Theory:Timeline - War Doctor

This page lists appearances of the War Doctor in the order in which he experienced them. This timeline is based on observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events in each of these stories. From these observations we have attempted to build a concise timeline. There are also many gaps between stories.

The layout of this timeline is in part based on the observations on Doctor Who - The Complete Adventures, as well as Lance Parkin's AHistory and other sources that allow us to make observations, such as Doctor Who Reviews, Clive Banks databanks, Whopix, and the Big Finish forums. None of these sources should be used solely as a source or considered a "true" timeline for stories.

Timeline

 * Previous page: Eighth Doctor

Beginnings

 * TV: The Night of the Doctor
 * The Doctor regenerates from his previous incarnation on Karn with the aid of the Sisterhood, and immediately disowns his name to fight in the Last Great Time War.


 * AUDIO: Light the Flame
 * Set directly after The Night of the Doctor, with the Doctor preparing to fight in the Time War after coming to terms with his new incarnation. Karn disappears from the universe to escape the Time War.


 * AUDIO: Lion Hearts
 * The Doctor tricks the Time Lords into trusting that he now fully supports their efforts in the Time War. He still makes promises, and lives up to his vow to save the Tharil prisoners.


 * AUDIO: The Shadow Squad
 * The Doctor fights the Daleks for the first time since his regeneration. (VOR 147)

A free agent

 * COMIC: The Clockwise War
 * The Doctor fights a battle against the Morlontoa with Fey Truscott-Sade and the Sisterhood of Karn, with Fey appearing to be killed while trying to save a child, traumatising the Doctor. He is using his own variation of the sonic screwdriver by this point, and comes to see the Time War as a tragedy instead of a challenge for the first time.


 * COMIC: Ambush
 * The Doctor has stubble on his face, and has a soldier named Petrella with him in the TARDIS. Rassilon is leading the Time Lords in the Time War, but the Doctor implies he has not spoken to him yet. Having been working alone for a while, the Doctor decides it is time to join Gallifrey in the fighting.

Fighting for Gallifrey

 * COMIC: The Lost Dimension
 * The Doctor has wrinkles, and a beard, but his hair is still brown.


 * NOTVALID: The Daft Dimension 550
 * The Doctor is imprisoned at the Maximum security facility with his other incarnations. While he has a full beard, his hair is still a sandy colour, suggesting it has yet to turn entirely grey.

An old warrior

 * PROSE: The Third Wise Man
 * Set only a few months after The Night of the Doctor, though, by this account, the Doctor had already aged into an elderly body during the first year of the Time War. The Doctor answers a summons from Davros and attempts to save him from the Nightmare Child at the Gates of Elysium, but appears to fail. He has grey hair and a war-ravaged face, and meets Commander Kenossium for the first time. His TARDIS control room is described as "a dim cave, starred by flickering gold".


 * COMIC: Four Doctors
 * The Doctor notes that the Time War has left him unable to make any "grand promises".


 * NOTVALID: The Doctor of War
 * The events of The Night of the Doctor were "a long time ago".


 * PROSE: The Red and the Blue
 * The Doctor recalls faking an invasion.


 * WC: Doctors Assemble!
 * Though his profile picture depicts him young, the War Doctor is referred to as "Gramps" by the Ninth Doctor.


 * NOTVALID: The Daft Dimension 559
 * The Doctor has Christmas dinner with his other incarnations.

Dealing with the Volatix Cabal

 * At some point in the war, the Doctor takes on the Squire as a companion, (COMIC: The Then and the Now) and makes an alliance with . (COMIC: The Organ Grinder)


 * COMIC: The Master Plan
 * The Doctor and the Master have just finished fighting Daleks on an unnamed planet during the Time War.


 * The Doctor and the Squire fight various battles in the Time War, including one against the Heisenberg mutations on Kether Prime. (COMIC: Pull to Open)


 * COMIC: Outrun
 * The Doctor, the Master and the Squire fight the Daleks on Veestrax. The Doctor isn't aware of who coined the term "Exterminhate", setting this before he meets the Volatix Cabal.


 * COMIC: The Then and the Now
 * The Doctor and the Master land on Golgauth, the Overcast homeworld.


 * COMIC: First Rule
 * Set during the beginning of The Organ Grinder, but from Alice's perspective


 * COMIC: The Organ Grinder
 * Set immediately after The Then and the Now. After killing one of the Volatix Cabal, the Master's TARDIS crashes next the Doctor and its pilot, Alice Obiefune, claims to have travelled from after the War had ended, before being captured by the Volatix Cabal. The Doctor, the Master and the Squire rescue her and bring her to the Psilent songbox before the Cyclors attack, leading directly into Kill God.


 * COMIC: Kill God
 * Escaping the Cyclors, the Doctor realises Alice has fled with the Psilent songbox. After being deserted by the Master, the Doctor and the Squire find Alice using the Songbox to banish the Cyclors to a higher dimension. However, the Master's use of his future TARDIS causes a chronal meltdown with the Songbox reacting to the paradox, leading directly into Fast Asleep.


 * COMIC: Fast Asleep
 * The Doctor creates the Then and the Now from a temporal dart that was inside Alice, and uses the entity to send Alice back to her own time. He then smashes the Songbox to end the paradox, but loses all memory of his time with the Squire, who falls into the post-Time War universe in the confusion.


 * COMIC: Physician, Heal Thyself
 * The Doctor is still fighting the Volatix Cabal when Abslom Daak enters the Time War through the Then and the Now.

Defending Keska

 * AUDIO: The Innocent
 * The Doctor spends a hundred days on the planet Keska in a coma after taking the full blast of a Time Destructor, being cared for by Rejoice. After helping the Keskans defeat the Taalyens, the Doctor spends one-hundred-and-thirty-four days relaxing on Keska, until Veklin, who he meets for the first time, arrives to collect him for Cardinal Ollistra, leading directly into The Thousand Worlds.


 * AUDIO: The Thousand Worlds
 * The Doctor is sent to locate Seratrix in the Null Zone. Arriving back on Keska to find the Daleks helping the Taalyens, the Doctor meets up with Rejoice again, though many years later from her perspective, and learns that Seratrix has made an alliance with the Daleks.


 * AUDIO: The Heart of the Battle
 * Follows on from The Thousand Worlds, with the Doctor trying to convince Seratrix not to trust the Daleks. Following Seratrix's assassination, the Doctor allies with the Taalyens to destroy the Daleks, only to be betrayed and see Rejoice being killed.

Searching for weapons

 * AUDIO: Legion of the Lost
 * After destroying the Annihilator on Vildar, and wiping the Technomancers from existence, the Doctor is arrested as a war criminal by Ollistra, leading directly into A Thing of Guile. He recalls the "Keska incident" as if it were a recent affair.


 * AUDIO: A Thing of Guile
 * The Doctor and Ollistra discover that the Daleks are retro-engineering themselves back into Kaleds in order to gain a new insight into war, leading directly into The Neverwhen.


 * AUDIO: The Neverwhen
 * The Doctor tries to create a state of peace where both Daleks and Time Lords are farmers in the Neverwhen, but they still begin conflict with each other. The Doctor refuses to make any greater promise than that he would try his best to help, and proves his initial reluctance right when it all goes wrong.

Opposing the Dalek Time Strategist

 * AUDIO: The Shadow Vortex
 * After defeating the plot of Lara Zannis in 1961 Berlin, the Doctor is informed that Ollistra has been kidnapped, leading directly into The Eternity Cage.


 * AUDIO: The Eternity Cage
 * Rescuing Ollistra from the Sontarans on Rovidia with Heleyna and Kalan, the Doctor learns that Heleyna is a traitor and is ejected from a Battle TARDIS, leading directly into Eye of Harmony.


 * AUDIO: Eye of Harmony
 * The Doctor is saved from the Time Vortex by Ollistra, but Heleyna and Kalan are killed by the Dalek Time Assault Squad, and the Doctor and Ollistra are left stranded on a space station with the Dakleks in pursuit.


 * AUDIO: Pretty Lies
 * Following directly on Eye of Harmony, the Doctor and Ollistra escape from the Daleks and crash land on Beltox. Repelling a Dalek attack with journalist Schandel, the Doctor and Ollistra commandeer Schandel's time ship after he is killed.


 * AUDIO: The Lady of Obsidian
 * Follows on from Pretty Lies, with the Doctor tracking the "Lady of Obsidian" after reading Schandel's files on her. With the aid of Rosata Laxter, the Doctor finds the Lady, and discovers she is Leela. After Ollistra contacts the Time Lords, the Doctor and Leela return to Gallifrey, leading directly into The Enigma Dimension.


 * AUDIO: The Enigma Dimension
 * The Doctor decides that the Daleks and Time Lords must both be destroyed to truly end the Time War. His decision puts a strain on his relationship with Ollistra.

Struggling with the Time Lords

 * NOTVALID: Master of Time


 * COMIC: The Bidding War
 * The Doctor is not on good terms with Ollistra, setting this after The Enigma Dimension.


 * PROSE: Decoy


 * The Doctor fights Boltarian Death Mechas with River Song. (AUDIO: A Brave New World)


 * NOTVALID: Time Fracture
 * The War Doctor unites with his other incarnations to help a group of people seal the Time Fracture.

Nearing the end

 * PROSE: The Stranger
 * The Doctor is unsure about whether he is even a warrior anymore, setting this after any story where he is actively attacking his enemies.


 * COMIC: The Whole Thing's Bananas
 * The Doctor meets Dorium Maldovar during the last few months of the Time War, and destroys the weapons factories of Villengard.


 * PROSE: Engines of War
 * Landing on Moldox after a Dalek ambush, the Doctor is aided by a young woman named Cinder in infiltrating a Dalek base, and discovers the Eternity Circle planning to erase Gallifrey from history with Temporal Weapon Daleks. When they alert Rassilon, the Doctor and Cinder fight against the High Council's decision to destroy the Tantalus Eye and free Borusa, who has been converted into a possibility engine, from the Tomb of Rassilon, leading Rassilon to brand the Doctor a traitor to the Time Lords and sever all ties to him. Cinder is killed by an enemy Time Lord, and Borusa dies while removing the Daleks from the Tantalus Eye. Tired of all the death that surrounds him, the Doctor vows to end the Time War in memory of Cinder, implicitly leading directly into The Day of the Doctor.


 * NOTVALID: Legacy
 * The Doctor recalls the events of Engines of War, and takes advantage of the instabilities caused to the Web of Time by the Sontarans to rescue Cinder from the moments before her death.

The last day of the Time War

 * The Doctor decides to end the Time War with the Moment after learning of Rassilon's Ultimate Sanction. (TV: The End of Time) He destroys the Dalek Emperor's fleet, and most of the Dalek City, when inscribing "NO MORE" on Skaro's surface as a message to the Daleks. (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor)


 * PROSE: Dalek
 * The Doctor encounters the Metaltron during the Fall of Arcadia.


 * TV: The Day of the Doctor
 * During the Fall of Arcadia, the Doctor steals the Moment from the Omega Arsenal and retreats into the Drylands to detonate the weapon to destroy the Time Lords and the Daleks. However, the sentient device chooses to bring the Doctor to his tenth and eleventh incarnations to help him finalise his decision. The War Doctor claims to be "400 years younger" than the "twelve-hundred-or-something" year old Eleventh Doctor, making him roughly 800-years-old. After being convinced to save Gallifrey by Clara Oswald, the Doctors team up with another ten of their incarnations and seal Gallifrey in a pocket dimension, destroying the Dalek fleet in the process, and the War Doctor regenerates into his next incarnation.


 * COMIC: Supremacy of the Cybermen Prologue: The War Doctor
 * In an alternate timeline created by Rassilon and the Cybermen, the Doctor uses the Moment in the Time War against the Cybermen.


 * Next page: Ninth Doctor

Currently unplaced

 * These entries are placed here due to being part of ongoing storylines that have yet to offer sufficient enough evidence to be placed in a specific part of this Doctor's timeline, unless further evidence arises in the stories to come.

Awaiting placement

 * These entries are placed here until a suitable position in the timeline can be determined based on the available evidence.