Other Appearances
In the spin-off novel War of the Daleks by John Peel, it was revealed that the planet Antalin had been destroyed in Skaro's place. The canonicity of the novels, as with all spin-off media, is open to interpretation.
The Virgin New Adventures novel Lungbarrow by Marc Platt provides some additional history on the Hand during the early years of its creation on Gallifrey. The Hand was hidden by Rassilon, but escaped just before the Doctor left Gallifrey. The ancient alarms left by Rassilon were not known and could not be shut off, leaving the Hand to lurk around the Doctor's rooms.
In the BBC Books novel The Eight Doctors by Terrance Dicks it is revealed that there were two Hands, both used by Omega. The Hand also appears in The Infinity Doctors by Lance Parkin.
The origins of the Hand are further explored in Omega, a Big Finish Productions audio drama. There it is stated that the Hand was literally a hand placed in the Stellar Manipulator: that of Vandekirian, Omega's treacherous associate. The name "Hand of Omega" was chosen by Rassilon for political reasons. However, aside from the canonicity issues, the story is told largely from the point of view of an insane Omega with confused memories, as well as trying to make a point about the malleability of written history. This ultimately makes the accuracy of the information uncertain.
Read more about this topic: Hand Of Omega
Famous quotes containing the word appearances:
“Truth has scarce done so much good in the world as the false appearances of it have done hurt.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“What I often forget about students, especially undergraduates, is that surface appearances are misleading. Most of them are at base as conventional as Presbyterian deacons.”
—Muriel Beadle (b. 1915)