Pre-regeneration
For a Time Lord, to be pre-regeneration — that is, having not yet regenerated — was a sign of youth. (GAME: The Heir of Gallifrey [+]Loading...["The Heir of Gallifrey (game)"])
In early accounts, the First Doctor was human, and thus had a single heart; (TV: "The Unwilling Warriors" [+]Part of The Sensorites, Loading...{"namedep":"The Unwilling Warriors (2)","1":"The Sensorites (TV story)"}, etc.) in most later accounts, the Doctor was shown to be a Time Lord with two hearts. (TV: The War Games (episode six) [+]Loading...{"ep":"Six","1":"The War Games (TV story)"}, Spearhead from Space (episode one) [+]Loading...{"ep":"One","1":"Spearhead from Space (TV story)"}) A later account sought to explain the discrepancy somewhat by asserting that Time Lords were rather born with one heart and that they would grow their second upon regeneration; this accounted for the First Doctor, (PROSE: The Man in the Velvet Mask [+]Loading...["The Man in the Velvet Mask (novel)"]) who was generally depicted as the Doctor's first incarnation, (PROSE: Lungbarrow [+]Loading...["Lungbarrow (novel)"], TV: {{cs|The Name of the Doctor (TV story)}, etc.}) though some accounts dissented, (TV: The Brain of Morbius [+]Loading...["The Brain of Morbius (TV story)"], etc.) with others yet suggesting the Doctor had had prior existence before being reborn as the First Doctor. (PROSE: Lungbarrow [+]Loading...["Lungbarrow (novel)"], TV: The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"]) However, other accounts showed Time Lords having two hearts in their original incarnation, such as the Doctor (AUDIO: Frostfire [+]Loading...["Frostfire (audio story)"], The Abandoned [+]Loading...["The Abandoned (audio story)"]) and Jenny. (TV: The Doctor's Daughter [+]Loading...["The Doctor's Daughter (TV story)"]) Tegan Jovanka was under the belief that the second heart of a Time Lord was only developed upon the first regeneration, much to the surprise of Leela, who believed that a Time Lord always had two hearts, with neither being sure who was correct. (AUDIO: Time in Office [+]Loading...["Time in Office (audio story)"])
Klyst assured Louis following his first regeneration that the first was always more painful than subsequent ones. (AUDIO: Unregenerate! [+]Loading...["Unregenerate! (audio story)"])
In an account which assumed him to be the Doctor's first incarnation, the First Doctor avoided his regeneration and the change of appearance that came with it as it neared, maintaining that he had "the courage and the right to live and die as [himself]". However, he later admitted to the Twelfth Doctor that he did so out of fear. It was through this encounter with his future self, whose circumstances led him to wish to stop "being somebody else", that the First Doctor was convinced to accept his regeneration into the Second Doctor, whilst the Twelfth Doctor accepted his regeneration into the Thirteenth Doctor. (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"])
