It’s long been theorized that the Doctor’s arch-nemesis, the Master, caused the regeneration of the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton), two years before his official debut in the Jon Pertwee era of Doctor Who. Although the best known of the Doctor’s Time Lord foes, the Master was actually the third villainous Gallifreyan introduced to Doctor Who. The Meddling Monk (Peter Butterworth) appeared opposite William Hartnell’s First Doctor in both “The Time Meddler” and “The Daleks’ Master Plan”, while Patrick Troughton’s Second Doctor faced off against the War Chief (Edward Brayshaw) in his final serial “The War Games”.
In “The War Games”, the War Chief used Time Lord technology to aid the War Lords in capturing soldiers from across Earth’s history to take part in simulations of various conflicts. Unable to defeat the War Chief and break up the War Lords’ games by himself, the Second Doctor sacrificed his freedom by requesting the assistance of the Time Lords. “The War Games” is one of Doctor Who‘s most important stories, because it finally introduces the Doctor’s people, and also rebooted the show as a more Earthbound adventure series. On top of this, it’s been theorized that “The War Games” is also the debut of the Master.
On appearances alone, the Master and the War Chief could be different incarnations of the same Doctor Who character. Both the Master and the War Chief have the same neatly trimmed goatee beard, similar hair, and they both wear a high-collared Nehru suit. The War Chief was seemingly executed toward the end of “The War Games”, but he could have easily regenerated into the Roger Delgado incarnation of the Master. Interestingly, Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks, the writers of “The War Games”, lent weight to this theory in the years and decades since it was broadcast.
In their novelizations of serials like “Terror of the Autons” and “Colony in Space”, Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke established that the Doctor and the Master were the only Time Lords to have ever left Gallifrey. While this isn’t confirmation that the War Chief was the Master, Hulke refers to the events of “The War Games” in his “Colony in Space” novelization, implying that the Master was indeed involved with the War Lords. However, Dicks and Hulke had also missed out the Meddling Monk, which would imply that he too was an earlier incarnation of the Master.
Doctor Who fans have suggested that the Doctor and the Master’s rivalry would make more sense if the former had caused the latter’s execution at the hands of the War Lords. Indeed, The Legacy of Gallifrey, a short story published in Doctor Who Magazine back in 1985, implied that the Master arrived on Earth during the Third Doctor era to avenge “past misdeeds“. While this makes some sense of his hatred toward the Doctor, the War Chief being one of the Master’s past incarnations has never been confirmed on screen.
It’s more likely that The War Chief is another of the Doctor’s Time Lord enemies, like the Monk or the Rani (Kate O’Mara). When the Third Doctor is warned about the Master’s imminent arrival in “Terror of the Autons”, his response suggests that he hasn’t seen his former school friend in some time. Given that Time Lords can generally recognize each other despite their regenerations, this heavily suggests that the Master and the War Chief are separate entities. “The War Games” co-writer Terrance Dicks confirmed as much in a non-televised Doctor Who story, his 1991 novel, Timewyrm: Exodus.
Timewyrm: Exodus is set in an alternate reality where Nazi Germany won World War 2, thanks to help from a regenerated War Chief, living under the alias, Felix Kriegsleiter. From that point on, Doctor Who‘s expanded media treated the Master and the War Chief as separate Time Lord villains. Terrance Dicks’ novel also revealed that the War Chief’s regeneration went wrong after his execution, creating a combination of two bodies. Effectively, the War Chief became the victim of a failed bi-generation before it was popularized by Russell T Davies during Doctor Who‘s 60th anniversary.
In real-life, behind the scenes terms, the War Chief in “The War Games” was a prototype for the Master in Doctor Who. Patrick Troughton’s final season of Doctor Who was designed by producer Derrick Sherwin to set up a more Earthbound era for the incoming Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee. Doctor Who‘s UNIT officially debuted in season 6, led by the newly promoted Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) from the previous season. Sherwin envisioned UNIT as a home base for Jon Pertwee’s incarnation in Doctor Who season 7.
With the introduction of UNIT, and the Second Doctor being both forced to regenerate and exiled to Earth, it stands to reason that Doctor Who season 6 would also trial a new Time Lord nemesis. So, while the War Chief was never truly intended as a past incarnation of the Master, he definitely counts as a prototype for the character. Like the Master, the War Chief uses his Time Lord’s gifts for evil, and for his own gain. There’s also another interesting parallel in that both the War Chief and the Master regularly try to get the Doctor to help them when their villainous schemes get out of hand.
Russell T Davies has debunked a Master return, so a brand-new Time Lord villain could be just what the Doctor ordered in the new era. Establishing the War Chief as a new Doctor Who villain would officially debunk the fan theory about him being a past Master, while also expanding audience knowledge of the Time Lords. The War Chief’s abilities to pluck people out of time for various alien benefactors could make him a fascinating villain unlike anything seen in the modern era of the show.
However, given the multiple brutal international conflicts ongoing, the idea of the War Chief could be deemed too near the knuckle in Doctor Who‘s modern era. However, like the Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris), who also got a modern upgrade, the War Chief could be similarly rebranded. Even if he’s not working with the War Lords again, the War Chief offering Gallifreyan technology to the highest bidder could make for a fascinating Doctor Who story about how far some people will go to take control of history.
