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Doctor Who has introduced the world to some of the most iconic aliens in fictional history. The Daleks are trash cans on wheels with plungers and whisks for weapons, but the show makes them horrific. No antagonist in Doctor Who has had a more effective debut than the Weeping Angel. "Blink" made them iconic, and their regular appearances lent them more power. Everyone has seen their arrival, but where do they come from?
The Weeping Angels aren't the easiest aliens to learn information about naturally. They don't speak or emote. Their only on-screen actions are standing still and enacting horrible violence. A Star Trek extraterrestrial can express their culture, origin, and goal in dialogue. The Doctor and other knowledgeable characters must explore the Weeping Angels' backstory.
Where did the Weeping Angels come from?
The shows offer almost no explanation for the Weeping Angels. They simply appear in "Blink." The limited backstory the franchise offers comes in audio dramas, comics, and novels. Weeping Angels were seen as mythological creatures in Time Lord society. The Fourth Doctor didn't believe they existed. Time Lords believed Weeping Angels developed at the dawn of time. They must have lived in untold eras before the earliest moments of the franchise. They are known to reproduce through captured images. Their reflection or any captured reproduction will eventually become a Weeping Angel. It's known that they were trapped in the Earth when meteorites came together to form its surface. Though fans know most of the rules of the Weeping Angels, there is no way of knowing where they originally came from. Other quantum-locked statue-like beings like the Painted Men and the Terracotta soldiers existed before rational time, but the Weeping Angels remain a mystery. There is a decent fan theory, though.
On Gallifrey, the Time Lords had a strict policy of non-interference governing their interactions with other planets. A group of Time Lords formed The Division, a secretive organization that sought to control the universe. They initially planned to protect their home planet, but their purview gradually expanded until everything became a target. The Division employed agents of various species, some from alternate dimensions. The Division used an extraction squad of Weeping Angels that could transform victims into living statues like them. One Rogue Angel broke from their ranks to escape. She carried a complete history of the Division, from its earliest foundation to its modern schemes. This suggests that the Time Lords may have created the Weeping Angels to expand their dominion over the universe.
This theory has not been confirmed. There are salient points for and against it. The brilliance of "Blink" is that it's a standalone horror adventure that tells an excellent complete story. It was a monument to the new Doctor Who, proudly proclaiming the potential for magnificent future outings. Tying the episode to Gallifrey, with everything else, ruins the Weeping Angels' mystique. Given the state of the series, the potential to ruin a well-written story element is an argument for its canon appeal. Earlier quantum-locked creatures were created for similar purposes. If the Time Lords created the Weeping Angels, the most popular Doctor Who monster can play into an extended finale. It's still not canon yet, but it seems too good an opportunity to pass up.
What inspired the Weeping Angels?
Steven Moffat has spoken about his inspiration in the past. The specific idea of a killer statue came from a graveyard Moffat found himself in while on holiday in Dorset. He noticed the cemetery was chained up with a sign that read "Unsafe structure within." Intrigued, Moffat wandered into the area to see what was so dangerous. Beyond the chains, he discovered a statue of an angel covering its face. Its aesthetic inspired the look of the Weeping Angel. Years later, he returned to Dorset with his son. When he looked for the graveyard, he found the statue was missing. Those two experiences gave shape to the iconic alien antagonist. Moffat has spoken about the appeal of the Weeping Angels, easily his most popular contribution to the series he ran for seven years. He compared the rules of engaging with Weeping Angels to children's games like Grandmothers' Footsteps. The danger and horror elements are governed by a system of hard laws, which can be abused. This puts them above a lot of other alien threats, which can only be fought with violence.
The Weeping Angels were introduced in a world of mystery. Every new element threatens to kill the appeal. They should have been allowed to live in their one perfect episode, but the showrunners can't help themselves. Fans will have to wait and see whether they become another tool of the Time Lords. There is no answer to where the Weeping Angels came from now. Give the franchise time. It might answer this question that never needed to be asked.