Emperor's Personal Guard

The Emperor's Personal Guard, (AUDIO: Order of the Daleks) also known as the Imperial Guard Daleks (PROSE: Birth of a Legend) or Elite Guard Daleks, (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks) was a Dalek organisation made up of Daleks dedicated to protecting the Emperor Dalek and other high-ranking Daleks at all costs.

Characteristics
Initially, the Imperial Guard of the Golden Emperor, the first Dalek Emperor, were indistinguishable from Dalek drones. (COMIC: Plague of Death, COMIC: Genesis of Evil) Later, however, Imperial Guard Daleks were generally distinguished by black domes atop standard Dalek casings, with the Second Doctor referring to them as "Black Daleks". (TV: The Evil of the Daleks) In addition, they sometimes possessed claw manipulator arms instead of the standard suction arm or more powerful gunsticks opposite the standard. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)

Pre-Time War
During the rust plague outbreak, the Golden Emperor's Guards chased away the Black Dalek Leader so that the Emperor was not infected. (COMIC: Plague of Death)

Daleks with dark domes and no slats were in the execution party that chased the Doctor's TARDIS through eternity in a Dalek time machine. They were destroyed with the rest of the Daleks in the battle with the Mechanoids in the city when they landed on the planet Mechanus. (TV: The Chase)

The Emperor was always guarded by the personal guard in its throne room on Skaro. Their dedication to protecting the Emperor may have superseded their obedience, as they protected the Emperor from the attacking Humanised Daleks despite its commands to keep the fighting out of the room. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks) They were supported by Black Daleks and successfully crushed the rebellion, saving the Dalek race from destruction in the Great War. (PROSE: The Evil of the Daleks, COMIC: Bringer of Darkness, Children of the Revolution, TV: Day of the Daleks)

Still seeking to subvert human history, one of the Emperor's Guard led a group of Silver Daleks to Ancient Rome to try and take control of Caesar Caligula only for him to adversely respond to the Dalek machinery, the Guard ordering its troops back to Skaro. (COMIC: Empire of the Daleks)

As well as the Emperor, Dalek X, the Dalek Inquisitor General, also had command of two black-domed Elite Guard Daleks, during the Second Dalek War. They had two gunsticks and were destroyed at the end of the war when the Tenth Doctor blew up a disused refuelling station on the planet Hurala, taking Dalek X's Exterminator with it. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks)

Daleks launched an attack on the Axis to conquer alternative Gallifreys and their secrets. The Supreme Dalek coordinating the operation had a black dome and sense globes. (AUDIO: Extermination)

In 2254, when Davros and a heavily-armed Dalek Emperor presided over Skaro together, the Emperor's guard comprised two of the tank-like redesigned Daleks also encountered patrolling other areas of the Dalek City by the Seventh Doctor. They were both destroyed alongside the Emperor in an explosion caused by the Doctor with the sonic screwdriver before Davros was captured by the Time Lords for having stolen a Time Ring and frozen in time. (GAME: Dalek Attack)

An elite Dalek squad that was part of the Emperor's Personal Guard participated in the Dalek invasion of Kantra. Their ship was damaged and the drive gave out while returning to Skaro, causing them to crash on Strellin. Only five, including the commanding Black Dalek, survived and were taken in by Monks of the Brotherhood of the Black Petal who built them new stained-glass casings. The Sixth Doctor helped put an end to their efforts to merge their minds with those of other beings in symbiosis. (AUDIO: Order of the Daleks)

Following the extermination of the Mechanoids, an Imperial Guard Dalek led the Dalek Commander of the Seventh Incursion Squad who saw to the extermination, to be named Dalek Sec, to the centre of the throne room within the Dalek City on Skaro, where he met three fellow bronze Daleks and the Dalek Emperor. The Imperial Guards withdrew into the shadows as the Emperor, in anticipation of the Time War, assembled the four Daleks into the Cult of Skaro. The Imperial Guards then led the Cult into the Weapons Factory where they would be fitted with the latest armour and weaponry. (PROSE: Birth of a Legend)

Post-Time War
During the Last Great Time War, the guards possessed a claw-like manipulator arm and some had a more powerful gunstick opposite the standard model. The Emperor Dalek had four guards after surviving the Time War but were wiped out by the Bad Wolf in the year 200,100. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)

A squadron of these Daleks were also present during the Dalek Invasion of Earth of 2009. They were presumably destroyed when the Crucible blew up. (TV: The Stolen Earth / Journey's End)

The guards were used by the second Emperor of the New Dalek Paradigm. At least one guard was present on the Dalek Flagship when the Daleks invaded Earth in 2106 using a piece of the Eternity Clock, but did not help the Emperor battle the Eleventh Doctor and River Song. This guard had red armour like the Dalek drones of the Empire, with a black dome. (GAME: The Eternity Clock)

One of these Daleks was present in the Dalek Asylum. Because of the nano cloud affecting Amy Pond's mind, she believed the insane Dalek was a dancing person. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)

A black-domed Dalek was among the many types of Daleks inside the Dalek City at the time of the Twelfth Doctor's visit. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice / The Witch's Familiar)

Potential origin
Three Dalek props from TV: The Chase were borrowed from Dr. Who and the Daleks the 1965 film retelling of TV: The Daleks starring Peter Cushing. As the serial is black and white, their true colour is unknown. Character Options' "Sound FX Guard Dalek" statue has its dome coloured blue and the bands around its midsection gold, reminiscent of the standard Daleks from the film.

Naming
In The Evil of the Daleks, the black-domed Daleks were identified as "Black Daleks" by the Second Doctor. Indeed, they are addressed as "Black Dalek Leaders" by the Emperor.

The short story Birth of a Legend identified the Emperor's black-domed guards as "Imperial Guard Daleks". The novel Prisoner of the Daleks, which established that not all black-domed Daleks were attached to the Emperor, used the term "Elite Guard Dalek". The term "Emperor's Personal Guard" was used in the audio story Order of the Daleks.

Invalid sources

 * According to the non-narrative source REF: Aliens and Enemies, the Personal Guard also made up the High Council of Daleks, of which the Dalek Supreme was also a member.

Merchandise

 * Daleks with black domes are often seen taking part in battles and conflicts depicted in the Dalek Wars section of Doctor Who: Battles in Time magazines, as a result of promotional images of the black-domed Daleks being inserted into the scenery of the battles.
 * Dalek Sec's three subordinates, Thay, Jast and Caan, are erroneously depicted as black-domed Daleks on the "Cult of Skaro" card.
 * Black-domed Daleks appear on the cover of the novelisation of The Evil of the Daleks, as well as some of the covers for Big Finish Dalek stories, including The Apocalypse Element and all six instalments of Dalek Empire III.