Time Lord



The Time Lords and Time Ladies (sometimes called "Lords of Time" or, rarely, "Chronarchs") are a sentient species who have mastered time travel to a much greater extent than any other species.

Time Lords versus Gallifreyans
It is unclear if all Gallifreyans are Time Lords, or if "Time Lord" is a title reserved for Gallifreyeans who have matriculated from the planet's Time Academies.

Apocryphal account
One, possibly apocryphal account, portrays a time line in which Ace, a Human, receives the power and knowledge of the Time Lords. (Death Comes to Time) The Doctor had said on another occasion that he hoped that this could happen to her, though, according to the other account, it did not come to pass. (NA: Lungbarrow)

History
The Gallifreyans possessed one of the oldest and most powerful civilizations in the Universe. As the Time Lords, they would hold absolute power for some ten million years. (DW: The Ultimate Foe)

The creation of the Time Lords

 * See Gallifreyan history.

Physiology and abilities

 * See Gallifreyan physiology

Time Lords also have unique powers not shared by other Gallifreyans.

Time Lord brains
The Rani referred to Time Lord brains as "time brains" (Dimensions in Time). Through physiology or training, Time Lord brains are quite similar: the Doctor says, of the Master, "He's a Time Lord. In many ways, we have the same mind." (DW:Logopolis) The Timewyrm noticed that on a quantum level, the Doctor's brain could receive information from possible futures, possibly without even realizing it consciously. (NA: Timewyrm: Revelation).

The Time Lord brain was much more complex than that of a Human brain and also larger. This size differences meant brain transplants into a Human body would be impossible. (DW: The Brain of Morbius) They were telepathically linked to one another and are even capable of joining the entire Time Lord intelligence as one. (DW: The Invisible Enemy) In times of psychic or physiological stress, Time Lords may even enter a self-induced coma. Time Lords can also separate the hemispheres of their brain, allowing them to multi task easily. (PDA: Island of Death)

Time Lords have an additional lobe to their brain dedicated to mechanical and other bodily functions (BFA: Spare Parts).

The Time Lord gift of translation
Time Lords are trained in many languages and have at their disposal the translation powers of their TARDISes. This translation is not perfect, and may not work on exceptionally old and/or obscure languages, or if the speaker is not an organic life-form. (DW: The Leisure Hive, Four to Doomsday, The Impossible Planet) Shared "secret languages" or code languages deliberately created to exclude outsiders--such as Carny Parlare, a patois spoken exclusively by workers at a certain carnival--may also not translate correctly. (DW: Carnival of Monsters)

Longevity and regeneration

 * See Regeneration


 * ''We do not know with certainty whether other Gallifreyans can regenerate or the aging rate of common Gallifreyans. We do know that other species have often spoken of the power to regenerate as associated with the Time Lords.

Time Lords have the ability to regenerate their bodies. They can renew their bodies in case of mortal illness or injury, advanced old age, or even because they will it. This process allows them to live for centuries, even millennia.

They apparently also age at a much slower rate than Humans. Because of this, accurately judging the age of a Time Lord is nearly impossible.

Some Time Lords prefer regeneration to old age and others allow their bodies to age. (DWM: Flashback)

A Time Lord can also, at will, refuse to regenerate. (DW:Last of the Time Lords)

Rassilon Imprimatur
The cellular structure of Time Lords is marked by symbiotic nuclei, also known as the Rassilon Imprimatur, which bonds a Time Lord to his TARDIS and allows him to withstand the molecular stresses of time travel (DW: The Two Doctors).


 * It may also be tied in with a Time Lord's ability to regenerate.

Science and Technology

 * TARDIS
 * Battle TARDIS
 * War TARDIS


 * Bow Ship
 * The Matrix
 * Nemesis
 * Hand of Omega
 * Paradox Machine
 * Genesis Ark

Weapons

 * Staser
 * De-mat Gun
 * Parallel Cannon

People

 * List of Individual Time Lords

Other Facts

 * Several of the Doctor's more powerful foes, such as the Nestene Consciousness, the Great Intelligence, the Animus, and the Master, are stated as being survivors of a race of Time Lords which existed in the previous Universe before this one. Shunting themselves into our Universe, they found that its different physical laws afforded them godlike powers.

Television

 * The War Games
 * Terror of the Autons (Time Lord messenger)
 * Colony in Space (cameo)
 * The Three Doctors
 * Genesis of the Daleks (Time Lord messenger)
 * The Deadly Assassin
 * The Invasion of Time
 * Arc of Infinity
 * The Five Doctors
 * The Mysterious Planet
 * Mindwarp
 * Terror of the Vervoids
 * The Ultimate Foe
 * The End of the World (mentioned)
 * School Reunion (mentioned)
 * Utopia (mentioned)
 * The Sound of Drums (cameo)
 * Last of the Time Lords (mentioned)
 * The Doctor's Daughter (mentioned)

References and appearances

 * The Doctor and Romana receive a signal from the Time Lords. (DW: Meglos)
 * The Doctor reveals the content of the message, ordering him to return Romana to Gallifrey. (DW: Full Circle)
 * Appearances by various renegades, starting with the Monk.
 * The Time Lords also played active parts behind the scenes in sending the Doctor, often unwillingly on missions. (DW: The Mutants, Planet of the Daleks, The Brain of Morbius, Attack of the Cybermen,The Two Doctors).

New Adventures novels

 * Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible
 * Lungbarrow

BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures

 * Alien Bodies (Homunculette, a Time Lord from the future, attends the auction representing the Time Lords)
 * The Taking of Planet 5 (future Time Lord troops)
 * The Ancestor Cell

BBC Past Doctor Adventures

 * The Infinity Doctors