Gallifreyans were a humanoid species native to the planet Gallifrey. The majority of Time Lords were Gallifreyans, since they arose from this species, and they considered themselves to be the elite of Gallifreyan society. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two)
History
- See Gallifreyan history.
Appearance and biology
Gallifreyans were externally identical in appearance to humans, but had several biological differences internally.
Culture and society
There was always a Lord or Lady President of Gallifrey, with a council of other Time Lords, approving or vetoing decisions. An exception to this was when the Lord President (ignoring the Chancellor) broke two Laws of Time to bring the First, Second and Third Doctor together to solve the problem of the power/life force-drainage into Omega's black hole. (TV: The Three Doctors)
Time Lords and Gallifreyans regarded the Flower of Remembrance as an omen of death. (PROSE: The Ancestor Cell)
A quarter of Gallifreyans on their homeworld worshiped the higher Eternals such as Death and Time. (PROSE: Happy Endings)
Gallifreyans and Time Lords
Time Lords may have been just Gallifreyans in possession of a TARDIS. (AUDIO: Omega)
I.M. Foreman stated that Time Lords were a separate species due to Rassilon's intervention. (PROSE: Interference - Book One) The Eleventh Doctor and Vastra said that the Gallifreyans evolved into Time Lords via exposure to the Time Vortex and the Untempered Schism over billions of years. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War)
At one point in Gallifreyan history, members of Gallifreyan religious orders who were not Time Lords were nonetheless given certain rights: access to time travel, certain genetic privileges, and the right to observe High Council procedure. However, the High Council later disestablished the churches, monasteries and other religious orders, effectively abolishing these rights. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two)
Within the Capitol
Even within the Time Lord sanctum of the Capitol, "plebeian classes" existed. (TV: The Deadly Assassin)
Outsiders and outcasts
Living in the wild lands outside the Capitol, bands of Gallifreyans called Outsiders lived a primitive lifestyle, wearing fur skins and using weapons like bows, arrows and spears for hunting food. (TV: The Invasion of Time)
Within the Capitol, rebels known as Shobogans committed petty acts of vandalism. (TV: The Deadly Assassin)
Non-Gallifreyan Time Lords
Some Time Lords were not Gallifreyan.
Dorothy McShane, better known as Ace, became a Time Lord after attending the Time Lord Academy. (AUDIO: Dominion) Upon completing her training, she joined the Celestial Intervention Agency and was given a TARDIS with a working chameleon circuit, something that displeased her. (AUDIO: Intervention Earth)
The Great House of Paradox often trained and inducted humans into their ranks. During the War, Houses like House Xianthellipse experimented with hybridisation. (PROSE: The Book of the War) The members of House Lolita had no Homeworld genetics; the House was solely composed of the timeship Lolita and her children. (PROSE: The Book of the War; AUDIO: The Shadow Play)
Although Jenny, the Doctor's biological "daughter", was created from his DNA on the planet Messaline and was therefore a Time Lord who did not originate on Gallifrey, she had the biological characteristics of a Gallifreyan, including two hearts and the ability to use bio-energy to revive herself from a bullet wound. The Tenth Doctor claimed that Jenny was merely an echo of himself and that being a Time Lord was "so much more" than that, but as he later admitted to Donna Noble, "when I look at [Jenny] now, I can see them. The hole they left, all the pain that filled it. Just dunno know if I can face that every day." (TV: The Doctor's Daughter) Clara Oswald later referred to the Doctor's "non-Gallifreyan daughter [who was] created via genetic transfer". (TV: Death in Heaven)
Donna Noble, who was originally a human, became another "anomalous" Time Lord when she became a human/Time Lord hybrid after a metacrisis. Her human brain was unable to maintain the knowledge gained by this. Also produced during the metacrisis was the Meta-Crisis Doctor. This "Doctor" was able to maintain the knowledge of the Doctor, but only had one heart and could not regenerate. (TV: Journey's End)
River Song was a human with some Time Lord DNA due to having been conceived inside a TARDIS during flight through the Time Vortex in addition to some genetic engineering by the Silence. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War)
