Four Horsemen theory

The Toymaker's Legions are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Maestro being the show's parallel to Famine, the Third Horseman. Rather than plunging the world into a hunger for food, it was a hunger for music that ended the Human race. Next episode we will see a planet at war, possibly meeting the Pantheon's version of War, the Second Horseman. In the penultimate episode, the Legend of Ruby Sunday, we will learn that Ruby is the Pantheon's First Horseman, Conquest. The figure that we see in the Church on Ruby Road is Death, the fourth Horseman, following the Doctor while she disguises herself as a Human woman, Susan Triad.

Despite how in your face it is, I am genuinely really interested in whoever "The one who waits" is. We can only assume that Maestro did all this to get back at the Doctor, or at the very least Earth, for what happened to the Toymaker. This makes their mention of "the one who waits" at the end all the more confusing. In "The Giggle", the Toymaker explicitly mentions this secret villain as something already in the universe, someone playing a separate "game" from the Toymaker. He was our introduction to the character but his exact words made it sound like they were disconnected. Now we have Maestro drawing a direct connection between the two, making it seem like "the one who waits" is a member of this new "Pantheon".

I have a theory that "The One who Waits" is Death itself, but I should start with the Horseman I feel most confident about, Maestro as Famine. Maestro fits much of the profile of the version of Famine in the Greek version of the story. In that version, Famine is the Greek god Limos, the gender-less god of Famine that could curse individuals with never ending hunger. Maestro also having a child named "Harbinger" would make more sense given the Horsemen act as "harbingers" of the divine apocalypse. While I think we will likely see the Russell T Davies version of War soon, this still leaves Conquest/Pestilence and Death. Conquest has sometimes been portrayed as the "antichrist", and Death is basically the Grim Reaper.

I will mention that its possible the Toymaker is the show’s version of War, given that he puts the Human race at war with itself using the Giggle. What is war if not a game? His red suit and red petals very much match with War's Red Horse - the Toymaker's portal "Door" is red, just as Maestro's portal "Piano" was black matching Famine’s black horse.

The other line that stands out from Maestro is "could he have been there?" referring to a mysterious individual being present on the Christmas night where Ruby was left at the church. Coupled with the recovered memory of the cloaked figure from that night pointing at the Doctor, it makes me wonder if Ruby's "birth mother" is who Maestro was talking about. I had noticed on my first rewatch of Church that the 'flash-forward' at the beginning of the episode shows a different version of events than what we see at the end of the episode, when the Doctor saves Ruby from the Goblins. Its only a minor thing, but in the flash-forward we see a priest(?) come out of the Church and pick up Ruby before the Doctor arrives. In the later versions of events, the priest does not come out and instead the Goblins grab Ruby !after! the Doctor arrives. We see the cloaked figure walking away but the Doctor runs to the Church to save Ruby rather than pursue the supposed "mother". After saving the day and crashing an entire Goblin ship, the Doctor runs back to the TARDIS and suddenly the version of events from the beginning of the story begin, and magically the "mother" is walking away again, in the exact same place she was in minutes before when the Doctor arrived.

So far, we have seen the Doctor be aware of "Mavity" and "Rubathon Blue", but both companions were oblivious to the sudden changing of history. Is it possible this same thing has happened to the Doctor, but in reverse for once? Time was changed and he missed it, now completely oblivious to the change? The strange repeat of events in TCORR was the Doctor settling back into the timeline, fixing the Goblin's intervention but at the expense of pursuing Ruby's "mother". Is it possible that everything we see in the episode is a 'second go', the version of the new history after the Doctor initially travels to that Christmas? It was never fully established why the Doctor was following Ruby - was the Doctor feeling pulled to her because he sensed he knew her, and the Goblins just happened to be there? The Goblins did keep him from going after the cloaked figure, a distraction to prevent the confrontation that led to time being reset. The confrontation we see in Space Babies, which came with magical snow as a warning to remind him not to get curious. This season does end with "The Empire of Death", and this may be far more literal than anyone anticipated if the cloaked figure truly represents "Death".

Susan Twist's character, Susan Triad, is the most interesting mystery this season. It appears that she will appear in every episode this season, appearing in the last three episodes and is on the cast list for Boom. It's generally known now that she is 'Susan Triad', founder of 'Triad Technologies'. It is very unclear what role she plays in the over arching narrative, but many have assumed she is a villain. I admit I think she is going to be an antagonist as well, but nothing I've seen justifies, specifically, why she was with Sir Isaac Newton. Her first appearance is the craziest of them all, appearing BEFORE the Doctor drew the line of sand, and Ruby Sunday was not present (every appearance since this one has Ruby within the scene). It would almost seem like Susan has been present every time the Doctor changes history, with Space Babies being the only arguable exception. Its not lost on me that the Devil's chord was a Tri-tone, and the series big bad(?) is a Tri-ad. Her request for Ruby to play Gaudete is once again another biblical reference, this time it being a song about rejoicing at the coming of Christ. It seems she is tied to Ruby in some way, and everything in my eyes points to being a part of the Pantheon, whether she really is Sutekh (Susan Triad Technologies, Sue-tech) , or possibly Sutekh's child ala Harbinger , or some other god entirely. I think that Russell is really dangling all the "Susan" he can in front of the audience, and if he really is bringing Granddaughter Susan back then she's far more likely to be Mrs. Flood rather than the obvious "Susan Twist". Twist did say "that's me, Margaret Lockwood in The Wicked Lady" during her appearance in the Devil's Chord, referring to Margaret Lockwood’s character “Barbara Skelton”who donned a cloak and mask to conceal her identity, much like Ruby's "mother" does.

As I mentioned before, the first Horseman, Conquest, is often identified with the Holy Spirit or the Antichrist. If all of this connects to Ruby somehow (as the show continues to remind us), it makes sense to me that she may be taking on that role of the Toymaker's Antichrist, her foundling nature being without mortal parents is itself very Christ-like. It has been theorized that the Doctor would revert from Timelord to whatever his original species was if he were to open the chameleon arch fob watch containing all the Timeless Child stuff. If Russell is indeed putting the Doctor and Ruby in the same position to explore the foundling revelation, its possible Ruby was "chameleon arched" into a Human baby and dropped off at the Church, and her story arc becomes deciding between returning to what she was, or continuing as who she is. The snow in the TARIDS at the end of Space Babies suggested that her biology was triggering time's alarm, requiring an immersive warning to be sent to the Doctor.

This is all just based on vibes I got while watching the latest two episodes, but it feels like it could be too much like "Good Omens". If anything, I imagine the horsemen story realistically could have been a minor source of inspiration, but the story will deviate heavily as we see things play out.