Given new life by the Time Lords in preparation for a potential war with the Daleks, the Master was no longer haunted by the fear of death, and showed a greater willingness to attempt especially dangerous and audacious schemes, and had no problem with getting close with the people he was manipulating.
Biography
A day to come
Upon coming into contact with the Bruce Master again, the Eighth Doctor told him he had met his future incarnations, but then added that, even had he not met them, he would have known that the Master would somehow escape the Eye of Harmony after being "dropped" into it. (AUDIO: Day of the Master)
A new lease of life
- Main article: Resurrection of the Master
After the Decayed Master, who had already reached the end of his regeneration cycle and started to decay into an emaciated form, (TV: The Deadly Assassin) was killed by the Ravenous on Parrak, (AUDIO: Planet of Dust) three of his other incarnations, in an alliance with the Celestial Intervention Agency, used the brain print of Artron to resurrection their decayed incarnation, who automatically regenerated as his cycle was renewed. (AUDIO: Day of the Master)
Impersonating the Doctor
Working against the Time Lords, the Master infiltrated a Time Lord base which contained two dimensional nodes, products of technology developed by "the Dimensioneers", and stole them. Attempting to control the dimensional energies of the entire universe, the Master planted one on the planet of the Tolians, allowing it to drain all the energy that was available before giving the Tolians a communicator as a way of drawing the Seventh Doctor to their planet, enabling the Master to steal the only node activator still intact from the Doctor's TARDIS. Having successfully tricked the Doctor into restoring the Tolians' source of dimensional energy for them using his Node by manipulating him and using a form of reverse psychology, he allowed the Tolians to force him to open a dimensional rift, causing a catastrophic imbalance to the flow of dimensional energy in the process so great that it threatened the structure of reality itself.
Aiming to infiltrate UNIT, the Master assumed the guise of the Doctor, modelling his TARDIS' exterior on the form of a police box. Successful in his deceit, he began to work alongside UNIT's current scientific advisor, Elizabeth Klein, under the command of Colonel Lafayette and Major Wyland-Jones. He assisted UNIT in defeating a number of interdimensional alien incursions, including attacks by Mind Leeches, Lava Spiders, Skyheads and the Nexus.
Rescuing the Doctor and his companion Raine Creevy from becoming trapped on the other side of a dimensional rift caused by the dimensional instability, the Master stole the Doctor's node activator and sent all the alien invaders back to their own dimensions, fleeing Earth with the Doctor in his TARDIS. Revealing his true identity to the Doctor, he detailed his plan: he intended to use the activator in conjunction with the two nodes to add even more dimensional energy to the Tolians so he could use them to conquer the Earth and other planets and dimensions beyond. However, the Doctor managed to convince the Tolian leader Arunzell that the Master would betray the Tolians, giving him the opportunity to capture the Master in return for recalling the rest of the Tolians. However, the Master revealed that he had locked the dimensional doorway, prompting him to abandon him to Arunzell. However, the restoration of the dimensional energies reduced Arunzell to his regular size, enabling the Master to kill him with his TCE and escape, intending to try his scheme all over again. (AUDIO: Dominion)
At war with his past
The Master made a deal with the Cult of the Heretic to regenerate the universe using their anomaly cage. The Cult manipulated the Master into coming into contact with his thirteenth incarnation, whom he disfigured with a staser. The Cult then betrayed the Master by switching the minds of the "Decayed" Master and the Reborn Master. The paradox of having a Time Lord inhabiting the body of his past self led to the universe beginning to break down. The Cult intended to execute the Reborn Master to make the paradox unbreakable, but the Reborn Master was able to escape. The Cult hired the Transhuman Sisters of the Unholy Protocol and the Dragonhunters to kill the Reborn Master and make the paradox permanent, but the Master was able to drive the assassins off with the "aid" of the Fifth Doctor. (AUDIO: And You Will Obey Me)
The Seventh Doctor encountered both of the Masters and helped them get back into the right bodies. The two Masters then returned to the Cult's headquarters and killed all of the members. They then plotted to use the anomaly cage but were stopped by the Seventh Doctor, who made sure that the universe remained practically unchanged by its regeneration. (AUDIO: The Two Masters)
The Eminence experiments
Eventually, the Master was recruited by Coordinator Narvin to fight against the Daleks in a possible war, (AUDIO: The Devil You Know) due to the belief that he would be the perfect warrior due to his savagery. (TV: The Sound of Drums) The Master was instructed to use the Eminence, which posed the greater threat, to fight the Daleks. The Celestial Intervention Agency gave the Master all the information he needed for his mission, (AUDIO: Eyes of the Master) such as an update on the Doctor's activities. (AUDIO: Masterplan)
The Master travelled to the Nixyce system and stole a teleportation casket of the Eminence, integrating it into his TARDIS console. He then tried to use the casket to gain influence over the Eminence, and take control of its Infinite Warriors, calling them his "finite warriors". (AUDIO: Eyes of the Master) After saving Sally Armstrong from being hit by a taxi, he recruited her and began to work for the Ides Scientific Institute in the 1970s. (AUDIO: Time's Horizon) He tried to discover why some humans were immune to the Eminence's influence, experimenting on them in an attempt to eliminate it so that the Daleks could not exploit it.
Encountering the Eighth Doctor in London, the Doctor managed to defeat the Master by reopening the link to the Eminence located in his mind, teaching it how to pilot a TARDIS. The Eminence then used the teleportation casket located in the Master's TARDIS to pilot it, taking the Master and Sally with it. The Master managed to isolate the Eminence inside his TARDIS through the telepathic circuits, enabling Sally to expel it into the Time Vortex.
The Master and Sally then kidnapped Molly O'Sullivan from her home in 107 Baker Street, (AUDIO: Eyes of the Master) and took her to a world on the edge of humanity's war with the Eminence. There, the Master ran an experiment, using the retro-genitor particles in Molly to fight the Eminence's breath of forever. (AUDIO: The Death of Hope) The Master then destroyed Ramosa, kidnapping all of the planet's human colonists on board his TARDIS. (AUDIO: The Reviled) The Master infected the human colonists of Ramosa with retro-genitor particles, planning to expose them to the Eminence, and gain control of all of them using the fragment of the Eminence contained in his mind. (AUDIO: Masterplan)
The Master unleashed his plans for humanity on Earth. He allied himself with the Eminence and allowed them to conquer Earth. He subsequently activated the retro-genitor particles in the humans and asserted his psychic influence over them. The Doctor escaped the Master's clutches and helped a group of humans overcome the Master's influence and stop his plans. Whilst the Celestial Intervention Agency erased his work from history, the Master escaped in his TARDIS, which was disguised as a palm tree. (AUDIO: Rule of the Eminence)
Creating a new Dalek army
In an alternate timeline, forming an alliance with the Dalek Time Controller, the Master aided him in creating a new Dalek army in return for control over a number of conquered worlds. Setting the Controller up in Montmartre within the Red Pagoda, he returned to the future and aided the Daleks in their occupation of Earth. (AUDIO: Master of the Daleks)
When the Doctor absconded in time, the Master returned to the Pagoda to help repair it. (AUDIO: The Monster of Montmartre) With the amount of convertible humans still available dwindling, he decided to start converting Sontarans into Daleks. Liv stole his Tissue Compression Eliminator, and then travelled with him to Moscow. He created a mutiny with the Daleks, knowing that the Time Controller would betray him. The Doctor stole his TARDIS, leaving the Master stranded in the midst of a Dalek-Sontaran war. (AUDIO: Master of the Daleks)
Psychological profile
Personality
The Reborn Master was excitable, enthusiastic, theatrical, and attention seeking, (AUDIO: Dominion, The Death of Hope, Masterplan, Master of the Daleks, The Two Masters) but also held a cold and merciless attitude to his egotistical personality. (AUDIO: Eyes of the Master, Masterplan, Rule of the Eminence, The Two Masters) He took no offence when the Eighth Doctor called him "as nutty as a fruitcake", but he was slightly annoyed when the Doctor called him a spoiled child. (AUDIO: Masterplan)
Being a manipulative megalomaniac, the Master used his polite mannerisms to enhance how diabolical he was, (AUDIO: Dominion, The Reviled, Masterplan, Rule of the Eminence, Master of the Daleks, The Two Masters) but would drop all niceties the moment he was annoyed or in pain. (AUDIO: Dominion, Master of the Daleks, And You Will Obey Me, The Two Masters) He was also known for making quips and enjoying himself as he carried out his schemes, which allowed the Seventh Doctor to realise what had happened when the Cult of the Heretic caused the Reborn Master to switch bodies with the Decayed Master, as the Decayed Master was having far more fun than he usually would. In contrast with his decayed incarnation, who killed at the first opportunity, the Reborn Master liked to build up to a pun when killing his victims. (AUDIO: The Two Masters)
Despite his more theatrical side, the Master was as ruthless as his other incarnations, creating his own Infinite Warriors by replacing human eyes with fake ones that had Eminence substance in them, (AUDIO: Eyes of the Master) and manipulating an Eminence attack on Heron's World for an experiment. (AUDIO: The Death of Hope) After manipulating unrest among refugees to seize control of their ship, he was ruthless in curbing unrest even from his former allies. (AUDIO: Masterful) He was also unorthodox in his malice, being more interested in being cruel and spiteful, opting to humiliate and punish his opponents, even after he had bested them, and enjoyed "twist[ing] the knife into the wound" by adding personal tragedies for his enemies into his plans. (AUDIO: Dominion, The Death of Hope, Masterplan, Rule of the Eminence, The Two Masters)
The Master was more willing to go into dangerous situations than his other incarnations, not only making deals with the Eminence and the Daleks for universal domination, but also showed signs of extreme anti-obedience and arrogance, openly mocking his allies while fully aware that they could kill him anytime they wanted. (AUDIO: Masterplan, Master of the Daleks)
His plans were meticulous, and like his decayed incarnation, the Reborn Master liked to plan for every possible obstacle, but instead of waiting for the contingency to be activated by his opponents, he openly went out of his way to close off those obstacles beforehand. (AUDIO: Masterplan, Master of the Daleks, The Two Masters)
He preferred to let others believe they had defeated him before turning the tides and took great pleasure in emotionally humiliating them after he took back control. (AUDIO: The Death of Hope, Rule of the Eminence, Master of the Daleks, The Two Masters)
A slightly lazier incarnation, the Reborn Master liked the idea of having an army, (AUDIO: Master of the Daleks) but didn't enjoy the prospect of building one up himself. The Eighth Doctor even accused him of being unoriginal with his schemes, which inspired the Master to improvise a new plan after his old one failed. (AUDIO: Masterplan)
Seeing his subordinates as possessions instead of people, the Master had no compunctions towards demeaning, mind controlling or even killing subordinates who caught him the wrong way or had served their purpose, (AUDIO: The Death of Hope, And You Will Obey Me, The Two Masters) sparing only the most important ones to his plan until they were no longer of importance. (AUDIO: Masterplan) However, he praised hard work and good results. (AUDIO: The Death of Hope, And You Will Obey Me)
While he had a genuine rapport with Sally Armstrong, telling the Doctor that Sally was brilliant enough to fly his TARDIS on her own, he would assert his dominance over her when she disappointed him, (AUDIO: Eyes of the Master) and when she challenged him. (AUDIO: The Death of Hope) He even kissed her hand, (AUDIO: The Reviled) and briefly mourned for her after her death. (AUDIO: Masterplan)
When Jo Grant compared him and his other incarnations to bank managers, the Reborn Master was the first to move in to kill her. (AUDIO: Masterful)
The Reborn Master would go to great depths to involve the Doctor in his schemes, (AUDIO: Dominion) with the Doctor believing he did so because he enjoyed the attention the Doctor gave him. (AUDIO: Masterplan) He also accused the Eighth Doctor's attitude about a war with the Daleks of being hypocritical, noting that, while the Doctor claimed not to be fighting a war with them, he had battled the Daleks across time and space. (AUDIO: Eyes of the Master) He later belittled the Doctor for his emotional attachments. (AUDIO: Masterplan)
While the Master had always displayed a degree of disrespect for the laws and workings of time travel, the Reborn Master was especially brazen in this attitude, stating that he could simply use his TARDIS to cross his own timeline and attempt to achieve a failed plan without any concern for the paradoxes or personal dangers involved in doing so. (AUDIO: Dominion) So disregarding to paradoxes was he that he even attacked a past incarnation of himself to further his own agenda, (AUDIO: The Two Masters) and had no qualms about attempting to kill the Seventh Doctor, despite already being involved in the circumstances behind his regeneration. (AUDIO: Dominion)
He claimed that he never looked back to the past and was always focused on the future. He also stated that he wanted peace across the universe under his rule. (AUDIO: Masterplan)
The Reborn Master regarded death as an "old friend", and hoped his demise would be "dramatic" as he "burned at the head of vast army". (AUDIO: Masterful)
Habits and quirks
He would often introduce himself by saying, "Hello, you!", (AUDIO: Dominion, Eyes of the Master, Master of the Daleks) a phrase which Missy used to greet him upon his regeneration from the Decayed Master, (AUDIO: Day of the Master) and had a flair for a Shakespearian dialect. (AUDIO: Dominion, The Death of Hope, Masterplan)
The Reborn Master also had a habit of imitating the Doctor, such as tricking UNIT into believing him to be a future incarnation of the Seventh Doctor, (AUDIO: Dominion) taking on the Doctor's role of a lone hero saving a group of innocents, (AUDIO: The Death of Hope) and even replacing the Doctor with himself in Molly O'Sullivan's memories. (AUDIO: Rule of the Eminence)
Appearance
The Reborn Master had light skin and brown eyes, and was bald, (AUDIO: Dominion) with many commenting on his lack of hair. (AUDIO: Dominion, Eyes of the Master) He wore a plain suit with a charcoal velvet blazer, a white shirt, (AUDIO: Eyes of the Master) and a kipper tie that was either plain black (AUDIO: Eyes of the Master) or striped black and pink. (AUDIO: Masterplan) On one occasion, he wore a white Stetson. (AUDIO: The Death of Hope)
The Decayed Master described the Reborn Master as resembling a "low-ranking civil servant", but the Reborn Master argued that he more resembled a leader. (AUDIO: The Two Masters) He was offended when an unaware Jo Grant described an assembly of Masters as appearing like "friendly bank managers". (AUDIO: Masterful)
While posing as the "Other Doctor", the Master wore an ebony black overcoat, with raven black trousers, a gunmetal grey blazer, an ivory shirt with either the collar turned up and a striped black and gold cravat or a down over an emerald green tie in a basic bow (AUDIO: Dominion)
Behind the scenes
- "The Reborn Master" was the internal name used to distinguish the incarnation of the Master portrayed by Alex Macqueen in Masterful, as revealed in the behind-the-scenes track for its release.