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)
 * Initiated on Gallifrey at 8 years old. (TV: The Sound of Drums)


 * The Master (James Dreyfus)
 * Escaped from Gallifrey. Contemporary to the First (AUDIO: The Destination Wars) and Second Doctors. (AUDIO: The Home Guard) Originally advertised as being the First Master, but never confirmed in any of his appearances.


 * The Master (Roger Delgado)
 * Regenerated after being hit by a blast of artron energy when his attempt to attack the Twelfth Doctor backfired (COMIC: Doorway to Hell) or 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 (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)


 * Thirteenth Master (Peter Pratt)
 * The dying form of the Master after expending his twelve regenerations. (TV: The Deadly Assassin)


 * Thirteenth Master (Geoffrey Beevers)
 * Partially rejuvenated by the Eye of Harmony. (AUDIO: Trail of the White Worm)

Beyond the twelfth regeneration

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


 * "Basil Rathbone"
 * Restored by the Tzun Confederacy. (PROSE: First Frontier)


 * Thirteenth Master (Geoffrey Beevers)
 * Stripped of his Trakenite body by the Warp Core. (AUDIO: Dust Breeding)


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


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


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

Second regeneration cycle

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


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


 * The War Master (Derek Jacobi)
 * Briefly became the human Professor Yana. (TV: Utopia) Evidently the seventeenth incarnation. (PROSE: Girl Power!)


 * "Harold Saxon" (John Simm)
 * Briefly died and later resurrected. (TV: Last of the Time Lords, The End of Time) Presumed to have regenerated into Missy (TV: The Doctor Falls) as the eighteenth incarnation. (PROSE: Girl Power!)


 * Missy (Michelle Gomez)
 * First known female incarnation. Explicitly identified as the Master's nineteenth incarnation. (PROSE: Girl Power!)


 * The Lumiat (Gina McKee)
 * Would logically be the Master's twentieth incarnation. (PROSE: Girl Power!)


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

Unplaced

 * "Annuals"
 * 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)


 * (Jonathan Pryce)
 * Confronted a version of the Ninth Doctor. (TV: The Curse of Fatal Death)


 * The Master (Scream of the Shalka) (Derek Jacobi)