The Timeless Child changed everything about the history and lore of Doctor Who, with huge retcon being explained in-universe to be the result of the Toymaker’s machinations. The shared continuity of Doctor Who has gone through plenty of changes over the years, with major twists and turns for the Doctor explained through the use of hidden lives, ancient conspiracies, and cosmic forces. Despite this, the Doctor has done their best to move on beyond the tragedies and mysteries of their past, retaining their hopeful and heroic inclinations.

However, the explanation behind Doctor Who‘s Timeless Child was a different beast altogether. It reshapes the lore that has defined the franchise for over sixty years, throwing the Doctor’s origins into question and revealing the nefarious beginnings of the Time Lord society. It quietly positions the Doctor as the most important figure in the history of the Time Lords, crucial to their development into some of the galaxy’s most powerful figures. This winding mystery is further complicated by the Toymaker, which helps explain the numerous secrets the Timeless Child story exposes about Doctor Who‘s characters.

The Doctor Originally Came From Another Universe

How Doctor Who Retconned The Doctor’s Origins

The Timeless Child story revealed that the Doctor hailed from another universe, and has technically never been a Time Lord. For much of their existence, the Doctor believed they were one of countless Time Lords born on Gallifrey, a brilliant people that had spent eternity becoming one of the universe’s most powerful races. The only thing that made the Doctor truly special was their willingness to abandon the laws of their people to travel the galaxy and help others.

However, the 13th Doctor eventually discovered they didn’t hail from the Time Lord’s homeworld. In reality, they had originally been the Timeless Child. Born on an unknown world and hailing from an unknown species, the Timeless Child ended up in the core Doctor Who universe via a wormhole. Upon arriving in this universe, the Shobogan scientist Tecteun discovered the Timeless Child. Left alone in this universe, the Timeless Child was adopted by Tecteun as their own and brought back to their homeworld of Gallifrey.

The Doctor Possessed Limitless Powers Of Regeneration

Time Lords Can Regenerate Twelve Times, But The Doctor Has A Workaround

When a Time Lord is killed, they have an opportunity to regenerate. While this transforms the Time Lord and effectively kills who they were — replacing them with a new version of themselves — it allows them to retain their memories and experiences. In classic Doctor Who lore, a Time Lord could only regenerate twelve times, although there have been ways to be granted new sets of regenerations or steal them from others. The Doctor has gone through regeneration over a dozen times.

The Timeless Child was unique though, because they had no such limits placed on them. The Timeless Child could regenerate an infinite number of times, effectively making them immortal (so long as they could complete their regeneration without being killed during the process). This also made the Timeless Child an invaluable asset for Tecteun and the other Shobogans, who at the time did not possess the ability to regenerate. This prompted Tecteus to investigate this ability, in increasingly horrifying ways.

Gallifreyans Found The Doctor And Used Them To Create The Time Lords

Tectuen & The Timeless Child Were Crucial To The Rise Of The Time Lords

After discovering that the Timeless Child could regenerate and live on beyond death, Tectuen went to work experimenting on the Child to recreate this ability. This resulted in the Timeless Child’s adopted mother effectively killing them multiple times, forcing them to Regenerate several times. After many years, Tectuen was finally able to isolate the genetic code that allowed for regeneration and was able to create a means by which to introduce it into the genetic code of the Shobogans.

After testing it on themselves, Tectuen spread it to the rest of the Shobogans. This was a crucial step towards the Shobogans becoming the Time Lords, allowing the elders of their people to take control of their destiny. Tectuen eventually became a founder of Time Lord society, seemingly secretly serving as the mysterious “Other” of Time Lord legend alongside Rassilon and Omega.

The Doctor’s Life Before The First Doctor Explained

How The Fugitive Doctor Fits Into Doctor Who‘s Timeline

After several deaths and regeneration, the Timeless Child was eventually recruited into the Division by the Time Lord Solpado. The secret black-ops organization served as the Time Lord’s means of controlling the wider universe, despite the Time Lords’ overt commitment to non-interference in the affairs of other planets and species. The Divison became increasingly ruthless over these years, even using monsters like the Weeping Angels for their goals. The Timeless Child became a crucial agent for the Division, carrying out missions across time and space.

The Timeless Child went through several regenerations during this period, fulfilling missions for the Time Lords in secret while Gallifrey grew in power. The most notable of these was the Fugitive Doctor, who eventually fled the Division and went into hiding on Earth for years with the use of a Chameleon Arch. Their eventual encounter with the 13th Doctor was an important step in the Doctor discovering their true origins.

Why The Doctor Couldn’t Remember Being The Timeless Child

The Time Lords Covered Their Tracks To Hide The Doctor’s Origins

Eventually, the Timeless Child ended up back in the Division. Having decided the Doctor had served their purpose within the organization, the Division wiped their memories and forced them to regenerate into the body of a small child. This child was raised like any other born on Gallifrey, attending the Time Lord Academy and befriending other young Time Lords. This child would eventually grow up to be the First Doctor.

All knowledge of the Timeless Child was seemingly wiped from the Matrix, the compilation of all Gallifreyan knowledge and information. All Time Lords were instead told a different story about the origins of their people and how they gained regeneration. However, some elements of the truth remained. Repressed thoughts and memories lingered in all Time Lords, seemingly tied to the regeneration stolen from the Timeless Child. Tecteun also ensured the story of an Immortal Irishman remained within the Matrix, serving as a clue to the truth.

How The Master Found Out About The Timeless Child

The Doctor’s Greatest Foe Discovered The Doctor’s Hidden History

The truth would lay dormant for untold centuries until one of history’s most dangerous Time Lords discovered the truth of the Timeless Child. Despite their close bond in their youth, the Time Lord eventually known as the Master became one of the Doctor’s most enduring enemies. In his incarnation as the Spy Master, the villain hacked into the Matrix on Gallifrey and accidentally discovered the hidden truths about the Timeless Child.

Enraged that an aspect of the Doctor did indeed exist within him, the Spy Master lashed out at the Time Lords and decimated his home world. The Spy Master then turned his attention to the Doctor, reigniting their rivalry. This set off a chain of events that exposed the truth of the Timeless Child to the Doctor and revealed the grand schemes of the Division, which had survived the Spy Master’s rampage.

The Toymaker Revealed He Was Responsible For The Timeless Child

Doctor Who Has An In-Universe Reason For The Doctor’s Mysterious Backstory

All of this was further complicated by revelations from “The Giggle,” which brought back the Toymaker. A cosmic-level threat with the ability to reshape reality to his whim, the Toymaker had encountered the First Doctor and had lost a game to them. In response, the Toymaker took his time taking revenge, eventually building new games against the Fourteenth Doctor. One of the most important ways was the Toymaker’s decision to make “a jigsaw” out of the Doctor’s life, rewriting and rearranging the Doctor’s personal history.

This serves as a handy in-universe explanation for how the revelations about the Timeless Child and the true history of Gallifrey never seemed to come up before, despite several explorations of the Time Lords’ origins. History was changed and modified, all by the Toymaker’s hand. Thanks to their reality-shaping powers, the Toymaker was able to create an in-universe retcon, transforming the Doctor into the Timeless Child and making it so that was the truth all along.

Timeless Child Questions Doctor Who Still Hasn’t Answered

The Doctor’s True Race Could Come Into Play Down The Line

Although the origins and identity of the Timeless Child have been revealed, there are still several mysteries surrounding the revelation. The true home world and people of the Doctor remain unknown, seemingly lost to time. This seems to weigh on the 15th Doctor, who admitted to his new companion Ruby that he also considers himself “adopted” as a result of these truths. The Timeless Child’s abilities may not be entirely unique to them, meaning that this unknown species all possess a functional form of immortality.

There’s no clear indication why the Timeless Child was separated from them, and how they came to the core-Doctor Who universe. Their true motives and plans could come up in future storylines, revealing the truth behind the Doctor’s origins. The Doctor’s original race could come into play in future stories, with their true motivations setting them up as grand allies or dangerous foes to the Doctor. For now though, the Toymaker’s cosmic retcon has introduced a major mystery to the lore of Doctor Who that could set the stage for truly massive battles to come.