Theory:Timeline - The Master's incarnations

This page lists the various incarnations and other versions of the Master in order. This timeline is based upon observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events that occur during each of these stories.

The short story Girl Power! offers a definitive number of the Master's incarnations up to and including Missy: "Born, Died, Died, Died, Died, Died, Died, Died, Died, Died, Died, Died, Died, Died, Took over some bloke's body, Died, Died, Died, Became a human, Stopped being a human, Died, Died, Became a woman, Ruled!"

- Missy (PROSE: Girl Power!)

Only instances where the Master has "died" count as regenerations, and not instances the instances of body snatching or undergoing chameleon arch identities.

First eighteen

 * (William Hughes)
 * Initiated on Gallifrey at 8 years old. (TV: The Sound of Drums)
 * (James Dreyfus)


 * (Roger Delgado)
 * Regenerated after being hit by a blast of artron energy when his attempt to attack the Twelfth Doctor backfired (COMIC: Doorway to Hell) or shot with his own Tissue Compression Eliminator by Susan Campbell. (PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks) In a parallel universe, the Master (Jonathan Clements) regenerated into a new incarnation (Mark Gatiss). (AUDIO: Sympathy for the Devil)


 * (Geoffrey Beevers)
 * According to one account, the thirteenth incarnation of the Master was disfigured by his future self. (AUDIO: The Two Masters)


 * (Peter Pratt)
 * The dying form of the Master after expending his twelve regenerations. (TV: The Deadly Assassin)


 * (Geoffrey Beevers)
 * Partially rejuvenated by the Eye of Harmony. (AUDIO: Trail of the White Worm)


 * (Anthony Ainley)
 * Inhabiting the body of Tremas. (TV: The Keepey of Traken)


 * (Gordon Tipple)
 * Assumed the form of a Deathworm Morphant to survive his execution by the Daleks. (TV: Doctor Who)


 * (Eric Roberts)
 * Inhabiting the body of Bruce. (TV: Doctor Who)


 * (Geoffrey Beevers)
 * Regenerated after receiving a new regeneration cycle from the Celestial Intervention Agency. (AUDIO: Mastermind, Day of the Master)


 * (Alex Macqueen)
 * Implied to be the first of the new cycle. (AUDIO: Day of the Master)


 * "Child"
 * Regenerated during the Last Great Time War. (COMIC: Fast Asleep) Evidently the sixteenth incarnation. (PROSE: Girl Power!)


 * (Derek Jacobi)
 * Briefly became the human Professor Yana. (TV: Utopia) Evidently the seventeenth incarnation. (PROSE: Girl Power!)


 * (John Simm)
 * Briefly died and later resurrected. (TV: Last of the Time Lords, The End of Time) Presumed to have regenerated into Missy (TV: The Doctor Falls) as the eighteenth incarnation. (PROSE: Girl Power!)

Nineteenth and beyond
First known female incarnation. Explicitly identified as the Master's nineteenth incarnation. (PROSE: Girl Power!)
 * "Missy" (Michelle Gomez)

Would logically be the Master's twentieth incarnation. (PROSE: Girl Power!)
 * "The Lumiat" (Gina McKee)

Would logically be the Master's twenty-first incarnation. (PROSE: Girl Power!)
 * (Sacha Dhawan)

Unplaced

 * "Annuals"
 * The Master has "pale skin, prominent cheekbones, a neatly-trimmed black goatee, and voluminous hair with a widow peek", and is recognised by the Fifth and Sixth Doctors. (PROSE: The Creation of Camelot, The Fellowship of Quan, The Radio Waves)


 * (Jonathan Pryce)
 * Confronted a Ninth Doctor. (TV: The Curse of Fatal Death)