Bellal

Bellal was an Exxilon and leading figure among the Subterranean Exxilons. Following the Exxilon Gambit, he was elected leader of his people.

Biography
Residing with his people, the Subterranean Exxilons, (PROSE: Death to the Daleks) in the tunnels deep below Exxilon's surface, Bellal and his followers were exiles from the once-powerful Exxilon civilisation. They broke away after refusing to worship the Great City, which degenerated the Exxilon race to fear and supersition. Bellal watched as food become scarcer and his people died around him. He hoped to one day destroy the Great City, often venturing close to read the symbols outside its entrance with the aim of deciphering them, without success.

When competing space-faring powers came to Exxilon in search of parrinium, Bellal befriended the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith when they fled sacrifice and execution by the Exxilon High Priest's followers. Bellal told them about his kind and joined the Doctor in a bid to enter and destroy the Great City. As the Doctor solved each of the City's tests, Bellal's mind was temporarily taken over by the structure and almost made to shoot the Doctor but he resisted. After the pair survived an assault on their senses, they reached the control room and tampered with the brain of the City. They fled as the City went haywire and watched its destruction caused by both themselves and the Daleks. They also witnessed the subsequent destruction of the ship by Dan Galloway. (TV: Death to the Daleks)

In the many years following these events, known as the Exxilon Gambit, (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters) Earth established closer ties with Exxilon to secure more parrinium and helped rebuilt their society into a democracy. Bellal was elected leader and worked to reunite his people. His opponents, chief among them Gislen, were suspicious of Earth and believed their intentions selfish. Bellal understood but also saw that the education, new technology and means of farming introduced by Earth were advantageous to Exxilon.

Bellal arrived to address the crisis on Exxilon when the city's beacon was mysteriously rebuilt. There, he was reunited with the Doctor in his fourth incarnation, alongside Leela. Bellal did not recognise him and remained unsure if it was the same man, though he could sense the individual was good. When Gislen held the Doctor and Leela hostage, Bellal appealed for Captain Bernard of the Marine Space Corps to spare the travellers. Unable to confirm their identity, however, he had trouble convincing the captain, though Mark Seven defused the situation by disarming Gislen. (AUDIO: The Dalek Protocol)

Appearance
Bellal was small, grey and hairless and had small ears and big eyes. His face was a dull, "faintly luminous" white and he wore a tattered greenish cloak which appeared at first to be his skin and served as camouflage. He moved like a lizard. (PROSE: Death to the Daleks)

Behind the scenes

 * Nicholas Briggs, an avowed Death to the Daleks fan, said it was "a dream come true" to be able to voice Bellal in The Dalek Protocol. He called Bellal "the lovely little Exxilon who everyone thinks should have been a companion of the Doctor's". (BFX: The Dalek Protocol)
 * The Secret Lives of Monsters places the Exxilon Gambit during the Third Dalek War, roughly indicating that Bellal is a native of the 27th century. The Dalek Protocol, however, places the Gambit around the era of The Daleks' Master Plan, which would make Bellal a native of the 41st century.
 * The novelisation of Death to the Daleks described Bellal as wearing a greenish cloak, which is not present in the televised version. However, he is depicted as wearing such as cloak on the cover of The Dalek Protocol.