Time Lord

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Hedin, a Time Lord (DW: Arc of Infinity)

The Time Lords (sometimes called "Lords of Time" or, rarely, 'Chronarchs') were the oligarchic rulers of the planet Gallifrey. They possessed the power and technology to travel through both time and space in their TARDISes. Time Lords may also be referred to as Gallifreyans, though it is not certain if all Gallifreyans were Time Lords, or the Time Lords were only an elite echelon of Gallifreyan society.

History

The creation of the Time Lords

See Gallifreyan history.

Unique physiology and abilities

See Gallifreyan physiology

Time Lords also have unique powers not shared by other Gallifreyans.

The Time Lord gift of translation

This translation is not perfect, as when the Doctor was unable to understand the Foamasi government agent on Argolis (DW: The Leisure Hive).

Various forms of polari, or dialects which are actually a form of code, do not seem to work with this gift, as when the the Doctor was unable to understand Vorg when the latter attempted to converse with the Doctor in carny polari (DW: Carnival of Monsters).

This gift also evidently only works with organic life-forms, as the Doctor was also unable to understand the aborigine Kurkutji and relied on his Australian companion Tegan Jovanka to translate (unaware at the time that Kurkutji was in fact an android programmed by the Urbankan Monarch with the organic original's memories and personality. (DW: Four to Doomsday)

Though the Doctor could still understand it, the Nestene Consciousness speech was not translated. (DW: Rose)

Regeneration

Time Lords have the ability to regenerate, renewing their bodies in case of mortal illness or injury, advanced old age, or even at will. This process allows them to live for centuries, even millennia.

See the article on separat article for more information on this process.

They apparently also age at a much slower rate than humans. Because of this, accurately judging the age of a Time Lord is nearly impossible.

Rassilon Imprimature

The cellular structure of Time Lords is marked by symbiotic nuclei, also known as the Rassilon Imprimature, which bonds a Time Lord to his TARDIS and allows him to withstand the molecular stresses of time travel (DW: The Two Doctors).

It may also be tied in with a Time Lord's ability to regenerate.

Society and Culture

Time Lord society was generally complacent in nature, owing to their policy of non-intervention. This led to a stagnation which may have contributed to the decision by the Doctor and certain other Time Lords to leave Gallifrey. It probably also contributed to the demise of the Time Lords in the last Time War.

Time Lords appreciated music, as indicated by such artifacts as the Harp of Rassilon and the use of nursery rhymes to entertain children (DW: The Five Doctors). They also appreciated art, although painting on Gallifrey was done by computer. (DW: City of Death)

The drinking of tea may have been practiced by Time Lords, perhaps introduced by Time Lord research teams returning from Earth. The question "What's for tea?" was misinterpreted by Borusa as "What is tea?" - to which he supplied a textbook definition of tea as it is normally prepared for drinking on Earth. This implies both knowledge of tea-drinking and an ignorance of the human custom of a light meal called "tea" or "high tea". (DW: The Invasion of Time)

Science and Technology

• TARDIS
• Battle TARDIS
• War TARDIS
• Bow Ships
• Matrix
• Nemesis
• Demat Gun
• Hand of Omega

People

• List of Individual Time Lords

Other Facts

• Several of the Doctor's more powerful foes, such as the Nestene Consciousness, the Great Intelligence, and the Animus, are stated as being survivors of a race of Time Lords which existed in the previous Universe before this one. Shunting themselves into our Universe, they found that its different physical laws afforded them godlike powers.

Appearances

Television

• The War Games
• Terror of the Autons (Time Lord messenger)
• Colony in Space (cameo)
• The Three Doctors
• Genesis of the Daleks (Time Lord messenger)
• The Deadly Assassin
• The Invasion of Time
• Arc of Infinity
• The Five Doctors
• The Mysterious Planet
• Mindwarp
• Terror of the Vervoids
• The Ultimate Foe

References and appearances

• The Doctor and Romana receive a signal from the Time Lords. (DW: Meglos)
• The Doctor reveals the content of the message, ordering him to return Romana to Gallifrey. (DW: Full Circle)
• Appearances by various renegades, starting with the Monk.
• The Time Lords also played active parts behind the scenes in sending the Doctor, often unwillingly on missions. (DW: The Mutants, Planet of the Daleks, The Brain of Morbius, Attack of the Cybermen,The Two Doctors).

Novels

New Adventures novels

• Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible
• Lungbarrow

BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures

• The Ancestor Cell

External links

• "Rassilon, Omega and The Other guy"