Cracked timeline (The Church on Ruby Road)
As stated by the Fifteenth Doctor, the Goblins cracked the timeline when they travelled back in time to the night of Ruby Sunday's birth and ate her, erasing her presence from history and adversely affecting the lives of her adoptive mother and grandmother, Carla and Cherry Sunday.
This timeline was soon negated by the Doctor when he followed the Goblins and prevented them from harming Ruby, allowing Ruby's life to be restored.
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
Original timeline[[edit] | [edit source]]
In the original timeline, Ruby Sunday was found outside the church on Ruby Road at midnight on Christmas 2004, and was then adopted by Carla Sunday. Carla raised Ruby in Manchester for part of her life, before moving to Notting Hill and into the flat belonging to Carla's mother Cherry.
On Christmas Eve 2023, Carla took in a new-born named Lulubelle, whose mother couldn't cope with raising a child. The Goblins, who fed on coincidence, spotted a chance of coincidence with the similarities between Ruby and Lulubelle, so set about abducting the child so they could feast upon her.
Lulubelle was rescued from the Goblins by Ruby and the Fifteenth Doctor before it was too late, and so the Goblins, not wanting to waste the coincidence, travelled back in time to the night of Ruby's birth. This also appeared to create a large physical crack in the Sundays' home. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"])
Cracked timeline[[edit] | [edit source]]
Subsequently, the erasure of Ruby Sunday from history resulted in the timeline being cracked, and, in her absence, the lives of Carla and Cherry Sunday were adversely altered. However, the Fifteenth Doctor was able to retain his memories of Ruby.
Carla only fostered five children, rather than the thirty-three in the original timeline. She was much more bitter and cold, only taking in the few children she did foster for the money and dismissing them as "brats", resenting Lulubelle for ruining her Christmas, which she had intended to spend alone. However, she was subconsciously aware she was missing something, as she teared up when speaking to the Doctor about Ruby. Cherry also believed they weren't "blessed" with having a child in their lives, when the Doctor asked her about Ruby. After talking with them, the Doctor resolved to repair the timeline and save Ruby.
He travelled back in time to Christmas Eve 2004, spotting the Goblins during their abduction. Donning his intelligent gloves, and reversing their effects so he became extremely heavy, he began pulling on the Goblins' ship, bringing it down to the ground. The ship's hull was pierced by the church's spire, which impaled the Goblin King and distracted the other Goblins. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"]) They seemed to then be erased from existence or pulled back into another world. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...{"page":"137","chaptnum":"Eighteen","1":"The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"})
Baby Ruby then fell from the sky and into the Doctor's arms, who safely returned the child to the doorstep of the church, allowing the vicar to find her, thus negating the altered timeline. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"])
Aftermath[[edit] | [edit source]]
While the timeline was seemingly restored to the state it was in prior to the Goblins' interference, with Ruby Sunday being vaguely aware of being "a bit lost" during her non-existence, Mrs Flood was seemingly affected by something which shifted her knowledge of the Doctor's TARDIS; while before the Goblins' interference, she only recognised the TARDIS as being a police box, afterwards Mrs Flood appeared to be familiar with the Doctor and the TARDIS, understanding what a TARDIS was. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"])
Later, it transpired that the Doctor's memory of the events slightly changed, as he could now also remember Ruby's mother turning and pointing, (TV: Space Babies [+]Loading...["Space Babies (TV story)"]) a result of time changing. (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"])
