Romana II
Romanadvoratrelundar (Romana for short) was a Time Lord and companion of the Fourth Doctor, having begun travelling with him in her first incarnation.
Leaving the TARDIS with K9 Mark II to assist the Tharils in E-Space, Romana eventually returned to Gallifrey and became President with the goal of liberalising the planet, culminating in the Gallifreyan Civil War. Following the war, she was re-elected but later resigned and acted as Coordinator of the CIA during the Last Great Time War until its dissolution.
Biography
Regeneration
In her first incarnation, Romana was tortured by the Shadow (TV: The Armageddon Factor) which caused Pandora's malicious influence to resurface. (AUDIO: Lies) In addition to this, she suffered the strain of the Key to Time being absorbed into her (AUDIO: The Chaos Pool) and suffered subtle damage caused by chronodyne. (PROSE: The Lying Old Witch in the Wardrobe) Seeking to escape Pandora's influence, Romana initiated a regeneration, although she would later forget why, (AUDIO: Lies) believing that she might have regenerated for the fun of it. (PROSE: City of Death)
Due to her exceptional performance at the Time Lord Academy, Romana had great control over her regeneration (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks) and was able to try out several bodies before settling on a form identical to that of Astra of Atrios, having thought that the body had "looked very good" on Astra. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks)
According to one account, however, Romana was trapped in the TARDIS wardrobe by the Doctor's TARDIS when she began to regenerate. The TARDIS did this so it could assume her new form to play a joke on the Doctor. After settling on a form identical to Princess Astra, the TARDIS had an adventure with the Doctor that involved Davros and the Daleks. The TARDIS then helped Romana complete her regeneration into Astra's form. (PROSE: The Lying Old Witch in the Wardrobe)
Travels in the TARDIS
Evading the Black Guardian
Still using the randomiser to evade the Black Guardian, Romana's first adventure was on Skaro where she was captured and interrogated by the Daleks and made to work as a slave before using her respiratory bypass system to feign death and escape. She met Davros and assisted the Doctor in defeating the Daleks, the Movellans and freeing the slaves. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks)
Romana and the Doctor thwarted Gevaunt's plan to make humans edible to Quolls (COMIC: Victims) and, after attempting to make repairs to the TARDIS, landed in 51st century Reykjavik where she gave Magnus Greel the idea of time travel and gave him a card for a plastic surgeon in 1998. (COMIC: Under Reykjavik) With K9, the two Time Lords responded to a distress call from the Karsudan and repaired the ship. (PROSE: All Snug in Their Beds) They also visited Arkinen and decided to head to Paris. (AUDIO: The Old Rogue)
Arrving in Paris in 1979, Romana and the Doctor enjoyed the city before uncovering Scaroth's plan to use the Mona Lisa and a number of copies to fund his time travel experiments. She provided Scaroth with time travel technology but, after realising her mistake, helped the Doctor stop him. (TV: City of Death)
On a planet made of confectionery, Romana realised it was K9's birthday. After defeating an alliance made up of the Master, the Daleks and the Cybermen, she returned to him with a sponge cake to celebrate, although after it came to life they allowed it to live out its life on the confectionery planet. (PROSE: Special Occasions: 1. The Not-So-Sinister Sponge) At the end of the universe, the Doctor gave Romana the universe's last Rolo (PROSE: Special Occasions: 2. Do You Love Anyone Enough?) before they left Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart a Christmas present (PROSE: Special Occasions: 3. Better Watch Out, Better Take Care) and ruminated on the nature of their lives. (PROSE: Special Occasions: 4. Playing with Toys)
Romana, the Doctor and K9 attended Queen Elizabeth II's recoronation and were pointed out by the Brigadier to his wife, Doris, (PROSE: The Dying Days) and an academic conference on Mars where they passed Bernice Summerfield. (PROSE: Beige Planet Mars) They returned to Paris in 2000 where they defeated Taureau (COMIC: The Forgotten) and met Kaj Jepperson in 30th century Prague to stop his time experiments. (PROSE: The End of Now) On a Kroton ship, Romana and the Doctor encountered the Krotons, Quarks and Ogrons from a different universe. (COMIC: The Lost Dimension)
On Chloris, Romana was captured by a party of bandits. She became involved in Lady Adrasta's plans to kill the Tythonian ambassador Erato when she made the mistake of showing what K9 could do. (TV: The Creature from the Pit)
After the TARDIS landed on the Rock of Judgement, Romana assisted in Frank Spiggot's investigation into the prison, involving the two in Xais's attempted resurrection. The station manager attempted to force the mask that would resurrect her onto Romana, but her Gallifreyan status allowed her to overcome the possession and assist the Doctor in defeating Xais. (PROSE: The Romance of Crime)
Realising that the Doctor had bypassed the Randomiser in order to return some overdue library books, she became cross with him as she was worried that the Black Guardian would be able to find them. Landing in London, she discovered a time tunnel being used by humans that was blocked by Zodaal's space ship. She accidentally accelerated Zodaal's plan and gave him secrets of Gallifreyan time travel in the process. (PROSE: The English Way of Death)
When two spaceships, the Empress and the Hecate, collided, Romana helped separate them. She also helped to uncover a drug-smuggling plot involving the lethal drug vraxoin via Tryst's Continuous Event Transmuter and the Mandrels it contained. (TV: Nightmare of Eden)
The Doctor and Romana landed on the Myriad that was looking for the Doctor. The Doctor told her that the ship was in the constellation of Kasterborous, which she was delighted at but she had by this time decided that she did not want to go back to Gallifrey. She was fascinated when she met CAIN as she had not seen an artificial intelligence with a working fungoid brain before. She later told Suri about the Pyralis and helped to defeat them. (AUDIO: The Pyralis Effect)
Romana prevented the Nimon from continuing their cycle of taking over planets by posing as gods. She travelled to Crinoth and met Sezom, the sole survivor of the people there who had formerly welcomed the Nimon in the hope they would give them higher technology, only to realise too late the Nimon were parasitic nomads who consumed them and their world. (TV: The Horns of Nimon)
She was initially annoyed when they landed in what appeared to be Rome, saying that there was no point in the randomiser if it was going to take them to places they already had been in, but discovered that it was the Luna Romana theme park. She stopped Stoyn from changing time. (AUDIO: Luna Romana)
Romana and the Doctor decided to stay in their house in London in June 1964 whilst K9 led the Black Guardian on another wild goose chase through time. He returned having been affected by a wave-cancellation frequency modulator, which the two Time Lords investigated. Romana discovered that Jill Lanchaster was a Vardan and later cancelled-out the Vardan invasion force by plugging the modulator into Mark Lanchaster's pirate radio. (AUDIO: Wave of Destruction)
Romana and the Doctor landed in Budapest in 1980 in order to take in the sights and defeated the vampire-like Zoltán Frid. (AUDIO: The Labyrinth of Buda Castle) After arriving in Aoris's past due to the TARDIS's collision with a Time Tank, Romana and K9 prevented a civilisation from discovering time travel and deactivated a bomb. (AUDIO: The Paradox Planet) They searched for the Doctor and prevented Drang's attack. (AUDIO: Legacy of Death)
The Doctor and Romana went to Cambridge in 1979, intending to meet Professor Chronotis. Whilst punting up the River Cam, (WC: Shada) the Doctor's first four incarnations, along with their companions, were taken by a time scoop to the Death Zone on Gallifrey. The Doctor and Romana were caught in a time eddy and failed to arrive in the Death Zone. They were released several hours later once Borusa was sealed in the Tomb of Rassilon. (TV: The Five Doctors)
The Doctor, having gone "nowhere" for several hours, went back to the TARDIS, demanding everyone to put their bathing suits on as they were going to Brighton. The Doctor and Romana, though retaining memories of the punting trip, had forgotten they intended to visit Chronotis. The Doctor said that they had intended to be back "before lights out", but "went on somewhere else", according to Romana, after only being away from the TARDIS for two hours and twenty-one minutes. (WC: Shada)
Landing in Brighton in 1833, too early for the Brighton Pavilion, the Doctor planed to stay around for the opening, Romana initially planned to visit the sites of Europe and popular figures of the age. At Mary Barnes' waxworks, she spotted Goole stealing a waxwork of Marie Antoinette and went with the Doctor to Goole's Gallery of Ghouls and learnt that Goole was a wax creature. She was caught up in an explosion but she managed to escape via the drains. (AUDIO: Gallery of Ghouls)
Romana warned the Doctor not to return to Brighton too soon after their previous visit. She was used as a hostage by Drax but managed to escape and helped stop his interfering with time. (AUDIO: The Trouble with Drax) Mr Dorricl placed Romana in a chamber to become the pilot of the Laan's time engine, (AUDIO: The Pursuit of History) but she did not have sufficient exposure to the Time Vortex. She later learnt that the Black Guardian was involved. (AUDIO: Casualties of Time)
On Barclow, Romana and the Doctor were separated after a missile landed near their position, after which Romana was captured and met Menlove Stokes again. (PROSE: The Well-Mannered War) After arriving in London in 1899, she helped the Doctor track an energy pulse to the New Regency Theatre and later assisted George Litefoot and Percival Quick. (AUDIO: The Beast of Kravenos) Planning to take Romana to a pencil museum in the Lake District, the Doctor instead landed in a battlefield where they encountered the Sontarans. (AUDIO: The Eternal Battle)
In Hollywood 1930, she confronted Julius about his clinic that specialised in keeping film-stars young and started a mob to rescue the Doctor. (AUDIO: The Silent Scream) Romana wanted the Doctor to use the randomiser again and switched it on, taking them to a submarine in the 1940s that was suspended in space where she again saved the Doctor. (AUDIO: Dethras)
The Doctor arrived in Brighton, but in the wrong season. Bored and with K9 out of action after going in the sea, Romana suggested they visit the Leisure Hive. There, they prevented the rebirth of Argolin civilisation. Despite her protests, the Doctor removed the randomiser from the TARDIS, making them vulnerable to the Black Guardian finding them again. (TV: The Leisure Hive)
Without the randomiser
After arriving in London in 1922, Romana and the Doctor stayed at Baker Street for some time. Travelling to Kent, the two investigated and solved a case of alleged ghostly activity at Malkin Place. (AUDIO: The Haunting of Malkin Place) The TARDIS later materialised underground where it was captured by a drill town, after which Romana was interrogated by Maxwell Wilberforce Bell. She was to be converted into a Silex but managed to escape and reunite with the Doctor. (AUDIO: Subterranea) Staying again at Baker Street in 1980, the two looked into a Movellan ship and found Chenek, an anti-Dalek weapon. She helped the Doctor reprogram him to remove his Movellan programming and give him free will. (AUDIO: The Movellan Grave)
On Funderell, Romana was rescued from a current by Rolf and taken to see Greygul, where she encountered her old friend Sartia from the Time Lord Academy. She broke into Sartia's stolen files and was later left by her in the middle of nowhere to die. (AUDIO: The Skin of the Sleek) However, she survived and reunited with the Doctor, with whom she defeated Sartia. (AUDIO: The Thief Who Stole Time)
On Tigella, Romana freed herself from the Bell Plants' harassment before she was captured by Gaztaks. She bluffed the Gaztaks by claiming she was leading them to the TARDIS before taking them around in circles. She lost them by leading them into the Bell Plants. (TV: Meglos)
E-Space
Information from series 9 of the Fourth Doctor Adventures needs to be added
After forgetting all about the matter, the Doctor received an order from the Time Lords to return Romana to Gallifrey given that they had assembled the Key to Time. Romana, having tasted a life of adventure with the Doctor and bonded with him, did not want to return and spend the rest of her life there. The TARDIS entered a Charged Vacuum Emboitment and entered E-Space where they landed on the planet Alzarius. Infected by an Alzarian spider, Romana was controlled by its venom to complete tasks to help the Marshmen. The Doctor restrained her and she soon recovered. (TV: Full Circle)
Romana and the Doctor began searching for a CVE to return home. They came across a planet and landed upon it. They found an Alzarian, Adric, had stowed away on board. Romana was taken by a group of vampires as a sacrifice to the King Vampire. The Doctor rescued her and they resumed searching. (TV: State of Decay) The Doctor was injured and Romana placed him in the Zero Room to recover. The TARDIS was captured by Ballustrans. Romana was questioned by Marni Tellis in a murder enquiry. However, a Farrian attack lifted suspicion from her. Romana kept the Farrian talking long enough for the Doctor to destroy their CVE entrance. They were unable to follow and so continued their search. (AUDIO: The Invasion of E-Space)
The TARDIS crew arrived at the Gateway where they encountered the Tharils. With K9 damaged by time winds and unable to return to N-Space, Romana chose to remain with him in E-Space where they could help release the Tharils from captivity. (TV: Warriors' Gate) She fought for Tharil rights for many years and liberated them (PROSE: Blood Harvest) and eventually decided to return, (AUDIO: The Invasion of E-Space) passing through a mirror with K9 to return to their universe. (AUDIO: Zagreus)
Return to Gallifrey
Romana visited the vampire planet to check upon its residents where she encountered Bernice Summerfield. The pair and the Seventh Doctor became aware of Agonal's plan to resurrect the Great Vampire, after which they went to the Tomb of Rassilon where Agonal was tricked by Rassilon. Romana elected to remain on Gallifrey. (PROSE: Blood Harvest)
Romana met Ruath and was trapped by her in a miniscope to prevent her from stopping her plan to turn the Time Lords into vampires. Romana was later picked up by Spandrell and, according to one account, received a position on the High Council. (PROSE: Goth Opera) She was shocked that the Fifth Doctor had become President and then run away from his responsibilities. (AUDIO: Extermination)
Working closely with the High Council, Romana planned to bring Amy (later known as Abby) to the Time Lord Academy in order to convince them to begin admitting non-Gallifreyan students. (AUDIO: The Chaos Pool)
President of the High Council
Early career
After a coup overthrew President Flavia, a new President was sworn in. (AUDIO: Lies) Romana claimed to have invoked a right of challenge against the President and been successful, succeeding him. (AUDIO: Insurgency) However, she also said that she had been "asked to become President", in spite of her lack of political experience. (AUDIO: Lies)
According to one account, Romana ran against an individual in an election held after her predecessor was found drunk whilst in charge of the Sash of Rassilon. She narrowly won, winning 53% of the vote to her rival's 47% according to Spandrell. One of her first actions as President was to establish a Tharil embassy and, in her first speech, she called an end to Gallifrey's policy of isolationism. (PROSE: Happy Endings)
According to one account, soon after taking office Romana suffered an epileptic fit caused by the Carnival Queen, who wished to threaten the rational underpinnings of the universe. During this fit, she signed an executive order releasing three hundred prisoners from Shada, including Grandfather Paradox. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet) However, another account stated that Salyavin, upon leaving Shada on his own centuries before Romana's time, used his powers to make the Time Lords forget about Shada. Romana herself told Skagra she had "never even heard of it", referring to the prison as "the actions of previous administrations". (WC: Shada)
Also in the early days of her Presidency, Romana was abducted by the Daleks and spent more than two decades in captivity before escaping with the help of the Doctor, now in his sixth incarnation. During her absence, a predecessor stepped in for her. (AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element) Upon returning to Gallifrey, she resumed the Presidency. (AUDIO: Weapon of Choice, etc.)
Trouble with anti-time
Romana sanctioned an experiment with the Celestial Intervention Agency to look into the phenomenon of anti-time. As part of this experiment, she went with Coordinator Vansell on an extraction mission to collect the Eighth Doctor and his companion Charlotte Pollard, informing them that Charley's survival after the crash of the R101 had caused damage to the Web of Time. Travelling into the universe of anti-time, they discovered the Neverpeople that resulted from the Gallifreyans' use of the Oubliette of Eternity. As Sentris was manipulating Vansell to explode a critical mass of anti-time in the Panopticon, she reset her presidential codes in the Matrix. Rassilon claimed that she had the Matrix's favour and a door was created that returned her to Gallifrey, with Charley's survival resolved. (AUDIO: Neverland)
Romana had Cardinal Braxiatel monitor the section of the galaxy where the Doctor's TARDIS had been staying since the anti-time explosion. She and Leela entered the Matrix to talk to Rassilon, who had appeared in Leela's dreams, and encountered the infected Doctor and a manifestation of the TARDIS. Romana helped the Doctor recover before banishing him to the Divergent Universe as a precaution against the spread of anti-time. She told Leela that she believed that they had the beginnings of a beautiful friendship. (AUDIO: Zagreus)
Investigating the Timonic Fusion Device
After Nepenthe of the Free Time movement took possession of the Timonic Fusion Device that had allegedly been disassembled, Romana interrogated arms dealer Mephistopheles Arkadian about the movement. With the Monan Host threatening invasion of Gryben to obtain the device, she had to stop Coordinator Narvin from launching Battle TARDISes and Cardinal Braxiatel from stopping an evacuation. She used her position to stop a war by going to the planet herself, as she knew if she was on the planet any action which would kill Monan forces would also kill herself. She learnt that the device was a bluff. (AUDIO: Weapon of Choice)
Romana organised a fake temporal summit to draw out Free Time, sending Narvin as the Time Lord delegate and Leela as an undercover agent. Hossak caused a number of changes to the timeline, culminating in Romana, who joined the conference, becoming a paradox. Over the course of the summit, Romana identified the Monan delegate V'rell as a member of Free Time and Hossak as the one behind the timeline alterations. Hossak tried to kill Romana due to her paradoxical nature, after which she was arrested. (AUDIO: Square One)
Inquisitor Darkel presided over a judicial inquiry into Romana's actions on Gryben. Romana provided evidence that she had reason to believe that the device was genuine, assisted by information from K9 and Narvin and a data bomb planted in the Matrix by Braxiatel. She also learnt about how and why Braxiatel began his collection and went back in time to stop the retro-crime that occurred in stealing the device. (AUDIO: The Inquiry)
Arkadian invited Romana to Earth to discuss the Timonic Fusion Device, meeting on the Calais Transcontinental Express in 1939. Romana learnt of Commander Torvald's plan involving Sissy Pollard and, later, that he was an incarnation of Andred. (AUDIO: A Blind Eye)
Darkel's opposition
As the High Council was comprised of herself and three cardinals who were not especially sympathetic to her, Romana appointed the Arcalian Chapter Castellan Wynter to the Council. Cardinal Braxiatel attempted to have Romana make him her High Chancellor to support her, but she was loath to be seen to hand high offices to her friends.
Romana, Leela and K9 Mark I encountered Pandora in the vaults and finally came to understand why her first incarnation had initiated her regeneration. Pandora told her that Romana was the result of centuries of genetic manipulation and intended to be her new host body. (AUDIO: Lies)
Romana took Leela on a short holiday to Davidia after she decided that she wanted to leave Gallifrey. Their break was cut short by the arrival of a charred body that arrived in an anomalous TARDIS, a TARDIS that they learnt from Braxiatel must be from the future. Hoping to help the charred Time Lord, Romana and Leela entered a sensory tank with him, where she experienced the world through Leela's viewpoint, bringing them to more of an understanding. (AUDIO: Spirit)
Darkel manipulated Romana into appointing Braxiatel as her High Chancellor, causing some controversy. She also put Braxiatel in charge of the Academy, now educating off-world students from the Temporal Powers. After Wynter released Pandora, Romana realised that he was the charred man, having gone back in time to warn her of Pandora. Braxiatel absorbed the past and present aspects of Pandora and, to protect the Time Lords, he was exiled. (AUDIO: Pandora)
Romana gave Leela a job at the Academy and had her monitor the situation there, fearing that Darkel might incite civil war. Influenced by Pandora, she became more paranoid and agitated about the Inquisitor Prime's actions and murdered Andred, (AUDIO: Insurgency) harming her friendship with Leela. She started having dreams of being Imperiatrix.
After a terrorist bombing at the Academy, Romana had a political debate with Darkel and wanted to put her and Narvin on trial for their actions. In response to Darkel making a bid for the presidency and at Pandora's suggestion, she declared herself Imperiatrix of Gallifrey and crowned herself with the Coronet of Rassilon. This connected her to the Matrix and gave Pandora form as Romana's first incarnation, declaring herself to be Imperiatrix. (AUDIO: Imperiatrix)
Civil War and aftermath
Freed by her Chancellery Guards, Romana began the Gallifreyan Civil War. She targeted the Capitol's infrastructure and stopped TARDISes from functioning rather than attacking people, not wanting anyone to be hurt and seeking to avoid a time war. In addition to this, she asked Commentator Gerber to broadcast propaganda to win support. She travelled to the Anomaly Vault in order to get Wynter's TARDIS to have an advantage against Pandora, but whilst she was there she was attacked by Aesino who she thought she might be able to use. (AUDIO: Fractures)
Following her experience in the vault, Romana was weakened. However, she managed to trick Pandora into having a meeting inside the Matrix where she was taken by the Anomaly Vault's sentience before Romana had the Matrix completely wiped. (AUDIO: Warfare)
Due to Romana's weakened status, Chancellor Valyes became Acting President before appointed Darkel as his successor. Romana argued that this was not politically sound and both she and Cardinal Matthias laid claims to the presidency, with Romana agreeing to regenerate should it be deemed necessary. (AUDIO: Appropriation) Darkel and Matthias had her arrested for high treason, but she was released after Braxiatel returned and made a superior claim for the presidency, immediately resigning and naming Matthias his successor before returning to exile. (AUDIO: Mindbomb)
Romana decided to return to the House of Heartshaven, where she found Janartis exhibiting signs of the Dogma Virus. She attempted to find a cure and learnt that Braxiatel had named Matthias as his successor as whoever was President would be doomed to fall to the virus. She found that the only way to cure the virus was to end the Time Lords' regenerative abilities, which she was hesitant to do. With the help of K9, Braxiatel used a Time Scoop to collect the biodata archive and asked Romana to decide whether to administer the cure or to let Gallifrey die and then rebuild it using the biodata. She made her decision (AUDIO: Panacea) but Braxiatel then took her to the Axis. (AUDIO: Reborn)
Exploring other realities
Adventures
At the Axis with Braxiatel, Leela, K9 and Narvin, Romana resolved to explore alternative versions of Gallifrey to find a new home or a way to cure the Dogma Virus. In a world where regenerations were currency, she found out that she had not met the Doctor and that she had married Andred. She met her counterpart and her son, Antonin. (AUDIO: Reborn)
On another Gallifrey, Romana met a ruthless counterpart that went to great lengths to maintain order and have the Web of Time woven to Gallifrey's benefit. Her counterpart assigned the Burner Doctor to execute the prime Romana and Braxiatel was lost, falling into one of the Axis's portals after their escape. (AUDIO: Disassembled)
After losing Braxiatel, Romana discovered a world where the Great Vampires had defeated the True Lords of Gallifrey. Lord Prydon attempted to make Romana his consort but, thanks to the immunity she gained in E-Space, this failed and she helped Lady Borusa to destroy them and, in the process, Gallifrey. Destroying another world - another Gallifrey - distressed Romana. (AUDIO: Annihilation)
The group also visited a Gallifrey where the Time Lords were simian. (AUDIO: Forever)
New Gallifrey
When an alternative Romana was assassinated, Romana took her place and attempted to help the people of that world perfect their Eye of Harmony. Narvin's counterpart realised that she was from another world and threatened the slaves to make sure that she would comply with his wishes. However, the Eye turned out to be a prison for the Krilig and it was closed, stranding Leela, Narvin and herself on the alternative Gallifrey and K9 in the Axis. (AUDIO: Forever)
Romana, as President, declared that she would form a New Gallifrey, banning slavery, instituting liberal policies and investing time in alternative time technologies. She identified exposure to the Time Vortex as a possible cure to the Dogma Virus. She mediated a dispute about access to Zeiton-7 between the Outsiders, led by Leela, and the Mining Guild led by Councillor Allora. (AUDIO: Emancipation)
Romana attended a conference into alternative time technologies and used money as an incentive to get the progress she needed. She was informed by Castellan Slyne that KAvil had discovered a signal in the Time Vortex, which they later discovered was the word "Axis". (AUDIO: Evolution)
She argued with Zakar about a section of land which the Outsiders controlled, prompting Narvin to advise moderation between the two parties. Kavil's signal was amplified and a portal opened in the Panopticon, through which arrived the Daleks. (AUDIO: Arbitration)
Returning to Gallifrey Prime
Romana escaped the Daleks in the Panopticon and managed to tell Castellan Slyne their only weakness, going to the armoury with Leela to halt the Daleks. They were successful in preventing the Daleks' plan to invade the multiverse and managed to return home, complete with a cure for the Dogma Virus. She killed a Dalek herself before leaving. (AUDIO: Extermination)
Shortly after arriving on what seemed to be her own Gallifrey (actually the Matrix), Romana was greeted by her next incarnation, calling herself Trey, who entered into a deal with her to return Gallifrey to its former state, thus saving herself thousands of years of work. She became increasingly tired sorting out the calculations and the negotiations. Trey was worried about her and Romana wanted her exiled, but was exiled herself. She returned to Gallifrey just as there was trouble with the transduction barrier and the Eye of Harmony which seemed to cause a regeneration. However, she actually fell through a Matrix door into the real world. (AUDIO: Renaissance)
Second term as President
Romana learnt that she had been saved by K9. Arriving in the real world, she was reinstated as President following Matthias's resignation. She could not decide whether or not to use the measure that would cure the Dogma Virus, but Leela decided for her, after which a Dalek force invaded from the Matrix. Romana tricked them into re-entering the Matrix before trapping them there, as was planned by Trey, who turned out to be a Matrix projection. She then set about rebuilding her Gallifrey, which was crippled by disease and war, and was unaware that Narvin had attempted to avert the creation of the Daleks to save her when he believed her to be trapped in the Matrix. (AUDIO: Ascension)
Romana travelled to Earth after Leela disappeared during an investigation that Romana sent her on. Whilst there, she encountered the Sixth Doctor again, as well as Mike Yates, and helped them defeat Rees after freeing Leela's captive consciousness. (AUDIO: Second Sight)
Romana sent the Seventh Doctor to recover the Master's remains from Skaro (PROSE: Lungbarrow, AUDIO: The Eleven) shortly after he and Rasmus captured the Eleven. (AUDIO: The Eleven)
The Nine captured Romana and placed her in his prison for the Doctor's companions. The Nine was later defeated thanks to River Song, Liv Chenka, Helen Sinclair, Charlotte Pollard and Bliss. (AUDIO: Companion Piece)
Romana became aware of herself and Leela both having memories of visiting Henlen, the location of the first flight of the original prototype TARDIS. They succeeded in preventing the experiment, sabotaged by the Sirens of Time, from happening, causing a timeline in which the Time Lords' mastery of time travel never came to be. With the help of the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors, the experiment was completed without the Sirens' interference, restoring the timelines. (AUDIO: Collision Course)
Romana went to fix the engines of the Moros as a gesture for the Monan Host after diplomatic relations broke down. She planned to use her regeneration as a power boost to stop the ship from becoming a black hole, but her next incarnation sent Braxiatel back in time to stop her so as to avoid the war with Omega. To be doubly sure that this future would be avoided, Romana stepped down from the presidency and named Livia as her successor, appointing herself as Coordinator of the CIA.
One of her first acts was to investigate the death of Narvin. She then discovered that it was Gaal, a Warpsmith of Phaidon, that was behind the destruction of Moros and the Monan embassy on Gallifrey. With the help of Braxiatel she tracked the source of the paradoxes and found the Leela from the original timeline (i.e. Romana III's world) who was left on Legion. After negotiating with the Watchmaker, Romana found a way to stop the black hole and created a new timeline in which Narvin did not die. (AUDIO: Enemy Lines)
As Coordinator of the CIA
First months of the Time War
Romana was concerned when Narvin, whom she had made her Deputy Coordinator, told her of a secret facility belonging to the War Council, already suspicious of them and greatly angered by them due to their conduct and rhetoric when the Joint Council discussed the matter of granting asylum to the Warpsmiths. She and Narvin became aware of a War Council facility resurrecting dead Time Lords in the Death Zone and later gave Braxiatel and Ace permission to go on a mission. (AUDIO: Celestial Intervention)
After Narvin informed Romana that Ace seemed to be dead and that Braxiatel had disappeared, she planned to use The War Master in the fight against the Daleks. (AUDIO: Soldier Obscura) Narvin warned her against it, but she proceeded with the plan, sending him with Leela to get information from Finnian Valentine concerning a weapon. She greatly regretted her decision after the Master went AWOL and Leela apparently died. (AUDIO: The Devil You Know)
Rassilon's return
Information from Partisans and Collateral needs to be added
Romana secretly came into contact with the Dalek Emperor and attempted to find a diplomatic solution to avoid further death. She decided to run for presidency again after Livia resigned and named Admiral Valerian as her successor. However, she was unsuccessful after Valerian made her conversations with the Emperor public, albeit heavily edited, and she denounced Valerian as a puppet President for the War Council. Valerian was used as a host body for the resurrection of Rassilon. Narvin gave Romana a message from Braxiatel - that he was right to abandon the war and that she ought to do what the Doctor had. (AUDIO: Desperate Measures)
President Eternal Rassilon's policies were very much against Romana's own views and she found herself at odds not only with the War Council but with the newly created Interior Defence Unit, the Chancellery Guard having been dissolved. Trave arrived from the future and told them that Rassilon's rule would lead to ruin, but Rassilon executed him. (AUDIO: Havoc)
Although Narvin was unwilling to assist, Romana and Livia planned to assassinate Rassilon using the Sicari. Whilst the plan was almost successful, Rassilon survived. Romana and Narvin, who had sacrificed a new regeneration cycle to save her, were locked away but freed and framed for killing a guard so as to avoid making martyrs of them. They decided to find Leela. (AUDIO: Assassins)
Death
Romana went on a mission to fix the engines of the Moros where she first regenerated in her third incarnation. However, after the Omega incident, her third incarnation told Braxiatel to stop this regeneration, rewriting history. (AUDIO: Enemy Lines)
Prior to the destruction of Gallifrey, Romana had regenerated into another incarnation. (PROSE: The Shadows of Avalon, The Ancestor Cell) Romana claimed she needed to regenerate to become a more effective leader of Gallifrey, and her future incarnation was noticeably more ruthless than her second. (PROSE: The Ancestor Cell)
After having successfully found Leela on Unity during the Last Great Time War, Romana had finally tired of the endless cycle of death and destruction bought about by the war and elected to stay behind to cover Leela and Narvin's escape from an imminent Dalek attack. At first intending to use a chameleon arch to "wipe the slate clean" she believed such a chance was undeserved given her previous actions, instead surrendering to the approaching Daleks. She was seemingly exterminated for refusing to reveal where Narvin and Leela had escaped to. (AUDIO: Unity)
Undated events
At some point, Romana was taken to the Black Archive by UNIT to have her record as a companion of the Doctor taken. Her memories of the visit were subsequently erased and she was sent on her way. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
At another point, Romana was abducted by Adam Mitchell as part his plan to get revenge on the Doctor, in collaboration with the Tremas Master. She was placed in stasis alongside the Doctor's multiple other companions, before being released by the Doctor's first eleven numbered incarnations with the help of Frobisher. (COMIC: The Choice, Endgame)
Alternative timelines
In an alternate timeline in which Aubertides succeeded in getting the Seventh Doctor's biodata and invaded Gallifrey, Greeneye and August tried to persuade Romana to tell them about secrets of the Matrix. When Romana refused their order, they killed her. (PROSE: Human Nature)
The Eighth Doctor saw a version of Romana in a projection built by the Matrix to show Gallifrey after being affected by anti-time. Romana had taken the title "Imperiatrix" and was much more ruthless than the Doctor expected. In the projection, she presided over the obliteration of a Dalek Fleet trapped in a time loop. (AUDIO: Neverland)
One version of Romana came from an alternate Gallifrey where the Time Lords sold their weapons to other species. (AUDIO: Reborn) Another version came from a Gallifrey where Time Lords were Interventionists. (AUDIO: Disassembled) A final version came from a Gallifrey where the Time Lords were known as Regenerators, and had yet to discover time travel. (AUDIO: Forever, Emancipation)
Personality
Romana was confident, intelligent (TV: Destiny of the Daleks, The Leisure Hive, etc.) and witty, (TV: City of Death, Shada) more than capable of separating from the Doctor and resolving situations on her own. (TV: Nightmare of Eden, The Horns of Nimon, AUDIO: The Paradox Planet, etc.) She felt that she had learnt from (TV: Meglos) and grown thanks to him, (AUDIO: The Thief Who Stole Time) although some of her previous incarnation's iciness remained early on. (TV: The Creature from the Pit) Whilst she could be fearful, she remained quick to react. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks, Meglos, The Horns of Nimon)
Narvin listed Romana's virtues as "compassion, intuition, emotion, honesty, integrity, pragmatism and extreme competence". (AUDIO: The Inquiry) Whilst she claimed that she never lied, this was not always true. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks; AUDIO: A Blind Eye) When talking to people from a lower social standing, she did not talk down to them, in fact doing quite the reverse. (AUDIO: The Labyrinth of Buda Castle) She also had something of a maternal side (TV: The Horns of Nimon) and did not appreciate being bowed and scraped and fawned at. (AUDIO: Legacy of Death) Unlike the Doctor, she was capable of identifying when a woman was attractive. (AUDIO: The Labyrinth of Buda Castle) She never carried guns as she found that they had little defensive value, (AUDIO: The Paradox Planet) but she was not above using them when absolutely necessary. (TV: The Horns of Nimon, AUDIO: Extermination) She obeyed the Time Lords' strict rule of non-intervention when it suited her. (AUDIO: The Paradox Planet) She was annoyed when there wasn't any explanation, preferring the inexplicable to be explained. (AUDIO: The Haunting of Malkin Place)
Due to her new lifestyle of exploration and adventure, Romana dreaded the thought of spending the rest of her life on Gallifrey, (TV: Full Circle) finding that her life aboard the TARDIS was one full of "thrills and spills". (AUDIO: The Silent Scream) Upon returning from E-Space, however, she returned to her homeworld (AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element) and endeavoured to liberalise Time Lord society during her presidency, frustrated with the monopolistic and isolationist policies of Gallifrey. Her subjects saw her as a radical but she herself did not think so, simply believing that power gave her the responsibility to do what was right. (AUDIO: Weapon of Choice) She was willing to sacrifice her position for the planet's safety, but made herself Coordinator of the CIA so that she might still steer the Time Lords in what she saw as the right direction. (AUDIO: Enemy Lines) She was also willing to regenerate in order to become President once more and lead the planet during the Last Great Time War. (AUDIO: Desperate Measures)
In her free time, Romana enjoyed embarking on constructive and intellectual activities, finding recreation such as walking along a beach dull and pointless (TV: The Leisure Hive) and finding shoe-shopping neither emancipating nor intellectually stimulating. (AUDIO: Wave of Destruction)
The Doctor described her as "wonderful", which she supposed she was, (TV: State of Decay) and as "the noblest Romana of them all", (TV: Warriors' Gate) saying that he could not ask for more from a companion. (AUDIO: The Thief Who Stole Time) He also found her fun when she was being bossy and, as a result, was uncertain if he liked it or not when she agreed with him. (AUDIO: Dethras) She inspired loyalty from Braxiatel, Leela and Narvin (AUDIO: Weapon of Choice, Lies, etc.) and, despite her controversial policies, was broadly popular. (AUDIO: Ascension)
Romana was initially resentful of how Adric had forced himself upon them in joining their travels, but soon came to like him. (AUDIO: The Invasion of E-Space)
During the early days of the Last Great Time War, Romana sought diplomatic means to end the conflict with the Daleks, (AUDIO: Desperate Measures) intending to fight the war in her own way. (AUDIO: Celestial Intervention) When such measures failed, she still believed that the war could be won without using Dalek-like methods. (AUDIO: Partisans) The actions of Gallifrey under President Rassilon led her to believe that the planet was not the world that she had fought for and that it was no longer her home. (AUDIO: Assassins)
Skills
Romana proved a scientific genius. Her intellect rivalled and sometimes surpassed the Doctor's, as proven by her superior sonic screwdriver. (TV: The Horns of Nimon, AUDIO: The Labyrinth of Buda Castle)
Romana had great strength, as shown when she took on Sharrel unarmed. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks)
Appearance
Romana was a small, neat woman, (PROSE: Blood Harvest) noticeably shorter than her previous incarnation, (AUDIO: Luna Romana) and was aristocratically beautiful with long fair hair and a high forehead. (PROSE: The Five Doctors) She had pert lips, a noble brow and fair skin. (AUDIO: The Romance of Crime) After regenerating, she described herself as having an imposing forehead, nice hair, a neat little chin and slightly overlong arms, although the Fourth Doctor assured her that their length was fine. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks) Duggan thought that she looked twenty-five. (PROSE: City of Death)
Romana once donned a pink version of the Doctor's coat, with a white version of his scarf. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks) She also wore a variety of dresses, building on her previous incarnation's sense of style. (TV: The Androids of Tara, The Creature from the Pit) On Tigella, she wore a frilled dress. (TV: Meglos) When defeating the Nimon, she wore a crimson frockcoat, a gold brocade waistcoat, an ivory stock tie, beige trousers, and brown boots. (TV: The Horns of Nimon) Once she returned to Gallifrey, she wore traditional Time Lord garb. (PROSE: Goth Opera)
Behind the scenes
Romana II?
The designation "Romana II" is not precisely derived from DWU narratives. Rather, it comes from various reference literature like Companions of Doctor Who and Doctor Who Magazine itself. However, the Gallifrey audio series stated in narrative that the Lalla Ward Romana was the second incarnation of Romana, and her predecessor the first. (AUDIO: Warfare)
Therefore, while it is technically true to say that "Romana I" and "Romana II" are naming conventions which are not established in any narrative, nor do they appear in any known credits, the convention of using Roman numerals after Romana — while non-narrative — is employed on this wiki simply because most people using the site would likely expect such usage.
Other notes
- According to the short story The Lying Old Witch in the Wardrobe, the companion in Destiny of the Daleks is not Romana but the TARDIS, retroactively making this incarnation's first appearance City of Death. However, other sources, including the Gallifrey series, dispute this.
- BBV Productions released two original audio adventures which featured Lalla Ward with K9. Since they had the rights to K9 but not Romana or E-Space, she has no name other than "Mistress" in the audio plays, while the characters refer to E-Space as "the pocket universe".
- Although a relationship was never explicitly shown or intended by the writers, many fans have found the signs of a romantic relationship particularly evident in the story City of Death, perhaps reflecting the real-life romance between Tom Baker and Lalla Ward which reportedly blossomed during the production of that story and led to their brief marriage. In 1980, Ward and Baker made a series of television commercials in Australia for Prime Computers, performing as Romana and the Doctor. The advertisements feature a parody romance between the two characters, culminating in the Doctor proposing marriage to Romana.
- In City of Death, Romana says she is 125, but in The Ribos Operation, she claims to be nearly 140, so her age cannot be accurately placed without further information. However, it is possible that Romana is simply lying about her age.
- The status of Romana during the events of The Five Doctors depends upon which version is viewed. In the original 1983 broadcast version (and four-episode rebroadcasts), she is trapped in the vortex with the Fourth Doctor when the Time Scoop malfunctioned (as evidenced by an image of the two of them that appears on Borusa's monitor). For the 1995 Special Edition, only the Fourth Doctor is visible in the vortex image. According to production notes on the 2008 DVD release, Romana is not trapped with the Doctor in the Special Edition version. However, in the webcast Shada, Romana remembers being taken out of time along with the Doctor.
- Three alternative "physical" forms of Romana seen in Part One of Destiny of the Daleks were played, uncredited, by Yvonne Gallagher, Lee Richards and Maggy Armitage respectively (the voice continued to be that of Lalla Ward).
- Romana's clothing was examined in the 2|entertain documentary Lalla's Wardrobe.
- Romana's "death" during the events of the audio story Unity serves as a way to write the character out of the time war series, however the scene leaves the outcome of her extermination uncertain. While shot there is never any reaction by Romana with no audible death or regeneration and the story ending soon after with no confirmation of the outcome leaving her fate open ended for now.
Footnotes
- ↑ According to PROSE: The Lying Old Witch in the Wardrobe, Romana was not present in TV: Destiny of the Daleks, retroactively making Romana's first appearance TV: City of Death. However, this is contradicted by other sources, namely City of Death's novelisation and Gallifrey.
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