Howling:Shadow Proclamation "policed" the Time Lords?

I read on this Wiki that according to a recently published reference book to the series, the Shadow Proclamation policed the Time Lords and regulated their operations throughout history. This just seems a bit unlikely to me; I know the Shadow Proclamation is powerful, but powerful enough to have had any authority over Gallifrey? Nah. What do others reckon? 82.2.136.93 17:31, November 22, 2011 (UTC) &nbsp I don't know what the source for that is, but I would have to agree with you. The Time Lords had their own laws to prevent them from screwing up the universe, and even if they didn't the shadow proclamation could hardly do anything to stop them.Icecreamdif talk to me 18:33, November 22, 2011 (UTC)

Think of the Donation of Constantine. Boblipton talk to me 18:53, November 22, 2011 (UTC)

The Shadow Proclamation called the Time Lords "the stuff of legends". Hardly seems likely they policed them. TemporalSpleen talk to me 19:11, November 22, 2011 (UTC)

the shadow proclomation was probably made as a result of the timelords not being there as someone still needs to police the universe. but i doubt they policed the timelords themselves. Imamadmad talk to me 09:00, November 23, 2011 (UTC)

But Shadow Proclamation from an earlier time could easily be much more influential than what we saw on screen. Just like how current Torchwood is nothing like Torchwood before Battle of Canary Wharf and how Gwen knows very little about old Torchwood. --222.166.181.78 12:44, November 23, 2011 (UTC)

Actually, in Amy's Choice, the Doctor's TARDIS has a dedication plaque stating that it was first authorised for time travel by the Shadow Proclamation, which would seem to support the idea that they had significant links with Gallifrey by the time the Doctor became a renegade, and that the Time Lords required their approval for at least some actions. How this ties in with the Proclamation in the new series speaking of the Time Lords as legends, I'm really not sure. 194.168.208.42 12:21, November 24, 2011 (UTC)

The "legendary" status of the Time Lords is presumably a consequence of the Time War. Memory and records of the Time Lords appears to vary, with some races/authorities clearly knowing quite a lot about them, while others seem to retain little or no knowledge of them. In that situation, someone who had heard only second-hand accounts of them might well regard those accounts as legends, rather than history. Until the 19th century, when its site was found, Troy was often regarded as only legendary. (There's plenty of doubt that Heinrich Schliemann was the real discoverer of the site of Troy but none that he brought the discovery to widespread public attention.) The situation of Gallifrey has similarities to that of Troy before the excavations at Hissarlik. --89.241.76.118 13:07, November 24, 2011 (UTC)

The Shadow Proclamation definitely seem to have had strong ties with Gallifrey in the past, as evidenced by the TARDIS' dedication plaque. And just because someone or something is referred to as the stuff of legend, doesn't necessarily mean that those who say this are unsure as to whether or not they really existed at some point. Just that they've left their mark on culture. 82.2.136.93 19:20, November 24, 2011 (UTC)

I actually have an idea that the Shadow Proclamation are responsible for knowledge among lesser races of the Time War. After the War was effectively deleted from the timestream by Gallifrey's destruction, the Proclamation were one of the few civilisations evolved enough to retain memory of it ever occuring. 82.2.136.93 19:29, November 24, 2011 (UTC)

Moreover, just because the Timelords happened to be mostly a law-abiding peaceful society throughout the old seasons making Shadow Proclamation's appearance redundant doesn't mean it's not possible that they existed. I'm sure there are plenty of people in the world who haven't run across legal issues with the police in their entire life, doesn't mean the police can't exist. If there had been a murder in Buckingham, the police would investigate, but if there's no murder, the police still had the authority despite not appearing. When the Buckingham is tear down for whatever reason a thousand year from now, the police or police-like organization directly related to this one would look at the place and the people in it as legendary. --222.166.181.49 23:16, November 27, 2011 (UTC)

It is specifically stated in The Brilliant Book 2011 and implied in Amy's Choice that the Shadow Proclamation authorised the Time Lord's time-travelling. I agree that, when compared with the Shadow Architect's statements in Journey's End, it seems a bit unlikely, but it deserves at least a mention if an official source stated it. The other thing is that The Trial of a Time Lord implies that the Doctor's era on Gallifrey (one where time-travel in TARDISes is common) takes place billions of years in the future, and the Proclamation seen in Journey's End is in the year 2009. Thus it is possible that the Proclamation later came into contact with the once legendary Time Lords when they became more social with other species and began mapping the Time Vortex or whatever, and began to enforce the Laws of Time. Although the Time Lords did definately uphold the Laws of Time, and quite possibly invented them, it now seems as though it is in fact the Proclamation that makes them enforce this. I also think the fact that the Proclamation oversaw time-travel correlates with the taxing of the Navarinos in Delta and the Bannermen. The preceding comment was made by Bigredrabbit (talk to me) 10:17, December 23, 2011 (UTC)

Even if the Gallifrey episodes that we saw took place in the far future, they could have easily had contact with the Shadow Proclamation before 2009. The reason that the shadow proclamation thought of the time lords as the stuff of legend is that there aren't any Time Lords any more. It is possible that the Time Lords wrere technically supposed to abide by the shadow proclamation's laws, but the shadow proclamation couldn't police the Time Lords if they tried. A few episodes of the classic show made it seem like the Time Lords did bad stuff all the time back in the day, and there has been no mention of the proclamation being able to stop them.Icecreamdif talk to me 18:26, December 24, 2011 (UTC)

Some of those episodes didn't just "make it seem", they stated outright that the Time Lords "did bad stuff all the time back in the day". In The Five Doctors, for example, the past use of the time scoop to "recruit" combatants for the Death Zone was stated as well-known fact and none of the Time Lords in that episode disputed it at all. Nobody but the Time Lords themselves could police the Time Lords. It's not just that they had the technical means to fend off anyone who tried, they also could (and rather often did) edit the memories of any witnesses to wrongdoing. People who can so easily get rid of the evidence can't be policed effectively. --2.96.28.144talk to me 18:18, December 27, 2011 (UTC)