Theory:Timeline - The Master

This page lists appearances of The Master in the order in which he experienced them. It relies on much speculation to fit semi-contradictory sources together, and should absolutely not be seen as representative of this wiki's general policy.

Limiting factors
Events after Doctor Who are difficult to reconcile with each other as they offer contradictory accounts to what happened when the Master escaped the Eye of Harmony.

Series basics
to be added

Timeline

 * TV: The Sound of Drums (flashback)
 * The child who would become the Master is presumably in his first incarnation.


 * PROSE: Divided Loyalties (flashback/dream sequence)
 * "Koschei" is at the Academy.


 * PROSE: The Infinity Doctors
 * The Magistrate lives on Gallifrey — though it's uncertain whether he is really the same Master.


 * COMIC: Flashback
 * "Magnus" lives on Gallifrey. He's said to carelessly waste regenerations.

It was intended that Magnus be the Master and the War Chief, who were intended to be the same character. Divided Loyalties identified the two as separate, but the accuracy of the dream flashbacks is questionable.

War Chief

 * TV: The War Games / PROSE: Doctor Who and the War Games
 * The War Chief is a renegade and lives off-Gallifrey. The Time Lords try to execute him, but he just regenerates.

Here, the Master's timeline splits in two.

1.

KE LE

 * AUDIO: Sympathy for the Devil
 * The regenerated War Chief is stranded on Earth and regenerates again into Ke Le.


 * AUDIO: The Library in the Body (cameo)
 * AUDIO: The Emporium at the End

2.

Felix Kriegslieter

 * PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus
 * The War Chief regenerates into Kriegslieter, who later regenerates into the "Koschei" incarnation.

Koschei

 * AUDIO: The Toy
 * The Master is living on Gallifrey, but is the incarnation first seen in Terror of the Autons.


 * PROSE: The Dark Path
 * The Master is already in his incarnation first seen in Terror of the Autons.


 * PROSE: The Nameless City
 * The Master is wearing the clothes of the incarnation seen in Terror of the Autons, but targets the Second Doctor, rather than the Third. He is malevolent and the Doctor is travelling with Jamie and not Victoria, so after The Dark Path.


 * PROSE: Prisoners of the Sun
 * The Master doesn't appear, but a Time Lord mentions that he has escaped Shada.


 * PROSE: Reconnaissance
 * Leads into Terror of the Autons.


 * TV: Terror of the Autons
 * PROSE: Doorway into Nowhere
 * PROSE: Deadly Reunion
 * TV: The Mind of Evil
 * TV: The Claws of Axos
 * TV: Colony in Space
 * TV: The Dæmons
 * PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy
 * The Master is imprisoned.


 * PROSE: Freedom
 * COMIC: The Man in the Ion Mask
 * PROSE: The Face of the Enemy
 * The Master is imprisoned.


 * PROSE: Harvest of Time
 * The Master is imprisoned.


 * PROSE: The Switching
 * The Master moves to Fortress island, leading into The Sea Devils


 * TV: The Sea Devils
 * PROSE: The Eight Doctors
 * The Master retrieves his TARDIS from where he hid it in The Face of the Enemy.


 * TV: The Time Monster
 * PROSE: Listen - the Stars
 * Arbitrary placement.


 * PROSE: Out of the Green Mist
 * Arbitrary placement.


 * PROSE: Night Flight to Nowhere
 * Arbitrary placement.


 * PROSE: Verdigris
 * The Master intends to go to Skaro and ally with the Daleks, leading into Frontier in Space.


 * TV: Frontier in Space
 * PROSE: Hidden Talent
 * PROSE: The Seismologist's Story
 * PROSE: Doctor Who Fights Masterplan "Q"
 * COMIC: Fogbound
 * PROSE: Smash Hit
 * COMIC: Character Assassin
 * COMIC: The Glen of Sleeping
 * PROSE: Last of the Gaderene
 * PROSE: The Duke of Dominoes
 * The Doctor has regenerated.


 * PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks
 * The Master is badly injured, leading into The Deadly Assassin. According to this, the Master is already in his thirteenth incarnation. Note that this contradicts Sympathy for the Devil, where he is able to regenerate after the Doctor's exile, and The Two Masters, where the version of him burnt is probably a different one.

Damien Scott

 * AUDIO: The Two Masters (Old Master flashbacks)
 * The Master has avoided being burnt, but encounters his future incarnation, who scars him. The Old Master steals the New Master's body.


 * AUDIO: Vampire of the Mind

Van Houten

 * AUDIO: The Two Masters (Old Master)
 * The Master is badly injured, leading into The Deadly Assassin.


 * TV: The Deadly Assassin
 * AUDIO: The Museum of Curiosities
 * AUDIO: Jago & Son (cameo)
 * AUDIO: Maurice (cameo)
 * AUDIO: The Woman in White (cameo)
 * AUDIO: Masterpiece
 * The Master left Gallifrey straight for Earth looking for the Doctor.


 * COMIC: The Five Masters (flashback)
 * The Master meets his future selves.


 * COMIC: The Abominable Snowmen
 * COMIC: The Five Masters
 * AUDIO: Trail of the White Worm
 * AUDIO: The Oseidon Adventure
 * AUDIO: The Light at the End
 * The Master hasn't met Nyssa yet, placing it before The Keeper of Traken. Release order position for original Four/Leela Big Finish audios.


 * AUDIO: The Evil One
 * AUDIO: Requiem for the Rocket Men
 * AUDIO: Death Match
 * TV: The Keeper of Traken
 * The Master gains the body of Tremas

Tremas

 * TV: Logopolis
 * TV: Castrovalva
 * AUDIO: Smoke and Mirrors
 * The Master is trying to reconstitute his body after it was broken down when Castrovalva was destroyed.


 * TV: Time-Flight
 * TV: The King's Demons
 * PROSE: Birth of a Renegade
 * TV: The Five Doctors
 * PROSE: The Creation of Camelot
 * TV: Planet of Fire
 * PROSE: A Town Called Eternity
 * The Master is scarred because of Planet of Fire.


 * TV: The Mark of the Rani
 * PROSE: The Time Savers
 * PROSE: The Fellowship of Quan
 * PROSE: The Radio Waves
 * TV: The Ultimate Foe
 * PROSE: The Quantum Archangel
 * AUDIO: The End of the Line
 * COMIC: The Five Masters (flashback)
 * The Master meets his past and future selves.


 * COMIC: The Abominable Snowmen
 * COMIC: The Five Masters
 * TV: Survival
 * PROSE: Stop the Pigeon
 * The Master is still infected with the Cheetah virus from Survival.


 * PROSE: Prime Time
 * COMIC: Facades
 * COMIC: The Choice
 * COMIC: Endgame
 * The Master is wearing the same costume as in Destiny of the Doctors. He is not affected by the Cheetah virus.


 * GAME: Destiny of the Doctors

Major Kreer

 * PROSE: First Frontier
 * The Master is affected by the Cheetah virus. It recurred after seemingly being cured in Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark as well, in Ace. The Tzun attempt to give the Master a new regeneration cycle, and his first regeneration cures the cheetah virus.


 * PROSE: Housewarming
 * PROSE: Happy Endings
 * The Master's supposed new regeneration cycle has not worked, and his body is breaking down.

Mr Seta

 * AUDIO: Dust Breeding
 * The Master's old body has broken down by the Warp Core, turning him into the same form seen in The Keeper of Traken.


 * PROSE: The Eight Doctors (cameo)
 * The Master is in his Trakenite form, which continues to be infected with the Cheetah virus until TV: Doctor Who. He gains a Deathworm Morphant and steals another body.


 * TV: Doctor Who (execution scene)
 * The Master is executed by the Daleks because... reasons.


 * AUDIO: Master
 * The Doctor has already travelled with Chris and Roz, so this is after Lungbarrow - when he was sent to retrieve the Master's remains. He also has enough power over the Master to (with Death's help) create his life as "John Smith." So Master has been placed here on the assumption that, rather than even trying to return the Master's remains to Gallifrey, he takes advantage of his possession of said remains to give the Master his "John Smith" life. Then, while the Master spends ten years as John Smith, the Doctor has other adventures - which nicely explains why there can be stories set between Lungbarrow and Doctor Who.


 * PROSE: Omegamorphosis
 * This is a body stolen by the Master as a way to survive.

Bruce

 * TV: Doctor Who / PROSE: The Novel of the Film
 * COMIC: The Five Masters (flashback)
 * COMIC: The Abominable Snowmen
 * COMIC: The Five Masters
 * Set while the Master is wearing Bruce's outfit.
 * COMIC: The Glorious Dead (flashback)
 * The Master falls into the Eye of Harmony during the climax of Doctor Who.


 * PROSE: The Eight Doctors (cameo)
 * PROSE: Sometime Never... (cameo)
 * PROSE: The Deadstone Memorial (cameo)
 * PROSE: The Gallifrey Chronicles (cameo)
 * In all of these cameos, the Master is still trapped inside the Eye of Harmony.


 * At this point the Master's timeline takes two contradictory routes.

1.

Don Maestro

 * PROSE: Forgotten
 * The Master escapes the Eye of Harmony.
 * PROSE: Prologue
 * Set during the events of Forgotten.


 * AUDIO: Mastermind
 * Set directly after Forgotten. At the end, the Master is free and has his grandfather clock TARDIS, contradicting Nevermore and Eyes of the Master.

War King

 * PROSE: The Taking of Planet 5 (cameo)
 * This takes place during the War, and is definitely written out of history by The Ancestor Cell. This potentially explains why Forgotten et al. contradict The Fallen et al.


 * PROSE: The Book of the War
 * AUDIO: Body Politic
 * AUDIO: Words from Nine Divinities
 * The War King has scarring deliberately retained from his previous incarnation. He is consumed by what was originally his grandfather clock TARDIS.

2.

A Street Preacher

 * This version of events contradicts that of the "Don Maestro" Master.


 * COMIC: The Fallen
 * The Master escapes the Eye of Harmony.


 * COMIC: The Glorious Dead
 * The Master is banished to parts unknown by Kroton.


 * AUDIO: Nevermore
 * The Master doesn't appear, but his "current" state is referred to: he is not in a position to interfere with time.

Harcourt De'ath

 * AUDIO: Time's Horizon (cameo)
 * AUDIO: Eyes of the Master
 * The Master was rescued by the Time Lords from "a predicament," which the Doctor is aware of — i.e. where Kroton placed him.


 * AUDIO: The Death of Hope
 * AUDIO: The Reviled
 * AUDIO: Masterplan
 * AUDIO: Rule of the Eminence
 * AUDIO: The Monster of Montmartre
 * AUDIO: Master of the Daleks
 * AUDIO: UNIT: Dominion
 * The Master is working in direct opposition to the Time Lords.


 * AUDIO: The Two Masters (New Master flashbacks)
 * AUDIO: And You Will Obey Me
 * AUDIO: The Two Masters (New Master)
 * PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street
 * The man with the rosette is clean-shaven, on somewhat friendly terms with the Doctor, and in the post-War universe.

Time War

 * COMIC: Outrun
 * COMIC: The Organ Grinder
 * COMIC: The Then and the Now


 * COMIC: Kill God
 * COMIC: Fast Asleep
 * The Master is in the body of a small child. He regenerates into the "Yana" incarnation of the Master due to a paradox.

Professor Yana

 * NOTVALID: Scream of the Shalka
 * Features an alternative robotic duplicate Master rather than the Master proper, but he has the voice of the "Professor Yana" Master.


 * TV: Utopia
 * The Master has just left the Time War. He doesn't have a TARDIS. He regenerates into his "Harold Saxon" incarnation.

Harold Saxon

 * PROSE: Speech Day
 * TV: The Sound of Drums
 * TV: Last of the Time Lords
 * PROSE: Harvest of Time (captive)
 * The Master is captured during the Year That Never Was by the Sild. He is freed and returned to his time.
 * PROSE: The Story of Martha
 * Set during the final scene of Last of the Time Lords.


 * TV: The End of Time
 * The Master is sent to the last day of the Time War.
 * COMIC: The Five Masters (flashback)
 * COMIC: The Abominable Snowmen
 * COMIC: The Five Masters
 * Set during The End of Time, while the Master is free-roaming.

Missy

 * TV: Deep Breath (cameo)
 * TV: Into the Dalek (cameo)
 * TV: The Caretaker (cameo)
 * TV: Flatline (cameo)
 * TV: In the Forest of the Night (cameo)
 * TV: Dark Water
 * Missy claims the Doctor "left [her] for dead."


 * TV: Death in Heaven
 * Missy is aware of the Doctor saving Gallifrey at the end of the Time War. The Doctor speculates that she has a TARDIS, though it does not appear.


 * TV: The Magician's Apprentice
 * TV: The Witch's Familiar
 * COMIC: The Five Masters (flashback)
 * COMIC: The Abominable Showmen
 * COMIC: The Five Masters

Unplaced

 * PROSE: The One Second Hour
 * PROSE: The Spear of Destiny
 * COMIC: The Time Thief