High Council

The High Council was the governing body of the Time Lords on Gallifrey, composed of the Lord President (TV: The Invasion of Time) and Cardinals elected from the ruling Houses. (TV: The Ultimate Foe)

Officially, without a President, the Council could ratify nothing, even if this occurred in exceptional cases such as the absence of the President-elect. (TV: The Invasion of Time)

Terminology
Whilst most often known as the High Council, (TV: The Deadly Assassin, etc.) the group was also known as the High Council of Time Lords, (TV: Arc of Infinity, Remembrance of the Daleks) the High Council of Gallifrey, (TV: The Time of the Doctor) the Time Lord Council, (TV: The Deadly Assassin) the Council of Time Lords, the Supreme Council (TV: The Invasion of Time) or the Supreme Council of Time Lords. (AUDIO: Mindbomb)

Membership
The President, High Chancellor (TV: The Deadly Assassin) and Castellan comprised the Inner Council. Under the Constitution, these three Time Lords were unanimous when in emergency session. (TV: The Five Doctors)

The Cardinals, heads of the Gallifreyan chapters, sat on the High Council, (TV: The Deadly Assassin) as did holders of senior positions including the Surgeon General (TV: The Invasion of Time) and the Inquisitor Prime. (AUDIO: Lies)

Members of the High Council that did not hold other offices were known as High Councillors (TV: The Deadly Assassin) or simply Councillors. (TV: Arc of Infinity) They were elected. (TV: The Ultimate Foe)

When the High Council was disbanded for an imminent election for the post of Lord President, the candidates themselves formed the interim Council. (AUDIO: Mindbomb)

Early history
The High Council existed in the early days of Gallifrey, with Omega sitting on it as a member before his disappearance. (TV: The Three Doctors) Following his disappearance, the Inner Council authorised the Committee of Three to look into the work of Cardinal Rassilon. (AUDIO: Zagreus)

Interactions with the Second and Third Doctors
To thwart the return of Omega, the High Council transgressed the Laws of Time and sent the second and third incarnations of the Doctor to the anti-matter universe. Whilst there, the Third Doctor asked Omega to undo the harm that he had done and resume his seat at the High Council, which he scorned. (TV: The Three Doctors)

Interactions with the Fourth Doctor
The High Council witnessed the assassination of the 406th President at his Presidential Resignation Day, having been led by Chancellor Goth to the ceremony. Investigation into the assassination determined that the killer was on the High Council, with Goth's guilt eventually being uncovered thanks to the Fourth Doctor. (TV: The Deadly Assassin)

In the absence of a President and with the Doctor - the President-elect - absent, the High Council was unable to ratify anything. However, it appointed Cardinal Borusa as High Chancellor, something that the Doctor believed was done illegally. The Council attended the Doctor's investiture. (TV: The Invasion of Time)

Interactions with the Fifth Doctor
Councillor Hedin manipulated the High Council during his attempts to free Omega. Due to the Fifth Doctor's biodata having been used, they ordered his termination, from which he was saved. Hedin was found to be the guilty party. (TV: Arc of Infinity)

After an emergency was called following the disappearance of two High Councillors in the Death Zone, the Inner Council - President Borusa, Chancellor Flavia and Castellan Jerricho - met and sent there. The High Council used its emergency powers to make the Fifth Doctor President following Borusa's incapacitation, but he fled. (TV: The Five Doctors)

The High Council found that they had been manipulated by Borusa so that none of them had the strength of will to do anything with the position of President. As a result, they recalled the Fifth Doctor to Gallifrey to take up the role. To save Tegan Jovanka from a mind-wipe, Castellan Lowri made her Earth Ambassador to Gallifrey, putting her on the Council. (AUDIO: Time in Office)

As revenge for the Time Lords' plot to destroy them, the Daleks attempted to create a duplicate of the Fifth Doctor to send to Gallifrey to assassinate the High Council. However, the Doctor thwarted their plans. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks, AUDIO: The Dalek Conquests)

Interactions with the Sixth Doctor
Following the theft of Gallifreyan secrets from the Matrix, the High Council ordered the use of the Magnetron to draw the Earth and its entire constellation billions of miles across space, causing a fireball that almost wiped out the planet.

Seeking to cover up the conspiracy, the High Council appointed an independent judicial inquiry in the hope of scapegoating the Sixth Doctor, promising the Valeyard, whom they had brought into being, (PROSE: The Eight Doctors) the Doctor's remaining regenerations should he succeed in prosecuting him. Once the truth came to light, insurrections ran amok on Gallifrey and the High Council was apparently deposed, with a new one to be elected following the crisis. (TV: The Ultimate Foe)

The Sixth and Eighth Doctors began a presidential inquiry into the matter. Borusa was released from his punishment by Rassilon per the Eighth Doctor's request so that he might reform the corrupt Council. Flavia noted that most of the Council from this time would be put on trial themselves to determine who were genuinely guilty and who were merely fools. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors)

The Valeyard's escape from his execution through a Matrix door was, the Sixth Doctor believed, assisted by a High Councillor, pointing out that it would have been nearly impossible for him to sneak a Matrix door into the court on his own. His belief was that the Valeyard had promised said Councillor immortality. (AUDIO: Trial of the Valeyard)

Interactions with the Eighth Doctor
The High Council sent Straxus to the Eighth Doctor to tell him to save Lucie Miller from Lonsis. (AUDIO: Human Resources)

After President Padrac told the High Council of his plans to destroy all of the universe bar Gallifrey, some members, including Cardinal Ollistra, fled to 20th century New York. (AUDIO: The Side of the Angels)

Romana's presidency
Romana II received a position on the High Council (PROSE: Goth Opera) and was later asked to be President following the coup that overthrew President Flavia. (AUDIO: Lies)

The High Council was dissolved after Romana declared herself Imperiatrix in response to Darkel's challenge for the presidency. (AUDIO: Imperiatrix) Following Pandora's death and a return to normalcy, Romana, Darkel and Matthias, as candidates for the presidency, were effectively the High Council until a new one could be appointed. (AUDIO: Mindbomb)

The War in Heaven
392 years before the War in Heaven, (PROSE: The Book of the War) Cardinal Thorac attempted to establish a power-base on Dronid to overthrow the High Council. The Council responded with an attack of ignorance and Thorac was dragged back to Gallifrey, leaving behind Time Lord technology on Dronid. (PROSE: Alien Bodies, The Book of the War, Shada)

The Matrix predicted that the enemy destined to destroy Gallifrey would be unknown until Last Contact. The President and members of the High Council knew this prophecy, but they kept it hidden, fearing that Gallifrey would fall into chaos if it was widely known. (PROSE: The Gallifrey Chronicles) The Council was split on whether to tell the Matrix to look for threats matching the description since such action might inevitably lead to contact and conflict with the enemy. Deliberation on the topic took several millennia. (PROSE: The Infinity Doctors) At date index 309456/4756.7RE/1213GRT/100447TL, the Matrix projected that the Vore were a potential candidate for Last Contact, so the Council mandated that no Time Lord was to engage the Vore or come within one parsec or one century of any of their moons. (PROSE: The Gallifrey Chronicles)

The Book of the War speculated that increasing paranoia on the Homeworld may have itself caused the War, saying the idea "makes a certain sense, given the nature of the enemy." (PROSE: The Book of the War) The enemy was also believed to be a conceptual infection of imagination created from races destroyed in the anchoring of the thread. (PROSE: Subjective Interlock)

The High Council remained in power during the War, authorising genetic experiments to create lesser species with Time Lord abilities, such as Ogron Lords. (PROSE: Interference - Book One, Interference - Book Two) Homunculette was sent by the High Council to obtain the Relic. (PROSE: Alien Bodies) However, other sources indicate the Time Lords were led by the War Council. (PROSE: The Taking of Planet 5, AUDIO: Body Politic)

The Time War
By time of the Last Great Time War, the Time Lords had resurrected Rassilon, who returned to lead the High Council against the Daleks. At least an emergency session of the council was arranged, when the War Doctor and his companion Cinder landed on Gallifrey, bringing news about the Temporal Cannon of the Daleks. It was the first time a human had been allowed to attend such a meeting. (PROSE: Engines of War)

By the last day of the war, the High Council met in a darkened chamber in the ruined Citadel. They met there on the last day of the war to discuss Rassilon's Final Sanction. (TV: The End of Time)

While this was happening, the War Council threw away the High Council's plans and made some of their own. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

Post-Time War
When Clara Oswald pleaded with the Time Lords to save the Doctor, the High Council decided to grant him a new regeneration cycle. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)

After the Twelfth Doctor returned to Gallifrey, by this point hidden at the end of the universe, Rassilon sent them out to meet the Doctor who merely walked back inside the barn he had slept in as a child. Rassilon was ultimately forced to come greet the Doctor himself. After overthrowing Rassilon, the Doctor banished him and the High Council from Gallifrey for their roles in both his imprisonment and their crimes in the Time War. (TV: Hell Bent)

Known members of the High Council
Members of the High Council included Councillor Hedin; (TV: Arc of Infinity) Councillors Rath, Elar and Morin; (PROSE: Blood Harvest) Councillor Delox; (AUDIO: Appropriation) Councillor Ryoth, a member of the Arcalian Chapter and a member of the Celestial Intervention Agency; (PROSE: The Eight Doctors) Surgeon General Lord Gomer; (TV: The Invasion of Time) the Gold Usher; (TV: The Invasion of Time) Inquisitor Prime Darkel; (AUDIO: Weapon of Choice, Mindbomb) Councillors Flavia, Engin and Ortan; (PROSE: The Eight Doctors) Councillor Ragnar, a member of the Prydonian Chapter; Councillor Milvo, a member of the Arcalian Chapter; Councillor Sardon, a member of the CIA; (PROSE: World Game) Councillor Ratisbon a member of the CIA; (PROSE: Warmonger) Coordinator Narvin, head of the CIA; (AUDIO: Gallifrey (audio series)) Councillor Romana II; (PROSE: Blood Harvest, Human Nature) Councillor Wblk; (PROSE: Heart of TARDIS) Councillor Verne; (PROSE: The Twin Dilemma) Cardinal Matthias; (AUDIO: Mindbomb)

During the Last Great Time War, Grayvas (PROSE: Engines of War) and Ollistra were Cardinals. (AUDIO: The Innocent) Lord President Rassilon headed the High Council, with the Chancellor; the Visionary and the Partisan also on the Council. (TV: The End of Time)

Following the end of the Time War, there were shown to be only a few councillors, meeting with Rassilon about the Doctor's return and attempting, unsuccessfully, to speak to the Doctor himself. After the Doctor overthrew Rassilon, he banished him and the High Council from Gallifrey. (TV: Hell Bent)

Behind the scenes
According to DWM 100, the full High Council was a large body, similar to a Parliament.

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