In the pantheon of great Doctor Who villains, the Master ranks near the top - but exactly how old is the Master? Tracking the timeline of this renegade Time Lord, who according to Doctor Who canon fled Gallifrey on the same day as the Doctor, is nearly impossible. It's a task made even more difficult by the Master repeatedly reaching the end of his regeneration cycle, and otherwise, escaping many near-death experiences.
The first on-screen appearance of the Master is from season 8 of the classic Doctor Who series, alongside the Third Doctor played by Jon Pertwee. The Master quickly became a fan-favorite foil to the good Doctor, known for sinister plots to conquer the universe, miraculous escapes, and disguises. Over the years, audiences have seen the Master as a rotting pile of flesh, a snake-like creature called the Morphant, and in the revived series, breaking ground as a female incarnation of the character known as Missy, played by Michelle Gomez.
Since it's uncertain exactly how old the Doctor is, and with some fan speculation centered around the Master as a near-eternal Timeless Child like the Doctor, it is difficult to pin an exact age on the character. Based on what's known for certain though, it might be possible to come close. As previously mentioned, the Master left the Academy on the same day as the Doctor. It's also known that Time Lords are taken to the Academy at the age of eight. It's reasonable, then, to put the two characters at about the same age.
From there, the next most significant indicator of the Master's age comes perhaps in season 18 of classic Doctor Who when, at the end of his regeneration cycle, the Master steals the body of Tremas of Traken. His goal was to live on beyond the limit of 12 regenerations. Playing the Fourth incarnation of the Doctor at the time was Tom Baker, who claimed to be "something about 750." Even though the Master burned through his life cycle faster than the Doctor, the Master could be roughly the same age as the Doctor at this point.
The next significant milestone in the timeline of the Master is the two-part 2009 Christmas special of the revived series. In it, the Master has returned after living at the end of the universe disguised as a human by the Chameleon Arch to escape the Time War. The Tenth Doctor is played by David Tennant, and is said to be around 900 years-old. It's hard to say if what the Master has been through - including multiple incarnations and a variety of death-defying, life-extending ploys - means he's the same age as the Tenth Doctor, but it's not an unreasonable assumption.
When it comes to Time Lords like the Master, it's unknown which is most important: actual age or reaching the limits of a regeneration cycle. That's a question muddied even further by the Timeless Child revelation. There's disagreement about the Doctor spending "billions" of years trapped in a Time Lord torture chamber at the end of season 9, and how that may have affected her chronological age. It's similarly uncertain how the Master's numerous exploits relate to the number of candles on his birthday cake. What's most important, though, is that in Doctor Who, whenever the Master sets about conquering the universe, the Doctor is there to stop him.
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January 20, 2021 at 05:14AM
