Theory:Timeline - The Master's incarnations

This page lists the various incarnations and other versions of the Master in order. This timeline is based upon observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events that occur during each of these stories.

The short story Girl Power! indicates that the Master had had a total of nineteen incarnations up to, and including Missy. Only instances where the Master has "died" count as regenerations, and not the instances of bodysnatching or undergoing chameleon arch identities.

Timeline

 * Across multiple time streams, the Sild collected about 470 incarnations of the Master. (PROSE: Harvest of Time)

First regeneration cycle

 * First Master (William Hughes)


 * Koschei
 * Controversially depicted as the incarnation who became known as "the Master" after swearing revenge on the Second Doctor. (PROSE: The Dark Path, The Face of the Enemy)


 * "Renegade" Master (James Dreyfus)
 * Originally advertised as being the First Master, but never confirmed in any of his appearances. However, it is established in AUDIO: The Destination Wars that he was the incarnation of the Master that originally left Gallifrey.


 * "UNIT enemy" Master (Roger Delgado)
 * Either regenerated after being hit by a blast of artron energy when his attempt to attack the Twelfth Doctor backfired, (COMIC: Doorway to Hell) or had his body damaged beyond repair after being shot with his own Tissue Compression Eliminator by Susan Campbell. (PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks) In a parallel universe, the Master (Jonathan Clements) regenerated into a new incarnation (Mark Gatiss). (AUDIO: Sympathy for the Devil)


 * Thirteenth Master (Peter Pratt/Geoffrey Beevers)
 * According to one account, the thirteenth incarnation of the Master was disfigured by his future self. (AUDIO: The Two Masters) Most accounts agree that this Master is unique from that played by Roger Delgado (COMIC: Doorway to Hell, AUDIO: The Two Masters, Sympathy for the Devil, Master Thief) however one account insists they are one and the same. (PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks)

Beyond the twelfth regeneration

 * "Tremas" Master (Anthony Ainley)
 * Inhabiting the body of the Trakenite Tremas. (TV: The Keeper of Traken)


 * "Tzun" Master
 * "Tremas" Master regenerates after being restored by the Tzun Confederacy. (PROSE: First Frontier)


 * "John Smith" Master (Geoffrey Beevers)
 * "Tremas" Master stripped of his Trakenite body by the Warp Core. (AUDIO: Dust Breeding)


 * "Trial" Master (Gordon Tipple)
 * Assumed the form of a Deathworm Morphant to survive his execution by the Daleks. (TV: Doctor Who)


 * "Bruce" Master (Eric Roberts)
 * Takes over the body of Bruce Gerhardt using the Deathworm Morphant, before becoming trapped in the Eye of Harmony. (TV: Doctor Who) Escapes on several occasions into the Time Vortex (COMIC: The Glorious Dead; AUDIO: The Lifeboat and the Deathboat) but always gets drawn back to the Eye of Harmony. (AUDIO: Planet of Dust)


 * "Deathworm" Master (Geoffrey Beevers)
 * After escaping the Eye of Harmony, steals the bodies of George Steer, (PROSE: Prologue) Richard, (PROSE: Forgotten) Don Maestro, and Michael Masterson, before being returned to his decayed state and escaping in his TARDIS. (AUDIO: Mastermind) Coming to his final end, (AUDIO: Planet of Dust) he is revived and regenerates after receiving a new regeneration cycle from the Celestial Intervention Agency. (AUDIO: Day of the Master)

Second regeneration cycle

 * "Bald" Master (Alex Macqueen)
 * Implied to be the first of the new cycle. (AUDIO: Day of the Master)


 * "Child" Master
 * Regenerated into the "War" Master during the Last Great Time War. (COMIC: Fast Asleep) Evidently the sixteenth incarnation. (PROSE: Girl Power!)


 * "War" Master (Derek Jacobi)
 * After spending years disguised as the human "Yana", the Master regenerated into the "Saxon" Master when Chantho shot him. (TV: Utopia) Evidently the seventeenth incarnation. (PROSE: Girl Power!)


 * "Saxon" Master (John Simm)
 * Briefly died and later resurrected. (TV: Last of the Time Lords, The End of Time) Regenerated into Missy after she stabbed him. (TV: The Doctor Falls) Evidently the eighteenth incarnation. (PROSE: Girl Power!)


 * Missy (Michelle Gomez)
 * First known female incarnation. Explicitly identified herself as the Master's nineteenth incarnation. (PROSE: Girl Power!) Managed to regenerate into the Lumiat (AUDIO: The Lumiat) after being shot by the "Saxon" Master. (TV: The Doctor Falls)


 * The Lumiat (Gina McKee)
 * Would logically be the Master's twentieth incarnation. (PROSE: Girl Power!) Regenerated after being wounded by Missy. (AUDIO: The Lumiat)


 * "Spy" Master (Sacha Dhawan)
 * Would logically be the Master's twenty-first incarnation. (PROSE: Girl Power!)

Unplaced

 * "Annuals" Master
 * The Master has "pale skin, prominent cheekbones, a neatly-trimmed black goatee, and voluminous hair with a widow peek", and is recognised by the Fifth and Sixth Doctors. (PROSE: The Creation of Camelot, The Fellowship of Quan, The Radio Waves)


 * "Tersurus" Master (Jonathan Pryce)
 * Confronted the "listless-looking" Ninth Doctor and their following four incarnations. (TV: The Curse of Fatal Death)


 * "Android" Master (Derek Jacobi)