Five/Master
| Pairing | |
|---|---|
| Pairing: | Fifth Doctor/The Master |
| Alternative name(s): | |
| Gender category: | Slash |
| Fandom: | Doctor Who |
| Canonical?: | No |
| Prevalence: | |
| Archives: | |
| Other: |  Art by lighttimegoddess (2014), here with Ainley!Master |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
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Five/Master is the (usually) slash pairing of the Fifth Doctor and the Master from Doctor Who. Usually, this refers to the Ainley!Master, though occasionally other Masters as well.
Canon
The Doctor and the Master regenerate in close proximity to each other and right after each other. They still have good bantering chemistry and a great degree of compatibility, but with additional emotional and tension between the two. Ainley's Master is far more physically domineering than Delgado's, and he leers, purrs, insinuates and stands too close to Peter Davison's rather nervous Doctor.
They still care about each other, but it's complicated by the Doctor's understanding that the Master destroyed a good chunk of the universe upon assuming this new body, that he's willing to kill to get the Doctor's attention and not shy about involving others in his little gestures of affection, and that he himself came to be because the Master killed his last regeneration. The Doctor's capable of making desperate efforts to save his life, yet also of letting him be harmed because he can't justify to himself exchanging the Master's safety for the life of an innocent. In his penultimate serial, Planet of Fire, Five decides not to save the Master's life.
The Master in this somewhat-madder-than-last-time incarnation veers from besotted to homicidal. But through it all is a trust that the Doctor isn't actually capable of letting him die (to the extent that he taunts the Doctor to do it with the Master's own weapon in King's Demons, knowing full well the Doctor can't. It is significant that the Master's supposed death in Planet of Fire is a result of the Doctor's inaction, rather than his action).
Fandom
Fanworks
Fanfiction
- Bitter Aloes (90's) by Anne Ellis