Shipping Jack Harkness For Dummies
Otherwise entitled: Why Reading Quite a Lot of Torchwood Fanfic Makes Me Want to Bash My Head Against Things, and My God, Does Canon Have to Do It, Too?
Disclaimer: The awesome thing about fandom (and life in general) is you get to draw your own conclusions and have your own opinions. These are my opinions. They just happen to be very, very strongly-held opinions, which I will defend like they were my own babies. But hey, no one's forcing you to agree with me. Now that my ass is preemptively covered, on with the ranting.
This is Captain Jack Harkness. He's a 51st century guy, which we're told makes him a bit more flexible with regards to sexuality and romance, to the point where even canon has him falling for multiple people at once.
This is Ianto Jones. Jack's in love with him. I assume that, being reasonably observant, he's had the chance to get used to what Jack is like, but fic writers and even Rusty himself seem to like painting him as a jealous bitch. This makes me wonder if Ianto is supposed to be either a moron or deeply in denial.
This is Gwen Cooper. Jack's in love with her. She also knows what Jack is like, and she's kind of married, which makes the shipping difficult, but doesn't change the fact that they're totally in love.
This is Toshiko Sato. Jack adores her. Jury's still out on whether he's in love with her or she's just one of 'his kids', but you've got wiggle room right up until she SPOILERs.
This is Owen Harper. He has some SERIOUS FUCKING ISSUES with Jack, and their emotions towards each other are complicated and fucked up. Other than that, ditto what I said for Tosh.
This is Suzie Costello. Any relationship or lack thereof between them is based on pure speculation, but hey, that's the joy of filling in backstory holes.
This is the original Captain Jack Harkness. Jack fell hard for him over the course of one night, then he died, but not before getting a dance and a snog. Jack was still in love with Ianto and Gwen at the time.
This is Estelle. Jack was in love with her for a really long time. Including when she was a wrinkly old lady, though there was no sex then, seeing as how he was pretending to be his own son. He might have already fallen for Gwen and/or Ianto while this was going on.
This is John Ellis. He's from the past. Jack might or might not have been in love with him, but he was, at the very least, awfully protective of the guy. And held him while he cried. Even if he was in love with the guy, it's unlikely he acted upon it, but he was, again, in love with Gwen and Ianto at the time.
ARE WE NOTICING A THEME HERE, PEOPLE?
This is the person Jack married Way Back When, who, while quite short, looks astonishingly like a man in a dress. I leave you to draw your own conclusions about the gender of this person, the legality of the wedding, and any arrangements they might have made regarding Jack's natural polyamorous leanings.
This is John Hart. He and Jack used to be partners, by which I mean they had a lot of sex. He loves Jack. Jack mostly just wants him gone. Jack can be a dick sometimes.
This is the Doctor. Jack loves him. You may debate at length on whether he's in love with him, or whether he loves him in a different way than he loved this Doctor, right here:
Moving on...
This is Rose Tyler. Jack flirted with her extensively until the Doctor cockblocked him liek whoa. He still got to kiss her goodbye, though.
This is Martha Jones. Again, with the extensive flirting, while he was in love with Gwen and Ianto. He obviously loves her a great deal, but there has been no sex than we know of. Doesn't mean there couldn't be, though.
This is Sam Tyler (no relation to Rose). Yes, he's from a completely different show and not in Torchwood (at least, not in canon), but get thee to damageverse and be enlightened.
This is how Jack reacts when ignorant fantards or clueless Torchwood writers try and force him into a monogamous relationship with any of the people he's in love with, especially at the cost of making any of the parties involved OOCly bitchy, jealous, or moronic. This is also how he reacts when people decide that since he can't be in love with more than one person, there's obviously someone in the equation that he's just using for sex since he can't have his OMG TRUE LOVE.
"Confusing monogamy with morality has done more to destroy the conscience of the human race than any other error." -- George Bernard Shaw
...Any questions?
Disclaimer: The awesome thing about fandom (and life in general) is you get to draw your own conclusions and have your own opinions. These are my opinions. They just happen to be very, very strongly-held opinions, which I will defend like they were my own babies. But hey, no one's forcing you to agree with me. Now that my ass is preemptively covered, on with the ranting.
This is Captain Jack Harkness. He's a 51st century guy, which we're told makes him a bit more flexible with regards to sexuality and romance, to the point where even canon has him falling for multiple people at once.
This is Ianto Jones. Jack's in love with him. I assume that, being reasonably observant, he's had the chance to get used to what Jack is like, but fic writers and even Rusty himself seem to like painting him as a jealous bitch. This makes me wonder if Ianto is supposed to be either a moron or deeply in denial.
This is Gwen Cooper. Jack's in love with her. She also knows what Jack is like, and she's kind of married, which makes the shipping difficult, but doesn't change the fact that they're totally in love.
This is Toshiko Sato. Jack adores her. Jury's still out on whether he's in love with her or she's just one of 'his kids', but you've got wiggle room right up until she SPOILERs.
This is Owen Harper. He has some SERIOUS FUCKING ISSUES with Jack, and their emotions towards each other are complicated and fucked up. Other than that, ditto what I said for Tosh.
This is Suzie Costello. Any relationship or lack thereof between them is based on pure speculation, but hey, that's the joy of filling in backstory holes.
This is the original Captain Jack Harkness. Jack fell hard for him over the course of one night, then he died, but not before getting a dance and a snog. Jack was still in love with Ianto and Gwen at the time.
This is Estelle. Jack was in love with her for a really long time. Including when she was a wrinkly old lady, though there was no sex then, seeing as how he was pretending to be his own son. He might have already fallen for Gwen and/or Ianto while this was going on.
This is John Ellis. He's from the past. Jack might or might not have been in love with him, but he was, at the very least, awfully protective of the guy. And held him while he cried. Even if he was in love with the guy, it's unlikely he acted upon it, but he was, again, in love with Gwen and Ianto at the time.
ARE WE NOTICING A THEME HERE, PEOPLE?
This is the person Jack married Way Back When, who, while quite short, looks astonishingly like a man in a dress. I leave you to draw your own conclusions about the gender of this person, the legality of the wedding, and any arrangements they might have made regarding Jack's natural polyamorous leanings.
This is John Hart. He and Jack used to be partners, by which I mean they had a lot of sex. He loves Jack. Jack mostly just wants him gone. Jack can be a dick sometimes.
This is the Doctor. Jack loves him. You may debate at length on whether he's in love with him, or whether he loves him in a different way than he loved this Doctor, right here:
Moving on...
This is Rose Tyler. Jack flirted with her extensively until the Doctor cockblocked him liek whoa. He still got to kiss her goodbye, though.
This is Martha Jones. Again, with the extensive flirting, while he was in love with Gwen and Ianto. He obviously loves her a great deal, but there has been no sex than we know of. Doesn't mean there couldn't be, though.
This is Sam Tyler (no relation to Rose). Yes, he's from a completely different show and not in Torchwood (at least, not in canon), but get thee to damageverse and be enlightened.
This is how Jack reacts when ignorant fantards or clueless Torchwood writers try and force him into a monogamous relationship with any of the people he's in love with, especially at the cost of making any of the parties involved OOCly bitchy, jealous, or moronic. This is also how he reacts when people decide that since he can't be in love with more than one person, there's obviously someone in the equation that he's just using for sex since he can't have his OMG TRUE LOVE.
"Confusing monogamy with morality has done more to destroy the conscience of the human race than any other error." -- George Bernard Shaw
...Any questions?