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'''The Pantheon of Discord''' was a group of aliens who craved to impress reality and cause chaos. [[The Trickster]] was a known member. ([[SJA]]: ''[[The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]'').
{{Infobox Organisation
|image            = <gallery>
The Toymaker - Harris incarnation.png|The Toymaker
Maestro street close-up.png|Maestro
Sutekh warform.png|Sutekh
Cg mara.jpg|The Mara
The Trickster (Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?).jpg|The Trickster
Timebeetle.jpg|The Time Beetle
Krampus_True_Form_Imaginary_Enemies.png|Krampus
</gallery>
|image2            = <gallery>
Henry Harbinger.png|Henry the Harbinger
Harriet Kubrick Stare.png|Harriet the Harbinger
</gallery>
|leader            = [[Sutekh]]
|aka              = {{il|Pantheon of Discord|Gods}}
|type              = Pantheon
|first cs          = The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)
|appearances      = {{appears}}
|members          = [[The Trickster]], [[Time Beetle]], [[Krampus]], [[the Toymaker]], [[Maestro]], [[Reprobate]], the [[Mara]], [[Incensor]], [[Doubt]], [[Dread]], [[Threefold deity|the threefold deity]]
|clip              = The Pantheon of Gods from the Whoniverse - Doctor Who
}}'''The Pantheon''', ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Imaginary Enemies (comic story)}}, [[TV]]: {{cs|The Devil's Chord (TV story)}}, etc.) also known as the '''Pantheon of Discord''', ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)}}, [[PROSE]]: {{cs|Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia (reference book)|ed=2011 reprint|page=264}}, {{cs|Doctor, Doctor! (DWA 273 short story)|namedpart=Time for Friends!|page=29|name="dwa"}}, [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Pantheon of Discord (audio story)}}) were an "extra-dimensional enclave"'s worth ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia (reference book)|ed=2011 reprint|page=264}}) of "vast powers", "creatures from beyond the universe", ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Devil's Chord (TV story)}}) reluctantly acknowledged as [[god]]s by [[the Doctor]], who sometimes referred to this group simply as "'''the gods'''". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Devil's Chord (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}})  


[[Mr Smith]] defined the Pantheon of Discord as being a coalition of semi-mythical extra-dimensional beings. ([[TV]]: {{cs|SJAF 1}})


In [[The Satan Pit]] The Doctor states that there are many demons to choose from within the same pantheon.
[[Sutekh]], originally a member of the [[Osirian Court]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|Pyramids of Mars (TV story)}}, [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Judgment of Sutekh (audio story)}}) came to hold himself to be the [[King]] of the other gods making up this group. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}})


In [[Turn Left]] The Doctor tells Donna about the creature being of the Trickster's Brigade. It is unknown yet if the creature was part of the pantheon.
== Nature ==
=== As a Pantheon defined by the Trickster ===
Several accounts of the Pantheon of Discord showed them as being largely aligned with [[the Trickster]] and his behaviour. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)}}, [[PROSE]]: {{cs|Companion Compendium (reference book)}}, [[COMIC]]: {{cs|Imaginary Enemies (comic story)}}) When the [[Tenth Doctor]] first met the Trickster, the Trickster declared it to be "the meeting of the Pantheon of Discord and the [[last of the Time Lords]]", with the Doctor agreeing that he had only heard legends of the Pantheon and never met one of their members. The Doctor said that the Trickster was "one of" the Pantheon, but also said that he was "looking a bit lonely for a pantheon", to which the Trickster retorted by saying "I embody multitudes", indicating that the Pantheon was composed of himself. To get the Trickster's attention, [[Clyde Langer]] later declared "I wish to serve you. I wish to join the Pantheon." ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)}})
 
One account indicated the Pantheon of Discord was a name for "the creatures" that worked for the Trickster, ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Companion Compendium (reference book)}}) a group elsewhere called [[the Trickster's Brigade]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Turn Left (TV story)}})
 
The [[Time Beetle]], a creature that worked for the Trickster, was said to be a member of the Pantheon of Discord, ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Companion Compendium (reference book)}}, {{cs|Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia (reference book)|ed=2011 reprint|page=264}}) which the [[Eleventh Doctor]] corroborated. Prompted by a letter asking if the Time Beetle might have "a friend" in the form of a [[Time Worm]] or [[Time Spider]], the Eleventh Doctor once speculated that, given the Time Beetle was a member, there could also be "[[Time Worm]]s, [[Space Parrot]]s and [[Dimension-Jumping Cheese Weasel]]s" within the Pantheon. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|name="dwa"}})
 
[[Krampus (Imaginary Enemies)|Krampus]] identified himself as a member of a "Pantheon" whose principles were founded on chaos and altering history such that it was twisted into darker shapes; ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Imaginary Enemies (comic story)}}) these were the same principles on which the Trickster ([[TV]]: {{cs|Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)}}) and the Time Beetle acted. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Turn Left (TV story)}})
 
=== As a Pantheon of gods ===
The [[Fifteenth Doctor]] had several encounters with a group of gods he referred to as "the Pantheon", ([[TV]]: {{Cs|The Devil's Chord (TV story)}}) with members of the Pantheon being gods of specific domains.
 
Listing the gods of the group to whom [[Sutekh]] acted as "[[King]]", as well as the symbolic "father and mother and other", of, [[Harriet Arbinger]], Sutekh's own [[Harbinger]], cited:
* [[The Toymaker]], "god of [[game]]s";
* [[The Trickster]], "god of [[trap]]s";
* [[Maestro]], "god of [[music]]";
* [[Reprobate]], "god of [[spite]]";
* The [[Mara]], "god of [[beast]]s";
* [[Incensor]], "god of [[disaster]]";
* [[Doubt]] and [[Dread]], children of Incensor;
* The "threefold deity of malice, mischief, and misery".
 
Last of Harriet's list was Sutekh himself, the "god of death". She also cited an unknown number of unnamed "gods of skin and shames and secrets". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}})
 
One account showed the Toymaker to have a sister, [[Hecuba]], who was known as [[the Queen of Time]] and was timepiece-themed in the same way her sibling was toy-themed. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Queen of Time (audio story)}})
 
=== Residence ===
As "one of the Pantheon of Discord", [[the Trickster]] was described by the [[Tenth Doctor]] as "a creature from beyond the universe, forever trying to break into [[the Doctor's universe|our reality]]". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)}}) The [[Fifteenth Doctor]] similarly described the Pantheon as "vast powers beyond [[the universe]]". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Devil's Chord (TV story)}}) [[Amy Pond]] referred to [[Krampus]] as having come from some "dirty little corner of existence" when he crossed over into [[Leadworth]]; Krampus himself had previously referred to the [[Walls of reality|walls]] between the respective "worlds" of himself and [[Veronica Stackmore]], which had proven easier to pierce thanks to [[Crack in time|the crack]] which had formed nearby. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Imaginary Enemies (comic story)}})
 
The [[Fourteenth Doctor]] described [[the Toymaker's domain]] as "a hollow beneath the [[Under-Universe]]". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Giggle (TV story)}})
 
Perhaps notably, in accounts which made no mention ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Endgame (DWM comic story)}}, [[TV]]: {{cs|Kinda (TV story)}}) of their shared membership of the same Pantheon, ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}}) both [[the Toymaker]] and [[the Mara]] were separately recorded as hailing from the [[Dark Places]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Endgame (DWM comic story)}}, [[TV]]: {{cs|Kinda (TV story)}}) The Dark Places, or [[Dark Places of the Inside]], were a reality or realities connected to the darker aspects of [[consciousness]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|Kinda (TV story)}}, [[PROSE]]: {{cs|Mark of the Medusa (short story)}}, [[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Body in Question (comic story)}}) existing "a stilled heart-beat away" from the conventional universe. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Body in Question (comic story)}})
 
[[Sutekh]], though claimed by [[Harriet Arbinger]] to be the oldest and highest-ranking member of the group, was seemingly an exception to this rule, as ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}}) his own narrative of his activities since battling the [[Fourth Doctor]] asserted that he had only "evolved" into his "true godhood" after beginning to cling to [[the Doctor's TARDIS]], after which he spent millennia actively travelling within the universe — never spending any significant time outside it prior to the point at which he was spoken of as a member of the Pantheon. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Empire of Death (TV story)}})
 
=== Subordinates ===
==== Harbingers ====
"The gods" were known to create personal [[Harbinger]]s, human-like creatures who heralded their presence. On [[Earth]], Maestro's Harbinger went by [[Henry Arbinger]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Devil's Chord (TV story)}}) and [[Sutekh]]'s by [[Harriet Arbinger]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}})
 
==== Others ====
Both the [[Tenth Doctor]] and [[Captain]] [[Jack Harkness]] were familiar with [[the Trickster's Brigade]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|Turn Left (TV story)}}, {{cs|Immortal Sins (TV story)}}) a shadowy group of nonhuman beings who enjoyed interfering with time to feed on potential energy. As per their name, they claimed allegiance to [[the Trickster]]; they were more widely, visibly active than their patron, with Jack Harkness privately doubting whether there even ''was'' a Trickster or if he was simply a symbol and figurehead for the group. ([[WC]]: {{cs|Monster File: The Trickster's Brigade (webcast)}}) The [[Time Beetle]] was a member of the Brigade, ([[TV]]: {{cs|Turn Left (TV story)}}) as were at least some of the [[Graske]]; ([[WC]]: {{cs|Monster File: The Trickster's Brigade (webcast)}}) the Graske once infiltrated [[Earth]] using [[Changeling]]s, only to be fought by the [[Tenth Doctor]], ([[GAME]]: {{cs|Attack of the Graske (video game)}}) who later stated that he had fought the Trickster's "shadows and Changelings" prior to meeting him in person. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)}}) The Trickster's Brigade also once smuggled a [[Brainspawn]] to [[Earth]] in an effort to throw off [[United States of America|American]] history in the [[1920s]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Immortal Sins (TV story)}})
 
[[File:Minions of Krampus.png|thumb|left|Three of the "[[Minion of Krampus|minions of Krampus]]", as identified by the [[Thirteenth Doctor]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Holiday Special (comic story)}})]][[Krampus]] had a trio of burly [[Goblin]]s called [[Otto (Imaginary Enemies)|Otto]], [[Ludwig (Imaginary Enemies)|Ludwig]] and [[Siegfried]] under his command, carrying them into reality with Krampus themself inside [[dimensionally transcendental]] [[Christmas tree]] [[ornament]]s when he emerged in [[Leadworth]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Imaginary Enemies (comic story)}}) The [[Thirteenth Doctor]] encountered a swarm of many identical [[Minion of Krampus|minions of Krampus]], who appeared as small [[imp]]-like creatures. Having entered reality alone through their own means, Krampus once had to resort to abducting and hypnotising alien workers to build a machine through which to summon their "minions" into the universe. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Holiday Special (comic story)}})
 
[[File:Goblin_crowd.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Goblins (The Church on Ruby Road)|Goblins]] faced by the [[Fifteenth Doctor]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)}})]]When he was defeated at [[UNIT HQ, City of London|UNIT HQ]], [[the Toymaker]] claimed that "[his] [[the Toymaker's legions|legions]] [we]re coming". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Giggle (TV story)}}) The [[Fifteenth Doctor]] later inferred that "his legions" had followed the Toymaker into [[the universe]]. In fact, he believed the [[Goblins (The Church on Ruby Road)|Goblins]] he encountered during his first adventure with [[Ruby Sunday]] to be part of "the Toymaker's legacy", ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|name=TCoRR}}) although he also gave some consideration Ruby's theory that the Goblins might have caused every accident throughout history. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)}}) The Toymaker was also infamous for making the ordinary people who lost his games into living toys slaved to his will. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)}}, [[PROSE]]: {{cs|Divided Loyalties (novel)}})
 
== History ==
=== Origins ===
Although [[Harriet Arbinger]] claimed [[Sutekh]] to be the "mother and father and other" of the members of the Pantheon she listed, this seemed to be symbolic as ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}}) many of them had disparate, documented origins prior to congregating into a single organisation.
 
[[Maestro]], the “god of music”, ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}}) was a child of fellow Pantheon member [[the Toymaker]]. Describing their youth, Maestro said, "Daddy was so bad to me. Daddy was so mean. Daddy was so tough". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Devil's Chord (TV story)}}) The origins of the Toymaker himself were shrouded in mystery as he liked to play "games" with his origins and blur his tracks. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Divided Loyalties (novel)}}, [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Nightmare Fair (audio story)}}, etc.)
 
[[The Mara]], the “god of beasts”, ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}}) was a gestalt entity created from the evil of the people of [[Manussa (planet)|Manussa]] and given independence by the [[Great Crystal]]. It founded and ruled the [[Sumaran Empire]] until being overthrown by the first [[Federator]] who banished it to the [[Dark Places of the Inside]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Snakedance (TV story)}}) Taking the form of a giant snake, the Mara was repelled by the sight of its own reflection. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Kinda (TV story)}})
 
Before coming to be acknowledged as leader of this extra-universal pantheon, ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}}) Sutekh was born as a member of the [[Osirian Court]], ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Ship of a Billion Years (audio story)}}) and acknowledged as such by the [[Fourth Doctor]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Pyramids of Mars (TV story)}}) According to one account, Sutekh, believing that he deserved to take over the throne of the Osirian Court, since it owed its survival to him, made himself far more powerful than his fellow Osirians by taming the forces of the [[Outer Desert]], of which even Ra was afraid. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Ship of a Billion Years (audio story)|The Ship of a Billion Years}}) According to [[River Song]], in the [[Dark Times]] he made a bargain with the [[Kotturuh]], who allowed him to carry their "Gift of [[Death]]" himself. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Guide to the Dark Times (short story)|The Guide to the Dark Times}}) After orchestrating the death of [[Osiris]] to seize the Osirian throne, Sutekh was defeated by [[Horus]] and imprisoned in Egypt, held in place by a signal transmitted from the [[Eye of Horus]] on [[Mars]]. In [[1911]] his prison was disturbed by [[Marcus Scarman]], enabling Sutekh to scheme his escape. His plans were disrupted by the [[Fourth Doctor]], who sabotaged the time corridor he was using to leave his prison. Though the Doctor believed him destroyed, ([[TV]]: {{cs|Pyramids of Mars (TV story)}}) Sutekh survived being cast into the [[Time Vortex]] by latching onto the Doctor’s TARDIS where he remained in secret for centuries. In doing so he grew stronger, ([[TV]]: {{cs|Empire of Death (TV story)}}) with the [[Fifteenth Doctor]] describing him as having become a “titan”. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Pyramids of Mars (TotT TV story)}}) When he finally returned on Earth in 2020s, Sutekh was hailed by his [[Harbinger]] as the God of Death and the "mother and father and other of them all". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}})
 
=== Legends and accounts ===
[[The Doctor]] had heard legends of the Pantheon of Discord [[The Doctor's early life|when he was a child]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)}}) He told [[Panna]] he’d heard legends of the Mara. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Kinda (TV story)}})
 
[[Maestro]] claimed that their name were cited in the [[Chorus of Ancient Songs]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Devil's Chord (TV story)}})
 
=== The Doctor meets the Toymaker ===
[[File:Defiant Doctor stares down Toymaker.png|thumb|left|The [[First Doctor]] confronting the Toymaker. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)}})]]
[[The Toymaker]] was the “god of games”. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}}) Claiming good and evil meant nothing to him, the Toymaker believed all that existed was to win or lose. The Toymaker had a brief encounter with a [[the Doctor's early life|young Doctor]], who managed to escape him, refusing to engage in any games. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)}}, [[PROSE]]: {{cs|Divided Loyalties (novel)}}) However, after he let [[the Doctor's TARDIS|his TARDIS]] fall into a "hollow beneath the [[Under-Universe]]", ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Giggle (TV story)}}) the Toymaker trapped the [[First Doctor]], [[Steven Taylor]] and [[Dodo Chaplet]] in his [[Celestial Toyroom]] and forced them to play games to win their freedom. The travellers eventually defeated the Toymaker, with the effect of destroying the Toyroom, though he’d already admitted he would build another. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)}})
 
By some accounts the Doctor would have several more encounters with the Toymaker in various incarnations, ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Divided Loyalties (novel)}}, {{cs|The Nightmare Fair (novelisation)}}, [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Matryoshka (audio story)}}, {{cs|The Magic Mousetrap (audio story)}}, {{cs|Solitaire (audio story)}}) however another suggested they did not meet again until the life of the [[Fourteenth Doctor]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Giggle (TV story)}})
 
=== Manifestations of the Mara ===
[[File:Changing host.jpg|thumb|right|The mark of the Mara passing from one host to the next. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Kinda (TV story)}})]]
The Mara frequently manifested on [[Deva Loka]], the home of the [[Kinda]]. [[Panna]], the wise woman of the Kinda, described this influence as the Great Wheel of Life which when turned made civilisations rise and then fall, and gave the [[Fifth Doctor]] an apocalyptic vision which he understood was both the past and the future if the Mara was not stopped. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Kinda (TV story)}}) The Mara also manifested on Earth in the [[1920s]], using [[The Serpentine Club]] in [[London]] to spread its influence including possessing [[Reginald Dellafield]], an agent of [[Torchwood One]]. Reginald’s butler, [[AC Forster]], created a containment field to restrict the Mara to Reginald’s body and killed all of its other hosts by destroying the Club, intending to force the Mara to continue serving Torchwood as long as Reginald’s body lasted. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Art Decadence (audio story)}})
 
When the Fifth Doctor arrived on Deva Loka, the Mara manifested via his companion [[Tegan Jovanka]]. Despite being banished once more, ([[TV]]: {{cs|Kinda (TV story)}}) the Mara would continue to attempt to possess Tegan again on multiple occasions to try to escape the Dark Places of the Inside. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Snakedance (TV story)}}, [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Cradle of the Snake (audio story)}}, [[WC]]: {{cs|The Passenger (webcast)}}) Much later in his life, the [[Eleventh Doctor]] encountered the Mara during the [[Siege of Trenzalore]] when it infiltrated the town of [[Christmas (town)|Christmas]] on [[Trenzalore]], attempting to force him to speak his name and escalate the siege into another [[time war]] by speaking his name. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Dreaming (short story)}})
 
=== The Trickster's schemes ===
[[file:WHTSJ.jpg|thumb|left|The Trickster with [[Sarah Jane Smith]] after erasing her from history. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)}})]]
[[The Trickster]], the “god of traps”, ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}}) had a lust for chaos, believing it good. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)}}) An “eternal exile” according to the [[Tenth Doctor]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)}}) the Trickster was able to alter time by making deals with individuals however his influence would be reversed if they rejected the bargain. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)}}) He was also vulnerable to [[artron energy]] produced by [[TARDIS]]es. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)}})
 
The Trickster personally targeted [[Sarah Jane Smith]] to remove her from time at a moment she would prevent a meteor wiping out Earth, creating pure chaos as billions died for no reason at all. He rewrote history by making a deal with [[Andrea Yates]] for Sarah to die in her place in a childhood accident. One of Sarah’s friends, [[Maria Jackson]] was able to recall the original timeline due to exposure to a [[Verron puzzle box]] which Sarah had given her. As the meteor approached she and her father, [[Alan Jackson]], convinced Andrea to reject the deal, restoring the original timeline and enabling Sarah to avert catastrophe. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)}})
 
The Trickster subsequently sought revenge on Sarah. First he attempted to trick her into allowing him access into reality by changing her own parents’ deaths via a [[time fissure]], which she prevented by restoring the correct series of events. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)}}) He made a deal to save [[Peter Dalton]] as part of a plan to entrap Sarah by marrying him, in doing so falling under his power. On learning the truth Sarah convinced Peter to break the deal. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)}}) The Trickster later disrupted Sarah’s memorial but his plan was thwarted in ten minutes by the attendees of the service – many former companions of the Doctor and of Sarah – who managed to shrink the Trickster down to the size of a doll, lock him in a treasure chest and send him to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean for the next thousand years. ([[WC]]: {{cs|Farewell, Sarah Jane (webcast)}})
 
[[File:Time beetle dead (Turn Left).jpg|thumb|right|A [[Time Beetle]], which the [[Tenth Doctor]] believed belonged to [[the Trickster's Brigade]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Turn Left (TV story)}})]]
The Doctor claimed to have fought the Trickster’s “shadows and [[changeling]]s”. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)}}) A [[Time Beetle]] of [[the Trickster's Brigade]] targeted [[Donna Noble]] on [[Shan Shen]], creating [[parallel world (Turn Left)|a parallel world]] where she never met the Tenth Doctor resulting in [[the Doctor's death|his death]] and Earth suffering under numerous alien incursions without his aid. Via time travel Donna was able to correct the event which had altered the timeline, killing the beetle. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Turn Left (TV story)}}) [[William (Doctor, Doctor! 273)|William]] wrote a letter to ''[[Doctor Who Adventures (in-universe)|Doctor Who Adventures]]'', asking if the Time Beetle had any friends, such a [[Time Worm]] or a [[Time Spider]]; the [[Eleventh Doctor]] responded, firstly explaining that the Time Beetle belonged to the Pantheon of Discord, alongside the Trickster. Further speculating that, given their love of chaos, other members could include the aforementioned Time Worms, or [[Space Parrot]]s or [[Dimension-Jumping Cheese Weasel]]s. He confessed that he would like to be friends with everyone, so long as they gave up their life of meddling with [[time]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|name="dwa"}})
 
Other members of the Brigade organised a plot to create a [[History (Immortal Sins)|new history]] in [[1927]] involving a [[Brainspawn]] driving future American President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] insane, causing him to drop America out of [[World War II]] resulting in Nazi Germany winning the war. This plan was foiled by [[Jack Harkness]] and [[Angelo Colasanto]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Immortal Sins (TV story)}})
 
=== Krampus ===
[[File:Imaginary Enemies climax.png|thumb|left|Krampus and his minions are evicted from reality. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Imaginary Enemies (comic story)}})]]During the [[Eleventh Doctor]]'s lifetime, [[Krampus (mythology)|Krampus]], a member of the Pantheon, managed to emerge in [[Leadworth]] thanks to the [[crack in time]] in [[Amelia Pond]]'s bedroom. He managed to fully enter reality by getting [[Veronica Stackmore|Veronica,]] the spoiled daughter of the Mayor, to accept [[the Link]], a lump of coal which stabilised him in the universe, having disguised it as a doll. Intending to create chaos by disrupting Amelia, [[Rory Williams|Rory]] and [[Mels Zucker]]'s destinities, he spent his [[goblin]] servants [[Otto (Imaginary Enemies)|Otto]], [[Ludwig (Imaginary Enemies)|Ludwig]] and [[Siegfried]]. When they failed, he personally captured them and took them to the school library. In order for him to have the power to kill the children, he needed Veronica to wish for him to banish them; before he could persuade her to do so, Amelia got Veronica to see through the Link's glamour and she rejected it, sending it back through the mirror through which Krampus had originally contacted her. As a result, Krampus and the goblins were sucked back into "whatever dirty little corner of existence they ha[d] come from". ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Imaginary Enemies (comic story)}})
 
=== Increased incursions ===
[[File:The Toymaker waves goodbye.png|thumb|right|The Toymaker on the loose on Earth. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Giggle (TV story)}})]]
After the [[Fourteenth Doctor]] cast [[salt]] at the [[edge of the universe]], symbolically damaging the [[walls of reality]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)}}) [[the Toymaker]], now in a new body, "found his way into reality". He rampaged through [[the Doctor's universe]], playing games with many other powerful beings, from the [[Guardians of Time and Space]] to [[the Master]]. He plagued the human race with [[the Giggle]] and forced the Doctor into [[Game between the Toymaker and the Fourteenth Doctor|a game]] with him, later forcing his [[regeneration]] into the [[Fifteenth Doctor]], only for this to trigger a [[bi-generation]] which gave the Doctor(s) the edge (t)he(y) needed to [[Game between the Toymaker and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors|defeat him]]. As he was sealed away, the Toymaker warned them that [[the Toymaker's legions|his legions]] would be coming in his wake. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Giggle (TV story)}}) The Fifteenth Doctor subsequently encountered a group of [[Goblins (The Church on Ruby Road)|Goblins]] whom he speculated were a part of the legions. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)}})
 
When parked near the edge of reality, the Doctor's TARDIS also emitted a strange groan for the first time. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)}}) The Toymaker also told the Fourteenth Doctor there was "only one player [he] didn't dare face: [[the One Who Waits]]". The Toymaker recalled that he "saw it hiding" and "ran". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Giggle (TV story)}}) This turned out to refer to none other than the Pantheon's self-proclaimed King, [[Sutekh]], who had been clinging to [[the Doctor's TARDIS]] since their initial encounter in [[1911]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Empire of Death (TV story)}})
 
Early in his travels with [[Ruby Sunday]], the Doctor encountered the Toymaker's child [[Maestro]] in [[1963]] attempting to steal humanity’s music as part of a grand plan to build their strength to one day claim the [[Music of the Spheres]] itself and halt the entire universe. Though the Doctor’s initial attempt to banish them via a chord failed, his plan was completed by [[the Beatles]] who finished the tune. As they were banished Maestro warned the Doctor that "the One Who Waits" was "almost here". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Devil's Chord (TV story)}})
 
[[File:Sutekh in UNIT HQ.png|thumb|left|Sutekh, the “one who waits”, reveals himself. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}})]]
This came to pass in [[UNIT HQ]] when the Doctor discovered that, for some time now, his TARDIS had been "seduced" and overtaken by Sutekh. Heralded by his own [[Harbinger]], [[Harriet Arbinger|Harriet]], who had infiltrated UNIT, Sutekh revealed himself, with Harriet proclaiming him as the King of the group of gods also including the Toymaker, Maestro, and the Trickster, as well as several others and the [[Mara]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}}) whom the Doctor had faced in the past without identifying them as members of a shared group. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Kinda (TV story)}}, {{cs|Snakedance (TV story)}}) The Doctor believed Sutekh had evolved, becoming a “titan” compared to how strong he’d been in their first encounter. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Pyramids of Mars (TotT TV story)}}) Sutekh used the [[Angel of Death]] he’d planted across the universe whilst on the TARDIS to spread his [[Dust of Death]] across time and space, killing everything it touched. The Doctor and Ruby managed to hatch a plan to pull him from the TARDIS and used the ship to drag him into the Time Vortex, where his touch killed his own Dust, undoing its effects and restoring all its victims to life. The Doctor then finally separated Sutekh from the TARDIS, causing him to be destroyed by the Vortex. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Empire of Death (TV story)}})
 
The Doctor later faced Maestro a second time when they reemerged in the [[Royal Albert Hall]] to play bad music so they could feed on the dissonance in the audience that it created. On this occasion, [[the Vlinx]], detecting the incursion, identified Maestro as one of "the Pantheon of Discord". However, the Doctor managed to exploit musical logic to defeat them once more by having the audience applaud to end her music, causing their physical form to [[Explosion|explode]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Pantheon of Discord (audio story)}})
 
== Behind the scenes ==
=== Origins in the 2000s ===
* The Pantheon of Discord was originally conceived of by [[Gareth Roberts]] while writing {{cs|The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)}}. The name was mentioned in early drafts of that story, but removed for the finished version.<ref name="DWMSE">{{cite book
|author=[[Andrew Pixley|Pixley, Andrew]]
|title=[[DWMSE 28]] - [[The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]
|date=[[20 April (releases)|20 April]] [[2011 (releases)|2011]]
|publisher=[[Panini Magazines]]
|page=24, 28
}}</ref>
* In an early draft of {{cs|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)}}, the [[Tenth Doctor]] was to say that, beyond the Trickster, other members of the Pantheon of Discord were the [[Reaper]]s, [[Time-Beetle]]s, [[Graske]]s, and [[Guardian of Time|the Guardians]].<ref name="DWMSE"/>
** A connection between the Trickster and the Guardians had already been hinted in the Trickster's first appearance in {{cs|Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)}}, with the Trickster paraphrasing a statement of power made by the [[Black Guardian]] in {{cs|Mawdryn Undead (TV story)}}, "Waking or sleeping. I shall be with you..."
** As noted elsewhere on this page, fiction in the early 2010s would sometimes call the [[Time Beetle]] a member of the Pantheon of Discord.
 
=== 2020s reimagining ===
* In the ''[[Doctor Who: Unleashed]]'' episode associated with {{cs|The Devil's Chord (TV story)}}, [[Russell T Davies]] mentioned that he and other writers liked to call the Pantheon "the Gods of Chaos", but was not sure that this was "official". He also clarified that, although he liked to come across as the supreme being of the Pantheon, [[the Toymaker]] was not actually its most powerful member, as hinted in ''The Devil's Chord'' itself with mentions of [[the Oldest One]]. The ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' story {{cs|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)}} had previously used the name of "Pantheon of Discord", but no link was established between the two groups until the airing of {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}}, which conflated them by citing the Trickster among the members of the (not-so-)new Pantheon.
* Although the "threefold deity of malice, mischief and misery" may be read as a reference to the [[Gods of Ragnarok]], and was interpreted as such by some,<ref>{{cite web
| url= https://x.com/AMadmanNotABox/status/1801804288928215068
| title= Tweet
| author= [[Jamie H. Cowan]]
| date of source= [[15 June (releases)|15 June]] [[2024 (releases)|2024]]
| website name= Twitter
| archiveurl= https://archive.ph/BiNKK
| archivedate= [[21 June (releases)|21 June]] [[2024 (releases)|2024]]
| quote= (…) like the Gods of Ragnarok (who are alluded in the list of gods, I do believe, with that threefold deity line), and the Trickster, and the Mara; all in decades gone by (…)
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url= https://x.com/JosiahRowe4/status/1802073108477862397
| title= Tweet
| author= [[Josiah Rowe]]
| date of source= [[15 June (releases)|15 June]] [[2024 (releases)|2024]]
| website name= Twitter
| archiveurl= https://archive.ph/t8Etw
| archivedate= [[21 June (releases)|21 June]] [[2024 (releases)|2024]]
| quote= I think the 'threefold deity of malice and mischief and misery' is the Gods of Ragnarok.
}}</ref> this has yet to be confirmed in any official source.
* The episode ''Gods of the Whoniverse'' of ''[[New to Who?]]'' suggested several more entities than those mentioned in {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}} as being [[god]]s in the same sense as those gods. These were [[Zellin]] (suggested to be the god of [[nightmare]]s), the [[Gods of Ragnarok]], the [[White Guardian|White]] and [[Black Guardian]]s, and [[the Beast (The Impossible Planet)|the Beast]].
[[File:The Trickster and the Beast.png|thumb|right|[[The Beast (The Impossible Planet)|The Beast]] apocryphally construed as a member of the organisation in the thumbnail of the official ''Doctor Who'' YouTube channnel's compilation of clips of Pantheon members.]]
* A [[Video:The Pantheon of Gods from the Whoniverse - Doctor Who|later upload]] of the ''Doctor Who'' YouTube channel, posted on [[16 August (releases)|16 August]] [[2024 (releases)|2024]], compiled clips of "the Pantheon of Gods" throughout televised ''[[Doctor Who]]'' and ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'', incorporating clips of [[The Beast (The Impossible Planet)|the Beast]] in ''[[The Impossible Planet (TV story)|The Impossible Planet]]''/''[[The Satan Pit (TV story)|The Satan Pit]]'', the [[Time Beetle]] in ''[[Turn Left (TV story)|Turn Left]]'', and the [[Gods of Ragnarok]] in ''[[The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (TV story)|The Greatest Show in the Galaxy]]'' in addition to the expected footage of the Toymaker, Sutekh, the Mara, the Trickster, and Sutekh. In fact, the video's original thumbnail used the Beast as one of its two sample members of the organisation alongside the Trickster.
 
== Footnotes ==
{{reflist}}
{{Gods}}
{{TitleSort}}
[[Category:The Pantheon| ]]
[[Category:Groups]]
[[Category:Groups]]
[[ru:Пантеон Раздора]]

Latest revision as of 19:21, 10 September 2024

The Pantheon, (COMIC: Imaginary Enemies [+]Loading...["Imaginary Enemies (comic story)"], TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"], etc.) also known as the Pantheon of Discord, (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"], PROSE: Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia [+]Loading...{"page":"264","ed":"2011 reprint","1":"Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia (reference book)"}, "Time for Friends!" [+]Part of Doctor, Doctor! 273, Loading...{"name":"\"dwa\"","page":"29","namedpart":"Time for Friends!","1":"Doctor, Doctor! (DWA 273 short story)"}, AUDIO: Pantheon of Discord [+]Loading...["Pantheon of Discord (audio story)"]) were an "extra-dimensional enclave"'s worth (PROSE: Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia [+]Loading...{"page":"264","ed":"2011 reprint","1":"Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia (reference book)"}) of "vast powers", "creatures from beyond the universe", (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"], The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"]) reluctantly acknowledged as gods by the Doctor, who sometimes referred to this group simply as "the gods". (TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"], The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"])

Mr Smith defined the Pantheon of Discord as being a coalition of semi-mythical extra-dimensional beings. (TV: SJAF 1 [+]Loading...["SJAF 1"])

Sutekh, originally a member of the Osirian Court, (TV: Pyramids of Mars [+]Loading...["Pyramids of Mars (TV story)"], AUDIO: The Judgment of Sutekh [+]Loading...["The Judgment of Sutekh (audio story)"]) came to hold himself to be the King of the other gods making up this group. (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"])

Nature[[edit] | [edit source]]

As a Pantheon defined by the Trickster[[edit] | [edit source]]

Several accounts of the Pantheon of Discord showed them as being largely aligned with the Trickster and his behaviour. (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"], PROSE: Companion Compendium [+]Loading...["Companion Compendium (reference book)"], COMIC: Imaginary Enemies [+]Loading...["Imaginary Enemies (comic story)"]) When the Tenth Doctor first met the Trickster, the Trickster declared it to be "the meeting of the Pantheon of Discord and the last of the Time Lords", with the Doctor agreeing that he had only heard legends of the Pantheon and never met one of their members. The Doctor said that the Trickster was "one of" the Pantheon, but also said that he was "looking a bit lonely for a pantheon", to which the Trickster retorted by saying "I embody multitudes", indicating that the Pantheon was composed of himself. To get the Trickster's attention, Clyde Langer later declared "I wish to serve you. I wish to join the Pantheon." (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"])

One account indicated the Pantheon of Discord was a name for "the creatures" that worked for the Trickster, (PROSE: Companion Compendium [+]Loading...["Companion Compendium (reference book)"]) a group elsewhere called the Trickster's Brigade. (TV: Turn Left [+]Loading...["Turn Left (TV story)"])

The Time Beetle, a creature that worked for the Trickster, was said to be a member of the Pantheon of Discord, (PROSE: Companion Compendium [+]Loading...["Companion Compendium (reference book)"], Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia [+]Loading...{"page":"264","ed":"2011 reprint","1":"Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia (reference book)"}) which the Eleventh Doctor corroborated. Prompted by a letter asking if the Time Beetle might have "a friend" in the form of a Time Worm or Time Spider, the Eleventh Doctor once speculated that, given the Time Beetle was a member, there could also be "Time Worms, Space Parrots and Dimension-Jumping Cheese Weasels" within the Pantheon. (PROSE: "Time for Friends!" [+]Part of Doctor, Doctor! 273, Loading...{"name":"\"dwa\"","page":"29","namedpart":"Time for Friends!","1":"Doctor, Doctor! (DWA 273 short story)"})

Krampus identified himself as a member of a "Pantheon" whose principles were founded on chaos and altering history such that it was twisted into darker shapes; (COMIC: Imaginary Enemies [+]Loading...["Imaginary Enemies (comic story)"]) these were the same principles on which the Trickster (TV: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? [+]Loading...["Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)"]) and the Time Beetle acted. (TV: Turn Left [+]Loading...["Turn Left (TV story)"])

As a Pantheon of gods[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Fifteenth Doctor had several encounters with a group of gods he referred to as "the Pantheon", (TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"]) with members of the Pantheon being gods of specific domains.

Listing the gods of the group to whom Sutekh acted as "King", as well as the symbolic "father and mother and other", of, Harriet Arbinger, Sutekh's own Harbinger, cited:

Last of Harriet's list was Sutekh himself, the "god of death". She also cited an unknown number of unnamed "gods of skin and shames and secrets". (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"])

One account showed the Toymaker to have a sister, Hecuba, who was known as the Queen of Time and was timepiece-themed in the same way her sibling was toy-themed. (AUDIO: The Queen of Time [+]Loading...["The Queen of Time (audio story)"])

Residence[[edit] | [edit source]]

As "one of the Pantheon of Discord", the Trickster was described by the Tenth Doctor as "a creature from beyond the universe, forever trying to break into our reality". (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"]) The Fifteenth Doctor similarly described the Pantheon as "vast powers beyond the universe". (TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"]) Amy Pond referred to Krampus as having come from some "dirty little corner of existence" when he crossed over into Leadworth; Krampus himself had previously referred to the walls between the respective "worlds" of himself and Veronica Stackmore, which had proven easier to pierce thanks to the crack which had formed nearby. (COMIC: Imaginary Enemies [+]Loading...["Imaginary Enemies (comic story)"])

The Fourteenth Doctor described the Toymaker's domain as "a hollow beneath the Under-Universe". (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])

Perhaps notably, in accounts which made no mention (COMIC: Endgame [+]Loading...["Endgame (DWM comic story)"], TV: Kinda [+]Loading...["Kinda (TV story)"]) of their shared membership of the same Pantheon, (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"]) both the Toymaker and the Mara were separately recorded as hailing from the Dark Places. (COMIC: Endgame [+]Loading...["Endgame (DWM comic story)"], TV: Kinda [+]Loading...["Kinda (TV story)"]) The Dark Places, or Dark Places of the Inside, were a reality or realities connected to the darker aspects of consciousness, (TV: Kinda [+]Loading...["Kinda (TV story)"], PROSE: Mark of the Medusa [+]Loading...["Mark of the Medusa (short story)"], COMIC: The Body in Question [+]Loading...["The Body in Question (comic story)"]) existing "a stilled heart-beat away" from the conventional universe. (COMIC: The Body in Question [+]Loading...["The Body in Question (comic story)"])

Sutekh, though claimed by Harriet Arbinger to be the oldest and highest-ranking member of the group, was seemingly an exception to this rule, as (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"]) his own narrative of his activities since battling the Fourth Doctor asserted that he had only "evolved" into his "true godhood" after beginning to cling to the Doctor's TARDIS, after which he spent millennia actively travelling within the universe — never spending any significant time outside it prior to the point at which he was spoken of as a member of the Pantheon. (TV: Empire of Death [+]Loading...["Empire of Death (TV story)"])

Subordinates[[edit] | [edit source]]

Harbingers[[edit] | [edit source]]

"The gods" were known to create personal Harbingers, human-like creatures who heralded their presence. On Earth, Maestro's Harbinger went by Henry Arbinger, (TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"]) and Sutekh's by Harriet Arbinger. (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"])

Others[[edit] | [edit source]]

Both the Tenth Doctor and Captain Jack Harkness were familiar with the Trickster's Brigade, (TV: Turn Left [+]Loading...["Turn Left (TV story)"], Immortal Sins [+]Loading...["Immortal Sins (TV story)"]) a shadowy group of nonhuman beings who enjoyed interfering with time to feed on potential energy. As per their name, they claimed allegiance to the Trickster; they were more widely, visibly active than their patron, with Jack Harkness privately doubting whether there even was a Trickster or if he was simply a symbol and figurehead for the group. (WC: Monster File: The Trickster's Brigade [+]Loading...["Monster File: The Trickster's Brigade (webcast)"]) The Time Beetle was a member of the Brigade, (TV: Turn Left [+]Loading...["Turn Left (TV story)"]) as were at least some of the Graske; (WC: Monster File: The Trickster's Brigade [+]Loading...["Monster File: The Trickster's Brigade (webcast)"]) the Graske once infiltrated Earth using Changelings, only to be fought by the Tenth Doctor, (GAME: Attack of the Graske [+]Loading...["Attack of the Graske (video game)"]) who later stated that he had fought the Trickster's "shadows and Changelings" prior to meeting him in person. (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"]) The Trickster's Brigade also once smuggled a Brainspawn to Earth in an effort to throw off American history in the 1920s. (TV: Immortal Sins [+]Loading...["Immortal Sins (TV story)"])

Three of the "minions of Krampus", as identified by the Thirteenth Doctor. (COMIC: Holiday Special [+]Loading...["Holiday Special (comic story)"])

Krampus had a trio of burly Goblins called Otto, Ludwig and Siegfried under his command, carrying them into reality with Krampus themself inside dimensionally transcendental Christmas tree ornaments when he emerged in Leadworth. (COMIC: Imaginary Enemies [+]Loading...["Imaginary Enemies (comic story)"]) The Thirteenth Doctor encountered a swarm of many identical minions of Krampus, who appeared as small imp-like creatures. Having entered reality alone through their own means, Krampus once had to resort to abducting and hypnotising alien workers to build a machine through which to summon their "minions" into the universe. (COMIC: Holiday Special [+]Loading...["Holiday Special (comic story)"])

The Goblins faced by the Fifteenth Doctor. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"])

When he was defeated at UNIT HQ, the Toymaker claimed that "[his] legions [we]re coming". (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]) The Fifteenth Doctor later inferred that "his legions" had followed the Toymaker into the universe. In fact, he believed the Goblins he encountered during his first adventure with Ruby Sunday to be part of "the Toymaker's legacy", (PROSE: Error: code 3 - no source given in template transclusion.) although he also gave some consideration Ruby's theory that the Goblins might have caused every accident throughout history. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"]) The Toymaker was also infamous for making the ordinary people who lost his games into living toys slaved to his will. (TV: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Loading...["The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)"], PROSE: Divided Loyalties [+]Loading...["Divided Loyalties (novel)"])

History[[edit] | [edit source]]

Origins[[edit] | [edit source]]

Although Harriet Arbinger claimed Sutekh to be the "mother and father and other" of the members of the Pantheon she listed, this seemed to be symbolic as (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"]) many of them had disparate, documented origins prior to congregating into a single organisation.

Maestro, the “god of music”, (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"]) was a child of fellow Pantheon member the Toymaker. Describing their youth, Maestro said, "Daddy was so bad to me. Daddy was so mean. Daddy was so tough". (TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"]) The origins of the Toymaker himself were shrouded in mystery as he liked to play "games" with his origins and blur his tracks. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties [+]Loading...["Divided Loyalties (novel)"], AUDIO: The Nightmare Fair [+]Loading...["The Nightmare Fair (audio story)"], etc.)

The Mara, the “god of beasts”, (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"]) was a gestalt entity created from the evil of the people of Manussa and given independence by the Great Crystal. It founded and ruled the Sumaran Empire until being overthrown by the first Federator who banished it to the Dark Places of the Inside. (TV: Snakedance [+]Loading...["Snakedance (TV story)"]) Taking the form of a giant snake, the Mara was repelled by the sight of its own reflection. (TV: Kinda [+]Loading...["Kinda (TV story)"])

Before coming to be acknowledged as leader of this extra-universal pantheon, (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"]) Sutekh was born as a member of the Osirian Court, (AUDIO: The Ship of a Billion Years [+]Loading...["The Ship of a Billion Years (audio story)"]) and acknowledged as such by the Fourth Doctor. (TV: Pyramids of Mars [+]Loading...["Pyramids of Mars (TV story)"]) According to one account, Sutekh, believing that he deserved to take over the throne of the Osirian Court, since it owed its survival to him, made himself far more powerful than his fellow Osirians by taming the forces of the Outer Desert, of which even Ra was afraid. (AUDIO: The Ship of a Billion Years [+]Loading...["The Ship of a Billion Years (audio story)","The Ship of a Billion Years"]) According to River Song, in the Dark Times he made a bargain with the Kotturuh, who allowed him to carry their "Gift of Death" himself. (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times [+]Loading...["The Guide to the Dark Times (short story)","The Guide to the Dark Times"]) After orchestrating the death of Osiris to seize the Osirian throne, Sutekh was defeated by Horus and imprisoned in Egypt, held in place by a signal transmitted from the Eye of Horus on Mars. In 1911 his prison was disturbed by Marcus Scarman, enabling Sutekh to scheme his escape. His plans were disrupted by the Fourth Doctor, who sabotaged the time corridor he was using to leave his prison. Though the Doctor believed him destroyed, (TV: Pyramids of Mars [+]Loading...["Pyramids of Mars (TV story)"]) Sutekh survived being cast into the Time Vortex by latching onto the Doctor’s TARDIS where he remained in secret for centuries. In doing so he grew stronger, (TV: Empire of Death [+]Loading...["Empire of Death (TV story)"]) with the Fifteenth Doctor describing him as having become a “titan”. (TV: Pyramids of Mars [+]Loading...["Pyramids of Mars (TotT TV story)"]) When he finally returned on Earth in 2020s, Sutekh was hailed by his Harbinger as the God of Death and the "mother and father and other of them all". (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"])

Legends and accounts[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor had heard legends of the Pantheon of Discord when he was a child. (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"]) He told Panna he’d heard legends of the Mara. (TV: Kinda [+]Loading...["Kinda (TV story)"])

Maestro claimed that their name were cited in the Chorus of Ancient Songs. (TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"])

The Doctor meets the Toymaker[[edit] | [edit source]]

The First Doctor confronting the Toymaker. (TV: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Loading...["The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)"])

The Toymaker was the “god of games”. (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"]) Claiming good and evil meant nothing to him, the Toymaker believed all that existed was to win or lose. The Toymaker had a brief encounter with a young Doctor, who managed to escape him, refusing to engage in any games. (TV: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Loading...["The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)"], PROSE: Divided Loyalties [+]Loading...["Divided Loyalties (novel)"]) However, after he let his TARDIS fall into a "hollow beneath the Under-Universe", (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]) the Toymaker trapped the First Doctor, Steven Taylor and Dodo Chaplet in his Celestial Toyroom and forced them to play games to win their freedom. The travellers eventually defeated the Toymaker, with the effect of destroying the Toyroom, though he’d already admitted he would build another. (TV: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Loading...["The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)"])

By some accounts the Doctor would have several more encounters with the Toymaker in various incarnations, (PROSE: Divided Loyalties [+]Loading...["Divided Loyalties (novel)"], The Nightmare Fair [+]Loading...["The Nightmare Fair (novelisation)"], AUDIO: Matryoshka [+]Loading...["Matryoshka (audio story)"], The Magic Mousetrap [+]Loading...["The Magic Mousetrap (audio story)"], Solitaire [+]Loading...["Solitaire (audio story)"]) however another suggested they did not meet again until the life of the Fourteenth Doctor. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])

Manifestations of the Mara[[edit] | [edit source]]

The mark of the Mara passing from one host to the next. (TV: Kinda [+]Loading...["Kinda (TV story)"])

The Mara frequently manifested on Deva Loka, the home of the Kinda. Panna, the wise woman of the Kinda, described this influence as the Great Wheel of Life which when turned made civilisations rise and then fall, and gave the Fifth Doctor an apocalyptic vision which he understood was both the past and the future if the Mara was not stopped. (TV: Kinda [+]Loading...["Kinda (TV story)"]) The Mara also manifested on Earth in the 1920s, using The Serpentine Club in London to spread its influence including possessing Reginald Dellafield, an agent of Torchwood One. Reginald’s butler, AC Forster, created a containment field to restrict the Mara to Reginald’s body and killed all of its other hosts by destroying the Club, intending to force the Mara to continue serving Torchwood as long as Reginald’s body lasted. (AUDIO: Art Decadence [+]Loading...["Art Decadence (audio story)"])

When the Fifth Doctor arrived on Deva Loka, the Mara manifested via his companion Tegan Jovanka. Despite being banished once more, (TV: Kinda [+]Loading...["Kinda (TV story)"]) the Mara would continue to attempt to possess Tegan again on multiple occasions to try to escape the Dark Places of the Inside. (TV: Snakedance [+]Loading...["Snakedance (TV story)"], AUDIO: The Cradle of the Snake [+]Loading...["The Cradle of the Snake (audio story)"], WC: The Passenger [+]Loading...["The Passenger (webcast)"]) Much later in his life, the Eleventh Doctor encountered the Mara during the Siege of Trenzalore when it infiltrated the town of Christmas on Trenzalore, attempting to force him to speak his name and escalate the siege into another time war by speaking his name. (PROSE: The Dreaming [+]Loading...["The Dreaming (short story)"])

The Trickster's schemes[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Trickster with Sarah Jane Smith after erasing her from history. (TV: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? [+]Loading...["Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)"])

The Trickster, the “god of traps”, (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"]) had a lust for chaos, believing it good. (TV: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? [+]Loading...["Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)"]) An “eternal exile” according to the Tenth Doctor, (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"]) the Trickster was able to alter time by making deals with individuals however his influence would be reversed if they rejected the bargain. (TV: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? [+]Loading...["Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)"]) He was also vulnerable to artron energy produced by TARDISes. (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"])

The Trickster personally targeted Sarah Jane Smith to remove her from time at a moment she would prevent a meteor wiping out Earth, creating pure chaos as billions died for no reason at all. He rewrote history by making a deal with Andrea Yates for Sarah to die in her place in a childhood accident. One of Sarah’s friends, Maria Jackson was able to recall the original timeline due to exposure to a Verron puzzle box which Sarah had given her. As the meteor approached she and her father, Alan Jackson, convinced Andrea to reject the deal, restoring the original timeline and enabling Sarah to avert catastrophe. (TV: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? [+]Loading...["Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)"])

The Trickster subsequently sought revenge on Sarah. First he attempted to trick her into allowing him access into reality by changing her own parents’ deaths via a time fissure, which she prevented by restoring the correct series of events. (TV: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"]) He made a deal to save Peter Dalton as part of a plan to entrap Sarah by marrying him, in doing so falling under his power. On learning the truth Sarah convinced Peter to break the deal. (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"]) The Trickster later disrupted Sarah’s memorial but his plan was thwarted in ten minutes by the attendees of the service – many former companions of the Doctor and of Sarah – who managed to shrink the Trickster down to the size of a doll, lock him in a treasure chest and send him to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean for the next thousand years. (WC: Farewell, Sarah Jane [+]Loading...["Farewell, Sarah Jane (webcast)"])

A Time Beetle, which the Tenth Doctor believed belonged to the Trickster's Brigade. (TV: Turn Left [+]Loading...["Turn Left (TV story)"])

The Doctor claimed to have fought the Trickster’s “shadows and changelings”. (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"]) A Time Beetle of the Trickster's Brigade targeted Donna Noble on Shan Shen, creating a parallel world where she never met the Tenth Doctor resulting in his death and Earth suffering under numerous alien incursions without his aid. Via time travel Donna was able to correct the event which had altered the timeline, killing the beetle. (TV: Turn Left [+]Loading...["Turn Left (TV story)"]) William wrote a letter to Doctor Who Adventures, asking if the Time Beetle had any friends, such a Time Worm or a Time Spider; the Eleventh Doctor responded, firstly explaining that the Time Beetle belonged to the Pantheon of Discord, alongside the Trickster. Further speculating that, given their love of chaos, other members could include the aforementioned Time Worms, or Space Parrots or Dimension-Jumping Cheese Weasels. He confessed that he would like to be friends with everyone, so long as they gave up their life of meddling with time. (PROSE: "Time for Friends!" [+]Part of Doctor, Doctor! 273, Loading...{"name":"\"dwa\"","page":"29","namedpart":"Time for Friends!","1":"Doctor, Doctor! (DWA 273 short story)"})

Other members of the Brigade organised a plot to create a new history in 1927 involving a Brainspawn driving future American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt insane, causing him to drop America out of World War II resulting in Nazi Germany winning the war. This plan was foiled by Jack Harkness and Angelo Colasanto. (TV: Immortal Sins [+]Loading...["Immortal Sins (TV story)"])

Krampus[[edit] | [edit source]]

Krampus and his minions are evicted from reality. (COMIC: Imaginary Enemies [+]Loading...["Imaginary Enemies (comic story)"])

During the Eleventh Doctor's lifetime, Krampus, a member of the Pantheon, managed to emerge in Leadworth thanks to the crack in time in Amelia Pond's bedroom. He managed to fully enter reality by getting Veronica, the spoiled daughter of the Mayor, to accept the Link, a lump of coal which stabilised him in the universe, having disguised it as a doll. Intending to create chaos by disrupting Amelia, Rory and Mels Zucker's destinities, he spent his goblin servants Otto, Ludwig and Siegfried. When they failed, he personally captured them and took them to the school library. In order for him to have the power to kill the children, he needed Veronica to wish for him to banish them; before he could persuade her to do so, Amelia got Veronica to see through the Link's glamour and she rejected it, sending it back through the mirror through which Krampus had originally contacted her. As a result, Krampus and the goblins were sucked back into "whatever dirty little corner of existence they ha[d] come from". (COMIC: Imaginary Enemies [+]Loading...["Imaginary Enemies (comic story)"])

Increased incursions[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Toymaker on the loose on Earth. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])

After the Fourteenth Doctor cast salt at the edge of the universe, symbolically damaging the walls of reality, (TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"]) the Toymaker, now in a new body, "found his way into reality". He rampaged through the Doctor's universe, playing games with many other powerful beings, from the Guardians of Time and Space to the Master. He plagued the human race with the Giggle and forced the Doctor into a game with him, later forcing his regeneration into the Fifteenth Doctor, only for this to trigger a bi-generation which gave the Doctor(s) the edge (t)he(y) needed to defeat him. As he was sealed away, the Toymaker warned them that his legions would be coming in his wake. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]) The Fifteenth Doctor subsequently encountered a group of Goblins whom he speculated were a part of the legions. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"])

When parked near the edge of reality, the Doctor's TARDIS also emitted a strange groan for the first time. (TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"]) The Toymaker also told the Fourteenth Doctor there was "only one player [he] didn't dare face: the One Who Waits". The Toymaker recalled that he "saw it hiding" and "ran". (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]) This turned out to refer to none other than the Pantheon's self-proclaimed King, Sutekh, who had been clinging to the Doctor's TARDIS since their initial encounter in 1911. (TV: Empire of Death [+]Loading...["Empire of Death (TV story)"])

Early in his travels with Ruby Sunday, the Doctor encountered the Toymaker's child Maestro in 1963 attempting to steal humanity’s music as part of a grand plan to build their strength to one day claim the Music of the Spheres itself and halt the entire universe. Though the Doctor’s initial attempt to banish them via a chord failed, his plan was completed by the Beatles who finished the tune. As they were banished Maestro warned the Doctor that "the One Who Waits" was "almost here". (TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"])

Sutekh, the “one who waits”, reveals himself. (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"])

This came to pass in UNIT HQ when the Doctor discovered that, for some time now, his TARDIS had been "seduced" and overtaken by Sutekh. Heralded by his own Harbinger, Harriet, who had infiltrated UNIT, Sutekh revealed himself, with Harriet proclaiming him as the King of the group of gods also including the Toymaker, Maestro, and the Trickster, as well as several others and the Mara, (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"]) whom the Doctor had faced in the past without identifying them as members of a shared group. (TV: Kinda [+]Loading...["Kinda (TV story)"], Snakedance [+]Loading...["Snakedance (TV story)"]) The Doctor believed Sutekh had evolved, becoming a “titan” compared to how strong he’d been in their first encounter. (TV: Pyramids of Mars [+]Loading...["Pyramids of Mars (TotT TV story)"]) Sutekh used the Angel of Death he’d planted across the universe whilst on the TARDIS to spread his Dust of Death across time and space, killing everything it touched. The Doctor and Ruby managed to hatch a plan to pull him from the TARDIS and used the ship to drag him into the Time Vortex, where his touch killed his own Dust, undoing its effects and restoring all its victims to life. The Doctor then finally separated Sutekh from the TARDIS, causing him to be destroyed by the Vortex. (TV: Empire of Death [+]Loading...["Empire of Death (TV story)"])

The Doctor later faced Maestro a second time when they reemerged in the Royal Albert Hall to play bad music so they could feed on the dissonance in the audience that it created. On this occasion, the Vlinx, detecting the incursion, identified Maestro as one of "the Pantheon of Discord". However, the Doctor managed to exploit musical logic to defeat them once more by having the audience applaud to end her music, causing their physical form to explode. (AUDIO: Pantheon of Discord [+]Loading...["Pantheon of Discord (audio story)"])

Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Origins in the 2000s[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Pantheon of Discord was originally conceived of by Gareth Roberts while writing The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"]. The name was mentioned in early drafts of that story, but removed for the finished version.[1]
  • In an early draft of The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"], the Tenth Doctor was to say that, beyond the Trickster, other members of the Pantheon of Discord were the Reapers, Time-Beetles, Graskes, and the Guardians.[1]
    • A connection between the Trickster and the Guardians had already been hinted in the Trickster's first appearance in Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? [+]Loading...["Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)"], with the Trickster paraphrasing a statement of power made by the Black Guardian in Mawdryn Undead [+]Loading...["Mawdryn Undead (TV story)"], "Waking or sleeping. I shall be with you..."
    • As noted elsewhere on this page, fiction in the early 2010s would sometimes call the Time Beetle a member of the Pantheon of Discord.

2020s reimagining[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • In the Doctor Who: Unleashed episode associated with The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"], Russell T Davies mentioned that he and other writers liked to call the Pantheon "the Gods of Chaos", but was not sure that this was "official". He also clarified that, although he liked to come across as the supreme being of the Pantheon, the Toymaker was not actually its most powerful member, as hinted in The Devil's Chord itself with mentions of the Oldest One. The The Sarah Jane Adventures story The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"] had previously used the name of "Pantheon of Discord", but no link was established between the two groups until the airing of The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"], which conflated them by citing the Trickster among the members of the (not-so-)new Pantheon.
  • Although the "threefold deity of malice, mischief and misery" may be read as a reference to the Gods of Ragnarok, and was interpreted as such by some,[2][3] this has yet to be confirmed in any official source.
  • The episode Gods of the Whoniverse of New to Who? suggested several more entities than those mentioned in The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"] as being gods in the same sense as those gods. These were Zellin (suggested to be the god of nightmares), the Gods of Ragnarok, the White and Black Guardians, and the Beast.
The Beast apocryphally construed as a member of the organisation in the thumbnail of the official Doctor Who YouTube channnel's compilation of clips of Pantheon members.

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Pixley, Andrew (20 April 2011). DWMSE 28 - The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith p. 24, 28. Panini Magazines.
  2. ↑ Jamie H. Cowan (15 June 2024). Tweet. Twitter. Archived from the original on 21 June 2024. “(…) like the Gods of Ragnarok (who are alluded in the list of gods, I do believe, with that threefold deity line), and the Trickster, and the Mara; all in decades gone by (…)”
  3. ↑ Josiah Rowe (15 June 2024). Tweet. Twitter. Archived from the original on 21 June 2024. “I think the 'threefold deity of malice and mischief and misery' is the Gods of Ragnarok.”
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