Eleven Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Corsair (feature)

 was a feature published in The Brilliant Book 2012. Following the mention of the Corsair in TV: The Doctor's Wife earlier that year, it gave writer Neil Gaiman a chance to expand on the lore surrounding of his newly-created renegade Time Lord. Almost a decade later, several aspects of the Corsair mentioned in this feature would make their way into the character's first official appearances, COMIC: Old Friends and PROSE: One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes.

Things you probably didn't know

 * 1) The Corsair's TARDIS took the form of a small, piratical sailing ship.
 * 2) The Corsair's Ouroboros tattoo changed size and location with every regeneration. It was on the Fifth Corsair's upper thigh.
 * 3) The Corsair came across House during the Time Lords' Fourth Universal Survey Expedition.
 * 4) The Doctor got drinks with the Corsair's fourth, fifth, and eighth incarnations: twice, they woke up in jail, and once in the Bank of England vaults. The Fourth and Eighth Corsairs were men, while the Fifth Corsair was a woman.
 * 5) "Corsair" means "privateer", as the Corsair did things for the Time Lords for which the Time Lords wanted to deny responsibility, such as stealing the Callisto Pulse from the Callistan Kleptocracy.
 * 6) The Corsair never fought the Daleks, but the female Seventh Corsair may have been involved in the sabotage of a Dalek scout ship on Clarkor Nine.
 * 7) The Corsair was worshipped as a god by the ancient Assyrians for a week, but then he ran away with the sacred temple cat.
 * 8) Every incarnation of the Corsair had an amazing smile that emanated trustworthiness.
 * 9) The Corsair enjoyed "Rescuing Good Looking People from Dangerous Situations" but never had a companion other than the cats or parrots sometimes aboard their TARDIS.
 * 10) Lord President Borusa's High Council censured the Corsair for stealing the mysterious Portrait of Rassilon. Flavia, who found the Corsair's smile attractive, revoked the Censure.
 * 11) The Ninth Corsair, a "strapping big bloke", was killed by House.

Continuity

 * The Corsair's name, tattoo, and murder by House were first established in TV: The Doctor's Wife.
 * The Corsair's sailing ship TARDIS appeared in COMIC: Old Friends and was called Esperanza.
 * The Corsair and the Thirteenth Doctor drank together and were imprisoned by the Hoarder. (COMIC: Old Friends)
 * One female incarnation of the Corsair travelled with a parrot. (PROSE: One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes)
 * Presidents of the High Council included Borusa (TV: Arc of Infinity) and Flavia. (TV: The Five Doctors)
 * One incarnation of the Corsair was a "strapping big fellow". (TV: The Doctor's Wife, PROSE: One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes)

External link

 *  on Neil Gaiman's official Tumblr