#The Doctor's rationalization for their actions hinges on the Master being unbreakable. Recognizing that as untrue unravles everything

[yourstatusisnotquo]

(This is one of my favorite trains of Master-related thought!! I got legit excited seeing it being discussed across my dash)

To add to this, I've found the way that this idea of "immortality at all costs" has become less of a goal and more of a curse since the late Simm era extremely interesting.

The Master's three core ingrediants have (more or less) always been 1) Time Lords are superior, 2) I want to be the ruler of the universe, with Gallifrey at its implied center, and 3) I want the Doctor (want him dead, want him as a co-ruler, want him carnally, want him subjugated, want him elevated, all of the above - take it as you will, the answer remains the same).

To accomplish all of the above, he wants to be immortal (or at very least, unkillable. Undefeatable.) But that was simply for the sake of power, and to better obtain those three wants above.

In response, the narrative took away his Time Lord body. Then, his sense of self and reason, repeatedly (eg Survival ep, Morphant/Goosnake, Simm with the drums). Then they took away Gallifrey so there was no one left worth ruling, and even once it was brought back, they have him learn about what they'd done to the Doctor (not to mention to him) and suddenly the entire concept of 'Time Lords as being superior' is taken from him. And of course, the entire story is one big, painfully protracted sequence of him Not Getting The Doctor, no matter what scheme/compromise/threat/plea/gift he comes up with.

The single, solitary thing on his wishlist that he did get was immortality. Just without any of the benifits or power he ever wanted it for. And in the Delgado era that felt fun, almost like a cheeky 'ace-up-the-sleeve', thrown in at the end of epidoses with a "ha ha I'm still alive, see you next time!". But now, 'never dying' has gone from something victorious, to something physically difficult (Ainley), then to something painful and ruinous (Roberts), then to something spiteful and almost involuntary (Simm), then to so something so involuntary it borders on hysterical (Gomez), and finally to something that feels cursed to continue even despite his own efforts (Dhawan).

Has there ever been a character who gets such a protracted and painful narrative of every one of their fears coming true? I don't think there has been, and it's one of the things that makes the Master an incredible character, but damn if he doesn't have an extremely rough story, the consequences of which we're so rarely given exposure to.

I do believe that the current Master is still desperate to never die. Or at least he'd say as much - mostly out of habit, fear, a need for control, a desire to win - you name it. But I think that he wants it all to be over equally as much, to the extent that you get moments like Dhawan consuming that cyber metal with what feels like a Russian roulette mentality of being 50/50 on whether or not it'll kill him.

There's an element of autonomy to it too. Survival against all odds used to feel like an autonomous choice for him - like the ultimate act of power. That gave it value! Now, it feels like surviving has become something obligatory and forced upon him, and it feels like the Master has become aware of this. It feels like watching a character realize it's less that he's less immortal, and more that the option to die has been taken from him, and his fury and horror at that mindset shift has been a little disturbing to watch. Doubly so, because our story's mouthpiece (the Doctor) hasn't seemed to realize this. (Yet.)

You know, the masters life post-delgado is consistently a nightmare. This might have something to do with the abrupt nature of delgado-masters departure, which just... ends after frontier in space because Roger Delgado died in a car accident while filming for another show (which affected the entire shows lore and also influenced Pertwees decision to leave). The master is never quite the same afterwards. But... the deadly assassin establishes that this is the masters final life that he is trying desperately to prolong even though he is actively decaying. in the keeper of traken he says this:

"You will find immobility endurable, Doctor. I speak from experience."

Quite seriously, the Master as we see him in frontier in space is the last time we ever see him in his own body, fully alive and not on the brink of death. For him to be so desperate to stay alive that he would choose such a painful and degrading existence even temporarily, that's horrific, so it probably explains his increasingly deranged and manic plots.

The doctor, with his typical gallifreyan prejudice, dismisses this as the master being irresponsible with his regenerations (funny enough by the time the master was on his last life the doctor is only on his third) but it says something that some of the masters most evil and depraved crimes (possessing Tremas, eating people and turning the human race into him, whatever tf he was doing in the TV movie) are committed simply out of a need to stay alive, and is that so selfish? Well, yes, but what would you do?