Mara (Doctor Who)

The Mara is a fictional character from the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. A gestalt, formless entity, it preys upon beings using their dreams, and is capable of possessing others in order to accomplish its goals. The Mara can manifest in a physical form, often taking on the form of a snake. First appearing in the 1982 television serial Kinda, the Mara would make one further appearance on television a year later in 1983's Snakedance. Following this, it appeared in various pieces of spin-off media from the series, and additionally appeared in a short produced to commemorate the re-release of Doctor Who season 20, dubbed "The Passenger".

The Mara was originally conceived by Kinda's writer Christopher Bailey, who named it after the Buddhist demon Mara. Bailey envisioned it as an entirely non-corporeal entity before rewrites resulted in a physical Mara being constructed; the prop used for the Mara, however, was rushed, and thus resulted in a prop not liked by the show's producer John Nathan-Turner that was also panned by critics. The Mara's later re-appearance in Snakedance, part of a celebration of the series' past, saw the construction of a new, mechanical Mara prop.

The Mara has been the subject of analysis as a result of its two major television appearances, with discussion regarding the Mara's religious symbolism and its role as a symbol of evil in the serials, among other aspects of its character.