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{{Infobox Individual
{{Infobox Individual
|image = Morbius and his brain.jpg
|image             = <gallery>
|name = Morbius
Morbius in Junior Novelisation.jpg|Original
|species = Time Lord
Morbius_the_Monster.jpg|Monster
|origin = [[Gallifrey]]
Morbius.jpg|Aborted resurrection
|first = The Brain of Morbius (TV story)
Middlewich Morbius.png|Temple resurrection
|appearances = [[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius]]''<br />[[GAME]]: ''[[Destiny of the Doctors]]'' (stock image; illusion)<br />[[PROSE]]: ''[[Warmonger]]''<br />[[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Vengeance of Morbius]]''
</gallery>
|actor = Stuart Fell
|aliases          = The General
|voice actor= Michael Spice  
|species           = Time Lord
|job              = Lord President
|affiliation      = High Council
|origin           = [[Gallifrey]]
|first cs          = The Brain of Morbius (TV story)
|appearances       = {{appears}}
|actor             = Stuart Fell
|voice actor       = Michael Spice
|other voice actor = [[Samuel West]]
|other voice actor = [[Samuel West]]
}}
|bts              = Restoring Classic Monsters - Doctor Who The Fan Show
}}{{Incarnations of Morbius}}{{Devils}}
'''Morbius''' was an infamous [[Time Lord]] [[tyrant]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Brain of Morbius (TV story)}}) most notable for starting, and losing, [[Gallifrey]]'s first-ever [[Civil War]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Legacy of Gallifrey (short story)}}, [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Morbius (audio story)}}, etc.) Near the end of his [[First Morbius|first life]], having become a [[Renegade Time Lord|renegade]] from Gallifrey, he adopted [[Vocational name|the alias]] of '''the General''', ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Warmonger (novel)}}) a title he continued to claim during his involvement in the [[Last Great Time War]], once listing his names and titles as "Morbius, the General, the Rightful [[President of Gallifrey]], the [[King of the Foregone|King]] of [[the Foregone]], [[Time's Butcher]], [[Herald of the New Order]], the [[Incalculax Prime]]". ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Morbius the Mighty (audio story)}})


'''Morbius''' was a notorious and malevolent [[renegade Time Lord]]. His career was the first in millennia to dramatically alter [[Gallifrey]]'s relations with the wider [[universe]]. He attempted to overturn Gallifrey's [[non-interference policy]] in favour of military conquest, but was exiled and eventually executed,  only to survive, saved by [[Cult of Morbius|his following]].
His career was the first in millennia to dramatically alter [[Gallifrey]]'s relations with the wider [[universe]]. He attempted to overturn Gallifrey's [[non-interference policy]] in favour of [[military]] conquest, sparking the Civil War. He failed, was [[exile]]d and eventually executed,  only to survive, saved by [[Cult of Morbius|his followers]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Brain of Morbius (TV story)}}, etc.)
 
The dating of Morbius's reign of terror varied between accounts; indeed, by one source, the history of the Civil War was constantly shifting, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Morbius (audio story)|part=2}}) By one account, the civil war occurred ''after'' [[the Doctor and Susan's escape from Gallifrey]], ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius (novelisation)}}) while others had Morbius predate the Doctor's generation; ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Legacy of Gallifrey (short story)}}, {{cs|Warmonger (novel)}}, [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Morbius (audio story)}}) the [[Scrolls of Gallifrey]] written by [[Postar the Perfidious]], which uniquely depicted Rassilon as a rather recent figure relative to the Doctor, indicated that the war had occurred in the generation immediately after Rassilon and the generation immediately before the Doctor. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Legacy of Gallifrey (short story)}}) Moreover, ''[[The Book of the War]]'' described a figure known as [[the Imperator]], whose history largely matched his, as a member of the same "[[broken generation]]" of renegade as the likes of [[the War King]], [[Grandfather Paradox]], ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Book of the War (novel)}}) and the Doctor. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Lungbarrow (novel)}}) One account of Morbius's activities in the Time War described as both as ancient as Rassilon, and as merely a few "centuries or millennia" before the era of the Time War, also asserting him to have been a contemporary of [[the Corsair]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Morbius the Mighty (audio story)}})


== Biography ==
== Biography ==
=== Reign, conquest and fall ===
=== Incarnations of Morbius ===
Morbius's ambition led him to become the head of the [[High Council]] of Time Lords. His warlike nature led him to urge the Time Lords toward a policy of conquest. While based on Gallifrey, Morbius formed a personal army of [[Mercenary|mercenaries]], bought by his promises of [[time travel]] and [[immortality]]. His following came to be known as the [[Cult of Morbius]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius]]'')
{{section stub}}
 
* Morbius's [[First Morbius|original incarnation]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]'') was a charismatic man slightly below medium height, with "classically handsome" features and a domed forehead. He served as [[President of the High Council]] before being deposed, taking on the name of "the General". He was ultimately executed. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Warmonger (novel)|Warmonger]]'')
In his search for immortality, he used the [[time scoop]] and the [[Death Zone]]. He drew seven incarnations of [[Iris Wildthyme]] to play the Game of Rassilon in an effort to gain [[Rassilon]]'s gift of immortality. This attempt was ultimately thwarted. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Scarlet Empress]]'')
* After [[Morbius' brain|his brain]] was salvaged, Morbius was transplanted into a [[Second Morbius|new body]] by [[Mehendri Solon]]. An unstable patchwork of parts from various species, topped by a purely artificial brain-case, the "monster" was hounded off the edge of a cliff by the [[Sisterhood of Karn]] and destroyed shortly after Morbius had been transplanted in this body. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]'')
 
* [[Cyberman|Cybermen]] recovered Morbius' brain and made it into a [[Cyber-Controller]] known as [[Cyber-Morbius]]. ([[GAME]]: {{cs|The Brain of Morbius (game)}})
When the Time Lords finally denounced him, he and his followers abandoned Gallifrey and attacked the cultures of the outside universe. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Warmonger (novel)|Warmonger]]'') Gallifreyan society struggled to deal with these inconceivable events. The long-term cultural changes brought about included the increased influence of the [[Celestial Intervention Agency]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Warmonger (novel)|Warmonger]]'')
* Using a fragment of Morbius's original brain and biodata from [[Straxus]], the [[Cult of Morbius]] managed to effect a full [[regeneration]] from the brain fragment, with Morbius resurrected in a [[Third Morbius|new Time Lord body]]. However, he needed frequent transfusions of biodata from Straxus to keep himself stable. This resurrection was later temporally undone, with only Straxus and [[Lucie Miller]] remembering the [[aborted timeline]]. Although this account implied that Morbius's new body was a new appearance distinct from his original body, with the Doctor remaking that his old robes now fit him badly, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Vengeance of Morbius (audio story)}}) a later account depicted [[Morbius (Morbius)|an alternative resurrected form of Morbius]] with the same appearance only for [[Argento]] to recognise him on sight, suggesting this appearance matched his original incarnation. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Morbius (audio story)|part=2}})
 
* Separately from the fate of Morbius's physical brain, a [[Morbius (Morbius)|copy of Morbius's mind]] was salvaged by [[Veritas (Morbius)|Veritas]], a telepathic follower of Morbius in the War. Veritas carried this echo of Morbius within him away from Karn on [[Proteus (ship)|a Gallifreyan prison ship]], from which he subsequently hatched a plot of escape and resurrection, ultimately possessing the body of [[Middlewitch]] and [[regeneration|regenerating]] it into a copy of this original form. After his plan to reach [[Dark Gallifrey]] was foiled by Captain Argento and a [[the Matrix|Matrix]] projection of the [[Fourth Doctor]], ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Morbius (audio story)}}) this Morbius resurfaced in [[the Valley]] during the [[Last Great Time War]] and sought revenge on the [[War Doctor]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Morbius the Mighty (audio story)}})
=== War with the Alliance ===
[[File:Morbiushead.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Fourth Doctor]] sits next to a clay bust of Morbius. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius]]'')]]
Uncomfortable with being seen to act directly in the universe, the Time Lord High Council eventually chose to fight the war by proxy. The [[Fifth Doctor]], who had travelled into Gallifrey's past, was appointed "Supreme Coordinator of the Alliance Battle Fleet" and directed an unlikely army of [[human]]s, [[Draconian]]s, [[Cyberman|Cybermen]], [[Ogron]]s, [[Ice Warrior]]s and [[Sontaran]]s against Morbius. [[Planet]]s involved in the conflict included [[Fangoria]], [[Romark]], [[Darkeen]], [[Martak]] and [[Freedonia (planet)|Freedonia]], which provided troops for Morbius, and [[Sylvana]], [[Zandir]], [[Tanith]] and [[Electra]], which fell to him. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Warmonger]]'')
 
With the help of the [[Sisterhood of Karn|the Sisterhood]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Warmonger]]'') who had originated on Gallifrey itself, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible]]'') the Alliance at long last defeated Morbius on the Sisterhood's planet [[Karn]].
 
[[File:Morbius the monster.jpg|right|thumb|The body crafted for Morbius by [[Mehendri Solon|Solon]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius]]'')]]
Although the verdict had been decided in advance, the Sisterhood still put Morbius [[Trial of Morbius|on trial]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Warmonger]]'') The Sisterhood's leader [[Maren]] attended the execution where Morbius was placed in a [[dispersal chamber]] and atomised to the nine corners of the universe. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius]]'')
 
Morbius escaped death when one of his followers, the [[human]] surgeon [[Mehendri Solon]], secretly removed Morbius' [[brain]] prior to his disintegration. Solon was secretly aided by the Fifth Doctor, who knew that Morbius's brain had to survive in order to keep history on track. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Warmonger]]'') Solon went into hiding on [[Karn]], where he began planning to build a new body for Morbius. The Sisterhood began to defend the [[Elixir of Life]] by causing nearby spacecraft to crash. These space travellers provided a regular supply of corpses from which Solon scavenged body parts for his project. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius]]'')
 
=== Morbius' brain ===
Over the years, Solon acquired a great many body parts, which he used to create Morbius's new body. These included lungs from a [[Birastrop]], a left hand from Solon's unknowing assistant [[Condo]], and a claw for his right. This plan to create a new body for Morbius was nearing completion when the [[Fourth Doctor]] and his [[companion]] [[Sarah Jane Smith|Sarah Jane]] arrived at his castle upon the planet Karn.
 
The haphazardly-assembled body lacked a head to hold the brain of Morbius, so Solon planned to use the Doctor's head. After Morbius's brain was damaged during a fall when Condo fought with Solon on discovering his arm was being used, Solon was forced to use a plastic brain case. He had not used this before as there was the danger of a static build-up. Morbius was unable to speak for some time due to the damage sustained. Eventually Solon was able to repair this, but was killed soon afterward when the Doctor poisoned him with [[cyanide]] gas. Morbius was challenged to a mind-bending contest by the Doctor and agreed.
[[File:Long way down.jpg|left|thumb|Morbius falls from a cliff. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius]]'')]]
Morbius was apparently winning the contest, but the static build-up left him in a dazed, animalistic state. He didn't speak again, only groaning in agony. Upon leaving Solon's castle, he was chased by the [[Sisterhood of Karn]], surrounded and forced over the edge of a high cliff, apparently falling to his death. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius]]'')
 
=== Vengeance ===
[[Cristophe Zarodnix]] later became the leader of the [[Cult of Morbius]] and bought the planet Karn, forcing the Sisterhood off-world. On Karn, he found a fragment of Morbius' brain and began to look for a Time Lord, so he could extract [[DNA]] to fuse with what was left of Morbius, in order to effect his resurrection. Zarodnix used DNA from the Time Lord agent [[Straxus]] to effect a new [[regeneration]] for Morbius. In his new form, Morbius used a [[stellar manipulator]] to suck the power of the [[Eye of Harmony]], making the Time Lords powerless to stop his conquest. Morbius rebuilt his military forces and spent a decade conquering over ten thousand worlds, but his body was unstable and required frequent gene-splicings (called "feedings") from Straxus.


The [[Eighth Doctor]] and [[Lucie Miller]], who had barely escaped from Gallifrey before Morbius used the stellar manipulator, arrived and worked with Straxus and the cybernetically augmented [[Trell]] policeman [[Rosto]] to steal the remote control for Morbius' stellar manipulator. The Doctor succeeded in taking the control and releasing the Time Lords, who promptly broke the [[Laws of Time]] to prevent Zarodnix's purchase of Karn and Morbius' resurrection; however, at the moment before the [[Timeline]] was rewritten, Morbius and the Doctor fell from the balcony of Morbius' palace. The Time Lords believed the Doctor to be dead, but he was actually transported by the Sisterhood to the planet [[Orbis]]. The timeline in which Morbius had been brought back to life was unmade, with only Lucie Miller and Straxus remembering it. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Vengeance of Morbius]]'')
== Alternative timelines ==
In [[True Lords' timeline|an alternative timeline]], [[Morbius (Annihilation)|Morbius]] was a [[Gallifrey (True Lords' timeline)|Gallifreyan]] who became a [[Great Vampire|Vampire]] and served [[Prydon|Lord Prydon]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Annihilation (audio story)|Annihilation]]'')


== Behind the scenes ==
== Behind the scenes ==
* Morbius was named after a character from the [[1956]] film {{wi|Forbidden Planet}}. ([[INFO]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius]]'')
* Morbius was named after Dr Edward Morbius from the 1956 film ''[[Forbidden Planet (film)|Forbidden Planet]]''. ([[INFO]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]'')
* A different account of Morbius's presidency and its aftermath is given, with slight changes for the sake of copyright, in the ''Faction Paradox'' book ''{{fp|The Book of the War}}'', which is [[Tardis:Valid sources|outside the scope of this wiki]]. In ''The Book of the War'', Morbius is referred to as "{{fp|Imperator|the Imperator}}".
* Morbius was referenced in [[Craig Hinton]] and Chris McKeon's unproduced novel ''[[Time's Champion (unproduced novel)|Time's Champion]]'', a sequel to Hinton's ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'' and ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]''. It was revealed Morbius fathered twin children, the Children of Contempt, with an unknown renegade Time Lady.
* One theory regarding the faces seen during Morbius' battle with the Doctor is that they are in fact Morbius' previous incarnations.
* [[The Imperator]] as featured or mentioned the [[Faction Paradox (series)|''Faction Paradox'' series]] fills the same place in Time Lord history as Morbius, and the authorial intent is clearly that "the Imperator" be read as a title or alias of Morbius. However, as none of the stories featuring the Imperator held the licence to the character or name of Morbius, this Wiki does not acknowledge them to be the same individual.  
 
* The colour of the robes worn by the resurrected Morbius in ''[[The Vengeance of Morbius (audio story)|The Vengeance of Morbius]]'' would suggest that he was a member of the [[Dromeian Chapter]], in contrast to ''[[The Legacy of Gallifrey (short story)|The Legacy of Gallifrey]]'' asserting that he belonged to the [[Patrex Chapter]]. The Imperator, meanwhile, is depicted as a member of [[House Dvora]], a House belonging to the [[Prydonian Chapter]].
== External link ==
{{fpx|Imperator|Imperator}}


== External links ==
{{Presidency}}
{{Presidency}}
{{Time Lords}}
{{Maruthea}}
 
{{NameSort}}
{{NameSort}}
[[Category:Individual Time Lords]]
[[Category:Morbius]]
[[Category:The Ones That Went Mad]]
[[Category:Renegade Time Lords]]
[[Category:Renegade Time Lords]]
[[Category:Time Lord Presidents]]
[[Category:Time Lord Presidents]]
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[[Category:Time Lords who have been to Maruthea]]
[[Category:Resurrected individuals]]
[[Category:Military officers]]
[[Category:Criminals]]
[[Category:Patrexes]]

Latest revision as of 14:13, 21 September 2024

Morbius
Appearances

Morbius was an infamous Time Lord tyrant, (TV: The Brain of Morbius [+]Loading...["The Brain of Morbius (TV story)"]) most notable for starting, and losing, Gallifrey's first-ever Civil War. (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey [+]Loading...["The Legacy of Gallifrey (short story)"], AUDIO: Morbius [+]Loading...["Morbius (audio story)"], etc.) Near the end of his first life, having become a renegade from Gallifrey, he adopted the alias of the General, (PROSE: Warmonger [+]Loading...["Warmonger (novel)"]) a title he continued to claim during his involvement in the Last Great Time War, once listing his names and titles as "Morbius, the General, the Rightful President of Gallifrey, the King of the Foregone, Time's Butcher, Herald of the New Order, the Incalculax Prime". (AUDIO: Morbius the Mighty [+]Loading...["Morbius the Mighty (audio story)"])

His career was the first in millennia to dramatically alter Gallifrey's relations with the wider universe. He attempted to overturn Gallifrey's non-interference policy in favour of military conquest, sparking the Civil War. He failed, was exiled and eventually executed, only to survive, saved by his followers. (TV: The Brain of Morbius [+]Loading...["The Brain of Morbius (TV story)"], etc.)

The dating of Morbius's reign of terror varied between accounts; indeed, by one source, the history of the Civil War was constantly shifting, (AUDIO: Morbius (part 2) [+]Loading...{"part":"2","1":"Morbius (audio story)"}) By one account, the civil war occurred after the Doctor and Susan's escape from Gallifrey, (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius [+]Loading...["Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius (novelisation)"]) while others had Morbius predate the Doctor's generation; (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey [+]Loading...["The Legacy of Gallifrey (short story)"], Warmonger [+]Loading...["Warmonger (novel)"], AUDIO: Morbius [+]Loading...["Morbius (audio story)"]) the Scrolls of Gallifrey written by Postar the Perfidious, which uniquely depicted Rassilon as a rather recent figure relative to the Doctor, indicated that the war had occurred in the generation immediately after Rassilon and the generation immediately before the Doctor. (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey [+]Loading...["The Legacy of Gallifrey (short story)"]) Moreover, The Book of the War described a figure known as the Imperator, whose history largely matched his, as a member of the same "broken generation" of renegade as the likes of the War King, Grandfather Paradox, (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"]) and the Doctor. (PROSE: Lungbarrow [+]Loading...["Lungbarrow (novel)"]) One account of Morbius's activities in the Time War described as both as ancient as Rassilon, and as merely a few "centuries or millennia" before the era of the Time War, also asserting him to have been a contemporary of the Corsair. (AUDIO: Morbius the Mighty [+]Loading...["Morbius the Mighty (audio story)"])

Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]

Incarnations of Morbius[[edit] | [edit source]]

This section's awfully stubby.

Please help by adding some more information.

Alternative timelines[[edit] | [edit source]]

In an alternative timeline, Morbius was a Gallifreyan who became a Vampire and served Lord Prydon. (AUDIO: Annihilation)

Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

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