Monster Character WiKi

Weeping Angels

           

            Doctor Who is a British television show. It originally aired in 1963 but was canceled in 1989. In 2005, the show was brought back to television and immediately became as popular as it once was. The Weeping Angels made their first appearance on the show in 2007 in the episode Blink. This is one of the most highly regarded episodes of Doctor Who, and the Weeping Angels were very well received. The Weeping Angels have been in a total of six episodes since their appearance in 2007. They have even been voted one of the scariest monsters in Doctor Who history.

         

            The Weeping Angels are not the typical kind of monster. They actually cannot move as long as something living is looking at them. Because of this, they are often depicted with their hands over their eyes, as looking at another Weeping Angel would render that Angel immobile. The explanation for this is that they are quantum locked. They can only move when they cannot be seen. Adult Weeping Angels are also silent, but the Cherubim are known to giggle as they move around.

 

            Weeping Angels do not kill their victims in a typical way. Weeping Angels feed off of potential energy, so their touch sends their victim back in time. They then feed off of the energy that could have been had the victim lived out their lives in the same time. The victims are free to live a full and happy life, just far in the past instead of in the present.

The Weeping Angels have yet another unique quality in that they can manifest pretty much anywhere. That which holds the image of an angel is, in itself, an Angel. These images could include statues, pictures, video recordings, or even memories.

         

             The Weeping Angels are terrifying creatures. Nicknamed the lonely assassins, they are older than time and nobody knows where they came from. They are cruel for the sake of being cruel, and they have been known to find joy in other people’s fear. They seem innocent enough when they are dormant, just crying angel statues, but as they approach and as they attack, they reveal their faces, complete with sharp pointed teeth. The Weeping Angels rarely use actual force to attack, but they are more than capable of snapping a neck or two.  

                                                                                                              

              There is something very unique about this character that makes them incredibly terrifying to people. We find watching scary movies fun, but if something scares us too much, we can just close our eyes. That is not an option with the Weeping Angels. To stay safe against them, one must keep one’s eyes on the Angel at all times. Blink once, and it could be the end. The Weeping Angels force their victim to keep their eyes open at all times, which is a dynamic that not many monsters show.

 

               A second reason why the Weeping Angels are scary is that they are silent. There are no warning signs to alert the victim that they are coming. There are no bumps in the night or footsteps in the hallway. One moment they are nowhere to be found, and the next moment they have their victim surrounded. Not to mention the fact that they can control, and thus turn out, any light source around them since their entire existence is based around energy.

 

             The Weeping Angels cannot verbally communicate, and on the rare occasions that they have, they have had to kill a victim to use as a sort of translation and projection device. Because of their lack of communication, they have poor syntax skills, and their flat delivery of messages leads to an entirely creepy, sociopathic image.

 

             For many, angels are seen as a source of hope and miracles. The writers of Doctor Who took this innocent, hopeful image and made it scary and distrustful. By manipulating an image that people believe should be good, it messes with their heads and sticks with them for a very long time. It is true that the Weeping Angels are a character beloved and feared by many.

 

              What I feel is the most scary part of the Weeping Angels is how they could quite literally be anywhere at any time. In the closing scene of “Blink,” there is a montage of statues set to the words of the Doctor informing you not to blink, because the Angels will get you.This leaves the viewer with a sense of unease, as any statue at any time could be a Weeping Angel waiting to stake out its next victim. In “The Angels Take Manhattan,” the Statue of Liberty is even depicted as a Weeping Angel, which, when considered, could make complete sense. People are always looking at the Statue of Liberty, so if she is indeed an Angel, she is constantly quantum locked from constantly being looked at. 

 

Entry Written by Hannah Schorr