Editing Time Lord (section)

==History==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Gallifrey tower.jpg|250px|thumb|right|The Dark Tower in the Death Zone on [[Gallifrey]]]] -->
Details of the Time Lords' history within the show are sketchy and are fraught with supposition and contradiction. The series 12 finale "[[The Timeless Children]]" (2020) reveals the Time Lords were originally members of the Shobogan race who were genetically altered with the genetic code of "The Timeless Child", a being that later came to be known as the Doctor. The Time Lords became the masters of time travel when one of their number, the scientist [[Omega (Doctor Who)|Omega]], created an energy source to power their experiments in time.<ref name="The Three Doctors"/> To this end, Omega used a stellar manipulation device, the [[Hand of Omega]], to rework a nearby star into a new form to serve that source.<ref name="Remembrance of the Daleks"/> Unfortunately, the star flared, first into a [[supernova]], and then collapsed into a [[black hole]]. Omega was thought killed in that explosion but unknown to everyone, had somehow survived in an [[anti-matter]] universe beyond the black hole's [[Black hole#Singularity|singularity]]. {{citation needed|date=March 2015}} [[Rassilon]], the ultimate founder of Time Lord society, then took a singularity (assumed by fans and the spin-off media {{citation needed|date=March 2015}} to be the same one as Omega's) and placed it beneath the Time Lords' citadel on Gallifrey. This perfectly balanced Eye of Harmony then served as the power source for their civilisation as well as their time machines.<ref name="The Deadly Assassin"/>

At some point in their history the Time Lords interacted with the civilisation of the planet Minyos, giving them advanced technology (including the ability to "regenerate" to a limited degree, by rejuvenating their bodies when they grow too old). This met with disastrous results, (which is said to be the reason the Time Lords adopted a philosophy of "non-interference"). The Minyans destroyed themselves in a series of [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear wars]].<ref>{{cite serial |title=Underworld |title-link=Underworld (Doctor Who) |series=Doctor Who |series-link=Doctor Who |first=Bob |last=Baker |author-link=Bob Baker (scriptwriter) |first2=Dave (writers) |last2=Martin |author-link2=Dave Martin (screenwriter) |first3=Norman (director) |last3=Stewart |author-link3=Norman Stewart |network=[[BBC]] |station=[[BBC1]] |date=7–28 January 1978 }}</ref>

In "[[Dalek (Doctor Who episode)|Dalek]]" (2005), the [[Ninth Doctor]] explains that his people perished along with the [[Dalek]] race in the "[[Time War (Doctor Who)|Last Great Time War]]", leaving the Doctor the last of his race.<ref name="dalek"/> In "[[The Satan Pit]]" (2006), the [[List of Doctor Who villains#Beast|Beast]] identifies the [[Tenth Doctor]] as "the killer of his own kind".<ref name="The Satan Pit"/> In "[[The Sound of Drums]]" (2007), [[The Master (Doctor Who)|the Master]] reveals he escaped the war by turning himself into a human following the Dalek Emperor taking control of the Cruciform.<ref name="Sound of Drums"/> In "[[The End of Time (Doctor Who)|The End of Time]]" (2009–10), the Time Lords, after attempting to break out the time lock of the Time War and become creatures of consciousness, are shown being sent back into the War on the last day through the Tenth Doctor's intervention. The Master also disappears along with them. Rassilon describes Time Lord history in this story as having lasted "a billion years" up until the end of the Time War.<ref>{{cite serial |title=The End of Time |title-link=The End of Time (Doctor Who) |episode=Part Two |series=Doctor Who |series-link=Doctor Who |first=Russell T (writer) |last=Davies |author-link=Russell T Davies |first2=Euros (director) |last2=Lyn |author-link2=Euros Lyn |network=[[BBC]] |station=[[BBC One]] |date=1 January 2010 }}</ref>

In "[[The Day of the Doctor]]" (2013), thirteen incarnations of the Doctor are shown successfully attempting to freeze the Time Lords and their home world of Gallifrey in time, by transporting them to a "parallel pocket universe" using their [[TARDIS]]es. Because the time streams are out of sync, the Doctor does not retain the memory of this until his [[Eleventh Doctor|eleventh incarnation]]. Indeed, earlier on in the episode, both the Tenth and the Eleventh Doctors mistakenly believe that the [[War Doctor]] killed all of the Time Lords on the last day of the Time War. While the plan is being outlined, the War Doctor notes that to the rest of the universe, it only appears as if the Time Lords and Daleks had mutually destroyed each other, when in fact, the Daleks had fired upon themselves in the crossfire after Gallifrey vanished, ending in the destruction of most of their own race, but not the Time Lords.<ref name="dotd"/> In "[[Death in Heaven]]" (2014), the Master, now regenerated into a female form called "Missy",<ref>{{cite magazine |last=McGown |first=Alistair |author-link=Alistair McGown |date=March 2015 |title=Dark Water/Death in Heaven |magazine=The Essential Doctor Who |location=Tunbridge Wells |publisher=[[Panini Comics|Panini UK Ltd]] |issue=4: ''The Master'' |page=112 |isbn=9781846532054 |quote=Missy then reveals her plan: to upload dying minds to the data slice, edit out the emotions and then download them to ‘upgraded’ Cyberman bodies. Then she reveals her true identity: she is the Master, now in a female body. }}</ref><ref>{{Cite episode |title=Death in Heaven |episode-link=Death in Heaven |series=Doctor Who |series-link=Doctor Who |first=Steven (writer) |last=Moffat |author-link=Steven Moffat |first2=Rachel (director) |last2=Talalay |author-link2=Rachel Talalay |network=[[BBC]] |station=[[BBC One]] |date=8 November 2014 |series-no=8 |number=12 |quote='''Osgood:''' Who is she? '''Twelfth Doctor:''' You'd never believe me if I told you. '''Osgood:''' Because I thought she might be the Master, regenerated into female form. Your childhood friend, responsible for a number of previous incursions. '''Twelfth Doctor:''' That was fairly quick. }}</ref> explains that when the Doctor saved Gallifrey, this caused the Doctor to save her as well. She bluffs the [[Twelfth Doctor]] into thinking that Gallifrey has returned to its original co-ordinates, but when the Doctor goes looking, he finds nothing there (although it is unclear if Gallifrey had returned to its original co-ordinates but at the end of time as depicted in later episodes and the Doctor had not gone to the right time period).<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Death in Heaven |episode-link=Death in Heaven |series=Doctor Who |series-link=Doctor Who |first=Steven (writer) |last=Moffat |author-link=Steven Moffat |first2=Rachel (director) |last2=Talalay |author-link2=Rachel Talalay |network=[[BBC]] |station=[[BBC One]] |date=8 November 2014 |series-no=8 |number=12 }}</ref>

In "[[Face the Raven]]" (2015), the immortal [[Ashildr]] makes a deal to have the Doctor's TARDIS keys and confession dial taken and to teleport the Twelfth Doctor away in exchange for her trap street's safety.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Face the Raven |episode-link=Face the Raven |series=Doctor Who |series-link=Doctor Who |first=Sarah (writer) |last=Dollard |author-link=Sarah Dollard |first2=Justin (director) |last2=Molotnikov |author-link2=Justin Molotnivok |network=[[BBC]] |station=[[BBC One]] |date=21 November 2015 |series-no=9 |number=10 }}</ref> In "[[Heaven Sent (Doctor Who)|Heaven Sent]]" (2015), the Twelfth Doctor escapes his confession dial and finds himself near the Citadel on Gallifrey. He tells a young child to inform the Time Lords that he knows what they have done and that he has returned "the long way around". He then tells the Time Lords through his confession dial the hybrid they fear "is me".<ref name="heaven sent"/> In "[[Hell Bent (Doctor Who)|Hell Bent]]" (2015), Gallifrey is revealed to have come back from the pocket universe it was frozen in and exist at the end of the universe. Rassilon is revealed to have been the one who had the Doctor teleported into the confession dial.<ref name="hell bent"/>

In "[[Spyfall (Doctor Who)|Spyfall]]" (2020), the Master reveals that he returned to Gallifrey, slaughtered the population and devastated the planet in his rage over discovering the truth about the Time Lords’ origins and the identity of the Timeless Child. Later, in "[[The Timeless Children]]" (2020), the Master lures the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] back to Gallifrey, opening a path for the [[Cybermen]] to invade and convert the bodies of deceased Time Lords to create CyberMasters - a subrace of Cybermen capable of regeneration. The Doctor, after being shown the truth about their past, plants an explosive in the Citadel, seemingly destroying the CyberMasters and the Master while rendering Gallifrey devoid of any organic life.