Janto Haven

Jack: “Better than death? *realisation* Ianto…”

Tosh ripping off the pendant after hearing Ianto’s thoughts is so cleverly done. She just sees how hard he’s trying to project that he’s alright when he’s absolutely not and actually succeeds in that, just for her to enter his mind and render his efforts null. I think she finally feels ashamed because the thoughts of others were not unexepcted to her and thus she didn’t feel like she was violating their privacy. But Ianto’s inner and outer personas are so different that she finally starts to understands her wrongdoing

Loving to draw parallels between TW and DW characters, I am amused it took me so long to draw one between Ianto Jones and Danny Pink. I might not know all about Danny, since I haven’t ever listened to DW audios and am not that deep in the fandom as in the TW one, but from what we see in the tv-episodes (and it’s a shame we don’t get enough with Danny) I think he and Ianto are alike in many ways.

For both Ianto and Danny, saving their loved ones is a priority over saving the world. They treat love with an almost soldier-like mentality - protection and loyalty first. Both Ianto and Danny died twice. Both have died the second time protecting their partners and one could say that saving the world was a nice bonus to that. Danny: “I didn’t die saving the world, Doctor. I died saving Clara. The rest of you just got lucky.” Ianto does not explicitly say it, but his actions in the House of the Dead all but scream it.

For both Ianto and Danny, the one thing that could have swayed their focus from ensuring the happiness of their loved ones was saving the lives of innocent children

Ianto and Danny are some of the few who are not really impressed with the Doctor but tolerate him for their partners’ sakes (honestly, if they ever met, they would absolutely bond over this particular one).

Last but not least - their fondness for pink shirts

It is impressive that no matter how many times I listen to Janto interactions I always feel it like the first time: the grief, the desperation, the giddiness - all comes back to me. Once again, I listened to the House of the Dead and got re-broken by it. But there is something else.

I think I heard the exact moment that is so perfectly Ianto Jones that it would have made me love him even more if it was possible. I’m talking about the realization and fear in his voice when he listens to Jack’s plan of closing the rift. "You're not planning on coming back, are you?" is said in a very different sober manner than Ianto’s previous lines (GDL is truly amazing). And doesn't that perfectly sum up Ianto Jones? Look, just a moment ago he experienced something so terrible and heartbreaking - he’d learned about his own death and probably (falsely) confirmed for himself that he doesn't mean anything to Jack (although Jack explains how much Ianto means to him, he goes about it so "horribly" wrong). I can understand Ianto's anger - he just heard that person he loves had not attended his funeral. And for someone, whose biggest insecurity is not being remembered this is such a hard blow. But what is so beautifully Ianto is that the moment he realizes the danger to Jack, he pulls himself together, hides all his feelings and starts playing a devastating con that he knows will bring about his death -  the very death he was so horrified to learn about just a minute ago. I feel like in that moment he still doubts Jack's love for him but it doesn’t matter to him anymore. Priority is to save Jack (I think that saving the world for Ianto will always come second to saving Jack and I find that beautiful).