THE DEFINITIVE FANON GUIDE TO JACK AND IANTO, PART THE FIRST

[tencrush]

Now that we've all calmed down a bit, it's time for some science. I have put together a wee poll to find out what is going on in ALL YOUR PRETTY LITTLE HEADS. There have been many things we haven't been told about Jack and Ianto, most of us have filled in the blanks with out own personal fanon, and I'd like to know what, on the whole, that fanon comprises. On with the science...



[Poll #1171935]



If you have any other questions you think need adressing, let me know and we'll do another one before we start analysing numbers, yeah?

Comments

[melody2tds.livejournal.com]

Since they're talking about the rift-stranded people at the time, I always figured he was getting some clothes for John to wear, and Jack was more his size than either Ianto or Owen would have been. The entire scene got deleted, so no telling if the plan was to have Gwen lend clothes to the girls, since Tosh would have been too small. They appear to have glossed over wardrobe issues, by letting them have luggage on the flight instead.
That may be why the deleted the scene (since it was actually a good exposition scene), because Ianto rooting around Jack's personal space for clothes didn't make any sense in or out of context.

[eandh99.livejournal.com]

I'm 45, it's been a while since anyone called me that, sorry I jumped into your argument.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

That was pretty much my conclusion when I came to writing my first and so far only Jack/Ianto fic. For administrative purposes Ianto's the missis, but in the bedroom who knows?

[off_coloratura]

Okay, I can wait till tomorrow to poke holes in your argument.

*sticks out her tongue at you*

[off_coloratura]

Ianto's sassiness towards Jack et al. in that episode does scream "I got laid" to me.

[tencrush]

I wasn't talking to you, honest! I'd never dare call a complete stranger a brat.

I did reply to the right comment, didn't I?
*checks*
Oh, thank God.

[off_coloratura]

Although I do agree that pre-interruptus he definitely seemed to be taking the lead and Jack was more passive, Ianto's run after Gwen, in my eyes, appears weaker than Jack's saunter out after him. He seems flustered and a little embarrassed to be caught, though he hides it well. I think, like halfspokenwords said, Gwen's appearance suddenly changed the dynamic to "work," which threw him, not to mention he's a very private person who's just been seen in a very personal and exposed situation.

I think he was running out 1) to possibly do a little intercession/damage control, 2) see what she wanted, and 3) tell her about the package. All of which is very much a way to reestablish his work persona and hopefully distract Gwen from what she's just seen. That's how that run read to me.

[just4bri.livejournal.com]

If it's just for fun...cool.

But if you're really interested in how fandom see Ianto and Janto, then two of your questions (not including the "Who's the wife?" one) were biased enough to make in impossible to answer the question (sorry, three years+ of Stats and Ethics lectures in Psychology are still making me sound like one of my teachers ;) ).

The question on "Where are Jack and Ianto?" You don't allow for them to be `on there way to a serious committed, open relationship`. Not all Hetero relationships are monogamous, so it would be sensible to think the gay ones might not be either. The other biased question is the "Jack Harkness is..?" Where you only give options for Jack being a `slut` or `in Wuv` or wanting to be. He could, perhaps be an open minded 51st C guy trying to adapt to a era in which sexuality and gender ideas are extremely backward...from his view point.

I read your answer to the comments before pointing these questions out, to see if it was `just a bit of fun`...which there's nothing wrong with. But you seemed to genuinely want to know what people think, and if your questions are biased, you're not gonna get that.

:: Slipping back into lurkdom :: ... It's a really nice place... otherwise known as a long weekend trip to see John Barrowman in Brighton and Portsmouth ;)

[off_coloratura]

I couldn't answer the "wife" question because I think we've pretty well been told they switch.

Wha- where was this? What did I miss?? Are you basing this on the Captain's Logs (which I consider a wee bit questionable) or is there something in the series that tells us this?

It's interesting reading this thread because there are several things most people see as incredibly obvious that I have completely missed in the series itself.

I mean, *I* think they switch, but that came out of my own fervered imagination, not anything I saw in the show. I'm very curious to know where I've missed it in actuality.

[magickaldreamer.livejournal.com]

Wow; I pretty much agree with the majority on all questions. Excellent poll, though.

Also, clarification on one point: I voted that Jack's hole is "Still in use, bigger bed, though" but only up to Exit Wounds, upon which I doubt Jack would be overly keen on sleeping underground (or, given that the entire hub is underground, in a mildly claustrophobic setting). I'd like to think that he's moved in with Ianto.

[tencrush]

*dons statisticks hat*
Should I baleete poll Y/N?

Umm... yeah, I've also tainted the accuracy of the responses by some answers being blatantly more amusing than others. I'm not actually interested in stats for these answers, I wanted to get a general impression of people's perception of the characters, so I can move on to part 2 and find out where that perception comes from. Does that make sense?

I tend to get more comments and ergo poll respondents if I refrain from being TOO serious. Or indeed srs.

[tencrush]

Yeah, I'm intrigued too. If I thought it was something that was obvious from the show, I wouldn't have asked the question.

[allmyshoes.livejournal.com]

Came here via the community.

Refuse to answer the wife question because I see it as a relationship of equals.

Otherwise, nice poll.

[dividedloyalty.livejournal.com]

I still think Ianto is the one pulling on the brakes. Doesn't mean he's not in love with Jack, he just doesn't want to be serious. Not because he's afraid either, he just doesn't want to be serious.

*closes eyes and pretends not to see the Very Scientific Results.*

[dividedloyalty.livejournal.com]

It's interesting that I've read this sort of comment quite a bit lately.

Not that I wouldn't find it actually pretty cool if that was the case, but I always think that I so totally prefer for Ianto to be as... ordinary as possible. It makes his victories stand out more. Or something like that. :)

Sorry to bug in, btw. I keep doing it. *shakes head in shame*

[dexwebster]

I confess, your options have made it very hard for me to choose!

I think Ianto's flat looks anally tide, but that's just because nothing's in it. It is very sparse and very bare, because when he came back to Cardiff, it was to get Lisa well. He got the cheapest place he could find, on a month to month lease. Because when Lisa was better they were going to go somewhere else and pick a place together. And then she didn't. But he was fucked up enough and broken enough that he didn't care to change it, and then kept spending all of his time at the Hub anyway, and just kept the same place. He pretty much only goes there to sleep and change his clothes.

I think Jack introduced Ianto to kink, and he took to it like a duck to water, and that he's a very clever boy. I would not find it at all surprising that he could think up something that would shock Jack with his filthy, filthy mind.

And I think Jack is an omnisexual slut who wants someone to love him. He is somewhat more mouth than he is trousers, but not horribly.

Ianto's parents and grandparents are dead, but he has some cousins in North Wales that he left some furniture with when he moved back from London.


Wow, do I need a Torchwood icon.

[eandh99.livejournal.com]

No worries, I did jump in - and it's interesting, because I'm totally convinced Ianto's immediate family is dead, but I don't have a lot of evidence.

[foreverrhapsody.livejournal.com]

I agree with what you're saying. It's mostly a fandom thing. If we're going by the show, I think he's got/had a normal family. Or as normal as any family can be.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Would have liked an answer on the relationship front for committed/serious but not monogamous.

[nightspring.livejournal.com]

Oh, I totally agree re the writers not knowing what they are doing if Ianto's family isn't dead! Well, I recently read a fic where Ianto's mom is still alive at a psychiatric instituiton, but has been totally non-responsive for many many years and might as well be dead except her body is still breathing. And that *could* work if it was canon, sort of, but yeah, if it turns out any of Ianto's immediate family is still alive, I'm going to demand the writers be lined up and shot.

Oh, btw, not immediately related to Jack/Ianto, but Ianto = only child, or could he have had siblings? If so, oldest, youngest, or middle?

[nightspring.livejournal.com]

Okay, so "undecided but thinking about getting serious" is winning over "commited, serious and monogamous" and I'm kind of twisting my head over why? Is it that as quite a few people have commented, people are put off by the "monogamous" part? Or do I have a different sense of what "committed" means than the majority of respondents? Because I really can't see how Ianto could be any more committed to Jack/Torchwood than he already is, and to me, Jack also seems very serious about Ianto -- maybe he doesn't / can't commit in the normal 21st century sense of commitment, but he seems to be giving Ianto whatever he can give to the full extent he can give it.

[mygirlfine.livejournal.com]

Ianto's mom being held in a psychiatric institution is the only way I'm willing to accept anyone still being alive. Not that I wish poor Ianto grief, but him being utterly alone is the only thing that makes sense from the backstory we have on Ianto.

I see Ianto as an only child. Or, being the slightly older brother of a younger sister. Basically, I have fanwanked Ianto's over-emotional status in FOOTR. Basically in my mind he is that little boy, parents gone, sister gone. One day he wakes up, and it's just him. I see Ianto's family having died early on. I haven't decided whether I like them having died from something alien-related or not.

[nightspring.livejournal.com]

he is that little boy, parents gone, sister gone.

Yes! Great idea! Well, not great in terms of saddling poor Ianto with more emotional angst, like he didn't have enough angst already, LOL, but it explains Ianto's reaction in that scene so well. Plus, explains his need to take care of others, if, as a child, he felt that he should take care of his younger sister, who then died at a young age. Would be especially angsty if they lost her to a long illness, and then his mom had to be hospitalized at that psychiatric hospital in FOOTR because she went mad from grief and exhaustion... Um, plot bunny free to a good home? :p

[kakareen.livejournal.com]

I think a Rhys/Gwen/Jack/Ianto foursome is actually more likely than a Ianto/Jack/John....why? Because it doesn't seem like Ianto *likes* John, and he doesn't even trust him as far as he can throw him. Maybe for one kinky night, but....yeah, I actually don't see it.

But the foursome I can see happening sort of as a comfort thing, at least short term. I think everybody needs everybody right now.

[kribban.livejournal.com]

One of my co-workers once said when she worked as a clerk in a video store she would sometimes get gay couples walk in and she would immediately see which of them was the "woman" and which of them was the "man."

Another co-worker, who knew perfectly well that I have been in at least one same sex relationship, then replied "Oh, it's the same with the lesbians. You can always see which of them is the man."

(If that's not enough for your amusement, one of my colleagues said to another: "Right, you're brother is gay! Can't he help me pick out an outfit?")