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{{Infobox Individual
{{Infobox Individual
|image         = The Corsair Old Friends.jpg
|image       = The Corsair (Old Friends).jpg
|species       = Time Lord
|species     = Time Lord  
|origin       = [[Gallifrey]]
|origin     = [[Gallifrey]]
|first mention = The Doctor's Wife (TV story)
|first       = Old Friends (comic story)
|only          = Old Friends (comic story)
|appearances = [[COMIC]]: ''[[Alternating Current (comic story)|Alternating Current]]''
}}
}}{{Corsairs}}
'''The Corsair''' was a [[Time Lord]] adventurer and an old friend of [[the Doctor]], described by the [[Eleventh Doctor]] as "one of the good ones." The Corsair changed gender a few times throughout their many incarnations. The Doctor noted with fondness that when the Corsair was female, "she was a bad girl." ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife (TV story)|The Doctor's Wife]]'')
The '''Sixth Corsair''' was an incarnation of the [[renegade Time Lord]] known as [[the Corsair]] who shared several out-of-sequence meetings with the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] and the rest of [[Team TARDIS]].


== Biography ==
== Biography ==
=== Early life ===
[[File:The Doctor and the Corsair.jpg|thumb|left|The Corsair embraces the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] after deducing her identity. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Old Friends (comic story)|Old Friends]]'')]]
Like all [[Time Lord]]s, the Corsair was taken from their family at the age of eight, for the selection process in the [[Drylands]]. Staring into the [[Untempered Schism]] as part of a Time Lord initiation rite, the Corsair reacted by running away from what they saw in the Schism. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Brief History of Time Lords (novel)|A Brief History of Time Lords]]'')
This incarnation of the Corsair stole the [[Gem of Niag]] from the [[Devivian]]s to return it to the people of [[Pppppppppppplun]] on the behalf of a third party who put out a Want Ad for her services, in actuality [[the Hoarder]]. She intentionally allowed the organ scan to detect her as an alien, in hopes of luring the Doctor. The [[Thirteenth Doctor]] was arrested instead of the Corsair because she had a similar [[binary vascular system]] and, along with her companions [[Graham O'Brien|Graham]], [[Yasmin Khan|Yaz]], and [[Ryan Sinclair|Ryan]], tracked down the Corsair to a pub on another planet with [[The Corsair's TARDIS|her TARDIS]].


Each one of the Corsair's incarnations had the symbol of the [[Ouroboros]] [[tattoo]]ed somewhere on their body. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife (TV story)|The Doctor's Wife]]'')
At first, the Corsair didn't recognise the Doctor because of her new incarnation, and when the Doctor reminded the Corsair about one of their last encounters which saw them waking up drunk in a bank vault, the Corsair remarked that didn't narrow it down for her. After recognising the Doctor from her destroying the killgun of an alien, holding another at gunpoint, and fighting through a pub brawl with a sword, the Corsair explained her actions to the Doctor over tea, complimenting the Doctor's more heroic behaviour as something she was aspiring to. She then confessed that she needed the Doctor's help with a heist of sorts. After taking time to think over it, the Doctor agreed and asked about the job. The Corsair briefed them, the team infiltrated [[Raddplina]] to rescue a [[star whale]]. Once the whale was placed in a [[stellar net]] attached to [[the Doctor's TARDIS]], the Corsair insisted they left to escape guards, leaving the Doctor’s friends behind. They took the whale to the Hoarder, who revealed his true intent as a collector and had them imprisoned. The Corsair and the Doctor had a proper talk whilst in a cage, which the Doctor then revealed they could easily escape from using her sonic screwdriver. They returned to her TARDIS, with the Corsair taking care of some of Hoarder’s drones herself, and rescued the Doctor’s friends. The Doctor then contacted the [[Time Agency]] to arrest the Hoarder and free the whale, though the Corsair insisted her name was kept out of it as the Agency knew all about her. With the whale freed, the Doctor took the Corsair back to her TARDIS, advising her to find some friends to travel with, knowing her ultimate fate and privately hoping to not be the only one to remember her. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Old Friends (comic story)|Old Friends]]'')


At least one of the Corsair's incarnations was female. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Keeping up with the Joneses (short story)|Keeping up with the Joneses]]'') The [[Fourth Doctor]] once said to [[Romana II]] that he should meet up with the Corsair sometime, referring to the Corsair as both a man and woman when he did so. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Shada (novelisation)|Shada]]'') According to the [[Eleventh Doctor]], the Corsair was a woman a couple of times, saying she was "a bad girl" each time. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife (TV story)|The Doctor's Wife]]'')
The Corsair later reunited with Graham, Ryan and Yaz in [[2020]] whilst the Doctor had left them briefly to fix a problem in her timeline. She greeted the Doctor upon her return. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Alternating Current (comic story)|Alternating Current]]'')


According to the [[Ninth Doctor]], the Corsair kept a [[sub-dimensional void]] in a [[hatbox]] in [[23rd century]] [[Swindon]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Weapons of Past Destruction (comic story)|Weapons of Past Destruction]]'')
== Appearance ==
This incarnation was a dark-haired woman with [[blue]] eyes. She wore a [[black]] vest, an [[ivory]] [[shirt]] with frilly sleeves, [[Emerald (colour)|emerald]] [[green]] [[breeches]], and black [[Boot|boots]]. Her [[Ouroboros tattoo]] was located on her left [[wrist]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Old Friends (comic story)|Old Friends]]'')


The Corsair and the Doctor have ended up in jail cells on more than one occasion. The [[Thirteenth Doctor]] noted the last time the two of them had a drink together, the Doctor woke up in a [[bank]] vault. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Old Friends (comic story)|Old Friends]]'')
=== Skills ===
 
This incarnation showed talents with thievery, and also proficient at [[Sword|sword fighting]], and wields a [[rapier]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Old Friends (comic story)|Old Friends]]'')
=== Meeting the Thirteenth Doctor ===
[[File:The Doctor and the Corsair.jpg|thumb|The Corsair embraces the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] after deducing her identity. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Old Friends (comic story)|Old Friends]]'')]]
One incarnation of the Corsair was a dark-haired woman who wore pirate clothing and was proficient at swordfighting. Her Ouroboros tattoo was located on her left wrist. She stole the [[Gem of Niag]] from the [[Devivian]]s to return it to the people of [[Pppppppppppplun]] on the behalf of a third party. She intentionally allowed the organ scan to detect her as an alien, at the request of her employer. The [[Thirteenth Doctor]] was arrested in her place with her similar [[binary vascular system]]. The Corsair went to a pub on another planet with [[The Corsair's TARDIS|her TARDIS]] where she was found by the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] and her companions [[Graham O'Brien|Graham]], [[Yasmin Khan|Yaz]], and [[Ryan Sinclair|Ryan]].
 
After recognizing the Doctor from her destroying the killgun of an alien holding another at gunpoint and fighting through a pub brawl with a sword, the Corsair explained her actions to the Doctor over tea, complimenting the Doctor's more heroic behavior as something she was aspiring to. She then confessed that she needed the Doctor's help with a a heist of sorts. After taking time to think over it, the Doctor agreed and asked about the job. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Old Friends (comic story)|Old Friends]]'')
 
=== Death ===
[[File:Eleventh-doctor-holds-hypercube.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Eleventh Doctor]] receives the Corsair's [[hypercube]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife (TV story)|The Doctor's Wife]]'')]]
The final incarnation of the Corsair was described by [[Auntie (The Doctor's Wife)|Auntie]], a composite [[humanoid]] servant of [[House (The Doctor's Wife)|House]], as "a strapping big bloke". She was a good authority on the matter; after all, she had the Corsair's left [[arm]] stitched onto her torso in place of her own, while the other composite humanoid slave, "[[Uncle (The Doctor's Wife)|Uncle]]", received "the [[spine]] and the [[kidney]]s". The Corsair went the way of House's numerous other Time Lord victims who had fallen into House's [[bubble universe]] and was marooned when [[The Corsair's TARDIS|his TARDIS]] was drained of energy. The Corsair had only just enough time to get a message together before he was finally killed.
 
The Eleventh Doctor discovered the Corsair's fate after being contacted by a [[hypercube]] with their peculiar Ouroboros symbol and following its [[psychic]]ally encoded distress message to House. He eventually discovered the Corsair's remains in Auntie and Uncle; this and the stockpile of hypercubes House used as bait cemented his fury in confronting and defeating House with [[Idris]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife (TV story)|The Doctor's Wife]]'')
 
== Legacy ==
In one account of events of the rediscovery of [[Shada (prison)|Shada]], the [[Fourth Doctor]] mentioned the Corsair while he and [[Romana II]] mused over Time Lords who broke with traditional Gallifreyan inactivity, considering him "one of the good 'uns" and desiring to catch up with her. ([[PROSE]]: [[Shada (novelisation)|''Shada'']])
 
During one adventure, while pushing a heavy crate, the Eleventh Doctor said that if he kept up this habit, he would develop big arms like the Corsair. ([[GAME]]: ''[[The Eternity Clock (video game)|The Eternity Clock]]'')


== Behind the scenes ==
== Behind the scenes ==
=== The Brilliant Book 2012 ===
[[File:The Corsair's Ouroboros tattoo Old Friends.jpg|thumb|The Corsair's [[Ouroboros tattoo]] on her left wrist. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Old Friends (comic story)|Old Friends]]'')]]The sixth incarnation of the Corsair, with her trademark tattoo on the left wrist, was one of those who did not previously appear in ''[[Eleven Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Corsair (short story)|Eleven Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Corsair]]''. [[Neil Gaiman]] confirmed on Tumblr that this incarnation was intended to be the Sixth Corsair, as confirmed by [[Jody Houser]] herself.<ref>https://twitter.com/neilhimself/status/1325637673508364293</ref> Although this is not explicitly stated in ''[[Old Friend (comic story)|Old Friend]]'', it can be deduced from narrative clues:
In ''[[The Brilliant Book 2012]]'', a book that contains [[Tardis:Valid sources|non-narrative]] information, [[Neil Gaiman]] provided more information in "Eleven Things You Probably Didn’t Know About The Corsair". Artist [[Roberta Ingranata]] confirmned these details influenced her work on [[COMIC]]: ''[[Old Friends (comic story)|Old Friends]]''.<ref>https://twitter.com/Robbertopoli/status/1142438683217473537</ref>
* The [[Seventh Corsair]] remembers her meetings with the Thirteenth Doctor in ''[[One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes (short story)|One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes]]'', placing ''Old Friends'' somewhere between the first and sixth incarnations of the Corsair;
 
* In ''[[Old Friends (comic story)|Old Friends]]'', the events during which the Doctor and the Corsair waking up in a bank vault and in jail are referenced as part of their past; ''Eleven Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Corsair'' stated that those were among the Doctor's adventures with the [[Fourth Corsair|Fourth]], [[Fifth Corsair|Fifth]] and [[Eighth Corsair|Eighth]] Corsairs, thus making it impossible for the ''Old Friends'' Corsair to be the First, Second or Third Corsair;
==== Incarnations ====
* ''[[Eleven Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Corsair (short story)|Eleven Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Corsair]]'' gives tattoo placements other than the left wrist for the Fifth Corsair and Fourth Corsair, leaving only the Sixth Corsair as a possible identity for the ''Old Friends'' incarnation.
Specific attributes and details about the Corsair's incarnations are provided:
 
* Third Corsair: Had a multi-coloured Ouroboros tattoo on their back, the largest version of the tattoo.
* Fourth Corsair: Male incarnation who got drunk with the Doctor.
* Fifth Corsair: Female incarnation who got drunk with the Doctor. She had the smalled Ouroboros tattoo the size of a ten pence piece on her upper thigh.
* Seventh Corsair: Female incarnation who had an unclear involvement with the Daleks on Clarkor Nine.
* Eighth Corsair: Male incarnation who got drunk with the Doctor.
* Ninth Corsair: Male incarnation trapped by [[House (The Doctor's Wife)|House]] during the Fourth Universal Survey Expedition. He was a "strapping big bloke" with his tattoo on his inner left wrist.
 
[[File:The Corsair's incarnations.jpg|thumb|Seven of the Corsair's incarnations. (''[[The Brilliant Book 2012]]'')]]
 
Additionally, seven images of the Corsair's incarnations are provided, albeit unnumbered:
 
* A bearded man with a top hat. Tattoo on the back of the neck.
* A person with a bowler hat and a cane topped with an hourglass. Ouroboros on the back of the trenchcoat.
* Light-skinned arm with a [[sonic screwdriver]]-like device. Tattoo on the inside left wrist. (Closest match to the Corsair's arm in ''The Doctor's Wife''.)
* A dark-haired woman in a black dress. Tattoo on the upper back.
* A dark-skinned arm with a parrot. Tattoo on the back right wrist.
* A person wearing a black coat and a tricorn hat.
* Dark-haired woman in red Gallifreyan robes and collar. Tattoo on lower right thigh.
 
==== Other details ====
[[The Corsair's TARDIS]] looked like a pirate ship whenever it was practical and sometimes when it was impractical.
 
The [[Ouroboros]] tattoo trademark of the Corsair — a [[snake]] eating its own tail, symbolising eternity — moved around the Corsair's body with each regeneration.
 
The Corsair's final adventure was when he was working on the Time Lords' Fourth Universal Survey. He was in his ninth incarnation when House killed him.
 
The Doctor and Corsair had many adventures together, getting drunk in the Corsair's fourth, fifth, and eighth incarnations. Twice they woke up in jail and once in the [[Bank of England]] vaults.


Amongst their secret missions for the Time Lords, the Corsair stole the Callisto Pulse from the Callistan Kleptocracy. The Corsair denied stealing it and Time Lords denied asking him to steal it.
Artist [[Roberta Ingranata]] confirmed details from ''Eleven Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Corsair'' influenced her work on this new incarnation in ''Old Friends''.<ref>https://twitter.com/Robbertopoli/status/1142438683217473537</ref> The Corsair's pirate ship TARDIS, not travelling with companions, the drinking with the Doctor, and waking up in a bank vault were acknowledged in the comic story. The Sixth Corsair was inspired by the actress {{w|Julianna Margulies}}.<ref>https://twitter.com/robbertopoli/status/1152277067121270784</ref>
 
The Seventh Corsair had an unclear involvement with Daleks that left them with their arms removed and fused together in a rude Skarosian shape.
 
They visited [[Earth]] several times. He was once worshipped as a [[god]] by the [[Assyria]]ns but left with the sacred temple cat after getting bored.
 
No matter which race or gender, the Corsair had an amazing and trustworthy smile.
 
The Corsair preferred to travel alone, but liked having a cat or a [[parrot]] on his TARDIS.
 
The Corsair was formally censured by the Time Lords after they may have been linked to the theft of the Portrait of Rassilon. This was overturned by [[Lord President|Lady President]] [[Flavia]], perhaps due to the Corsair's smile.
 
=== Other matters ===
* The Corsair was not the only Time Lord to bear a snake tattoo on their arm. Whereas the Corsair tattooed an ouroboros on each of their new bodies, the [[Third Doctor]] had a tattoo of a snake in the shape of a question mark on his right arm. ([[TV]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space (TV story)|Spearhead from Space]]'')
* On his blog, ''[[The Doctor's Wife (TV story)|The Doctor's Wife]]'' scriptwriter [[Neil Gaiman]] stated that before he began writing the first draft, he wanted to make sure the idea of the Corsair was okay with series [[show runner]] [[Steven Moffat]] before he became fixed in the story, so he sent him an email with a piece of dialogue between the Doctor and [[Amy Pond]] in which the Doctor discussed the Corsair. In this draft, the Doctor explained that the Corsair did not have a name and used to travel, exploring the limits of [[time]] and [[space]]. The Doctor said that when he was twelve he had asked the Corsair if he could travel with him and act as his "[[companion|assistant]]", but the Corsair had just laughed. Moffat replied that he wanted the Corsair to be less like the Doctor because the Doctor "does what he does for reasons too vast and terrible to relate." <ref>[http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2011/06/fairly-humongous-doctor-who-q-mostly.html Neil Gaiman's Journal: A Fairly Humongous Doctor Who Q&A Mostly]</ref>
* According to Neil Gaiman, [[Russell T Davies]] saw the image of the Corsair's arm with a parrot and liked the idea that [[The Shopkeeper (Lost in Time)|the Shopkeeper]] from [[Sarah Jane Adventures]] episode ''[[Lost in Time (TV story)|Lost in Time]]'' was actually the Time Lord known as the Corsair, although no in-scene references have been made.<ref>[http://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/30786184930/eleven-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the Neil Gaiman's Journal: Eleven Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Corsair]</ref>
* The Corsair, being the first confirmed example of a [[Time Lord]] changing [[gender]]s on [[regeneration]], was frequently cited in media and online discussions in 2013 as to whether any future incarnation of the Doctor could be played by a woman. The Doctor would not get a female incarnation until 2017, with [[Jodie Whittaker]]'s [[Thirteenth Doctor]].
* The Corsair's [[hypercube]], with [[Ouroboros]] motif, was among the variants of toy hypercube produced by [[Character Options]].


== Footnotes ==
== Footnotes ==
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[[Category:Individual Time Lords]]
 
[[Category:Residents of Gallifrey]]
[[Category:Residents of Gallifrey]]
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[[Category:Thieves]]
[[Category:TARDIS pilots]]
[[Category:Time Lords who have been inside the Doctor's TARDIS]]
[[Category:Incarnations of the Corsair| 06]]

Latest revision as of 04:24, 10 October 2024

The Sixth Corsair was an incarnation of the renegade Time Lord known as the Corsair who shared several out-of-sequence meetings with the Thirteenth Doctor and the rest of Team TARDIS.

Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Corsair embraces the Thirteenth Doctor after deducing her identity. (COMIC: Old Friends)

This incarnation of the Corsair stole the Gem of Niag from the Devivians to return it to the people of Pppppppppppplun on the behalf of a third party who put out a Want Ad for her services, in actuality the Hoarder. She intentionally allowed the organ scan to detect her as an alien, in hopes of luring the Doctor. The Thirteenth Doctor was arrested instead of the Corsair because she had a similar binary vascular system and, along with her companions Graham, Yaz, and Ryan, tracked down the Corsair to a pub on another planet with her TARDIS.

At first, the Corsair didn't recognise the Doctor because of her new incarnation, and when the Doctor reminded the Corsair about one of their last encounters which saw them waking up drunk in a bank vault, the Corsair remarked that didn't narrow it down for her. After recognising the Doctor from her destroying the killgun of an alien, holding another at gunpoint, and fighting through a pub brawl with a sword, the Corsair explained her actions to the Doctor over tea, complimenting the Doctor's more heroic behaviour as something she was aspiring to. She then confessed that she needed the Doctor's help with a heist of sorts. After taking time to think over it, the Doctor agreed and asked about the job. The Corsair briefed them, the team infiltrated Raddplina to rescue a star whale. Once the whale was placed in a stellar net attached to the Doctor's TARDIS, the Corsair insisted they left to escape guards, leaving the Doctor’s friends behind. They took the whale to the Hoarder, who revealed his true intent as a collector and had them imprisoned. The Corsair and the Doctor had a proper talk whilst in a cage, which the Doctor then revealed they could easily escape from using her sonic screwdriver. They returned to her TARDIS, with the Corsair taking care of some of Hoarder’s drones herself, and rescued the Doctor’s friends. The Doctor then contacted the Time Agency to arrest the Hoarder and free the whale, though the Corsair insisted her name was kept out of it as the Agency knew all about her. With the whale freed, the Doctor took the Corsair back to her TARDIS, advising her to find some friends to travel with, knowing her ultimate fate and privately hoping to not be the only one to remember her. (COMIC: Old Friends)

The Corsair later reunited with Graham, Ryan and Yaz in 2020 whilst the Doctor had left them briefly to fix a problem in her timeline. She greeted the Doctor upon her return. (COMIC: Alternating Current)

Appearance[[edit] | [edit source]]

This incarnation was a dark-haired woman with blue eyes. She wore a black vest, an ivory shirt with frilly sleeves, emerald green breeches, and black boots. Her Ouroboros tattoo was located on her left wrist. (COMIC: Old Friends)

Skills[[edit] | [edit source]]

This incarnation showed talents with thievery, and also proficient at sword fighting, and wields a rapier. (COMIC: Old Friends)

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

The Corsair's Ouroboros tattoo on her left wrist. (COMIC: Old Friends)

The sixth incarnation of the Corsair, with her trademark tattoo on the left wrist, was one of those who did not previously appear in Eleven Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Corsair. Neil Gaiman confirmed on Tumblr that this incarnation was intended to be the Sixth Corsair, as confirmed by Jody Houser herself.[1] Although this is not explicitly stated in Old Friend, it can be deduced from narrative clues:

  • The Seventh Corsair remembers her meetings with the Thirteenth Doctor in One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes, placing Old Friends somewhere between the first and sixth incarnations of the Corsair;
  • In Old Friends, the events during which the Doctor and the Corsair waking up in a bank vault and in jail are referenced as part of their past; Eleven Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Corsair stated that those were among the Doctor's adventures with the Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Corsairs, thus making it impossible for the Old Friends Corsair to be the First, Second or Third Corsair;
  • Eleven Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Corsair gives tattoo placements other than the left wrist for the Fifth Corsair and Fourth Corsair, leaving only the Sixth Corsair as a possible identity for the Old Friends incarnation.

Artist Roberta Ingranata confirmed details from Eleven Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Corsair influenced her work on this new incarnation in Old Friends.[2] The Corsair's pirate ship TARDIS, not travelling with companions, the drinking with the Doctor, and waking up in a bank vault were acknowledged in the comic story. The Sixth Corsair was inspired by the actress Julianna Margulies.[3]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ https://twitter.com/neilhimself/status/1325637673508364293
  2. ↑ https://twitter.com/Robbertopoli/status/1142438683217473537
  3. ↑ https://twitter.com/robbertopoli/status/1152277067121270784
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