The Time Lord penchant for ceremony extends to their technology, with various artefacts given weighty names like the Hand of Omega, the Eye of Harmony or the Key of Rassilon.

The name " Hand of Omega " was chosen by Rassilon for political reasons.

In the context of the series, Omega is known as one of the founding fathers of the Time Lords of the planet Gallifrey, and is a revered figure in Time Lord history together with the equally legendary Rassilon ; the Third Doctor refers to him as the Time Lords ' " greatest hero ".

Using the Hand, Omega performed adjustments on a star near Gallifrey's in an attempt to provide a power source for the time travel experiments he conducted with Rassilon.

The first connection between Omega and Rassilon was made by Alan Moore in his 1980 Doctor Who Monthly comic strip story Star Death ( DWM # 47 ).

Omega and Rassilon were both members of this project, and when sabotage sent Omega hurtling into the newly created black hole, he was presumed lost.

Omega, a stellar engineer, was presumed killed by the supernova that created the black hole later known as the Eye of Harmony, and Rassilon harnessed the nucleus of the black hole to provide the energy that powers time travel.

This leads to Rassilon becoming part of a ruling triumvirate with Omega and a mysterious figure called the Other.

In that novel, the Doctor is revealed to be the reincarnation of " the Other ", a shadowy figure and contemporary of Rassilon and Omega from Ancient Gallifrey.

Elements of this effort were liberally scattered through Seasons 25 and 26 of the series, and occasionally included hints about the Doctor's past ; for example, in Silver Nemesis, when Ace and the Doctor discuss the creation of validium, the Doctor mentions that it was created by Omega and Rassilon.

The other two members of the Triumvirate were Rassilon and Omega.

Like Rassilon, various contradictory legends surround the Other, some hinting that he had powers surpassing that of Rassilon or Omega, and some even suggesting that he was not born on the Time Lords ' home world of Gallifrey.

( Some accounts suggest that Rassilon misled Omega into believing he would survive this mission.

The latter novel Lungbarrow shows Rassilon becoming increasingly tyrannical and violently crushing resistance to his reforms, which ultimately leads to the Other breaking with him and throwing himself into the genetic looms, leading to his later apparent reincarnation as the Doctor.

) Rassilon and the Other were left to pick up the pieces, with Rassilon harnessing the nucleus of the black hole to create the Eye of Harmony and becoming virtual dictator of Time Lord civilisation.

The Tomb or Tower of Rassilon, also known as the Dark Tower, stands in the middle of the Death Zone — a blasted, barren plain — on Gallifrey.

In the Doctor Who comic strip published in Doctor Who Magazine, the Matrix is depicted as being inhabited by the minds of dead Time Lords — including Rassilon — who have a sort of quasi-existence within its confines.

He explains to Jamie that once the briode nebuliser of the module is primed with his symbiotic nuclei — the Rassilon Imprimatur — it will be safe for anyone to use.

The Doctor and Ace visit England in 1988, where three rival factions — the Cybermen, a group of Neo-Nazis and a 17th century sorceress named Lady Peinforte — are attempting to gain control of a statue made of a living metal, validium, that was created by Rassilon as the ultimate defence for Gallifrey.

Rassilon shows them a frozen solar system — one which housed a species which could have threatened the Time Lords.

Rassilon states his intention is to bring about the end of time so the Time Lords can transcend to a noncoporeal state.

Within the universe of the television series, there are many contradictory legends about Rassilon.

However the question remains about how much is a romantic idea of Rassilon and his achievements as compared to the real person.

Rassilon taunted him about his hesitation, but after seeing a mysterious woman among Rassilon's entourage, the Doctor shot the diamond Rassilon sent to the Master to act as an anchor for the link, severing it.

# The image is being used for informational purposes about the character Rassilon mentioned several time in the series but only shown in this one scene ;

The End of Time saw the High Council of Time Lords led by a Time Lord President whom the Doctor named " Rassilon ", attempting to escape the Time War by materialising Gallifrey in the place of Earth on Christmas 2009.

Rassilon, the ultimate founder of Time Lord society, then took a singularity ( assumed by fans and the spin-off media to be the same one as Omega's ) and placed it beneath the Time Lords ' citadel on Gallifrey.

The Time Lords portrayed were the high council of Gallifrey led by a resurrected Rassilon in the final days of the Time War.

After hearing a prophecy from the Time Lady ' the Visionary ' that the final day of the Time War would see the end of the Time Lord race barring two survivors, the Doctor and the Master, Rassilon devised a method to escape the Time Lock and materialise Gallifrey outside the Time War.

The Hand was hidden by Rassilon, but escaped just before the Doctor left Gallifrey.

Rassilon then took control of Gallifrey as Lord President.

The Doctor explains what he has deduced: that the Eye is actually the nucleus of a black hole, an inexhaustible energy source that Rassilon captured to power Gallifrey ; the Sash and Key are its control devices.

Borusa desires to be President Eternal of Gallifrey and is intent on seeking immortality from the Tomb of Rassilon, which is hidden in the tower in the Death Zone.

According to the ancient records, the legendary Time Lord figure Rassilon captured and placed the Eye, a nucleus of a black hole, beneath the Time Lord's citadel on Gallifrey ( the Panopticon ).

Rassilon placed the black hole's nucleus in an eternally dynamic equation against the mass of Gallifrey and so that as long as the Eye existed in this " balanced state ", the power of the Time Lords would " neither flux nor wither ".

Rassilon then took control of Gallifrey and became the first Lord President.

This hidden compartment held the controls for the Time Scoop-a rudimentary ` time corridor ` technology, used presumably before time travel was perfected by Rassilon after the installation of the Eye of Harmony on Gallifrey.

Rassilon is also given credit, variously, for TARDIS technology ; the living metal and super-weapon validium ; and the defensive Quantum Force Field and Transduction Barriers that protected Gallifrey.

Before the Doctor destroyed Gallifrey, however, Rassilon attempted to break Gallifrey out of the time lock that blocked the Last Great Time War from temporal manipulation, placing a drumming beat in the mind of the Master when the Master gazed into the Time Vortex through the Untempered Schism as a child ( and thus making Rassilon ultimately responsible for the Master's evil ).

Rassilon went to kill the Doctor in revenge, but was badly hurt by a vengeful Master, learning the truth that his life was manipulated by the president, as Rassilon, the other Time Lords, and Gallifrey were all sent directly back into the Time Lock and the last day of the Last Great Time War.

* Marc Platt's novels Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible and Lungbarrow establish that the Sisterhood of Karn are the remnants of an all-female cult that once ruled Gallifrey, which was led by the Pythia, and was outlawed when Rassilon came to power.