Child Master

Child Master

Talk

In an aborted timeline where he had regenerated in the body of a child, the Master formed an alliance with the War Doctor and the Squire during the Last Great Time War. Like the War Doctor, he had abandoned his name entirely, though he was often referred to as the Child or Young Boy by his allies. However, his attempt to flee the conflict in a TARDIS resulted in him being erased by a temporal paradox, forcing him into a retro-regeneration back into the War Master.

Biography

Backstory

Main article: War Master's first regeneration

At some point, the War Master (COMIC: Fast Asleep) regenerated into a new incarnation. Now in the body of a small child, and still active in the Last Great Time War, he was said to have abandoned the name of "Master", as he simply operated with no name whatsoever. (COMIC: The Organ Grinder)

The child fought further along in the Last Great Time War than his predecessor. Despite this, he was able to manipulate events to write out many of his actions during the War, even though it was time-locked. One of these events was presenting himself as a messianic figure to a Sontaran colony world, creating a breakaway religion worshipping his pillar TARDIS and growing goatees, so that they would battle with the main faction of Sontarans' 17th Veteran Cohort. (COMIC: The Judas Goatee)

Alliance with the Doctor

In the midst of the war, the Master made a deal with the War Doctor to end their old ways and become allies, fighting alongside each other. (COMIC: The Organ Grinder) At some point, they sat together on a barren planet strewn with destroyed Daleks and a ruined building resembling a destroyed Capitol. (COMIC: The Master Plan)

Mission against the Cyclors

Eventually, the Doctor was sent on a mission to find a way to stop the Cyclors, who had allied with the Daleks. (COMIC: Pull to Open) When fighting alongside the Thirteenth Vexillatio, the Doctor showed the Master evidence of the Cyclors' involvement when the entire troops were psychically wiped out, leading the Master to agree to join him. (COMIC: The Organ Grinder) At some point, the Squire also joined the Doctor's mission to stop the Cyclors. The group fought the Daleks and Cyclors on Veestrax, where they saw a broken wall with "Exterminhate" written on it. The Master told the Doctor that he hadn't written it, and the Doctor then asked for his help with destroying the planet. (COMIC: Outrun)

In order to infiltrate the centre of Golgauth, the home planet of the Overcaste to whom the Cyclors were bonded, they embarked on quests to acquire tools such as a megarhythmic anodizer from Chroleen, a mimetic whisperfield from the Terrorsmiths of Diwoon, and the Psilent Songbox of Karn. During the final preparations for their plan, the Doctor and the Master encountered the Volatix Cabal on Lujhimene, proving the rumours of their existence true. (COMIC: The Organ Grinder) Alice Obiefune, a companion of the Eleventh Doctor in the Post-Time War universe, crash-landed in The Master's TARDIS from after the Time War on Lujhimene, (COMIC: First Rule) where she encountered the Doctor and the Master, but was quickly captured by the Volatix Cabal. However, the Squire rescued her and brought her back to the Doctor and the Master, the latter of whom reclaimed his TARDIS from "some tangled tomorrow", which could still communicate mentally to him, and connected it to the Doctor's as they headed for Golgauth.

With both TARDISes in tow, they travelled beneath the surface of Golgauth, where an Overcaste rebel base was located. The Master enjoyed the idea of using the Psilent Songbox to wipe out the Overcaste and the Cyclors because it would mean the Doctor would commit genocide, but the Doctor claimed to have another possible way. Upon arriving, they met a group of Overcaste, but uncovered a Volatix spy in the group and neutralised him. The spy revealed that he had called for help and moments later a Cyclor tore off the roof of the base. (COMIC: The Organ Grinder)

As the Cyclors approached, the Master taunted Alice about how the Doctor had committed genocide in the Time War, as the Doctor revealed his plan to use the Psilent Songbox to affect the Overcaste's collective unconscious such that the Cyclors would ascend. As Alice stole the Songbox in an attempt to avoid the history she knew, the Master used a device to summon a squadron of Gallifreyan ships to attack the Cyclors. He used this chaos of the Cyclor attack to flee, sneaking into his future self's TARDIS to escape the Time War. (COMIC: Kill God)

Fate

Main article: Child Master's degeneration

As the Master began to take off in his reclaimed TARDIS, he realised that it was his future self who had implanted the chronal tumour on his TARDIS console in the first place. At some point in his now aborted future, he was to operate on the brain of his TARDIS, which would result in the chronal tumour that protruded from one side of the console. (COMIC: The One) But since escaping the Time War in his TARDIS would preclude him from implanting the tumour in the first place, the resulting paradox shattered reality in "a cascade of temporal possibility." Subsequently, the chronal tumour began to react to the Psilent Songbox, creating a chronal meltdown. While the Master attempted to disarm the device, it was too late, and the resulting temporal bomb left his TARDIS spiralling out of control. With the Master's timeline collapsing as a result of the paradox, he was forced to degenerate back into the War Master, swearing revenge on both the War Doctor and Alice as he returned to his previous incarnation. The Squire would later note he had been flung "who knows when." (COMIC: Fast Asleep)

Due to the paradox, all parties present would lose their memories of the events, though the exact extent of this was not clear. (COMIC: Fast Asleep) When revisiting her timeline and seeing the Child Master alongside the War Doctor, Missy claimed to not remember which was her and which was the Doctor, implying she may have forgotten her child incarnation entirely. (COMIC: The Master Plan) Alice did recall the Master being present as a small boy, and at least the fact that the Master was present in the Cyclor event surprised the Eleventh Doctor; Alice's memories of her time in the Time War seemed to soon fade from her. (COMIC: Gently Pulls the Strings) Before she had gone back to the war, the Master's TARDIS had also printed an image of the Master alongside Alice, which the Doctor kept secret. (COMIC: The One, First Rule)

When the War Master was fatally wounded by Chantho, who he had fatally wounded himself shortly before, the Master knew he would soon regenerate as he locked himself inside the Doctor's TARDIS. However, instead of regenerating back into the forgotten Child Master, the War Master decided his next incarnation would be just as young and strong as the Doctor's tenth incarnation. With his final words declaring his next incarnation as "the Master reborn", the War Master underwent his second regeneration into a younger incarnation as he had wanted (TV: Utopia), and unknowingly completely erased the Child Master's existence as his direct successor.

Psychological profile

Much like the Doctor had done while fighting in the Last Great Time War, the Master ceased using his former title, which the War Doctor stated was the nature of war. (COMIC: The Organ Grinder) However, others, such as Alice Obiefune and the Squire, still referred to him by his title. (COMIC: Gently Pulls the Strings)

The Child Master delighted in the prospect of committing genocide, and more specifically the War Doctor's loosening morality. He saw people as resources, and that teaming up with the Doctor was a worthwhile option during wartime. He also had a fondness for paradoxes.(COMIC: The Organ Grinder) The Master wanted to put up a fight for good, but, seeing the hopelessness of his efforts with the Doctor, he fled from their fight with the Cyclors. He concluded that he enjoyed death and chaos only when it was fun for him. (COMIC: Kill God)

At the moment of his retro-regeneration, the Child Master held contempt for the Doctor and Alice Obiefune, declaring that he would have his revenge on them while degenerating back into the War Master. (COMIC: Fast Asleep)

Appearance

The Child Master had the appearance of a young Asian boy with black hair styled into a bowl-cut and blue eyes. (COMIC: The Organ Grinder) On Veestrax, he had short hair, and wore a white shirt with a black jacket. (COMIC: Outrun) By the time he and the Doctor had arrived on Golgauth, the boy's hair was longer and returned to it's bowl-cut style, and he sported a scarlet shirt under his jacket. (COMIC: The Organ Grinder)

Behind the scenes

• The Child Master's final moments in Fast Asleep, where he turns into the likeness of Derek Jacobi, was initially interpreted as a usual regeneration, likely due to the visual appearance of fire on his body, which resembles the golden regeneration energy seen in post-2005 stories, and Alice's narration that "it [was] impossible to survive the energies in the heart of a paradox." However, Rob Williams, who wrote the comic, clarified that the "Child Master" was intended to be the successor of Jacobi's War Master, rather than his predecessor or a younger version of him, meaning the story featured the first known retro-regeneration of the Master.^[1][2]
  • With the clarification of where the Child Master fit in the line up of the Master's incarnations, the Child Master was the first example of a Time Lord regenerating into a child as opposed to normally regenerating into an adult body, which had been the norm with any Time Lord shown regenerating onscreen.
• Although he does not use the name "the Master" and never indicates a preferred title in-universe, the recap page of the twelfth issue refers to him as "the Child Master" in a similar fashion to "War Doctor".

Footnotes

v • e The Master stories Early life Television The Sound of Drums Prose Birth of a Renegade • The Legacy of Gallifrey • The Dark Path • The Schizoid Earth • Divided Loyalties • Gallifrey: A Rough Guide • Celestial Intervention - A Gallifreyan Noir • Harvest of Time • Rebel Rebel Comic Flashback Audio The Toy • Masterful Webcast The Legend of... the Master? "Inventor" Audio The Destination Wars • The Home Guard • The Psychic Circus • Blood of the Time Lords War Chief Television The War Games Prose The Legacy of Gallifrey • Timewyrm: Exodus UNIT era see template The cycle ending Decayed Master see template Tremas Master see template Old Master Television Doctor Who Prose First Frontier • Happy Endings • Housewarming • Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe Bruce Master see template Android/ Echo Webcast Scream of the Shalka Prose Scream of the Shalka • The Feast of the Stone • Sometime Never... • The Deadstone Memorial • The Gallifrey Chronicles • Doctor Who - The Ninth Doctor "Preacher" Comics The Fallen • The Glorious Dead Reborn Master see template "Merlin" Prose The Creation of Camelot • The Fellowship of Quan • The Radio Waves Pryce Television The Curse of Fatal Death Child Master Comics The Then and the Now • Pull to Open • Outrun • Downtime • First Rule • The Organ Grinder • Kill God • Fast Asleep War Master see template Saxon Master see template Missy see template The Lumiat Audio The Lumiat • Masterful • Time Lord Immemorial Spy Master see template Unclear incarnation Prose . Enjoy the Game • Harvest of Time Other realities Barusa's universe Prose The Chronicles of Doctor Who? Unbound Master see template Inferno Earth Prose The Face of the Enemy The Warrior's universe Audio Aftershocks • Who Am I? • Time Killers From stories considered not part of the DWU by this Wiki "DWM" Prose Winning Designs "Battle" Games Battle for the Universe "Exclusive!" Prose Exclusive! "DWMS" Comics The Next 20 Years According to one account, the Master had the appearance of Roger Delgado while on Gallifrey. According to another, he had Anthony Ainley's likeness. According to another one, the one with James Dreyfus's appearance was the incarnation who ran away from Gallifrey. Divided Loyalties, A Brief History of Time Lords and The Legions of Death feature, or otherwise acknowledge, the War Chief, but in the process contradicted the notion put forward by other stories that he was an incarnation of the Master. One account suggests that the incarnation portrayed by Roger Delgado may be the same as the one portrayed by Peter Pratt while some others distinguish them. According to one account, the incarnation portrayed by Gordon Tipple is the one portrayed by Anthony Ainley, while some others state that the Ainley one was already lost by then. While fighting to extend his life at the end of his regeneration cycle, many bodies were possessed by the Beevers incarnation, but all kept somehow reverting to his real being until he finally regenerated into the MacQueen one. Hence, these sections cannot be strictly chronological

v • e Companions of the War Doctor Original to prose Cinder Original to comics Fey Truscott-Sade • Petrella • The Squire • War Child Master Original to audio Rejoice • War Ollistra • Heleyna • Kalan • Leela • Case Original to video games Asmuth • Eleventh General If a medium is not mentioned, then this incarnation did not have companions who were original to that medium; it does not mean that this Doctor failed to appear in that medium.