Template:Ianto Jones counterparts Ianto Jones (19 August 1983-2009) was an ex-member of the ill-fated Torchwood One and a member of Torchwood Three, initially serving as more of a "support man" or "tea boy", but later taking a more active role in missions. He first approached Captain Jack Harkness with enthusiasm about joining the team, eventually winning him over. Ianto soon became integral to the group, though his attempts to shroud his past impacted them in a bad way. He later fell in love with Jack and became his romantic partner.
However, Ianto met an early demise as part of a mass murder instigated by the 456 ambassador when it spread a deadly virus through Thames House. The after-effects of Ianto's death left Jack riddled with guilt and grief, ultimately spelling the end of Torchwood Three.
Biography
Early life
Ianto was born on 19 August 1983 in Cardiff (TV: From Out of the Rain, Fragments) to Glenda Jones and her husband, making him a Leo. (AUDIO: Through the Ruins) His father worked in Debenhams, but Ianto often told people that he was a master tailor. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Five) His mother was from Brecon and Ianto got a bus every weekend to visit his grandmother. (AUDIO: The Last Beacon)
Ianto claimed that his father enjoyed taking him to the cinema, (TV: From Out of the Rain) but his sister Rhiannon implied that their relationship was not as strong as he made out. Rhiannon and Ianto recounted that their father pushed Ianto too hard on the swings in his childhood and broke his leg. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Two) He repeatedly told Ianto that working in the steelworks or fixing cars was a proper job (PROSE: Trace Memory) and taught him how to pick locks. (AUDIO: Blind Summit)
Ianto played with Action Men as a child (PROSE: The House That Jack Built) and once got lost in Cardiff Castle whilst on a school trip. (AUDIO: Outbreak) He was brought up to never speak ill of the dead. (TV: Something Borrowed)
He had no criminal record apart from one minor conviction for shoplifting in his teens. An able but not exceptionally-gifted student, Ianto took a series of temporary jobs. (TV: Fragments) For some time, he worked at Cardiff Museum. (AUDIO: Blind Summit)
At one point, Ianto had a "goth phase", during which he became interested in Finnish black metal. A particular favourite group for him was Zeal, who presented themselves as "genderless dark angels". He never got to see them live. (AUDIO: Dinner and a Show)
Life in London
Ianto before joining Torchwood. (AUDIO: Blind Summit)
Ianto told Rachel Allan that he moved to London because his father disagreed with certain life choices of his. (AUDIO: New Girl) However, Yvonne Hartman said that he moved there in search of his father, which he did not deny.
Ianto rented 56 Stanmore Crescent for himself and his father, who broke in whenever he forgot his key and often passed out drunk and urinated on the carpet. The flat was rented from Willie and was also home to a rat that Ianto named Steve.
Ianto worked at a coffee shop for two months with Miriam as his boss. He met Yvonne several times: she repeatedly confided in him before using retcon to make him forget. During one day at work, a soldier killed Miriam and shot Ianto in an attempt to kill Yvonne. The two were saved by Matthew and Ianto was tended to by the Arachmed. Matthew drove Ianto and Yvonne to Stanmore Crescent, where Yvonne told him about the Torchwood Institute and Blind Summit before using retcon on him.
The following day, Ianto's father went missing and Yvonne told him that he had been taken by Blind Summit, eliciting his help. Ianto went undercover as a volunteer and was injected with Excellium by an Arachmed, which restored his memories erased by the retcon. He and Yvonne were saved by Tommy Pierce. Yvonne bought off Willie and sorted out Ianto's flat, hiring pest control who dealt with Steve. She also offered to "remove" his father from his memories and offered him a job at Torchwood, but he declined on both counts. He instead asked to have his job at Cardiff Museum returned and his memory of Torchwood wiped, which she assented.
Yvonne successfully had him re-hired by the museum by March 2005. (AUDIO: Blind Summit) His father died in hospital, waiting in vain for a call from his son. (AUDIO: The House of the Dead)
Torchwood One
Early days
Shortly after his father's death, (TV: Children of Earth: Day One) Ianto met Yvonne once more when she arrived on his doorstep. He was to work on the excavation of a Viking ship which she alleged was a threat to the whole of South Wales and, as Torchwood Three had all gone missing, she sought his help. (AUDIO: Blind Summit)
Ianto submitted his CV to Torchwood that month but Bev Stanley had no interest in hiring him. It was only when his CV crossed Yvonne's desk that he was hired (AUDIO: Uprising) in March 2005, (AUDIO: New Girl) as a junior researcher. (TV: Cyberwoman, Fragments, AUDIO: Uprising)
Ianto and Yvonne. (AUDIO: Before the Fall)
Rupert Howarth became Ianto's mentor when he started at Torchwood One. (COMIC: The Legacy of Torchwood One!) In his first week, Ianto helped Yvonne stop a monster in Cardiff. A few days later, Torchwood One went into meltdown and his line-manager disappeared, presumed dead. (AUDIO: New Girl)
One of Ianto's first jobs at Torchwood One was at the Millennium Dome, where he saw what was sealed beneath it. The memory of what he saw made him shudder for years to come. (PROSE: Almost Perfect)
Ianto got to know Lisa Hallett within his first two weeks at Torchwood. She met him near the fountains in Cabot Square before his shift started. (PROSE: Trace Memory) On 26 March 2005, Yvonne advised Ianto to ask Lisa out. (AUDIO: One Rule) They only went on two dates before deciding that it would not work out. (AUDIO: New Girl) While dating Lisa, Ianto worked with Carlie Roberts. (AUDIO: Submission)
During his first month at Torchwood, Ianto met Dave Cooke and attended the small party held in the basement for him. (AUDIO: Locker 15) Within a few months, he had become Yvonne's personal assistant. (AUDIO: New Girl)
Ianto remained on good, if distant, terms with his sister, although he was not as friendly with her husband Johnny Davies. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Two) He would occasionally call his mother. (AUDIO: Broken)
Rachel's takeover
Ianto met Rachel Allan on her first day at Torchwood, during which he co-ordinated an investigation into a time explosion at the Royal Hope Hospital which was complicated by Sameer and Kenny's animosity. He quickly befriended Rachel and entered into a relationship with her, having given up on Lisa. He helped plan a party with Yvonne and Rachel to identify who was sowing discord and distrust in Torchwood and witnessed Dean's death. Like the rest of Torchwood, he believed that Yvonne was responsible. (AUDIO: New Girl)
Yvonne, on the run from Torchwood, arrived on Ianto's doorstep looking for shelter, which he begrudgingly agreed to give for one night. He went on an Away Day where he stuck with Pippa and Dave Underwood. He was surprised with the war games that Rachel - the new director - had them engaging in and was disgusted when Rachel brushed off Pippa's death. (AUDIO: Through the Ruins) He was angry with her and not particularly grateful when she promoted him to junior field agent grade 4, sub-grade 2.
Ianto on the Away Day. (AUDIO: Through the Ruins)
A month later, Ianto had broken up with Rachel and was unhappy at Torchwood, just like his colleagues. Nonetheless, he remained and asked Guleraana Arbid to stay as well. Rachel eventually told him about her father Howard Allan's death before making him drink retcon. However, he had swallowed a neutraliser first. He turned against Rachel during the attack of the Korvax First Brood and helped Yvonne, who retconned Rachel to forget her time at Torchwood.
Ianto greeted the retconned Rachel the next day, which she believed was her first. He remained friends with her and he and Lisa entered into a relationship sometime later. (AUDIO: Uprising)
WOTAN's return
In 2006, Ianto attended the unveiling of the Law Machines with Yvonne and fled with her and Mayor McAndrew when they went out of control. They met with Tommy and infiltrated Torchwood Tower, which the Law Machines had taken over. McAndrew died and, whilst Yvonne went with Julian Delaware, Ianto and Tommy avoided falling under WOTAN's control by putting cotton in their ears. They managed to disable WOTAN's signal that was being transmitted across London. Ianto then met up with Yvonne, who deleted WOTAN. (AUDIO: The Law Machines)
Whilst destroying hard drives, Tommy almost revealed that Ianto had been involved in a previous run-in with technology from Blind Summit before Yvonne caught him. (AUDIO: Blind Summit)
Ianto assisted Yvonne in her investigation of the offices set up by Whitehall and staffed by Temporary Solutions, both sneaking into HQP. Ianto told Stacey Newman about her true identity as a temporary person and chased after her to where she believed was her home. She eventually accepted what the truth and agreed to help. Ianto changed WOTAN's limiters, meaning that when it tried to update itself, it was downloaded in its entirety into every temp. With WOTAN again defeated and Stacey dead, he came to wonder if he was simply a tool to Yvonne. (AUDIO: 9 to 5)
The three retirements
Ianto in Synesthopia. (AUDIO: Latter Days)
Tommy showed Ianto the machine that he had made to which he planned to upload his mind to after committing suicide. Ianto agreed to look after it so long as Tommy showed him the simulated reality. Whilst in there, Ianto was given the chance to live out his James Bond fantasies and was tempted to stay. After exiting, Yvonne told them that they had been being watched and Ianto suggested that they retcon themselves. (AUDIO: Retirement Plan)
Ianto was sent to a nursing home to find out about the contents of Locker 15 from Dave Cooke. He was unsuccessful and Dave was brought to Torchwood Tower, where Torchwood learnt that he was actually a retconned shapeshifter. Once the situation was resolved, Yvonne told Ianto that Dave was to live out the rest of his life in the nursing home. She did not tell him that she smothered him with a pillow. (AUDIO: Locker 15)
Ianto answered a call from Anne Hartman and had to tell her that Yvonne would not be able to visit her. (AUDIO: The Rockery)
The Battle of Canary Wharf
During the Battle of Canary Wharf, Lisa was partly converted into a Cyberman. Ianto saved her and took her to safety. (TV: Cyberwoman) Before fleeing Torchwood Tower, he was given Object 1 by Kieran Frost. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)
Torchwood Three
A secret in seclusion
Back in his native Cardiff, Ianto tracked down Jack Harkness to try to find work with Torchwood Three. Despite Harkness' initial refusal, Ianto impressed Jack during the capture of a stray pteranodon and was eventually offered a job. (TV: Fragments)
Jack said to Gwen Cooper that Ianto "cleans up after us and gets us everywhere on time". (TV: Everything Changes)
Hoping that the cyber-conversion process could be reversed, Ianto smuggled Lisa into the Torchwood hub, hiding her in a chamber in the Archive until a "cure" for the partial cyber-conversion could be found. She was still attached to a cyber-conversion unit, which acted as her life support. (PROSE: Slow Decay, TV: Cyberwoman)
At some point, Ianto introduced colleague Sebastian Vaughan to a nearby Chinese takeaway. (AUDIO: The Vigil)
Ianto operated a fake information desk at the entrance to the Hub. He opened the way to Gwen Cooper as she first entered, posing as a pizza delivery girl. When Gwen was succumbing to the effects of retcon Jack had put in her drink, he deleted all the notes she had made about Torchwood from his computer at the Hub. (TV: Everything Changes)
Ianto's devastation over losing Lisa. (TV: Cyberwoman)
Lisa's Cyberman conditioning slowly won over her humanity. She laid siege to the Hub from inside and killed several people, including an innocent pizza delivery girl whose body she appropriated, before being killed by the other members of the Torchwood team. Ianto was devastated at her death. (TV: Cyberwoman)
Making amends
Ianto felt depressed after Lisa’s death. The day after she died he went to The Ferret and disclosed his feelings to the barmaid Mandy Aibiston. He became a regular at The Ferret, continuing to confide in Mandy. At work, Jack asked Ianto how he was after Lisa's death and took him on a Weevil hunt where Ianto unleashed some of his frustrations by attacking the Weevil. (AUDIO: Broken)
Ianto told Jack about strange weather patterns. (TV: Small Worlds) He took a call from Estelle Cole, but was disappointed when Jack took Gwen to visit her instead of him. (AUDIO: Broken) Ianto was with the team when they went to confront the Fairies, and was angered when Jack surrendered Jasmine to them. (TV: Small Worlds)
Encouraged by Mandy to try to ask to get more involved with the team, he helped Jack deal with an incursion of Scorchies. Afterwards he explained his grief at loss of Torchwood One and Lisa to Jack. (AUDIO: Broken)
Ianto began to take a more active role in field work, though he still disliked the day-to-day Torchwood operations. He described to Toshiko Sato his inability to comprehend the adrenaline rush she and the other Torchwood members shared in the face of danger. Ianto travelled with the rest of his team to the Welsh countryside to investigate a series of gruesome murders. The Torchwood SUV was stolen by a group of cannibals that harvested travellers once every ten years. The team followed the cannibals to their village. Right as his team were captured, Jack stepped in and incapacitated the cannibals. The cannibals were arrested by the police. (TV: Countrycide) Returning home after the ordeal, his grief was so intense that he attempted suicide, but was unsuccessful. He called Mandy to confess what he’d done and she rushed to his aid. (AUDIO: Broken)
Whilst using the pendant in the Hub, Tosh overheard Ianto’s grief. He was in the Hub when Jack confronted Mary and tricked her into teleporting into the Sun. (TV: Greeks Bearing Gifts) This casual killing horrified Ianto. Later that night Jack came to The Ferret to investigate some missing people in Radyr and Ianto became concerned when Jack went after Mandy. He theorised that the missing people wanted to leave of their own accord, and thought it was Mandy. He told Jack to let him deal with it and went along with Mandy when she took him to meet the Saviour. Jack interrupted the confrontation, revealing the Saviour was a slave trader, and Ianto let the Saviour take him through the Rift and left. After his mother called him, he went back to save Jack, shooting the Saviour and ordering Mandy to leave. He then went to retrieve Jack from being processed in the slavers camp. Afterwards he confessed his problems to Jack and they kissed, deciding to be broken together but “just for tonight”. (AUDIO: Broken)
During his time at Torchwood Three, Ianto's email address was ianto@torchwood.org.uk.
When a number of high profile celebrities took a flight on the SkyPuncher, Ianto also boarded the flight to ensure that nothing went wrong and also to get close to Ephraim Salt to learn more about The Committee. While he was on this flight, Zeynep called him about injury at work insurance and Ianto asked her to help him find any information she could on the SkyPuncher. He bought insurance for Myfanwy and Zeynep also helped with some first aid. She then helped him through the procedure get to land the ship. Trying to find a phone charger, Ianto found out that that Ephraim Salt was alive and he bit him. Zaynep later suggested that he was being framed. Shortly afterwards, the autopilot was switched on by remote, and he found out that the ship was being piloted towards the call centre. Ianto realised that spaceship was homing into Zeynep's headset. He found a parachute and used the ejector seat to escape the ship. Shortly afterwards Zeynep rang him to let him know she survived. (AUDIO: Fall to Earth)
Ianto led the shutdown of Milne Futures, an office block in Splott using brain augmentation drugs supplied by the Committee. He confronted the boss, Oliver Milne, and revealed he’d used Retcon to undo the effects on all the workers. The workers were too far gone however, resulting in the Retcon killing them all. Ianto kept Torchwood out of the subsequent inquest, arranging for some of the workers’ relatives to have their memories retconned, and posed as Oliver’s taxi driver to offer him a Retcon pill to forget it all. Oliver angrily refused, but Ianto took one himself to keep his conscience clear. (AUDIO: The Office of Never Was)
Ianto and Owen went on a mission to the Brecon Beacons. He was in charge of the mission as he knew the area. He went with Owen to find signal they had traced back in Cardiff. He worked out that the HSRC that everyone was talking about was the local rugby club. In the clubhouse he saw an illusion of his Nan, and was knocked out by Pat. He told Pat she had to come to Torchwood so that she could be relocated. (AUDIO: The Last Beacon)
During the resurrection of Suzie Costello, Ianto named the Life Knife and gave the Resurrection Gauntlet the nickname "risen mitten". When she tricked the Hub into lockdown, Ianto got a signal for his mobile phone by using the water tower above the Hub as a relay so Torchwood could call for help. After Suzie died again, Ianto put her body in deep freeze and recorded her cause of death as “Death by Torchwood”. (TV: They Keep Killing Suzie)
Ianto helped Gwen’s investigation by finding out what car had killed Eugene Jones. (TV: Random Shoes)
Abigail Forehill asked Ianto for help when she couldn't remember her parents and that she had no information about friends. She thought that it was aliens. Cardiff was abandoned at this point as well. He thought something was wrong when Dilys Evans couldn't remember her husband either. He realised that Cardiff was only a Ghost Town for the last two weeks. Using one of Torchwood's gadgets that all of the residents of Cardiff was in Abi. He scanned Abi and discovered something in her arm. He realised that she was using the Life-optimisation engine which caused the other people to disappear, but he managed to undo the damage. (AUDIO: Ex Machina)
Ianto took the time-displaced trio Diane Holmes, John Ellis and Emma-Louise Cowell shopping in a supermarket. (TV: Out of Time)
Ianto tries to stop Owen from opening the rift. (TV: Captain Jack Harkness)
After discovering the Rift had trapped Jack and Tosh in 1941, Ianto and Owen sparred for leadership of the team. Although Owen asserted that, with Suzie dead, he was now second-in-command, Ianto displayed authority in Jack's absence that Owen was not aware he had, and even shot Owen in the shoulder to prevent him using the Rift Manipulator. However, as he was shot, Owen succeeded in activating the Rift Manipulator and brought Jack and Tosh back. (TV: Captain Jack Harkness)
Owen's actions caused cracks in space and time to spread from the Rift, pushing the team to the limit. During this incident, Ianto saw an apparition of Lisa, telling him to reopen the Rift and undo the damage. The team turned against Jack who refused to allow them to open the Rift. Owen shot Jack and reopened the Rift to send everything that had come through back. The opening of the Rift forced out Abaddon, whom Jack then defeated. (TV: End of Days)
On Valentine’s Day, Ianto joined Tosh at the opera, after discovering an alien incursion. They discovered that the Grosh were planning to capture Ilmatar in a fire and tried to get the audience out in time. (AUDIO: Dinner and a Show)
Shortly after Jack's revival from his encounter with Abaddon, Jack disappeared from the Hub to chase after the Doctor's TARDIS parked on Roald Dahl Plass. (TV: End of Days, Utopia) During the months that Jack was gone, Ianto, along with the rest of the Torchwood Three, was dispatched on a "wild goose chase" to the Himalayas by Mr Saxon. (TV: The Sound of Drums)
During Jack's absence, Ianto became further involved in missions. While chasing after a Blowfish, Jack arrived out of nowhere, saving a family. He took over Torchwood again and asked Ianto on a date- to which Ianto said yes.
Torchwood met an old lover of Jack's, Captain John Hart, who had came through the Rift searching for some canisters that had also come through. He told Torchwood that they contained radioactive bombs. Jack and Ianto went searching for a canister together, during which Jack asked him to go on a proper date with him. While John tried to kill Jack to take the canisters' contents for himself, he challenged Ianto to save his wounded and poisoned teammates. He succeeded and then caught up with John, but the contents of the canisters were actually components of a bomb that latched onto the DNA of the owner of the canisters' murderer. Torchwood found a way to confuse and safely get rid of the bomb and then forcibly made John leave back through the Rift. (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang)
During Torchwood’s investigation of Beth Halloran, Ianto objected to Jack using the mind probe on her. When Cell 114 sleepers activated, Ianto realised the significance of the murder of Patrick Grainger. (TV: Sleeper)
Jack and Ianto tracked a Cell 114 signal to Serenity Plaza and went undercover to track the sleeper agent, choosing the name Ifan, a variant of Ianto. He spent most of his days perfecting the "perfect house husband" routine whilst Jack went off to work. The longer he stayed in the housing estate, the more he became impatient. They discovered the sleepers’ base in Bob and Mary’s house during a party and learnt that Cell 114 had devised a way to convert humans into sleepers. They went looking for Bob and Mary but encountered Vanessa, who revealed herself as a sleeper. When all the sleepers activated, they fled and got separated. He planted an improvised explosive, setting it so it would trigger a chain reaction to destroy the estate, and encountered Jack, though was unconvinced he hadn’t been replaced by a sleeper. After they returned to the base in Bob and Mary’s house he shot Jack in the head to test if he was real whilst recalibrating a scanner to melt the sleepers’ bones. Jack suggested they use the same weapon on Cell 114’s spaceship in orbit, but he couldn't bring himself to commit genocide so gave the button to Jack. Together they watched Serenity Plaza burn. (AUDIO: Serenity)
During Torchwood Three’s raid on Harries & Harries, Ianto was caught, exposing Rhys who’d been undercover for Torchwood. He lied that there were just the two of them, but they threatened him to force the rest of the team to surrender. He escaped the ropes they’d tied his arms in and disarmed them, but not before Rhys was shot. He stunned their boss and warned him to pray Rhys survived. (TV: Meat)
Ianto kept a paper diary, which he used to write down interesting Rift activity as well as more personal concerns. When he confronted Adam Smith about his role in the Torchwood team, having discovered his absence from his diary, Adam gave Ianto false memories of killing three women. Jack found Ianto an emotional mess from the fake memories however managed to rally him to help him stop Adam. Ianto was rid of the fake memories when Jack used retcon on the team in order to purge Adam's influence, and make them forget the past 48 hours, thus resulting in Ianto's complete obliviousness to the past two days events. (TV: Adam)
Ianto assisted Martha Jones when she entered the Pharm as a tester for Reset. Reset was a "medicine" containing unhatched alien Mayflies that fed off of viruses and diseases in the blood, and would hatch and grow inside the person taking the meds. When the Pharm was shut down and Martha had the gestating Mayfly safely removed from her body by Owen, Owen was shot in the chest by the Pharm's owner, Aaron Copley. Ianto attempted to save Owen, but he died. (TV: Reset)
Ianto watched Jack bring Owen back to life with another Resurrection Gauntlet, but after Owen died again, he remained conscious, but with no lifesigns. When Martha and Jack embalmed Owen, Ianto watched and used a hockey stick as a weapon against the Gauntlet when it attacked Martha, but it was ultimately stopped by Owen shooting it. He visited the hospital with the rest of Torchwood Three but they were all locked out by Owen. Ianto later explained to the team that 'faith' was a resurrected child. (TV: Dead Man Walking)
During Owen's mission to investigate the Church of the Outsiders, Ianto was tasked with infiltrating the organisation as a member. He befriended Erin Lewis and sympathised with the people there, although he was almost maimed by the Greys. Jack secretly saved him and Ianto witnessed the Jack demonstrating his immortality before the Church the next day. (AUDIO: Believe)
When Gwen was investigating people taken by the Rift, Ianto secretly gave her directions to the facility on Flat Holm. (TV: Adrift)
Ianto was lured back to Milne Futures’ abandoned office block after a man told him about it being haunted in the Torchwood office. He started to hear voices and the lift started acting strangely and found himself trapped In the office block. As he tried to find away to escape and contact the outside world, he met the girl who struggled to remember anything. They found all the leaflets in the office had his face on them. He traced the voice to a locked room, and when he entered it, he and the girl were attacked by a swarm of rats. The girl chose to abandon him but was tricked into falling down the lift shaft. Oliver let Ianto up to the top floor and reminded him of what he’d done, planning to trap him in the office. Ianto pretended to beg for his forgiveness, tricking him into allowing Ianto to steal his gun and key card. Ianto accessed the lift and closed the door, listening to Oliver beg him to let him in. He revealed he’d taken another Retcon pill to forget Oliver again and abandoned him, leaving the office block. (AUDIO: The Office of Never Was)
Greater responsibilities
Following the deaths of Owen and Tosh, Ianto did his best to step into the considerable breach which they had left behind. The extra workload affected his focus and, as Jack noted, even the normally exceptional standard of Ianto's coffee slipped in the months which followed. He had to take on Owen's duties as the team medic, which - with little experience - he found particularly stressful. (PROSE: Bay of the Dead)
He was confused rather than angry when Jack got pregnant with the next leader of the Yalnix Empire. He thought that this was part of the reaction to the deaths of Tosh and Owen. He booked Jack into a spa for his final weeks in the pregnancy, and looked after Torchwood whilst Gwen was in Tenerife. (AUDIO: Expectant)
The Medusa Cascade incident
When Earth was stolen by Davros and the New Dalek Empire and transported to the Medusa Cascade, Ianto, Gwen, and Jack, with help from alien supercomputer Mr Smith, were able to use the Rift Manipulator to boost the signal of Martha Jones' superphone to call the Tenth Doctor. Jack obtained the missing digit of a code for his vortex manipulator and teleported from the Hub to meet with the Doctor. After he had left, Gwen and Ianto were confronted by a Dalek entering the Hub and opened fire with assault rifles, vowing to die fighting. (TV: The Stolen Earth)
This proved unnecessary as a time-lock, devised by Tosh before her death, protected them. Eventually the Dalek was destroyed along with the rest of its race, and Ianto and Gwen helped tow Earth back to where it belonged by sending the Rift's power to the TARDIS after being contacted by the Doctor. (TV: Journey's End)
The Torchwood three
Following a cannibalistic massacre on a yacht in Cardiff Bay, Ianto and Jack found themselves zombie-hunting in Trowbridge, as much as Ianto refused to believe in "horror-movie hokum". They came across mother-to-be Sarah Thomas stranded in her Passat, which was under attack from a quartet of "zombies". Ianto and Jack eliminated the zombies and drove Sarah and her husband, Trystan, back to the Hub, where Ianto delivered their baby in the Boardroom. Jack and Ianto then travelled to St Helen's Hospital, where they met up with Gwen and Rhys, and found that Leet - a Dellacoi - had created the zombies to search for his life-shell and control over the creatures had passed to Oscar Phillips, a coma patient. Ianto witnessed Oscar awaken from his coma and jump out of the hospital window, killing himself and relinquishing his control over the zombies. (PROSE: Bay of the Dead)
Ianto looked into accidents caused by people going into dream states and investigated one such occurrence with Gwen. Jack tried to lock them out of the Hub to save them when he realised that he was infected with Invictus, but Ianto was still inside. (AUDIO: "Incubation: Know") Ianto used the pharadyne projector to get information on Good Thinking from Norton Folgate, who helped him get to safety, although he was forced to abandon Jack when men came for his body after he entered Stage 4. (AUDIO: "Prodromal: Love") He sneaked into the Emergency Response Centre with Luke Palmer and found those that were left to die. Afterwards, he confessed to Jack that he had been infected with Invictus but had fought it. (AUDIO: "Invasion: Kill")
456 incident and death
Ianto visiting his sister, (TV: Children of Earth: Day One)
Ianto and the rest of Torchwood investigated when all the children on Earth started chanting "We are coming". He and Jack wanted to take a child to study. Ianto went to his sister Rhiannon Davies to see if he could use his niece or nephew, but she refused. Later that night, Torchwood was blown up by a bomb that MI5 agents, led by Agent Johnson, had embedded in Jack's body. Jack got Gwen and Ianto to safety before the bomb exploded. Ianto initially refused to leave Jack to 'die', but eventually bid him an intense kiss goodbye, and escaped the Hub, before its destruction. (TV: Children of Earth: Day One)
That night, Ianto escaped while under attack from Johnson and her men. He contacted his sister and told her to keep a watch on the government. His sister, Rhiannon, provided him with a laptop and car. He also found where MI5 was keeping Jack. Ianto saved him with a tractor, which he drove to a cliffside, and dropped the concrete tomb, containing Jack, which broke, freeing Jack. By destroying the wall of Jack's cell, he rescued Gwen and Rhys, saving them from arrest by Johnson and her men. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Two)
Ianto dying in Jack's arms. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Four)
The team headed over to an old Torchwood One warehouse and set up a base. Through theft, they managed to acquire what they needed, and they found out what the 456 were and what their intentions were, through Lois' help. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Three)
That night, Torchwood came up with a plan to blackmail the government. If the government did not follow their exact orders to counteract the 456, Rhys would release to the public information about what happened in 1965. The next day, Ianto and Jack broke into Thames House. There they threatened the 456 ambassador, telling it to back away from Earth or else they would tell the whole planet about its intentions, inciting the whole of Earth to fight back against the alien, and promised that the Earth's people would go to war with the 456, as their children would be in danger. The 456 chose to give them a "taste of war" and released a virus into the air. Thames House shut itself down, trapping everyone inside, thus killing everyone (save for Dekker). Jack and Ianto tried to fight the 456, by shooting at the 456's tank, but their efforts were fruitless. Ianto died from the virus in Jack's arms, forcing Jack to "never forget me". Jack also collapsed, giving Ianto one final kiss, and soon after, woke up next to Ianto's body with Gwen. Gwen and Jack both sobbed while looking at Ianto's corpse, realising that the threat of the 456 was too much to cope with. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Four)
Afterlife
Six months after Ianto's death, Jack visited the House of the Dead in Wales in an attempt to see Ianto's spirit. Ianto had been recreated by an ancient being within the Rift, along with many other spirits — such as his father — in an attempt to convince Jack to free it. For a time, Ianto thought he was alive. He was physically tangible and believed that he was in contact with Gwen. However, it later transpired that Jack, not anticipating Ianto would be "so real", had come with the plan of using the House of the Dead and an explosive device containing Rift energy-soaked materials from the Bay to close the Rift forever. Jack figured that he would be sucked into the Rift for eternity as well, making his attempt akin to suicide. Ianto convinced Jack they could both leave the House, and Jack could continue his life alongside a resurrected Ianto. Ianto tricked Jack into leaving so that he would live, and vowed to seal off the Rift and die again to give Jack a chance at a new life. (AUDIO: The House of the Dead)
Shortly after this incident, Jack left Earth behind out of grief, due to not only the death of Ianto, but also of Suzie, Tosh, Owen and Steven. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Five)
Later references
During the events of Miracle Day, Jack and Gwen continued to mourn Ianto's death, and wished that the Miracle had happened sooner so that he would still be alive, along with all their other deceased friends. (TV: Dead of Night)
When Jack discovered that his former lover, Angelo Colasanto, had been watching him throughout the 20th century and part of the 21st, he asked him whether had had observed him and Ianto, and speculated as to whether the two would like each other or not. (TV: End of the Road)
As a member of Torchwood, Ianto's likeness was among those assumed by the intuitive hard-light simulations of the Torchwood Archive. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)
Alternate timelines
Ianto once noticed an attractive coffee saleswoman who introduced herself as Mairwyn. She was a time-traveller who had come to manipulate Ianto into travelling back in time, acquiring some vital technology from Torchwood One with which she could enslave the world. She had chosen Ianto because of his access to Torchwood One security and because, with the knowledge of Torchwood Three's destruction, Tosh and Owen's deaths, and Ianto's own demise, he was exploitable. He was later visited by Rhys Williams and John Hart, who had travelled from the future to stop Mairwyn, who knew John Hart by the name "Beatrice"; she had stolen a vortex manipulator from him.
When Mairwyn next saw Ianto, she used a device to show him his future and told him that Captain Jack was not a loyal lover, was a heartbreaker, and wouldn't take long to get over Ianto's death. Ianto later looked at Hub CCTV footage of Jack's attempt to romance Gwen. When he found out about her engagement, not long before Jack formally asked Ianto out, Jack said, "I don't know what I'd do without you", when he recommended Ianto get on with his computer work; his wonted coldness left Ianto visibly upset.
When Mairwyn next appeared to Ianto, he kissed her, took her home and had sex with her. When he used her device again to see the future he would be responsible for creating, he refused her original offer and knifed her. After saying goodbye to John and Rhys, he sent his sister Rhiannon Davies an uncharacteristically friendly email saying he loved her before retconning himself.
With the timeline restored, Gwen and Jack attended Ianto's funeral, watched from afar by John Hart. Further afar were alternate universe doppelgängers of Ianto and Mairwyn; Ianto commented, "I can't believe there's a reality where I said no." (COMIC: Shrouded)
In another alternate timeline, in which John Hart took control of the Torchwood Institute and became King of the British Empire, he hired Ianto as his personal assistant, making him dress in bondage-themed outfits and torturing him for fun. (AUDIO: The Death of Captain Jack)
Parallel world
In a parallel world, Ianto and Gwen sacrificed their lives in defeating the Sontaran invasion of Earth. (TV: Turn Left)
Personality
Fighting off a Dalek with Gwen Cooper. (TV: The Stolen Earth)
Ianto was at first quite distant and reserved in the company of the other Torchwood members, with a quiet and dutiful nature like a butler. He was often neglected and unnoticed by the rest of the team, being left to manage the Torchwood Archive. The rest of the team knew little about what he did; they were often too busy and never interested enough to ask. (PROSE: Slow Decay)
Ianto wasn't the sort of person who hugged anybody, nor did he ever punch somebody playfully on the arm or even put an arm around somebody. Owen assumed he was probably gay and hiding his sexuality. (PROSE: Another Life)
However, when the discovery of his girlfriend was made, Ianto revealed a tormented and passionate side that would do anything to help and save her even if it destroyed him. His behaviour during a conversation with Doctor Tanizaki about Torchwood One suggested that there was some mental scarring from the incident, as he quickly and abruptly changed the subject. (TV: Cyberwoman)
Conversations with his sister about their parents suggested that their relationship had become difficult. One such conversation about Ianto breaking his leg in an accident revealed that Ianto perceived his father as someone who always pushed him. His sister pointed out that his father had cared about him and had been only trying to bring out the best in him; maybe Ianto should have "held on tighter" instead of buckling. The results seemed to have caused more problems than solutions. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Two)
When Tosh received the mind pendant from Mary, she caught a glimpse into his mind, revealing that he was in pain, but, because of his withdrawn nature, he kept it to himself. (TV: Greeks Bearing Gifts) Ianto gradually came out of his shell a bit, showing a quick and humorous wit, usually at serious moments. (TV: Sleeper) Despite this, it was hinted that there was a darker side within him. (TV: Adam)
Ianto had difficulty expressing himself emotionally, being reserved and stiff in conversation. He was uncomfortable around emotional people; he went rigid around his brother-in-law when he greeted him with a large bear hug and a slight tease about being gay. (TV: Children of Earth: Day One)
When he did lose control of his emotions, the outbursts were quite intense and he later seemed to regret his actions and behaviour. When the team chided him about Lisa, he angrily and venomously told them that they had no idea what his life was like and how he put up with cleaning up their mess without question because that was how they liked it. (TV: Cyberwoman)
After the incident he was very apologetic and tried to avoid the team whenever possible. When he got into an argument with Owen over whether or not to open the Rift, a more commanding part of Ianto took over and he ended up having to shoot Owen to stop him. This shocked both of them. It also hinted at his dark side when Owen joked afterward that he was glad Ianto was a bad shot; in response Ianto stared at him darkly, saying, "I was AIMING for your shoulder", implying that if he'd wanted to kill Owen, he would have. (TV: Captain Jack Harkness)
Skills
Ianto was highly organised, managing Torchwood's logistics with ease. (TV: Everything Changes, et al.)
He could throw the Torchwood SUV into a hairpin turn, knock down a Weevil with a well-placed blow, and run a hundred metres, according to Owen, like Christian Malcolm. (PROSE: Another Life)
He also had considerable computer skill, being able to hack into Gwen Cooper's computer and erase a document containing information about Torchwood. (TV: Everything Changes)
Other information
Duties
Ianto supported the main team. He staffed the Tourist Information Centre above the Hub and generally worked to "clean up their shit... no questions asked". (TV: Cyberwoman)
Though not precisely one of his duties, he also kept a detailed journal of day-to-day operations. (TV: Adam)
Ianto's duties included cleaning the Torchwood SUV. Following Owen's death, he took on the duty of being the team medic which he found particularly stressful. (PROSE: Bay of the Dead)
Relationships
Can we leave information about Lisa on the Lisa subheader, and info about Ianto's relationship with Jack on the Jack subheader?
Lisa Hallett
Ianto and Lisa had a very close relationship and he risked a lot to keep her alive. Her eventual death affected him deeply and he promised that if he ever got the chance he would leave Jack for dead. (TV: Cyberwoman) But although the pain over her death still lingered, (TV: Countrycide) he would not use the second Resurrection Gauntlet on her. (TV: They Keep Killing Suzie)
An apparition of Lisa, in her human form, convinced Ianto to side with Owen against Jack and open the Rift. (TV: End of Days)
Jack Harkness
In an attempt to show he had put the Lisa incident behind him, Jack tried to be friendly and even patted Ianto on the back, (TV: Small Worlds) although the conversation about the team's last kisses revealed that there was still some lingering tension between the two over the incident. (TV: Countrycide)
After going through a difficult time, Ianto asked that Jack kiss him. Ianto then kissed Jack but insisted that he did not want a relationship beyond the sexual. (AUDIO: Broken)
Gwen caught on to the relationship between Jack and Ianto and Ianto explicitly referred to being bisexual. (PROSE: The Twilight Streets)
Owen made remarks about the sexual nature of Ianto and Jack's relationship and, after believing Jack was dead, a distraught Ianto breathed in the scent of his coat. The two kissed upon reunion. (TV: Captain Jack Harkness, End of Days)
When Jack returned to the Hub, he asked Ianto out on a date, which Ianto accepted. (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) This was followed by another kiss between the pair. (TV: To the Last Man)
The existence of the relationship was confirmed verbally in a conversation Ianto had with Martha Jones (TV: Reset) and in another conversation Ianto had with Owen Harper. (TV: A Day in the Death) The first public display of Ianto and Jack's relationship was when they danced together at Gwen's wedding. (TV: Something Borrowed)
Gwen accidentally walked in on Jack and Ianto in a decidedly sexual situation when she stormed into the Torchwood greenhouse, angry about the secrets Jack was keeping from her. After their conversation, Jack called Ianto back into the greenhouse to finish what they had started. (TV: Adrift)
Later, Ianto expressed a little jealousy when Jack mentioned having learned about Project Indigo by meeting a soldier in a bar; Jack had to reassure Ianto that it was strictly business. (TV: The Stolen Earth)
Whilst together, the two owned a dog named Untitled. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)
When his sister confronted him about rumours that he was gay, he reluctantly acknowledged his relationship with Jack. He tried to explain that Jack was the first man he had ever taken to in this way, and also that he was insecure about the exact status of his relationship with Jack. His brother-in-law, Johnny, took a more simplistic view of Ianto's sexual ambiguity, crassly concluding, "Ay ay, gayboy." (TV: Children of Earth: Day One)
After Ianto collapsed from the virus the 456 released, Jack cradled him in his arms and the two cried. Ianto then told Jack that he loved him. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Four)
After Ianto's death, Ianto and Jack reunited one more time with Ianto as a spirit. Jack confessed that he wanted to be trapped in the Rift forever as he couldn't bear to live in a world without Ianto. Before Ianto's spirit disappeared forever, the couple confessed their love for each other for the first and last time. (AUDIO: The House of the Dead)
Aliases and nicknames
| Name | When used/given | Story | Etymology |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iantoya | Given by the Gwen Cooper after Ianto woke up in the body of a woman. | Almost Perfect |
Behind the scenes
Death
When writing the initial outline of Series 2, Russell T Davies' original intention was that Ianto would die and be resurrected instead of Owen. This was changed only hours before production. (REF: The Writer's Tale)
Ianto was eventually killed off in Day Four of the Children of Earth mini series. This spurred an online campaign to resurrect the character[1], which branched into a drive to give to the Children in Need charity "in memory" of Ianto. By October 2010, over £15,000 had been raised[2]. The slogan used by the online community was "Save the Coffee Boy, Save the World," a takeoff of the Season One slogan for the American science fiction television show Heroes: "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World."
Other matters
- According to Russell T Davies in the January 2008 radio special Torchwood: All Access (released on CD with Lost Souls in September 2008), Ianto Jones' name was based on another character (Yanto Jones) created by Davies for another television production (Mine All Mine); Gareth David-Lloyd played that character, too.
- In the episode Adam, Ianto told Jack that he always felt that there was something inside of him that wanted to kill. This could have just been a result of Adam's influence, but his sudden violent behaviour in episodes like Countrycide and Meat and the dark voice Toshiko heard through Mary's pendant suggests there was more to Ianto's character that we had chance to see.
Footnotes
External links
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