Umbra ( The Eye of Torment ) The Umbra were a group of intelligent psychic predators who " [ thought ] as one " and devoured their victims , using the empty shell as a vehicle to move in . Biology . The Umbra were pitch black in appearance , and had a perpetual grin on their faces . They took the form of humanoids , such as human s and a species native to another planet . They were at least partially made out of " psychic fabric " , but could also produce tendril s to grasp their prey . ( COMIC : " The Eye of Torment " ) Abilities . The Umbra were attracted to emotions like self - loathing , pain , shame , regret and guilt to feed off so that they could " devour " people ' s minds and souls . They could also use mind control on people and broadcast psychic messages . They could fly in space and appeared to have survived in the Sun ' s chromosphere for " millions of years " . According to the Twelfth Doctor , particle beam s " probably taste [ d ] like Weetabix " to them , although they could be stopped by low temperatures . They could also swarm together and anchor objects to larger bodies of mass , including the " Pollyanna " , which was shielded against the gravitational force of the Sun . ( COMIC : " The Eye of Torment " ) History . When the Sun was a " young star " , a scientist created a psychic fabric that was capable of removing the pain that lay in all living beings . He fashioned it into a cloak and named it " the Umbra " . However , the Umbra gained intelligence and " became alive " , killing people all over the planet , devouring their forms , spreading and multiplying . The scientist , whose guilt was so great that he could use himself as bait to draw the Umbra together , brought the Umbra into the Sun , using what the Twelfth Doctor assumed was a trans - warp tunnel powered by the Sun . The Umbra survived their trip , however . Sandy Tanaka guessed the Umbra had been swimming through the Sun ' s chromosphere for " millions of years " . Eventually , the " Pollyanna " , a sunship on an expedition to circumnavigate the Sun , had reached the Sun ' s surface . One Umbra snuck in to the " Pollyanna " via a plasma conduit and used its psychic abilities to convince Georgia Butler to disengage the safety in the plasma room . With the safety disengaged , the plasma burnt Georgia and Harriet Wilcox inside and the Umbra was able to spread and reach the flight deck and navigate " Pollyanna " back to Earth , killing and taking on human bodies as they did so . Thousands of Umbra began swarming the outside of the " Pollyanna " and anchored it to the Sun . As the Umbra reached the flight deck , Clara Oswald destroyed the navigation controls , preventing the Umbra from finding Earth , and the crew headed off to auxiliary control so the crew could navigate with the back - up systems . Eventually the " Pollyanna " crew were surrounded , and Clara asked the " total narcissist " Rudy Zoom to talk to them . The Umbra inside tried feeding on Rudy ' s mind , but because he was a narcissist who had no regrets in life , the inside of Rudy ' s head was " like poison " to the Umbra and the Umbra died . On the outside of the ship , the Doctor was ejected out of a plasma intake by Officers Wright and Jordache to attract the Umbra that had surrounded the ship to his two thousand years ' worth of regret . He set up the final link to Professor Alice Dubrovnik ' s graviton inverter on the hull of the ship , allowing Alice to briefly boost the inverter and create a secondary gravity envelope , which inverted not only the gravity , but the heat as well , freezing the Umbra on the outside to death . ( COMIC : " The Eye of Torment " )