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The Man - The Myth - The Legends

By Alden Bates

DJINN/JINN The Djinni (plural Djinn), also sometimes called Gene, of Arabian mythology was a sort of fairy, the offspring of fire. The djinn propagated their species like human beings and were governed by a race of kings called Suleyman, one of whom built the Pyramids. Their chief abode was the mountain Kaf, and they appeared to men in the forms of serpents, dogs, cats, monsters, and even human beings. When they chose to appear in human shape they were not to be distinguished from mortals.

So starts the entry on the Djinn in The Encyclopaedia of Myths and Legends of all Nations, by H.S. Robinson and K. Wilson, edited by Barbara Leonie Picard. (I was unable to find the publisher.)

In The Curse of Fenric, Document IV, The First Contest of Fenric, Aboo-Fenran is described as a Jinnee. A Jinnee from the time before Time, and indeed he makes this statement within the document: At first, Aboo-Fenran did not reply; but presently he said, So, El-Dok'Tar; as you are Light, so am I Dark. I think that I know your true identity. I think, that you also come from the time before Time.

Whatever Ian Briggs may have meant by that, I have taken to imply that the Doctor is also a Jinnee. According to the Myths book: According to fable they were created from fire two thousand years before Adam was made.

The book also mentions that they have the power to become invisible (beings without form? This may support my theory as to the Doctor's origin as detailed in my Futures Lost trilogy) and gave onion peels which turned to gold and that the good djinn were exquisitely beautiful, the evil djinn hideously ugly.

Further along in The Curse of Fenric, El-Dok'Tar makes this admission about the flask he carries: Aboo-Fenran, this flask does not come from the great city, and it does not contain fragrant oils. I have carried this flask with me on my long travels; for this flask contains the Seven Shadows from the time before Time.

If the Doctor is a being from before the dawn of Time, what are the Seven Shadows? And if Fenric/Fenris/Fenrir is also a being from before the dawn of Time, how many others have there been in Doctor Who?

Here's a list of people I feel are suspect: the Gods of Ragnarok; the Celestial Toymaker; the Master (unlikely, I only included him because he took over Tremas' body and he seems to be everywhere); Omega; the alien pilot from Terminus (although he seemed rather dead); Rassilon; the Valeyard (obviously since he's the Doctor's future self, run out of regenerations, unable to find a higher life form to evolve into and seeking a new set of regenerations).

While I'm here, the book includes a bit on both Fenric and Tyr (The Doctor): Fenrir was the offspring of Loki and the giantess Angurboda. After swallowing Odin, he was slain by Odin's son, Vithar. And apparently the reason he bit off Tyr's hand was because Tyr thrust it in his mouth to distract him while his fellow gods bound Fenrir. In the final battle, according to the book, Tyr and Garm, the hell-hound which guarded the Gnipa cave, killed each other in battle.

I leave you with the closing passage to Fenrir's section:

Fenrir, rushing to battle after breaking his bonds and before death claimed him, presented an ugly picture, with his lower jaw grazing the ground and his snout scraping the sky.

This item appeared in TSV 28 (April 1992).