Rare Ship Month: Romana/Master
Romanadvoratrelundar is a highly intelligent Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. After obtaining a triple first at the Academy, she travelled with the fourth incarnation of the renegade known as ‘the Doctor’. Eventually, Romana left the TARDIS for the parallel universe of E-Space. When she eventually returned, she became - with very little effort - President of the High Council of the Time Lords.
The Master is - guess what? - a highly intelligent Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. He’s hypnotic (often literally), charismatic and aspires to become ‘the master of all matter’. (And, if it wasn’t for the Doctor, he would have succeeded long before he had to resort to stealing further regenerations.)
I must confess it was the obvious aesthetic appeal that first drew me to this pairing. But, as I began to think about it more and more, I came to realise that I wasn’t that shallow. In fact, they have an awful lot of potential.
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Although the Doctor is the most obvious link between them, they are also equals in intellect and, quite possibly, drive. If Romana can banter easily with the Doctor, and - on more than one occasion, best him - it stands to reason that she’d do the same with the only other character in canon that has as much in common with him as she does.
People who ship the Doctor / Romana and the Doctor / the Master don’t need to despair, though. I ship both of those pairings too, and, if anything, they make Romana / the Master appealing.
They’re probably both in love with the Doctor. But, because Romana chose politics and E-Space (and the chance to make a difference in her own way), and because the Master has tried to kill him quite a few times, their respective relationships failed to get off the ground. It stands to reason that they’d turn to each other, if the opportunity ever cropped up. And, as I’m about to explain, it probably did. Several times.
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The 2006 Doctor Who Annual, written by Russell T Davies himself, describes President Romana’s attempts to make peace with the Daleks. These attempts include the ‘Act of Master Restitution’. Although it has never been confirmed, this could well be the reason for the Master’s surprising execution on Skaro at the beginning of the TV movie. And, more importantly, it hints at plenty of off-screen encounters between the pair.
Furthermore, Romana was President during the Time War, and would have been instrumental in making the decision to resurrect the ‘perfect warrior’.
See? They have met in canon. We just didn’t get to see it.
And, really, it wouldn’t matter if they hadn’t. That’s the convenient thing about time travel. It makes anything possible.
Of course, there’s always a chance that Romana survived the Time War as well. If the Doctor can hide from the Family on Earth, and the Master can escape to the end of the universe, why shouldn’t she combine the best aspects of both plans? Although I don’t think the President would abandon Gallifrey, I’m sure Leela - her bodyguard and another former companion of the Doctor’s - would do whatever was necessary to protect her (up to, and including, the abuse of chameleon arch technology).
This theory has resulted in some rather excellent fanfiction, much of it produced around the time of ‘The Sound of Drums’. And, really, why shouldn’t it have done that? The Saxon incarnation is very keen on hurting the Doctor. What could hurt him more than finding out his arch nemesis has married one of his best friends?
Basically, even if President Romana / Jacobi!Master isn’t up your alley, there are many other combinations available. How about Romana I / Delgado!Master? Romana II / Ainley!Master?
(I’m sure I don’t need to mention the OT3 possibilities. Romana II / Saxon!Master / Tenth Doctor, anyone?)
Links:
- Fill This Hollow
A Romana/Master Fanmix
- Note to Self: Don’t Die
A Romana/Master Fanmix
- romanafen