# Mr. Toobad — Nightmare Abbey character guide

> Mr. Toobad in Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Toobad, Mr. Toobad Filling

**First appearance:** 0005-iv

## Snapshot

A Manichaean who sees the devil's cloven claw in every affair and hopes his solemn daughter Stella will outshine the laughing Marionetta.

## Who they are

Mr. Toobad belongs to Mr. Glowry's circle of gloom-enthusiasts, convinced that the world is a theatre of evil and merriment fit only for baboons. He urges Scythrop's match with his daughter Stella, then rushes into the library crying that the devil has come among them with great wrath, departing the next morning without explanation. His Manichaean alarms deepen the Abbey's atmosphere of superstitious foreboding.

## Relationships

### [Mr. Glowry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/characters/mr_glowry)

_friendship_

Mr. Glowry and Mr. Toobad are fellow melancholics and friends, sharing a pessimistic philosophy about the world's evil.

### [Scythrop Glowry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/characters/scythrop_glowry)

_social_

Mr. Toobad is a friend of the family who lectures Scythrop on the devil's influence in the world, adding to his confusion.

### [Celinda Flosky](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/characters/celinda_flosky)

_romantic_

Celinda Flosky is Mr. Toobad's daughter, and their relationship is strained by his apocalyptic obsessions and her romantic interests.

### [Celinda Flosky](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/characters/celinda_flosky)

_romantic_

Celinda Flosky is Mr. Toobad's daughter, and their relationship is strained by his apocalyptic obsessions and her romantic interests.

### [Scythrop Glowry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/characters/scythrop_glowry)

_social_

Mr. Toobad is a friend of the family who lectures Scythrop on the devil's influence in the world, adding to his confusion.

### [Mr. Glowry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/characters/mr_glowry)

_friendship_

Mr. Glowry and Mr. Toobad are fellow melancholics and friends, sharing a pessimistic philosophy about the world's evil.

### [Scythrop Glowry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/characters/scythrop_glowry)

_social_

Mr. Toobad is a friend of the family who lectures Scythrop on the devil's influence in the world, adding to his confusion.

### [Mr. Glowry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/characters/mr_glowry)

_friendship_

Mr. Glowry and Mr. Toobad are fellow melancholics and friends, sharing a pessimistic philosophy about the world's evil.

## In the story

### [Nightmare Abbey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/chapters/nightmare-abbey)

Announces the disappearance of his daughter, Miss Toobad, adding to the intrigue.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/chapters/i)

The Manichaean Millenarian, a close friend of Mr. Glowry, who believes the world is currently under the dominion of the Evil Principle.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/chapters/iii)

Collides with Scythrop at the top of a staircase, causing both to fall; interprets the accident as proof of the devil's temporary supremacy.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/chapters/iv)

Discusses the marriage arrangement with Mr. Glowry, describes his daughter as gloomy and antithalian, and plans to bring her from Germany to Nightmare Abbey.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/chapters/v)

Rushes in with dire news, departs, then returns covered in mud after his chariot overturned into a ditch.

### [Chapter VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/chapters/vi)

Interjects with a brief exclamation about the devil having great wrath, linking to his apocalyptic worldview.

### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/chapters/xii)

Panics, jumps out a window into the moat, is netted by Mr. Asterias, and blames the devil for the night's events.

### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/chapters/xiii)

Discovers his daughter Celinda in the tower; exclaims 'The devil is come among you.'

### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/chapters/xiv)

Departed with Stella, repeatedly exclaimed 'the devil was come among us.'

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/chapters/endnotes)

Referenced in the note on Ahrimanes, where his view of the present period as the reign of Ahrimanes is mentioned.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/characters/mr_toobad
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/characters