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In The End of Time (2) episode of Doctor Who (2005), Gallifrey's president appeared with some kind of device wearing in hand. The device surprisingly reversed The Master's work of converting every human being into The Master by one movement when The president or the device didn't even know how The Master achieved that.

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver also sometimes work like magical device, but no Doctor Who fan can think that that sonic screwdriver was able to do that. That was really big thing.

What was Gallifrey's president wearing in his hand? What are the powers of that device?

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    It goes ping when there's stuff?
    – Jeff
    Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 19:37
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    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Glove? Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 19:38
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    Probably there isn't much more information available than what's given in the Rassilon's gauntlet article on the TARDIS wikia, since that's usually pretty thorough. They do mention the book Engines of War has a little more about it beyond what was in "The End of Time", though.
    – Hypnosifl
    Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 19:43
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    Obviously with Rassilon's massive ego and history of his naming schemes, it should be called the Hand of Rassilon or Iron Fist of Rassilon.
    – user16696
    Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 20:02

1 Answer 1

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It has no official name, though most people call it the "Gauntlet of Rassilon"

At the very end of the episode, we finally get confirmation that he is, indeed, Rassilon, when the Tenth Doctor calls him that. Rassilon is a name that appears occasionally in the classic series: he is the founder of the Time Lord society and one of their greatest inventors; he is largely responsible for everything the Time Lord technology is capable of doing.

Rassilon had a whole slew of powerful artifacts named after him, which he mostly invented himself, including:

  • Rod of Rassilon
  • Crown of Rassilon
  • Coronet of Rassilon
  • Seal of Rassilon
  • Ring of Rassilon

Many of these artifacts were passed on to the sitting President of the Time Lords, and had important control functions related to running Gallifrey. Others, like the Ring, were so powerful they were hidden away. If you're interested, and can find them, most of the references to Rassilons tool belt are from the episodes The Five Doctors and The Invasion of Time (though the Seal of Rassilon is the thing Eleven sticks on Handle's head in Time of the Doctor to help him translate Gallifreyan).

The gauntlet he is wearing is most likely another item in this collection, probably crafted as a weapon in the Time War. To my knowledge, it was never referenced or named prior to The End of Time, and has not been named or referenced since.

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    It hasn't been referenced on the show again, but the wikia article I linked to in a comment above mentioned that it's referenced in the novel Engines of War, the only Doctor Who novel so far about the War Doctor.
    – Hypnosifl
    Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 21:52
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    @Hypnosifl cool. I'm not a huge fan of the Doctor Who books as far as reference material goes; some of them are just too far out there to take seriously. (time lords aren't born, they're loomed?)
    – KutuluMike
    Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 21:54
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    Yeah, but since there's no official canon, fans are free to pick and choose what non-televised stories they want to incorporate into their own headcanon. I haven't read Engines of War yet but from what I've seen it's been very well-reviewed, and the show itself tells us so little about the Time War and the War Doctor that I'd be tempted to incorporate any good non-TV stories that can fill in details. Anyway I searched on google books for mentions of "gauntlet" in the book and there's not much, this page tells us the most.
    – Hypnosifl
    Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 22:05
  • If that link doesn't work for anyone, on that page the War Doctor says "that gauntlet he wears? It has the same effect as the Daleks' temporal weapons, amongst other things." And this page says "the gauntlet held unimaginable power, including the ability to dematerialise a person".
    – Hypnosifl
    Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 22:10

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