Three/Master
- You may be looking for a different Doctor/Master pairing; see The Doctor/The Master.
| Pairing | |
|---|---|
| Pairing: | Three/Master |
| Alternative name(s): | |
| Gender category: | Slash |
| Fandom: | Doctor Who |
| Canonical?: | It's complicated |
| Prevalence: | |
| Archives: | |
| Other: |  Obey Your Master by MistressAinley (2012), with Delgado!Master |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
This article or section needs expansion. |
Three/Master is the Doctor/Master pairing usually featuring the Third Doctor and the Delgado!Master from Doctor Who. Although, one can also occasionally find Three/Ainley!Master as well.
Canon
The Doctor has been exiled to Earth, following his trial in 'The War Games'. From his very first episode he begins to work for a secret military operation, UNIT, as their scientific advisor. The Master is one of the returning villains from this period, and notoriously appears in every episode of season 8.
Whatever the Master's specific reasons for coming to earth (over and over again), it's clear they hinge on the Doctor. The Doctor is relatively responsive to the Master's attentions. He takes a great deal of pleasure in a battle of wits that routinely gets innocent bystanders killed. He seems to goad the Master by co-operating: playing his games right back and sending ambivalent signals. This prompts the Master to keep coming back to try his luck again when the Doctor denies him. How aware the Doctor is of his own behavior and its consequences is a bit of a mystery. Maybe he's bored, lonely, and terrible at properly telling the Master 'no'?
The Doctor's balder rejection in Colony in Space ushers in a change in their relationship: for the first time it begins to seem like the Master means a few of his death threats, or is at least angry enough with this particular regeneration of the Doctor to try to kill him in earnest.
They work together well: they have a habit of slipping into admiring each other/cooing over their random scientific projects/discoveries, as if they briefly forget they're nominally trying to kill each other. They complement each other (e.g. the Doctor riding confidently over the Master's neurotic worrying in The Mind of Evil, or the Master coming up with all the plans he inevitably ropes the Doctor into assisting him with).
They function as equals, inverses and mirrors for each other, with uncanny similarities in how they think and a deep, rational moral divide in how they perceive the world. Delgado's Master is arguably sociopathic, but he's rarely insane in the way his later incarnations can be, coming off as more amoral than immoral. The Master's bottom line is that he'd like to rule the universe jointly with the Doctor. The Doctor doesn't seem to have as clear a motivating purpose, especially as regards the Master, but he certainly can't countenance accepting the Master's offer.
Fandom
[imdefyingmavity]
One of the reasons that the Three x Delgado!Master relationship is my favourite incarnation is that I think it’s still the best dynamic to date that shows the complexity of their relationship. Watching them reminds me a lot of Moses and Ramses in the Prince of Egypt; these two opposing forces who deep down care for each other but they’ve both taken such drastic paths that they’re not willing to let that affection compromise what is important to them.[1]
Certain scenes provide shipping fuel for the ship:
#this is the best scene in the entire show shut up 🤣#this is the kind of communication that only happens between serial divorceesreblog tags on Tumblr post giffing a scene with Thoschei making some... interesting gestures at each other.[2]
Fanworks
Fanfiction
Fanvids
Fanart
- Three and Delgado!Master: a summary. (Jul 2013) by halorvic
Other
- Three x Delgado!Master text posts (Jan 2023) by sarahwatchesthings
Archives and Links
- Third Doctor/The Master (Delgado) tag at Archive of Our Own
- Third Doctor/The Master (Ainley) tag at Archive of Our Own