a sarcastic comment saying she is talking out of her own... before being interrupted by Cassandra herself. After trapping Rose in the psychograft and possessing her, Cassandra at one point starts wondering what work and plastic surgery she can do this time around on Rose's body in order to improve her new appeal and checks herself out again, softly touching her posterior, saying that she is satisfied with the way it is, quite possibly doing it on purpose in order to get back at Rose. Basically, Cassandra was "talking out her own (Rose's) arse", as if saying to Rose that there's no point resisting and that she can't even talk back since she has full authority over her and is now her property.
  • Cassandra usually looks down on everybody else as being sub-human mongrels and while eventually becoming satisfied with taking over Rose's body, she still looks down on her as working-class scum, but possessing Rose eventually allows her to regain the humanity that she herself lost a long time ago.
• It's All About Me: Cassandra has quite an ego. Slightly subverted with her accepting her own death.
• I Was Quite a Looker: As expected, being Zoe Wanamaker in the past. She tells this to Rose while also lamenting that it eventually reached a point in which people wouldn't appreciate her beauty anymore. Which is probably the reason why she unleashes herself once she realizes how attractive she has become after possessing Rose.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Originally, her personality was more or less like this, but after her reputation took a hit, she fell to the dark side badly, being responsible for the taking of many lives. She goes back to her old persona at the end of the episode.
• Lack of Empathy: Mostly played straight, considering she isn't above committing murder against people that don't fit her definition of "human". But slightly subverted when she feels empathy towards one of the Flesh after possessing her, knowing the loneliness that they constantly feel, showing that she isn't a complete psychopath and may have been a more ethical person in the past.
• Large Ham: One of the hammiest villains in the series. Be it Zoe Wanamaker, Billie Piper or whoever ends up playing her personality, she always chews the stage. But Zoe and Billie are the real deal. Despite being her only appearance, Zoe really shows off her voice-acting skills, despite lacking a body of her own, Zoe can make Cassandra have a huge presence in whatever scene she is in, to the point of making everyone else seem absent. Then Billie properly allows Cassandra's unseen mannerisms to come to life. In contrast to her usual portrayal of Rose, being friendly, funny and caring, we see her turn into a sultry, sarcastic and cynical version of herself, allowing Billie to portray some really malicious dialogue. She really creates the illusion that a sophisticated, cynical old lady is on the scene who just so happens to be wearing Rose's face.
• Last of Her Kind: She considers herself the last "pure" human, and sees the various part-humans as "mongrels". This becomes slightly subverted after possessing Rose, despite looking down on her as working-class scum, Cassandra still proudly refers to herself as "the Last Human", showing that she has grown fond of her new appeal to the point that she views Rose as a worthy pure-blooded human like her.
• Leitmotif: "Cassandra's Waltz" properly reflects her personality traits. It's probably the most alien-sounding theme, capturing the irony behind her appearance and her pride about being the last human, while also being sophisticated and sinister-sounding.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Cassandra and Rose are very feminine characters but in opposite ways. She is the dark to Rose's light.
• Looks Worth Killing For: A huge reason for her fall into madness. Becoming a mass murderer or causing a Death of Personality to Rose are trivial things to her.
• Lower-Class Lout: In order to establish how pretentious and elitist she is, she calls herself a Chav in horror after possessing the body of Rose Tyler.
• Lust: As part of her Fatal Flaw, Cassandra is very passionate for a sophisticated lady, but she is really obsessed with power and beauty. It's what drove her to become such a degenerate.
• Lust Object:
  • She ends up idealizing Rose in this fashion, developing a grudging, and yet deep admiration towards Rose's looks and eventually becoming drunk on her new sex appeal. She also makes a point of objectifying Rose's looks to draw attention to her new figure and try to seduce the Doctor.
  • She develops similar feelings towards the Doctor as well, making out with him shortly after meeting him and even seems to enjoy her role as her companion not even bothering to reveal her facade until the Doctor starts noticing "Rose's" strange behaviour. She also enjoys possessing him too later on.
• Male Gaze: After getting familiar with Rose's body, she gets rid of her jacket and opens up some of the buttons of Rose's shirt in order to better expose her new cleavage, because she is really satisfied with her new breasts. Cassandra being so full of herself that she feels the need to show off her front.
• Meaningful Appearance:
  • Her trampoline self, besides making her look disturbing, represents how she has become "her own canvas", similar to celebrities like Michael Jackson.
  • Her clothes after possessing Rose reflect the slutty and classless way in which she sees Rose, but also how proud she has become of her new assets.
• Meaningful Name: Cassandra was the prophetess who warned of the Trojan Horse. This Cassandra provided the Trojan Horse.
• The Mole: She impersonates Rose for a while in order to find out the secret of the cat nuns, but she isn't doing it just for the sake of infiltration. Rather, part of her Evil Plan is actually snatching Rose's body for good.
• My Brain Is Big: Cassandra's remaining brain is rather huge, possibly because of genetic alterations to it. It may foreshadow her good intellect.
• Narcissist: Admiring her new sex appeal in front of a mirror for a long time and her manipulation of her lovers fit the psychological profile well. It's hinted Cassandra wasn't always like this, perhaps snobby and vain to some extent like the other aristocrats, but remained an empathic person behind the mask. By the time the Doctor and Rose meet her however, she is a full-blown villain and only her worst traits remain.
• Nominal Hero: By taking Rose's role for most of the story in "New Earth," she indirectly helps the Doctor figure out the secret of the cat nuns and their genocidal acts, despite the fact that she is following her own villainous plans. She even helps cure the Flesh from all of the galaxy's diseases, ironically helping create a new race of "pure" human beings. As the Doctor says, she can't deny them because she helped create them, turning her into their great progenitor. She even seems genuinely happy about the fact that they were cured from their illnesses, probably because she was inside the head of one of them for a while and feels empathy about how much loneliness they had to endure. This may be the reason why she decides to move on after Chip's body fails her too, realizing that the Doctor and Rose were right about change being a natural process and that her time is up.
• Not Right in the Bed: The Doctor notices "Rose's" sultry change of personality right away, but this actually gets averted once Rose/Cassandra kisses him, thinking it's a result of his new looks when Roee is actually possessed...
• The One Thing I Don't Hate About You: To an exaggerated level. She despises Rose for her working-class background and for being responsible for her demise, but Rose is still the person Cassandra shows the largest amount of respect towards because of her natural beauty. Rose is the only person Cassandra recognizes as an equal and as a fellow pure-blooded human.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: While pretending to be Rose, she rightfully thinks it's better to imitate the way she speaks instead of using her own dialect. But her imitation is rather poor, so she goes back to using her own posh accent after the Doctor notices it and justifies herself by saying being on New Earth makes her want to try out new things, the Doctor included.
• Personality Powers: The psychograft grants her this. As shown in "The End of the World", she likes to project a fake image of trust before finishing her enemies off, like on Platform One or how she murdered her past lovers, so she gets the power to possess whoever she wants, enabling her to infiltrate the minds of her targets in order to slowly subvert and destroy them from within, while also allowing her to pretend to be whoever she wants. It can also be related to her name. Her possession ability also grants her a pseudo-immortality of sorts, which is hinted to be her greatest wish.
• Pet the Dog: She values the loyalty her followers have towards her, probably because of the way the other aristocrats turned their backs on her when she acted on emotion. She seems to be really fond of Chip, even remembering his design because he was the last person to admire her beauty. It actually gives her some good karma since Chip seems to have become her last follower in "New Earth," allowing her to possess Rose and give the Doctor one final snog. She also feels truly bad for the Flesh once she possesses one of them briefly and seems to be happy for them after they are cured from all of their sickness. This hints that Cassandra may have been a more empathetic person in the past, but her experiences led her to believe that people could only count on themselves.
• Princess in Rags: So what if she lost her fortune and is forced to possess the body of her brassy arch-nemesis? The lady is moving on!
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Yeah, she was designed to deconstruct people who hate change and people's ideas of beauty, so she has many traits of an extreme-right conservative. To Cassandra, everyone else is a mongrel; she recognizes Rose as a worthy, "pure-blooded" human like her, but even then, only as lower-class scum. While Rose becomes a worthy host for her to take over, she does so with no respect towards Rose's will. She only changes towards the end when she recognizes the Flesh as a new kind of life.
• Proud Beauty: Cassandra subverts this when it comes to judging her new (Rose's) image. She hates Rose with a passion and is at first angsty towards the idea of using her as a host, but eventually admits she has become quite attractive, to the point where she goes out of her way to make sure everyone notices her new appeal. As vulgar as she may perceive her new self (Rose) to be, it's obvious that Cassandra has become quite haughty about her new image. Even after possessing Rose, she still calls herself "the last human", showing that she acknowledges Rose fits her archetype of beauty, and her conservative race eugenics. It's almost painful watching the lovely Rose turn into a vain and far-right white supremacist version of herself. But then again, Cassandra is also funny to watch and is haughty about her looks to the point where she can make Rose act really sultry.
• Proper Lady: Averted most of the time. Cassandra embodies many "evil lord/lady" tropes, but at the end of her arc, she starts acting this way towards others for once, and her previous malice seems to be gone.
• Reverse Psychology: She does an impressive trick in "New Earth." She fools Rose by telling her to get closer to her, to which Rose mocks such a suggestion and moves behind instead just to get caught up in Cassandra's psychograft trap, leaving her helpless against Cassandra's possession.
• Rich Bitch: Honestly believes that money simply makes you more important than others.
• Rich Language, Poor Language: Cassandra ironically uses Billie Piper's natural Posh accent while Rose herself speaks in a Cockney dialect.
• Riches to Rags: It isn't quite fleshed out, but the fact that she needs Chip to hide her in the hospital basement and constantly steal medicine for her in "New Earth" means that Cassandra lost most of her fortune after "The End of the World", probably using all she had left in order to get the psychograft, which makes the plot point about her possessing Rose's body all the more hilarious. Most of her followers are also gone too, with the exception of Chip. As Cassandra herself puts it; "From class to brass".
• Romanticized Abuse: What she does to both Rose and the Doctor after possessing them surely counts. It's actually Played for Laughs despite the fact that she is abusing them while molesting herself.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: Despite the fact that she looks down on Rose for being too working-class for her taste, Cassandra ends up becoming this after possessing Rose. She is at first disgusted by the idea of living on through her, but she is also too obsessed with remaining young and preserving her humanity to let this get in her away and decides to bite her pride for the sake of getting revenge as well. But Cassandra is so fixated on looks and pretentious that once she takes a good look at her new body she can't help but grudgingly admire Rose's beauty and how attractive she has become, all while enjoying and showing off her new assets once she gets the chance.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: She and Rose engage in this when Rose finds the basement she was hiding in, with both of them exchanging some devilish dialogue. At one point, Rose starts mocking the way Cassandra has found a different flesh this time around. Ironically, Cassandra outsmarts her and Rose ends up becoming Cassandra's new flesh.
• Shipper on Deck: Towards the Doctor and Rose after possessing them and seeing inside their minds. She enjoys teasing Rose about it, because it's "hormone city" inside her head, but acts more benevolent about it after the plot in "New Earth" is over. In a meta-sense, this might be the whole point behind Cassandra's character. There needs to be an obvious interest between Rose and the Doctor in the series, but it would be out of character for Rose to act in such a provocative way towards him. That's where Cassandra comes in and why she is such a convenient, poshy Foil to Rose. While it wouldn't be normal for Rose to behave in such a fashion, Cassandra herself has no problem with that. So once you throw Cassandra into the mix, we see the normal, caring, friendly and shy Rose turn into an aloof, haughty and sultry version of herself, allowing her to indirectly show feminine traits that she herself lacks or rarely shows. (See also Light Feminine and Dark Feminine above)
• Showing Off the New Body: She does this to both Rose and the Doctor and enjoys every moment of it.
• The Social Darwinist: Cassandra is one of the most pretentious and elitist characters, with her looking down on hybrid humans and despising people for their lack of wealth. While her eugenicist views were left ambiguous in "The End of The World", by the time of "New Earth" and her possession of Rose and acceptance of her as a worthy "Pure-Blood" Cassandra is portrayed as something akin to a capitalist, white supremacist. Unlike most examples Cassandra still values loyalty and can even be nice to the people that submit to her power regardless of looks.
• Token Evil Teammate: Although for a short while, she was one of the Doctor's companions, even after he finds out her ruse. She is one of the few to show romantic interest with him and actually kissing him as well. Her actions help move Rose's and Ten's relationship forward as well.
• Took a Level in Kindness: At the end of her story, after realizing her cynicism wasn't justified, she starts acting a whole lot nicer and ironically seems to like caring for others and starts acting like a Proper Lady.
• Stalker with a Crush: Cassandra spends a large part of "New Earth" possessing different people but targets Rose the most in particular because she is the only other pure-blooded human by Cassandra's standards. She also has strong, contradictory feelings towards her host and often gets drunk on her new appearance when inside her.
• Stable Time Loop: During "New Earth" she offhandedly mentions remembering the last time someone called her beautiful. That person was herself, in the dying body of her servant, Chip.
• Supermodel Strut: She tends to do this in order to enjoy and take advantage of Rose's sexuality. The results vary: The Doctor himself is too distracted with the miracle cures of the hospital and trying to solve the mystery of it like to pay attention to Cassandra's attempts at seducing him. But he does gets distracted by "Rose's" exposed chest, which Cassandra takes advantage of in order to kiss him in a frenzy. Since such behaviour is out of character for Rose, Cassandra's movements are emphasized by Billie Piper in order to reflect her haughtyness and how she is willing to exploit her femininity.
• Take That!: Cassandra is basically a deconstruction and parody of the attitude of popular celebrities obsessed with looks, British ideas of beauty and of people who hate change because of their own sense of pride.
• The Tease: The way she gained her fortune. In a bit of a subversion, she actually gets away with giving the Doctor a passionate kiss and fools him into thinking that Rose is just trying out a new persona until her later Lack of Empathy blows her cover.
• Thrill Seeker: Cassandra is portrayed as something akin to an adrenaline-junkie in "New Earth," with her choosing to work with the Doctor despite the risk of being exposed, she can be seen smirking with excitement when she finds the secret room of the nuns and she seems to enjoy her role as the Doctor's companion as well, not bothering to reveal her facade until her cover is blown.
• The Unfettered: Nothing will stop her from living on as a "pure" human. If she has to take people's lives then so be it, because they aren't even human to her either way. This pushes the Ninth Doctor to his limits and makes him decide that her time is up.
• The Vamp: She had this lifestyle when she was younger and had a body of her own, with some of her lovers meeting gruesome and mysterious ends. After possessing Rose, she basically becomes Rose's Dark Feminine. While Rose is usually caring, friendly and shy about her feelings, after being possessed by Cassandra she comes out as aloof, haughty, sultry and with a more straightforward and honest personality.
• Vain Sorceress: Cassandra is a Sci-Fi Counterpart. Her knowledge of technology can be seen as a parallel to her dwelling in dark magic, she has her own "Crystal Ball", and she is obsessed with beauty and body purity (causing her to get fixated on Rose), so Cassandra is a mix of this and The Social Darwinist.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: When she possesses Rose, Cassandra hides a sleeping gas container between her new bouncy castle's assets in this fashion.
• Villain No Longer Idle: She was suspicious about the cat-nuns but couldn't do anything about it because of her condition. Once she snatches the body of Rose, this plays in full effect. The results vary: she manages to steal Rose's body, significantly extending her lifespan, and manages to capture the Doctor as well, having a good plan to blackmail the cat-nuns into giving her a fortune too. However, the cat-nuns aren't intimidated that easily and her plot fails. She may have succeeded if she had the manpower she had back in "The End of the World", but since she is now a young and vulgar chav, well...
• Villainous BSoD: Cassandra suffers a massive one after briefly possessing one of the Flesh, to the point that it triggers her empathy again and she starts feeling truly sorry for them. It's to the point that watching the Doctor risk his life to save them makes her realize that she was wrong about her cynical behaviour, and that the Doctor and Rose were right about change being a natural process. Cassandra even briefly seems to go back to her old self, being happy that the Flesh were cured from their sickness and starts acting in a more benevolent way towards Rose and the Doctor.
• Villainous Crush: Not out of her own free will, but since she gained some of Rose's Character Tics as a side effect of the psychograft causing her mind to merge with Rose, she gains Rose's crush towards the Doctor, to the point that she gives him a passionate kiss shortly after meeting up with him. She also seems to develop a grudging crush towards her new (Rose's) self-image, probably due to the insane depths of narcissism she has fallen into.
• Villain Protagonist: She is basically this in "New Earth". The Doctor himself provides the final solution to the plot while Rose herself is barely present and is only there as Cassandra's host. Basically, the episode gives much more of her background in order to explain her villainous traits and she gets the most character development. Despite following her own evil plan and nearly succeeding, Cassandra's role as an antagonist still gets less relevance compared to the cat nuns. She is the Nominal Hero of the story, ending up curing the Flesh from their problems, and her story arc ends with her accepting them as her "children" of sorts before deciding to accept her death for good, which is an excellent contrast to her previous unethical ways of clinging to life. Cassandra instead decides to move on after passing on a part of herself to the future, which is a much more "humane" way of coming to terms with death itself. It fits with the themes of the episode about what it means to be human and how she's gained that value back through her journey.
• Villain Respect: Towards the Doctor and his intellect, to the point that she refuses to work alone when Chip tells her he is too dangerous, this is because Cassandra herself is proud of her own intellect and has to admit the Doctor bested her last time, thinking they have a better chance of finding the secrets of the cat nuns together. In a similar fashion, she develops a bitter admiration towards Rose's beauty, conceding that she is surprisingly pretty for being a lower-class young girl. Despite the fact that Cassandra is angsty about it at first, she starts seeing Rose as a decent pure-blooded host, at least until she can improve her looks through plastic surgery or find someone more sophisticated.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Her status as "the last human". is respected to the point of giving her a victim reputation, allowing her to get away with some of her crimes. Cassandra herself is very charismatic and as demonstrated in "New Earth," she was even better at manipulating people when she was younger and had an attractive body. Some of her followers even see her as a divine figure.
• Wicked Cultured: Cassandra is basically a treasure collector, and she will let you know it. Being the upper-class lady that she is, she enjoys habits of all kinds, has technological knowledge on par with the Doctor and her detective skills are on par with or may even surpass Rose's.
• Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: She does this twice. First in "The End Of The World," when she pretends she is not related to the Platform One crisis and later in a more literal fashion in "New Earth," when she possesses Rose. It's fitting that Cassandra provides a Trojan Horse both times she shows up, considering her name.
• Worthy Opponent:
  • She respects the Doctor and his intellect to the point that she goes out of her way to work with him instead of alone and makes sure to give him a kiss with the love of his life before trying to get rid of him.
  • She sees Rose as this when it comes to embodying beauty and race. It's the reason why she chooses her as her new flesh.
• Yandere: Cassandra may even qualify pre-main-story-wise, depending on how much she truly liked her lovers before killing them. She does have many of the characteristics in "New Earth" after snatching the body of Rose, since while a part of her is hopelessly lovestruck with the Doctor, the other part wants to kill him nastily. She is also more beautiful and haughty than "cute".