In an interview in Doctor Who Magazine 571, Rochenda Sandall, who plays Ravager Azure in Doctor Who: Flux, gave some insight into the Ravagers’ motivation.

“I guess they want to be the next Big Bang, don’t they? They want to destroy everything and create something new. That was certainly something me and Sam [Spruell] discussed. A lot of the baddies have got that destructive element to them… Although I use the term ‘baddies’ very loosely, in inverted commas. Because of course they don’t see themselves as bad. They see themselves as misunderstood.”

Ravager Swarm was seen in the Once, Upon Time trailer delightedly claiming that he wants to “reign in Hell.”

There’s no misunderstanding that motivation. It seems the Ravagers want to remake the Universe into a hellish place from which they can rule, They likely believe the destructive tempest of The Flux will help accomplish this.

“I thought, ‘If you had the power of a god, you’d have some fun’,” Sam Spruell (Swarm) told Doctor Who Magazine. “So I made sure he was having some fun with whatever chaos he was causing.”

Spruell also told DWM that Swarm’s allusions to “dancing across time and space” with the Doctor hint at an obsessive attraction.

“I also concentrated a lot on his relationship with the Doctor, who he’s obviously infatuated with. He’s obviously known her for a long time and maybe, over the years, even fallen in love with her. Who knows? That’s where I kind of pitched it. It’s a kind of obsessional hatred that makes you think, ‘Actually, I wonder if those two fancy each other?’ So I leaned into that.”

A behind-the scenes video was released with more information about the Ravagers.

In the video, Swarm and Azure are called “Ravagers of Time” who feed off chaos. They are are partners in crime and will be for as long as they exist. They are described as pure evil with a desire for the destruction and death of the universe and everything and everybody within it. At the click of a finger or the touch of a hand on a shoulder, they can kill thousands of life forms — and they do so with pleasure. They are aliens from another dimension who have lived for probably as long as the Doctor has existed. Swarm is extremely perceptive and can read people and predict what they will do.

The Ravagers will next be seen in Once, Upon Time, the third chapter of Doctor Who: Flux written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Azhur Saleem. Once, Upon Time will premiere Sunday, 14 November, at 6:30pm BT on BBC One and at 8:00pm ET on BBC America.Doctor Who Magazine 571 is available by digital issue and on newsstands now.