Culture
The Sontarans are a race of humanoids with a stocky build, greenish brown skin, and a distinctive dome-shaped head. In addition, they only have three fingers on each hand. Their special muscles are designed for load-bearing rather than leverage because of the significant amount of gravity on their home planet of Sontar. Ross Jenkins in The Sontaran Stratagem describes a Sontaran as resembling "a talking baked potato" but The Doctor sticks up for the Sontarans by saying that, to them, he looks like a pink weasel. Sontarans come from a large, dense planet named Sontar in the "southern spiral arm of the galaxy" which has a very strong gravitational field, which explains their compact stocky form. They also are far stronger than humans and in the recent series are smaller.
The Sontarans have an extremely militaristic culture; every aspect of their society is geared toward warfare, and every experience is viewed in terms of its martial relevance. In The Sontaran Experiment, the Fourth Doctor comments that "Sontarans never do anything without a military reason." In fact, to die heroically in battle is their ultimate goal. Aside from a ritualistic chant in "The Sontaran Strategem"/"The Poison Sky", they are never seen to engage in any activity that would be considered recreation, though a few offhand comments by Commander Skorr in "The Poison Sky" suggest they do consider hunting a sport (according to their creator Robert Holmes, Sontarans do have a highly developed artistic culture, but have put it on hold for the duration of the war, while the opening chapter of the novelisation of The Time Warrior, based on Holmes' incomplete draft, refers to Linx listening to the Sontaran anthem while his spaceship is in flight). The Sontarans depicted in the series have detached, smug personalities, and a highly developed sense of honour; on multiple occasions, the Doctor has used his knowledge of their pride in their species to manipulate them. However, in "The Sontaran Stratagem", the Doctor nevertheless referred to them as "the finest soldiers in the galaxy".
Although physically formidable, the Sontarans' weak spot is the "probic vent" at the back of their neck, through which they draw nutrition. It is also part of their cloning process. It provides incentive to continue moving forward in battle since retreat would expose this area to their enemies. They have been killed by targeting that location with a knife (The Invasion of Time), a screwdriver ("Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans"), and an arrow (The Time Warrior). Even something as simple as a squash ball aimed at that point (The Sontaran Stratagem) or contact by the heel of a shoe ("The Last Sontaran") is capable of incapacitating them temporarily. They are also vulnerable to "coronic acid" (The Two Doctors). While the Sontaran wear protective helmets in battle, to fight without their helmets, or to be "open-skinned," is an honour for the Sontaran.
In the episode The Poison Sky, it is revealed that the Sontaran Empire have been at war with the Rutan Host for more than 50,000 years, and which, at a time around 2008, they are losing. However, the war is still raging at least 20,000 years later, in the serial The Sontaran Experiment.
All the Sontarans depicted in the television series have monosyllabic names, many beginning with an initial 'st' sound (e.g. Styre (The Sontaran Experiment), Stor (The Invasion of Time), Stike (The Two Doctors), Staal (The Sontaran Stratagem), and Strax (A Good Man Goes To War); exceptions are Linx (The Time Warrior), Varl (The Two Doctors), Skorr (The Sontaran Stratagem) and Kaagh (The Sarah Jane Adventures)). Subdivisions of the Sontaran military structure mentioned in the series include the Sontaran G3 Military Assessment Survey and the Grand Strategic Council, the Ninth Sontaran Battle Group, the Fifth Army Space Fleet of the Sontaran Army Space Corps, and the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet. Military titles include Commander, Group Marshal, Field Major, and General. Agnomens include "the Undefeated", "the Bloodbringer", "the Avenger" and "the Slayer".
The newly married Martha Smith-Jones and Mickey Smith are seen being chased by a Sontaran sniper in the last Tenth Doctor serial The End of Time, for unknown reasons. The Doctor, on the verge of a regeneration, knocks it out via a mallet to the probic vent.
A Sontaran appeared in A Good Man Goes to War, but as an ally of the Eleventh Doctor. Commander Strax, the Sontaran in question, was condemned to work as a battlefield nurse (a punishment implied to have been meted out by the Doctor himself) to restore the honour of his clone stock. Strax expressed irritation at the task at the Battle of Zaruthstra in the 41st century after helping to heal an injured human boy, claiming this was "the greatest punishment a Sontaran can endure: to help the weak and sick." He was disillusioned with the glory of death in combat after being mortally wounded while fighting the Headless Monks at the Battle of Demons Run, though, and he firmly corrected fellow nurse Rory Williams when the Doctor's companion called him a warrior, telling him, "I'm a nurse."
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