Self-sacrifice was the giving up of one's own life to benefit others. In this way it differed from suicide.
The Eighth Doctor believed that his life was the only one he had the right to sacrifice. Though he would not sacrifice his fellow passengers on the rocket from Deimos to ensure the survival of a greater number in peril on Mars, he was willing to put his own life on the line. (AUDIO: The Resurrection of Mars [+]Jonathan Morris, Eighth Doctor Adventures (Big Finish Productions, 2010).)
Daleks believed that self-sacrifice was impossible because it was not logical. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979).) Despite this, Daleks often sacrificed themselves for the cause of conquest. (COMIC: The Amaryll Challenge [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965)., The Menace of the Monstrons [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965)., PROSE: Mission to Galacton [+]Justin Richards, Doctor Who Files (2006).)
In the early days of Skaro, the humanoid Dalek Lodian sacrificed himself by by blowing up his ship in order to kill Zet before he could tell the new Daleks the location of Earth. (COMIC: Legacy of Yesteryear [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1966).)
In 1870, Kahler-Jex sacrificed himself in order to prevent Kahler-Tek from killing any more people or races who would get caught in the crossfire of Tek's hunt for Jex if Jex were to escape to another world. (TV: A Town Called Mercy [+]Toby Whithouse, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012).)
In 1879, Sir Robert MacLeish sacrificed himself to hold off a Lupine Wavelength Haemovariform in order to buy the Tenth Doctor the time he needed to activate the light chamber to kill the werewolf and save Queen Victoria. (TV: Tooth and Claw [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 2 (BBC One, 2006).)
Some time around 1981, Shardovan sacrificed himself by destroying the Hadron web imprisoning Adric, thus causing Castrovalva to be destroyed as Adric's Block Transfer Computation could no longer sustain it. (TV: Castrovalva [+]Christopher H. Bidmead, Doctor Who season 19 (BBC1, 1982).)
In 2007, Ursula Blake, Colin Skinner, Bridget Sinclair and Bliss, having access to the Abzorbaloff's thoughts after being absorbed by him, strained against his flesh, causing him to drop his cane. On Ursula's instruction, Elton Pope broke the cane, causing the Abzorbaloff to himself be absorbed by the Earth, dissolving along with his victims. Soon after, however, Ursula was partially restored by the Tenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver. (TV: Love & Monsters [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 2 (BBC One, 2006).)
During the ATMOS Stratagem of the 2000s,[nb 1] the Tenth Doctor threatened to ignite an atmospheric converter aboard the Sontaran flagship. However, his place was taken via teleport by Luke Rattigan, who ignited the device himself, destroying the ship with himself onboard. (TV: The Poison Sky [+]Helen Raynor, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).)
During the Planetary Relocation Incident, Harriet Jones purposefully opened the Sub-Wave Network to maximum in order to lead the Doctor to Earth. Fully aware that this would make her visible to the Daleks, Harriet faced them as they invaded her home, accepting her death by their hand. (TV: The Stolen Earth [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) Soon after, Rose Tyler informed the Doctor of Harriet's fate. Recalling "the Earth woman who fell opening the Sub-Wave Network", Davros rhetorically asked the Doctor "how many have died in your name?" (TV: Journey's End [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).)
A Donna Noble from a parallel world sacrificed herself by walking in front of a lorry to create a traffic jam that would force her past self to reconsider the decision that would led to the death of the Tenth Doctor in the parallel world. (TV: Turn Left [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).)
The Tenth Doctor took Wilfred Mott's place in a glass booth where he received a fatal dose of radiation which ultimately resulted in his regeneration into the Eleventh Doctor. (TV: The End of Time [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009 and New Year Special 2010 (BBC One, 2009-2010).) In an alternate timeline, however, he decided against self-sacrifice and so left Wilf to die. (COMIC: Four Doctors [+]Paul Cornell, Titan summer events (Titan Comics, 2015).)
In 2010, Fanson intervened in an attempt by the Skith General to kill Majenta Pryce, resulting in his death when he took several ice shards to the chest. (COMIC: The Age of Ice [+]Dan McDaid, DWM Comics (Panini Comics, 2009).)
In 2020, Rory Williams took a blast from a sonic disc fired at the Eleventh Doctor by Restac. (TV: Cold Blood [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010).)
In 2050, K9 Mark I, after ensuring that Alistair Gryffen, Jorjie Turner and Starkey left the area, initiated self-destruct to stop four Jixen warriors within Gryffen Manor. Soon after, his regeneration unit regenerated him into the form of K9 Mark 2. (TV: Regeneration [+]Shayne Armstrong and S.P. Krause, K9 series 1 (2009).) As Starkey would later recall, "he gave his life... his previous life to save us." (TV: The Bounty Hunter [+]Ian McFadyen, K9 series 1 (2010).)
In 2059, Adelaide Brooke sacrificed herself to restore the timeline after the Tenth Doctor altered it to save the crew of Bowie Base One. (TV: The Waters of Mars [+]Russell T Davies and Phil Ford, Doctor Who Autumn Special 2009 (BBC One, 2009).)
On Midnight, a Crusader 50 hostess sacrificed herself to save her passengers from the Midnight entity by throwing herself and the entity's host out the shuttle bus doors onto the surface of Midnight, exposing them both to the extreme X-tonic radiation outside. (TV: Midnight [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).)
In an undated timeline, Vilma sacrificed herself by running towards a pack of Dregs and making loud noises, luring the Dregs away from her fellow Tranquility Spa guests. (TV: Orphan 55 [+]Ed Hime, Doctor Who series 12 (BBC One, 2020).)
In the 42nd century, Kath McDonnell sacrificed herself by jumping out of the airlock of the SS Pentallian, dragging her possessed husband with her, in order to save the ship's crew from the revenge-seeking, sentient Torajii star. (TV: 42 [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).)
In the 51st century, the Tenth Doctor was prepared to hook himself up to the computer of the Library in order to free the people within, which have killed him beyond regeneration. However, his place was taken by River Song, who knew the Doctor in his future. Thanks to a neural relay provided by the future Doctor, River lived on within the Data Core. (TV: Forest of the Dead [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).)
In 6012, Jenny took an apparently fatal gunshot wound intended for the Tenth Doctor by General Cobb. (TV: The Doctor's Daughter [+]Stephen Greenhorn, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).)
In 16087, Lazar knowingly launched a cargo ship from the Nerva Beacon without deploying the stabilisers, causing it to explode and kill him along with the Wirrn swarm that had been terrorising Nerva. (TV: The Ark in Space [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975).)
In 200,100, the Controller of the Game Station attempted to give the Ninth Doctor coordinates to the Dalek Fleet, knowing that the Daleks would be able to hear her without the protection of the solar flare. As a result, she was transmated to the Dalek Flagship, where she was exterminated. (TV: Bad Wolf [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).) Later, after Rose Tyler absorbed vortex energy from the heart of the TARDIS, the Doctor in turn absorbed the energy from her via a kiss in order to save her life. As a result, he regenerated into the Tenth Doctor. (TV: The Parting of the Ways [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).)
In 200,101, Jack Harkness interacted with live cables in order to land Trear Station safely to Earth. Awaking, as yet unaware that he was now immortal, Jack reasoned that the universe liked him. (AUDIO: The Year After I Died [+]Guy Adams, The Lives of Captain Jack (The Lives of Captain Jack, Big Finish Productions, 2017).)
In 5,000,000,000, Jabe sacrificed her life by holding down the switch that allowed the Doctor to pass through the air conditioning fans and reactivate the Platform One's shields, protecting it from Earth Death. She burnt to death under the immense heat that came through. (TV: The End of the World [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).)
In 5,000,000,053, the Face of Boe sacrificed his life to help the Tenth Doctor to release those trapped in the Motorway beneath New New York. (TV: Gridlock [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).)
In the "very far future", Ko Sharmus sacrificed his life to destroy the CyberMasters. Although one of them managed to shoot him, Sharmus used his dying breath to activate the death particle, destroying them along with any other life on the planet. (TV: The Timeless Children [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 12 (BBC One, 2020).)
In a possible future glimpsed by the Eighth Doctor within the Tomorrow Window, (PROSE: The Tomorrow Windows [+]Jonathan Morris, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2004).) his twelfth incarnation sacrificed his life to save the universe from a zectronic energy beam, an act that inspired both the Master and the Daleks to renounce evil and follow the Doctor's example. (TV: The Curse of Fatal Death [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who television episodes (BBC One, 1999).)
Attempted self-sacrifice[]
Steven Taylor attempted to sacrifice himself, staying behind in the Celestial Toyroom so that the First Doctor and Dodo Chaplet could escape the Toymaker, only for the Doctor to forbid the act. (TV: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Brian Hayles, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1966).)
Clara Oswald attempted to sacrifice herself to destroy the Sky Jack and prevent the Matrix from reaching the universe beyond the Doctor's TARDIS, seeking to detonate the Big Momma atomic bomb aboard the plane. She was stopped by the Matrix's defences around the bomb but bought time enough for the Eleventh Doctor to stop the Matrix. (COMIC: Sky Jacks [+]Andy Diggle and Eddie Robson, Doctor Who (2012) (IDW Publishing, 2013).)
Footnotes[]
- ↑ The present day of Doctor Who's fourth series is not consistently dated, with TV: The Fires of Pompeii, TV: The Waters of Mars, and AUDIO: SOS setting the present of the 13 regular episodes in 2008 (heavily implied by TV: The Star Beast and TV: The Giggle as well), and PROSE: Beautiful Chaos setting them in about April to June 2009.