APPLICATION - TRAMITEM
Player Information
Character Information
Full Name: Captain Jack Harkness
Nicknames: Jack, "Stop It," "Captain" Game Age: 52
Canon: Torchwood and Doctor Who
PB: John Barrowman
Journal: ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
captainspain
4th Walling: Yes
Canon Point: Post Torchwood Children of Earth
Canon Information
History:
Jack Harkness grew up on a colony world called the Boeshane in the 51st century with his father Franklin, his mother and his younger brother Gray. Jack is not his real name, but only Jack and Gray know what it is as canon has not told us. Life on the Boe was hard but fun and until Jack was thirteen he grew up a happy boy willing to work hard and look out for his little brother. When Jack was thirteen, however, the Boeshane was attacked. Jack and Gray fled the beach when their father told them to run and Jack’s hand slipped loose of Gray’s causing him to lose his brother.
When Jack returned home he discovered his father was dead. His mother begged him to try to find Gray and Jack looked for days unable to find him, something he would feel guilty about for years. His mother blamed him for their misfortunes and so when the Time Agency came calling for recruits, Jack didn’t hesitate to sign up. He because a poster boy for his community earning the nickname “The Face of Boe.”
Jack’s time as a Time Agent is shrouded in mystery. At one point he was caught in a time loop with his partner John Hart for a year and he was at one point pregnant long enough that Jack did not want to repeat the experience though he never admits what happened to the child. He worked mostly undercover throughout history, but whatever he did it was confidential enough that he had two years of his memories wiped. When Jack awoke he realized what the Time Agency had done he took off and became a con man using the Time Agency as his mark.
During one "self-cleaning con," as Jack describes it, in 1941 London, Jack met the Time Lord known as the Doctor and his companion Rose Tyler. He first assumed they were Time Agents and attempted to sell them a Chula ambulance full of nanogenes. What Jack didn’t realize was that the nanogenes had been programmed by accident to rewrite human DNA. Jack helped the Doctor and Rose fix his mistake before a bomb fell on a group of the gas mask zombies the nanogenes created. Jack manages to fix the bomb in a static field using his ship. Before the bomb explodes killing Jack, the Doctor rescues him and invites him aboard the TARDIS as his newest companion.
Jack travels the universe with the Doctor and Rose, bringing a military skill set the Doctor appreciates even though he and Jack clash often about Jack’s use of guns rather than words. Jack also learns more about his missing memories, which drives a brief wedge between Team TARDIS and causes Jack to leave to find his own answers. He does return helping the Doctor stop a plot to blow up 21st century Cardiff. After a stop in 17th Japan, Jack, the Doctor and Rose are stolen out of the TARDIS and stuck in the future in game shows like Big Brother, Say Yes to the Dress and the Weakest Link.
Jack manages to figure out something is wrong and get himself out of his game show onto a place called the Game Station. Together he and the Doctor manage to break into the Weakest Link only to watch Rose killed right in front of them. This event shows how deeply Jack feels for Rose as he explodes in anger and frustration screaming and pushing people away from the Doctor. The two men charge the Game Station control room and discover that Rose was actually transmitted to a Dalek ship rather than being killed.
After rescuing Rose, Jack says goodbye to the Doctor and Rose a second time as he goes to lead a battle against the Daleks to give the Doctor enough time to create a delta wave to wipe the Daleks and by extension humanity from the face of the Earth. He kisses them both goodbye and his last words to the Doctor before he dies are “never doubted him never will,” when the Doctor hesitates to set off the delta wave and calls himself a coward.
Jack is the last person to die in the battle, but a few moments later he gasps awake and manages to just make it back to the control room only to watch the TARDIS fade away without him. He makes it down to the devastated Earth and tries his best to live up to being the hero he knows the Doctor and Rose would want him to be despite his anger at being left behind and surviving the Dalek battle. After a few years, Jack longed for answers and used his vortex manipulator to attempt to travel back to 21st century Earth to find the Doctor and Rose.
Only Jack wound up in 1869 and was stuck living the slow path as he waited for a version of the Doctor to match up with his timeline. As he waited Jack discovered that he didn’t exactly survive the Dalek as it seems he cannot die. It doesn’t matter how he is killed Jack always returns to life exactly how he was before. Now finding his answers becomes even more important and he moves to Cardiff in 1872 in the hopes he will find the Doctor and his answers.
What he gets instead is the attention of Torchwood, who make it clear to Jack he will either become a science experiment or a field agent and Jack chooses the latter spending over 170 years fighting alien threats until he is given command of Torchwood Three in January of 1999. After the Battle of Canary Wharf, Jack attempts to rebuild the organization in the Doctor’s name. He creates a new team and falls in love with one of the members a young Welshman named Ianto Jones.
In 2008, his timeline and the Doctor’s line up again and Jack chases the Time Lord to the end of the universe to learn it was Rose Tyler consumed by the Heart of the TARDIS who made him immortal and there was no fix for what Jack had become.
Jack is angered by this but puts his feelings aside to help the last of humanity reach for the stars. But at the same time, the Doctor and his companions discovered the Doctor wasn’t the Last of the Time Lords after all when the Master is revealed and steals the Doctor’s TARDIS.
Jack proves his loyalty time and time again as the Master becomes the Prime Minster of England, in the 21st century, and turns the Doctor, Jack and Martha Jones into public enemies. In the attempt to stop the Master, Jack and the Doctor are captured while Martha escapes and for a year it is implied Jack under goes terrible torture and grief though he never admits to it to anyone. At the end of that year the Doctor stops the Master and Jack is forced to watch as the Doctor holds the Master in his arms and falls apart as the other Time Lord refuses to regenerate and dies.
With answers about his immortality in hand, Jack returns to Torchwood and discovers the four people he left behind have becoming a cohesive team and are furious that Jack left him behind. Things become even more difficult when John Hart swans back into Jack’s life. He attempts to tear the team apart but Jack trust in them enough to let them help him send his partner back in time. But John doesn’t go without one more parting shot. He’s found Jack’s younger brother Gray. Jack doesn’t really have time to process this information as Torchwood is forced to deal with alien pregnancies, sleeper agents, weddings and secrets from Torchwood’s past. Jack does take time to get closer to Ianto asking him on an actual date and deepening their sexual relationship. Memories of Gray are shaken loose when a memory enhancing alien inserts himself into the team, but Jack focuses on defeating Adam and doesn’t really focus on how his brother’s loss has defined his life.
Jack also brings Martha Jones in on an alien parasite case. During this case Owen Harper is shot and killed and Jack snaps. He goes hunting for the mate to the resurrection glove Torchwood used the year before and finds it. His attempt to give Owen a proper goodbye backfires and Jack ends up bringing Owen back as a walking talking dead man. This adds additional tension to the team, when John Hart returns attacking the team and trying to kill them.
It turns out John was working with Gray to rip Jack’s life apart. It turns out Gray was captured by slavers that day on the beach and subjected to torture, which he blames his brother for. Capturing Jack, John and Gray take him back 2,000 years and bury him alive, then return to Cardiff planting bombs around the city and daring the rest of the team to stop them from going off. Gray also breaks into the Hub where he discovers Toshiko Sato and shoots her while John Hart attempts to help Gwen and Ianto find Jack.
But Jack’s first Torchwood team had discovered him first and Jack had to convince them to put him in cryogenic sleep so he doesn’t cross his own timeline. He awakens just as Gray shoots Tosh and manages to subdue his brother, but it’s too late to stop one of the bombs in the local nuclear plant. Owen runs to the plant and learns from the dying Tosh he needs to over load the plant to minimize the bomb’s impact. Jack listens in horror to Owen’s second death and holds Tosh as she dies at the same time.
Despite all this he cannot harm his only family and puts Gray in cryogenic sleep hoping against hope he can find a way to get his brother back. The return of the Daleks forces Jack to put his grief for his lost team members on hold as he helps the Doctor and other companions stop them. Once again he chooses the Doctor over Ianto and Gwen but he promises them he’ll return to them. During the adventure known as “The Stolen Earth,” Jack meets Sarah Jane Smith and sees Rose Tyler again, where he is killed by a Dalek revealing his immortality to Rose. We don’t see if Rose and Jack talk about this as the focus is on fighting the Daleks and returning the Earth to its proper galaxy. He also fixes his vortex manipulator with Martha’s help, which the Doctor then “breaks” again not wanting Jack to have a working teleport. Jack comes away from this adventure settled and at peace walking away from the TARDIS holding hands with Martha Jones and smiling. This happy feeling doesn’t last long when Jack’s past comes back to bite him few months later.
While attempting to replace Owen and Tosh, Jack and the others watch Cardiff’s children over taken by some sort of alien communication. Jack appears to know what’s going on and goes to talk to his daughter Alice whose son Steven was one of the affected children. Jack asks Alice to let him take Steven to the Hub, but she refuses not trusting her father. On his way back to the Hub, Jack is killed by some government agents and has a bomb sewn into his stomach. Jack returns to the Hub unaware this has been done and celebrates with Gwen when a medical scan reveals she’s pregnant. Jack rests his hand on the scanner to sooth Gwen and the bomb is revealed. Terrified, Jack shoves Gwen and Ianto out of the Hub unsure if he will return from this kind of death. He kisses Ianto a passionate goodbye and explodes taking his second home with him.
Ianto and Gwen go on the run as the aliens, known to the government as the 456 continue to use the children as mouth pieces. Ianto returns to remains of the Hub to discover bits of Jack being zipped into a body bag and carried off. He follows watching in horror as Jack is left in a cell and regrows from just an arm and a leg. The same government agent that sewed the bomb inside Jack then buries the terrified immortal in concrete as Ianto listens to Jack’s screams. Unwilling to stand by and watch, Ianto smashes a stolen bulldozer into the wall of the building where Jack is being held. Gwen then meets them there in a stolen car and the whole team goes on the run from the government who is desperate to hide that the 456 has been on Earth before. An adult who has been part of a “peace offering” to the 456 reveals this when he recognizes Jack and Jack is forced to confess the truth.
In 1965, the 456 came to Earth offering medical help and information in exchange for 12 children. Torchwood handed the children over using Jack as a point person and Jack did as he was told without questioning why the 456 wanted the children in the first place. Gwen and Ianto are horrified by this, but Jack shrugs it off saying that he has a chance to make up for his mistake now. He goes to talk to the man in charge of the 456 contact, John Frobisher and offers to help, but Frobisher turns Jack down saying he can handle this himself.
Jack returns to the others and does his best to ignore the rising tension. Ianto confronts Jack about the 456 and forgives his lover for his actions agreeing that what’s done is done and they need to stop the 456 now before the government gives in and gives the alien more children. Now they are asking for 10 percent of all the world’s children and Jack is horrified the world’s governments are even considering it.
He and Ianto charge into Thames House to confront the 456 and the aliens make it plain they either get the children or the world dies. To prove their point, the 456 lock the doors in Thames House and release an air born virus that quickly murders everyone trapped inside. Jack and Ianto listen in horror to the screaming people and Jack is forced to watch as his lover dies in his arms. Jack dies not long after reviving to a weeping Gwen as she mourns Ianto.
Jack is taken into government custody along with Alice and Steven. A small rebel cell of government employees frees Jack and begs him to save the children before they are taken, Jack manages to work out a plan where he can amplify the 456’s communication signal back at them, but he needs a child to do it since the 456 uses them as a speaker and any child Jack uses will die in a feedback loop. The only child at hand is his grandson Steven and despite his hesitation Jack does what needs to be done and kills Steven as his distraught daughter screams from the next room.
Numb and grieving Jack flees and wanders the Earth for six months retuning to Wales six months later when Gwen finds his vortex manipulator and offers it to him. Jack intends to flee Earth unable to deal with his grief. Gwen begs him not to go that she considers it running away and Ianto wouldn’t want him to do that. Jack disagrees and flees telling Gwen simply. “Watch me.” Personality:
On the outside, Jack Harkness has a warm and open personality that he is happy to share with everyone he meets. Jack flirts with men, women and aliens because to him everyone is attractive and he is ready to embrace whatever life throws at him. As he puts it “labels are quaint,” and something the 21st century really needs to get rid of. But this is just the face Jack lets everyone see, because it’s what they have come to expect from him. Under the surface, Jack is complicated, dangerous and difficult to understand.
Jack never lets anyone in further then he wants them to be. He has too many secrets to share and he doesn’t want to risk his loved ones getting hurt because of the things he’s done. Not only that but Jack believes the less people know the easier their lives will be once he is no longer in their lives. A good example of this is his former lover Estelle, as deeply as Jack loves her, he considers it easier to lie to her about who he is once they meet again then admit the truth. When Gwen tries to make Jack see that he’s being cruel, Jack still refuses to tell Estelle the truth believing he knows best.
Jack has a massive ego despite his long life and it can make him come across arrogant to those who don’t understand him. He is used to being in command and can come across as cruel when a member of his team or another friend goes against his orders. He also tends to make his biggest mistakes when he is being over confident and often times innocent people suffer as a result. Ianto and the people in Thames House died because Jack thought he could talk the 456 off of Earth and he miscalculated in the most horrible way.
He also tends to bury his angry when someone makes a major mistake and pushes it down until he can no longer hold back and then he explodes in a fury that can terrify strangers and cause friends to take a second look at him. He can also direct that anger in a quieter way when his loved ones are threatened as seen in “Countrycide” when he threatened to torture someone for information without blinking an eye.
Jack feels emotions deeply. He loves hard and fast but prefers to be the one letting someone go rather than being the one left behind. Ianto Jones and the Doctor showcase this aspect of how Jack views love and how he admits his feelings or in Ianto’s case doesn’t. Its clear Jack is in love with the Doctor as he says “You too huh,” when he notices Martha giving the Tenth Doctor a longing look. He follows the Doctor into hell not once, but four times risking death, torture and grief to follow the Time Lord despite being abandoned and told he was wrong. He even leaves Torchwood twice to assist/find the Doctor. He does return to them both times, but it takes a year of introspection and a gentle push from the Doctor for it to happen.
When it comes to Ianto, Jack does indeed care for the young Welshman, but it is also clear that Ianto cares more for Jack then Jack may care for Ianto. When Ianto professes his love as he lays dying in Jack’s arms, Jack can only beg Ianto not to die and to stay with him. He cannot give Ianto what he wants in return which is the same profession of love and devotion. His grief is deep enough that Ianto’s death is the last straw that holding Jack to Earth and he flees the planet, but it’s clear it’s not the only reason.
While love is complicated for Jack, loyalty and friendship are not. He is passionately protective to anyone he considers a friend. Friends and family are the same thing to Jack and even if his family betrays, kills or harms him, Jack makes an attempt to forgive them and give him a second chance no matter what. This can sometimes bite Jack on the ass, but even then he will forgive whoever harmed him and tried to move on.
The one-person Jack Harkness cannot forgive is himself. He feels every mistake, every death and every innocent life harmed as deeply as if he was the one harmed. He never forgets anything that happened good or bad and there are times when he cannot hide his pain, but he tries to keep himself hidden away when he knows he cannot hide his grief anymore. He doesn’t want anyone to see him at his weakest because he is supposed to be the strong one, the leader and the person everyone else depends on.
CR-AU: N/A Physical description:
Jack is six feet tall, with spiked dark hair and blue eyes that sparkle when he's happy and turn to chips of ice when he's angry or upset. He tends to run rather than walk and when he does walk he takes long strides that force other people to try and run to catch up. He runs a bit to the slim side even though to most he looks the the typical broad shouldered hero. His dress runs toward vintage and he looks for clothing that is going to last or can easily repaired since he dies so much. The only thing he insists on wearing at all times is his woolen RAF trenchcoat that Jack considers his "armor"
Meta Powers
Cellular regenerative healing
Can share his Vortex fueled immortality as a life giving kiss, but this cannot bring the dead back to life just heal those who are injured.
Telepathic able to block and send messages to other telepaths
Notable/Unique Needs: No Earth AU
Name: Jack Porter
History:
Jack was born in Gary Indiana to a loving mother, Carol and a stern but loving father Frank. He has twin sisters, Rose and Gwen who he loves to death and would die for if anyone hurt them. His childhood was idyllic and Jack breezed through school popular and fun to be around. But from an early age, Jack wanted more out of life. He felt like if he stayed in town he'd burn out or die of boredom. So at the age of 18, Jack decided to travel and hopeful find a place where he felt like he fit.
For a year, Jack traveled around the country taking odd jobs, hitchhiking and sleeping rough when he didn't have enough money to find a hotel. While most people would have gotten tired of this kind of life, Jack loved it. He met different people, explored places he'd only read about in books and over all had the time of his life. But when he got to New York, Jack fell in love. The city was everything he wanted, noisy, busy and full of life. After one day, Jack knew he never wanted to live anywhere else.
But living in New York is expensive and so Jack dives in to taking whatever job he can find to make ends meet. More often then not he winds up homeless or sleeping rough when he needs to choose between food and a safe place to sleep. It's during one of these rough patches, that Jack's talent for singing catches the attention of someone looking for cheap actors for a musical knock off. Jack jumps at the opportunity and never looks back, finding welcoming environment on the stage.
Jack's rise from shoddy theaters to Broadway was a very slow one, not because of his lack of talent, but because Jack considers his work as an actor as yet another adventure rather than career. He takes roles that interest him be they in plays or musicals and mentors young up and coming actors instead of worrying where his next meal is coming from. He enjoys being on the stage because of the joy it brings to people who watch him.
The only thing he feels his life is lacking is love. He's dated both men and women on and off for years, but no one has really captured his heart. From time to time this makes Jack feel lonely, but then he steps back on stage and looks out at the crowds waiting to see him, Jack feels that loneliness fade away. Someday that emptiness will be filled, but until then Jack has his work and his fans and for him that is enough.
Personality:
Jack is an adventurous soul who doesn't like being bored. He needs mental stimulation or he burns out or switches to a task or a location that re-sparks his interest again. He loves learning new things be they languages, facts or skills he wants to know everything he can. He also isn't afraid to laugh at his mistakes and learn from them because he feels each fall, wound or broken heart has something new to teach him.
While Jack was popular in school, he isn't really a people person. He likes observing and watching people and learning from them, but if he can find a quiet moment for himself after a long day, he's going to choose that option first since being on the stage takes a lot of his energy and he needs the time to recharge. But he always makes time for his fans, since he knows how important his work is to them.
Jack hates confrontation preferring to back down when he can see a fight coming . This fear has contributed to Jack's stalled career as sometimes he suffers from impostors syndrome seeing others as more talented then he is. He's left roles that could have made him a star because his fellow actors knew about his weakness and pushed him out or he got scared of the idea of being more in the spotlight then he feels he's ready for.
Another weakness Jack suffers from is his reluctance to open up to friends and loved ones. He is terrified of the idea that people will judge him or see him then lesser than he is if he reveals his weaknesses. This fear keeps him from opening up to those he loves and has broken several relationships beyond repair. This hasn't stopped him from trying to find people to connect to beyond the stage. Jack longs for love and companionship feeling like it is the last adventure he hasn't completed yet.
Physical description: Jack's physical description is the same as he canon self but he leans towards jeans and sport shirts with sneakers when he isn't on stage rather than the same clothes as he canon self.
Your Characters 'Event Memory'? Jack's 'Event Memory' will be kissing the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler on the Game Station in the future before going off to fight against the Daleks.
Anything else? N/A
Writing Samples
