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{{Infobox Individual
{{Infobox Individual
|image          = TimelessChild1.jpg
|image          = <gallery>
TimelessChild1.jpg|1
TimelessChild2.jpg|2
TimelessChild3.jpg|3
TimelessChild4.jpg|4
TimelessChild5.jpg|5
TimelessChild6.jpg|6
TimelessChild7.jpg|7
</gallery>
|aka            = [[The Doctor]]
|aka            = [[The Doctor]]
|adoptive parent = Tecteun
|adoptive parent = Tecteun
|species        = Timeless Child's species
|species        = Timeless Child's species
|origin          = [[Timeless Child's realm]]
|affiliation    = The Division
|first mention  = The Ghost Monument (TV story)
|first mention  = The Ghost Monument (TV story)
|first          = Spyfall (TV story)
|first          = Spyfall (TV story)
|appearances    = [[TV]]: ''[[Can You Hear Me? (TV story)|Can You Hear Me?]]'', ''[[The Timeless Children (TV story)|The Timeless Children]]''
|appearances    = {{appears}}
|actor          = TBA<!-- do not blank out this section for other performers to show up-->
|other actor    = TBA<!-- do not blank out this section for other performers to show up-->
|other actor2    = Grace Nettle
|other actor2    = Grace Nettle
|other actor3    = Leo Tang
|other actor3    = Leo Tang
|other actor4    = TBA<!-- do not blank out this section for other performers to show up-->
|other actor4    = Jac Jones (actor){{!}}Jac Jones
|other actor5    = TBA<!-- do not blank out this section for other performers to show up-->
|other actor6    = Jesse Deyi
|other actor6    = Jesse Deyi
|clip            = The Doctor's Nightmare? Can You Hear Me? Doctor Who Series 12
|clip            = The Doctor's Nightmare? Can You Hear Me? Doctor Who Series 12
|clip2          = The Timeless Child - REVEALED The Timeless Children Doctor Who Series 12
|clip2          = The Timeless Child - REVEALED The Timeless Children Doctor Who Series 12
}}
}}{{Timeless Children}}
The '''Timeless Child''' was an alias used to refer to incarnations of '''[[the Doctor]]''' before the [[First Doctor]].  
The '''Timeless Child''' was a title used to refer to the mysterious being from whom, across several regenerations, [[First Tecteun|Tecteun's original incarnation]] extracted the secret of [[regeneration]]. According to the images uncovered by the [[Spy Master]], the Timeless Child was recruited by a Time Lord called Solpado into a Time Lord black ops organisation called [[the Division]], whose job it was to intervene in the affairs of other planets and times when necessary. After being tested, the results came back saying they were the best the Division had ever seen. Upon completion of the child's, later known as the Doctor's, service, their memories were redacted and they were forced into the form of a child, who grew up to become the [[First Doctor]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Timeless Children (TV story)}})


== History ==
== History ==
{{doctors}}
=== Discovery ===
According to {{Dhawan}}, the [[Founders of Gallifrey|Founding Fathers]] of [[Gallifrey]] built [[Time Lord]] society on a lie regarding the Timeless Child. This was buried deep within all Time Lords, in the form of repressed [[thought]]s and [[memory|memories]]: hidden, but integral to their [[identity|identities]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Spyfall (TV story)|Spyfall]]'') He later expanded upon this stating that an individual known as the "Timeless Child" was discovered and whose ability to [[Regeneration|regenerate]] was written into the genetic code of [[Time Lord]]s. This history was subsequently hidden, with another explanation, a lie, being given for this ability instead. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Timeless Children (TV story)|The Timeless Children]]'').
The Timeless Child was a being of an [[Timeless Child's species|unknown species]] from an unknown planet, discovered by [[Tecteun]] on [[Planet (The Timeless Children)|another planet]]. The child was stood next to a monument beneath a [[wormhole]] when Tecteun found her, with no context as to why she was alone, yet assumed she had been deposited through the wormhole and was lost. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Timeless Children (TV story)}}) A later [[incarnation]] of [[Tecteun (Once, Upon Time)|Tecteun]] explained that the wormhole led to a universe dubbed [[Universe Two]], and she theorised that this universe might have been or contained the [[Timeless Child's realm]]. The [[Thirteenth Doctor]] was less certain that this was the case, however, as Tecteun had just assumed she was lost, and didn’t investigate as to why she was a foundling. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Survivors of the Flux (TV story)}})


While taunting the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] about her [[fear]]s, [[Remnant]]s on the planet [[Desolation]] looked "further back" into her past and referred to the Timeless Child.
[[The Curator]] speculated that the Child's presence caused an imbalance in the universe, which was corrected by the formation of [[anti-temporal matter]] which would eventually create the [[Solar System]]. ([[GAME]]: {{cs|An Unearthly Power (game)}})


{{simplequote|We see what's hidden even from yourself, the outcast, abandoned and unknown.|[[Remnant]]s|The Ghost Monument (TV story)}}
The child was adopted by the [[First Tecteun]], who discovered the child's power to regenerate after she suffered a fatal fall from a cliff and regenerated before Tecteun's eyes. Tecteun went on to study the child's power for a number of years and regenerations, which led to a total of at least seven incarnations. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Timeless Children (TV story)}}) During this time, the child referred to Tecteun as "Mother", while Tecteun regarded them as her "experiment". ([[TV]]: {{cs|Survivors of the Flux (TV story)}})
When they made the reference, the Doctor was confused and asked them what they were talking about, then angrily told the Remnants to "get out of [her] head". ([[TV]]: ''[[The Ghost Monument (TV story)|The Ghost Monument]]'')


Once the Master learned the truth about the Timeless Child, he ravaged Gallifrey to "make them pay" for what he discovered. He told the Thirteenth Doctor that learning the truth had not been easy for him. When the Master first mentioned the Timeless Child mystery to the Doctor, she got a massive [[headache]] and a flashback to when the Remnants approached her, as well as a glimpse of a child wearing yellow robes and standing outside a tall building under a purple sky. ([[TV]]: ''[[Spyfall (TV story)|Spyfall]]'')
Tecteun was eventually able to work out how to gene splice a piece of Timeless Child’s DNA into her Gallifreyan DNA, which she did after killing herself, successfully regenerating into a new incarnation. The [[Second Tecteun]] eventually spread this power to other [[Shobogan (species)|Shobogans]], who would go on to become Time Lords. He also artificially limited the number of regenerations to a maximum of [[Life cycle|twelve]].


While aboard a [[Zellin's space platform|space platform]] in the [[far future]] owned by [[Zellin]], the Doctor, after having fallen unconscious due to Zellin's powers, dreamed about the vision of the Timeless Child while the Master's message to her echoed in her mind. In this scenario she was actively present in the vision. ([[TV]]: ''[[Can You Hear Me? (TV story)|Can You Hear Me?]]'')
In the process, the Timeless Child became the genetic template upon which all Time Lords were modelled, giving them their characteristic regenerative abilities. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Timeless Children (TV story)}})


The Timeless Child was eventually revealed by the Master to be a child discovered on [[Planet (The Timeless Children)|another planet]] who had the power to [[regenerate]] infinitely who had come through a gateway from another universe or dimension. The child was adopted by Tecteun who discovered her power to regenerate after she suffered a fatal fall from a cliff, leading to Tecteun studying the child's power for a number of years and regenerations. Tecteun was eventually able to replicate the regenerative ability for herself and eventually spread it to the other Time Lords, though they limited their number of regenerations to twelve. In the process, the Timeless Child became the genetic template upon which all Time Lords gained their regenerative powers, in effect meaning that a piece of the child is in each Time Lord.
=== Service to the Division ===
According to the [[Spy Master]], Tecteun and the child were inducted into a clandestine organisation called [[the Division]], led by a Time Lord called [[Solpado]], whose job it was to intervene in time when necessary. After being tested, the results came back saying they were the best the Division had ever seen. Upon completion of the child's, later known as the Doctor's, service, their memories were redacted and they were forced into the form of a child, who grew up to become the [[First Doctor]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Timeless Children (TV story)}})


The Master revealed to the Doctor that the Timeless Child was in fact [[the Doctor]] themselves who apparently had her memories redacted. This was the Master's reason for why he ravaged Gallifrey, anger in the fact that every Time Lord, including him, had a piece of the Doctor in them. In addition, large portions of [[the Matrix]] on Gallifrey pertaining to the life of the Timeless Child were also redacted beyond even the Master's ability to recover it. However, Tecteun hid some of the truth in the Matrix in the form of the story of [[Brendan Bildbriain|Brendan]], an immortal Irish policeman. The Master suggested that this was an attempt by Tecteun to apologize or possibly a gift meant to help her child one day decode the truth of their existence. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Timeless Children (TV story)|The Timeless Children]]'')
== Legacy ==
[[Richard Francis Burton]] once guessed that the [[Great House]]s ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Book of the War (novel)|The Book of the War]]'') of the Time Lords ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'', et al.) had achieved the power of regeneration by modifying themselves with the "taint" of the [[Yssgaroth]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Book of the War (novel)|The Book of the War]]'') much like how the account involving [[Tecteun]] and the Timeless Child involved the former taking biodata from the child and applying it to Time Lord DNA. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Timeless Children (TV story)}}) Indeed, the vampires active in the universe were searching for a [[Child-That-Was-Taken]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Out of the Box (short story)|Out of the Box]]'')


== Appearance ==
According to the [[Spy Master]], the [[Founders of Gallifrey|Founding Fathers]] of [[Gallifrey]] built [[Time Lord]] society on a [[Lying|lie]] regarding the Timeless Child. This was buried deep within all Time Lords, in the form of repressed [[thought]]s and [[memory|memories]]: hidden, but integral to their [[identity|identities]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Spyfall (TV story)}}) He later expanded upon this stating that an individual known as the "Timeless Child" was discovered and whose ability to [[Regeneration|regenerate]] was written into the genetic code of [[Time Lord]]s. This history was subsequently hidden, with another explanation being given for this ability instead. This was the [[mythology]] all Time Lords believed was their [[history]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Timeless Children (TV story)}})
=== First incarnation ===
She looked like a young dark-skinned girl with brown eyes and short black curly hair.


She wore a reflective scales-patterned ray robe with a brwon sash. Over it she wore an open gown of similar pattern with wide cuffs, square button and safran yellow back fabric
To contain the secret, large portions of [[the Matrix]] on [[Gallifrey]] pertaining to the life of the Timeless Child were redacted, beyond the Master's ability to recover them, even after the fall of Gallifrey. However, [[Tecteun]] hid some of the truth in the Matrix in the form of the story of [[Brendan (Ascension of the Cybermen)|Brendan]], an immortal Irish policeman. The Master suggested that this was an attempt by Tecteun to apologise, or possibly meant as a gift, to help her child one day work out the truth of their existence. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Timeless Children (TV story)}}) A later [[incarnation]] of [[Tecteun (Once, Upon Time)|Tecteun]] told the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] she did not wish them to find out, however, as she feared the Doctor's reaction. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Survivors of the Flux (TV story)}})


=== Second incarnation ===
[[Iris Wildthyme]] remarked that the Time Lords knew far more about the Doctor than he realised "They" did, saying that the [[Third Doctor]] was [[Exile on Earth|exiled]] to the planet [[Earth]] because of "the stuff" in his past "that's meant to be secret". As she put it, "They" knew he had "a history", including details about his "past lives", and "a destiny to fulfill". The Doctor appeared totally bewildered when Iris said "They" knew "more about your past lives than you even think". Ultimately, he claimed he had no idea what she was referring to. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Verdigris (novel)|Verdigris]]'')
She looked like a young seemingly East Asian girl with long straight black hair and brown eyes.


She wore the same garments as her immediate predecessor.
While taunting the Thirteenth Doctor about her [[fear]]s, [[Remnant]]s on the planet [[Desolation]] looked "further back" into her past and referred to the Timeless Child. When they made the reference, the Doctor was confused and asked them what they were talking about, then angrily told the Remnants to "get out of [her] head". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Ghost Monument (TV story)}})


=== Third incarnation ===
{{simplequote|We see what's hidden even from yourself, the outcast, abandoned and unknown.|[[Remnant]]s|The Ghost Monument (TV story)}}
She looked like a young fair-skinned girl with blonde hair of shoulder length braided style.


She wore black leggings and a pale green robe with dark green sash and high collar.
Once the Master learned the truth about the Timeless Child, he ravaged Gallifrey to "make them pay" for what he discovered. He told the Thirteenth Doctor that learning the truth had not been easy for him. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Spyfall (TV story)}}) He was enraged that every Time Lord had a piece of the Doctor in them, including him.


=== Fourth incarnation ===
On Gallifrey, he told the Thirteenth Doctor the truth about her past. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Timeless Children (TV story)}}) She suffered an identity crisis for a number of years while carrying out a prison sentence in the [[Judoon prison]] - but upon breaking free, she rediscovered herself during her [[Security Drone Incident|next battle]] with the [[Dalek]]s, ([[TV]]: {{cs|Revolution of the Daleks (TV story)}}) who had been central to the formation of the [[First Doctor]]'s identity. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Magician's Apprentice (TV story)}})
He looked like a young apparently Chinese boy with short black hair covering his forehead and black eyes.


He wore black leggings and a pale green robe with dark green sash and high collar.
The Doctor would continue to pursue information about her lost past, however, by searching for the last known member of the Division, [[Karvanista]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Halloween Apocalypse (TV story)}}) After [[the Flux]] damaged the [[Temple of Atropos]], the Doctor relived the [[Siege of Atropos]] from the [[Fugitive Doctor]]'s perspective and encountered a later incarnation of Tecteun within [[the Doctor's time stream|her own time stream]] during her attempt to remedy the [[time storm]] she found herself in. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Once, Upon Time (TV story)}}) It was later when the Doctor was recalled to Division by the [[Weeping Angels]] that Tecteun confirmed the story of how she found the Timeless Child. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Survivors of the Flux (TV story)}})


=== Fifth incarnation ===
Later, the [[Ravager (The Halloween Apocalypse)|Ravager]] {{Spruell}} presented the Doctor to [[Time (mythology)|Time]] as a sacrifice, proclaiming her as "the Timeless Child" and "the first Time Lord". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Vanquishers (TV story)}}) By the time of his [[Fourteenth Doctor|fourteenth incarnation]], the Doctor remained shaken by his discovery that he was not from Gallifrey. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)}}) Shortly afterwards, [[the Toymaker]] later claimed to the Doctor that "[he] made a jigsaw out of [his] history". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Giggle (TV story)}})
He looked like a young fair-skinned boy with brown short hair covering his forehead.


He wore black leggings and a grey-blue robe with white sash and high collar.
By the time he was in his [[Fifteenth Doctor|fifteenth incarnation]], the Doctor remarked that, like [[Ruby Sunday]], he was adopted and did not know who his birth parents were, indicating that the subject still weighed on his mind. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)}})


=== Sixth incarnation ===
== Behind the scenes ==
She looked like a young girl with brown styled hair.
* ''[[Out of the Box (short story)|Out of the Box]]''{{'}}s mention of a "[[Child-That-Was-Taken]]" referenced the fan theory that the Timeless Child originated from the [[Spiral Yssgaroth]] and her abduction by [[Tecteun]] was the reason for the [[Eternal War]] between the [[Great Vampire]]s and Gallifrey. Author [[Aristide Twain]] explained that for both creative and legal reasons, this suggestion wasn't meant to be definitive: "If you’d rather believe the Child-That-Was-Taken is something else entirely, who am I to stop you?"<ref>[https://aristidetwain.tumblr.com/post/674377997514637313/brainwormsofdune-if-you-go-with-the-the-timeless Aristide Twain on Tumblr, 2022]</ref>
* In the [[in-vision commentary]] for ''[[The Giggle (TV story)|The Giggle]]'', [[Russell T Davies]] goes into detail about the Toymaker's line on making a "jigsaw" out of the Doctor's history, saying it was ''"part of the loosening of the rules. The Doctor first - you know, was he half human when he was Paul McGann? You know, is he a Timeless Child? It just relaxes the rules to say he is whoever you want him to be. That could be the Toymaker's puzzle. That could be inferred, or it's all true, and it is all true, but it just opens up the canon a bit, you know?"'' When asked by [[SFX (magazine)|SFX magazine]] if he would be retconning the Timeless Child storyline, Davies said, ''"Let's stare that question right in the eye. I'm not going to unwrite my good friend Chris Chibnall's work on The Timeless Children. I'm not going to deny what he wrote. I'm going with it. Its absolutely fine."''


She wore black leggings and a grey-blue robe with white sash and high collar.
== Footnotes ==
 
{{reflist}}
=== Seventh incarnation ===
{{Founders of Gallifrey}}
He looked like a teen dark skinned male with black hair styled into a short hi-top.
[[cs:Věčné dítě]]
[[Ru:Вечное дитя]]


He wore a cream dress with high collar and a scarlet gown with high collar over it.
[[cs:Věčné dítě]]
[[Category:Fears]]
[[Category:Fears]]
[[Category:Time Lord history]]
[[Category:Founders of Gallifrey]]
[[Category:Secrets]]
[[Category:Secrets]]
[[Category:Incarnations of the Doctor]]
[[Category:Incarnations of the Doctor]]
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[[Category:Other dimension individuals]]
[[Category:Other dimension individuals]]
[[Category:Gallifreyans with incarnations of varied genders]]
[[Category:Gallifreyans with incarnations of varied genders]]
[[Category:Members of the Division]]

Latest revision as of 13:38, 13 September 2024

Timeless Child
Appearances

The Timeless Child was a title used to refer to the mysterious being from whom, across several regenerations, Tecteun's original incarnation extracted the secret of regeneration. According to the images uncovered by the Spy Master, the Timeless Child was recruited by a Time Lord called Solpado into a Time Lord black ops organisation called the Division, whose job it was to intervene in the affairs of other planets and times when necessary. After being tested, the results came back saying they were the best the Division had ever seen. Upon completion of the child's, later known as the Doctor's, service, their memories were redacted and they were forced into the form of a child, who grew up to become the First Doctor. (TV: The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"])

History[[edit] | [edit source]]

Discovery[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Timeless Child was a being of an unknown species from an unknown planet, discovered by Tecteun on another planet. The child was stood next to a monument beneath a wormhole when Tecteun found her, with no context as to why she was alone, yet assumed she had been deposited through the wormhole and was lost. (TV: The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"]) A later incarnation of Tecteun explained that the wormhole led to a universe dubbed Universe Two, and she theorised that this universe might have been or contained the Timeless Child's realm. The Thirteenth Doctor was less certain that this was the case, however, as Tecteun had just assumed she was lost, and didn’t investigate as to why she was a foundling. (TV: Survivors of the Flux [+]Loading...["Survivors of the Flux (TV story)"])

The Curator speculated that the Child's presence caused an imbalance in the universe, which was corrected by the formation of anti-temporal matter which would eventually create the Solar System. (GAME: An Unearthly Power [+]Loading...["An Unearthly Power (game)"])

The child was adopted by the First Tecteun, who discovered the child's power to regenerate after she suffered a fatal fall from a cliff and regenerated before Tecteun's eyes. Tecteun went on to study the child's power for a number of years and regenerations, which led to a total of at least seven incarnations. (TV: The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"]) During this time, the child referred to Tecteun as "Mother", while Tecteun regarded them as her "experiment". (TV: Survivors of the Flux [+]Loading...["Survivors of the Flux (TV story)"])

Tecteun was eventually able to work out how to gene splice a piece of Timeless Child’s DNA into her Gallifreyan DNA, which she did after killing herself, successfully regenerating into a new incarnation. The Second Tecteun eventually spread this power to other Shobogans, who would go on to become Time Lords. He also artificially limited the number of regenerations to a maximum of twelve.

In the process, the Timeless Child became the genetic template upon which all Time Lords were modelled, giving them their characteristic regenerative abilities. (TV: The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"])

Service to the Division[[edit] | [edit source]]

According to the Spy Master, Tecteun and the child were inducted into a clandestine organisation called the Division, led by a Time Lord called Solpado, whose job it was to intervene in time when necessary. After being tested, the results came back saying they were the best the Division had ever seen. Upon completion of the child's, later known as the Doctor's, service, their memories were redacted and they were forced into the form of a child, who grew up to become the First Doctor. (TV: The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"])

Legacy[[edit] | [edit source]]

Richard Francis Burton once guessed that the Great Houses (PROSE: The Book of the War) of the Time Lords (PROSE: Lungbarrow, et al.) had achieved the power of regeneration by modifying themselves with the "taint" of the Yssgaroth, (PROSE: The Book of the War) much like how the account involving Tecteun and the Timeless Child involved the former taking biodata from the child and applying it to Time Lord DNA. (TV: The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"]) Indeed, the vampires active in the universe were searching for a Child-That-Was-Taken. (PROSE: Out of the Box)

According to the Spy Master, the Founding Fathers of Gallifrey built Time Lord society on a lie regarding the Timeless Child. This was buried deep within all Time Lords, in the form of repressed thoughts and memories: hidden, but integral to their identities. (TV: Spyfall [+]Loading...["Spyfall (TV story)"]) He later expanded upon this stating that an individual known as the "Timeless Child" was discovered and whose ability to regenerate was written into the genetic code of Time Lords. This history was subsequently hidden, with another explanation being given for this ability instead. This was the mythology all Time Lords believed was their history. (TV: The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"])

To contain the secret, large portions of the Matrix on Gallifrey pertaining to the life of the Timeless Child were redacted, beyond the Master's ability to recover them, even after the fall of Gallifrey. However, Tecteun hid some of the truth in the Matrix in the form of the story of Brendan, an immortal Irish policeman. The Master suggested that this was an attempt by Tecteun to apologise, or possibly meant as a gift, to help her child one day work out the truth of their existence. (TV: The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"]) A later incarnation of Tecteun told the Thirteenth Doctor she did not wish them to find out, however, as she feared the Doctor's reaction. (TV: Survivors of the Flux [+]Loading...["Survivors of the Flux (TV story)"])

Iris Wildthyme remarked that the Time Lords knew far more about the Doctor than he realised "They" did, saying that the Third Doctor was exiled to the planet Earth because of "the stuff" in his past "that's meant to be secret". As she put it, "They" knew he had "a history", including details about his "past lives", and "a destiny to fulfill". The Doctor appeared totally bewildered when Iris said "They" knew "more about your past lives than you even think". Ultimately, he claimed he had no idea what she was referring to. (PROSE: Verdigris)

While taunting the Thirteenth Doctor about her fears, Remnants on the planet Desolation looked "further back" into her past and referred to the Timeless Child. When they made the reference, the Doctor was confused and asked them what they were talking about, then angrily told the Remnants to "get out of [her] head". (TV: The Ghost Monument [+]Loading...["The Ghost Monument (TV story)"])

"We see what's hidden even from yourself, the outcast, abandoned and unknown."Remnants [src]

Once the Master learned the truth about the Timeless Child, he ravaged Gallifrey to "make them pay" for what he discovered. He told the Thirteenth Doctor that learning the truth had not been easy for him. (TV: Spyfall [+]Loading...["Spyfall (TV story)"]) He was enraged that every Time Lord had a piece of the Doctor in them, including him.

On Gallifrey, he told the Thirteenth Doctor the truth about her past. (TV: The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"]) She suffered an identity crisis for a number of years while carrying out a prison sentence in the Judoon prison - but upon breaking free, she rediscovered herself during her next battle with the Daleks, (TV: Revolution of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Revolution of the Daleks (TV story)"]) who had been central to the formation of the First Doctor's identity. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice [+]Loading...["The Magician's Apprentice (TV story)"])

The Doctor would continue to pursue information about her lost past, however, by searching for the last known member of the Division, Karvanista. (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse [+]Loading...["The Halloween Apocalypse (TV story)"]) After the Flux damaged the Temple of Atropos, the Doctor relived the Siege of Atropos from the Fugitive Doctor's perspective and encountered a later incarnation of Tecteun within her own time stream during her attempt to remedy the time storm she found herself in. (TV: Once, Upon Time [+]Loading...["Once, Upon Time (TV story)"]) It was later when the Doctor was recalled to Division by the Weeping Angels that Tecteun confirmed the story of how she found the Timeless Child. (TV: Survivors of the Flux [+]Loading...["Survivors of the Flux (TV story)"])

Later, the Ravager Swarm presented the Doctor to Time as a sacrifice, proclaiming her as "the Timeless Child" and "the first Time Lord". (TV: The Vanquishers [+]Loading...["The Vanquishers (TV story)"]) By the time of his fourteenth incarnation, the Doctor remained shaken by his discovery that he was not from Gallifrey. (TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"]) Shortly afterwards, the Toymaker later claimed to the Doctor that "[he] made a jigsaw out of [his] history". (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])

By the time he was in his fifteenth incarnation, the Doctor remarked that, like Ruby Sunday, he was adopted and did not know who his birth parents were, indicating that the subject still weighed on his mind. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"])

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

  • Out of the Box's mention of a "Child-That-Was-Taken" referenced the fan theory that the Timeless Child originated from the Spiral Yssgaroth and her abduction by Tecteun was the reason for the Eternal War between the Great Vampires and Gallifrey. Author Aristide Twain explained that for both creative and legal reasons, this suggestion wasn't meant to be definitive: "If you’d rather believe the Child-That-Was-Taken is something else entirely, who am I to stop you?"[1]
  • In the in-vision commentary for The Giggle, Russell T Davies goes into detail about the Toymaker's line on making a "jigsaw" out of the Doctor's history, saying it was "part of the loosening of the rules. The Doctor first - you know, was he half human when he was Paul McGann? You know, is he a Timeless Child? It just relaxes the rules to say he is whoever you want him to be. That could be the Toymaker's puzzle. That could be inferred, or it's all true, and it is all true, but it just opens up the canon a bit, you know?" When asked by SFX magazine if he would be retconning the Timeless Child storyline, Davies said, "Let's stare that question right in the eye. I'm not going to unwrite my good friend Chris Chibnall's work on The Timeless Children. I'm not going to deny what he wrote. I'm going with it. Its absolutely fine."

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ Aristide Twain on Tumblr, 2022
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