Genocide of the Time Lords
Check the behind the scenes section, the revision history and discussion page for additional comments on this article's title.
Enraged upon discovering the truth of the Timeless Child, the Spy Master took to razing his home planet Gallifrey to the ground. (TV: Spyfall [+]Loading...["Spyfall (TV story)"]) The Thirteenth Doctor believed that this was the second destruction of Gallifrey, following the so-called Fall of Gallifrey at the close of the Last Great Time War. (TV: Fugitive of the Judoon [+]Loading...["Fugitive of the Judoon (TV story)"])
Together with Ko Sharmus's use of the death particle, eradicating all remaining life on the planet, (TV: The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"]) this was later remembered by the Fifteenth Doctor as the genocide of the Time Lords, making him the "last of the Time Lords" after all, (TV: Space Babies [+]Loading...["Space Babies (TV story)"], The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"]) all over again. (TV: The End of the World [+]Loading...["The End of the World (TV story)"], The Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"])
This destruction came in two massive waves, (TV: Spyfall [+]Loading...["Spyfall (TV story)"], The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"]) eventually "rippling out" across space and time. (TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"]) beginning with the Master's initial destruction, which he seemed to revel in, later recounting how he watched it all burn. (TV: Spyfall [+]Loading...["Spyfall (TV story)"], The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"])
This all meant that the Fifteenth Doctor was all alone again, an adopted orphan without much hope of seeing his own people again, but with no choice but to keep on travelling in the TARDIS as he had before. As a result, he was (TV: Space Babies [+]Loading...["Space Babies (TV story)"], The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"], The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"] / Empire of Death [+]Loading...["Empire of Death (TV story)"]) always "moving on", exploring "new horizons", but hardly ever giving himself time to process his emotions, because that's who he felt "[he needed] to be". (TV: Rogue [+]Loading...["Rogue (TV story)"])
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
A day to come[[edit] | [edit source]]
Having been made aware of the Spy Master's razing of Gallifrey, the Thirteenth Doctor reasoned that both the Gallifreyan Gat and the Fugitive Doctor, whom she encountered in the 2020 Gloucester Incident, were from her own past, as Gallifrey was "gone forever", having been destroyed "by a lunatic" in her time. She even made contact with Gat, showing her an image of the ruined Gallifrey in her own mind, but this was dismissed as mere "trickery". (TV: Fugitive of the Judoon [+]Loading...["Fugitive of the Judoon (TV story)"])
- Main article: Last days of the Time War
Far later in the timeline, the Curator discussed Gallifrey Falls No More — a painting which concerned the Fall of Gallifrey at the Time War's end — with Dr Henry Black, and revealed that it would be much better described as "Gallifrey Falls No More (Until the Next Time)". (PROSE: Dr Black [+]Loading...["Dr Black (short story)"]) As a future incarnation of the Doctor, (COMIC: The Then and the Now [+]Loading...["The Then and the Now (comic story)"], AUDIO: Crossed Lines [+]Loading...["Crossed Lines (audio story)"], The Keys of Baker Street [+]Loading...["The Keys of Baker Street (audio story)"]) indeed, an "extremely high" number of lives on from these events, (AUDIO: Lost Property [+]Loading...["Lost Property (audio story)"]) the Curator knew that discord would return to Gallifrey, following the end of the war. (PROSE: Dr Black [+]Loading...["Dr Black (short story)"])
After the Time War, Rassilon fixated on the Visionary's continued insistence that Gallifrey would fall, and that the Doctor and the Master alone would survive, as last of the Time Lords. He came to believe that the Hybrid of Time Lord legend would bring about their doom, and suspected that the Twelfth Doctor knew what it was. As a result, he ordered that the Doctor's current companion, Clara Oswald, be killed[disputed statement], and for the Doctor to be brought forward to disclose what he knew of the Hybrid.
This only resulted in the Doctor banishing Rassilon from Gallifrey, taking power once more, and manipulating the Eleventh General into extracting Clara prior to her death, in order to escape the planet together. (PROSE: A Brief History of Time Lords [+]Loading...["A Brief History of Time Lords (novel)"], TV: Hell Bent [+]Loading...["Hell Bent (TV story)"])
Background[[edit] | [edit source]]
In the aftermath of the Last Great Time War, the Ninth Doctor believed himself to be the last of the Time Lords, his people and his world having perished when he ended the conflict by driving the Daleks to near-extinction. When confronted by surviving Daleks, the Doctor admitted that he had survived alone as a coward, (TV: The End of the World [+]Loading...["The End of the World (TV story)"], Dalek [+]Loading...["Dalek (TV story)"], The Parting of the Ways [+]Loading...["The Parting of the Ways (TV story)"]) with Clara Oswald observing much later that the Twelfth Doctor continued to suffer from survivor's guilt. (TV: Before the Flood [+]Loading...["Before the Flood (TV story)"]) The Tenth Doctor, however, told the Cult of Skaro that he survived the Time War by fighting, (TV: Doomsday [+]Loading...["Doomsday (TV story)"]) though the act of killing the Time Lords continued to weigh heavily on him (TV: The Satan Pit [+]Loading...["The Satan Pit (TV story)"]) to the point that, after discovering that the War Master had escaped the conflict, (TV: Utopia [+]Loading...["Utopia (TV story)"]) the Doctor reached out to the regenerated Master, both before (TV: The Sound of Drums [+]Loading...["The Sound of Drums (TV story)"]/Last of the Time Lords [+]Loading...["Last of the Time Lords (TV story)"]) and after the Master was killed and subsequently resurrected. (TV: The End of Time [+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"])
On the latter occassion, the Doctor and the Master were both embroiled in the Final Sanction, an attempt by Rassilon from the last day of the Time War to secure Gallifrey's survival at the cost of the rest of reality. During the war itself, the Doctor had prepared to use the Moment to destroy both the Time Lords and the Daleks, with the Tenth Doctor acknowledging that he had to stop the former before thwarting Rassilon's move to bring about Gallifrey's return, sending the Time Lords back into the "hell" of the Time War. The Master, finding that he had been used to faciliate the Final Sanction, attacked Rassilon and so joined Gallifrey in the Time War time lock, leaving the Doctor alone once again with circumstances soon leading to the Tenth Doctor's regeneration. (TV: The End of Time [+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"])
In contrast to the Tenth Doctor, "the one who regrets", the Moment identified the Eleventh Doctor as "the one who forgets". (TV: The Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"]) On one occassion, the Doctor was eager to find surviving Time Lords after discovering a Time Lord hypercube from his old friend, the Corsair, only to find that hypercubes were merely what remained of Time Lords who were murdered by House, a being which fed on TARDISes, much to his anger. (TV: The Doctor's Wife [+]Loading...["The Doctor's Wife (TV story)"])
As a result of the Great Intelligence's attack on the Doctor's time stream, the Eleventh Doctor was forced to acknowledge the existence of a past incarnation whom he refused to acknowledge as the Doctor. (TV: The Name of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Name of the Doctor (TV story)"]) The product of the Eighth Doctor's regeneration, (TV: The Name of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Name of the Doctor (TV story)"]) the War Doctor was remembered as the one who used the Moment, a sentient weapon, to destroy Gallifrey. However, whilst the War Doctor was prepared to end the war, the Moment used time windows to bring him into contact with his future selves, the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. After settling the Zygon invasion of Earth together, the future Doctors acknowledged their wartime self as the Doctor and were ready to join him in using the Moment before, at the urging of Clara Oswald, they seized the opportunity to change what they had believed to be their personal history by joining with their other incarnations to save Gallifrey, relocating the planet to a pocket universe.
After parting ways with the Tenth Doctor and War Doctor, who would lose his memory of the event after regenerating into the Ninth Doctor, the Eleventh Doctor was approached by the Curator who, indicating that he was the Doctor's own future self, clarified that a painting in his possession, which the Doctor understood to be named either "No More" or "Gallifrey Falls", was in fact named Gallifrey Falls No More. (TV: The Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"]) Indeed, Gallifrey's survival was confirmed when the Doctor was drawn to the planet Trenzalore, where the Time Lords had broadcast the Question as a message through a crack in time over the planet. As "half the universe" amassed at Trenzalore to prevent the Time Lords' return, the Doctor refused to answer the Time Lords lest the Time War begin anew and stood guard on Trenzalore for centuries to the brink of dying of old age. Speaking through the crack, Clara urged the Time Lords to prevent the Doctor's death, which was done when they sent regeneration energy which enabled the Doctor to destroy the Dalek forces over Trenzalore whilst he began his regeneration into the Twelfth Doctor. Meanwhile, the crack over Trenzalore was closed, the Time Lords electing not to return at this time and place. (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Time of the Doctor (TV story)"])
It was during the Twelfth Doctor's life that he came into contact with Missy, a new incarnation of the Master who reached out to the Doctor after he had saved her along with Gallifrey, which she regarded as mere "collateral damage". (TV: Dark Water [+]Loading...["Dark Water (TV story)"]/Death in Heaven [+]Loading...["Death in Heaven (TV story)"]) Following the Timeline Error Incident and the Twelfth Doctor's regeneration into the Thirteenth Doctor, the Time Lords identified Missy as the Master's most recent incarnation in their TARDIS Type 40 Instruction Manual, also identifying the Thirteenth Doctor as the current operator of the Doctor's TARDIS. (PROSE: TARDIS Type 40 Instruction Manual [+]Loading...["TARDIS Type 40 Instruction Manual (reference book)"])
.jpg)
Despite having lived as Missy, (PROSE: The Wonderful Doctor of Oz) a life which eventually developed to a point where the Master had hoped to do good in the universe, (TV: The Doctor Falls) the Spy Master returned to his dark ways. (TV: The Timeless Children) Though the Twelfth Doctor observed that Gallifrey, having been relocated to a pocket universe at the end of the Last Great Time War, had returned to the Doctor's universe at the end of the universe, (TV: Hell Bent) the Master claimed to the Thirteenth Doctor that Gallifrey was still hiding in its "little bubble universe" when he returned to it. (TV: Spyfall)
First wave of destruction[[edit] | [edit source]]
Whilst there, he hacked into the Matrix where he found that Gallifrey was built from the Timeless Child, a foundling from an unknown realm who was adopted by the early Gallifreyan explorer Tecteun, who derived the ability of regeneration from the child, who would eventually become the Doctor. Angered that the Founders of Gallifrey had lied, the Master sought to "make them pay" and proceeded to raze Gallifrey, apparently killing all other Gallifreyans. Anticipating that they could be useful, he made sure to preserve the Time Lords' corpses, (TV: The Timeless Children) and helped himself to advanced Gallifreyan technology. (TV: The Power of the Doctor)
Potential survivors[[edit] | [edit source]]
Prior to launching his attack, the Master was potentially spotted by a Time Lord known as the Keeper when he entered the Chamber of the Matrix. Recognising the Master, the Keeper ran for a TARDIS, taking with them the genetic codes used to make the first Time Lords. Knowing that the Master's eyes were always on her, the Keeper could not risk making direct contact with the Thirteenth Doctor and so set up a gambit to attract her attention without involving him. To that end, the Keeper sent tiny fragments of transmissions in languages from across the universe to the Doctor's TARDIS on its travels. These fragments did not immediately appear to be of interest or importance and were initially ignored by the Doctor whilst the TARDIS continued projecting them every time she was at the controls.
The transmission, when pieced together, referenced hundreds of incidents that the Doctor recognised as her own adventures, and gave the coordinates to Trenzalore, significant for being where the Doctor first made contact with Gallifrey again. It was at this designated meeting place that the Keeper planned to entrust the Doctor with the secret genetic codes of Time Lord regeneration, though the Doctor would not immediately understand what it was that she was being given. However, the Keeper had to run for their life when, at the last moment, the Master arrived in his TARDIS, but was able to leave a single clue relating to Susan, the first of the Doctor's companions to leave their company, beginning a treasure hunt through the Doctor's adventures. (GAME: Gallifrey in Chains [+]Loading...["Gallifrey in Chains (game)"])
Another candidate for the last Time Lord to escape the razing of Gallifrey was a young Time Lord, still pre-regeneration, who was tinkering with an old TARDIS which she was using to experiment with pocket universes when the Capital was attacked by the Master. In response to the attack, the TARDIS locked itself as an automatic defence mechanism and transported the Time Lord to a pocket universe. In the process, the Time Lord had lost all memory of her life on Gallifrey, with her TARDIS keeping her asleep while the Flux raged beyond the boundaries of their pocket realm. As the Ravagers and the Flux tore apart space and time, the experimental TARDIS could no longer keep up the containment locks on the pocket universe, and so brought its Time Lord to the place it had registered as safest in the universe during the Flux: Earth.
Stitching together a history from everything it took in from Earth, this TARDIS assumed the form of an ancient, creaky Victorian townhouse, saving the Time Lord, who now believed it to be the home where she had lived all her life, rather than the TARDIS she had lovingly restored. Led by her innate sense for Vortex energies, the Time Lord ran into and assisted a group of adventurers who were investigating a mystery. At an inopportune moment, however, she was killed as a result of either a tragic accident or a deliberate attack, only for her to regenerate into an entirely new person. This was potentially the point at which the Time Lord realised her true nature, leading her to discover the tragic and chequered history of the Time Lords with their friends, being driven by a quest to understand a culture they could not remember, and a TARDIS they did not know how to operate. (GAME: The Heir of Gallifrey [+]Loading...["The Heir of Gallifrey (game)"])
Aftermath[[edit] | [edit source]]
During the Kasaavin invasion of the universe, the Master made the Thirteenth Doctor aware that "someone" had destroyed Gallifrey. After she visited Gallifrey and saw the planet in ruins, the Doctor found a holographic message from the Master in the TARDIS in which he admitted responsibility. (TV: Spyfall)
Second wave of destruction[[edit] | [edit source]]
Eventually, the Doctor, whilst embroiled in the restoration of the Cyber-Empire, came across the Planet of the Boundary leading to Gallifrey. Emerging from the Boundary, (TV: Ascension of the Cybermen) the Master forced the Doctor to come with him to Gallifrey, where he revealed to her that she was the Timeless Child. When a Cybercarrier arrived on Gallifrey, the Master convinced the Cyberium, the artificial intelligence of the Cybermen, to take him as host, enabling him to use the resources of the Cybermen to convert the preserved Time Lord corpses into CyberMasters, modified Cyber-Warriors capable of regeneration. Ultimately, the Doctor escaped whilst Ko Sharmus detonated the death particle, wiping out all life on Gallifrey. (TV: The Timeless Children)
However, the Master survived and continued to lead the CyberMasters. Forming an alliance with the Daleks and regular Cybermen, who were led by a clone of Ashad he had created, the Master conceived an ill-fated plot to eliminate the Doctor by means of a forced regeneration, the technology for which he had acquired when he ransacked Gallifrey. The scheme ended with the defeat of the CyberMasters and the Master himself being gravely wounded. (TV: The Power of the Doctor)
Recovering from the genocide[[edit] | [edit source]]
Speaking with someone whom he believed was Donna Noble, the Fourteenth Doctor admitted that the TARDIS was now all he had left. When asked if he missed Gallifrey, the Doctor answered:
I suppose. I mean, yes, but... No, it got complicated.
Later, the not-thing assuming Donna's form made the Fourteenth Doctor acknowledge that Gallifrey was not his original home, as well as the devastation caused by the Flux, which he ought to have stopped; matters which weighed heavily on him. Despite not wanting to talk about these things with someone he felt could not understand, (TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"]) once he met the Fifteenth Doctor, who did, this ultimately led him down a path in which he chose to settle down and live alongside the Noble family, when a bi-generation granted him a unique opportunity to take a break and experience rehab "out of order". (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])
Renewed but forever changed[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Fifteenth Doctor came into being with the results of this development, and told his fourteenth self that he would come to "fix [himself]". (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]) Renewed in this new form, he did seem capable of letting go and having fun, dancing in a club without hiding from the world at all. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"])
After learning her origins, how she was abandoned as a baby, (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"]) he began to open up to Ruby Sunday about the genocide of the Time Lords. (TV: Space Babies [+]Loading...["Space Babies (TV story)"]) He later claimed that when the Time Lords were murdered, genocide "rolled across time and space like a great big cellular explosion", which may have killed Susan Foreman, along with the rest of his family. (TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"])
The Fifteenth Doctor felt he had no choice but to keep going, to keep venturing out to "new horizons", and tried to keep upbeat while doing so. According to Ruby, his young companion, this was to the Doctor's own detriment. After he lost Rogue, as well, she forced him to take a moment with his own feelings, offering up a close embrace, which he welcomed. (TV: Rogue [+]Loading...["Rogue (TV story)"])
Beginning to heal[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor later decided to hold onto some hope that, one day, he would re-unite with Susan again. This change in perspective took place almost immediately after having defeated Sutekh, the God of Death himself, with the help of a few other survivors of Sutekh's own universe-wide massacre.
The Doctor noted that travelling with Ruby helped him to talk more about his family, but the two parted ways after she discovered her biological mother, Louise Miller, and became busy with her own family. (TV: Empire of Death [+]Loading...["Empire of Death (TV story)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
Which Homeworld?[[edit] | [edit source]]
Simon Bucher-Jones suggested that the Gallifrey which was razed by the Master was one of the seven surviving duplicate Homeworlds.[1]
The Doctor's pain[[edit] | [edit source]]
The script for Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"] acknowledges the "losses" which contributed to the Fourteenth Doctor's outburst of furious rage within the spaceship. Earlier, the Doctor acknowledged the absence of Gallifrey whilst speaking with Donna-2.[2]
Rwandan genocide[[edit] | [edit source]]
Russell T Davies's reframing of the Spy Master's razing of Gallifrey by connecting it with the death particle incident, and then directly (and repeatedly) having the Fifteenth Doctor call himself a survivor of this "genocide", speaks directly to Ncuti Gatwa's own personal history.
It is well-documented that Gatwa, who plays the Fifteenth Doctor, himself survived the Rwandan genocide. This topic has come up in interviews, and Gatwa is open about this part of his history. This was the reason for his emigration from Rwanda to Scotland as a child.
