#i also had an theory of where Doom Coalition/Ravenous fits into this but i forgot most of it so i'll have to find my lengthy notes somewher

[the-oracle-of-the-lost]

Gallifrey timeline

i wanted to share my headcanon of how long the Gallifrey series (& relevant episodes and audios) span. there's so little indication of what the gaps are between the seasons so most of this is just my vibe check and i'll explain when i have a good reasoning to my guess. if i'm skipping episodes that's because it's pretty clear that they happen back to back with each other.

Invasion of Time to The Apocalypse Element: ~150 years. i know in Spirit, Leela says that she's lived on Gallifrey for 25 years but to me that's simply not possible given this time gap would also include all of classic who from the Fourth Doctor on (it's lightly implied that The Apocalypse Element should be set during the Eighth Doctor's life but the Sixth Doctor turns up at the wrong time which i'm inclined to believe) and all of that can't possibly have happened in 25 years. plus one of the few canonical time spans we have is that Romana spent 20 years on Etra Prime after her election and i don't think five years could possibly explain everything that happened after The Invasion of Time and before Romana's election.

Apocalypse Element to Neverland: ~10 years. based on the fact that Romana physically healed from The Apocalypse Element and seems to have spent a decent bit of time as President.

Neverland to Zagreus: 18 months. i believe this is mentioned in Zagreus itself.

Zagreus to Weapon of Choice: ~2 years. enough time went by for Andred to have been missing for months and for Narvin to become pretty cozy as Coordinator of the CIA.

Weapon of Choice to A Blind Eye: 3 or 4 months.

A Blind Eye to Lies: 6 weeks. this is mentioned by Andred in Lies.

Lies to Pandora: ~2 weeks. which. really makes Wynter's death more tragic that he only had his job for less than a month and he already died for it.

Pandora to Imperiatrix: a month.

Imperiatrix to Warfare: 4 months. it's mentioned in Fractures that the Civil War had been ongoing for a matter of months and we only see the very end of it.

Appropriation to Mindbomb: 2 weeks. as much as the need for an imminent election was drummed up in Appropriation, i do think there was at least a little break given that Romana's health was markedly improved and the Capitol is a little more put together by Mindbomb.

Mindbomb to Panacea: a month. Matthias is obviously very green to being President and there's still a lot of damage from the Civil War but there's clearly some time passing here.

Panacea to Reborn: a couple days. i can't imagine it took longer than that for Romana to a) work out that she was on the Axis and b) to confront Braxiatel about it. i imagine everyone spent the interim trying to fix Braxiatel's time scoop/figuring out a way to get back to Gallifrey and it would have taken a bit to give up that way forward.

Reborn to Disassembled: 6 months. enough time that the gang really got some synergy together.

Disassembled to Annihilation: 3 weeks. enough time that Romana's still very much grieving Braxiatel but also enough that both Leela & Narvin feel a need to try to pull her out of it.

Annihilation to Forever: at least a year. i do like to think that Romana, Narvin, and Leela spent a lot more time on the Axis then we get to see because Narvin at least has some clear character development over the course of season 4. also alternate universes are fun. i'm sending them to more.

Forever to Emancipation: 9 months. mentioned in the episode.

Emancipation to Arbitration: 9 months. i believe it's mentioned that they spent a collective year and a half on this alt!Gallifrey.

beginning of Renaissance (for Romana): a month or two. there is something yummy about the idea of Romana being trapped with only herself and an empty city for company for a considerable time and really explains why she's Like That in the rest of Renaissance.

Ascension to Intervention Earth: ~350 years. long enough that Gallifrey has really changed and Romana thinks that her presidency is coming to a close but not long enough that Narvin has considerably aged. (though i'll also point out that this whole period is re-written)

Ascension to Enemy Lines: at least 100 years. again, there are some major political and vibe changes to Gallifrey so i've always thought this is a chunky time skip.

Enemy Lines to Celestial Intervention/start of the Time War: ~50 years. again, there's clearly been some Changes happening so it's a significant gap but i think the previous gap between season 6 & EL was longer because a) Narvin still struggles to refer to himself as Deputy Coordinator and b) Ace is still around (while being on Gallifrey does essentially give people temporary immortality, i don't think Ace would hang around the Time Lords forever).

Celestial Intervention to Desperate Measures: ~6-9 months. the war has been going on for long enough that the politics are quickly changing and the CIA forces have been largely depleted but i don't think it's that long.

Desperate Measures to Havoc: a week. considering Havoc opens with Romana's trial, it can't have been that big a gap in between seasons but it's enough for Livia to start to have doubts about her allegiances.

Havoc to Assassins: ~6 months. again enough time for some offscreen political development to happen but not that long.

Hostiles to Unity (for Narvin & Romana): a year. i really like the idea of them being stranded out in the war alone together and i think Romana's suicide attempt in Unity makes more sense if you consider that she's been trapped in the war for awhile now.

Mother Tongue to Unity (for Leela): ~30 years. Leela's aging even off of Gallifrey is inconsistent because of the vampire stuff but i think it's pretty clear through performance at least that she's older here. she also had to have lived on Unity at least as long as Rayo's been alive and considering he's a young adult, i think it makes sense that she spent 20 years on Unity and 10 years out in the war.

Deception to Homecoming (for Narvin & Leela): ~4 months. you can tell that they've grown closer again since Deception and that the Resistance seems a little more organized but it's a short enough time that they're just now finishing the plan Eris came up with in Deception.

not really a headcanon but i do think it's tragically funny that Unity, Beyond, and Homecoming is all one day for Romana. yikes. honestly it's amazing she's not doing worse in Homecoming.

i haven't spent that long thinking about the War Room audios so i don't really have specific headcanons but for Narvin, it's canonically been around 80 years for him in the Resistance and for Leela i feel like the events up until now have constituted about a year or so? given how well Leela has ingrained herself in the new political workings.

anyways tdlr – i think s1-3 of Gallifrey took place over about a year. s4-6 took place over about 3 years, about 100 years before Enemy Lines, about 50 years before the Time War started, the Time War audios take place around 2 years (more for Leela), and the War Room audios probably took place around a year so far (more for Narvin).

i'm always interested in how other people interpret the timeline so please share you're own ideas if y'all want to!