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The Master escaped The Great Time War to the end of the universe (which requires a TARDIS) and rewrote his entire biology to become human using Chameleon Arch. When he became Time Lord again to remember everything, he took the TARDIS of The Doctor to make it a Paradox Machine.

But, what happened to his own TARDIS?

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We have no idea: it's never addressed by the show.

However, the assumption that only a TARDIS could let the Master escape to the end of the universe is erroneous.

Lest we forget, the Last Great Time War wouldn't have been a time war if the Daleks hadn't also possessed time travel technology. Many of the more advanced societies of the Whoniverse do--or did, or will; it gets confusing. Even Captain Harkness has a Time Wristband. The Master could well have hijacked or hitchhiked from another race, or used non-TARDIS Gallifreyan time travel tech. Some time travel is more like "opening a hole" or a "time cannon" than a machine, which would leave no tech at the destination; or if he hitched a ride, the driver would leave after dropping him off. Or if the Master used his TARDIS or stole a machine, he may have destroyed it to make it harder for him to be found (I'd guess that the Master was canny enough not to effect his escape using a vessel capable of streaming all events in and around itself to Gallifrey High Command in the first place).

Or maybe his TARDIS is still out there, but he stole the Doctor's because it was closer and safer to get to --and because doing so would, he hoped, strand the Doctor.

But again, this is all pure rampant speculation with absolutely no support or evidence. The show--and to the best of my knowledge all non-show story material--is silent on the matter.

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  • It's possible he just used the Doctor's TARDIS because it was conveniently nearby (and he liked to screw over the Doctor whenever possible), isn't it? His TARDIS might still be around nearby, or maybe far away since once he became human he wouldn't remember that he should avoid straying too far from wherever he first arrived.
    – Hypnosifl
    Jul 5, 2014 at 15:17
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    Presumably he had a TARDIS for the Chameleon Arch. He also must have regenerated into a child before using it (since he would have been human after). Since he was found on the edge of the Silver Devastation, his TARDIS is presumably still there.
    – Elliott Frisch
    Jul 6, 2014 at 2:20
  • @ElliottFrisch Since we don't know for sure when or where he used the Chameleon Arch --there's no indication such a thing is necessarily associated with a TARDIS any more than we can say a telephone is just because the TARDIS has one-- and even in the loose sense of continuity Doctor Who possesses interviews with creative leads are often ignored, nothing really definitive can be extrapolated from that.
    – BESW
    Jul 6, 2014 at 3:17
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    @BESW That's why it was a comment. Also, isn't a Chameleon Arch just an ex Deus ex Machina?
    – Elliott Frisch
    Jul 6, 2014 at 3:21
  • @ElliottFrisch every piece of timelord tech is a deus ex machina. Tardis, screwdriver, k9, etc.
    – user16696
    Jul 6, 2014 at 8:23
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I am going to suggest that The Master lost his TARDIS when he was put on trial by the Daleks in the 1996 movie with Paul McGann. They took it, and used it to start The Time War with the Time Lords. Everything that takes place after the movie would suggest this to be true: the Master has not been shown with a TARDIS. How else do you explain the Daleks having technology to match the Time Lords, or their ability to start The Time War?

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  • The Daleks had time travel and bigger on the inside technology long before the '96 movie. One could argue timey-wimeyness, but they needn't have gotten it from The Master's TARDIS.
    – Politank-Z
    Feb 5, 2017 at 7:01

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