The.Doctor_414
Legacy Name: The.Doctor_414

Name: Unknown, though he goes by "The Doctor"
Gender: Male
Species: Time Lord
Planet of Origin: Gallifrey
Age: 909 years old
Family: Susan Foreman (granddaughter), "Jenny" (genetically-engineered daughter), River Song (wife); otherwise, unknown
Birth date: Unknown
Death date: April 22nd, 2011

“I've seen whole armies turn and run away, and he'd just swagger off back to his TARDIS, and open the doors with a snap of his fingers..."

The Doctor is fleeting and eternal--constantly jumping from place to place, he is a man with lots of time to travel and little motivation to settle down. If you ask most people who've met him, they'd say he's wonderful: a hero, a champion of justice, travelling everywhere and everywhen and righting past wrongs. Some people, however, would say that he's an omen of death, a man who brings nothing but fire and destruction, a man who pretends to be a god. The rest aren't alive to give their answers. But though he's touched many lives, both in good and bad ways, the question still remains: Who is The Doctor?

“My home planet is far away and long since gone, but its name lives on: Gallifrey."

The Doctor was born on a planet called Gallifrey. It's located in the constellation of Kasterborous, about 250 million light years away from Earth--well outside the Milky Way Galaxy. It circles around twin suns and is protected constantly by the quantum force field and the transduction barrier, both of which prevent the entrance of hostile guests. Putting aside the bare scientific facts, however, the planet is quite a wonder. Red grass, rolling mountains, sparkling silver leaves, and a glass citadel are only the most famous aspects of it. The Citadel itself was built on the Continent of Wild Endeavor, in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, and is encased in a "mighty glass dome." When the leaves on the trees catch the light of the second sun in the south every morning, it was said they look like "a forest on fire." The Doctor himself lived in a house built halfway up a mountain in one of the southern ranges.

“Such a lonely little boy... Lonely then, and lonelier now."

Little is known about where and how The Doctor spent his earliest days on Gallifrey. His earliest--and perhaps only--childhood friend was a fellow Time Lord called The Master. According to The Master, they used to "run across those fields all day, calling up at the sky." Their relationship, however, went sour at some point, and after a time, they became bitter enemies.
Early in The Doctor's life, he went through some sort of traumatic experience, the specifications of which are unknown except to him. That same day he happened upon a monk named K'anpo who lived nearby his house and who taught him how to see the beauty of the universe even in death. He was so moved by what he'd learned that he looked back on that day not only as "the blackest day" of his life, but also as his best. The two continued to share a fruitful friendship for many years.
The Doctor was born into the Prydonian Clan, and thus attended the Prydon Academy. Prydonian Time Lords were known for their cunning, and The Doctor was no exception, although he was not the most clever or attentive of his classmates. One trademark of the Prydon Academy was that each initiate was forced to look into the Untempered Schism--a hole in space and time through which the whole of the time vortex could be seen--before beginning their training. It's possible the disagreement between The Doctor and The Master sprung from their separate experiences with the Untempered Schism. While The Doctor was inspired to run, The Master claimed to have heard a drumming noise in his head, calling him to war, a sound which is believed to have caused him to go mad.

“A thing that looks like a police box, standing in a junkyard--it can move anywhere in time and space?"

Like all Time Lords, The Doctor is, of course, a time-traveler, but it isn't a natural ability of his people. He requires a vehicle--or, more specifically, a TARDIS: Time And Relative Dimension In Space. He stole his TARDIS from a museum and, upon throwing open the doors and first touching the controls, he exclaimed that it was "the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." He constantly refers to the TARDIS as a "she," or, occasionally when they're alone, as "Sexy." The time-and-space-machine utilizes transcendental dimensions--basically, it's bigger on the inside. Though its exterior looks to fit only one or two people inside, it's connected to a separate dimension containing an innumerable amount of rooms, some of which--including the main control room--are the size of a cathedral.
The TARDIS travels by dematerializing from one area--with a trademark grating sound, like an engine that won't start--, jumping through the time vortex, and rematerializing in the desired location. Other TARDISes are able to "cloak" themselves according to whatever kind of environment they land in, but The Doctor's TARDIS's chameleon circuit (the mechanism that allows it to change its appearance) was damaged after a trip to Britain in the 1950s, so that it now constantly materializes as a blue police box. This is only one aspect of the time machine's many shortcomings: ironically, though it is a high-tech piece of equipment by Earth's standards, it's a crusty old clunker compared to other Time Lords' TARDISes--although, this could simply be a testament as to how The Doctor flies it.

“You look human."
“No, you look Time Lord. We came first."

The Doctor is a Time Lord--but what does that mean, exactly? What is a Time Lord? Well, Time Lords are a species indigenous to Gallifrey who, from our perspective, look like humans. There are a few physiological differences, however, though they can't be seen with the naked eye. The first--and perhaps largest--difference is that they have two hearts which beat at approximately 170 beats per minute. They have an internal body temperature of fifteen degrees Celsius (fifty-nine degrees Fahrenheit) and are capable of surviving many traumas which would kill a human, including extremely low temperatures, intense amounts of radiation, and electrocution. They possess a respiratory bypass system which allows them to survive strangulation and are capable of going into a healing coma when severely injured.
There are some outstanding mental differences, as well, which is easy enough to observe when speaking with The Doctor, though having incredibly accelerated thought processes aren’t the only thing that separates them from humans. They have the ability to communicate telepathically and most--though not necessarily all--can hypnotize others. Time Lords can transfer information, open up a closed mind to things that otherwise could not be heard, erase memories, and sift through one’s brain like reading a book, although not without physical contact and uninterrupted concentration. They can also read very quickly, absorbing all the information a book holds by casually flipping through it. Time Lords can innately sense the presence of others of their species, as well as when an event is “in flux” or is a “fixed point in time”--basically, they can tell when it is safe or necessary to interfere and when it isn’t.
Perhaps most noteworthy of Time Lords’ differences is their ability to regenerate. Rather than dying as a human would, their entire cellular makeup is rewritten, creating a new body and new mind. Their memories and core principles are retained, but their personality often changes with their face. There are, however, a variety of unwanted side-effects to this process, including post-regeneration amnesia and, occasionally, physical fits during which they are temporarily incapacitated while their bodies reconfigure themselves. The Doctor has regenerated ten times so far, and is currently on his eleventh face.

“You mean you're deliberately choosing to go on the run from your own people? In a rackety old TARDIS?"
“Why not? After all, that's how it all started."

The one core belief of Time Lords is that they should not, under any circumstances, interfere with the lives and worlds of other species or events. The Doctor, however, believes quite the opposite: he believes it's necessary to step in, and cannot in good conscience turn away when someone or something needs his help. He, therefore, was labeled a "renegade Time Lord" and put on trial multiple times by the High Council of Gallifrey. During his second regeneration, he was taken back to Gallifrey where the High Council forced him to regenerate and incarcerated him in 20th century Earth for a time. He spent that time working with UNIT (Unified Intelligence Task Force), thwarting aliens' schemes in much the same manner as he had done already.

“What do you think? Other planets, want to check some out?”

Though The Doctor is on the run, he rarely runs alone. He holds a certain fascination for humans, for their ingenuity and imagination, and he loves to see them shine. He can often be found with some sort of companion, whether it be a human or an alien--for a time, he even travelled with a robotic dog named K-9.
As he told Amelia Pond, one of his latest companions, he doesn’t “see it” anymore--that is to say, he’s seen so much of the universe that he can’t appreciate it. But humans look at it, and they’re completely blown away by its wonder; and through them, he sees it, too. He gets delighted when they rise above the occasion and discover who they truly are.

“The monsters and The Doctor... It seems you cannot have one without the other."

The Doctor has traveled far and wide, and has both met and created a vast number of enemies, too many to list. Most he was able to defeat the first time around, but still more were potent enough to return again and again. Foremost among them were the Daleks, a monstrous species so genetically altered that they rely on a cold, metal shell to carry out their functions and to keep themselves alive. Their only purpose in life is to kill--or "EXTERMINATE"--all other life forms and establish themselves as the supreme beings of the universe. They were created by a genius named Davros who was obsessed to the point of insanity by the prospect of his creations.
The Cybermen are another species he's come across many times in his life. Unlike most of his other nemeses, though, the Cybermen were once humans--however, they underwent a process called "upgrading," which encases their brain in a metal body and strips them of any emotion. They are a unified force, intimidating in their sheer numbers, and their only goal is to upgrade every human being and kill everything else.
As mentioned earlier, The Master is another of The Doctor's foremost enemies. He has tried multiple times--and failed in all of them--to gain control of the Earth and, through Earth, the universe. Each time The Doctor was there to stop him. The pain The Doctor must've felt from witnessing The Master--his former best friend--causing so much destruction is unimaginable. In the end, The Master effectively took his own life simply to spite The Doctor.
Other repeat offenders include the Sontarans, a clone race obsessed with warfare; The Rani, another renegade Time Lord; the Silurians, a lizard-like species known as “homo reptilia” who live beneath the surface of the earth; the Weeping Angels, creatures that can only move if you’re not looking at them; and the Silence, aliens who are erased from your memories as soon as you look away from them and who can influence what you do through hypnotic suggestion.

“There was a war. A Time War. The Last Great Time War... We lost. Everyone lost. They're all gone now. My family. My friends. Even that sky..."

The Last Great Time War was believed to have begun sometime during The Doctor’s fourth regeneration, when the Time Lords called on him and asked him to interfere with the creation of the Daleks. It was during this misadventure that he first met Davros, and despite everything he’d seen the Daleks do, he could not bring himself to commit genocide. He did, however, put a significant dent in their evolution, and thus accomplished his mission to a certain extent.
The Daleks, as you can imagine, were not happy when they found out what had almost been done. In retaliation, they used duplicates of The Doctor and his companions to attempt to assassinate the High Council of the Time Lords. Throughout space and time, the two races--Daleks and Time Lords--continued to fight each other. It escalated into a war and soon involved not only those two, but all kinds of other monsters: the Nightmare Child, the Could’ve Been King and his Army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres… The Time Lords even resurrected The Master to protect the Cruciform, believing him to be the perfect warrior; however, as soon as the Cruciform was stolen by the Dalek Emperor, The Master fled, disguising himself as a human.
The war reached such a point that the Time Lords, driven insane by their desperation for any alternative to fighting, decided on the only possibility: they would ascend to all-knowing conscious beings, destroying the universe in the process. The Doctor realized then, at a point in time he refers to as “The Moment,” that he had to end it all. He placed the whole of the Time War--including Gallifrey and its inhabitants--into a Time Lock, which made it so that no time traveller could traverse into or out of the Time War. And so The Doctor became the only Time Lord (besides The Master) in existence.
Some time later, the Time Lords attempted to use The Master to bring themselves out of the Time Lock and go through with their plan. The Doctor, having no other choice, had to force them back into the Time Lock, effectively killing his entire race for the second time.

“There's one thing you never put in a trap. If you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there's one thing you never, ever put in a trap: me."

”The Doctor” is a name the Time Lord chose for himself, and though the name refers to a healer or a wise man, he is often looked upon as a warrior. He has killed many creatures and destroyed many worlds. Perhaps most noteworthy of his darker deeds was that of the fate of the Time Lords. He had no other choice, but still, he was responsible for the demise of his entire race. He destroyed a whole fleet of Daleks on more than one occasion. He’s allowed a murderer to die when he could’ve helped them, also on more than one occasion. He once failed to save an entire planet of innocent lives from being sucked into a black hole because he had not the time to rescue them. He caused the Saturnynians, the Racnoss, and many others to go extinct for the sake of human lives and implemented the deaths of hundreds--possibly even thousands or millions--of Silence by the hands of human beings. Many have accused him of playing God, of being the judge of who lives and who dies.
His mistakes have not been limited to his foes, either. Those he travels with have occasionally met ill fates because of him. Young Adric was killed saving Earth from a Cyberman fleet; Rose Tyler was trapped in a parallel world, separated from him; Captain Jack was accidentally made immortal and lived on millions of years longer than he should have; Donna Noble had to have the memories of her travels erased, else she would have died. Those that didn’t die were often dropped unceremoniously back on their respective planets and nary heard a word from The Doctor again.
Many, many people--both innocent and guilty of certain crimes--gave their lives up for The Doctor, or for The Doctor’s cause, for which he blames himself. There was Rattigan, Jabe from the Forest of Cheem, the waitress Astrid, Professor River Song, Pete Tyler; even his daughter, Jenny, and many, many more.

“His name is The Doctor. He has saved your lives so many times, and you'd never even knew he was there."

Just as The Doctor has caused countless deaths, he’s saved countless lives. Most of them are human--he’s constantly saving the earth from certain destruction, rescuing human beings from the jaws of aliens, and blasting open conspiracies for the entire world to see. He saved the earth from annihilation at the hands of the Atraxi, the Slitheens, the Racnoss, Pyroviles, Saturnynians, and Zygons, to name a few; he saved humans from enslavement by the Sycorax, zombie-like existence by nanogenes, “upgrading” by Cybermen, and death by Sontarans, Daleks, Carrionites, a faulty ship repair system, a robot experiment gone wrong, and, occasionally, other humans. He released an entire planet from an eternal traffic jam, stopped a colossal spaceship from crashing into Buckingham Palace, healed thousands of diseased humans, saved the Ood from enslavement, brought peace in the midst of wars, and uncovered plots, schemes, tricks, and ploys. He once stood in front of every single one of his foes, gathered together to take him down, and frightened them all away with a few words. He saved the whole of creation from destruction--multiple times--and once flew himself into the heart of an explosion in order to “re-boot” the universe.
On a smaller scale, he’s helped people realize who they are. Before Donna’s memories were wiped, her eyes were opened to the universe and she realized how much bigger the world was. Martha, Amy, Sarah Jane, Ace, Rose, just to name a few--they all witnessed so many beautiful, wonderful things and discovered for themselves how much is out there.

“Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it’s a world or a relationship, everything has its time, and everything ends.”

The Doctor is over nine hundred years old--a little over middle-aged by Time Lord standards--but even he has to die sometime. His death was a fixed point in time, something unavoidable. Time can be rewritten, but not that time. It was recorded that he met his end on the shore of Lake Silencio, Utah, at 5:02 PM on April 22nd, 20ll. It was brought about by the Silence--but why or how is known only by them and The Doctor.

“There's something you'd better understand about me, cause it's important and one day your life may depend on it: I am definitely a mad man with a box!”

It’s impossible to sum up The Doctor in one word, sentence, paragraph, page, or website. He’s loved and hated, clever and oblivious, wonderful and terrible, ancient and short-lived; he’s a child and an old man, a hero and a villain, a law-maker and a law-breaker; he brings life, and he brings death. He’s a madman, a mystery, an enigma, a trickster, and a man of many faces who brings balance where there is none.

“Who are you?"
“Oh... The stuff of legends."

The Doctor is a fictional character from the BBC science fiction show Doctor Who.
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