Mount Lung
During the Doctor's early life, they lived in "a house halfway up a mountain", at the summit of which dwelled a Hermit. (TV: The Time Monster [+]Loading...["The Time Monster (TV story)"]) The Fourth Doctor identified the Hermit as a resident of the "mountains of South Gallifrey. (TV: State of Decay [+]Loading...["State of Decay (TV story)"])
It had many names, most notably Mount Lung, from which the Doctor's family House Lungbarrow took its name. (PROSE: Lungbarrow [+]Loading...["Lungbarrow (novel)"], The Three Paths [+]Loading...["The Three Paths (short story)"]) An individual of great power known as the Kingmaker, who said she guarded the Time Lords as the Time Lords guarded time, and had the authority to grant them the ability to fly a TARDIS, dwelled in a cave at the base of the mountain, referred to in this context as Mount Plutarch. (WC: Death Comes to Time [+]Loading...["Death Comes to Time (webcast)"], PROSE: The Three Paths [+]Loading...["The Three Paths (short story)"])
Characteristics
Names
This mountain had many names; the Hermit claimed that the name one called it would change the way it was climbed. (PROSE: The Three Paths [+]Loading...["The Three Paths (short story)"]) Some called it Mount Lung, including the Doctor's cousins, hence the name of the house being Lungbarrow. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation [+]Loading...["Timewyrm: Revelation (novel)"], Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible [+]Loading...["Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible (novel)"], Lungbarrow [+]Loading...["Lungbarrow (novel)"], The Three Paths [+]Loading...["The Three Paths (novel)"]) Teachers at the Academy called it Mount Cadon, (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation [+]Loading...["Timewyrm: Revelation (novel)"], Lucifer Rising [+]Loading...["Lucifer Rising (novel)"], The Three Paths [+]Loading...["The Three Paths (short story)"]) as did Matthias. (AUDIO: Panacea [+]Loading...["Panacea (audio story)"]) The Fifth Doctor once noted it was also known as Mount Rycadia. (AUDIO: Devil in the Mist [+]Loading...["Devil in the Mist (audio story)"]) The legends of the "unhappened days", such as those recounted by Lady Nine Teeth, called it Mount Plutarch, (PROSE: The Three Paths [+]Loading...["The Three Paths (short story)"]) also the name used by Castellan Casmus when he took Ace to meet the Kingmaker in her cave at the base of the mountain. (WC: Death Comes to Time [+]Loading...["Death Comes to Time (webcast)"])
Geography
The mountain was Gallifrey's highest peak, (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation) reaching up into the atmosphere past the violet clouds and hovering flocks of air diamonds into the transduction barrier. (PROSE: Lucifer Rising) Fields of tall, still grass grew on the mountain before haytime. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible) Its slopes were carpeted with tiny blue flowers that waved back and forth, searching the air for unwary lizards. (PROSE: Lucifer Rising)
Sometimes, it was covered with grey snow. (TV: The Time Monster, PROSE: The Three Paths) The snow on the mountain had natural hallucinogenic properties, capable of making climbers see all manner of visions, including their past and future. The hallucinations made climbing the peak more difficult the further along you proceeded, and because of this, the Doctor never succeeded in reaching its peak despite numerous attempts. (AUDIO: Devil in the Mist)
Mount Lung smelled of weanskrike and tristort, and its native fauna included owls, beatitudes, (PROSE: The Three Paths) tafelshrews, (PROSE: Lungbarrow, The Three Paths) and cobblemice. (PROSE: Unnatural History, The Three Paths)
History
It was the location of the Doctor's childhood home, (TV: The Time Monster, PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible, Lungbarrow, Unnatural History, The Three Paths) which was named "Lungbarrow" after Mount Lung. It stood near the Cadonflood River until it was reported vanished. (PROSE: Lungbarrow) At the mountain's base stood the Prydonian Academy. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation, Lucifer Rising, The Three Paths) Students were not supposed to climb the mountain, however, the Fifth Doctor recalled climbing Mount Cadon with friends on numerous occasions in his youth, and reasoned that they should not have built the Academy at its foot if they didn't want students to try. On one of his attempts to climb Mount Cadon, the Doctor was joined by Vansell, who broke his leg during the ascent. (AUDIO: Devil in the Mist)
The Hermit lived on the mountain and told stories to young Gallifreyans, including the young First Doctor. (TV: The Time Monster, Planet of the Spiders, State of Decay, PROSE: Lucifer Rising, The Three Paths) He continually sat under a bare, twisted tree near the mountain's summit. (TV: The Time Monster, PROSE: Lucifer Rising, The Three Paths) The First Doctor returned to the mountain to speak with the Hermit before his first regeneration. (PROSE: The Three Paths) Later, Ace and the Seventh Doctor separately met the Kingmaker in a cave on Mount Plutarch. (WC: Death Comes to Time)
While considered to be in the south of the planet, (PROSE: Lungbarrow, The Three Paths) the mountain was in view of the Time Lord Capitol. (PROSE: The Three Paths) On their way to the mountain, Ace and Casmus travelled across the Lune Forest and around the inland sea. (WC: Death Comes to Time) It was distinct from South Gallifrey's mountainous and fiercely wintry landscape (PROSE: The Scarlet Empress) of hermits and "stray cats" (PROSE: The Return of the King)
