Man with the rosette
An individual described in historical records as simply "the Man with the Rosette" was one of the four surviving elementals who survived the destruction of Gallifrey.
When not clean-shaven, his appearance matched that of the Magistrate in an alternate timeline, (PROSE: The Gallifrey Chronicles, The Infinity Doctors) and indeed one account suggested he also used the name of "Magistrate" while ruling history with the other three surviving elementals. (PROSE: The Story So Far...) According to the Primer for the Spiral Politic, some believed that the "Rosette-wearing man" was the War King after his mysterious disappearance from the Homeworld, but most scholars instead held that the Man with the Rosette, while indeed the same individual as the War King, was a younger rather than older version of him. (AUDIO: Sabbath and the King)
Biography
The man with the rosette knew the Doctor before he had lost his memories. The man was known to have tried to destroy the universe while the Doctor tried to save it. The man and the Doctor "had all of time and space as [their] battlefield", and had many duels upon it. (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street)
After the destruction of Gallifrey, the man travelled to Earth in the 18th century and sat with Scarlette in a pub during a brawl. He wore a blue Whig rosette and spoke with her about politics. He left before the Eighth Doctor arrived.
He later met Scarlette at the London docks, where he gave her a pair of rings for the Doctor's wedding. At the Doctor's wedding he sat in the seat reserved for the Doctor's family. He did not interact with the other guests but simply sat quietly and helped himself to the wine.
The man left a wedding present for Scarlette: a fake rose of blue and white satin, resembling no flower on Earth.
The man later met the Doctor in the Kingdom of Beasts. As they stood on a hill, they talked about the state of the universe without Gallifrey in it. The man told the Doctor that he would not fight him because there were only four of their kind left in existence. He told the Doctor that Sabbath and his people were now the future of the universe before he quietly left.
The man was present at the fall of the house on Henrietta Street, where he told Lisa-Beth that he was leaving and that, if he couldn't find something to alleviate his boredom, he would go to sleep until the universe was ready for him again, even if it took a million years. He then walked away from the house on Henrietta Street.
Over the next centuries, many individuals impersonating the Doctor claimed that the man had returned in an "unexpected capacity". However, the meaning of this was never revealed. (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street)
In a vision of the four surviving elementals, the Eighth Doctor and Marnal saw the man wearing his blue rosette. (PROSE: The Gallifrey Chronicles) During the War in Heaven, Mother and Father were shown a vision by a loa where, in the post-War future, the Magistrate toyed absently with his rosette while he and the other Ministers waited for their Elemental Emperor who wandered aimlessly in an "exile's century". (PROSE: The Story So Far...)
The man and the other elementals were believed to have died sometime during the Emperor's rule, the Emperor having outlived them all. (PROSE: Father Time) However, according to the Primer for the Spiral Politic, the Man with the Rosette survived to become the War King. (AUDIO: Sabbath and the King) Faced with the failure of his schemes to help the Homeworld win the War, the King once bemoaned that he had "travelled so far" for nothing. (WC: Overture to 'Sabbath and the King')
Appearance
The man with the rosette had jet-black hair that greyed at the temples, which he kept slicked neatly back with oil. (PROSE: The Slow Empire) He had a sallow face. While the Eighth Doctor had a beard, the man was cleanshaven; (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street) after the Doctor shaved, the man grew a pointed black beard. (PROSE: The Gallifrey Chronicles)
He spoke with an English accent and was of "distinguished middle age." Considered handsome in some respects, he was noted to be slim, of average height, and had "well manicured hands." (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street)
Consistently well-dressed, he always wore tight, prim, black outfits. Pinned upon his lapel was a blue and white rosette, which signified the colours of the Whig party. (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street)
Personality
The man with the rosette was quite gracious and civil, though he could come across as 'swarthy and difficult to place'. Now being one of only four survivors of the destruction of Gallifrey, he found that he must "offer the universe" whatever the Doctor did not.
Undisturbed by violence, the man with the rosette longed for the days where he could duel the Doctor across the whole of space time and hoped that the universe would one day be ready for their game to begin once more. Despite this, he believed that such games would be inappropriate in a universe where Sabbath and "his kind" were in charge. He seemed to enjoy being mysterious about his true identity, simply bowing his head to those who asked about him. (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street)
Behind the scenes
- In Lance Parkin's AHistory, Parkin acknowledges that creator Lawrence Miles intended the Man with the Rosette to be the Master.
- In The Adventuress of Henrietta Street, the Doctor recognises the man with the rosette despite amnesia. In Lance Parkin's The School of Doom, published in Myth Makers 12 and set during the interim of Father Time, the Eighth Doctor and Miranda Dawkins meet an incarnation of the Master who is one of the four surviving elementals.
