The First Doctor
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The First Doctor
First Doctor [First Cycle]
Over 236 Years Old
Frail yet Resilient, Abrasive & Cantankerous, Intelligent & Knowledgeable, Ruthless & Machiavellian, Protective & Caring (Once Bonded), Strategic & Cunning, Grandfatherly & Mischievous, Reflective & Moral-Evolving
William Hartnell
Doctor Who: "An Unearthly Child"
Doctor Who: "The Power of the Doctor"
Season 1 (1963–1964)
Season 4 (1966)
Doctor Who: "The Tenth Planet"
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Susan
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Ian Chesterton
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Barbara Wright
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Doctor Foreman
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Dr Caligari
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Wissfornjarl
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​Snail/Wormhole
"History sometimes gives us a terrible shock and that is because we don’t quite fully understand. Why should we? After all, we’re all too small to realise its final pattern." - The First Doctor
Overview
The First Doctor, played by William Hartnell, first appeared in 1963’s An Unearthly Child. Originally a cantankerous Time Lord from Gallifrey who stole the TARDIS with his granddaughter Susan, he began traveling through time and space. Facing foes like the Daleks and Cybermen, he grew from a solitary figure into a compassionate protector, forming close bonds with companions such as Susan, Ian, and Barbara.
His era ended with The Tenth Planet in 1966, where he regenerated into the Second Doctor, establishing the show’s iconic regeneration concept and leaving a lasting legacy.
Personality
The Scholar Master once possessed a genuine curiosity and warmth, driven by a sincere desire to understand the universe and use that knowledge to improve it. In his early years, he was thoughtful, empathetic, and idealistic—known for his calm demeanor and willingness to engage with others in meaningful, intellectual ways. However, over time, a deep-seated resentment toward Gallifrey and its rigid ideals began to take root. He grew disillusioned with the Time Lords’ hypocrisy and stagnation, and this bitterness slowly eroded his compassion.
Compounding this was a growing envy of the Doctor—of their freedom, their moral confidence, and their ability to inspire others. What began as admiration turned into rivalry, then quiet hatred. These feelings twisted his original pursuit of wisdom into an obsession with control and perfection. The kind, curious mind became cold and calculating, replacing empathy with logic and detachment. Driven by the belief that only he could bring order to the universe, the Scholar Master’s personality shifted into something far more dangerous—methodical, manipulative, and increasingly ruthless.
Appearance
​The Scholar Master appears as a young man in his late twenties to early thirties, with neatly styled short brown hair and a composed, thoughtful expression. His appearance is polished and professional, evoking the image of a modern-day scholar. He wears a tailored black suit paired with a crisp white shirt and a deep blue tie, secured with a subtle silver pin. His black dress shoes are immaculate, completing a look that is refined, controlled, and deliberately understated—reflecting his calculated and intellectual nature.
Approach to Problems
The Scholar Master approaches problems with calculated precision and a preference for intellect over brute strength. He relies heavily on logic, strategy, and manipulation, often solving complex situations through careful planning and subtle influence rather than direct confrontation. He dissects challenges like puzzles, analyzing every variable before acting, and often stays several steps ahead of his opponents.
However, when subtlety fails—or when the stakes are too high—he is not above using force. In rare but decisive moments, he will impose his will through sheer determination, such as when he forcibly bonded with his stolen Type 75 TARDIS, overriding its resistance to gain full control. These actions reveal a darker, more ruthless side to his problem-solving: when logic cannot win, domination will suffice.
Strengths
Brilliant Strategist: Highly intelligent and capable of long-term, multi-layered planning.
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Calm and Composed: Rarely lets emotions cloud his judgment, maintaining control in high-pressure situations.
Persuasive and Manipulative: Skilled at influencing others through logic, charm, and subtle manipulation.
Adaptable Thinker: Can analyze complex situations quickly and adjust plans accordingly.
Technologically Proficient: Mastery over Gallifreyan technology and temporal engineering.
Strong Willpower: Demonstrated in moments like forcibly bonding with his TARDIS; unyielding when he commits to a course of action.
Philosophical Insight: Deep understanding of ideology and power, allowing him to challenge and subvert others’ beliefs.
Weaknesses
Emotionally Detached: Struggles to form genuine emotional connections, leading to isolation and mistrust.
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Obsessive: Fixated on control and perfection, which can blind him to simpler solutions or moral consequences.
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Envious of the Doctor: His resentment toward the Doctor often clouds his objectivity and fuels reckless decisions.
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Prideful: Believes he knows best, making him dismissive of advice or opposing viewpoints.
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Moral Ambiguity: Will justify increasingly dark actions for the sake of his ideals, leading to ethical decay.
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Underestimates Emotion: Tends to undervalue the power of emotional influence, which others (like the Doctor) often use to their advantage.
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Haunted by the Past: His sense of betrayal and bitterness toward Gallifrey and the Doctor can distract or destabilize him.
Notable Achievments
The Fall of Lyria: The Scholar Master destroyed the planet Lyria to claim the Heartstone, committing genocide to fuel his TARDIS and uncover forbidden knowledge. This marked his full descent into darkness, valuing power and control over life, ethics, and consequence.
Bond of Will: The Scholar Master forcibly bonded with a stolen Type 75 TARDIS, overriding its resistance through sheer will and dangerous temporal modifications. This act granted him control, but strained the ship’s systems and reflected his growing obsession with dominance and control.
Sabotage of the Chameleon Circuit: To repair his own TARDIS, the Scholar Master stole a component from the Doctor’s chameleon circuit, causing the Doctor’s TARDIS to remain stuck as a 1960s Police Box. A small betrayal with enormous legacy, it defined their early divergence.
Relationships
The Doctor: Once a close friend and intellectual equal, the Scholar Master felt deeply betrayed when the Doctor fled Gallifrey without him. Their relationship soured into envy and resentment, with the Master viewing the Doctor’s idealism as foolish. Their bond became the foundation for a rivalry spanning lifetimes and ideologies.
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Susan Foreman: Though never close, the Scholar Master saw Susan as a symbol of the Doctor’s betrayal, resenting her for leaving with him. He considered her an innocent caught in dangerous ideas, yet also a reminder of the life and companionship he lost when left behind.
The Architect: A high-ranking Time Lord and ideological enemy, the Architect clashed with the Scholar Master over Gallifrey’s future. The Master viewed him as the embodiment of everything stagnant and corrupt in Time Lord society, fueling his rebellion and justifying his increasingly extreme actions against Gallifreyan leadership.
Rassilon: The Scholar Master despised Rassilon’s authoritarian rule and self-righteousness, often opposing his policies through sabotage and manipulation. Their relationship was defined by mutual contempt—Rassilon saw him as a dangerous traitor, while the Master saw Rassilon as the decaying heart of everything wrong with Gallifrey.
The General: The Scholar Master respected the General’s tactical mind but saw him as a blind servant to Gallifrey’s broken system. Their encounters were often tense and strategic, with the Master attempting to outwit him while avoiding direct confrontation, knowing the General’s loyalty made him difficult to sway.
Timeline
Date: 04/09/1938
Date: 2020
(24 Hours after they initially left)
NA/09/2020
Date: 2020
(24 Hours after they initially left)
NA/09/2020
Date: 6057
(Full Date Unknown)
Date: 2021
NA/05/2021
Date: Unknown
(Full Date Unknown)
Date: 2025
21/04/2025
The Eternal Doctor and the Thirteenth Doctor find themselves thrust into a dangerous conflict with the Order of Obsidian, a fanatical cult that sees the Doctor not as an enemy, but as a vessel of forbidden knowledge. Their rituals twist time and space, their relentless pursuit of hidden truths pushing the boundaries of reality itself. Though neither Doctor fully understands the true nature of the Order’s mission, they are forced to set aside their confusion and work together to protect those caught in the crossfire.
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As the battle unfolds, the Eternal Doctor grows increasingly suspicious—about 40% certain—that a familiar, shadowy presence may be orchestrating events from the background. Yet, the pieces refuse to align, and the mystery only deepens. When the Thirteenth Doctor’s TARDIS unexpectedly reappears, only to vanish once more, the Eternal Doctor is left with more questions than answers. The Order’s Master remains hidden, their ultimate goal obscured, and the fabric of time hangs in the balance. The chaos is only beginning.
The Eternal Doctor brings Oliver home to 2020 for a brief respite, but their peace is shattered when a Dimensional Tear rips open the sky, unleashing a Dalek invasion. At last, The Dread Master emerges from the shadows, revealing their plan to rewrite reality itself. The Doctor is shaken—their last encounter ended with the Master saving them from Rassilon, but now, they stand as an architect of chaos. With The Daleks enforcing their will, the Doctor fights to contain the disaster, knowing they are already steps behind.
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Amid the battle, the Doctor discovers Oliver’s secret writings, sparking a heated confrontation. Feeling betrayed, the Doctor lashes out, while Oliver defends his actions, revealing his deep admiration and desire to share the Doctor’s story. Their bond fractures, but there’s no time to mend it. As the war rages on, The Dishonoured Doctor appears with a dire warning—the Eternal Doctor must make a choice, or the consequences will be catastrophic. Now, the Doctor is left questioning whether they have the strength to do what must be done.
The Multiverse is collapsing as timelines fracture and merge, the aftermath of the Master’s grand design spiraling into chaos. The Dimensional Tears have destabilized reality itself, threatening to unravel time and space. As the Eternal Doctor fights to restore order, the Daleks remain an ever-present danger, forcing both them and Oliver to battle for survival at every turn. With each passing moment, the stakes grow higher, and the Doctor knows that hesitation could mean the end of everything.
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Amid the turmoil, the Dishonoured Doctor returns one final time, offering their aid and critical insight into the nature of the Dimensional Tears. Though wary, the Eternal Doctor joins forces with their fallen counterpart, and together, they devise a way to seal the tears once and for all. But the solution comes at a cost—one the Doctor struggles to accept. The Master, reveling in the chaos, taunts them, insisting that their compassion will be their undoing. As the battle rages, Oliver proves his courage by outmaneuvering the Daleks and saving countless lives, rekindling the Doctor’s faith in him.
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In a climactic confrontation, the Doctor and Oliver face the Master, sealing the Dimensional Tears and forcing the Daleks into retreat. Though the Master is ultimately defeated, they escape, leaving the Doctor with lingering doubts about whether they can ever truly stop them. As the dust settles, the Doctor reflects on the sacrifices made and the unexpected strength they have drawn from Oliver’s unwavering resolve. The multiverse is saved, but the Doctor is left with a haunting question: when the time for true sacrifice comes, will they be ready to face it?
Before returning to Earth, the Eternal Doctor and Oliver take a much-needed break on Elysia Prime, a paradise world of serene beaches, bioluminescent forests, and gravity-defying waterfalls. While Oliver relaxes, the Doctor gets into a heated argument with a futuristic vending machine over whether a banana smoothie qualifies as a "complex order." The machine, obsessed with efficiency, refuses to comply without exact calorie specifications, leading to a forty-minute standoff. Frustrated, the Doctor eventually reprograms the machine, while Oliver, unfazed, simply orders tea.
The Eternal Doctor and Oliver return to Earth in 2021 after what was supposed to be a peaceful retreat on Elysia Prime—a paradise world of floating waterfalls and endless tranquillity. However, upon returning to Earth, their plans for actual rest are cut short when Sophie Evans, Oliver’s journalist girlfriend, pulls them into a growing mystery.
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The Threxil, an alien race that arrived just days earlier, have been welcomed as peaceful refugees, offering miraculous technology and medical breakthroughs. While the public and global governments have embraced them, Sophie remains skeptical, noticing troubling patterns of disappearances near Threxil settlements. Determined to uncover the truth, she enlists the Doctor’s help—despite Oliver’s reluctance to assume the worst.
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Attending a public address by Zerax, the Threxil’s charismatic ambassador, the Doctor is met with charm and deflection. Though Zerax effortlessly evades their pointed questions, the Doctor picks up on subtle inconsistencies in his carefully crafted narrative. Meanwhile, Sophie uncovers encrypted files hidden within the Threxil’s database, revealing a sinister truth: the Threxil are abducting humans as test subjects for a secret terraforming project. The Doctor’s investigation confirms their worst fears—the Threxil’s refugee story is a lie. Earth is not their sanctuary; it is their next conquest.
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With the truth in hand, the group rushes to expose the Threxil before their plans come to fruition. But the Threxil move swiftly, using mind-control technology to silence dissent and turn public opinion against the Doctor and Sophie. As the aliens tighten their grip, the Doctor formulates a daring plan to disrupt their terraforming devices, buying time to rally humanity against the invasion. In a desperate showdown, the Doctor, Oliver, and Sophie sabotage the Threxil’s technology, forcing them to retreat—though not without a warning that they will return.
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With the immediate threat averted, Sophie faces the consequences of her investigation. The government scrambles to cover up the truth, leaving her career in jeopardy. Yet, her resolve remains unshaken. Recognizing her courage and keen instincts, the Doctor offers her a place aboard the TARDIS. After a moment of hesitation, Sophie steps inside, wonder in her eyes as the ship dematerializes—taking the trio toward their next adventure.
The TARDIS landed on a barren, ash-gray world under a dim twilight sky—no sun, no stars, just a smothering half-light that felt wrong in every direction. The surface was cracked and dry, like a planet long abandoned by time itself. I hadn’t even finished scanning the atmosphere before the ground collapsed beneath us, dropping Sophie, Oliver, and me into a vast underground cave system. We were shaken but intact. The silence down there wasn’t natural—it pressed in from all sides, interrupted only by faint whispers with no clear source. When Sophie’s torch caught claw marks gouged deep into the walls, I knew exactly what we were dealing with. I didn’t explain. Not fully. Some things are worse when you understand them.
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The Quiet Ones. I’d encountered them before, or something close. Creatures born of silence, twisted by some calamity into things that should not be. Pale, hollow-eyed figures, their faces stretched into permanent screams, soundless but screaming all the same. When one of them emerged from the dark, we ran. There was no reasoning, no fighting—not in any way that would last. They hunted with a kind of intelligence I’ve only seen in the most dangerous predators: coordinated, methodical, always just behind us. The deeper we went, the worse it got. I recognized the architecture of their madness—the signs of a civilization that once lived here, buried now under layers of fear, rage, and ruin. They weren’t ghosts. They weren’t mindless. They remembered.
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We found the TARDIS buried in rubble, half-submerged in stone, surrounded by whispers and shadows that crawled just beyond the torchlight. I cobbled together a crude light-burst emitter to keep the Quiet Ones at bay while Oliver and Sophie cleared the doors. Every second was too long. Just before the creatures could reach us, we made it inside, their claws raking against the blue doors as I threw the lever. The TARDIS took us away, but the silence they brought lingered long after we’d left. I didn’t say much after that. There are places the TARDIS should never land. That world—whatever year, whatever name it once had—was one of them.​
After narrowly escaping the horrors of the Quiet Ones on a desolate world of dead skies and labyrinthine caves, where the Doctor, Oliver, and Sophie were hunted by the mutated remnants of a lost civilization, the Doctor took them to 2025 for respite—a familiar time for Oliver and Sophie, meant to offer peace after trauma—but soon detected a small Dimensional Tear forming in the side of a nearby building.
As the tear grew, the Doctor discovered it was being manipulated by the Kaldar, interdimensional beings capable of phasing between realities and subtly warping the behavior of nearby humans to destabilize the timeline. As the rift expanded and the Kaldar’s presence deepened, a second tear opened, through which the Tenth Doctor arrived, drawn by the same temporal instability, and the two Doctors worked together to identify the Kaldar’s plan to collapse the 2025 timeline and use Earth as a staging ground for multiversal invasion.
With time bleeding and more Kaldar emerging, the Doctors triggered a collapse of the rift's energy structure, forcing the invaders back into their own dimension, though one warned this was only the beginning. After the Tenth Doctor departed, the Doctor returned to the TARDIS with Oliver and Sophie, deeply unsettled by the scale of what had just been prevented.
Date: 2020
NA/09/2020
Date: 300,001
(Full Date Unknown)
Date: 625AD
(Full Date Unknown)
The Eternal Doctor’s first adventure in his new form throws him into chaos before he fully understands himself. In the quiet English village of Moorfield, intergalactic soldiers, the Penticle Guard, arrive to capture a fugitive alien, Jorak, turning the town into a warzone. As the Doctor investigates, his reluctant companion, Oliver Howell, falls under mind control, becoming an unwilling pawn in Jorak’s desperate bid for freedom.
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In a tense hospital standoff, the Doctor outwits Jorak and frees Oliver, but the alien’s tragic past leaves him questioning his own morality. As the dust settles and Jorak is taken by the Penticle Guard, Oliver, shaken but inspired, chooses to travel with the Doctor. Still uncertain of himself, the Doctor embraces the journey ahead, knowing that each adventure will shape who he is meant to be.
The Eternal Doctor takes Oliver to the far future, the year 300,001, where humanity thrives but faces new dangers. In this distant era, they encounter The Dreadwalker, a spectral entity phasing in and out of reality. The Doctor quickly deduces that the creature is displaced in time, a remnant of another era pulled into the future by an unknown force. Though not inherently malevolent, its presence destabilizes the environment, forcing the Doctor to act. Oliver, eager to prove himself, bravely aids in the effort despite his fear.
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As the Doctor investigates, traces of a mysterious energy lead to an unsettling discovery—Dimensional Tears, something he once believed to be impossible. Though he dismisses it as mere coincidence for now, a larger mystery looms. Meanwhile, Oliver secretly documents their adventure, captivated by the resilience of future humanity and the Doctor’s compassion. Yet, the burden of secrecy begins to weigh on him.
As the adventure concludes, the Doctor restores The Dreadwalker to its rightful place in time, but questions remain. The presence of Dimensional Tears lingers in his mind, hinting that something far greater is at play—something that neither he nor Oliver are prepared to face just yet.
The Eternal Doctor takes Oliver to 625 AD, deep in the Anglo-Saxon period, where danger and unrest loom. There, they encounter The Harrowed, a group disguised as knights who spread fear with whispers of an apocalyptic event known as The Harrowing. Unlike past foes, these enigmatic figures thrive on chaos, forcing the Doctor and Oliver to strategize carefully to stop them. The Doctor is deeply unsettled by The Harrowed, as their cryptic warnings seem eerily tied to the growing dimensional instability. Their actions hint at a greater conspiracy, one that could unravel time itself. Though the Doctor cannot yet see the full picture, a pattern is beginning to emerge.
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Meanwhile, Oliver proves his worth once more, stepping in to protect a vulnerable village, though the weight of leaving people behind begins to take its toll on him. As the adventure ends, he starts to see through the Doctor’s unshakable façade. Beneath the confidence lies a growing unease—one the Doctor tries to conceal but cannot ignore. The mystery of The Harrowing lingers, a sign that something far greater is at play, waiting in the shadows.
Conclusion
The Scholar Master stands as the tragic origin of one of the Doctor’s greatest enemies—a once-curious and idealistic mind transformed by betrayal, envy, and disillusionment. Initially driven by a desire to understand and elevate the universe through knowledge, his experiences hardened him into a figure of cold logic and ruthless ambition. Feeling abandoned by the Doctor and persecuted by the Time Lords, he redirected his brilliance toward control, believing that only through order and dominance could the universe be truly perfected.
As his journey unfolded, the Scholar Master committed increasingly dark acts, from manipulating civilizations to destroying entire worlds in the name of progress. His forced bond with a stolen TARDIS, the genocide of Lyria, and the quiet sabotage of the Doctor’s chameleon circuit all marked milestones in his descent. Yet behind these actions lay a core of unresolved pain—a longing for recognition, control, and a place outside the shadow of Gallifrey and the Doctor. In seeking to escape that shadow, he became a darker mirror of the very ideals he once held.
Ultimately, the Scholar Master’s legacy is one of complexity and tragedy. He was not born evil, but shaped by loss, resentment, and the belief that intellect alone could impose justice on a chaotic universe. While future incarnations of the Master would become more chaotic and unhinged, the Scholar remained cold, deliberate, and terrifyingly rational. His story is a cautionary tale of how noble intentions can curdle into tyranny—and how even the sharpest mind can be undone by the wounds of the past.