Goblins were a species of short, green-skinned humanoids with prominent noses and pointy ears. They had a place in human folklore, and the term was sometimes used in general terms to refer to a magical trickster, rather than to a specific trickster; in this figurative sense, the Doctor was sometimes compared to a "goblin".
Goblins were fond of kidnapping and eating human children, especially babies. (PROSE: A Message from Janis Goblin [+]Official Doctor Who Twitter fiction (BBC Studios, 2023).)
The Thirteenth Doctor once claimed to not believe in Goblins, however she changed her mind upon momentarily reflecting on the matter. (PROSE: The Good Doctor [+]Juno Dawson, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2018). Chapter 3.)
History[]
Origins[]
When explaining the relationship between the Goblins and the Toymaker, the Fifteenth Doctor inferred that the Goblins were "the legacy" of the Toymaker, whose legions had followed him (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, adapted from The Church on Ruby Road (Russell T Davies), BBC Books novelisations (BBC Books, 2024). Chapter Thirteen; Page 100.) into the universe after the Fourteenth Doctor inadvertently summoned him at the edge of the universe. (TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023)., The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).) Indeed, after the Fifteenth Doctor negated a cracked timeline the Goblins had created, they faded from view, as though they had been erased from existence, or pulled back into another world. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, adapted from The Church on Ruby Road (Russell T Davies), BBC Books novelisations (BBC Books, 2024). Chapter Eighteen; Page 137.)
While the Doctor considered Ruby Sunday's suggestion that the Goblins had caused every accident throughout history, (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2023 (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).) which was an idea that "amaze[d]" him, he naturally wanted to dismiss the possibility as it didn't make sense — neither the probability nor the science of it — but he couldn't shake the fact that the Goblins didn't make sense in general. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, adapted from The Church on Ruby Road (Russell T Davies), BBC Books novelisations (BBC Books, 2024). Page 96.)
On Earth[]
Goblins had a place in human culture and folklore. One of the props stored in an old pantomime theatre prop-room was a goblin costume; after the Thirteenth Doctor attempted to summon the "magic of pantomime" to life using a link she'd clicked on Spacebook, it turned out to be very literal, replacing the props with real versions of the various characters, "snatched" from their homes against their will. This included a sword-wielding goblin. Before long, however, the Doctor found and rubbed the now-real magic lamp and summoned a Genie, using the first of her three wishes to get him to send away all the other, more dangerous fictional beings the Spacebook link had summoned. (COMIC: It's Behind You! [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.)
Janis Goblin once thanked all the humans who had listened to "The Goblin Song", believing that the proceeds going to Children in Need would mean more children for she and her fellow goblins to eat. After realising this was not the case, she asked someone to pass her some twins. (PROSE: A Message from Janis Goblin [+]Official Doctor Who Twitter fiction (BBC Studios, 2023).)
At least one group of Goblins were time riders that could "bimble" through time using their ship. They would creep into the normal universe through the power of accidents, chance, and coincidence. The Fifteenth Doctor discounted this as being magic, instead describing it as a "different form of physics" and a "new science". Using this form of science, they would would create bad luck around certain people both for fun and also as preparation for stealing babies that they wanted to eat, which apparently made them taste better. Their technology was mostly based around complex systems of rope, which allowed them to make a flying wooden ship. They attempted to steal Lulubelle on Christmas Eve of 2023, but were thwarted by the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday. The goblins then stole baby Ruby on Christmas Eve of 2004, resulting in a "cracked timeline". The Doctor was able to thwart them using his intelligent gloves by weighing down their ship and impaling the Goblin King on a church spire, seemingly erasing them from existence. This resulted in the timeline being restored. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2023 (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
On other planets[]
Goblins, among other creatures, were present on a battlefield in the Slough of the Disunited Planets. The Tenth Doctor, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart and Michael Yates comforted one mortally wounded goblin as he died. (COMIC: The Warkeeper's Crown)
As fantastical creatures in human folklore, goblins were brought into existence on Avalon by the nanobot system on the planet, which realised the fantasies of 22nd century human colonists. As such, goblins had an entry in the Avalonian Bestiary. Also in the book were bogies, which were described as shape-shifting goblins. (PROSE: The Sorcerer's Apprentice)
In mythology[]
According to legend, the Pandorica was the prison of a warrior or goblin who dropped out of the sky and tore the world apart until a "good wizard" tricked it and locked it up. River Song remarked that the good wizard had likely been the Doctor himself, though it later became clear that he was the trickster and warrior of the tale, with the Pandorica Alliance of his worst enemies being the ones who were to seal him away. (TV: The Pandorica Opens) On the other hand, in his speech to the Clerics in which he told them that the Eleventh Doctor was a living breathing man, Colonel Manton said that the Doctor was not, among other things, a goblin. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).)
Christina Rossetti's poem "Goblin Market" referred to goblins. Dee Dee Blasco quoted the poem.
- "We must not look at goblin men,
- We must not buy their fruits:
- Who knows upon what soil they fed
- Their hungry, thirsty roots?" (TV: Midnight [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).)
Members of the Great Houses regarded the Sontarans as "goblins"; Larissa remembered the Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey as a "goblin infestation", (PROSE: Newtons Sleep) and in Mujun: The Ghost Kingdom the Seventy-Ninth Sontaran Assault Corps was represented by a "goblin-hoarde". (PROSE: The Book of the War, AUDIO: The Eleven Day Empire)
Goblin's Copse was a rural English village near Beaconsfield. (PROSE: Beautiful Chaos [+]Gary Russell, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2008)., TV: The Last Sontaran [+]Phil Ford, The Sarah Jane Adventures series 2 (BBC One and CBBC, 2008).)