Weevil
- You may be looking for the Earth insect or the "Weevils of Ourouborous Vl".
"Weevils" were what Torchwood Three called a race of savage, alien humanoids found in Cardiff due to the Cardiff Space-Time Rift. Torchwood didn't know the species' real name because, as Jack Harkness said, "they're not too good at communicating." (TV: Everything Changes)
Biology
Weevils were roughly humanoid in shape and size, but were a bit taller and had flattened faces with many sharp, fang-like teeth. Though faster and stronger than humans, they were not extraordinarily powerful and could be injured with electricity, brute force or by Torchwood's anti-Weevil spray. Due to its frequent use, Weevils began to develop a resistance to the spray. (TV: Combat)
Though not quite cold-blooded, Weevils had a much lower body temperature than humans. (PROSE: Slow Decay) Weevils had an advanced digestive system, allowing them to eat almost anything, though they preferred meat. (TV: Everything Changes, PROSE: Slow Decay) They had powerful teeth and killed by ripping out the throat. (TV: Countrycide, PROSE: Something in the Water)
Their digestive system was connected to their circulatory system, meaning that anything that got in it (be it bacteria or bullets) would eventually be digested. (PROSE: Slow Decay) The Pharm was able to extract a pesticide and a powerful defoliant from the Weevils. (TV: Reset)
Abilities
Weevils had mild telepathic abilities and could feel strong emotions from other Weevils far away. (TV: Combat, PROSE: Slow Decay) They were also believed to have a degree of time sensitivity (TV: End of Days); could detect the illusions created by Bilis Manger (TV: End of Days); were afraid of Cell 114 (TV: Sleeper); and followed Owen Harper after he was brought back by the Resurrection gauntlet. (TV: Dead Man Walking)
Weevils were incapable of swimming. (AUDIO: Lost Souls)
Culture
Despite their violent actions, Weevils were at least partly intelligent. They wore clothing, had a basic social order and mourned the pain and loss of other Weevils. (TV: Combat, PROSE: Slow Decay) When they first arrived in Cardiff through the Rift they wore "half-clothing", but inevitably acquired human-made suits and garments. (PROSE: Another Life) They also treated their dead with respect and were not cannibals. They would mourn the deaths of other Weevils by whistling. (PROSE: Slow Decay) They were unable or unwilling to communicate with humans. (TV: Everything Changes) When feeding on humans, they tended to hide the remains in the same place until they ran out of room. (PROSE: Skypoint)
Weevils sized up other living creatures through how they conveyed themselves. If someone appeared easy to prey on, Weevils would maul that individual without hesitation. (TV: Everything Changes) However, Weevils could equally be intimidated, cowering and lowing in fear at the presence of something they perceived as more threatening than them. (TV: Combat)
The Weevils worshipped Death, the Resurrection gauntlet that allowed it into the universe, and Owen Harper after he was resurrected by the gauntlet. It was one of the few things that Weevils would actually bow to, conceding all hostile behaviour at the mere recognition of its presence. (TV: Dead Man Walking, Exit Wounds)
History
Origins
The Torchwood Institute did not know the native time period or homeworld of the Weevils. An uninformed layperson, Mark Lynch, believed that the Weevils might have descended from humans in the future when "all we have left is our rage". (TV: Combat)
2nd century
In 102, at least two Weevils were in the Alliance, a group gathered together to rid the universe of the Eleventh Doctor by using the Pandorica, located beneath Stonehenge, to seal him away. (TV: The Pandorica Opens) When the plan failed, the Weevils were turned to dust and removed from the universe along with the rest of reality beyond the Earth and its moon. They were returned when the Doctor "reset" the universe. (TV: The Big Bang)
15th century
In 1479, via a resurrection gauntlet, Death entered the universe in Cardiff. The Weevils worshipped it. Humans associated Weevils with death and in woodcuts illustrated a Weevil with the traditional cowl and scythe of the Grim Reaper. (TV: Dead Man Walking)
Turn of the 20th century
In the 19th and early 20th century, Weevils were a problem in Cardiff. Torchwood traditionally killed them instead of capturing them. In one encounter, the Torchwood carriage was attacked by Weevils when Agnes Havisham and George Herbert Sanderson were riding it. They were able to drive them off by releasing a flare, though George accidentally released it inside the carriage. (PROSE: Risk Assessment)
21st century
The Weevils were commonly seen in 21st century Cardiff, where hundreds lived in the sewers. They generally ate the most common resources in the sewers, though they occasionally ventured out to feed on humans. (TV: Everything Changes) Toshiko Sato believed they were as common as rats. (PROSE: Skypoint) Some lived in the church of St Mary's, where they had collected a wide range of human artefacts. (TV: Dead Man Walking)
One of the jobs of the Torchwood Three team was to capture these Weevils and put them in storage cells in the lower level of the Hub. Several cages were kept for storing these rogue Weevils and anti-Weevil spray and handcuffs were stored for this purpose. (TV: Everything Changes) Many missions of Torchwood were started while hunting Weevils. (TV: Reset, AUDIO: Lost Souls) As they were so commonly encountered, the firing range at Torchwood used pictures of Weevils as targets. (TV: Everything Changes, PROSE: The Undertaker's Gift)
On one Christmas party, Ianto Jones got so drunk he threw up on a Weevil. (PROSE: Risk Assessment)
In 2007, Gwen Cooper encountered a Weevil in a Hospital, where it killed a Hospital porter. This was her first encounter with alien life and part of the reason she was inducted into Torchwood. (TV: Everything Changes)
During the flooding caused by a Bruydac ship, many Weevils were forced out of Cardiff's sewers onto the surface, including one which Jack Harkness accidentally hit and killed with the Torchwood SUV. Following the Bruydac incident, Torchwood tracked down the displaced Weevils. (PROSE: Another Life)
When Doctor Scotus started distributing alien tapeworms, they made the patients so ravenously hungry they would kill and eat Weevils. The Weevils feared these infected people. (PROSE: Slow Decay)
In 2008, some Weevils were captured by Mark Lynch for his "Weevil Fight Club", where humans battled against the captured Weevils to deal with their pent-up rage; one of the Weevils captured was Torchwood's Janet, who was subsequently recovered. (TV: Combat)
When the Cardiff Rift temporarily fractured, more Weevils than ever appeared on the streets, making Torchwood Three's task of rounding them up even more difficult. (TV: End of Days)
- When the fractures sealed up and the other temporal refugees returned home, it is unknown if the new Weevils vanished as well.
For several months, Torchwood Three was following a Weevil known as "Big Guy". As the name suggested, it was a particularly large Weevil, as well as far more aggressive, injuring and killing people. It was killed by Sally Blackteeth, leaving Torchwood to find the body. (PROSE: Something in the Water)
Unknown to Torchwood Three, the Pharm had captured at least one Weevil as part of their self-assigned mission to exploit the unique qualities of alien species for biomedical research. As noted above, the Pharm discovered the Weevils were useful in developing new kinds of defoliant and pesticide. (TV: Reset)
After Owen Harper was killed at the Pharm, Jack Harkness went to the church of St Mary's and stole Death's resurrection gauntlet from the Weevils. When Death returned and possessed the undead Owen Harper, Weevils followed and chased him. (TV: Dead Man Walking)
Soon after Gwen Cooper's honeymoon in 2009, she chased a Weevil through Splott. She had become so used to this that the only part she thought was odd was that the Weevil had a limp. Later, when trapped in the SkyPoint apartments, airborne hallucinogens caused Gwen to think Jack Harkness was a Weevil. (PROSE: SkyPoint)
The Vandrogonite Visualiser dug up in Rhiwbina had records of the Weevils. When Gareth Portland created MonstaQuest, he used the Weevil as one of the characters, renaming it "Toothsome". Since Toothsome was a common character, Weevils were frequently created by the Visualiser, leading to an outbreak of Weevil attacks. (PROSE: Pack Animals)
Gray controlled Weevils in his attack on Cardiff with a high-pitched noise from his wrist strap. He first sent several of the Weevils through the Rift to the Cardiff Police Station and had them kill the four most senior officers, before the other police staff rounded the Weevils up and locked them in one of the station's prison cells. Gray later used his wrist strap's Weevil-controlling high-pitched noise to cause hundreds of the Weevils in Cardiff's sewers to come onto the surface and attack people in the streets. He also released three of Torchwood's captive Weevils from their cell and into the Hub, where they attacked John Hart and Gwen Cooper before Ianto Jones and Toshiko Sato shot them unconscious. John later used a recall signal from his wrist strap to cause the Weevils in Cardiff's streets to return to the sewers. (TV: Exit Wounds)
Around when Agnes Havisham was woken in 2009, two Weevils were spotted near a shopping mall, though Torchwood considered them a low priority problem. Agnes helped track and kill them. (PROSE: Risk Assessment)
On another occasion, Torchwood was chasing a rogue Weevil through Cardiff when Jack was contacted by Martha Jones on the disappearances at the Large Hadron Collider. In the meantime, the Weevil was accidentally chased into the river, where it drowned. (AUDIO: Lost Souls)
A fortnight before the Undertaker's Gift was activated, the Weevils of Cardiff went into hiding. When the Undertaker's Gift was activated, the Weevils were driven out into the city, where they started attacking humans. When the Vortex Dweller returned things to normal, the Weevils were returned to their hideouts. (PROSE: The Undertaker's Gift)
Mickey Smith fought a Weevil during his time as a freelance alien hunter. (COMIC: The Transformed)
Other Information
When cyborg hacker Psi was attempting to protect Clara Oswald from the Teller, he ensured that it would focus on his guilt by uploading the memories of some of the worst criminals in history, one of them being a Weevil. (TV: Time Heist)
Behind the scenes
Torchwood website
Part of a memo on the series 1 version of the Torchwood website dated to the 1950s revealed more about the history, or the suspected history, of the Weevils. It mentions attention being drawn to "increasingly parallel remarks" of reports of "crocodile-like creatures" in 4th century Byzantium that infested the sewer pipes from the Sea of Marmara. "Early indications" from the memo was that the species wasn't of Earth origin. It also knew of another such infestation in 1930s New York that was attributed to "reptiles or similar specimens escaped from the zoo". It said that the idea was so "outlandish", that the whole event was dismissed. [1]
The Torchwood Archives
According to the non-narrative source, The Torchwood Archives, which this wiki does not count as a valid source, Torchwood initially believed that the Weevils had been caught up in and sent through the Rift to Cardiff by accident, but came to believe otherwise when Weevils continued to come through the Rift into Cardiff.
Footnotes
- ↑ Weevils - 1950s Torchwood memo (partial). Torchwood website. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved on 25 July 2013.
