Goblins (The Church on Ruby Road)
The Fifteenth Doctor once encountered a group of Goblins who were short, grey-skinned humanoids whose existence centred on eating human babies and causing accidents on Earth, as they fed on coincidence. They were connected to the language of luck, which allowed them to "surf the waves of Time" in their flying ship. They were ruled by the Goblin King.
Nature[[edit] | [edit source]]
Using their form of science, these 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.
They were Time Riders that could "bimble" through time using their ship, creeping into the normal universe by weaving accidents, chance, and coincidence across history. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"])
While the Doctor considered Ruby Sunday's suggestion that the Goblins had caused every accident throughout history, (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"]) which was an idea that even "amaze[d]" him, he naturally wanted to dismiss the possibility as it didn't make sense — neither the probability or the science of it — but he couldn't shake the fact that the Goblins didn't make sense in general. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...{"page":"96","chapter":"Thirteen","1":"The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"})
After the Fifteenth Doctor negated a cracked timeline the Goblins created, they faded from view, as though they had been erased from existence, or pulled back into another world. As this happened, their ship was surrounded by a pale grey smoke. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...{"page":"137","chaptnum":"Eighteen","1":"The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"})
The Goblins sang that the Goblin King was "not a myth, he's the actual thing", suggesting that they had an influence on human mythology. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"]) Indeed, Goblins were a known part of Earth folklore. (PROSE: The Sorcerer's Apprentice [+]Loading...["The Sorcerer's Apprentice (novel)"], TV: The Pandorica Opens [+]Loading...["The Pandorica Opens (TV story)"], COMIC: It's Behind You! [+]Loading...["It's Behind You! (comic story)"], et al.)
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
Origins[[edit] | [edit source]]
When Ruby Sunday hypothesised that the Goblins were responsible for "all accidents" on Earth, the Fifteenth Doctor reflected that this might well be true, suggesting he believed the Goblins might have been active on Earth throughout recorded history. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"]) According to another account of these events, however, when Ruby Sunday asked where the Goblins came from, the Fifteenth Doctor referred to the Giggle, saying that the Toymaker had "brought his legions with him" such that "this [was] his legacy". The Doctor explained that, like the Toymaker, their nature meant that they were "writing their own rules" of reality. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...{"page":"100","chaptnum":"Thirteen","1":"The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"})
Influencing the life of Ruby Sunday[[edit] | [edit source]]
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The group of Goblins encountered by the Doctor, among them Janis Goblin and her band, operated under the Goblin King
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)"])
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One Goblin, however, was present in the Deep Space Zone. If an individual travelled there from Wonder Central, the Goblin would hiss at them. (GAME: Wonder Chase [+]Loading...["Wonder Chase (video game)"])
As media figures[[edit] | [edit source]]
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)"])
Appearance[[edit] | [edit source]]
The regular Goblins were child-sized grey humanoid with large ears and slits instead of noses. They had nubby horns on their foreheads. Their eyes were proportionally large and spherical, and were coloured a dark shiny black. They wore clothing reminiscent of pirates. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The depiction of these Goblins were inspired by the Goblins in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Father Christmas Letters. (DWM 298)
- Russell T Davies previously referenced goblins in his novel Damaged Goods [+]Loading...["Damaged Goods (novel)"] and the television episode Midnight [+]Loading...["Midnight (TV story)"], which quoted Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market".
- Krampus, another member of the Pantheon besides the Toymaker, had previously been shown to use goblins as henchmen in the comic story Imaginary Enemies [+]Loading...["Imaginary Enemies (comic story)"].
