Theory:Timeline - Emperor Dalek

This page lists the appearances of various Emperor Daleks in chronological order. This timeline is based upon observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events that occur during each of these stories.

Early Skaro era

 * COMIC: Genesis of Evil
 * The Daleks evolve from humanoids, as described in The Daleks. The first Dalek declares himself the Dalek Emperor.


 * COMIC: Power Play
 * The Daleks gain space travel.


 * COMIC: Duel of the Daleks
 * COMIC: The Amaryll Challenge
 * COMIC: The Penta Ray Factor
 * COMIC: Plague of Death
 * COMIC: The Menace of the Monstrons
 * COMIC: Eve of War
 * COMIC: The Rogue Planet
 * COMIC: Impasse
 * COMIC: The Terrorkon Harvest
 * COMIC: Legacy of Yesteryear
 * Centuries after Genesis of Evil.


 * COMIC: Shadow of Humanity
 * COMIC: The Emissaries of Jevo
 * COMIC: The Road to Conflict
 * The Daleks elect to search for Earth.


 * PROSE: Doctor Who and the Daleks
 * The Daleks do not yet have time travel. They are ruled by the Golden Emperor. They have conflict with humanity, which is not confined to Earth. Therefore this has been placed during the First Dalek War, before the invasion of Earth.


 * COMIC: Return of the Elders
 * The Daleks' invasion is initially repelled, but they vow to return.


 * COMIC: Invasion of the Daleks
 * Dalek War Machines, led by the Golden Emperor, invade Earth's solar system in the year 2400, beginning with the conquest of Venus. (PROSE: Break-through)


 * COMIC: Battle for the Moon
 * While the Golden Emperor ostensibly negotiates peace terms, Daleks based on the Moon attempt to destroy Earth but are thwarted.


 * COMIC: City of the Daleks
 * COMIC: The Mechanical Planet
 * After two centuries of peace, the Golden Emperor forces Earth to return the Daleks' confiscated weaponry so they can stop a rogue planet, which is later traced to the Mechonoids. (COMIC: The World That Waits) He then vows to conquer Earth and the other planets.


 * COMIC: The Secret of the Emperor
 * The first Emperor upgrades himself to a new, giant casing.


 * PROSE: The Dalek Factor
 * The Dalek Emperor matches the description of the one from Evil and is referred to as "an Emperor", suggesting that there is more than one. All three editions of aHistory date this story to circa 3340, as Thal Search and Destroy missions have been underway for eight centuries, and Planet of the Daleks is set in 2540.


 * TV: The Evil of the Daleks / PROSE: The Evil of the Daleks
 * The Dalek Emperor is caught up in the Great Civil War.
 * At the conclusion of the Civil War, the Dalek Emperor has a brief encounter with a time-jumping Bernice Summerfield. (AUDIO: The Lights of Skaro)


 * COMIC: Bringer of Darkness (mentioned only)
 * Set an unspecified amount of time after Evil. The Second Doctor discovers the Daleks did not meet their final end and the Emperor rules the Daleks again.

Reformed Empire

 * AUDIO: The Dalek Conquests
 * The Dalek Emperor oversees the planning for Operation Divide and Conquer, leading to the Second Dalek War in the 26th century.


 * AUDIO: The Ultimate Adventure
 * The Daleks, led by the Dalek Emperor, ally with the Cybermen in a gambit to destroy the Earth in 1988 by sabotaging a peace conference. This plot is thwarted by the Sixth Doctor.


 * AUDIO: We Are The Daleks
 * The Daleks do not recognise the Seventh Doctor. Although there are are Imperial Daleks on the cover, the Emperor is not Davros and appears to be the one from Evil of the Daleks.

Davros's day

 * GAME: Dalek Attack
 * Davros, operating alongside a golden Dalek Emperor, leads an invasion of Earth in the year 2254, which is thwarted by the Seventh Doctor and Ace. He appears with an organic hand, placing this before Revelation of the Daleks. Davros has stolen a Time Ring, which he has possibly used to travel to an earlier period of Dalek history. As such, the Time Lords personally intervene to stop him.


 * AUDIO: The Curse of Davros
 * Davros is leading a force of Imperial Daleks. His skirt matches that of a Dalek. He has not adapted to his Emperor casing. These Daleks lose their memories at the end of this story, perhaps explaining why Davros is on trial in the next story.


 * COMIC: Nemesis of the Daleks
 * Set in the 26th century. A Dalek Emperor rules the Daleks of the Death Wheel. This Emperor is the same one that puts Davros on trial in Emperor of the Daleks.


 * COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!
 * The Golden Emperor is seemingly destroyed by Daleks loyal to Davros, who becomes the new Emperor on Skaro while the Renegade Daleks are left scrambling under the Black Dalek. Davros upgrades to a new casing.


 * Alternatively:


 * AUDIO: The Davros Mission
 * The Golden Emperor is already missing from Skaro; the Dalek Supreme intends to become the new Emperor in its absence, but Davros usurps him. He upgrades to a new casing.


 * TV: Remembrance of the Daleks / PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks


 * Davros, in his new sphere-headed casing, is the Emperor Dalek and leader of the Imperial Daleks during the civil war against the Renegade Daleks. He ends up escaping the destruction of his fleet in a pod.


 * AUDIO: Terror Firma
 * Davros's escape pod enters the time vortex after the explosion of his mothership but his memory is unstable so his memories are probably scrambled, allowing him to forget the previous two stories. He believes Skaro has been destroyed and his personality is subsumed by that of the Dalek Emperor.


 * TV: Doctor Who / PROSE: The Novel of the Film
 * On Skaro, the Dalek Emperor presides over the Master's trial, which ends in his extermination, and allows the Seventh Doctor to take his remains to Gallifrey.

Dalek Prime ascendant

 * PROSE: War of the Daleks
 * As the Eighth Doctor discovers, following the close of the Civil War, the Dalek Prime returned from hiding as the true leader and Emperor of the Renegade Daleks. Although some genetically-Renegade Daleks are still favourable to Davros, the Prime weeds them out over the course of the story. He is once again in a golden dome-headed casing.


 * AUDIO: The Genocide Machine
 * The Emperor, depicted with a golden dome-headed casing in an early cover, is in charge of Skaro. He has a Dalek Supreme as a second-in-command, but it is no longer the Black Dalek, since the Emperor considers him disposable enough to order it to self-destruct following its failure, thus placing this after Remembrance of the Daleks.


 * AUDIO: The Mutant Phase
 * The Daleks are ruled by a Dalek Emperor - depicted in a similar look to the one from the Genocide Machine.


 * AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks
 * The Daleks now have their own equivalent of the Eye of Harmony.
 * In an alternate timeline, the Emperor is erased along with the entire Dalek race by Imperiatrix Romana II. (AUDIO: Neverland)


 * AUDIO: Invasion of the Daleks
 * The Emperor has again appointed a single Supreme Dalek as second-in-command.


 * AUDIO: The Human Factor


 * AUDIO: "Death to the Daleks!"
 * AUDIO: The Fearless: Part 3
 * AUDIO: The Fearless: Part 4
 * The Fearless takes place in the years-gap during ”Death to the Daleks!”


 * AUDIO: Project Infinity


 * AUDIO: Dalek War: Chapter Two
 * The Emperor has transferred his mind into Susan Mendes to escape the Alliance Daleks, comparable to what he previously did with Barran in The Mutant Phase.


 * AUDIO: Dalek War: Chapter Three


 * AUDIO: Dalek War: Chapter Four
 * The Emperor is killed in the Great Catastrophe.

Restoration Empire

 * PROSE: The Restoration Empire
 * After the Emperor Davros is lost, one of the surviving Imperial Daleks' Supremes becomes the new Emperor and retakes Skaro.


 * PROSE: The Last Message
 * The Emperor decides to invade the Archive of Islos.


 * The Archive of Islos
 * The Emperor leads the Daleks to the Archive of Islos but they are attacked by the Entity.


 * The Sentinel of the Fifth Galaxy
 * The Daleks are on the run from the Entity.


 * Planet of the Mechanoids
 * The Emperor seeks the Mechanoids’ aid against the Entity.


 * The Deadly Ally
 * Immediately After Planet. The Entity is defeated and the Mechanoid Queen swears vengeance against the Daleks.


 * Day of Reckoning
 * The Emperor returns to Skaro. The Mechonoids are defeated, however the Entity teases the Daleks about a looming threat, alluding to the Hond.


 * COMIC: Defender of the Daleks
 * With their later history erased by the fallback of the Kotturuh crisis, the Restoration Empire Daleks become concurrent with the Tenth Doctor in a "paradox". He helps them defeat the Hond before cripping their military resources.


 * PROSE: Mission to the Known
 * PROSE: All Flesh is Grass
 * The Emperor’s recording for the Dalek Time Commander and Dalek Executioner. These two stories depict the same recording, but in varying degrees of detail.

Pre-Time War

 * PROSE: Birth of a Legend
 * In anticipation of the Last Great Time War, the Emperor forms the Cult of Skaro. (This is the same Emperor as in The Parting of the Ways, and thus may be either the Dalek Prime or the Emperor of the Restoration, depending on who the Dalek Emperor in the Last Great Time War was.)

Last Great Time War

 * AUDIO: Restoration of the Daleks
 * The Dalek Prime is brought back to life by the Dalek Time Strategist and takes back control of the Dalek Empire, intent on leading them as "a God" throughout the rest of the War.


 * AUDIO: Desperate Measures
 * Set early in the Time War.


 * PROSE: Engines of War
 * Set towards the end of the Time War.

Post-Time War

 * TV: The Parting of the Ways
 * Having survived the Time War aboard his ship, the Emperor from the War invades Earth in the year 200,100 only to be destroyed by the Bad Wolf.


 * GAME: City of the Daleks
 * Following the establishment of the New Dalek Paradigm, the Daleks create a new Emperor Daleks from the shell of the old Emperor within the city of Kaalann. This Emperor ceases to exist after the Eleventh Doctor restores history.


 * GAME: The Eternity Clock
 * A new Dalek Emperor takes control of Earth in an alternate 2106 before being defeated by the Doctor.

Unplaced

 * PROSE: The Emperor Dalek's New Clothes