A line in "Lungbarrow" says that the Other came to Rassilon "on approval", implying that Rassilon "acquired" him "in some sort of pact with God knows what". At the end of the novel, the Doctor learns that Leela is pregnant with Andred's child, and asks her to name it after him; Platt explained that this was meant to suggest a time loop in which the hybrid child goes on to become the Other, explaining the Doctor's half-human parentage in the 1996 TV film.