Warning: Spoilers ahead for Doctor Who season 15, episode 5, "The Story and the Engine."Doctor Who's Pantheon. "The Story and the Engine" builds on the show's current obsession with deities, which contextualizes the primary setting in Lux's debut episode.

Ariyon Bakare plays the Barber in "The Story and the Engine," a former human who once served several Gods who are often attributed to the concept of stories. The episode never directly confirms or denies whether the Gods the Barber mentions belong to the Pantheon, but it's a good bet that there is at least a small connection given Doctor Who's current storyline. The Barber doesn't name any established Pantheon Gods, but he does confirm he was once present at a key location that the show has only recently left behind.

The Movie Theater From Doctor Who's "Lux" Was Used To Feed The Gods Of Stories

The Barber's "electric cinema" is the Palazzo from Doctor Who season 15, episode 2

When the Doctor asks the Barber how he gathered stories for the Gods, Bakare's character starts listing the various locations in which he has waited for people to come and share their tales. Among these settings is an "electric cinema," and when the Barber mentions says structure, the Palazzo picture house appears on the screen. So, it would appear that just as the Barber took over the barbershop, he once inhabited the Palazzo and harvested his stories from there and returned them to his masters.

THE DOCTOR: "How did you collect the stories?"

THE BARBER: "I started small. A pub, lit by candles. A Catholic Church confession box. A coal-powered theater. An electric cinema. A space opera."

- Doctor Who season 15, episode 5, "The Story and the Engine."

The barbershop feels like an organic place for the Barber to gather stories, as it is often a location where people come and tell tales of their day-to-day lives. However, the fact that the Barber once installed himself at the Palazzo implies the Gods can also be fed with works of fiction, and that the stories they consume don't have to be genuine s of something that has really happened.

The Barber's ability to travel around the globe with this method also goes some way to explaining how powerful he is as a character.

Furthermore, the Barber's vast timeline, which began at some point before the invention of electricity, provides some indication of just how old he is. It's impossible to come up with an exact figure, but saying he is centuries old is probably not inaccurate. Plus, the Barber's ability to travel around the globe with this method also goes some way to explaining how powerful he is as a character, and how intelligent he is to have invented the Nexus and his Story Engine.

The Movie Theater's God Connection May Explain Why Lux Went There

Mr. Ring-a-Ding's presence may not have been a coincidence

Lux made his way to the Palazzo on a beam of moonlight, reflecting off the surface of a well-placed spoon and ending up embodying the main character being projected onto the screen at that time - Mr. Ring-a-Ding. It seems like sheer happenstance that the God of Light was able to take form at the Palazzo, but it could be that he was drawn there because of the building's pre-existing connection to the Gods that the Barber mentions.

If Lux was drawn to the Palazzo because the Barber had once been there, it's possible that other Pantheon Gods visited the other locations Bakare's character mentions in his Doctor Who debut.

The Barber names several story lords in "The Story and the Engine," but none of them are Lux. Of course, that wouldn't have made much sense if he had named Lux as a God of Stories, as Cumming's character is the God of Light. However, if Lux was drawn to the Palazzo because the Barber had once been there, it's possible that other Pantheon Gods visited the other locations Bakare's character mentions in his Doctor Who debut.

That said, Lux's arrival at the Palazzo could have just been a genuine coincidence. I don't think that's the case here, though. Russell T. Davies has a history of dropping seemingly innocuous hints about stories and twists that are yet to make themselves fully known. So, I think there is a better reason why the Palazzo was mentioned in Doctor Who season 15, episode 5, beyond the fact that it was a cool nod to "Lux."