Lifespan of a Timelord

[paladin]

I was wondering if it was established what the lifespan of a timelord is? For that matter, what is the lifespan of a single regeneration for a timelord? I know it was stated within the series that a timelord can regenerate 12 times, so 13 lives.

[Captain Seafort]

They're immortal, albeit not (obviously) invulnerable, as the Doctor established in The War Games.

[Iroscato]

At one point in the old series, it's stated that Timelords can "live forever, barring accidents". How seriously this is taken nowadays is unclear. But at the very least, each incarnation has the better part of a century to live.
And considering the Doctor has been gallivanting around in the TARDIS for over 700 years, his first life must have been at least 200 when he stole her. Add this to the fact that the first Doctor seemingly died of old age, I would say each incarnation has an upper limit of perhaps 300 years. Though again, this might well have been retconned by now.

This is all rendered moot of course, as we all know the Doctor is NOT going to die after his 12th regeneration.

[Eternal_Freedom]

In his scond life he said he was 250, the Fourth Doctor upped this to 739, the seventh Doctor got up to 900...seems to be (for the Doctor at least) that each regeneration lasts him around 200 years. Of course, he has a somewhat more dangerous life than most Time Lords. The "Live forever, barring accidents" I always interpreted as each regeneration doesn't "age" but can still be mortally wounded and regenerate.

[Broomstick]

First of all, Doctor Who does not have iron-clad canon. There have been plenty of times things have been ret-conned.

Second, the "12 regenerations" was strongly implied to be an artificial limit. In "Underworld" the Doctor and Leela encounter a shipped crewed by Minyans who utilized regenerative technology who had all regenerated dozens, possibly hundreds of times with no upper limit. The Doctor also mentioned problems with such large numbers of generations in that very episode. "Mawdryn Undead" features people punished by the Time Lords by endless regeneration. The Master spent part of the Old Who series pursuing additional regenerations after he ran out his allotment. And finally, in New Who the Master states the Time Lords gave him a new cycle of regenerations after they resurrected him for the Time War.

Third, in "Let's Kill Hitler" River Song is said to have given the Doctor all her remaining regenerations, so apparently even if at one time he has a 12 regeneration limit that seems to have been lifted thanks to her.

None of this, of course, speaks to the lifespan of a Time Lord without regenerations, or the lifespan of a regeneration.

[LadyTevar]

As said, The Doctor, and to some extent The Master have lived very 'exciting' lives out galavanting across the TimeStream. They have been in mortal danger on multiple occasions, but it seems that the majority of Time Lords never left home. We see repeatedly that the Elders of Galifrey are all aged, and there's been multiple attempts to explain why the Doctor is so young looking when the other Time Lords are all aged. Could they simply are spending a nice long 300-400 yr Regeneration after spending at least one prior Regen to reach their position?

We do see young TimeLords as Guardsmen, so in theory is there is a full society beyond just the Elders in their Tower. It's very possible that some TimeLords spread out their Regenerations like the Hindu Ideal of a man dividing his life into Student, Warrior, Father, Hermit/Sage. In this case, it's spend a Regen to learn and get out into the Universe, see the sights, and once you're tired or jaded of the adventure, settle down and start making a serious business of your life.
The Doctor just never lost his joy in adventure, never wanted to settle down.

[Broomstick]

In "The Invasion of Time" we also see "Outsiders", Gallifreyans who rejected the mainstream Time Lord society and lived out in the wilds wearing furs and using primitive weapons. There is no mention of whether or not Outsiders regenerate, but it wouldn't surprise me if they don't given how much they have otherwise reverted to non-technological/primitive conditions. Unless regeneration is something that to at least some degree evolved in Gallifreyans, or is a changed induced in the entire species.

[Stark]

I was wondering if it was established what the lifespan of a timelord is? For that matter, what is the lifespan of a single regeneration for a timelord? I know it was stated within the series that a timelord can regenerate 12 times, so 13 lives.

The only real information is that single regenerations can last a few hundred years as a lower limit.

[Parallax]

The first Doctor's body wore out and he did technically go from old age, but that shell of his did go through some pretty serious trauma, especially since it was a tad different to later models (only had one heart, etc).
Think about it, knocked out numerous times by various means, lots of running about, and the big one - exposure to the Dalek's temporal weapon during The Dalek's Masterplan (at the same time it killed Sarah Kingdom).

[Captain Seafort]

Think about it, knocked out numerous times by various means, lots of running about, and the big one - exposure to the Dalek's temporal weapon during The Dalek's Masterplan (at the same time it killed Sarah Kingdom).

Not to mention the draining effect of Mondas that finally saw him off.

[Stark]

Since I'm not sure we have any idea how old that body was, it doesn't even matter. He could have looked really old and had a stoop for literally hundreds of years. Outside of dialog I'm not sure it gets any more concrete than 'a few hundred years at least'.

[Havok]

He himself seems to think he is very old.
In the episode with the Master on the SHIELD Hellicarrier, he aged him 100 years once, then he aged him again like what, 900 or something. He just turned into a creepy little worm guy. Seems like each regen gets 1000 years plus.

Obviously they aren't immortal as he thinks the Face of Boe is a miracle.

[Stark]

Immortality is p easy. And being turned into a hobbit by cowardice doesn't really count as regular wear and tear anyway. Everyone knows cowards live longer, after all.

[mr friendly guy]

I interpret the "live forever, barring accidents" line as an indication that its possible to keep on regenerating with TL technology. We see evidence of the Minyans using TL tech to continue doing so and the TL offering the Master another set of regenerations. However given that Time Lords only have 12 regenerations, I am of the opinion its an artificial limit they impose on themselves. Who wants to live forever anyway? Except Rassilon and a few others, but you get the picture.

Now how long does each incarnation last before the wear and tear of age gets them. I would roughly guess a bit more than 1000 years. In the Leisure Hive, Tom Baker's Doctor is artificially aged 1000 years older, and IIRC and he looked ancient. So I put it slightly more than that. Its however speculation on my part.

[jwl]

In last of the time lords aging 1000 years did this to the doctor:
,
so you could give a limit of about 1000 years per regeneration.
However, aging 100 years did this to him:

and a lot of the classic doctors reached this age without nearly the same aging effects.
Furthermore, this is the eleventh doctor aged 200 years:

No problems whatsoever, so it can't have been retconned. Maybe the master's device caused some kind of "special aging " in the doctor.
I thought the first doctor died of fatigue, i.e. doing to much crazy stuff, as opposed to old age.

[Parallax]

I'd assume that whatever the Master did, stopped the Doctor's normal biology from keeping him physically fit/young.
Timey Wimey or something.

[Batman]

Aging a hundred and then a thousand years in a matter of moments, as opposed to, say, a hundred and a thousand years might have had something to do with it.

[Havok]

Yeah being aged 100 or 1000 years without the nutrition to back it up, yet still being "immortal", you are probably going to end up looking like something out of Harry Potter.

[Iroscato]

Perhaps just a tiny trace of regenerative energy resides in his body. It's known to have been enough to regrow a hand, though that was hours after a regeneration, but perhaps just enough is kept to keep him looking the same age for hundreds of years.
Jwl; I'm assuming you've seen the series 6 finale, but even so, I'll black it out because I'm nice. Spoiler

That wasn't the Doctor in America. It was the Tesselecta taking the form of the Doctor with him piloting it, and he may very well have lied about being 1103. In fact, I'm almost certain that he did.

[Parallax]

I'm almost certain the Doctor no longer knows for sure how old he is any more.

[Havok]

Of course he does. Why wouldn't he? He seems to be able to keep track of his "prime" timeline.

[Parallax]

Because as early on as his fourth incarnation, he had it wrong (and Romana had to correct him).

[Havok]

Proves nothing. The Doctor is constantly "absent minded" for effect.

[Purple]

Yeah being aged 100 or 1000 years without the nutrition to back it up, yet still being "immortal", you are probably going to end up looking like something out of Harry Potter.

This is a seriously good point. No mater how the whole regeneration thing works his body must undergo the same natural regenerative processes ours do in terms of the day to day cell replacement. So suddenly dealing 1000 or even 100 years worth of that to a body with no fuel to use would be horrible if fun to watch.

[jwl]

Perhaps just a tiny trace of regenerative energy resides in his body. It's known to have been enough to regrow a hand, though that was hours after a regeneration, but perhaps just enough is kept to keep him looking the same age for hundreds of years.
Jwl; I'm assuming you've seen the series 6 finale, but even so, I'll black it out because I'm nice. Spoiler

That wasn't the Doctor in America. It was the Tesselecta taking the form of the Doctor with him piloting it, and he may very well have lied about being 1103. In fact, I'm almost certain that he did.

Yeah, I forgot that. Although I'm pretty sure he mentioned being over 1000 a few other times, as well.