Tomb of Valdemar (novel)


 * You may be looking for the titular tomb.

 was the twenty-ninth BBC Past Doctor Adventures novel. It featured the Fourth Doctor and Romana I. This is first and,, only full length novel to feature the Fourth Doctor and Romana I. PROSE: The Shadow of Weng-Chiang featured a similar line up, but also included K9.

Publisher's summary
''Millennia ago, the great god Valdemar held sway over the universe. Somehow the Old Ones defeated this dark presence and entombed him beneath the acid skies of Ashkellia, before disappearing themselves forever.''

Over the centuries, the myths of Valdemar grow, crossing solar systems and races. A novelist, Miranda Pelham, pieces together the Dark God's story. Unfortunately for her, revolution and the rise of a New Protectorate force her to strike an agreement with the decadent necromancer Paul Neville to find the lost Ashkellia.

The Doctor and Romana, despite their best efforts, become embroiled in the complex conspiracies and attempts to re-discover Valdemar. High in the boiling sulphuric acid clouds, in the Palace of the Old Ones, a place where reality and dreams collide, the way is being prepared for the resurrection of the Dark One.

The Doctor faces an agonising choice: should he continue with his quest to gather the segments of the Key to Time, or prevent the rebirth of a being so powerful that its release will alter the entire fabric of the universe?

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * Romana I
 * Miranda Pelham
 * Paul Neville
 * Erik
 * Kampp
 * Robert Hopkins
 * The Chief
 * Huvan
 * Stanislaus
 * Redfearn

Gallifreyan history

 * Whilst at the Academy, the Doctor and the Master travelled back in time into Gallifreyan history, in search of Valdemar.

Gallifreyan organisations

 * The Dimensional Ethics Committee forbids research into the higher dimensions.

Individuals

 * The Brigadier is mentioned.
 * The Doctor mentions Sutekh whilst trying to pesuade Huvan to give up his powers.

Songs

 * The Fourth Doctor and Romana argue over the song "Ppiffer's Second Ode to the Cepholan Whale".

Continuity

 * The Doctor mentions the creation of the Daleks (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) and his trips to Peladon. (TV: The Curse of Peladon, AUDIO: The Prisoner of Peladon, TV: The Monster of Peladon)
 * Romana I remembers the Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey. (TV: The Invasion of Time)
 * Romana recalls the Doctor's involvement in the return of Omega. (TV: The Three Doctors)
 * At the start of the novel K9 is affected by the higher dimensions and left in the TARDIS, much as he is in TV: Destiny of the Daleks.
 * Huvan writes an eighty-page love poem that begins with the line, "Long ago when love was real..." Paul Cornell used this line on the first page of PROSE: Love and War.

Reprint
In July 2013, BBC Books reprinted the novel for inclusion in The Fourth Doctor Time Capsule, a box set of various items relating to the Tom Baker era. The box set (and the novel reprint) was a UK-exclusive release, limited to 5,000 copies.