IANTO JONES

ianto jones, played by gareth david-lloyd, is one of the main characters in the 2006-2011 doctor who spinoff show torchwood. he is one of the most beloved characters of the show and he is my favouritest boy in the whole wide world


ABOUT IANTO

ianto jones was born august 19th 1983 in cardiff. his mother was glenda jones, his father was ianto jones, and his sister was rhiannon davies. he grew up in newport in various different council estates, and later moved to london around 2005 and worked in a museum coffee shop, before being recruited by yvonne hartman to join torchwood one as a junior researcher (but not before being retconned by her many many many many times). he worked there for around two years, where he met his girlfriend lisa hallet, before the battle of canary wharf in 2007, where torchwood one was destroyed, and lisa was half-converted into a cyberman. ianto moved back to cardiff where he met jack harkness and tried to convince him to let him join torchwood three, which he eventually succeeded at. ianto first worked in the background as a general support officer, making the coffee, working in the archives and driving the others around. ianto hid lisa in a storeroom in the hub, in a cyber-conversion unit converted into a life support machine. he was adament about curing lisa, even after she killed a man that he brought in to help and began attacking the other torchwood members. lisa hallet was shot and killed by the other torchwood members (look i know to normal people cyberwoman is like objectively one of the worst episodes of torchwood but unfortunately my iantism makes it one of my favourite eps). following lisa's death, ianto gained a more active role in the team, and also began developing a relationship with torchwood commander jack harkness. their relationship started as casual and mostly sexual, but grew deeper and more romantic over time, and the two fell very much in love. on july 9th 2009, ianto jones was killed by the alien known as the 456, whilst defending the children of the earth against it.


WHY I LOVE IANTO JONES

i think the main reason i love ianto jones so much is because of his relation to Otherness and Being An Outsider. throughout most of the main two series of torchwood, ianto is sort of the least significant and focused on character, and only has one episode centered around him, cyberwoman, as opposed to every other character having at least two episodes to themselves. ianto jones is just the tea boy, the driver, the one who works the desk or down in the archives, which is especially true pre-cyberwoman. after that, he becomes a more significant character, but he's still the character that is the least focused on. outside of jack (and sort of tosh, but only really in the big finish audio stories), he never really gets that close with any of the other torchwood members, which also factors into the fact that he's seen as the least important torchwood member. he expresses frustration with this to tosh in dinner and a show and suv, complaining that the two of them are the most forgotten about members, that are given all the boring easy jobs.


in my opinion, one of the reasons for all of this is that ianto jones is autistic. gareth david-lloyd sort of confirmed it himself in a tweet in 2014, which i am taking as canon proof that he has autism. there are MANY autistic traits of his that i relate to heavily, that add to the reason why i love ianto so much. again, other than jack, he's somewhat withdrawn and distant around the other torchwood members, and jack is basically the only one he is close to, and jack also tends to speak for the both of them to strangers and such, which i very much relate to (my irl friends will know this very well). he has a very keen interest in coffee and coffee making, which i see as his special interest. this is especially important to me, as his special interest isn't something like maths or science or anything like other stereotypical autistic coded characters have. its something niche that isn't necessarily "useful" to the world, which i really resonate with (my special interest is fuckign doctor who. if that wasnt obvious.). one of his main jobs in torchwood is working in the archives, filing all the alien technology that the team find. he also keeps a detailed journal of what happens every day. ianto seems to enjoy these tasks a lot, which ONCE AGAIN i heavily relate to as someone who loves collecting data and has too many doctor who related spreadsheets to count. he has difficulty expressing his emotions, up until things get too much for him like in cyberwoman or countrycide, where he has emotional outburts and shouts at other people and screams and cries, and later regrets his actions a lot, which is similar to how some people experience autistic meltdowns. there is also a specific line in greeks bearing gifts: "can't imagine the time when this isn't everything. pain so constant, like my stomach's full of rats. feels like this is all i am now. there isn't an inch of me that doesn't hurt.", which implies he is in a lot of pain, but doesn't express it, which, alongside the fact he hides his emotions most of the time, is simlar to masking. i also enjoy that line because it implies ianto experiences chronic pain, which, ONCE AGAIN, i can relate to as i also deal with chronic pain. he's also somewhat touch averse, avoiding hugs or any sort of physical contact with others, offering a handshake to jack rather than a hug in I THINKKKK his return after the year that never happened though im not sure if im remembering that correctly (which jack rejects, and hugs + kisses him instead). jack becomes the only person ianto seems comfortable touching which YOU GUESSEDIT i relate to, as i am touch averse to almost all people excluding my close friends. its sort of implied that he didn't have many friends growing up. ianto jones is a very autistic character and i love him very much for it


ianto jones is also very mentally ill. the events of the fall of canary wharf, cyberwoman, countrycide, and many other adventures throughout his time working at torchwood have traumatised him. ianto is very much consumed by grief and anger and resentment and loneliness. he can't deal with all the emotional torment that he experiences at torchwood, which leads to him attempting suicide, and then attempting to kill jack. this all occurs in the audio story broken, which is one of the best torchwood stories of all time and i heavily recommend it to everyone and i can never listen to it again. ianto jones is FUCKED and i relate to this a lot too. ianto jones pleas quit your job become a barista and go to therapy NOW.


ianto jones is also bisexual. he said that he finds it isolating, telling gwen "[bisexuality is] the worst of any world because you don't really belong anywhere, because you are never sure of yourself or those around you. you can't trust in anyone, their motives or their intentions. and because of that, you have, in a world that likes its shiny labels, no true identity.". while i'm (probably) not bisexual, i resonate with this because i am genderfluid. i relate to not belonging anywhere, never being feminine enough to relate to woman, never being masculine enough to relate to men, but being too much of both of those to relate to nonbinary people, which also relates to my sexuality and the fact i'm only into men, which is difficult to put a word to when i'm genderfluid. so our queerness and our struggle with it is yet another connection i have with ianto jones


in conclusion, the reason why i love ianto jones so much is because i see myself in him in all of the worst possible ways


also he's hot


THE IANTO JONES SHRINE

on the boardwalk of mermaid quay on cardiff bay, right where the entrance to torchwood three would be (i think), there is a shrine dedicated to ianto jones. after his tragic death in the miniseries children of earth (i sobbed for a full 35 minutes straight after watching it), a shrine was started by fans in cardiff to commemorate him, which is now visited by fans all over the world, and lovingly kept up by carol-anne hillman (at least i know she kept it up in 2014 and prior, im not sure if she still does). i have not been able to visit the shrine YET. but i very much intend to and i will be VERY annoying about it when i do. i also will hopefully be going to comic con wales in august and meeting gdl which i will too be EXTREMELY annoying about <3


IANTO AUDIO STORIES THAT I RECOMMEND


MY IANTO ARTWORK