We know the Master has a daughter from Missy’s throwaway line in S09E2, the line seems to imply that whilst on Gallifrey they only had one child (‘Got it in the olden days on Gallifrey. The Doctor gave it to me when my daughter…’). This is the only reference to The Master’s child we have whereas the Doctor seems to talk about their family relatively frequently. Any reference to them never singles out any individual rather it is ‘They died’, ‘All gone now’ or ‘Lost a long time ago with everything else…’. We also have Susan who is The Doctor’s presumably biological granddaughter which implies the Doctor’s family lived long enough to procreate, there is also the Doctor’s mother in the EOT. All seemingly imply that The Master’s daughter died at a much earlier date.
Physical disability within Time Lords is rarely depicted on-screen or in extended Doctor Who media. On the occasions it does occur within Gallifreyans, it is likely these individuals are ostracised and prevented from accessing the same privileges. Scenes on Gallifrey in Classic Who depict a wholly male-presenting crowd of aristocrats. In fact, nowhere in the story ‘The Deadly Assassin’ does a female actress appear on-screen and furthermore, there are no POC listed on the cast list. This presents an image of Gallifreyan high society as extremely prejudicial. In the modern series, a more diverse cast of Time Lords has appeared in the citadel indicating that prejudice was widespread in Gallifrey’s past but has lost traction in the modern day.
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The Master’s aversion to death likely stems from their daughter’s own inability to regenerate.
As well as Abridgement Syndrome (see TARDIS Wiki), she also had developmental difficulties which caused her to need almost constant care meaning that she could not attend the Academy and was isolated from their House/extended family. The Master acted as sole carer to his daughter, seeking emotional support from The Doctor where he could not find it from his family. As a result of this, the two of them spent a lot of time with The Doctor’s family and developed deep bonds with them.
As the daughter’s condition worsened, The Master sought the intervention of more advanced Time Lord science that could save her life and give her a better quality of living in the future. This technology was readily available and had been used on Academy students previously given that it had first been permitted for use by the High Council. After a lengthy plea, The Master was reluctantly granted the technology to save his daughter’s life. He used it regularly and even modified it to work more efficiently.
A year later however, his daughter’s condition began to worsen again and quickly became critical. The Master called The Doctor, not knowing what to do. The two of them worked together but in the end could not save her life. In a rage, The Master sought out the High Council and demanded to know why their equipment did not work. With no remorse, the High Council admitted to have used the equipment to control The Master himself and to keep him out of the way of their affairs preoccupied with his daughter. The equipment was never intended to heal and was in fact, only a placebo. (‘RASSILON: You are diseased, albeit a disease of our own making. No more.’)
After his daughter’s death, The Master shunned any interference from other Time Lords and isolated himself. When The Doctor could no longer reach them emotionally and witnessed a deterioration in The Master’s emotional state, they distanced their family to avoid being hurt and to avoid the interference of the High Council who had already listed The Master as a ‘dangerous individual’ for displaying signs of grief and severe mental illness. At the burial, The Doctor gave The Master a Dark Star Alloy knowing that he planned to use it to take vengeance on the Time Lords responsible, but denied ever suggesting it to anybody who asked. Their relationship became one of wary but loving support.
As The Master isolated himself almost completely, the two grew apart and eventually The Doctor fled Gallifrey. In his grief, The Master attempted to assassinate The High Council with the Dark Star Alloy but the plot was found out before coming to fruition. Whilst fleeing Gallifrey in a stolen TARDIS, he was forced to kill the Chancellory Guard guarding the vaults. He was branded as a criminal and a renegade with a warrant out for his arrest and termination.
In his decayed body, he became severely physically disabled and returned to Gallifrey with a second plot- to assassinate the President. When The Doctor arrived and banished the Master, the Master swears to live powered by his hatred for both the Time Lords and The Doctor for preventing him from carrying out vengeance.
The Master lives to spite those who denied his daughter life and augments the rules of regeneration in a way that he thought never was possible as a father and a carer.
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