Child Master (The Then and the Now)

This topic might have a better name.

Considering his role in the arc, how he appears constantly before being revealed as "the individual formally known as the Master", and how it's explicitly said that he no longer uses the title, the best possible pagename for this would be Child Master (The Then and the Now)

Talk about it here.

The Master
Main aliases:	Young boy
Species:	Time Lord
Place of origin:	Gallifrey
First appearance:	The Then and the Now
Appearances:	see list

Incarnations of the Master+
Original regenerative cycle+
Interim+
Renewed regenerative cycle+
Ambiguous+
Other realities+

At some point during the Last Great Time War, the Time Lord once known as the Master regenerated into the body of a child and chose to abandon his name and title, forming a fleeting aliance with the War Doctor and the Squire, until an attempt to flee the conflict resulted in him reverting into his previous incarnation.

Biography

Regeneration

At some point, the War Master (COMIC: Fast Asleep) regenerated into a new incarnation. Now in the body of a small child, and still active in the Time War, they were said to have abandoned the name of "Master", as he simply operated with no name. (COMIC: The Organ Grinder)

Alliance with the Doctor

The child and the Doctor during the Time War. (COMIC: The Organ Grinder)

The child fought further along in the Last Great Time War than his predecessor. Despite this, he was able to manipulate events to write out many of his actions during the War, even though it was timelocked. (COMIC: The Judas Goatee) The child made a deal with the War Doctor to end their old ways of fighting to become allies, fighting alongside the Doctor and his companion, the Squire during the period of the War in which the Cyclors allied themselves with the Daleks. (COMIC: The Organ Grinder)

The Doctor and the child travelled to Veestrax, where they saw a broken wall with "Exterminhate" written on it. The child told the Doctor that he hadn't written it. The Doctor then asked for the child's help with destroying the planet. (COMIC: Outrun)

The child admires the Cyclors. (COMIC: Kill God)

He arrived on Golgauth with the Doctor, asking what he intended to do, to which the Doctor said "what [he] [had] to". (COMIC: The Then and the Now, The Organ Grinder) The duo soon encountered the Volatix Cabal, together killing one of its members. They then encountered Alice Obiefune, who had travelled in the Master's TARDIS from after the War had ended. The child set about tethering this TARDIS to the Doctor's while the Squire set about saving Alice from the Volatix Tendrils.

With both TARDISes in tow, they travelled beneath the surface of Golgauth, where an Overcaste rebel base was located. The child and the Doctor revealed a Volatix spy in the group and neutralised him. The spy revealed that he had called for help and moments later a Cyclor tore off the roof of the base. (COMIC: The Organ Grinder) The child used a device to summon a squadron of Gallifreyan ships to attack the Cyclors. He used this chaos of the Cyclor attack to flee, sneaking into his future self's TARDIS to escape the Time War.

However, he discovers that it was his future self that implanted the chronal tumour on his console in the first place. At some point in his now aborted future, he was to operate on the brain of his TARDIS, which would result in the chronal tumour that protruded from one side of the console. (COMIC: The One) But since escaping the Time War in his TARDIS would preclude him from implanting the tumour in the first place, the resulting paradox shattered reality in "a cascade of temporal possibility." Subsequently, the chronal tumour began to react to the Psilent songbox. While the child attempted to disarm the device, it was too late, and the resulting temporal bomb left the time-ship spiralling out of control. With the child's timeline collapsing as a result of the paradox, reverted him to his previous incarnation of the War Master. The Squire would later note he had been flung "who knows when." (COMIC: Fast Asleep)

Psychological profile

The child's fright in the heart of the paradox, moments before his retro-regeneration. (COMIC: Fast Asleep)

While fighting in the Last Great Time War, the once-Master ceased using his former title. As the Warrior known formerly as "the Doctor" stated, this was the nature of war. (COMIC: The Organ Grinder) However, others, such as Alice Obiefune and the Squire, still referred to him by this title. (COMIC: Gently Pulls the Strings)

The child delighted in the prospect of committing genocide, and more specifically the War Doctor's loosening morality. He saw people as resources, and that teaming up with the War Doctor was a worthwhile option during wartime. He also had a fondness for paradoxes. (COMIC: The Organ Grinder) The child wanted to put up a fight for good, but seeing the hopelessness of his efforts with the Doctor he fled from their fight with the Cyclors. He concluded that he enjoyed death and chaos only when it was fun for him. (COMIC: Kill God)

At the moment of his retro-regeneration, the child held contempt for the Doctor and Alice Obiefune, declaring that he would have his revenge on them. (COMIC: Fast Asleep)

Appearance and clothing

In this incarnation, the former-Master's body was that of a small child with black hair and blue eyes. (COMIC: The Organ Grinder) On Veestrax, he had short hair, and wore a white shirt with a black jacket. (COMIC: Outrun) By the time he and the Doctor had arrived on Golgauth, the boy's hair was longer, and he sported a scarlet shirt under his jacket. (COMIC: The Organ Grinder)

Behind the scenes

Although Fast Asleep (the last regular story to feature this "Master") includes a panel which visually resembles a traditional regeneration. Rob Williams, who wrote the comic, clarified that the "Child Master" was intended to be the successor of the War Master, rather than his predecessor.