I actually don't think I'll ever get over the parallel between Ianto Jones dying because of an alien virus and then the Face of Boe saving a whole world from suffering the same fate.
Because Jack never did forget Ianto. He kept his promise. And his love for him helped him to save thousands of lives. One last time.
I'm kind of obsessed with how, as a fandom, but also in some of the early Torchwood EU, they're like Ianto's a fast runner and a great driver and has a mean left hook but GDL takes one look at Ianto and goes hmm nope that's a guy gets beat up and cries about it
Falling down the rabbit hole of Torchwood panels up on YouTube (as I so often find myself doing), here lies the highlights of Dragon Con in 2013 with James Marsters, Gareth David-Lloyd, and Eve Myles. A trio to behold. Truly.
I feel like we need to talk about how Ianto was only part of jacks life for like 3 years. Sure, Jack would leave for long periods of time, like when he stayed with the Doctor for a year, or when he was buried for 2000 years, then come back to Ianto, so it may have felt longer, but really Ianto was a tiny part of his life.
Jack lived for billions of years, had billions of relationships, got married hundreds of times, fell in love with thousands of people and aliens alike. Ianto really was just a blip in time.
Do you think Jack showed his later relationships a picture of Ianto, just like he showed Ianto a picture of his wife?
Do you think he forgot Ianto, do you think he just moved on?
Or do you think he gave up on love for centuries, never letting himself have a romantic relationship with anyone for ages because he knew he鈥檇 outlive them just like he outlived Ianto?