Friday, September 14, 2012

Naming a Time Lord

So, the idea came to me, as ideas often do, in a total random timey-wimey sort of way. Actually, it was because my Wife and I are considering dressing up as the Doctor and Donna for Halloween. It caused me reminisce from days of yore, when I was a kid watching Tom Baker, his companions, incredibly long scarf, and jelly babies outwit a number of foes while I visited my Grandma Daley. During those days, before I found out about things like Role Playing games and video games were played on an Atari or Commodore 64, I often had imagining about putting myself into the shows and stories I read.

When it came to Doctor Who, I was fascinated by the idea of an entire society of time travelers. The new series has been a wonderful treat. My only disappointment is the fact that the Time Lords are, as a whole, gone. The Doctor is the last Time Lord. Well... except for the Master. Oh, and the ones that asteroid/moon thing ate in "The Doctor's Wife". So... maybe, just maybe... there are a few Time Lords running around.

Now, I've gone to the Doctor Who Wiki (because there's almost nothing that DOESN'T have a wiki) and looked up Time Lord names. You know... some of them make no sense. I realized that for a good Time Lord name it needs to follow some conventions.

First, it's not a "Name". It's a title. It should always be a title. Not an alias, not a nickname, nor a made up word, it needs to be a title, not even a profession, actually. The Master doesn't actually have a profession linked title, now does he? Well, unless you consider being a Master a profession (and I know that some out there might).

Second, it should fit nicely with "The" in front of it. Saying "I'm The [appropriate title here]" shouldn't sound forced, contrived, or make no sense.

Third, it should be two or three syllables. I mean, I guess you could have a Time Lord called "The Kid" or "The Priest", but I think they just don't have the same impact as something a little longer. (Though the idea that Gordon Ramses is actually a Time Lord called "The Chef" has crossed my mind.)

Fourth, it also shouldn't sound ridiculous just being blurted out by a companion when the Daleks turn the corner. A Time Lord called "The Herbalist" really sounds kinda cool, but "Herbalist!!!!" doesn't sound right.

Finally, it should really describe the character, in some manner. As River Song explained, "Doctor: the word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know. But if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean?". So, what would the universe get from your Time Lord?

With those ideas in place, here are a few Time Lord names I have come up with over the years:

The Inspector - This was actually the one I came up with as a child. He was, in my imagination, the actual inspiration to Sherlock Holmes. I liked, also, the idea of a sonic magnifying glass.

The Commissar - A Time Lord that hangs out in Russia.

The Baron

The Commandant

I know that this isn't my finest piece of work, but it's some ideas that popped into my head, which I have tried to express in a short amount of time. 
 



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