List of causes of regeneration

The causes of regeneration, especially amongst Time Lords, were many and varied. They ran the gamut from simple desire to change, to life-threatening maladies which typically resulted in human death. The following are the known causes of regeneration of specific Time Lords.

The Doctor

This chart considers regeneration to be something which results in an actual, irreversible transformation from one body to another. Things like the Tenth Doctor's accidental creation of the Meta-Crisis Doctor, or the reversal of regeneration in The Touch of the Nurazh, are not included here. Also not considered here are Doctors from alternative timelines.

Doctor	Reason	Story
1	Claimed to be "wearing a bit thin"; apparently died of simple old age.	The Tenth Planet
2	Forced to change his appearance by Time Lord court order	Sentence passed in The War Games, carried out in The Night Walkers
3	Radiation poisoning upon exposure to The Great One's highly unstable web of Metebelis crystals.	Planet of the Spiders
4	Fell to the ground from great height at the Pharos Project; indirectly caused by the Tremas Master	Logopolis
5	Refusal to take antidote for spectrox toxaemia in order give it instead to Peri Brown.	The Caves of Androzani
6	Ambiguous injury consequent to the Rani's attack on the TARDIS. Some accounts indicated the Doctor hit his head on the TARDIS console. Others suggest that he was also suffering from a chronal energy drain after his confrontation with the Lamprey	Time and the Rani (explained in Head Games, Spiral Scratch)
7	Following a non-fatal shooting, the Seventh Doctor underwent open heart surgery in a San Francisco hospital. Since the attending cardiologist had no knowledge of Time Lord physiology, she accidentally killed him.	Doctor Who
8	Died after a ship he was in crash-landed on Karn	The Night of the Doctor
War	As with the First Doctor, he claimed to be "wearing a bit thin" and regenerated from what appeared to simply be old age.	The Day of the Doctor
9	Absorbed time vortex energy from the Bad Wolf to save the life of Rose Tyler	The Parting of the Ways
10	Intentional radiation poisoning incurred in order to save the life of Wilfred Mott	The End of Time
11	As with the First and War Doctors, his body succumbed to old age. This marked the beginning of a new regeneration cycle granted by the Time Lords.	The Time of the Doctor

Romana

• First to second incarnation: Decided it was time for a change, regenerating into several different forms before settling on the features of Princess Astra. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks)
• Second to third incarnation: Regenerated in preparation for the Second War in Heaven, developing a body and attitude more suited for combat. (PROSE: The Shadows of Avalon)
  • The second incarnation started to regenerate due to contact to the decaying Eye of Harmony inside the Matrix. (AUDIO: Renaissance). This regeneration didn't take hold due to K9 Mark II removing her from the Matrix. (AUDIO: Ascension)
• Third to fourth incarnation: Managed to survive the Second War in Heaven, although this may have entailed a regeneration. (PROSE: Tomb of Valdemar)

The Master

• Shot by Ace after receiving a new set of regenerating nanites from the Tzun. However, these were apparently only effective in the short term. (PROSE: First Frontier)
• During the Last Great Time War, the Time Lords resurrected the Master, apparently giving him a new regeneration cycle in the process (TV: The Sound of Drums) as, when the War Master was shot by Chantho, he regenerated into a new incarnation. (TV: Utopia)

Rassilon

• Rassilon was said to have achieved immortality. (TV: The Five Doctors)

K'anpo Rimpoche

• K'anpo Rimpoche was attacked by the Eight Legs on Earth. He regenerated into the form of Cho Je, a projection of his own mind. (TV: Planet of the Spiders)

Borusa

• Borusa regenerated at least three times, and had at least four incarnations. (TV: The Deadly Assassin, TV: The Invasion of Time, TV: Arc of Infinity, TV: The Five Doctors)

Chronotis

• Salyavin used up his thirteenth and final incarnation when he was attacked by the Sphere. However, when his Type 12 TARDIS was sent backwards, it altered his personal timeline and brought him back to life. (HOMEVID: Shada/WC: Shada)

Rallon

• Rallon initiated all twelve of his regenerations to force the Celestial Toymaker out of his body. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties)

Azmael

• In his thirteenth and final body, Azmael regenerated past his limit, killing him and Mestor, who possessed Azmael's body after his own was destroyed. (TV: The Twin Dilemma)

Iris Wildthyme

• Iris Wildthyme regenerated following a lengthy period of illness following the consumption of a live Kaled mutant. (PROSE: The Scarlet Empress)

The War Chief

• The War Chief underwent a faulty regeneration after being shot by War Lords; lack of medical care and the scale of the damage sustained resulted in his new form appearing like two bodies fused together. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus)

The Monk

• The Monk regenerated at least once. (PROSE: No Future, AUDIO: The Book of Kells)

Ruath

• Ruath drained every drop of her blood from her body to restore Vampire Lord Yarven. Yarven subsequently turned her into a vampire. (PROSE: Goth Opera)

Innocet

• Innocet was killed by a Quences-possessed Badger to protect the Doctor (PROSE: Lungbarrow).

I.M. Foreman

• As a priest, I.M. Foreman had been given the gift of regenerations. This made twelve different individuals, who were created by his body absorbing the DNA around him; all regenerations were caused by the Third Doctor sending the first twelve back to Gallifrey's past so that they fell from a great height and regenerated into the next one. (PROSE: Interference - Book One, Interference - Book Two)

The Corsair

• The Corsair regenerated several times, with "a couple" of his incarnations being female. He was back to male by the time he was killed by House. (TV: The Doctor's Wife)

River Song

• First to second incarnation: As a little girl, Melody Pond, later known as River Song, regenerated on the streets of New York City in 1970 due to a terminal illness. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut, Day of the Moon)
• Second to third incarnation: Melody later regenerated in Hitler's private study in 1938 after the Führer accidentally shot her while aiming for the Teselecta. She later used up all of her remaining regenerations to heal the Doctor from a poison with which she had infected him. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler)