Black Rod

The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod to the Parliament of His Majesty King James I, or Black Rod, was a keeper the peace within Parliament and guarded its secrets and treasures from traitors to the British Crown. In 1605, he was hypnotised by the Sontarans using a device placed on his neck. He captured Rory Williams while he was searching Parliament's storm drains. When Rory removed the device, Black Rod helped him escape and find the Eleventh Doctor.

Black Rod's treasury room had a staff with an orb on the end. This orb was a doomsday weapon which the Sontarans and the Rutans had been searching for for four hundred years. After the Doctor proved his trustworthiness to him, Black Rod distracted the Sontaran who had captured them so the Doctor could attack its probic vent and reprogram the orb to cause the war over it to reach a stalemate. (VG: The Gunpowder Plot)