Land of Fiction

The Land of Fiction is a pocket universe inhabited by characters from various works of fiction, mythology and folklore.

Possible origins
One account revealed that the Gods of Ragnarok created the Land for their own entertainment. (NA: Conundrum)

Adventures of the Doctor in the Land
The Doctor first visited the Land of Fiction shortly after defeating the Dominators on Dulkis. To escape a volcanic eruption there (DW: The Dominators), he flipped an emergency switch in the TARDIS to escape the lava. Consequently, the ship materialized in a White Void inhabited only by white robots and a disembodied force that invaded the minds of the travellers. They managed to return to the safety of the TARDIS which appeared in a Black Void. The TARDIS appeared to explode, leaving Zoe and Jamie clinging to the TARDIS console, spinning in space and the Doctor floating nearby, seemingly dead.

After a dream-like transition, the travellers found themselves in a world called the Land of Fiction, without the TARDIS. The White Robots re-appeared, this time as Clockwork Soldiers. In the Land, mythical and fictional characters such as Lemuel Gulliver and unicorns (some based on actual beings) had a physical existence, as did puzzles, riddles and puns. (DW: The Mind Robber)

Bernice Summerfield, on a mission at the behest of the White Guardian encountered the travellers as they wandered a maze. (DWM: Time & Time Again)

They found this realm to be under the control of an unseen presence known as the Master of the Land who attempted to turn Jamie and Zoe into fictional characters and to trick the Doctor into assuming the place and rule the Land. A futuristic computer, the Master Brain, had forced the Master of the Land into its slave.

The Master of the Land was in fact a benign old man, a writer of boys' fiction from Earth in the year 1926 who had also been trapped in this universe and taken over by the Master Brain. Zoe and Jamie were able to overload the Master Brain's systems, destroying it and freeing the old man from its control. Once the Master Brain was destroyed, everything vanished, the TARDIS re-assembled around them (DW: The Mind Robber), and they found themselves returned to the normal universe. (DW: The Invasion)


 * For some time there was ambiguity as to whether the travellers had simply imagined the Land of Fiction. However, later stories more or less confirmed the Land of Fiction as "real".

The Doctor later sent himself back to the Land of Fiction to retrieve his recorder, but instead encountered Goth, who sent him to meet his future self to help deal with Omega. (DWM: Future Imperfect)


 * Although the story states that it takes place immediately after The Mind Robber, it has to take place after The Invasion as the Doctor meets Benton in that story and recognizes him in The Three Doctors.

Years later, as part of his elaborate scheme to gain revenge on the Doctor, the Monk reactivated the Land and installed Jason, a mentally unstable boy from 1993 Earth, as its new Master. Jason constructed a town called Arandale, inhabited by various fictional characters such as the White Knight and Dr. Nemesis. He then trapped the Doctor, Ace, and Benny in this scenario. By tricking Jason into introducing highly disruptive McAllerson's Radiation into the Land, the Doctor was able to escape, and at his request the Time Lords placed beacons around the Land to warn away other travellers in space and time who might become trapped there. (NA: Conundrum)

The actions of Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart to enable herself to time travel (NA: Set Piece) created a space-time anomaly which allowed energy from the Land of Fiction to bleed into the real universe. This created the Miracle, an energy source which for a time sustained the dying planet Detrios. It also re-activated Jason, who sought to gain revenge on the Doctor, by creating a fictional version of the Doctor, Dr. Who. Jason then employed Dr. Who in a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II. Although the Queen was killed by Dr. Who, Jason's distaste for bloodshed moved him to use his powers to restore her to life. Jason then assisted the real Doctor in sealing off the anomaly, after which the Doctor wiped Jason's memory and returned him to Earth. (NA: Head Games)

Shortly after Romana became President of Gallifrey, one of the items on her agenda was to annex the Land to the Matrix. (NA: Happy Endings)

Other adventures
The Master visited the Land of Fiction and handily destroyed a council of 19th century literary villains who resided there. (DWM: Character Assassin)