Jack Harkness: A character examination.

So I've seen various people discussing their characters recently and it's sort of spurred me on to write up a rant/discussion piece about my opinions on Jack.

There often seems to be some rather blanket statements applied to Jack, and the more I see some of them the more it makes me sad that they're there at all. It seems they range from misconceptions to the more extreme 'are you even watching the same programme as me'? This will likely be rambling as I think of it, but I'll try and address some of those and give my opinions on them here. I am also aware certain opinions or statements might go against each other, but then I don't think that matters; everyone has sides of their personality that clash, Jack included.

And a point worth saying, this is my own opinion. A character is open to interpretation, this is mine.

( Cut for courtesy... )

ETA: Since I posted this there have been two more wonderful character discussion posts written and I thought I'd link them here.

hofficoffi on Ianto Jones.
alien_catcher on Gwen Cooper.

For rude_not_ginger:Two Immortals One TARDIS Insert scene. Valent

It had been 50 years since Jack had seen the Doctor. It had been 50 years since Jack had been Jack. 50 years, and he still felt the same. Some days he hated that, it frustrated him and annoyed him and made him want to scream. And some days, it just made him lonely. This was one of those days.

It was Valentines day. A stupid Earth holiday that really meant nothing, but people put so much stock into. Everywhere you went there were balloons shaped like hearts and people holding hands and declaring their love. It made Jack grumpy, and he could never and would never explain why.

So he shut himself away from it. He was in a small flat in a city that seemed to be nothing but small flats. Somewhere full of people where he could at the same time, be completely alone.

And he sat on his own, watching broadcasts on a television with a bottle of scotch to soothe his pains.

50 years, and it still felt like yesterday.