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IndexTimey-wimey detector → Timeline - Sontarans
Spoilers are strongly policed here.
If this thread's title doesn't specify it's spoilery, don't bring any up.

This page lists appearances of the Sontarans in the order in which they experienced them. This timeline is based upon observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events that occur during each of these stories.

A common feature of Sontaran history is the Rutan-Sontaran War.

Sontaran space armour[]

There exist four distinct variants of Sontaran space armour.

  • The black and silver suits seen in the classic series.
  • The bulkier blue armour seen in the RTD and Moffat eras of the new series.
  • The red armour seen in HOMEVID: Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans
  • The bulkier black and silver armour seen in the Chibnall era of the new series

However, as these variants, particularly the first two, appear in wildly different time periods. Stories cannot be placed so easily by armour alone.

Timeline[]

Styx is imprisoned.
Blue-armoured Sontarans, possibly time travellers, appear as part of the Pandorica Alliance.
Colonel Tayre attends the Armageddon Convention hosted by Irving Braxiatel.
A Sontaran battle computer is present in Victorian London.
Stonn, an exiled Sontaran, is the leader of the Bloomsbury Bunch.
Brak, a Sontaran soldier, appears on Earth during the Battle of the Somme, where he is captured by the British. Over the course of the 20th century, Brak creates weapons for humanity.
Having lived over eighty years, Brak is killed by a fellow Sontaran.
Blue-armoured Sontarans of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet attempt to convert Earth into a breeding planet but are destroyed. Though he fails to recognise the Tenth Doctor, General Staal recalls that the Sontarans were denied the right to join the Time War, and the legend that states the Doctor led the fight.
Commander Kaagh is the last survivor of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet
Kaagh attempts to avenge the fallen Battle Fleet by destroying Earth but is defeated by Sarah Jane Smith; he returns to Sontar in disgrace.
Now a mercenary, Kaagh joins forces with Mrs Wormwood but ultimately sacrifices his life to stop her.
A lone Sontaran pursued by Martha Jones and Mickey Smith is neutralised by the Tenth Doctor.
Kate Stewart recalls the relatively recent events of The Sontaran Strategem / The Poison Sky.
Skral is found on Earth.
Sontarans plan to exploit the Flux and begin an attack.
Two days after The Halloween Apocalypse. Sontarans have occupied Liverpool and used time travel to participate the Crimean War in 1855, making it so they had "always" been on Earth. They do not recognise the Thirteenth Doctor. The claiming of Earth by Linx in The Time Warrior is mentioned as inspiration for this invasion, which is ultimately erased with the Sontarans never having landed in either Halloween 2021 or the past.
While still in conflict with the Rutans, (TV: The Vanquishers) the Sontarans also clash with the Daleks and the Cybermen for control of the post-Flux universe. (TV: Once, Upon Time)
The Grand Serpent shuts down UNIT, which he had infiltrated its founding in 1957, enabling the Sontarans to resume their 2021 invasion.
The Sontarans trick the Daleks and the Cybermen into assembling their forces to be destroyed by the final Flux event, only for they themselves to lose their fleet to the Flux after being outwitted by the Doctor.
The Sontarans and the Rutans have been at war for only a few centuries, however they meet on a planet previously colonised by humans. Starn is the only survivor.
Starn is killed, setting this after The Three Little Sontarans.
Arbitrarily dated by AHistory. A force of "classic" Sontarans are wiped out by Kroton.
Set some time before The Daleks' Master Plan.
Set during the first seven minutes of Strax's life, placing this roughly twelve years before 4037.
The apparent home time of the blue-armoured Strax, a "nearly twelve" year old Sontaran demoted to nurse. After serving at the Battle of Zaruthstra, he is picked up by the Eleventh Doctor to participate in the Battle of Demons Run in the 52nd century. Revived following a seemingly fatal injury sustained during the battle, Strax joins the Paternoster Gang in the Victorian era (see Theory:Timeline - Paternoster Gang). (WC: The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later)
The blue-armoured Sontarans participate in the Siege of Trenzalore.
Black-armoured Sontarans launch an invasion of Gallifrey which is stopped by the Fourth Doctor.
Styre is mentioned as having postumously published literature on the torture of humans, setting this after The Sontaran Experiment. The Doctor notes that the Sontarans are "still sore about that Gallifrey business", setting this soon after The Invasion of Time.
The Sontarans recognise the Fifth Doctor and refer to the Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey.
In the universe's "twilight years", the Sontarans are extinct.

Unplaced[]

River Song finds black-armoured Sontarans in a miniscope
The Fourth Doctor and Romana II find two sides of black-armoured Sontarans pitted against each other by Sycon Computer in a time bubble, intended to teach other races the futility of race.
The Fifth Doctor, accompanied by Adric, Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka, encounter black-armoured Sontarans at a Rutan weapon test field.
The Sontarans are part of the Alliance led by the Supreme Controller, actually the Fifth Doctor, in the war against Morbius.
"Classic" Sontarans appear on Aleph-777.
"Classic" Sontarans appear on Aleph-777.
The Tremas Master uses black-armoured Sontarans to menace the Graak within the Doctor's TARDIS.
The Seventy-Ninth Sontaran Assault Corps invades the Eleven-Day Empire.
Blue-armoured Sontarans attempt to participate in the Last Great Time War. The Sontarans know the Doctor.
The Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler encounter "classic" Sontarans and prevent Thanatos from wiping out Sontar.
Blue-armoured Sontarans attempt to participate in the Time War.
During the war with the Rutans, a Sontaran scout ship is shot down and crashes to Earth. After a human helps him defeat a Rutan copy, Sontaran Commander leaves the planet in his ship to rejoin the war.
The Eleventh Doctor flees from blue-armoured Sontarans in an unknown time period.
Blue-armoured Sontarans attempt to capture Dalek weapons bases but are wiped out by the New Dalek Paradigm.
A Sontaran is present at a trade negotiation with early Gallifreyans, presumably setting this well before The Invasion of Time
A group of Sontarans are stranded on the Moon and do not recognise the Fifth Doctor.
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