Rassilon - Character History

Character History

Within the universe of the television series, there are many contradictory legends about Rassilon. It is known that he developed the technology for time travel that made his people lords of time in the distant past together with his colleague Omega. Omega, a stellar engineer, was presumed killed by the supernova that created the black hole later known as the Eye of Harmony, and Rassilon harnessed the nucleus of the black hole to provide the energy that powers time travel. Rassilon then took control of Gallifrey and became the first Lord President. The official history is that he was a benevolent ruler who ruled his people wisely. However, there are other accounts which paint Rassilon as an opportunistic, ambitious and cruel dictator who seized power in the wake of his friend's death (for which some suggest he may have been deliberately responsible).

Rassilon's contributions to Time Lord culture and society were immense, and his name both reverberates and is honoured throughout Time Lord history. The Rassilon Imprimatur is the name given to the symbiotic nucleus of a Time Lord's cell structure which allows them to withstand the molecular stresses of time travel and grant them a link to their TARDIS time machines.

Several other Time Lord artifacts named after him have a technological function, in addition to their ceremonial roles:

• The Sash of Rassilon allows the wearer to be in close proximity to the quantum singularity that is the Eye of Harmony, providing protection from the Eye's gravitational and energy forces, and preventing the wearer from being drawn across the event horizon of the captured black hole. Use of the Sash in this way is cited as having a regenerative effect upon the wearer.
• The Crown of Rassilon (or matrix circlet) gives full access to the Matrix, providing a direct mental link to the computer network that serves as the repository of all Time Lord knowledge and their personality prints, captured at death in the Amplified Panatropic Computer (A.P.C net) that is a subsidiary part of the Matrix itself.
• The Key of Rassilon allows physical access to the Matrix, for maintenance of this `micro-universe` repository of Time Lord knowledge. Confusingly, this is a separate artifact from the so-called Great Key of Rassilon, that provides direct tapping of the near limitless energies of the Eye of Harmony, and is cited as a vital component part of the demat gun (a weapon of mass destruction); it is also hinted that this `key` is essential to accessing the other relative dimensions in time, in The Invasion of Time.
• The Rod of Rassilon (referred to as "the Great Key" in the Book of the Old Time in "The Deadly Assassin") allows the user to physically access the containment/control apparatus of the Eye of Harmony itself, that was historically hidden beneath the Panopticon central dias.
• The Coronet of Rassilon gives the user the ability to amplify and to project their own will to dominate others, but its effects can be defeated, if recognised, by a co-ordinated resistance of many minds.
• The Harp of Rassilon is a musical key that unlocks a secret room within the High Council chambers. This hidden compartment held the controls for the Time Scoop - a rudimentary `time corridor` technology, used presumably before time travel was perfected by Rassilon after the installation of the Eye of Harmony on Gallifrey.
• The Ring of Rassilon ostensibly grants the wearer immortality, but seemingly is keyed to Rassilon's DNA only, so that any other seizing the artifact is locked in perpetual imprisonment as a stone carving relief on Rassilon's bier.
• The Black Scrolls of Rassilon are parchment documents containing forbidden knowledge from the Dark Time, not recorded in the Matrix.

Rassilon is also given credit, variously, for TARDIS technology; the living metal and super-weapon validium; and the defensive Quantum Force Field and Transduction Barriers that protected Gallifrey. How much of this is true and how much of it is propaganda and public relations are not certain. However, it is established that a TARDIS derived its power primarily from the Eye of Harmony, prior to Gallifrey's destruction. And it is likely that the power provided by Rassilon's capture and installation of the Eye of Harmony would have been key to meeting the vast energy requirements of setting up and maintaining the defence screens for the entire planet of Gallifrey from its potential enemies. Indeed, in "The Invasion of Time" the Fourth Doctor uses the Matrix circlet to consult with Rassilon's personality print to find a way of disabling the Quantum Force Field, which prevented physical penetration of the planet Gallifrey, after K9 had destroyed the Transduction (teleportation) Barriers, upon his order, allowing the Vardans to first, partially materialise. However the question remains about how much is a romantic idea of Rassilon and his achievements as compared to the real person. In "The Two Doctors" (1985), the Sixth Doctor claims that Rassilon enjoyed fishing and advocated its practice by Time Lords, but on questioning by Peri, admits he may have just made it up, which can be said to illustrate the Time Lord propensity for pretension which could have obfuscated the truth from the official history.

The Tomb or Tower of Rassilon, also known as the Dark Tower, stands in the middle of the Death Zone — a blasted, barren plain — on Gallifrey. The Death Zone was used, in a period of Gallifrey's history known as the Dark Time, as an arena that pitted warriors of various alien species and times (captured by the use of a device called the Time Scoop) against each other in gladiatorial games, although the Second Doctor tells the Brigadier that Rassilon put a stop to the games ("The Five Doctors", 1983). It was rumored that Rassilon, who lived during this time, had been deposed by Time Lords rebelling against his rule. It was also claimed Rassilon had discovered the secret of immortality and was still alive in the Tower, sleeping. The quest to reach Rassilon's tomb and the secret, blocked by a series of deadly obstacles, is referred to as "The Game of Rassilon".