Doctor Who: Gallifrey: Time War – five major moments for Doctor Who mythology

Gallifrey: Time War isn’t just a great series. It’s also given us some incredibly major moments for Doctor Who mythology. We look at five of the most significant.

Since 2015, we’ve had a number of Time War stories thanks to Big Finish. Initially focused on exploring John Hurt’s incarnation in The War Doctor series, the setting has now featured in other series. Not just with the Doctor’s previous incarnation in The Eighth Doctor: The Time War, but even outside of Doctor Who with his arch-enemy in The War Master series.

However, in terms of pure mythology, the most significant series focused on the conflict is Gallifrey: Time War. There are a few key reasons for this. While the other series have focused on several of the numerous battles across time and space, Gallifrey is set far away from the front lines and focuses on the people who began the war in the first place: the Time Lords. The Doctor may have found himself caught up in it, but he never started the Time War. He only ended it.

Perhaps it’s unsurprising then that, compared to all the other series, it’s Gallifrey: Time War that features some of the biggest revelations when it comes to Time War mythology. Whether it’s the fate of the Doctor’s companions, or the return of a major character, the first volume of the series featured a lot of significant mythology for Doctor Who fans to enjoy.

Including, of course, the exact moment when the Time War truly began…

Gallifrey: Time War begins with Celestial Intervention, which reveals exactly what pushed the Time Lords into declaring war on the Daleks…

(Image credit: Gallifrey/Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

1. The Time War begins

This is probably the most obvious, and definitely a key draw for bringing the fans in. The Time War is a huge part of Doctor Who mythology, ever since the series came back. And it’s been explored in the expanded universe for a few years now, particularly in Big Finish’s Eighth Doctor and War Doctor audios.

But none of them had dealt with the beginning of the War. Not until now, at least.

In some ways, the beginning of the War – the official beginning of it, at least – feels almost low-key. But not in a disappointing way, however. It’s not something that begins out of nowhere, with the Time Lords completely caught by surprise. On the contrary, it’s something that they’ve been expecting for a very long time.

In fact, the War Council is already in existence at this point. Officially, the Time Lords are not at war with the Daleks. But with the latter’s recent attacks on all the other Temporal Powers, everyone knows that it’s only a matter of time. And when the Daleks wipe out almost an entire race allied to Gallifrey, there’s no longer any time left.

Hearing the announcement made by Gallifrey’s President that the Time Lords and the Daleks are now at war is an amazing moment. It’s simple, but it’s still so satisfying to hear. We may have seen the very end of the Time War in The Day of the Doctor, but with Gallifrey, we get to hear the very start of it.

For a long time, Ace had been living on Gallifrey and working for the Time Lords. But what happened to her during the Time War?

(Image credit: Gallifrey/Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

2. Ace’s fate

What happened to Ace? That was a major question raised when Big Finish revealed that, sometime after her travels with the Seventh Doctor, she worked as a member of the CIA on Gallifrey. But was she there during the Time War?

The second episode of the series, Soldier Obscura, answers that question with a definite…yes and no.

Soldier Obscura is set immediately after Celestial Intervention. The Time War has just begun, and Ace and Braxiatel are on a mission of their own. A mission that could wipe out an entire Dalek fleet, or so Braxiatel claims.

Over the course of the episode, Ace learns a lot about Braxiatel. And none of it is good. In fact, she learns far more than anyone should know about one of the most devious Time Lords on Gallifrey (and that’s saying something). The episode ends with Braxiatel attacking Ace before saying:

"Close your eyes, Ace…your fight is over."

Braxiatel disappears, Romana hears news of what happened to Ace, and the audience is left in total shock as the episode ends…

A happy ending?

…but then, after the end theme, we’re treated to a nice little surprise. Ace isn’t dead, after all. In fact, Braxiatel has brought her back home – on Earth, far away from the Time War. It’s a great moment, especially with Braxiatel doing something nice for his family and friends by ensuring Ace’s survival.

The best part about this is that this isn’t a cop-out, but following pre-existing continuity. While Doctor Who had never addressed Ace’s fate, that’s partially because it didn’t have to – The Sarah Jane Adventures already handled that nicely.

At the very end of the story Death of the Doctor, Sarah Jane very quickly mentions what happened to several companions after they had left the Doctor. One of them, “Dorothy Something” as Sarah Jane called her, was running a charity called A Charitable Earth. It’s a very easy to miss moment, but the implication’s clear: Dorothy McShane survived, and was making a decent life for herself on Earth. So it was nice for Time War to lead into that, while still giving us jaw-dropping moments along the way.

Gallifrey not only featured the Doctor’s greatest enemy, but directly crossed over with The War Master’s own series, too.

(Photo credit: The War Master/Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.

3. Revealing more of the War Master

The third episode, The Devil You Know, does something just a little bit ambitious. Derek Jacobi’s War Master appears in this episode. But this time, not as an antagonist. Or at least, not quite. Because he’s hired by the Time Lords to go on a mission for them. A mission that could give them a new weapon to use in the Time War. Of course, knowing that the Master can’t ever be trusted, they’ve also made sure that Leela goes with him. But is that enough?

What’s ambitious about this story isn’t simply how well it works on its own. But it’s mainly the fact that it’s a direct crossover with another Big Finish spin-off series, The War Master. Slotting in perfectly between episodes one and two of that series, it’s fantastic how the two series together help to give us a bigger picture.

For instance, towards the start of the episode, the Master references how difficult it was to get his TARDIS back. The first episode of The War Master: Only the Good reveals exactly the great lengths he took to get it back. At the end of that same episode, he’s summoned to Gallifrey, leading directly into The Devil You Know.

The second episode of his own series, The Good Master, also references to the fact that Gallifrey had summoned him, leading him to the planet Arcking. However, he doesn’t go into detail about it, and is actually somewhat evasive. Why?

The end of the episode gives a reason. A pretty shocking one, too…

Leela and the Master worked together in The Devil You Know. But what happened when the Master had no more use for her…?

(Image credit: Gallifrey/Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

4. Goodbye, Leela?

The end of The Devil You Know gives listeners another major shock. We knew that the Master would escape from Leela and the Time Lords somehow. We knew that he would use the knowledge he had gained so that he could exploit it in The Good Master.

But what we didn’t expect was the way he got rid of Leela. He didn’t escape from her or even abandon her. Instead, he took off in his TARDIS with her on-board, travelling through a dangerous war zone before opening the TARDIS doors and letting her fall into the vortex, her ultimate fate left uncertain.

Now, we know that somehow, Leela does survive, at least. We know this mainly due to her appearance in the War Doctor box set, Casualties of War. Set a long time later, she’s finally reunited with her old friend the Doctor.

But when the Doctor sees her again, she’s in a bad way. After suffering a hit from a Disruptor Dalek, Leela became displaced in time and space, with her past becoming so unravelled that she could barely remember her own history. Reuniting with the Doctor helped her to find herself again.

It was also mentioned in this story that Leela went missing during the Battle of the Pillars of Consequence. Now, nothing like that happens during The Devil We Know. So I think we can expect for Leela to meet her old friends at some point during the War. But when? And how? Only time will tell.

The final episode of Gallifrey: Time War’s first volume ended with a major cliffhanger: the resurrection of Rassilon…

(Image credit: Gallifrey/Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

5. Rassilon’s resurrection

And of course, Gallifrey: Time War saved its biggest shock for last. We knew he was coming back at some point. We knew that he had to return. But writer Matt Fitton was delightfully sneaky in how he brought back Rassilon, the founder of Time Lord society.

Desperate Measures initially seems to take the form of a straightforward election on Gallifrey, with Romana trying to regain her old presidency against Valerian. An old soldier who’s practically born for the Time War, he seems like the perfect candidate for the presidency. At least, as far as the War Council is concerned.

More from Winter is Coming

But of course, with this being Gallifrey, nothing is ever as straightforward as it seems. And, as soon as Valerian wins the election and is inaugurated, he learns – far too late – that the War Council were never interested in him, but in his bloodline. Because Valerian comes from a very ancient Time Lord family, one descended from Rassilon himself. And a direct genetic connection was exactly what the War Council needed.

Summoned from the Matrix, Valerian’s mind was utterly destroyed, as his body was taken over by a new one. Or rather, an ancient one: the mind of Rassilon…

Like I said, we knew he had to come back at some point. Saving Rassilon’s return for the cliffhanger of series one was definitely a smart move.

So what happens next? What does Rassilon’s return mean for Gallifrey? And with none of their old allies left, how will Romana and Narvin survive? Find out, in our upcoming review for Gallifrey: Time War: Volume 2.

Have you listened to Gallifrey: Time War? Which of these moments shocked you the most? Or if you’ve yet to listen to the series, which intrigues you the most? Let us know in the comments below.