A vortex indicator, or abbreviated to vindicator, was a transmitting device that honed onto a specific point in time.
History[]
The Fifteenth Doctor constructed a vortex indicator to bring Belinda Chandra back home to 24 May, 2025. He was able to use it to "cast out a signal, like a fishing line" — as he put it — to that exact date each time the TARDIS landed, and "pull the TARDIS in [towards the date] like a hook." (TV: Lux [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 15 (BBC One and Disney+, 2025).)
The vindicator gave off a reading each time they landed that helped them get closer to bringing Belinda home, which could take around 48 seconds. (TV: The Well [+]Russell T Davies and Sharma Angel-Walfall, Doctor Who series 15 (BBC One and Disney+, 2025).)
The Doctor boosted the signal by landing in Lagos, Nigeria in 2019 which allowed him and Belinda to cut down on the number of hops that they had to take. (TV: The Story & the Engine [+]Inua Ellams, Doctor Who series 15 (BBC One and Disney+, 2025).)
After the events at the Harmony Arena in 2925 and learning from a hologram of Graham Norton that Earth and humanity were both destroyed on 24 May, 2025, the Doctor and Belinda were finally able to use the vindicator to return to that date. At the same time, Mrs Flood, an incarnation of the Rani, provided her next incarnation with the readings from the Doctor's Vindicator after undergoing a bi-generation. (TV: The Interstellar Song Contest [+]Juno Dawson, Doctor Who series 15 (BBC One and Disney+, 2025).)
The Rani was able to acquire the Doctor's vindicator and used it to power Conrad Clark's wish via Desidirium to create Conrad's World. The Rani explained that the baby lacked the infinite power needed to change reality, but the Doctor's travels with the Vindicator created a web of power for her to tap into equal to a billion supernovas. Placing the Vindicator on a clock in the Bone Palace, the Rani used the power to release Omega after finding him in the Underverse. Using the Vindicator's power as a weapon, the Doctor attacked the demonic form of the Time Lord and forced him back into the Underverse after Omega consumed the bi-generated Rani. With Conrad's World coming to an end, the Doctor left the device on the floor of the collapsing palace as he fled back to the TARDIS. (TV: Wish World [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 15 (BBC One and Disney+, 2025)./The Reality War [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 15 (BBC One and Disney+, 2025).)
Usage[]
To cast out a signal, the vindicator had to be placed on the ground outside the TARDIS and activated. It was activated by standing its quadruped legs and pulling out its main cylindrical body, which would open its end into four pieces. The inside of these pieces and the inside of its quadruped base would then glow blue. (TV: Lux [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 15 (BBC One and Disney+, 2025).)
The Doctor was able to use the vindicator's web of power as a weapon against Omega, forcing him back into the Underverse. (TV: The Reality War [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 15 (BBC One and Disney+, 2025).)
Known owners[]
The Fifteenth Doctor constructed a vindicator and carried it in the TARDIS. (TV: Lux [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 15 (BBC One and Disney+, 2025).)
Mrs Flood knew of vindicators. She found out the Fifteenth Doctor was travelling with one after he and Belinda Chandra visited Planet 6-7-6-7, asking Mo Gilliban by showing her a picture of one. Mrs Flood described this as "exactly what I needed to know. Just as I predicted. A vindicator, in action, that's very good news." (TV: The Well [+]Russell T Davies and Sharma Angel-Walfall, Doctor Who series 15 (BBC One and Disney+, 2025).) After bi-generating, Mrs Flood provided her next incarnation with the readings that she had collected from the Doctor's vindicator. (TV: The Interstellar Song Contest [+]Juno Dawson, Doctor Who series 15 (BBC One and Disney+, 2025).) The two later obtained the Doctor's vindicator after trapping him in Conrad's World. (TV: Wish World [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 15 (BBC One and Disney+, 2025)./The Reality War [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 15 (BBC One and Disney+, 2025).)