Lankin

The Lankin was a vine-like creature which feasted on grief. It was unable to take people against their will, and so enticed victims to grab hold of it by morphing into their deceased loved ones.

In 2016, it came through the rift in Coal Hill Academy. Aiming to feast on Tanya Adeola's grief, the great trunk of the Lankin tried to lure her in using the image of her father. Other branches took the forms of Rachel Chapman and Orla'ath, with the aims of feasting upon Ram Singh and Miss Quill, respectively.

Miss Quill compared it to a chameleon, because of the way it camouflaged itself and snatched its prey.

Tanya fed it anger, not grief, poisoning it, and leaving it in a weakened state. Miss Quill then drove a double decker bus into the trunk, and it was forced back through the rift (TV: Nightvisiting) April MacLean later claimed that they had killed it. (TV: Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart)

Behind the scenes
The Lankin shares similarities with the character from the Futurama film, . Both are unique beings with a seemingly infinite number of tentacles which can be seen sticking into peoples backs. Stylistically, it presented itself in the episode similarly to The First in the Buffy episode "Conversations with Dead People".

In technological terms, "LAN" is short for local-area network, while the definition of "Kin" is one's family or relations. Together, the name "Lankin" defines as "a local network of relations".

They are rumoured to be named after Doctor Who writer Lance Parkin.