When Even the Ashes Have Faded Away

[holdingoff]

Title: When Even the Ashes Have Faded Away
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Rhys, Rhiannon & Johnny Davies, Unidentified Female
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Coda, Children of Earth
Notes: For the Series 3 Challenge at

Comments

[vipersweb]

oh! This is... you've managed to turn the sourness I feel about COE into something better and let me feel something that isn't disgust at what happened to Ianto.

Ianto's fatalism is just so him. I'm glad he told Jack the truth of who he is. I love how Ianto is always thinking and planning for the future and how realistic he is about Torchwood and what it brings. Such a nice contrast to Gwen's continue naivety. I like the bits and pieces of the past you show us as well as the future and memorial at the Hub. Very nice to see Ianto's legacy lives on. I like the quiet romantic nature of the Jack/Ianto relationship and that even 1000 years in the future, Jack wants to carry something of Ianto close to him as well as giving a part of him to the Hub. Nice scene with Rhiannon.

Lovely fic all the way around - and something nice to read right before bed. :)

[holdingoff]

As the old saying goes, if you don't get the resolution you want, make it yourself. I'm sure I've said it plenty, but as a viewer I was insulted at the lack of resolution we got regarding Ianto. You don't have a character for three series and give the audience nothing. Well, unless you are the arrogant schoolboy named RTD.

Tiny hints have floated around that Ianto has been simply ticking over, waiting to die, so I decided that rather than roll over and accept, he would accept and plan.

[vipersweb]

Tiny hints have floated around that Ianto has been simply ticking over, waiting to die,

*nods* I think after surviving Canary Wharf, Ianto realized how precarious life actually was with Torchwood. Perhaps if he had gotten out afterwards, he would have been different, but since he needed to save Lisa, he stayed in. Then, within a few short months of arriving, Suzie kills herself; his effort to save Lisa fails and people die; he almost gets eaten by cannibals; Tosh almost dies; Jack does die and then comes back and then leaves them - and that's all in the first season. Series two is not any kinder to him. And he won't leave Torchwood, not now. So yeah, I agree, he knew he would die and die young.

[holdingoff]

the big hint i thought was "To The Last Man" when he and Gwen were looking at the old Torchwood team photographs.

that was probably a relic of the original plan to kill Ianto off in Series 2, but it did make it obvious that he expected to die sooner rather than later. even the 'scene' in The Dead Line had a hint of 'I know it will never happen.'

but RTD must want happy, happy for his future because he's now gotten rid of all of the real characters (broken) and left himself with the delusional always-get-her-way Gwen. Hope that works for him, 'cause it sure doesn't for me.

[bookwrm89]

I wish you did own them.

I...thank you for this. It was lovely.

[holdingoff]

At this point, I wish Skeller owned them, hell; anyone other than RTD...

[shnix83]

So sad but so lovely.

[holdingoff]

Sad, that's pretty much our default state since the completion of Series 3, eh?

[thrace_adams]

This is how my Ianto should have gone, this was brilliant. He was brilliant. I'm glad he told Jack who he was, glad Rhi realized Jack knew who he was. And this got me choked up. Well done.

[holdingoff]

I doubt I will ever forgive RTD for not resolving Ianto's storyline. To leave your loyal audience (not your new target audience) totally floundering when you've resolved the storylines for every other character you've killed off isn't just sloppy writing (which is typical of RTD) but it's mean and a bit hateful towards your audience (again, typical of RTD).

For fuck's sake, Clem's death scene with mother hen/worthless Gwen got more air time than the death of a main character your audience- that got you on BBC1- has emotional investment in. Never mind the fact that you spent 5 hours of BBC1 airtime being blatantly homophobic and then followed the good old cliche of 'killing the faggot because you know they can't ever be happy.'

Yeah, not happy. Not impressed.

[thrace_adams]

Yeah, I'm right there with you. Mean and hateful are exactly the words I would use.

And the homophobic stuff has me really pissed off to be honest. I've pointed out to several people that the "normal" girl got her happy ending and the gay couple was punished and killed. Great role model. NOT.
*sigh*

Just hopeful the ramifications will be felt hard.

[nox_caelum]

Brilliant and lovely :)

[holdingoff]

When we don't receive our resolution, we must make it for ourselves.