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
They possessed the power and technology to travel through both time and space in their TARDISes. Time Lords may also be referred to as Gallifreyans, though it is not certain if all Gallifreyans were Time Lords, or the Time Lords were only an elite echelon of Gallifreyan society.
Apocryphal account
One, possibly apocryphal account, portrays a timeline in which Ace, a Human, receives the power and knowledge of the Time Lords. (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
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)
The creation of the Time Lords
- See Gallifreyan history.
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). 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 multitask easily. (PDA: Island of Death)
The Time Lord gift of translation
This translation is not perfect, as when the Doctor was unable to understand the Foamasi government agent on Argolis. (DW: The Leisure Hive).
Various forms of polari, or dialects which are actually a form of code, do not seem to work with this gift, as when the Doctor was unable to understand Vorg when the latter attempted to converse with the Doctor in carny Parlare. (DW: Carnival of Monsters)
This gift also evidently only works with organic life-forms, as the Doctor was also unable to understand the aborigine Kurkutji and relied on his Australian companion Tegan Jovanka to translate (unaware at the time that Kurkutji was in fact an android programmed by the Urbankan Monarch with the organic original's memories and personality. (DW: Four to Doomsday)
Though the Doctor could still understand it, the Nestene Consciousness' speech was not translated. (DW: Rose)
It is possible that the Doctor had learnt the language of the Nestenes and therefore had no need to invoke the translation ability.
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 have the ability to regenerate their bodies. They can renew their bodies in case of mortal illness or injury, advanced old age, or even because they will it. This process allows them to live for centuries, even millennia.
They apparently also age at a much slower rate than Humans. Because of this, accurately judging the age of a Time Lord is nearly impossible.
Some Time Lords prefer regeneration to old age and others allow their bodies to age. (DWM: Flashback)
Rassilon Imprimatur
The cellular structure of Time Lords is 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.
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 civilisations. 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 Time War.
Culture and the arts
Time Lords appreciated music, as indicated by such artifacts as the Harp of Rassilon and the use of nursery rhymes (DW: The Five Doctors) and Röntgen bricks to entertain children (DW: Smith and Jones). They also appreciated art, although painting on Gallifrey was done by computer. (DW: City of Death)
The drinking of tea may have been practiced by Time Lords, perhaps introduced by Time Lord research teams returning 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, and the Animus, 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 Sound of Drums
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
