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Goblins, also known as kobolds, (PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune [+]Loading...["The Devil Goblins from Neptune (novel)"]) were a species of short, green-skinned humanoids with prominent noses and pointy ears. They had a place in human folklore, and the term was sometimes used in general terms to refer to a magical trickster, rather than to a specific trickster; in this figurative sense, the Doctor was sometimes compared to a "goblin".
One type of Goblin faced by the Fifteenth Doctor were grey-skinned and without noses, operating as creatures of coincidence who ate babies. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"])
Another account indicated that the myth of Goblins was inspired by the Waro. (PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune [+]Loading...["The Devil Goblins from Neptune (novel)"]) Harket believed that the alien Huldran were "fairies, imps, goblins". (AUDIO: Project Lazarus [+]Loading...["Project Lazarus (audio story)"])
Another account indicated goblins were connected to the fairies. (PROSE: The Shining Man [+]Loading...["The Shining Man (novel)"])
The Thirteenth Doctor once claimed to not believe in Goblins, however she changed her mind upon momentarily reflecting on the matter. (PROSE: The Good Doctor [+]Loading...{"chaptnum":"3","1":"The Good Doctor (novel)"})
History
On Earth
Goblins had a place in human culture and folklore. One of the props stored in an old pantomime theatre prop-room was a goblin costume; after the Thirteenth Doctor attempted to summon the "magic of pantomime" to life using a link she'd clicked on Spacebook, it turned out to be very literal, replacing the props with real versions of the various characters, "snatched" from their homes against their will. This included a sword-wielding goblin. Before long, however, the Doctor found and rubbed the now-real magic lamp and summoned a Genie, using the first of her three wishes to get him to send away all the other, more dangerous fictional beings the Spacebook link had summoned. (COMIC: It's Behind You! [+]Loading...["It's Behind You! (comic story)"])
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When the Toymaker was able to break into the universe thanks to the actions of the Fourteenth Doctor at the edge of the universe, (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]) his legions followed him. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...{"name":"TCoRR","page":"100","chaptnum":"Thirteen","1":"The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"}) One group of Goblins, among them Janis Goblin and her band, who operated under the Goblin King (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"]) were said by the Fifteenth Doctor to be the Toymaker's "legacy." (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...{"name":"TCoRR","page":"100","chaptnum":"Thirteen","1":"The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"}) Time riders that could "bimble" through time using their ship, these goblins would creep into the normal universe through the power of accidents, chance, and coincidence. The Fifteenth Doctor discounted this as being magic, instead describing it as a "different form of physics" and a "new science", (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"]) much like how the Toymaker followed his rules of play instead of the rules of the Doctor's universe. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]) Using their form of science, the goblins would would create bad luck around certain people both for fun and also as preparation for stealing babies that they wanted to eat, which apparently made them taste better. Their technology was mostly based around complex systems of rope and allowed them to make a flying wooden ship. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"])
Janis Goblin once thanked all the humans who had listened to "The Goblin Song", believing that the proceeds going to Children in Need would mean more children for her and her fellow goblins to eat. After realising this was not the case, she asked someone to pass her some twins. (PROSE: A Message from Janis Goblin [+]Loading...["A Message from Janis Goblin (short story)"]) These goblins attempted to steal Lulubelle on Christmas Eve of 2023, but were thwarted by the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday. The goblins then stole Ruby on Christmas Eve of 2004, resulting in a "cracked timeline". The Doctor was able to thwart them using his intelligent gloves by weighing down their ship and impaling the Goblin King on a church spire, seemingly banishing them from the universe. This resulted in the timeline being restored. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"])
On other planets
Goblins, among many other alien creatures coincidentally resembling those found in Dungeons & Dragons, were present on a battlefield in the Slough of the Disunited Planets. The Tenth Doctor, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart and Michael Yates comforted one mortally wounded goblin as he died. (COMIC: The Warkeeper's Crown)
As fantastical creatures in human folklore, goblins were brought into existence on Avalon by the nanobot system on the planet, which realised the fantasies of 22nd century human colonists. As such, goblins had an entry into the Avalonian Bestiary. Also in the book were bogies, which were described as shape-shifting goblins. (PROSE: The Sorcerer's Apprentice)
Goblins were among the fantastical residents of the planet Albert. (PROSE: Grimm Reality [+]Loading...["Grimm Reality (novel)"])
In mythology
According to legend, the Pandorica was the prison of a warrior or goblin who dropped out of the sky and tore the world apart until a "good wizard" tricked it and locked it up. River Song remarked that the good wizard had likely been the Doctor himself, though it later became clear that the trickster and warrior in the legend had actually been the Doctor, with the Pandorica Alliance of his worst enemies being the ones who were to seal him away. (TV: The Pandorica Opens) On the other hand, in his speech to the Clerics in which he told them that the Eleventh Doctor was a living breathing man, Colonel Manton said that the Doctor was not, among other things, a goblin. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War [+]Loading...["A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)"])
To the humans of the 13th century, the Sontaran Linx resembled a goblin. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Time Warrior [+]Loading...["Doctor Who and the Time Warrior (novelisation)"])
Christina Rossetti's poem "Goblin Market" referred to goblins. Dee Dee Blasco quoted the poem.
- "We must not look at goblin men,
- We must not buy their fruits:
- Who knows upon what soil they fed
- Their hungry, thirsty roots?" (TV: Midnight [+]Loading...["Midnight (TV story)"])
Members of the Great Houses regarded the Sontarans as "goblins"; Larissa remembered the Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey as a "goblin infestation", (PROSE: Newtons Sleep) and in Mujun: The Ghost Kingdom the Seventy-Ninth Sontaran Assault Corps was represented by a "goblin-hoarde". (PROSE: The Book of the War, AUDIO: The Eleven Day Empire)
Goblin's Copse was a rural English village near Beaconsfield. (PROSE: Beautiful Chaos [+]Loading...["Beautiful Chaos (novel)"], TV: The Last Sontaran [+]Loading...["The Last Sontaran (TV story)"])
The Red Cap was a murderous goblin from mythology which the Sixth Doctor encountered in altered form in the Land of Fiction. (AUDIO: City of Spires [+]Loading...["City of Spires (audio story)"])