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| NOTE: This page is solely for the "Harold Saxon" incarnation of the Master. For other versions, see here: The Master. |
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| “ | The drumming. Can't you hear it? I thought it would stop, but it never does. Never, ever stops. Inside my head. The drumming, Doctor. The constant drumming. It's everywhere. Listen, listen, listen! Here come the drums. Here come… the drums. | „ |
| ~ The Master describing the sound of drums. |
| “ | So, Earthings. Basically, um… end of the world. HERE… COME… THE DRUMS! | „ |
| ~ The Master prepares to unleash the Toclafane. |
| “ | And so it came to pass… that the human race fell… and the Earth was no more. And I looked down upon my new dominion as Master of all… and I thought it… good. | „ |
| ~ The Master after conquering Earth. |
The "Harold Saxon" incarnation of the Master is the main antagonist of both the Tenth Doctor's tenure and Series 10 of Doctor Who.
An insane Time Lord and old friend-turned-archenemy of the Doctor, the Master used hypnotism and deception to ensure his election as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under the human alias of "Harold Saxon", which was his first step towards conquering the Earth and creating a new Gallifrey from it.
He is known for being unique amongst other incarnations of The Master due to his genuine hatred and disgust of The Doctor where other incarnations can at least tolerate or enjoy his presence, either for fun or due to lingering feelings of friendship towards their old friend. He is also one of the most unhinged incarnations to date, likely due to the "never-ending drumbeat" he hears in his head.
He was portrayed by John Simm.
Personality[]
| “ | Oh, the way you burned like a sun. Like a whole, screaming world on fire. | „ |
| ~ Missy describing the Master's unstable mind. |
Unlike his previous and following incarnations, the "Harold Saxon" Master is an unfathomably cruel, selfish psychopath with no redeeming qualities. After successfully conquering Earth, the Master orders the population to be decimated for no other reason than to satisfy his own violent impulses.
He was extremely vain and narcissistic, with the Tenth Doctor noting that he would never destroy himself, even if he could destroy the Earth with him. During the Year That Never Was, he had monuments of himself built all over Earth, and, according to Martha Jones, had even sculptured himself onto Mount Rushmore. He also used the Immortality Gate to turn the human race into duplicates of himself, which he dubbed the "Master Race", and also threatened to do the same to the Time Lords, even asserting that Rassilon "[would] [look] better as [him]."
"Harold Saxon"'s vanity was so vast that when the Tenth Doctor forgave him for his actions, the Master collapsed and wept out of shame. After he expressed revulsion at being "kept" by the Doctor, the Master was shot by Lucy and decided not to regenerate and die to spite the Doctor. He even killed Missy, his future incarnation, when she decided to help the Twelfth Doctor.
Biography[]
Previous Incarnations[]
"Harold Saxon"[]
Newly regenerated into a younger body, the Master steals the Doctor's TARDIS, which he later even converts into a "Paradox Machine". But as the Doctor sabotages the TARDIS using his sonic screwdriver so he can only able to travel between Earth 2007 and the year 100 trillion, the Master assumes the identity Harold Saxon and makes his way to becoming England's Minister of Defence and later, Prime Minister.
Saxon and the Toclafane.
As Harold Saxon, in The Sound of Drums, the Master secretly interfered with the Doctor and Martha's lives, for example, through the scientist Richard Lazarus, who made himself younger and mutated into a monster. From there, the Master uses the Doctor's TARDIS to recruit the Toclafane from Utopia, where they emerged from the last humans, as allies, having them kill one tenth of the world population, beginning his takeover of Earth. He holds the Doctor, aged by Lazarus' invention concentrated into a laser screwdriver, and Captain Jack captive, while only Martha is able to escape.
As seen in Last of the Time Lords, from that day onward, the Master rules Earth for a year, while turning whole nations into work-camps and bases for an enormous fleet of war rockets, planning a campaign to conquer the rest of the universe and establish a New Time Lord Empire. However, the Doctor reverses the events by the help of Martha, with the Master being shot by his wife Lucy Saxon and refusing to regenerate as his death is a small victory to emotionally hurt the Doctor. Though the Doctor cremates the Master's body on a pyre, his ring remains and is obtained by a coven loyal to him.
Creation of the "Master Race"[]
The Master after his resurrection, now blonde and able to shoot lightning.
By Christmas 2010 in The End of Time, as the Ood foretold, the Master's coven conduct resurrects the Master at HMP Broadfell, where Lucy was incarcerated before she sacrifices herself to sabotage the ritual. However, it only revived the Master in failing body with a ravenous hunger.
Resorting to wandering the fringes of London and feeding on homeless people and those unlucky enough to encounter him while being pursued by the Doctor, learning the sound of the drums is a signal, the Master is eventually captured by billionaire Joshua Naismith in order to use his knowledge to repair an alien 'Immortality Gate' to make Naismith's daughter immortal. But the Master hijacks the device, using its original purpose as a planet-wide medical tool to overwrite the DNA of every human on Earth with his own and create a "Master Race".
The Master getting revenge.
Using his duplicates, the Master triangulates the signal to its source: the Time Lord President Rassilon, before obtaining an unique Gallifreyan diamond to create a link through which the Time Lords emerge. Though he intended to overwrite his DNA onto the Time Lord race, the Master's work on the human race is undone as he learns the truth that he was nothing more but a pawn in Rassilon's plan to destroy all creation so he and the other Time Lords can transcend into beings beyond time. When the Doctor destroys the link, the Master attacks Rassilon to save the Doctor in an act of revenge for a lifetime of manipulation, disappearing into Gallifrey with the other Time Lords in the process.
The Genesis of the Cybermen[]
After forcing Rassilon to remove the signal in his head, the Master left Gallifrey and wandered the universe in his TARDIS before he ended up on a Mondasian colony ship trapped in the gravity of a black hole. When his attempt to rule them did not work out, the Master decided to play a role in the genesis of the Cybermen before encountering the Twelfth Doctor, and would end up meeting a future female counterpart named "Missy".
At that time, the Doctor was testing Missy's reformation. Meanwhile, the Master decides to disguise as a Russian janitor named "Mr. Razor." He befriends Bill Potts (one of the Doctor's companions), only to betray her and have her converted into a Cyberman. He then turns Missy against the Doctor. As a result, Missy finds her loyalty torn between her former self and the Doctor.
In the end, having become disgusted by the Master's blatant sadism, Missy stabs the Master in the back. She then declares that she will join the Doctor and redeem herself. In order to prevent this from happening, the Master shoots Missy with his laser screwdriver at full power, disabling her ability to regenerate and seemingly killing her permanently. The Master then cackles as he lies in the descending elevator towards his TARDIS to regenerates into his next incarnation, effectively ending the "Saxon" Master's life once and for all.
Masterful[]
In the audio drama, the Master attempted to avoid his regeneration into Missy by preventing his death, he used the energies of Kiameth, creating an entropy wave to take over the universe and kill the Doctor, he then brought his past incarnations to Kiameth, meeting Missy. These events were undone when the "War" Master killed the "Saxon" Master and his past selves and letting the wave absorb Missy, having realized the entropy wave was their final incarnation.
Quotes[]
| “ | Haha! Hahaha! Hahaha! Now then, Doctor! Oh, new voice. Hello, hello. Hello! Anyway, why don't we stop and have a nice little chat while I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to stop me? I don't think! | „ |
| ~ The "Saxon" incarnation's first words. |
| “ | End of the universe. Have fun. Bye, bye! | „ |
| ~ The Master steals the Doctor's Tardis and leaves him, Martha, and Jack stranded at the end of the universe. |
| “ | Master: A glorious day. Downing Street rebuilt, the Cabinet in session. Let the work of government begin. (throws files into the air) Oh, go on. Crack a smile. It's funny, isn't it? Albert, funny? No? Little bit? Dumfries: Very funny, sir. But if we could get down to business, there is the matter of policy, of which we have very little. Master: No, no, no, no. Before we start all that, I just want to say thank you. Thank you, one and all. You ugly, fat faced bunch of wet, snivelling traitors. Dumfries: Yes, quite, very funny. But I think-- Master: No. No, that wasn't funny. You see, I'm not making myself very clear. Funny is like this. (smiley face) Not funny is like this. (frowny face) And right now, I'm not like (grin) I'm like (frown) because you are traitors. Yes, you are! As soon as you saw the vote swinging my way, you abandoned your parties and you jumped on the Saxon bandwagon. So this is your reward. (puts on oxygen mask) Dumfries: Excuse me, Prime Minister. Do you mind my asking, what is that? Master: (muffled) It's a gas mask. Dumfries: I beg your pardon? Master: It's a gas mask. Dumfries: Yes, but, er, why are you wearing it? Master: (muffled) Well, because of the gas. Dumfries: I'm sorry? Master: Because of the gas. Dumfries: What gas? Master: (muffled) This gas. (gas begins spraying everywhere) Dumfries: (choking) You're insane! Master: (thumbs up) |
„ |
| ~ The Master condemns and gasses a group of politicians to death for their "betrayal". |
| “ | Ooo, a nice little game of hide and seek. I love that. But I'll find you, Martha Jones. | „ |
| ~ The Master threatens to capture Martha over the phone. |
| “ | Master: What did it feel like, though? Two almighty civilisations burning. Oh, tell me, how did that feel? Doctor: Stop it! Master: You must have been like God. Doctor: I've been alone ever since. But not anymore. Don't you see? All we've got is each other. Master: Are you asking me out on a date? |
„ |
| ~ The Master continuously taunts the Doctor despite the Doctor's pleads for him to join him. |
| “ | Oh, you public menace. Better start running. Go on, run. | „ |
| ~ The Master has the Doctor and his companions framed as dangerous criminals and sarcastically tells them to run. |
| “ | Doctor: We've got control of the Valiant. You can't launch. Master: Oh, but I've got this. Black hole converter inside every ship. If I can't have this world, Doctor, then neither can you. We shall stand upon this Earth together, as it burns. |
„ |
| ~ The Master tries to incinerate the entire Earth. |
| “ | How about that. I win. | „ |
| ~ The Master declares his "victory" over the Doctor as he is about to bleed out and leave the Doctor alone in the universe again. |
| “ | Never. Never. Never. Never. Never dying. Never dying! Never dying! Never dying! Never dying! Bwahahahahahaha! Oh, Lucy. Sweet Lucy Saxon. My ever faithful. Did the widow's kiss bring me back to life? | „ |
| ~ The Master's first words after his resurrection. |
| “ | Now isn't that funny. Isn't that just the best thing of all. The master of disguise, stuck looking like the old Prime Minister. I can't hide anywhere. He can see me. He can smell me. Can't let him smell me. Doctor, Doctor, shocked her, stopped her, got to stop the smell. The stink. The filthy, filthy stink. | „ |
| ~ The Master's unhinged rambling before he devours a couple of tramps. |
| “ | Because it's funny. Don't you see? Look at me. I'm splitting my sides. I am hilarious. I am the funniest thing in the whole wide world. | „ |
| ~ The Master's rambling continues. |
| “ | They're not going to think like me, they're going to become me. | „ |
| ~ The Master biologically transforms every single human beings into himself. |
| “ | The human race was always your favourite, Doctor. But now, there is no human race. There is only the Master race. | „ |
| ~ The Master gloats after successfully taking over the human race. |
| “ | Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming? Will it stop? | „ |
| ~ The Master's last words. |
| “ | Because it's funny! Don't you see? Look at me! I'm splitting my sides! I am hilarious! I am the funniest thing in the whole wide world! | „ |
| ~ The Master after his resurrection. |
| “ | Take me with you, Lord President. Let me ascend into glory. | „ |
| ~ The Master attempts to convince Rassilon to let him rule over the remnants of the universe with him. |
| “ | You did this to me! All of my life! You made me! One! Two! Three! Four! | „ |
| ~ The Master kills Rassilon as revenge for being the one responsible for his insanity. |
| “ | Hello, Missy. I'm the Master, and I'm very worried about my future. Give us a kiss. | „ |
| ~ The Master greets his future incarnation Missy after revealing his true identity to her. |
| “ | The Doctor's dead. He told me he'd always hated you. Let's go. | „ |
| ~ The Master snidely tries to trick Nardole into leaving the Doctor to die. |
| “ | By the way, is it wrong that I-- | „ |
| ~ The Master flirts with Missy. |
| “ | Missy: Come here. Master: I'm sorry? Missy: Come here, I said. Master: Seriously? Are we really going to do this? (they embrace) Missy: I loved being you. Every second of it. Oh, the way you burn like a sun. Like a whole screaming world on fire. I remember that feeling, and I always will. And I will always miss it. Master: Now that was really very nicely done. Missy: Thank you. (blood is seen on the Master's fingers) Master: It's good to know I haven't lost my touch. Missy: You deserve my best. |
„ |
| ~ The Master is tricked into a hug by Missy, where she promptly stabs him in the back. |
| “ | Master: No. Never. Missy! I will never stand with the Doctor! Missy: Yes, my dear, you will. (the Master zaps her in the back with his laser screwdriver) Master: Don't bother trying to regenerate. You got the full blast. |
„ |
| ~ The Master refuses to reform and shoots Missy to prevent her from aiding the Doctor. |
| “ | You see, Missy, this is where we've always been going. This is our perfect ending. We shoot ourselves in the back. | „ |
| ~ Harold Saxon after shooting Missy, also his last words. |
| “ | I am The Master, and you will obey me. | „ |
| ~ The Master is "Masterful". |
Trivia[]
- He is, so far, the only incarnation of the Master who has interacted with a future incarnation of himself on television. However, the Decayed Master interacted with the Alex Macqueen Master in the Big Finish audio The Two Masters.
- Coincidentally, this version of the Master is killed off by his own succeding incarnation on television, and later by his previous incarnation in Masterful.
- "Mister Saxon" is an anagram for this incarnation of the Master, "Master No. Six."
- The Master references his Tremas incarnation when he states: "Please attend carefully". Also, his Mr. Razor disguise is a reference to some of the Tremas Master's disguises. His beard in series 10 is also a homage to Ainley and Delgado's incarnations as stated by Simm.
- When Michelle Gomez became the Master, John Simm thought "That was that", he thought would not be portraying the Master any longer. However, he was later proven false, as stated in an interview. Furthermore, he later appeared in the 2021 audio drama Masterful.
- Although stories featuring multiple Masters at once has been depicted in other media such as comics and audio adventures, the series 10 two-part finale episodes "World Enough and Time" and "The Doctor Falls" is the first time in the history of the show in which multiple Masters have featured in the series proper. The episode featured the current incarnation Missy (Michelle Gomez) and the Harold Saxon Master (John Simm).
- In the episode "The Final Game", The Master (in his thirteenth incarnation) was supposed to be revealed as the Doctor's dark side or his brother and he should die by sacrificing himself to save the Doctor. However, the episode was never made because the actor Roger Delgado died in a car accident in Turkey. Still the idea of a dark side of the Doctor was used for both The Valeyard and The Dream Lord.
- In the 2007 episode "The Sound of the Drums", the Tenth Doctor's companion Martha Jones asks him if the Master is an evil brother of his, in which the Doctor replies she has watched too much TV.
- Appropriately for The End of Time, the Master's flawed resurrection leaves him embodying the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse:
- Famine - he is left in a constant state of hunger, desperately devouring food and humans to sate it.
- War - while an existing trait he had, his adversarial nature is emphasized as he coaxes confrontation from the Doctor, as well as Rassilon and the Time Lord Council.
- Pestilence - he is left feeling unwell, but he truly becomes like a plague when he uses the Immortality Gate to convert every human being into a copy of himself, thus spreading like a virus.
- Death - his murderous nature predates his damaged state, but still he kills many who cross his path; also, whether when shooting lightning or in a moment of mania, his condition causes his flesh to become transparent, thereby revealing his skull, looking akin to popular representations of the Grim Reaper (Death itself).
- John Simm took the role of the Master in part because he wanted his 6 year old son to be able to see him act in something. Ironically however, he ended up deciding the episodes the Master appeared in were too dark to show his son.
External Link[]
- The Master on the Pure Evil Wiki.
- The Master on the Doctor Who Wiki.
