Language of luck
The language of luck was a "different form of physics" which was used by the Goblins. Much like the rules of play, the Doctor described these physics as a set of rules distinct from the rules of the universe, with their existence a legacy of the Toymaker's incursion in the universe. The Doctor also denied that these physics were magic. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"])
Notably, the principles of luck and coincidence seemed to mimick the "vocabulary of ropes" which underpinned the technology of the Goblin ship. The Doctor believed that instances of bad luck "stitched" and "weaved" people into the Goblins' language of luck, making them "knotted" and desirable for the Goblins to eat. The Doctor also used the word "tapestry" in describing the wider movements of the Goblins' physics. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"])
Such a logic was involved in the Unravel, with "knots" of coincidence "tugging the ropes of reality" together. The Head D.C. also compared "The ropes" to the trees of time and their flowers of memory. When the Unravel altered the balance of the Omniverse such that Shawn Doltmann and Cory Maythers were able to meet through two coincidental encounters and fall in love, this constituted "the rope of Cory’s life touch[ing] against that of Shawn’s. Then tangl[ing]. Then intertwin[ing]". (PROSE: {{esquivalience}} [+]Loading...["Esquivalience (novel)","'\"`UNIQ--nowiki-00000006-QINU`\"'"])
Ruby Sunday once claimed that the Doctor had always been good at "science-y stuff", but that he'd had to learn more about the language of luck since meeting her, noting the major coincidences which had occurred around them, such as that they'd both been adopted, having been abandoned by their birth parents, leading her to wonder if their meeting was a fluke, or if there was more to "the story of the Doctor and Ruby Sunday". (PROSE: Who's the Doctor? [+]Loading...{"page":"7","1":"Who's the Doctor? (short story)"})
