[OOC/BTR] The top several reasons J-- turned himself in for war crimes.
Mostly for my own reference, as I get to keep aaaaaall of these in mind when I tag the bastard.
19 reasons, at the moment.
.) Because this was one of the two ways Thane would ever be able to rest - either he found the people who erased Boe-Shayne and brought them down, or he got brought down himself. If he can't win, at least losing will let him rest.
.) Because he knows damn well that Torchwood hasn't dealt with anything re: him - his absence, Thane, any of it - aside from slapping bandages on the most obvious of the emotional wounds and forging on as though none of it matters.
.) Because that sort of dealing-with-things-by-not is a signature of the Time Agency, and if he can destroy that, it'll at least be a symbolic blow against them.
.) Because making an impartial jury levy judgment on him is a convenient fix for his own inability to come to a decision about who he's supposed to be.
.) Because Wanderers, if no one else, need a system of justice or it'll be vigilante everything until the end of time. And no one was ever there to stop him when he needed them to.
.) Because running away from everything has been rendered somewhat impossible, or at least untenable, and this is another option.
.) Because this option, turning himself in to an authority he doesn't already trust, is antithetical to the systems of power Jack Harkness and John Thane (as discrete entities) set up around themselves, and thus a good way to distance himself from either identity.
.) Because this is the most thorough and most final way he knows of to confront everything he's done, and the uncompromising atmosphere of a court of law will force him to see it through until the end.
.) Because, relatedly, it forces honesty. On/from everyone.
.) Because people keep calling him Jack Harkness, as if that's the only person he is. And this is a very public way to refute that.
.) Because if there's to be any noise at all about accepting good one did, one can't conveniently ignore the bad.
.) Because it satisfies his conviction that he's just one of those people for whom iniquity is the resting state.
.) Because it also satisfies his tangled sense of guilt.
.) Because a loss of control, a loss of freedom, such as the one imposed by being held in custody, also confers a loss of responsibility to make one's own difficult choices.
.) Because it's difficult to fail anyone's good expectations of you if you've already been judged guilty of war crimes.
.) Because as John Thane, especially at the end, perhaps the most important thing to him was to see that someone understood the full weight of what had been done. And in the end, to him, by him, does the difference really matter?
.) Because a war crimes/crimes against the rights of sapient life trial a lot earlier on (in the Time Agency, say?) would have prevented all of this.
.) Because this way, he can control the terms on which he meets Torchwood again.
.) Because he's tired.
19 reasons, at the moment.
.) Because this was one of the two ways Thane would ever be able to rest - either he found the people who erased Boe-Shayne and brought them down, or he got brought down himself. If he can't win, at least losing will let him rest.
.) Because he knows damn well that Torchwood hasn't dealt with anything re: him - his absence, Thane, any of it - aside from slapping bandages on the most obvious of the emotional wounds and forging on as though none of it matters.
.) Because that sort of dealing-with-things-by-not is a signature of the Time Agency, and if he can destroy that, it'll at least be a symbolic blow against them.
.) Because making an impartial jury levy judgment on him is a convenient fix for his own inability to come to a decision about who he's supposed to be.
.) Because Wanderers, if no one else, need a system of justice or it'll be vigilante everything until the end of time. And no one was ever there to stop him when he needed them to.
.) Because running away from everything has been rendered somewhat impossible, or at least untenable, and this is another option.
.) Because this option, turning himself in to an authority he doesn't already trust, is antithetical to the systems of power Jack Harkness and John Thane (as discrete entities) set up around themselves, and thus a good way to distance himself from either identity.
.) Because this is the most thorough and most final way he knows of to confront everything he's done, and the uncompromising atmosphere of a court of law will force him to see it through until the end.
.) Because, relatedly, it forces honesty. On/from everyone.
.) Because people keep calling him Jack Harkness, as if that's the only person he is. And this is a very public way to refute that.
.) Because if there's to be any noise at all about accepting good one did, one can't conveniently ignore the bad.
.) Because it satisfies his conviction that he's just one of those people for whom iniquity is the resting state.
.) Because it also satisfies his tangled sense of guilt.
.) Because a loss of control, a loss of freedom, such as the one imposed by being held in custody, also confers a loss of responsibility to make one's own difficult choices.
.) Because it's difficult to fail anyone's good expectations of you if you've already been judged guilty of war crimes.
.) Because as John Thane, especially at the end, perhaps the most important thing to him was to see that someone understood the full weight of what had been done. And in the end, to him, by him, does the difference really matter?
.) Because a war crimes/crimes against the rights of sapient life trial a lot earlier on (in the Time Agency, say?) would have prevented all of this.
.) Because this way, he can control the terms on which he meets Torchwood again.
.) Because he's tired.