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{{Infobox Individual|
{{subpage tabs}}
individual name= Morbius |
{{ImageLink}}
image= [[Image:St--4k08.jpg|250px]]|
{{Infobox Individual
race= [[Gallifreyan]] ([[Time Lord]]) |
|image            = <gallery>
home planet=[[Gallifrey]] |
Morbius in Junior Novelisation.jpg|Original
home era= [[Rassilon Era]]|
Morbius_the_Monster.jpg|Monster
appearances= [[The Brain of Morbius]], [[Warmonger]] |
Morbius.jpg|Aborted resurrection
actor= [[Michael Spice]], [[Stuart Fell]] |}}
Middlewich Morbius.png|Temple resurrection
</gallery>
|aliases          = The General
|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]]
|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 formerly high-ranking [[Time Lord]] whose career ended in destruction and ignominy, and who escaped a sentence of death only by means of a secret brain transplant. The [[Fourth Doctor]] and [[Sarah Jane Smith]] encountered him during the events of the TV story ''[[The Brain of Morbius]]''; the [[Fifth Doctor]] met him during the events of the novel ''[[Warmonger]]''.
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)}})


== Life and career ==
== Biography ==
=== Incarnations 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]]'')
* 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)}})
* 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)}})


Morbius' ambition led him to become the head of the High Council, where his warlike nature led him to urge the Time Lords toward a policy of conquest. When the Time Lords rejected him, he formed an army of his own composed of both dedicated followers and mercenaries.  He promised his followers the secrets of [[time travel]] and immortality.  He sent them into battle across many worlds, including the planet [[Karn]], where he hoped to seize the secret of the [[Elixir of Life]] guarded by the [[Sisterhood of Karn]]. He was captured with the assistance of the Sisterhood and brought to trial on Karn. He was sentenced to be executed by disintegration for his crimes, and his body was indeed destroyed, with Sisterhood leader [[Maren]] in attendance. However, Morbius escaped death when one of his followers, the [[human]] surgeon Dr. [[Mehendri Solon]] secretly removed the Gallifreyan criminal's [[brain]] before his disintegration. Solon took the brain and went into hiding on [[Karn]], where he began planning to build a new body for Morbius out of parts salvaged from corpses found in the wreckage of spacecraft which the Sisterhood had caused to crash on the planet as their way of protecting the Elixir.
== 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 (True Lords' timeline)|Lord Prydon]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Annihilation (audio story)|Annihilation]]'')


== The Brain of Morbius ==
== Behind the scenes ==
* 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]]'')
* 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.
* [[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]].


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== External links ==
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{{Presidency}}
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{{Maruthea}}
[[Image:St--4k13.jpg|250px|thumb|The corpse-created body built to house the disembodied brain of Morbius.]]
{{NameSort}}
|-
[[Category:Morbius]]
[[Image:Morbiushead.jpg|250px|thumb|The Doctor sits next to a clay sculpture of the head of Morbius.]]
[[Category:The Ones That Went Mad]]
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|}
The Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith landed on Karn and stumbled upon Solon's castle just as Solon was completing Morbius' new body, leading them to discover Morbius. Although the Doctor had not previously met Morbius in person, he did recognize Morbius' telepathic brain pattern.
 
Morbius's new body was horrifyingly grotesque, leading [[the Doctor]] to mock him as "Chop Suey, the Galactic Emperor!" But Solon's ability to merge alien tissues together did give Morbius at least a few advantages over his previous biological form, including lungs from a [[Birastrop]] capable of withstanding [[cyanide]]. Other parts of Morbius' body included a human left hand which came from Solon's unknowing assistant [[Condo]], a giant lobster-like right hand, and a humanoid torso. The body Solon had built lacked one important element, namely a head suitable for storing the unique and delicate properties of a Time Lord brain. Solon required the head of another Time Lord in order to safely house Morbius' brain, but when plans to use the Doctor's head failed and the container holding the brain was spilled, he resorted to an unproven, experimental braincase which included two stalklike eyes.
 
This braincase was prone to developing a static charge, a weakness exploited by the Doctor by challenging Morbius to a Time Lord [[mindbending]] contest. It is not at all clear who won the contest, but it was costly for both Gallifreyans. The Doctor collapsed from the strain, and Morbius' brain appeared to be damaged by a static shock. During the contest, images of the Doctor's previous three incarnations appeared in the air above them, as well as a number of images of others whose identity is disputed. It is possible that the unknown faces belong to previous and otherwise unexplained incarnations of the Doctor, suggesting that the incarnation known as the [[First Doctor]] was not, in fact, his first incarnation. However, it is also possible that the faces belong to previous [[regeneration]]s of Morbius -- or that they are memories of entirely different people drawn from the minds of either the Doctor or Morbius.
 
After the battle, Morbius appeared to be left in a dazed, animalistic state. He did not speak again during the story, and only uttered seemingly agonized sounds of anger and pain. Leaving Solon's castle, he was chased by the Sisterhood over a cliff, where he was apparently killed.
 
== Appearances in other media ==
Morbius's war against the Time Lords and his execution (including how Solon saved his brain and the [[Fifth Doctor]]'s involvement) are depicted in the [[BBC Past Doctor Adventures]] novel ''[[Warmonger]]'' by [[Terrance Dicks]]. 
 
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[[Category:Renegade Time Lords]]
[[Category:Renegade Time Lords]]
[[Category:Fourth Doctor enemies]]
[[Category:Time Lord Presidents]]
[[Category:Individual leaders]]
[[Category:Cult leaders]]
[[Category:Individual Time Lords]]
[[Category:Individuals with psychic powers]]
[[Category:Murderers]]
[[Category:Residents of Gallifrey]]
[[Category:Biologically modified individuals]]
[[Category:Time Lords who have been to Maruthea]]
[[Category:Resurrected individuals]]
[[Category:Military officers]]
[[Category:Criminals]]
[[Category:Patrexes]]

Latest revision as of 21:25, 3 December 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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