Ianto Jones: An Unexamined Life

[hofficoffi]

So, some people out there on the intarwebs have been posting nifty essays about their characters and various fandom misconceptions. I thought this was a pretty neat idea, so I decided to do it, too. Only I ran out of things to say halfway through (so if you have any suggestions for edits

Comments

[quitehomoerotic]

I feel like I want to quote the entirety of the Jack/Ianto relationship section here and just put a big old THIS on it. It is SO very very true. I can't even begin to say how very true I think it is, though I am sure you completely know that anyway.

[hofficoffi]

Well, I hoped that might be the case... After all, our filling-in-the-gaps arrpees really helped me get a grip on their relationship and the way it progressed. So really you are to blame!

[rude_not_ginger]

Love this! <3<3

Remind me to link you to the badfic where Ianto wears a wedding dress on Jack and his wedding day.

[hofficoffi]

Yay! <3 <3 Thank you for commenting and linking.

I'm not sure if I want to remind you! (...But who am I kidding, yes, I do.)

[alien_catcher]

I love everything about this. EVERYTHING. Especially the last bits.

And the bits about Gwen.

But yes, so lovely. To be completely honest, I didn't care much for Ianto in the first series, but not really for any of the reasons here. He was a bit of a narrow-spectrum character, but I think episodes like Cyberwoman really brought out parts of him that the writers blocked from us otherwise. And I felt like that was kind of point; by series 2 and CoE, he becomes so complex, and so wonderful, and it's an amazing duality when you think of Ianto in series 1 as the Ianto everyone sees, and then Ianto in the later series as the Ianto that Ianto is. Like in Greeks Bearing Gifts, when Tosh is reading his mind, and we get that glimpse of how incredibly dark and lonely it is in there. I think we kind of get to know Ianto as he gets to know himself, in a way. And he's gorgeous.

Anyway, Gwen says love Ianto. Or she'll shoot you. With TWO guns, biatches.

&hearts

[hofficoffi]

I know we've talked about this before, but the Gwen-Ianto friendship remains one of my favorite thing about Torchwood. I really don't get how anyone could ignore that, let alone why they would want to

[alien_catcher]

I don't know why, either. They have such a great friendship that is so subtle but so wonderful, and I don't know how people read animosity into it. I guess, as with everything, people see what they want to see.

I also feel that Ianto has been living for years in the state of mind Gwen is in after Countrycide, which is probably why I've become more protective of what he went through. They all are so damaged, but it's still hard for them because it takes so much for them to open up to each other, which is why s2 is so landmark for all of them. Ianto and Jack have each other, Gwen finally has Rhys, and even Tosh and Owen have each other for a bit. And they way it's handled is extremely subtle, but I think it serves the story because having that out there would make it melodramatic. The thing is, it makes people think to really understand the characters. And some people just don't want to thinkAnd I love the subtleties that you hone on in on. I do the same with Jack and Gwen, which I why I don't understand when people say they

[hofficoffi]

That's why Exit Wounds is so heartbreaking, I think. It would have been sad no matter what, but the timing makes it so much worse. S2 was such a journey for all of them, and by the end of it they're finally beginning to settle and find their way