Borusa

Leonard Sachs (1981)

**Borusa** was a notable figure in the history of the Time Lords of Gallifrey, and a very important figure in the life of the Doctor. At various points in his life, he assumed the ranks of Lord President, Cardinal and Chancellor of Gallifrey.

## Biography

Like all Time Lords, Borusa was taken from his family at the age of eight for the selection process in the Drylands. Staring into the Untempered Schism as part of a Time Lord initiation rite, Borusa was driven mad by what he saw in the Schism.

Like the Doctor, Borusa was a member of the Prydonian Chapter. (TV: *The Deadly Assassin*) Borusa held the degree of a jurist and was a tutor to the First Doctor. (TV: *The Deadly Assassin*)

Among other subjects, he taught mind-shielding. He wrote a paper on reason, which the Doctor had read. (TV: *The Invasion of Time*)

Borusa was twice offered the office of President. However, he declined both times, believing that the office had too many purely ceremonial functions and preferred to exercise real authority from behind the scenes. (PROSE: *Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin*)

### Involvement with the Master

When the Doctor returned to Gallifrey in his fourth incarnation, he was framed by the Decayed Master and Chancellor Goth for the assassination of the outgoing President. By this time, Borusa was Lord Cardinal on the High Council. Once the Doctor was shown to be innocent, Borusa set about "adjusting the truth" in the wake of the events, portraying the late Goth not as the Master's ally, but as a hero who had given his life to stop the Master. (TV: *The Deadly Assassin*)

### During the Sontaran invasion

After the incident with the Master, Borusa became Lord Chancellor — illegally, according to the Doctor — and at some point regenerated. The Doctor later returned to Gallifrey briefly to claim the post of Lord President, but was secretly working to defeat the telepathic Vardans in their quest to invade Gallifrey, a ploy which he eventually confided to Borusa. The Doctor asked his old mentor to remain in a lead-lined room to prevent the Vardans from reading his mind. Borusa acknowledged that he was too one-track-minded to employ the Doctor's "trick'" of keeping his thoughts too chaotic for the Vardans to read. Once the Vardans and their puppet masters, the Sontarans, had been defeated, the Doctor departed, again leaving Gallifrey in Borusa's hands. (TV: *The Invasion of Time*)

### Career as Lord President

Borusa was inducted officially as Lord President and regenerated again. He issued the order that Romana should be taken back to Gallifrey, (TV: *Meglos*) and had Castellan Spandrell reinstated in lieu of his successor, Castellan Kelner. When several versions of the Doctor and Romana converged, Borusa personally helped oversee the investigations Spandrell and Andred carried out, and later officiated the induction of Romana as Supreme Treasurer following Halvak's arrest. (TV: *Sealed Orders*)

## Personality

Borusa seemed to have been a strict teacher towards the Doctor and didn't give his former pupil much credit for saving Gallifrey from the Master, giving him a mark of nine out of ten. (TV: *The Deadly Assassin*) However, the pair seemed to have a love/hate relationship. (TV: *Sealed Orders*)

## Physical Appearance

In his "Cardinal" incarnation, Borusa was a tall, hawk-eyed old man with snowy-white hair and a seamed and wrinkled face. His eyes sparkled with intelligence and, despite his age, his bearing was upright. (PROSE: *Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin*)

Borusa looked similar in his "Chancellor" incarnation, again a tall man with hawk-like eyes and white hair. (PROSE: *Doctor Who and the Invasion of Time*)

In his "President" incarnation, Borusa was white-haired and aristocratic, with a thin moustache, (PROSE: *Doctor Who and the Sealed Orders*) looking older than his previous incarnations. (TV: *Sealed Orders*)

## Behind the Scenes

Borusa is one of the few Time Lords to be depicted in televised episodes through multiple regenerations on-screen. As of June 2013, all three actors who have portrayed him are deceased.