E ~ Eye of Harmony - The Eye of Harmony is the name given by the Timelords to the artificially created black hole that provides nearly inexhaustible amounts of energy to their home planet of Gallifrey and providing the power needed for time travel.
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The Eye was originally mentioned in the Fourth Doctor serial 'The Deadly Assassin' (1976), where it was revealed as the source of power that sustained Gallifrey. According to the ancient records, the Eye was the nucleus of a black hole, which the legendary Timelord figure Rassilon captured and placed beneath the citadel of the Timelords on Gallifrey (known as the Panopticon). As the Doctor realises, and explains to Coordinator Engin, that Rassilon placed the nucleus of the black hole in an eternally dynamic equation against the mass of the planet Gallifrey itself. The benefit of this perfectly "balanced" condition, so that as long as the Eye existed, gave the Time Lords immense benefits; one of these being that they would "neither flux nor wither, nor change their state" so could be attributed to their regenerative abilities. Also, it provided an enormous potential in power generation - for the day to day maintenance of Timelord society and its operations, and it's likely that it was directly linked to the physical barrier that was the Quantum (quantum singularity) Force field that was the primary Security Screen for the planet itself.
In addition, the Eye of Harmony would have likely powered the Transduction Barriers - transmitted energy shield - that prevented teleportation circumventing the Quantum Force field. Indeed, the Fourth Doctor, and K9, disabled the transduction barrier, enabling the Vardans to teleport in to the Panopticon, albeit in an out of phase state. The Doctor later, in an attempt to force full materialisation, by demonstrating both his fidelity and the Vardans own safety, had to puncture the Quantum Force field, allowing the Vardan Command Ship to settle over the Capitol. However, his actions could have easily disintegrated Gallifrey because this was manipulating the gravimetric wave guides of the Eye of Harmony itself, that probably functioned in 'harmony' with Gallifrey's own Van Allen radiation belts i.e. the natural gravimetric potential of the planet to deflect solar radiation. Despite these very real and vital benefits to Gallifrey and the Timelords, the true nature of the mythically named Eye of Harmony passed into legend of the Book of the Old Time, probably intentionally. Until the Fourth Doctor and the renegade Timelord known as the Master rediscovered it in 'The Deadly Assassin', the Timelords had forgotten its location, some even believing it to be mythical or no longer in existence. This seemingly lax mistake of the true nature and potential of the Eye of Harmony was probably a deliberate attempt to prevent future misuse and abuse of its by potential future Timelord despots like Morbius or as a matter of fact the Master.
As seen in 'The Deadly Assassin', the Eye was linked to two other Gallifreyan artefacts, the Sash of Rassilon and the Great Key of Rassilon. The Sash was essential for the wearer to control/manipulate the Eye safely without being sucked into its gravity well. While the Great Key, which was an ebonite rod, that gave access to the Eye at its location on Gallifrey, and was likely a 'key' component of the Eye's containment/utilisation mechanism beneath the Panopticon i.e. a hexagonal obelisk link by four power conduits. Also the Doctor later speculated about the eventual fate of the Master, saying that there was a possibility that he had survived his disastrous mission by way of these two artefacts as they would have helped him to convert the enormous energy emanating from the Black Obelisk, and so proved to be of use in prolonging the Masters diminished life span which was his ultimate goal, secondary to destroying the Timelords and their society. The Great Key was later renamed the Rod of Rassilon in 'The Invasion of Time' (1978) to distinguish it from the other Great Key, or Great Key of Rassilon. This was the third artefact connected to the Eye and was probably the intended means, by design, with which the holder (Rassilon) could directly access, or tap the power of the captured quantum singularity without going to the extraordinary lengths the Master did, to accomplish the same end.
In 'The Deadly Assassin' and the 1996 Doctor Who television movie, the Master tried to use the Eye to give himself a new set of regenerations. And it is this beneficial affect of the ambient radiation of the Eye of Harmony transmitted by the Key - "neither flux nor wither, nor change their state" was what the Master intended for himself. Conceivably there is a very real danger in this affect, because it would eventually corrupt the bearer. Indeed, there is a strong indication that the last known custodian of the 'true' Great Key of Rassilon, Chancellor Borusa became, eventually, tainted by this prolonged contact and sought another way to imbue himself with immortality('The Five Doctors'), presumably when he passed the Key on when he ascended to the Presidency of the Timelord High Council. For this very reason, coupled with the fact that the Key could be utilised to power the de-mat gun, the Key, and the Eye alike, were hidden or had their true purpose and potential obscured by myth. So that this use of the Key, and the necessary technical information, were kept separated by the fortunate strategy - that while only the President could access the construction blue prints, via the Matrix circlet, the Chancellor held and kept hidden the Key itself. So that neither could be reunited, except in extremis, and the Key put to use as a component of the De-mat gun. Later in the 'Trial of Time Lord' what resembles the Great Key is called the Key of Rassilon and is used primarily to physically penetrate the Matrix by the sixth Doctor in pursuit of the Valeyard, and the Master, who are hiding there. The interesting feature of this particular use of the Key implies a connection with the Eye of Harmony and the Matrix itself is. As the Keeper of Matrix claims, the Matrix is a micro universe, the repository for the sum total of all the gathered knowledge of the Timelords. Considering the enormity of this claim, and the use of the Key in its operational functionality its likely that it, the Matrix, was powered by the Eye of Harmony itself, given the necessary power requirements. Although the 'key' used to access this 'universe' was probably a copy of the original, to the extent that it granted access to the Matrix, rather than to full potential of the Eye of Harmony itself.
One of the unexplored functions of the Great Key and the Eye of Harmony was that they discreetly gave access to alternate universes. As example, when Chancellor Borusa maintained vehemently that the Sontarans could never threaten time itself, and all the attendant alternate realities of time, while he had the Great Key in his possession, 'The Invasion of Time'. Which would go some way to explain his reluctance, and obfuscation, to tell its exact whereabouts to the Doctor/President, especially with the enemy literally at the door. Perhaps this was another, purposed, use for the artificially created black hole the mythic Eye of Harmony - to act as conduit to other universes. As the seventh Doctor declares quite clearly in the 'Remembrance of the Daleks', that, the Daleks had time corridor technology - travel along the time line- but it was very crude and nasty. And what the Daleks really wanted was the power of the Timelords, and that could only be obtained with the Hand of Omega. Which seems to indicate that the 'hand' was something more than just 'a remote stellar manipulator'. Rather it was capable of customising stellar bodies into quantum singularities in a very specific way so that they would act as junctions into other realities, other universes. This facility was eventually extended to the Timelords' TARDIS, and provided the facility to travel anywhere, any when and in any quantum reality of the Omni-verse. A technology that died with the Timelords when Gallifrey was destroyed and repeatedly lamented by the Doctor ever after. This is backed by the fact that the Daleks could not technologically reproduce this ability for themselves, in order to match the Gallifreyan dominance of the temporal mechanics. Which further illustrates the point that the Eye of Harmony was not a simple the utilisation of a quantum singularity as a power source. Presumably the Daleks could have harvested an existing black hole for their purposes if this was the case but it required the Hand of Omega to rival Timelord power . So this implies a deeper unresolved necessity of the Eye and is further illustrated by the Dalek reliance on a naturally occurring quantum fracture that was the Medusa Cascade, to penetrate other quantum realities in carrying out their stratagem. Again this shows their lacked of technical sophistication to (re)produce a device that could annihilate reality, in their version, by assembling a device comprising of 27 planets. While the Timelords could abolish existence, in their version, by way of the De-mat gun powered by the Eye of Harmony controlled by the Matrix.
In addition, the Eye of Harmony would have likely powered the Transduction Barriers - transmitted energy shield - that prevented teleportation circumventing the Quantum Force field. Indeed, the Fourth Doctor, and K9, disabled the transduction barrier, enabling the Vardans to teleport in to the Panopticon, albeit in an out of phase state. The Doctor later, in an attempt to force full materialisation, by demonstrating both his fidelity and the Vardans own safety, had to puncture the Quantum Force field, allowing the Vardan Command Ship to settle over the Capitol. However, his actions could have easily disintegrated Gallifrey because this was manipulating the gravimetric wave guides of the Eye of Harmony itself, that probably functioned in 'harmony' with Gallifrey's own Van Allen radiation belts i.e. the natural gravimetric potential of the planet to deflect solar radiation. Despite these very real and vital benefits to Gallifrey and the Timelords, the true nature of the mythically named Eye of Harmony passed into legend of the Book of the Old Time, probably intentionally. Until the Fourth Doctor and the renegade Timelord known as the Master rediscovered it in 'The Deadly Assassin', the Timelords had forgotten its location, some even believing it to be mythical or no longer in existence. This seemingly lax mistake of the true nature and potential of the Eye of Harmony was probably a deliberate attempt to prevent future misuse and abuse of its by potential future Timelord despots like Morbius or as a matter of fact the Master.
As seen in 'The Deadly Assassin', the Eye was linked to two other Gallifreyan artefacts, the Sash of Rassilon and the Great Key of Rassilon. The Sash was essential for the wearer to control/manipulate the Eye safely without being sucked into its gravity well. While the Great Key, which was an ebonite rod, that gave access to the Eye at its location on Gallifrey, and was likely a 'key' component of the Eye's containment/utilisation mechanism beneath the Panopticon i.e. a hexagonal obelisk link by four power conduits. Also the Doctor later speculated about the eventual fate of the Master, saying that there was a possibility that he had survived his disastrous mission by way of these two artefacts as they would have helped him to convert the enormous energy emanating from the Black Obelisk, and so proved to be of use in prolonging the Masters diminished life span which was his ultimate goal, secondary to destroying the Timelords and their society. The Great Key was later renamed the Rod of Rassilon in 'The Invasion of Time' (1978) to distinguish it from the other Great Key, or Great Key of Rassilon. This was the third artefact connected to the Eye and was probably the intended means, by design, with which the holder (Rassilon) could directly access, or tap the power of the captured quantum singularity without going to the extraordinary lengths the Master did, to accomplish the same end.
In 'The Deadly Assassin' and the 1996 Doctor Who television movie, the Master tried to use the Eye to give himself a new set of regenerations. And it is this beneficial affect of the ambient radiation of the Eye of Harmony transmitted by the Key - "neither flux nor wither, nor change their state" was what the Master intended for himself. Conceivably there is a very real danger in this affect, because it would eventually corrupt the bearer. Indeed, there is a strong indication that the last known custodian of the 'true' Great Key of Rassilon, Chancellor Borusa became, eventually, tainted by this prolonged contact and sought another way to imbue himself with immortality('The Five Doctors'), presumably when he passed the Key on when he ascended to the Presidency of the Timelord High Council. For this very reason, coupled with the fact that the Key could be utilised to power the de-mat gun, the Key, and the Eye alike, were hidden or had their true purpose and potential obscured by myth. So that this use of the Key, and the necessary technical information, were kept separated by the fortunate strategy - that while only the President could access the construction blue prints, via the Matrix circlet, the Chancellor held and kept hidden the Key itself. So that neither could be reunited, except in extremis, and the Key put to use as a component of the De-mat gun. Later in the 'Trial of Time Lord' what resembles the Great Key is called the Key of Rassilon and is used primarily to physically penetrate the Matrix by the sixth Doctor in pursuit of the Valeyard, and the Master, who are hiding there. The interesting feature of this particular use of the Key implies a connection with the Eye of Harmony and the Matrix itself is. As the Keeper of Matrix claims, the Matrix is a micro universe, the repository for the sum total of all the gathered knowledge of the Timelords. Considering the enormity of this claim, and the use of the Key in its operational functionality its likely that it, the Matrix, was powered by the Eye of Harmony itself, given the necessary power requirements. Although the 'key' used to access this 'universe' was probably a copy of the original, to the extent that it granted access to the Matrix, rather than to full potential of the Eye of Harmony itself.
One of the unexplored functions of the Great Key and the Eye of Harmony was that they discreetly gave access to alternate universes. As example, when Chancellor Borusa maintained vehemently that the Sontarans could never threaten time itself, and all the attendant alternate realities of time, while he had the Great Key in his possession, 'The Invasion of Time'. Which would go some way to explain his reluctance, and obfuscation, to tell its exact whereabouts to the Doctor/President, especially with the enemy literally at the door. Perhaps this was another, purposed, use for the artificially created black hole the mythic Eye of Harmony - to act as conduit to other universes. As the seventh Doctor declares quite clearly in the 'Remembrance of the Daleks', that, the Daleks had time corridor technology - travel along the time line- but it was very crude and nasty. And what the Daleks really wanted was the power of the Timelords, and that could only be obtained with the Hand of Omega. Which seems to indicate that the 'hand' was something more than just 'a remote stellar manipulator'. Rather it was capable of customising stellar bodies into quantum singularities in a very specific way so that they would act as junctions into other realities, other universes. This facility was eventually extended to the Timelords' TARDIS, and provided the facility to travel anywhere, any when and in any quantum reality of the Omni-verse. A technology that died with the Timelords when Gallifrey was destroyed and repeatedly lamented by the Doctor ever after. This is backed by the fact that the Daleks could not technologically reproduce this ability for themselves, in order to match the Gallifreyan dominance of the temporal mechanics. Which further illustrates the point that the Eye of Harmony was not a simple the utilisation of a quantum singularity as a power source. Presumably the Daleks could have harvested an existing black hole for their purposes if this was the case but it required the Hand of Omega to rival Timelord power . So this implies a deeper unresolved necessity of the Eye and is further illustrated by the Dalek reliance on a naturally occurring quantum fracture that was the Medusa Cascade, to penetrate other quantum realities in carrying out their stratagem. Again this shows their lacked of technical sophistication to (re)produce a device that could annihilate reality, in their version, by assembling a device comprising of 27 planets. While the Timelords could abolish existence, in their version, by way of the De-mat gun powered by the Eye of Harmony controlled by the Matrix.
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