Time Lord
The Time Lords and Time Ladies (sometimes called "Lords of Time" or, rarely, "Chronarchs") were the oligarchic rulers of the planet Gallifrey.
Time Lords versus Gallifreyans
It is unclear if all Gallifreyans were Time Lords, or if "Time Lord" was a title reserved for Gallifreyeans who matriculated from the planet's Time Academies.
One, possibly apocryphal account, portrays a time line in which Ace, a Human, receives the power and knowledge of the Time Lords, suggesting that not all Time Lords were necessarily Gallifreyans. (WC: Death Comes to Time) The Doctor had said on another occasion that he hoped that this could happen to her, though, according to the other account, it did not come to pass. (NA: Lungbarrow)
History
- See Gallifreyan history.
The Gallifreyans possessed one of the oldest and most powerful civilizations in the Universe. As the Time Lords, they would hold absolute power for some ten million years. (DW: The Ultimate Foe)
Physiology and abilities
Time Lords also have unique powers not shared by other Gallifreyans.
Time Lord brains
The Rani referred to Time Lord brains as "time brains". (Dimensions in Time) Through physiology or training, Time Lord brains were quite similar: the Doctor said, of the Master, "He's a Time Lord. In many ways, we have the same mind." (DW:Logopolis) The Timewyrm noticed that on a quantum level, the Doctor's brain could receive information from possible futures, possibly without even realizing it consciously. (NA: Timewyrm: Revelation)
The Time Lord brain was much more complex than that of a Human brain and also larger. This size differences meant brain transplants into a Human body would be impossible. (DW: The Brain of Morbius) They were 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 multi task easily. (PDA: Island of Death)
Time Lords have an additional lobe to their brain dedicated to mechanical and other bodily functions (BFA: Spare Parts).
The Time Lord gift of translation
Time Lords were trained in many languages and had at their disposal the translation powers of their TARDISes. This translation was not perfect, and may not work on exceptionally old and/or obscure languages, or if the speaker was not an organic life-form. (DW: The Leisure Hive, Four to Doomsday, The Impossible Planet) Shared "secret languages" or code languages deliberately created to exclude outsiders--such as Carny Parlare, a patois spoken exclusively by workers at a certain carnival--may also not translate correctly. (DW: Carnival of Monsters)
Longevity and regeneration
- See Regeneration
- We do not know with certainty whether other Gallifreyans can regenerate or the aging rate of common Gallifreyans. We do know that other species have often spoken of the power to regenerate as associated with the Time Lords.
Time Lords had the ability to regenerate their bodies. They could renew their bodies in case of mortal illness or injury, advanced old age, or even because they willed it. This process allows them to live for centuries, even millennia. Even without regeneration, Time Lords had considerable lifespans. Within one regeneration, Time Lords could live for hundreds of years, yet looking much younger than a Human of equivalent age. (DW: The Leisure Hive)
Rassilon Imprimatur
The cellular structure of Time Lords was 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.
Meta-Crisis
A Time Lord can prevent death and regeneration by focusing the regenerative energies into a severed appendage. The severed appendage siphons off the excess energy while the Time Lord uses just enough of it to heal wounds. This results in the appendage storing enough energy to actually grow a nearly identical Time Lord if it comes in contact with living tissue. The Doctor first used a Meta-Crisis to prevent death and regeneration in (DW: Journey's End). Meta-Crises were previously unknown to his companions, but it can be assumed that even on Gallifrey it was a rare occurrence because the process requires a severed appendage.
Society and Culture
Government
By the Doctor's time, 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 the Lord 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 civilizations. 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 Chancellory Guard.
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 Great Time War.
Culture and the arts
Time Lords appreciated music, as indicated by such artefacts 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 practised by Time Lords, perhaps brought from Earth. The question "What's for tea?" was misinterpreted by Borusa as "What is tea?" - to which he supplied 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 (and particularly British) custom of a light meal called "tea" or "high tea". (DW: The Invasion of Time)
Science and Technology
Weapons
People
Other Facts
- Several of the Doctor's more powerful foes, such as the Nestene Consciousness, the Great Intelligence, the Animus, and the Master, are stated 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
- The War Games
- Terror of the Autons (Time Lord messenger)
- Colony in Space (cameo)
- The Three Doctors
- Genesis of the Daleks (Time Lord messenger)
- 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 End of the World (mentioned)
- School Reunion (mentioned)
- Utopia (mentioned)
- The Sound of Drums (cameo)
- Last of the Time Lords (mentioned)
- The Doctor's Daughter (mentioned)
References and appearances
- The Doctor and Romana receive a signal from the Time Lords. (DW: Meglos)
- The Doctor reveals the content of the message, ordering him to return Romana to Gallifrey. (DW: Full Circle)
- Appearances by various renegades, starting with the Monk.
- The Time Lords also played active parts behind the scenes in sending the Doctor, often unwillingly on missions. (DW: The Mutants, Planet of the Daleks, The Brain of Morbius, Attack of the Cybermen,The Two Doctors).
Novels
New Adventures novels
BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures
- Alien Bodies (Homunculette, a Time Lord from the future, attends the auction representing the Time Lords)
- The Taking of Planet 5 (future Time Lord troops)
- The Ancestor Cell
BBC Past Doctor Adventures
External links
