CHRONOLOGIES AND TIMELINES: THE JOURNEY OF THE TIMELESS CHILD - PART TWO

The Journey of the Timeless Child continues...

I was quite surprised by the positive response the first chapter of this topic received. I thought, for sure, I'd get blasted by people saying: "Why would you even bother to try to chronicle this?! The Timeless Child totally sucks! You're a loser!" Or words to that effect. But most folks that commented on it not only like the Timeless Child but actually liked what I wrote about her.  They legitimately enjoyed that first installment. 

I was shocked! 

Speaking of Part One, by the way: if you haven't checked it out, you may want to give it a read before you look at this one (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2024/03/chronologies-and-timelines-journey-of.html). This particular episode will make little or no sense if you haven't! 

BRANDON 

The Timeless Child has finally been apprehended by Division. Now the organization must figure out what exactly to do with her. The most obvious solution, of course, is to terminate her. But that's not how Division works. Even deplorable creatures like Swarm and Azure are viewed as potential assets that could serve a useful purpose further down the road. If some of the greatest threats to the Universe are being kept alive, there's no reason to kill off someone who was once one of their best agents. 

It's decided that they will use one of their favorite tactics for those who have fallen out of favor with them. They're going to completely change the Timeless Child's identity. Her previous life will be erased and she will become someone else. Unless, of course, the "old her" is needed again. Just in case, her memories are locked away in a fob watch for protection. 

Such a process, however, will prove difficult. As has been stated, the Timeless Child's biology is extremely difficult to tamper with in any way. Division wants to turn her into a normal Gallifreyan - but that won't be easy. 

They come up with a complex solution. In order to change her, she will need to spend some time in a "transitional state". The Timeless Child is a complex being. As are the Gallifreyans. If she can be converted, first, into a simpler species, they can eventually make the full transformation. 

So, for a time, the Timeless Child becomes "Brendan". A mere human growing up in rural Ireland during the early 20th Century. Two other Division agents - more than likely, Time Lords - watch over Brendan as he matures and becomes a police officer. He applies for that occupation because the Timeless Child's desire to seek justice in the Universe cannot be totally erased. Whatever you make her into, she wants to be a power for good. 

To ensure Brendan survives, they leave him with just a bit of regeneration energy. It won't trigger a full transformation into someone different, of course. But it will repair any serious damage that may occur in accidents. It is put to the test only once when Brendan is shot and falls from a cliff. 

Eventually, he lives for enough years that the second stage of the process can take place. Now an elderly human, Brandon is taken by the two Division Agents that have been monitoring him and given a complete memory wipe (something far easier to accomplish when he's still in human form). Once done, he's taken back to Gallifrey where the final transition can occur. After that last stage of processing, the Timeless Child is no longer a strange extra-dimensional being. He's a Gallifreyan. 

It's not certain if he was given a set of false memories and starts his new existence as an adult. Or if he's actually regressed into a fetus and, somehow, placed in someone's womb. Or if, perhaps, Gallifreyans use Looms, after all. His genetic material may have been integrated into one which then produces him as a fully-corporeal being. Whatever the case, the Timeless Child has been wiped from existence. A Gallifreyan now stands in his place. 

STILL SOME TRACES 

While the whole conversion was very complex and thorough, the medical technicians that accomplished it still warned Division that there could be complications. Certain physical or mental traces of the Timeless Child might still remain in this new being that they've created. The previous physiology would still struggle to re-assert itself. 

The most obvious trait that stayed intact was the fact that the Timeless Child only possessed one heart. This new Gallifreyan that she has been changed into also only has a single cardio-vascular organ. When he is old enough to understand, it is explained to him that he has a rare condition. That, should he become a Time Lord, they can actually fix the problem when he regenerates. 

Division keep a fairly close eye on him over the next while. They notice a few other subtler traces from the previous identity emerging. The Gallifreyan seems to still have that innate desire to do "good" wherever he goes. He wants to help out lesser species and openly objects to his peoples' policy of non-intervention. He also shows signs of great cleverness and rapid learning. 

Most significantly, he gives himself the title of "The Doctor". Division did notice that, when they had re-captured her, the Timeless Child had been using that name, too. 

Still, they were told that these things would happen. But that, overall, the conversion would remain stable. So none of this really concerns them much. 

AN UNEXPECTED TRIGGERING 

While a bit of a rabble-rouser, the Doctor is - for the most part - keeping in line. Division becomes less and less concerned about him. Particularly after he becomes a Time Lord. The intense conditioning one must undergo to achieve such a status will strain out even more of the rebellious nature of his previous life. 

The medical technicians that worked on him, however, are a bit concerned that he managed to graduate from the Academy. The ability to regenerate has, once more, been bestowed upon him (ironically, he is the one who created it in the first place!). This could have adverse effects on his sense of recall. Regeneration could cause him to forget his buried past. Or it could do the exact opposite: it could actually bring more memories back.*** 

As they are trying to gather more conclusive data on the whole matter, something totally unexpected happens. After being swept up in a Time Storm all those many years ago, Susan is transported into her personal future and returns to Gallifrey. One day, she just suddenly re-appears in the corridors of the Citadel. 

While very little of the Doctor's first identity remains, there are still faint vestiges. Being so close to each other during the Ancient Times caused the two Gallifreyans to form a very strong psychic bond. Susan is still able to telepathically pick up on those tiny traces. When she first meets him, she uncontrollably blurts out: "Grandfather!". 

From that point onward, however, Susan remains pretty tight-lipped. Certain protocols were established about time travel even back in Gallifrey's earliest days. The biggest one, of course, is to keep your mouth shut when you're no longer in your own proper time zone. Information you could give away in either the future or the past could do irreparable damage to the Time Lines. 

Nonetheless, Susan's made an impression on her grandfather. Several more of his memories re-awaken. He doesn't know how or why, but he's certain this young woman really is his granddaughter. He also has a vague recollection of being responsible for the creation of TARDISes. 

With those memories restored, he now becomes a bit more telepathically-recognizable to certain quasi-sentient beings he once knew. The Silver Nemesis and the Hand of Omega pick up on him and re-establish their psychic links with him. Both are now being kept in the Omega Vault. The Doctor finds his way to them. The Validium begs for freedom. The Doctor feels pity for Gallifrey's former defense system and manages to release it into the Universe - but only under certain terms and conditions. From time-to-time, he may require it to assist him. The Hand of Omega also seems somewhat despondent about its current situation so the Doctor makes similar plans for its escape. But those schemes won't be quite as simple. Unless aided, this artifact can prove to be much more static. Which will make it more difficult to extricate.  

Both of the Old Relics also choose not to reveal any more of the Doctor's past to him. They see how much mental turmoil his few restored memories have already caused him. He does seem to be getting very scattered, these days. They decide not to exacerbate the problem. It may even be that the Hand of Omega can't really tell him anything, anyway. The Artifact doesn't seem to have any sort of proper speech center! 

Division notices how strange the Doctor is acting now that Susan has been restored to him. But before they can do anything about it, the Time Lord allows even more of his previous life to influence him. Once more, he steals a TARDIS. In fact, another telepathic link that he formed in his previous existence has a bearing on his destiny (as does a bit of gentle prodding from Clara). The original TARDIS that he took when he had been the Timeless Child entices him through her door. She has been sitting for quite some time in a Repair Bay. Some work has been done on her. But, since she is now viciously outdated, fixing her completely has not been a huge priority. Figuring no one will miss her much, the Doctor runs off in the old Type Forty. 

As he slips away with his granddaughter, he also manages to grab the Hand of Omega. 

Off they all go into Time and Space!    

***Super-Important Footnote: 

While the Doctor can start regenerating again, it should be emphasized that he is now just a Time Lord. None of the regenerative abilities he once had as the Timeless Child remain. Which means he will regenerate in the same way a Time Lord normally does. He will only be able to do it twelve times and then will die. Unless, of course, the High Council grant him extra lives at the end of his cycle. Something they can do if they so desire.

EARLY DAYS...

For a while, the Doctor and Susan travel through the Universe. The Hand of Omega is kept in a special storage hold within the TARDIS. In that location, the artifact feels less lonely than when it was secured in a secret vault in the Citadel. But the Doctor can see that it wants a better resting place. It needs to be somewhere more peaceful and natural. 

Meanwhile, the Doctor's recollections are still quite scattered. Lots of his memories are overlapping with that of the Timeless Child. Susan still chooses not to reveal anything more to him about his past. Even though she has figured a lot of things out. 

With so much of his previous existence affecting him, he takes on another of the Timeless Child's predilections.  He develops a fondness for Earth. His visits there become quite frequent. So much so, that he even has a favorite period in the planet's history. 

The TARDIS, meanwhile, is getting more and more rundown. The Doctor decides to actually stay in one place for a while and try to effect repairs. He chooses London in the early 60s. Once more, of course, the chameleon circuit will break down and she'll get stuck in Police Box form. 

Since they're staying there for a bit, Susan decides to experience some local culture. She enrolls in school while the Doctor establishes a base of operations in a junkyard. He also finally makes arrangements for the Hand of Omega. He's placed the relic in a casket and was going to have it buried in a graveyard. The Hand seemed happy with the idea. 

But then, of course, Ian and Barbara come along. And everything changes!   

There's a general implication during Season One that the Doctor built the TARDIS, himself. The fact that he's still wrestling a lot with which memories are his and which belong to his earlier life is what's causing this. Sometimes, he recalls that he did actually build TARDISes for a time. Which causes him to take on a sort of tone with his companions that insinuates that he constructed the ship they are travelling in. And, of course, if you were reading Part One of this essay carefully - you see why Susan claims she came up with the acronym for the time vessel during the first episode of An Unearthly Child. 

Sometime near the end of Season Two, the Doctor's conflicting memories really do start to settle down. This probably happens because Susan has finally left. Her very presence was more-than-likely triggering him quite a bit. Meeting the Monk probably also helped with the process. Seeing another Time Lord and remembering that there are various models of TARDISes gets him to stabilize even more. He couldn't have made these things, himself. They've been around forever. He's just not that old! 

By the time he experiences his first regeneration, he's no longer experiencing any memory issues. He remembers himself as being a Time Lord known as the Doctor. Those strange ideas where he vaguely recalls inventing TARDISes are no longer spoken of. They may have even faded completely from his memory. 

He eventually reaches his second regeneration. When that happens, something interesting occurs. Because he is given a forced regeneration that takes place back on Gallifrey, those medical technicians that first created him can finally fix that one little anatomical issue that has been plaguing him during his first two incarnations. 

At long last, the Doctor gets his second heart. 

THE FAMOUS SEQUENCE THAT CAUSED IT ALL!

For quite a few of his incarnations, the Doctor has no further issues with recalling his former existence. Even when he does get into a mind-bending competition with Morbius and sees several past selves prior to Hartnell, he doesn't seem to acknowledge it. Oddly enough, neither does Sarah Jane. You'd think she might have said something to the nature of: "Wow! I never knew you had so many previous faces!" With the Doctor responding with something like: "Neither did I!" But the whole thing just sort of gets swept under the carpet. 

It doesn't help that we will soon have a story like Deadly Assassin come along and reveal that there's a limit on how many times a Time Lord can regenerate. Only to be followed years later by Mawdryn Undead. Where the entire crux of the plot is that the Doctor really is in his fifth body and, therefore, only has so many regenerations left. These sort of facts cause the faces in Brain of Morbius to not make any real sense. 

The easiest fix, of course, is that we were seeing previous incarnations of Morbius rather than the Doctor. But the succession of images don't really support that. We do see the evil Time Lord regressing a bit. But then the battle seems to shift to the Doctor's defeat. One would think that, if those were the faces of Morbius, that we would see his earlier images again and then go to the pictures that the production team took. Instead, it's Pertwee, Troughton, Hartnell and then all those other shots of  various behind-the-scenes people. Which really does make it seem like these were incarnations that existed before the "First" Doctor. Morbius' proclamation of: "How far back do you go, Doctor?" adds even more credence to the idea that these are the Doctor's earlier incarnations and not his.  

There is another complication that the sequence creates. We should have seen "Ruth" somewhere in all those faces. Brandon should have been in there, too. Even though he is just a human. He's still part of the Doctor's past - so he should appear. But neither of their faces are shown. 

We can, sort of, partially fix this problem by theorizing that sometime after the events of Fugitive of the Judoon, "Ruth" goes through several regenerations and takes on all these different forms that we witness in the mind bending battle. These might have even been attempts at "disguises" of some sort that were employed to help evade her captors (perhaps she's learnt the same trick that the Master and the Rani would later use to block telepathic recognition when they are trying to hide their true selves from the Doctor). So these are the last few bodies the Doctor had before she was captured and had her entire identity altered. The machine just never regressed far enough for us to see Ruth. It still doesn't reconcile with the fact that we never see Brendan, of course. But maybe he isn't included because he is a mere human. 

I'm more inclined to believe that, because his past has been so thoroughly buried, the mind-bending machine can only pick up snippets of it. So we only see a certain fragment of his erased life. Which allows my placing of the faces from Brain of Morbius in the Timeless Child's timeline to still work (see Part One for when I think they happened). And it also explains why we don't see certain faces when, maybe, we should have.  

THE NEXT TIME THE DOCTOR GETS SOME MEMORIES BACK

The Gallifreyan medtechs that had worked on the Doctor's transformation had theorized that restoring his ability to regenerate could complicate matters. That the process had the potential to cause characteristics from the Timeless Child to re-assert themselves into certain incarnations. 

This finally happens after the sixth regeneration. Perhaps, because it's been quite some time since these memories have surfaced, it actually takes a while before they really start to set in. For a bit of time, at least, the Seventh Doctor doesn't seem to be recalling events from his previous life.

At first, he seems to be just getting clearer recollections of the last time the Timeless Child had been impacting him. That period where Susan was with him. Much of that time had become blurry for a while. But now things were clear again. 

He'd forgotten, altogether, about the arrangements he'd made with the Validium he'd freed from the Omega Vault. That it owed him some favors, now. During some unseen adventures with Mel at his side, he starts to engage with it again. Eventually, he causes it to accidentally crash to Earth during the 1800s. It assumes the identity of the Silver Nemesis during this time. It also confesses to Lady Peinforte everything about the Doctor's secret past. Perhaps it sees that allying itself with this woman might be the only way for it to finally acquire true freedom. Whatever the case, the Doctor does manage to retrieve the Validium and launch it back into space. Where it will orbit the Earth without ever being detected by human technology. However, its orbit is decaying and it will eventually return to the surface of the planet. Concerned about his patchy memory, the Doctor sets an alarm to remind him of the impending peril.

Seven also recalls his unfinished business with the Hand of Omega. He finally returns to Earth in 1963 to give it a proper burial. Only he's also going to use the Relic to lure the Daleks and Davros into a deadly trap. 

From time-to-time, the Doctor in this incarnation will make the vaguest hints that he knows he is somehow connected to Ancient Gallifrey. How much he truly remembers seems vague, at best. I doubt he knows that he was once the being that brought regeneration to the Time Lords. Or anything all that specific at all. He's just certain that he had some sort of life before his current one that involves the Old Times. His final encounter with Lady Peinforte helps to confirm this as she makes mention of it to him but never goes into the specifics of it all. 

Initiating his seventh regeneration seems to cause the scant memories he has of his involvement with the early days of the Time Lords to fade away again. However, it brings back something else buried in his past. The Doctor can now recall that he had a human life of some sort at one point. He can't quite completely remember his identity as Brendan, so he assumes that he must be half-human. He even knows that his mother came from Earth. His Dad, on the other hand, was the Time Lord. Like the single heart issue way back in the day, the regeneration even causes some of his old human biology to re-emerge for a bit. For instance, his eyes have the retinal structure of a human.  

And, again, all this fades away with the regeneration into the War Doctor. For several more incarnations after that, the Doctor is back to just being a Time Lord with no apparent memories of a life he may have had before that. He does, perhaps, regain knowledge of his human ancestry when he's the Twelfth Doctor. He has a vague discussion with Ashildr about it as they sit at the end of the Universe. 

THIRTEEN, AT LAST 

Shortly after Missy regenerates on the Mondasian colony ship (she knew, the whole time, that the laser blast from her former self was coming and made the necessary preparations), he starts hacking around in the Matrix, again. He makes the most shocking of discoveries as he does. It drives him so mad that he ends up destroying the Time Lords. 

The Doctor receives just a hint of what he's discovered during The Ghost Monument. The killer rag creatures that only attack at night turn out to be extremely powerful telepaths. They pick up the faint traces of the Timeless Child and see that she has no recollection of those experiences. They try to taunt her with that information. 

And then, she starts experiencing encounters with the Fugitive Doctor. They first meet in Gloucester during Fugitive of the Judoon. A second meeting happens a short while later. After the Master has revealed the Doctor's hidden past to her, the two different incarnations run into each other again in the Matrix during The Timeless Children. There's another brief discussion that they have through a mirror in Once, Upon Time. 

While combating the whole Flux Disaster, the Doctor actually amasses quite a bit of information about her life as the Timeless Child. She manages to hunt down her old partner, Karvanista and tries to get information out of him. The Mouri send her back into her own timeline and she experiences a crucial mission she accomplished for Division. Finally she has a major confrontation with Tecteun. Her adopted mother reveals to her that her starting to learn about her hidden past is what prompted the Flux in the first place. Division knows that, because she's become aware of them, the Doctor will do everything in her power to take them down. So they decide to scrap this Universe and move on to the next one.

Most importantly, the Doctor manages to recover the fob watch that Division created to store all the memories of her previous identity. Storm and Azure allow her a brief peak into it, but all she really sees is a big metaphorical construct. She does recover the watch from them, though, after the Embodiment of Time destroys them. 

With the events of the Flux now under control, the Doctor is alone in her console room with the fob watch in hand. Impulsively, she drops it down a chasm and asks the TARDIS to hide it from her. 

Unless, of course, she really wants to find it! 

THE WHOLE SHEBANG! 

... And, there you go! A more-or-less coherent timeline for the Timeless Child. Not only chronicling everything that we know about her life prior to her capture and transformation by Division. But also a discussion on the influences she has had on the Doctor's life after the Division altered her identity. 

A few important things to note: 

1) It really didn't take a whole lot of extra headcannon to figure this Timeline out. If you're willing to take a negligible amount of time to examine everything Chibnall presents about the Timeless Child, you can, easily, come to the same conclusions I did. This is not some over-convoluted incoherent idea that makes no sense. The facts are all there if you're willing to look for them. 

2) There are a lot of inconsistencies that present itself when you really start trying to pick apart the show's Lore. Nothing gets them to make better sense than the theory of the Timeless Child. 

I'm not just talking about the extra faces in Brain of Morbius. Some of the highly-contradictory stuff that gets stated in Season One. The Doctor only having one heart for the first six seasons. The Cartmel Masterplan. The Eighth Doctor being "half-human on his mother's side". All of them actually work just fine if you apply the Timeless Child to them. 

If, ultimately, you still want to take refuge behind the "Chibnall shouldn't have made such radical alterations to the Lore" dispute to justify your hatred of this storyline, then I guess I can't really argue with you. Although, I might still point out that the show has radically messed with its own Lore on several occasions, already. Why does this particular incident upset you?! 

In my mind, at least, the Timeless Child makes perfect sense. I might even argue that this is one of, if not, the best arcs the show has ever created.

How's that for fightin' words? 

Well, it's been a lot of fun to just write regular entries again instead of Season Reviews. I look forward to doing many more.... 

 

CHRONOLOGIES AND TIMELINES: THE JOURNEY OF THE TIMELESS CHILD - PART ONE

And... we're back! Time to just start writing normal Blogs again. No more seasons to review. 

No doubt, some of you saw this title and already want to skip over it! The Timeless Child has caused endless controversy within Fandom. Some of you just-plain hate it. Which is too bad, really. I quite enjoy the whole concept. It certainly broadens the scope of the show and adds something new and interesting to a Lore that, after fifty or so years, was getting a bit stale!  

Here's the thing: If you just hate the whole concept of the Timeless Child then, yeah, maybe this isn't for you. If you dislike the Timeless Child because she doesn't seem to make sense to you then you may actually want to take a look at this. Basically, I've put a whole timeline together for her and tried to offer a clearer explanation on certain aspects of her past that are harder to understand. If I can help you to see that there is some actual solid logic to her storyline, you could legitimately re-evaluate her. You may even become a member of the The Timeless Child is Actually Okay Club! 

It should be noted that I have written a few entries on this character over the years. Chibnall decided to tell us her story in a very jumbled manner. Which I think made the whole thing more fun. I enjoyed how it took us a while to truly figure out who she was. As more pieces of her puzzle came into place, I needed to keep expanding on the ideas I was exploring about her in this Blog. Since, for the most part, the whole arc has now been laid to rest - I thought it was time to try to really encapsulate everything we've learnt about the Timeless Child. 

This means that some of what you'll see in this entry has been discussed elsewhere. At the same time, however, you'll also read some new notions that I've only come up with recently. I just thought it would be nice to put all of my ideas into one single piece. A sort of "final word" on how I think her timeline functions. 

It should also be noted that, like the Fourteenth Doctor, I'm going to choose my pronouns carefully. I tend to identify my regenerating species according to their pre-dominant gender. More times than others, the Timeless Child appears to be female. So I will use terms like "she" or "her" during that period of the character's timeline. Once the Timeless Child is transformed into a mere Time Lord known as "the Doctor" that was originally portrayed by William Hartnell, I will start using pronouns like "he" or "him". This will make that moment where the Timeless Child is transformed into the Doctor we've known since 1963 all-the-more succinct. 

Yet one more note! I will be borrowing just a bit from Expanded Universe Stuff to help flesh out some of her background. I'll mainly be using some of the ideas that were meant to be explored had there been a twenty-seventh and/or twenty-eighth season and the Cartmel Masterplan had been fully developed. Since the show had been cancelled, the arc was actually finished in the New Adventure novels that came out in the early 90s. Which means, of course, that they're not "truly canon" (by my definition, at least) since they are mere books and not broadcast episodes. 

STARTING AT THE VERY BEGINNING 

It begins on that fateful day during the Ancient Times. When the Universe was still young and the Time Lords were not even a notion the Shobogans had imagined yet. 

The Great Gallifreyan Explorer Tecteun lands on a nameless planet and discovers a young child at the end of a strange dimensional rift. She has no idea what the child is doing there. As the Doctor would later point out, there could have been multiple reasons for her being left in that spot. Other beings could have been coming through that rift any moment to accompany her. Or she could have been meant to be meeting a species from our own Universe. Or any number of other reasons. We'll never know, of course. 

I have my own goofy little theory about what the Timeless Child was doing there that I will actually post at the bottom of this entry. Scroll down now if you want to look at it right away. Or wait 'til you've seen the rest of this piece and then take it in. Or don't read it at all! It's up to you, of course. But I think it's quite clever. 

Tecteun had a decision to make when she found the child. She could leave her there and hope she would, somehow, be okay. Or she could adopt her. Unable to abandon the youngster, Tecteun brought her aboard her ship. They continued to explore the Universe for a time but did, eventually, find their way back to Gallifrey. 

FIRST REGENERATION

While I'm sure Tecteun and her new ward had many great adventures as they wandered the cosmos, nothing truly noteworthy happens until, at last, they're back on Gallifrey. 

As great of an explorer as she might be, the Gallifreyan pioneer doesn't seem to have the best of parenting skills. She allows the child to play near a cliff and a terrible accident happens. From that tragedy, however, a miracle occurs. The Timeless Child regenerates in front of her adopted mother's eyes. Tecteun is fascinated by the whole process and must learn more. 

Taking the child into her lab, Tecteun very quickly discovers something about the girl's physiology. It almost seems to defy being analyzed or tampered with in any way.  This makes finding out how she regenerates nearly impossible. For what seems like ages, Tecteun struggles to find the specific strand of DNA that triggers this unique ability . Her experiments even cause the child to regenerate several more times. This "resiliency" that the Timeless Child's genetic code has will continue to have a strong role to play in her destiny.

After near-endless study, Tecteun manages to isolate the gene that causes regeneration and injects it into herself. The bold risk is a success. Gallifreyans can now regenerate. 

EARLY DAYS OF THE TIME LORDS

As Tecteun slaved away, Shobogan society evolved. Two figures rose to prominence: Rassilon and Omega. They began a series of experiments that helped them to understand the Nature of Time and, more importantly, how to control it. They also dabbled in politics. After a while, they created a ruling class on Gallifrey and housed them in a massive Citadel.  Since they seemed to be gaining a certain level of mastery over time, they christened themselves Time Lords. 

I should emphasize that, even though he is not truly a part of "canon" (at this point, at least), many fans like to believe in "The Other". He is meant to be a third Gallifreyan from the Ancient Times that stepped up and helped Rassilon and Omega build the foundations of Time Lord society. Had the Cartmel Masterplan been completed, it would have been revealed that the Doctor had lived a previous life as The Other but that he no longer remembers it (sound familiar?!). But the show went off the air and that arc, of course, was never fulfilled. 

Or was it? We now know that the Doctor was wandering around on Ancient Gallifrey as the Timeless Child. Did she assume the mantle of the Other for a time?    

I'm more inclined to believe that Tecteun, herself, became the Other. Her gift of regeneration earns her a place on Rassilon and Omega's High Council. Together, the three of them created a society that the Time Lords prospered in. But, while the other two took a much greater interest in science,  Tecteun leaned more heavily into politics. Once in power, she became instrumental in helping to form the Division: a special secret organization that began running the Citadel from behind-the-scenes. Doing the dirty work that the Time Lords didn't want to have to deal with that would ensure that their world continued to run smoothly.  They would eventually develop a more "public" sect known as the Celestial Intervention Agency. 

Shortly after Division was created, the Timeless Child was recruited into it. She proved to be an excellent agent. Accomplishing her missions with maximum efficiency. It would not take long for her to rise through the ranks. 

While a limit of twelve regenerations was imposed on all Time Lords, the Timeless Child seemed to be able to accomplish the feat infinitely. Provided, of course, that she's not too severely injured. Just like Time Lords, it is possible for her to die rather than regenerate. But, because she can regenerate as much as she wants, she started doing it quite frequently. Almost every time Division gave her a new mission, she took on a new form. 

I estimate that it was sometime around here that the various faces we see during the mind-bending battle with Morbius would exist. Note that several of these incarnations are wearing clothes from different periods of Earth's history. It's my guess that the Timeless Child was sent by Division to Earth on various missions. She even developed a certain fondness for the planet. Which enabled her to specialize in doing tasks for the Division on that world. Basically, if they needed something "fixed" on Earth, they sent the Timeless Child to do it. 

MORE EARLY DAYS OF THE TIME LORDS

While the Timeless Child was doing great work for Division, by no means did that job completely consume all her time. Thanks to her association with Tecteun, she started becoming embroiled with the Holy Trinity of Ancient Gallifrey. As her adopted mother has pointed out, she's a quick learner. So Tecteun set up a meeting with her ward and the temporal engineers working beneath Omega. The Timeless Child started helping with the various experiments in time that were going on. 

At this point, several forms of time travel had been perfected. Time Lords could use time rings, time scoops, primitive time capsules and, quite possibly, time scaphs (something that only ever gets seen in a New Adventure novel). They're adequate forms of travel, but the temporal engineers know there's something better out there - waiting to be created. With their latest addition to the team, they're certain they'll find it. 

The Timeless Child also has a healthy personal life. She meets someone that she falls in love with. They get married and have children. Those children grow up and, eventually, have children of their own. The first grandchild to be born is a girl. In tribute to the Timeless Child's love of Earth, she's given a human name. They call her Susan. 

Susan shows aptitudes of her own for learning quickly and understanding temporal physics. She's brought on to Omega's team of scientists just as they are reaching a zenith in their studies. They are close to creating a new trans-dimensional time ship. Susan comes up with the name for it by abbreviating the term Time And Relative Dimensions In Space to TARDIS. 

But this new type of time capsule needs a tremendous energy source. The Timeless Child and Susan assist in the creation of the Hand of Omega. A stellar manipulator that can induce a super nova and provide the Time Lords with the power they need.  Omega appears to perish within the creation of the exploding star but Rassilon still harnesses the Black Hole that comes of it and places it in stasis. Thus creating the Eye of Harmony. The Time Lords now have everything they truly require to secure greatness. It's a pity about Omega, of course. But they have still achieved enormous success. 

Which makes them of interest to the many other races now developing in the cosmos that want a quick leg up in their evolution. Gallifrey is relatively unprotected. Making them an easy target for invasion and exploitation. Because of this, the Timeless Child becomes involved in a side project. She helps in securing and domesticating Vallidium. A substance that can be employed to protect the planet from potential attackers. 

Because the Hand of Omega and the Silver Nemesis are both quasi-sentient, they actually form a bond with the Timeless Child. To the point where they can recognize her telepathically. 

Beyond the death of Omega, more tragedy actually strikes. During the various testing that was going on with the prototype TARDISes, a freak time storm is created. It sweeps up poor Susan and she appears to be erased from the timelines. Though they can no longer find her, it is believed she has been transported somewhere into Gallifrey's future. Since the concept of Mean Time is already being enforced, no one is allowed to go looking for her. 

DIVISON DRAMA 

Wracked with guilt over what happened to her grandchild (she was, after all, the person that introduced her to Omega's team), the Timeless Child retreats from Time Lord society. She immerses herself more deeply into the affairs of the Division. She takes on all sorts of extra missions to keep her occupied. She, eventually, reaches the point where she is heading up her own elite team. On it is Karvanista: a highly-skilled Lupar who becomes a faithful companion. Another member of her team also becomes her lover. I doubt that this is the same person she married and had children with. It's my belief that, by this point, they have separated. She has immersed herself so deeply into Division that she became estranged with her spouse and they broke up. Only another agent could understand her life enough to become intimate with her. This eventually happens with this team member.

As all this is going on, the Timeless Child also starts staying more stable in her incarnations. Resisting the urge to regenerate so frequently. 

At about this same time, Tecteun also fades from public view. With Omega presumed dead and Rassilon retired to his "tomb", she sees that the Time Lords no longer require a Holy Trinity to keep them going. They can govern themselves. Like her adopted daughter, she hides herself within the affairs of Division. Although she works more with its administrative structure rather than doing field work.  However, to the Gallifreyan public, her disappearance becomes mysterious. Legends of the Other begin to grow. No one is truly sure what actually became of her. Tecteun takes advantage of this and fades more and more away from the public consciousness. Her earliest explorations into the Universe are, more or less, forgotten. People don't even remember her proper name. 

Eventually, however, the Timeless Child comes to realize that throwing herself into Division missions was not the proper way to deal with her grief over her granddaughter. More and more, she grows disillusioned with the organization's views. Especially as their sphere of influence is now growing beyond the Glory of Gallifrey and into a system of government that will control the entire Universe. Not pleased with their tyrannical attitude, the Timeless Child decides she wants out. After some negotiations, a deadline is set for when she can retire from the organization. 

It is around this time that Swarm and Azure emerge onto the Universe. They are beings of immense power that revel in destruction. They decide the best way to see their desire realized is to allow Time to flow unchecked within Space. They attempt to overthrow the Temple of Atropos on the Planet of Time. They take out the Mouri who are holding Time in its proper place so that it flows through the Universe in an orderly fashion.

Meanwhile, the Timeless Child has struck a deal with Division. She is sent to regain the Temple of Atropos and put the Mouri back in power. In so doing, she will also take down Swarm and Azure. Once she accomplishes that, the Division will allow her to retire from its ranks. 

She accomplishes the mission with relative ease. Although, there is a certain level of temporal distortion that occurs that is misinterpreted as mere hazing. During a brief glance into a mirror, she actually gets a glimpse of her own future! 

THINGS GO SOUR WITH DIVISION 

Once Swarm and Azure are brought to justice, the Timeless Child insists that Division deliver on their promise of allowing her to retire. Naturally enough, the organization never had any intention of letting her go. Intensely important missions that only she is capable of handling keep coming up at regular intervals. The stalling tactics are endless. 

It doesn't take long for the Timeless Child to see through their ploy and take matters into her own hands. It's been quite some time, now, that TARDISes have been perfected. New and improved models come out on a regular basis. The Timeless Child decides to steal a Mark One Type Forty TARDIS. It's on the verge of becoming out-of-date so she figures no one will miss it much. Her lover actually fakes his death on a mission and the two of them run off together. They travel through Time and Space and cause whatever sort of mischief they so desire!

Sickened of all the violence that Division made her commit, the Timeless Child wishes to be viewed more as a Healer. So she decides to change her name to "the Doctor". She still tries to make a difference in the Universe. But now it's on her own terms rather than allowing an organization to dictate her moral code for her. 

She still has a certain affection for Earth. So she visits it quite often. Once more, she adopts a style of dress that enables her to blend in a bit better with the locals. 

Something peculiar happens on one of her visits to the planet. The Chameleon Circuit had started playing up over the last few trips prior to her arrival in 1950s London. The TARDIS exterior took on odd shapes that didn't really suit the environment it was materializing in. In the British Capitol, however, it becomes a Police Box. Which makes sense for the location and period. However, when they move on to their next destination, the TARDIS does not change its form. It's still stuck as a Police Box. The Doctor tries for a bit to fix it but has no real success. Ultimately, she decides that she likes it that way!

For a while, the Doctor and her companion fly about through the Universe. Righting wrongs where they can and just, generally, having fun. 

But, eventually, trouble arises. 

The Division has been looking for the Doctor. They have sent out Gath - one of their best operatives - to find her. 

She manages to intercept the Doctor while she is actually alone. The renegade and her companion decided to take separate holidays. The companion wanted to go somewhere that, quite frankly, she wasn't interested in. So she drops him off there and goes to a time and place that doesn't appeal much to him. She'll be back for him in a few days. Or, at least, she hopes she will. The TARDIS' navigational system is starting to make trouble too. Without the resources of Gallifrey, it's difficult to repair these sort of problems. 

It is while she's taking her little rest on her own that the Doctor has a run-in with Gath. She manages, however, to evade capture. She does leave Gath in a bit of a predicament with the locals, though. To ensure that she doesn't hurt anyone, she steals Gath's rifle. 

Eluding her captor, the Doctor hops back aboard her TARDIS and retrieves her companion. They have a discussion about what happened with Gath. Now aware that Division is after them, they decide they're going to need to lie low for a bit. 

HIDING ON EARTH 

One of the biggest problems with hiding from Gath is that both she and the Doctor are low-level telepaths. Now that she "has her psychic scent", it will be easier to find her again. Something must be done to mask her brain patterns. 

But, as pointed out earlier, altering the Doctor's physiology in any way is a difficult thing. A Chameleon Arch is employed, but not in the usual manner. Normally, such a device re-writes someone's biology entirely. But it's not capable of doing that to the Doctor. So, instead, they make some modifications. A highly-encrypted shield is erected around her that makes her appear human. They are still able to tamper with her memories a bit, but it's fairly superficial. Even a simple series of code words can start re-awakening her past. Which, in some ways, is useful. The Doctor may need to change back in a hurry. 

Her companion, of course, is not so worried. It seems as though he is an alien, but not a native of Gallifrey. So he's not telepathic. He still creates a false I.D. for himself (but keeps all his memories intact) and they decide to hide out on Earth. The companion calls himself "Lee" and the Doctor mentally transforms into "Ruth". They are safe for a while living in Contemporary Gloucester.

Gath, meanwhile, is forced to work with extra assistance. Division hires a platoon of Judoon (who seem to like runes) to back her up. She's not thrilled about it but employs them, nonetheless. She gets a vague bead on where the Doctor is hiding and sends the Judoon in before her to do the heavy lifting in the search. 

Lee is killed in the hunt and the Doctor is re-awakened. Once more, she gets a look into her future. This experience, however, is not as jumbled as the last one. From this point onward, she will recognize Thirteen if she meets her again. However, she fails to recall how she saw her briefly as a reflection in the mirror during her final conflict with Swarm and Azure. There was a lot going on at the time. It could even be that the Chameleon Arch and other such factors have made some of her memories a bit hazy. 

While the Doctor does take out Gath by the end of their conflict, her continued journeys in her TARDIS will only last so much longer. Division is still hot on her heels. Before they can capture her, however, she encounters Thirteen two more times. Both under somewhat bizarre circumstances. On both occasions, her consciousness is briefly extracted. First by the Matrix and then by an AI Hologram program. Both of her mental excursions into the future are very short. But she is quite effective during those occasions. She gives her future self great advice when they meet in the Matrix. And, as an AI hologram, she actually saves Thirteen's life. 

CAPTURED, AT LAST

Still broken over the loss of "Lee", the Doctor chooses to travel alone. When her mind isn't being temporarily hi-jacked into the future, she has many more great adventures. Her TARDIS, however, is becoming more and more unreliable. It's now quite difficult to steer. And, of course, it's stuck in the Police Box shape. Making it quite incongruous in most places that it lands.     

In the end, the game can only go on so long. The Doctor got too deeply involved with Division and knows too much about how they operate. There's a strong chance she might even start to actively fight against them. Which would make her a formidable thorn in the organization's side. She's too great of a risk to be allowed to roam free through the Universe. She must be brought back to Gallifrey where she can be properly secured. 

After Gath's failure, other operatives are sent out to retrieve her. They eventually succeed in her capture and bring the renegade back to Gallifrey. Once returned, Division decides that just retrieving her was not enough. She has disobeyed them. Something must be done about that or she will rebel again and, quite possibly, escape a second time. 

Quite simply, the Doctor must be punished.   

This seems a good place to end Part One. Part Two will handle the transformation of the Timeless Child into the Doctor we've known since the show first started. We'll also look at some of the "echoes" of the Timeless Child that we've seen in the Doctor's life since the transformation.  

As a special bonus: here is my goofy theory on who I think the Timeless Child really is. 

Rob's Goofy Theory About Who the Timeless Child Really is: 

In the Reality next to ours lives a race quite similar to - but not quite like - the Time Lords. They, too, are ancient beings of immense power. But they rose to supremacy even sooner than the Time Lords of our Universe did. 

This mighty race were infinitely paranoid. They not only watched over their entire cosmos for aliens that could, potentially, dethrone them, but they also looked into other dimensions to see what threats might come from there. 

They gazed into our reality and saw the Shobogans of Gallifrey in their earliest stages of development and recognized their potential. They knew they must do something about it. If allowed to grow unchecked, these creatures could one day cross the dimensional threshold and supplant them. While this race of beings from another dimension possessed great powers, they still did not have enough resources to launch a direct attack into our Universe and wipe out the evolving Gallifreyans. They would need to use stealth to keep their potential foe down. 

Genetics, of course, had been a science they had mastered ages ago. So they engineered a sort of Trojan Horse. With their Looms, they created a small child who was quick of wit and eager to learn. They also bestowed upon her an ability to regenerate herself so that she could live a long life. They knew someone with these sort of gifts would be welcomed into Gallifreyan culture. 

They mapped out the trajectory of Gallifrey's first Great Explorer. Extrapolating a future destination, they opened a dimensional rift and placed the Child along her path. Tecteun found her and, just as they planned, brought her back home. 

But there were subtler traits that they had also engineered into the Child. Characteristics that would not evolve until later. The child would have ambition. This would enable her to gain a place of high status in Gallifreyan politics. Once amongst the Elite, her final attribute would emerge. She would suddenly have a great need to create subversion. In her position of influence, she would slowly start to erode away all that made the Gallifreyans strong. She would dismantle their culture from within. 

Much of their strategy succeeded. The Child made a decent mess of Gallifreyan society. But creating a being that is intentionally chaotic can cause things to go awry. While the Child did cause a raucous, she decided to eventually just leave Gallifrey and travel amongst the stars. 

Ultimately, she did enough damage before going. These Galliferyans would never quite achieve the power to make them a genuine threat to these beings from another universe. The Child had accomplished the task she'd been created for. Having gotten what they wanted, they cared not what would become of her