Garden of Eden

The Garden of Eden was supposedly a "paradise", given to humanity by God. Father Roberto, of the Church of Forgotten Saints, explained that humans messed up this first chance at paradise. (PROSE: Halflife)

According to Robert Ashton Kemp, an Anglican priest from Birmingham, the Garden of Eden had probably been located in the south of France. (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street)

An aspect of Eden was that it contained a serpent, (PROSE: Prologue, Halflife, The Gallifrey Chronicles) at least in versions of the story which included original sin. (PROSE: Halflife) This was a fear-inducing figure, and an antagonist within the story. (PROSE: Prologue)

A new Eden
Sometimes, a place was called a "new (Garden of) Eden" to evoke memories of the original location. (PROSE: Halflife; TV: Smile) The Second Doctor saw the act of "looking for a new Eden" as a very human pursuit: one in which a group of people recognised that humanity had "come too far from whatever they were before", and often rejected more recent advances, like technology. Reacting against industrialisation, they would often choose to live outside of cities, "closer to the earth", like before. He remarked that "they think it'll bring them closer to what it means to be human." (PROSE: All of Beyond)

The Eighth Doctor felt that many human colonies set out with the ethos of starting anew, choosing to "throw away millennia of human history", as Father Roberto put it, not to look back "in order to start afresh" in their new colony world. The Doctor questioned, though, if this was a strange attitude for a religious organisation, such as the Ecumenical Council. (PROSE: Halflife)

While the Twelfth Doctor inferred that human colonists would be expecting, metaphorically, the "new Garden of Eden" on Gliese 581 D, (TV: Smile) the Ecumenical Council took this idea a lot more seriously. They saw their venture to Espero as an inherently religious mission: "another chance [at Eden]. Perhaps our last." They believed that God was giving them this chance: "God would lead us into the new Promised Land — we needed nothing but faith and the Holy Church."

Due to their "strong Catholic ethic", they brought nothing with them but sacred writings and some technical manuals. The Ecumenical Council had faith that, on Espero, they would restore the life and practice of the Holy Apostolic Church, and so "reflect God's glory" in the Promised Land.

Father Roberto suggested, though, that in the end, "It was hell. The colonists arrived in their new Eden to discover that the resources HomeWorld had promised were buried too deep for the minimal equipment that we'd brought. The climate was hotter than we'd expected, there were insects everywhere. Fresh water was hard to find. The first fifty years almost saw Espero wither and die." (PROSE: Halflife) The Twelfth Doctor feared that, on arrival to their new Eden, the human colonists on Gliese 581 D would be made into fertiliser for the colony. (TV: Smile)