Time Lord
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 and Politics
One of the oldest and most powerful civilisations in the Universe, the Time Lords possessed absolute power for some ten million years, tracing back to the days of Rassilon and Omega (DW: The Mysterious Planet). Even before that time, Gallifrey was an ancient and advanced world, having perfected the transmat beam when the Universe was less than half its present size (DW: Genesis of the Daleks), as well as developing tachyonics before abandoning that field in favour of warp matrix engineering (DW: The Leisure Hive). Time Lords also experimented with hyperspace, but finally abandoned it as a theoretical absurdity two thousand years before the Doctor's time (DW: The Stones of Blood)
- This information about hyperspace conflicts with several known examples of other species successfully using hyperspace technology (e.g. humans (DW: Frontier In Space)), suggesting either that there is more than one meaning of the term "hyperspace", or that the Time Lords were less knowledgeable in this field than they thought they were.
Gallifrey was once the center of a vast intergalactic empire. Gallifrey in time came under the rule of the Pythias, a matriarchal order of seers under whom the Gallifreyans fell under the sway of superstition and mysticism. It was under the reign of the last Pythia that the Time Scathe, a TARDIS precursor, was developed. (DW: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible) The last Pythia was overthrown by the triumvirate of Rassilon, Omega, and the Other, cursing Gallifrey in her last breath with sterility. Rasslion instituted the creation of genetic looms to enable the Gallifreyan race to reproduce. The surviving members of the Pythian order fled to Karn, where they evolved into the Sisterhood.
Sometime after the overthrowal of Pythia, Omega detonated a nearby star, creating a black hole from which the Time Lords drew the enormous power they needed for their TARDISes. Omega was himself cast through the black hole into an anti-matter universe and was presumed dead for millennia. Rassilon later retrieved the Eye of Harmony and stored it in a vault beneath the Time Lord capitol as a source of power. Generally the Eye of Harmony is considered to be a different black hole than the one created by Omega, as that one exploded into a supernova due to the actions of the first three Doctors in Omega's universe. Rassilon's reign saw the end of the Death Zone games, as well as the war with the Great Vampires. (DW: The Five Doctors, State of Decay)
Some one hundred thousand years ago, the Time Lords encountered the Minyans, a primitive humanoid race which worshipped them as gods. Flattered, the Time Lords augmented the Minyans' technological development. This, however, led to a nuclear war which destroyed Minyos and sent the survivors into exile searching for a new home world. As a result, Time Lords developed a strict non-intervention policy, instead being content to observe and gather knowledge. (DW: Underworld)
Time Lord society was governed by the High Council, consisting of cardinals representing several electoral colleges, with an Inner Council comprising of the Castellan, Chancellor, and President. The President had near absolute authority, and used a link to the Matrix, a vast computer network containing the knowledge and experiences of all past generations of Time Lords, to set Time Lord policy and remain alert to potential threats from lesser civilisations. The Castellan was in charge of security, while the Chancellor in turn oversaw the Castellan's actions and acted as the President's second. Security and law were enforced by the Chancellery Guard.
During the Doctor's lifetime several crises occurred which brought to light the vulnerabilities of the once omnipotent Time Lords. Testimony at the Second Doctor's malfeasance tribunal revealed the many marauding races which had emerged in the Universe after the Time Lords adopted their isolationist policy. The Time Lords were easily rendered helpless when Omega began draining energy from Gallifrey, and were only saved by the intervention of the Doctor's first three incarnations. (DW: The Three Doctors) The ease with which the Master was able to alter records contained within the Archives and manipulate the Matrix was due largely to the fact that the technology behind the Matrix's panotropic net had been surpassed on other worlds, such that on those worlds the technology would, according to the Doctor, be considered "prehistoric junk." The Vardan invasion, itself a front for an invasion by the Sontarans, exposed chinks in Gallifrey's defences. (DW: The Invasion of Time) The Ravolox affair showed a level of corruption within the High Council that exceeded even the misdeeds of individual council members such as Chancellor Goth, Lord Hedin, and even President Borusa. (DW: The Mysterious Planet) Centuries of isolation, combined with the Eye of Harmony's effect of causing things on Gallifrey to "neither flux, nor whither, nor change their state in any measure" had induced a complacency among Time Lords which caused their technology and power to stagnate even as other races became more powerful and dangerous.
The Time Lords eventually met their end in the last of the Time War, as the Dalek fleet attacked their world. The Doctor succeeded in destroying the Daleks, - or so he believed at the time - but Gallifrey and the Time Lords were caught in the conflagration and were destroyed as well. The guilt and trauma resulting from this haunted the Doctor throughout his ninth incarnation. (DW: The End of the World, Dalek et al)
- This Time War is not to be confused with the earlier war againist the Faction Paradox. (DW: The Ancestor Cell)
Physiology
Externally, Time Lords are identical to Humans. However, whereas Earth Humans have a diverse range of ethnicity, Time Lords appear to have a mostly Eurasian appearance. Time Lords are generally tougher and more resistant, being able to survive extreme cold (DW: The Seeds of Doom) and extreme heat (DW: The End of the World), as well as an intensity of electrocution that would be fatal to humans (DW: World War Three). Additionally, Time Lords have many internal differences.
Two Hearts
One of the the most important internal differences is the presence of two hearts, "one for casual, one for best" as Romana once quipped. Time Lords acquire their second heart during their first regeneration. (DW: The Man in the Velvet Mask) Time Lords can survive with only one heart, should the other be punctured or destroyed, though they will be weakened greatly. (DW: Managra) Time Lords can stop these hearts at will, feigning death. (DW: Destiny of the Daleks) This binary circulatory system may contribute to the Gallifreyan mean body temperature of 60 degrees on the Earth Fahrenheit scale (16 degrees Celsius), as well their ability to survive the subzero temperatures of space for around 6 minutes. (DW: Four to Doomsday) They only have a resting heart-beat of 10. (DW: Spearhead from Space)
In order to use these two hearts, the Time Lords require advanced respiratory system. Instead of large lungs, they have a series of pulmonary tubes parallel to the lymphatic system. This makes Gallifreyans positively buoyant, which allows them to swim with ease. (DW: Island of Death) This also means they can place themselves in a trance state which reduces the need for oxygen. (DW: Four to Doomsday)
The Brain
The Time Lord brain is much more complex than that of Humans as well as larger. This size differences means brain transplants are impossible. (DW: The Brain of Morbius) They are telepathically linked to one another and are even capable of joining the entire Time Lord intelligence as one. (DW: The Invisible Enemy) In times of psychic or physiological stress, Time Lords may even enter a self-induced coma. Time Lords can also separate the hemispheres of their brain, allowing them to multitask easily. (DW: Island of Death) The telepathic link Time Lords have with their TARDISes can enable them and their non-Gallifreyan companions to understand different languages (DW: The Masque of Mandragora, The End of the World).
- 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 Third 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) As well, 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 regeneration for more information on this process). They apparently also age at a much slower rate than humans, as, barring accidents, a single incarnation may last for decades or even centuries before another regeneration becomes necessary. Because of this, accurately judging the age of a Time Lord is nearly impossible.
Miscellany
- Time Lords have a respiratory bypass system, which allows them to survive strangulation. (DW: Pyramids of Mars).
- Time Lord blood is different in composition then an average Human's and doesn't have the same A and B types. (DW: The Invisible Enemy, Spearhead from Space)
- The cellular structure of Time Lords is marked by symbiotic nuclei, also known as the "Rassilon Imprimatur", 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.
- Time Lords are susceptible to the intoxicating effects of alcohol, though they can easily shrug off the effects when they need. (DW: The Quantum Archangel, The Girl in the Fireplace) They are also susceptible to certain toxic gases and sleep-inducing drugs. (DW: The Brain of Morbius) However, unlike Humans, they are immune to the voice-altering effects of helium. (DW: The Robots of Death)
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?" is misinterpreted by Borusa as "What is tea?" - to which he supplies 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
People
Other Facts
- Several of the Doctor's more powerful foes, such as the Nestene Consciousness, the Great Intelligence, and the Animus, 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 stories
- The War Games
- Colony in Space
- The Three Doctors
- The Deadly Assassin
- The Invasion of Time
- Arc of Infinity
- The Five Doctors
- The Mysterious Planet
- Mindwarp
- Terror of the Vervoids
- The Ultimate Foe
The Doctor has appeared in nearly every serial, which means the list only includes appearences of other Time Lords. Time Lord messengers visit the Doctor in Terror of the Autons and Genesis of the Daleks, and a signal is received from the Time Lords at the conclusion of Meglos which is revealed in the opening scene of Full Circle as an order to return Romana to Gallifrey. The Time Lords also play active parts behind the scenes in The Mutants, Planet of the Daleks, The Brain of Morbius, Attack of the Cybermen, and The Two Doctors, although they do not appear on screen.
Missing Adventure novels
BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures
External links
