Names for the Time Lords
From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
| Alias | Sources | Context | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Angels" | PROSE: Head of State [+]Loading...["Head of State (novel)"] | Used in narration within "The Thousand And Second Night as translated by Sir Richard Burton". | 29 June 2015 | Angels are immortal celestial beings in Abrahamic religious and mythological traditions, with the name originating from the Ancient Greek "angelos", meaning "messenger". Used in the three cited sources as part of a willful effort on the part of speakers to equate the Houses' members with the religious figures, with Urizen being referenced as "God" or "Allah". |
| PROSE: The Cactus and the Corpse [+]Loading...["The Cactus and the Corpse (short story)"] | Used by the Bookwyrm in narration. | 29 October 2023 | ||
| PROSE: The Claus-Rosen Bridge [+]Loading...["The Claus-Rosen Bridge (short story)"] | Used by Lotto VI in dialogue. | 26 December 2023 | ||
| "Architectes" | PROSE: Auteur and the Homeworld [+]Loading...["Auteur and the Homeworld (poem)"] | Used by Auteur in dialogue. | 17 December 2022 | French for "Architects". |
| "Architects" | PROSE: Golden Age [+]Loading...["Golden Age (novel)"] | Used in dialogue by misc. characters. | 29 November 2020 | From the Greek arkhitektōn, "lead craftsman", etymologically related to "archon". Refers within PROSE: Golden Age [+]Loading...["Golden Age (novel)"] to their roles as builders of many structures and artefacts recovered in the post-War universe by the lesser species. Within other sources such as Faction Paradox, implicitly references their role as creators and designers of the Linear Universe; evokes Urizen's epithet as "Urizen the Architect" and Rassilon's stated origins as a "great architect and engineer" within TV: The Deadly Assassin [+]Loading...["The Deadly Assassin (TV story)"]. |
| PROSE: Cousin Eliza [+]Loading...["Cousin Eliza (feature)"] | Used by the non-diegetic third-person narrator. | 31 October 2023 | ||
| PROSE: Godfather Morlock [+]Loading...["Godfather Morlock (feature)"] | ||||
| PROSE: Lilith [+]Loading...["Lilith (feature)"] | ||||
| PROSE: The War King [+]Loading...["The War King (feature)"] | ||||
| PROSE: The Great Houses [+]Loading...["The Great Houses (feature)"] | ||||
| PROSE: Faction Paradox [+]Loading...["Faction Paradox (feature)"] | ||||
| PROSE: Love & War [+]Loading...["Love & War (short story)"] | Used by Olivia Kagg Waldermain in narration within a footnote. | 26 December 2023 | ||
| "archons" | PROSE: Crimes Against History [+]Loading...["Crimes Against History (short story)"] | Used by the non-diegetic third-person narrator. | 11 November 2001 | The Greek title of archon referred to a leader, being variously used for anything from a team chief to a "Lord". Additionally, in Gnosticism, the Archons are the antagonistic builders and rulers of the physical universe, keeping souls trapped and unable to ascend to higher forms of reality — similar to the position of the Time Lords within the War in Heaven's cosmology. |
| "Archons" | PROSE: The Cactus and the Corpse [+]Loading...["The Cactus and the Corpse (short story)"] | Used by the Bookwyrm in narration and by Auteur in dialogue. | 29 October 2023 | |
| PROSE: Previously On… The Multiverse [+]Loading...["Previously On… The Multiverse (short story)"] | Used by the Bookwyrm in narration. | 26 December 2023 | ||
| PROSE: The Book of the Snowstorm [+]Loading...["The Book of the Snowstorm (short story)"] | Used by the non-diegetic third-person narrator. | |||
| PROSE: The Dinosaur in the Snow [+]Loading...["The Dinosaur in the Snow (short story)"] | Used by Tirion in dialogue. | |||
| PROSE: The Claus-Rosen Bridge [+]Loading...["The Claus-Rosen Bridge (short story)"] | Used by the non-diegetic third-person narrator. | |||
| PROSE: The Two Auteurs [+]Loading...["The Two Auteurs (short story)"] | Used by the non-diegetic third-person narrator. | |||
| PROSE: Love & War [+]Loading...["Love & War (short story)"] | Used by Olivia Kagg Waldermein in narration, by the Sixth Dionus in his diary, and by the Dark Lord in dialogue. | |||
| PROSE: The God Who Came For Christmas [+]Loading...["The God Who Came For Christmas (short story)"] | Used in dialogue by the God of the Sacred Wood. | |||
| PROSE: Our Finest Gifts We Bring [+]Loading...["Our Finest Gifts We Bring (short story)"] | Used by the non-diegetic third-person narrator. | |||
| PROSE: I'm Dreaming of a Cheshire Easter [+]Loading...["I'm Dreaming of a Cheshire Easter (short story)"] | Used in dialogue by the Cheshire Cat. | 31 March 2024 | ||
| PROSE: A Collision of Ships [+]Loading...["A Collision of Ships (short story)"] | Used by the non-diegetic third-person narrator, by Abraytha Janus Colefia and Mrellin in dialogue, and by Zerlan in internal monologue and dialogue. | |||
| PROSE: A Visit from Everywhere [+]Loading...["A Visit from Everywhere (short story)"] | Used in dialogue by Abraytha Janus Colefia. | |||
| PROSE: The Carnage of Urmafrae [+]Loading...["The Carnage of Urmafrae (short story)"] | Used by the non-diegetic third-person narrator. | |||
| PROSE: I'm So Normal I'm So Normal I'm So [+]Loading...["I'm So Normal I'm So Normal I'm So (short story)"] | 3 April 2024 | |||
| PROSE: Infernal Escape [+]Loading...["Infernal Escape (short story)"] | ||||
| "Archons of the Morning Star" | PROSE: Previously On… The Multiverse [+]Loading...["Previously On… The Multiverse (short story)"] | Used by the Bookwyrm in narration. | 26 December 2023 | As per "Archons" above, the name is equivalent to "Lords of the Morning Star", while adding the further spiritual connotations of the term "Archons". "The Morning Star" as a term for the Archons' homeworld evokes its status as the home of the earliest sapient species in the Dark Times and as a source of rationalist "enlightenment". The term is used in the real world for the planet Venus; Venus was sometimes suggested as the Doctor's home planet in the 39th century early 1960s accounts which implied him to be human-descended. This is metafictionally alluded to in PROSE: The Brakespeare Voyage [+]Loading...["The Brakespeare Voyage (novel)"] and AUDIO: Deadline [+]Loading...["Deadline (audio story)"]. |
| PROSE: The Book of the Snowstorm [+]Loading...["The Book of the Snowstorm (short story)"] | Used by Professor Vomm She'hayle in dialogue. | |||
| PROSE: Presents [+]Loading...["Presents (short story)"] | Used by the non-diegetic third-person narrator. | |||
| "Archons of Time" | PROSE: The Bloodletters [+]Loading...["The Bloodletters (novel)"] | 1 May 2020 | As per "Archons" above, the name is equivalent to "Lords of Time", while adding the further spiritual connotations of the term "Archons". | |
| PROSE: The Dinosaur in the Snow [+]Loading...["The Dinosaur in the Snow (short story)"] | Used by Tirion in dialogue. | 26 December 2023 | ||
| PROSE: Love & War [+]Loading...["Love & War (short story)"] | Used by the Dark Lord in dialogue. | |||
| PROSE: The Cathedral of Winter [+]Loading...["The Cathedral of Winter (short story)"] | Used by the non-diegetic third-person narrator. | |||
| PROSE: A Visit from Everywhere [+]Loading...["A Visit from Everywhere (short story)"] | Used in dialogue by Abraytha Janus Colefia. | 31 March 2024 | ||
| PROSE: The Carnage of Urmafrae [+]Loading...["The Carnage of Urmafrae (short story)"] | Used by the non-diegetic third-person narrator. | |||
| "Bijoutiers mystérieux" | PROSE: Auteur and the Homeworld [+]Loading...["Auteur and the Homeworld (poem)"] | Used by Auteur in dialogue. | 17 December 2022 | French for "mysterious jewelers", referencing both the idea of them as craftsmen and clockmakers as seen with "Architects" and "Watchmakers", and the alternative name of their planet as Jewel, as introduced in PROSE: Return of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Return of the Daleks (comic story)"] and also referenced by the "Lords of Jewel" designation in PROSE: A Bright White Crack [+]Loading...["A Bright White Crack (short story)"]. |
| "Causal Initiators" | PROSE: The Dinosaur in the Snow [+]Loading...["The Dinosaur in the Snow (short story)"] | Used by Tirion in dialogue. | 26 December 2023 | Evokes the metaphysical concept of the "prime mover" or "first uncaused cause", theorised as a necessary origin point of history to avoid an infinite causal regress, and thus considered a theoretical basis for the existence of God. As such, references the beings' role as originators of the causal universe via the anchoring of the thread. |
| "Celestials" | PROSE: The Cactus and the Corpse [+]Loading...["The Cactus and the Corpse (short story)"] | Used by Auteur in dialogue. | 29 October 2023 | The adjective "Celestial", derived from the Mediaeval Latin "caelestialis", refers to something originating from "the sky", "the heavens" or "the sky". As such, "the Celestials" or "the Celestial Ones" may be read both with a mythological or spiritual association, or simply as referencing the beings' extraterrestrial origins. TV: The Deadly Assassin [+]Loading...["The Deadly Assassin (TV story)"] introduced a secret Time Lord security service calling itself "the Celestial Intervention Agency", playing on both these meanings but not, at that time, necessarily intended as referring to the species of the Agency's membership outright. The Toymaker, a being sometimes intended or depicted as a Time Lord, was repeatedly described as "celestial" within TV: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Loading...["The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)"], with "the Celestial Toymaker" later being misconstrued by various sources as a name for the entity himself. In TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"], the Fourteenth Doctor offers the Toymaker the chance for the two of them to become "celestial" together if they went "back to the stars". |
| PROSE: The Two Auteurs [+]Loading...["The Two Auteurs (short story)"] | 26 December 2023 | |||
| PROSE: Love & War [+]Loading...["Love & War (short story)"] | Used by Olivia Kagg Waldermain in narration within a footnote. | |||
| PROSE: Presents [+]Loading...["Presents (short story)"] | Used by the non-diegetic third-person narrator. | |||
| "Celestial Ones" | PROSE: Head of State [+]Loading...["Head of State (novel)"] | Used in narration within "The Thousand And Second Night as translated by Sir Richard Burton". | 29 June 2015 | |
| "Celestial ticket-inspectors" | PROSE: The Book of the Snowstorm [+]Loading...["The Book of the Snowstorm (short story)"] | Used by the non-diegetic third-person narrator. | 26 December 2023 | See "Celestials" above. The Time Lords are described by the Third Doctor as "galactic ticket-inspectors, if you like" in TV: The Time Warrior [+]Loading...["The Time Warrior (TV story)"]. The term is used as a chapter title in PROSE: A Brief History of Time Lords [+]Loading...["A Brief History of Time Lords (novel)"], and also referenced in COMIC: Blood Invocation [+]Loading...["Blood Invocation (comic story)"] where it is said some of the monkish covens viewed Rassilon as a "kind of cosmic traffic warden". |
| "Chronarchs" | COMIC: 4-D War [+]Loading...["4-D War (comic story)"] | Used by Lord Griffen in dialogue. | 12 March 1981 | As per the "archon" terminology above and the Ancient Greek "chronos" for "Time", refers to being who are Rulers (or Lords) of Time — making this equivalent to "Archons of Time" — or beings whose mode of governance employs time. |
| PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice [+]Loading...["Going Once, Going Twice (short story)"] | Used by the non-diegetic third-person narrator. | 23 December 2018 | ||
| "Chronarchy" | PROSE: Eyes [+]Loading...["Eyes (short story)"] | Used in dialogue by the Queen of the Tyleth. | 25 January 2018 | "The Chronarchy" was used by Alan Moore and Steve Moore in PROSE: A Chronology of Everything (Almost) [+]Loading...["A Chronology of Everything (Almost) (short story)","A Chronology of Everything (Almost)"] as a collective name for the Quality Universe's counterparts of the Time Lords, in reference to Moore's earlier coinage of "Chronarchs" in COMIC: 4-D War [+]Loading...["4-D War (comic story)"]. The term was used in dialogue by PROSE: Eyes [+]Loading...["Eyes (short story)"], in a manner suggesting it referred to the Great Houses' polity rather than the species as such, with the Queen of the Tyleth threatening war "against your universe, and your feeble chonarchy" while addressing a Homeworlder. |
| "elementals" | PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street [+]Loading...["The Adventuress of Henrietta Street (novel)"] | Used by the intra-diegetic narrator, adopting the perspective of 18th century occultists in the post-War universe. | 5 November 2001 | The idea of "Elementals", supernatural beings associated with a particular element, was popularised in the 16th century by Paracelsus. Originally referring to the four classical elements, it is used in post-War-universe-related material under the assumption that the Time Lords were elementals of time, with Sabbath Dei stating in PROSE: Camera Obscura [+]Loading...["Camera Obscura (novel)"]an ultimate constituent of reality. In PROSE: Love & War [+]Loading...["Love & War (short story)"], a cladistic terminology of "Time Elementals", with "Lesser Time Elementals" being the humanoid Archons and "Greater Time Elementals" being the timeships, is said to have been elaborated in the post-War universe by Meta-Historian Leiter Formosis. The terminology was shown to have been used by members of the race in later stories, such as PROSE: The God Who Came For Christmas [+]Loading...["The God Who Came For Christmas (short story)"] where the God of the Inner Mysteries, in addition to being described in narration as "an elemental", refers to his ship as "one of the great elementals" in dialogue. "Elemental forces" is used in PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street [+]Loading...["The Adventuress of Henrietta Street (novel)"] as a collective to refer to the Babewyn, a different class of elementals altogether from the Time Lords, but in narration within PROSE: Sometime Never... [+]Loading...["Sometime Never... (novel)"], the Doctor is referred to as the "one elemental force" which the Council of Eight was unable to control. "An elemental force" was used repeatedly in TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"] to describe the Toymaker. "Elemental forces" was used in PROSE: Love & War [+]Loading...["Love & War (short story)"] as explicitly an alternative term for the Archons or Lesser Time Elementals. |
| PROSE: The God Who Came For Christmas [+]Loading...["The God Who Came For Christmas (short story)"] | Used by the extra-diegetic narrator. | 26 December 2023 | ||
| "Elementals" | PROSE: Camera Obscura [+]Loading...["Camera Obscura (novel)"] | Used by Sabbath Dei and the Eighth Doctor in dialogue, with the latter disputing the name. | 5 August 2002 | |
| PROSE: The Two Auteurs [+]Loading...["The Two Auteurs (short story)"] | Used by the extra-diegetic narrator. | 26 December 2023 | ||
| PROSE: Love & War [+]Loading...["Love & War (short story)"] | Used by Olivia Kagg Waldermain in narration. | |||
| "Elemental god" | PROSE: The Book of the Snowstorm [+]Loading...["The Book of the Snowstorm (short story)"] | Used by the extra-diegetic narrator. | 26 December 2023 | |
| "Elemental force" | PROSE: Sometime Never... [+]Loading...["Sometime Never... (novel)"] | 5 January 2004 | ||
| PROSE: The Two Auteurs [+]Loading...["The Two Auteurs (short story)"] | 26 December 2023 | |||
| PROSE: Love & War [+]Loading...["Love & War (short story)"] | Used by Olivia Kagg Waldermain in narration and by the Third Felixian III in dialogue. | |||
| PROSE: A Collision of Ships [+]Loading...["A Collision of Ships (short story)"] | Used by the non-diegetic third-person narrator, | 31 March 2024 | ||
| "Gallifrey" | PROSE: The Pit [+]Loading...["The Pit (novel)"] | Stated by the Seventh Doctor in dialogue to have originally been a name for the people of the planet in Ancient Gallifreyan. | 18 March 1993 | Originally introduced in TV: The Time Warrior [+]Loading...["The Time Warrior (TV story)"] as a name for the Time Lords' home planet. Stated by the Doctor in PROSE: The Pit [+]Loading...["The Pit (novel)"] to translate to "they that walk in the shadows". |
| "Horlogers" | PROSE: Auteur and the Homeworld [+]Loading...["Auteur and the Homeworld (poem)"] | Used by Auteur in dialogue. | 17 December 2022 | French for "clockmakers", "clocksmiths" or "watchmakers", referencing the "Watchmakers" terminology. |
| "Houseworlders" | PROSE: Of the City of the Saved... [+]Loading...["Of the City of the Saved... (novel)"] | Used by the extra-diegetic third-person narrator, by Laura Tobin in dialogue, and by Anthony Fisher in internal monologue. | 11 May 2004 | References the term of "the Houseworld" for the Homeworld, used repeatedly in PROSE: Of the City of the Saved... [+]Loading...["Of the City of the Saved... (novel)"]. Similar to "Homeworlders". |
| PROSE: Weapons Grade Snake Oil [+]Loading...["Weapons Grade Snake Oil (short story)"] | Used by the extra-diegetic third-person narrator, and by Professor H. Lennstein in the text of The Great Houses And Us. | 17 January 2017 | ||
| PROSE: A Bloody (And Public) Domaine [+]Loading...["A Bloody (And Public) Domaine (short story)","A Bloody (And Public) Domaine"] | Used by the extra-diegetic third-person narrator. | 25 January 2018 | ||
| "Lesser Elementals" | PROSE: Love & War [+]Loading...["Love & War (short story)"] | Used by Olivia Kagg Waldermain in narration. | 26 December 2023 | Abbreviation for "Lesser Time Elementals". |
| "Lesser Time Elementals" | See "Elementals". Abridged as "Lesser Elementals" or "L.T.E.s". | |||
| "L.T.E.s" | Abbreviation for "Lesser Time Elementals". |
