Welcome to [ @WHOISTHEMASTER ], a blog dedicated to asking the most important question in the universe; Who is the Master from Doctor Who?
This blog will explore the question starting with Classic Who, fumbling through the Extended Universe, and then running through Modern Who. It may be out of order at times. It may be theories scattered on a board. It may be fun, interesting things I noticed and got excited about, but as long as it’s all about the Master, who cares?
This wild, hypnotic meta of a show is run by @timeladyjamie
Why does no one ask, Master Who?: (#4 - Mr. Steal Your Father's Body )
Why does no one ask, Master Who?: A Character Study Series Masterlist
Long before it became another somewhat recurring theme of the Master to go around trying to steal the Doctor or anyone else's body in order to survive, the Tremas Master (also known as the Ainley!Master) was successful in that goal, having stolen the body of Nyssa's father at the end of ‘The Keeper of Traken,’ and finding a way to extend his life a little longer.
Anthony Ainley portrayed his take of the Master as a flamboyantly evil, bombastic and sophisticated individual. He was prone to laughing maniacally and reciting lengthy and verbose speeches, accompanied by melodramatic gestures and poses.
With a new lease on life, this Master wasn't afraid to kill anyone, especially the Doctor. He is also the incarnation most known for having this be said about him: "You are one of the most evil and corrupt beings our Time Lord race has ever produced. Your crimes are without number and your villainy without end" and smiling with pride over it.
He is also the incarnation most known for working alongside the Rani and becoming infected with the Cheetah Virus and getting fangs. RAWR!
Important Character Traits for Ainley!Master:
The first to succeed in stealing another person's body for their own!
Of all the Masters, this incarnation seems to have the highest body count.
The most recurring villain of the Fifth Doctor's era, appearing in no less than four serials.
Unable to use his natural hypnotism and instead used other means to enslave others.
As of 2023, the Tremas Master is the longest serving incarnation of the Master seen on-screen, with Anthony Ainley's tenue in the role lasting eight years from his debut to the end of the classic series.
Anthony Ainley wanted to play his incarnation of the Master as cold and calculating but, with the exception of his final televised appearance, he instead portrayed the character as a pastiche of original actor Roger Delgado.
Afterwards, the Master was captured by one of the species he had used in his scheme, with him suggesting to the Doctor that "[the Doctor] knew what they [would] do to him" for his crimes against them (GAME: Destiny of the Doctors) seemingly leading to the Master being executed by the Daleks. (TV: Doctor Who)
Next we will meet the Deathworm Morphant Master, also known as the Bruce Master from the TV Movie!
Why does no one ask, Master Who?: (#3 - Oh No, He’s Crispy!)
Why does no one ask, Master Who?: A Character Study Series Masterlist
Our next topic to cover in the subject of the Master is his Anakin Skywalker---er, I mean, sudden change in appearance and re-appearance when he surprises us all in the Fourth Doctor’s era. I think this is where his now signature long running gag for ‘coming back from the dead’ without any explanation truly began.
So, because of the tragedy that happened to Roger Delgado, the Master as a character was kept out of stories for quite awhile until the 4th Doctor’s era in 1976′s episode, “The Deadly Assassin.” An episode not only remarkable for bringing back the Master in a MUCH darker state, nearing the end of his regeneration cycle, but the fact this episode began a lot of the mythos of the Time Lords and Gallifrey as we know it. Played by two different actors for two different episodes years apart, the fandom has dubbed the Peter Pratt and Geoffrey Beevers Master’s as the Crispy Master or Decayed Master, due to his decaying form looking like he was fighting with a Jedi for control of the high ground and lost (Still too soon? Okay.)
In ‘The Deadly Assassin,’ the Master’s disappearance is explained to us when he comes up with a clever plot, sending the Doctor back home to Gallifrey in order to uncover a mystery into the future premotionions of the Lord President’s death (and of course he’s behind it.) This Master is FAR more dark than his previous self, hell-bent on only his survival, even if it means taking the rest of Gallifrey with him to achieve it. Only his hate and need for revenge keeps him going. Although it may seem the Master has finally lost, this is only when we start to realize how great of a survivor he can be when it comes to death.
Making a return in ‘The Keeper of Traken,’ he’s still focused on attaining a body that can handle the presence of a Time Lord. Although he isn’t able to obtain the Doctor’s, using his cunning, the Master ends up stealing the body of Tremas of Traken, finding a way to extend his life a little longer.
Important Character Traits for Crispy!Master:
High sense of Self-Preservation. He doesn’t care what it takes to stay alive. This is the first time we see it with the Master, even if he’s going completely against the Doctor to do so.
Known for being the most ruthless of the Master’s incarnations (and that’s saying something.)
His physical state of being rotten and decayed can be used as a metaphor for how evil he is as an individual. As Geoffrey Beevers remarked; this is what the Master is like without his smooth looks and charm: as he put it, "the essence of the creature.”
However, in Big Finish, thanks to Beevers himself, and the writers, Crispy gets more of a development. Despite being just ruthless because of his current situation, ‘being faced with his own mortality also gives him plenty of poetic and calm moments.’
The Many Explanations for his Crispy State:
Geoffrey Beevers remarked that this is what the Master is like without his smooth looks and charm: as he put it, "the essence of the creature". This seems to be a running theme with this Master. The first Crispy Master is the ugliest and cruellest of all, while the second Crispy seems to have "healed" a little and is a step back towards Delgado behaviour (how much of the "healed" appearance is intentional and how much of it is due to the limitations of Beevers' makeup compared to Pratt's mask is unknown).
There are also many more explanations of how the Master became decayed on the TARDIS Wiki.
whoisthemaster will be returning with more Master search histories soon! Thanks for tagging along in this adventure as we search all of time and space for anything on this Time Lord.
Why does no one ask, Master Who?: (#2 - The Moriarty to your Holmes)
Why does no one ask, Master Who?: A Character Study Series Masterlist
Since my last topic cover was on the Academy nickname that was symbolic of what the Master would become for the future, I now only think it’s fair to continue our journey with the man who started it all, the legendary Roger Delgado aka Delgado!Master. I will cover Delgado himself later on in another post, but here we will explore how the Master exactly came to be as a character.
The creative team (Terrance Dicks, Barry Letts, and Robert Holmes) came up with the idea of a recurring villain for the Doctor in the 70s. Someone who would be a Moriarty to the Doctor’s Sherlock Holmes. They chose the title of ‘the Master’ because it was a title conferred by an academic degree, much like the Doctor’s.
And from here, the Master was created for the first time, appearing in ‘Terror of the Autons’ and for the next 50+ years.
A would be conqueror of the universe, and former best friend of the Doctor, his only ambitions were to 1. Rule the Universe as ‘the Master of all matter,’ and 2. Make the Doctor suffer. First played by the talented actor, Roger Delgado, who had a long standing history of playing villains, he portrayed his Master as true to the trope of Faux Affably Evil. Even though he wanted to bring the Doctor down, you could tell he didn’t really want to kill his friend, and would sometimes join forces with the Doctor if the situation REALLY called for it. They both enjoyed their ‘battle of wits’ together. He’s suave, charming, and polite, a person who knows exactly what he wants and what he is doing, but he will also kill you without a single thought. And despite hating humans, the Master had some degree of villain respect for Jo and the Brigadier, even considering the Doctor to be his most worthy opponent. For all of the classic run’s Season 8 & 9, you see this play out.
Important Character Traits for Delgado!Master (besides World Domination):
The Master can hypnotize his victims to do anything he wants, saying his usual catchphrase: “I am the Master and you will obey me.”
The second episode of Season 8, ‘The Mind of Evil.’ It’s the one where the Master creates an evil emotion machine that uses your greatest fears against you. While the Doctor’s fears are about the monsters he’s faced along his travels and the world being destroyed, the Master’s (although he tries to act like it doesn’t affect him) is what intrigues me the most: It’s of the Doctor laughing at him.
Another important thing is two episodes later in, ‘Colony in Space’ is that the Master offers the Doctor to join him in ruling the world when he plans to use a Doomsday weapon to destroy a civilization. The Master says that the Doctor could join him, that they could reign benevolently and end war, suffering and disease. The Doctor turns him down and says that absolute power is evil. The Master tempts him again and says that he is offering a half share in the universe, but of course the Doctor isn’t for it. He wants to see the universe, not rule it.
There is one last thing I would like to mention for Delgado’s Era of the Master and it is the unmade story, ‘The Final Game.’ It was meant to be the Third Doctor’s and the Master’s final story together. The story was to end with the reveal that the Master and the Doctor were brothers or two different opposing aspects of the same being (the Ego and the Id), and the Master dying in a manner which suggested that he sacrificed himself to save the Doctor's life. However, sadly, Roger Delgado died in a car crash before it was made, so the story ended up being scrapped.
If that story ended up coming to be, just think of how much of a game changer it would have been!
Why does no one ask, Master Who?: A Character Study Series Masterlist
MThe Master, a rival Time Lord and childhood friend of the Doctor’s from Doctor Who, is one of the most iconic villains of the show (if not number one in my own opinion.) First appearing in the episode, ‘Terror of the Autons’, played by the legendary Roger Delgado in the 1970s, the Master is JUST one of those villains you can’t help but like. But just like the Doctor, most of their origins and who they are behind their grandeur title and plans for universal domination still remain a mystery to us.
So, join me in this adventure as I explore pieces from Classic Who, the Extended Universe, and more to uncover and try to piece together another mystery of the universe that no one asks all that often; Who is the Master?
A series written by @whoisthemaster/ @timeladyjamie
Check below the cut for the MASTERLIST of this series. Please note this will be updated as I go along!
MASTERLIST
1. Why does no one ask, Master Who?: (#1 - Koschei)
2. Why does no one ask, Master Who?: (#2 - The Moriarty to Your Holmes)
3. Why does no one ask, Master Who?: (#3 - Oh No, He’s Crispy!)
4. Why does no one ask, Master Who?: (#4 - Mr. Steal Your Father’s Body)
Why does no one ask, Master Who?: A Character Study Series
This was one subject I was excited to cover, especially after just recently getting into Russian folklore. And of course since this is technically the first master (as according to the fandom, EU content, and The Sound of Drums ), this had to be the one to cover first (especially because of the symbolism present here that I feel is so important to beginning our journey exploring who the Master is.)
Though the young first Master’s name is never revealed to us in the show, how did we get the name Koschei? Let me direct you to the way of the Extended Universe.
May I introduce you to a series of wonderful books?
Let’s start with the one that introduced the name Koschei for the Master:
1. The Dark Path by David A. McIntee (published March 1997)
A wonderful novel that features one of the earliest encounters with the Master and the Doctor, greatly expanding on their personal histories on Gallifrey. This story in particular is iconic because it’s one of the many origin stories explaining how/why he became the Master. I honestly don’t wanna spoil it for those who have yet to read it, but I did leave a spoiler review on my main blog awhile back.
This book is important, however, because this is where the Koschei name began. As the book states, this is the name he was going by before he decided to take the title; The Master, by the end of the book.
2. Divided Loyalties by Gary Russell (published October 1999)
2 years later, this book was released. It’s another fantastic novel which is iconic for showing the begins of the Deca and giving us a glimpse into the childhood’s of the Doctor, the Master, the Rani, and so on. I also don’t want to spoil this for those who haven’t read it. Honestly, it’s an experience, and I’ve posted about it a lot on my main.
However, it also features the Master using the name ‘Koschei’, but in the Academy! And when alluding to the characters fates at the end, it even mentions what happens in McIntee’s ‘The Dark Path’.
Bonus: It is also the book that gives us the Master’s house as being Oakdown, hence most of the fandom calling the young Master; Koschei Oakdown.
So, still....Why the name, Koschei?
What is the significance of it? Where did it even come from?
The answers lie in a character from Russian Folklore...
Koschei the Deathless (aka the Immortal)
As the wiki describes: “He is an archetypal male antagonist in Russian folklore. The most common feature of tales involving Koschei is a spell which prevents him from being killed. He hides his soul inside nested objects to protect it. For example, the soul (or in the tales, it is usually called "death") may be hidden in a needle that is hidden inside an egg, the egg is in a duck, the duck is in a hare, the hare is in a chest, the chest is buried or chained up on a far island. Usually he takes the role of a malevolent rival father figure, who competes for (or entraps) a male hero's love interest.”
Sounds kind of familiar, right?
It’s very symbolic to who the Master becomes:
Someone always managing to cheat death, and never being really killed off.
Being the constant rival of the Doctor, sometimes abducting his companions.
In some tales, Koschei can cast a sleep spell, almost like how the Master hypnotizes others.
Not to mention, having a fascination with the Russian culture as shown especially in Dhawan’s era.
