10 Disturbing Backstories Behind Doctor Who Characters
The Master has a reason for being an insane megalomaniac murderer, and it's all about his past...
Doctor Who has been around for more than 55 years, and throughout all the time the series has been on television, there have been more than 860 episodes. That's a lot of programming, and with it came some of the best characters in all of science fiction.
The Doctor is but one character on a series that features hundreds of different species, unique individuals, companions, and more. Because it's been on for so long, Doctor Who has managed to expand on many character's origins and backstories, sometimes taking years to do exactly that.
Because conflict is such a pervasive theme on Doctor Who, many of the characters have rather tragic backstories. Whether they were raised in the midst of war, were the sole-surviving member of their species, or are the product of genetic engineering, a ton of Doctor Who characters have disturbing backstories.
These ten characters and species share origins and backstories that make them compelling. Even the villains garner some sympathy for the horrors of their upbringing or tragic transformations. There are thousands of characters from Doctor Who, but these are arguably the ones with the most disturbing backstories.
10. The Doctor
If there's one character on the classic show who has endured a tumultuous backstory, it's the Doctor themselves. The Doctor entered the Time Lord Academy at the age of eight, and there isn't much known about their life before or after this period other than noting he was a 'teenager' for 50 years.
Because the Doctor has lived for thousands of years (depending on who you ask), their life has been mostly backstory. Everything that happened to the Doctor from the point where they "borrowed" the TARDIS to the 13th incarnation has been one long adventurous tale of the Time Lord's long life.
Most of the Doctor's time in the universe has been fraught with death and destruction, and while there is some joy to be found, at the end of the day, the Doctor is often left alone. Their family has gone, their companions have been lost, and the TARDIS remains mostly empty.
The Time War saw the purported destruction of Gallifrey along with every other member of that race, making the Doctor the sole-surviving Time Lord in the universe. They ran from that distinction for a long time before finally finding their homeworld once more, but for centuries, the Doctor was very much alone.