#the ballad of ianto jones

[the-torchwood-magician]

"Us together, that could never be boring. Boyfriend." *cue The Ballad of Ianto Jones*

[the-actual-captain-jack-harkness]

When you're listening to music and this comes on-

[crescentcitytorchwood]

Right. I've been listening to Torchwood soundtracks while working on my latest WIP and I don't think I ever truly appreciated just how GOOD The Ballad of Ianto Jones is. It's so perfect for him.

The layers. My god, the layers. The low twang of the guitar peppered with lighter tinkling notes from the piano, overcut with that haunting choral vocal. Jesus christ. It's so him.

Bravo to Ben Foster for capturing Ianto's character so beautifully.

[bluemoontosh]

listening to the ballad of ianto jones isn’t enough, i need it injecting into my veins

[myarmsaretoolong]

It took less than a week for the world to tear itself apart. For everything to turn on its head. For governments across the world to lose whatever trust they might have garnered. One week of fear and panic and terror, and of people promising it would be alright, just wait. Just wait because a doctor is on the way. A man in a blue box is coming–he always comes!–and he’ll put it right.

One week for Cardiff to gain a hole in its heart.

They never even got a real name for it. The news only called it the 456, some sort of government codename for the creature that tried to take their children from them.

Once the immediate threat was over, once those who stood up to the army when they raided houses and snatched children from their parents arms were processed and released without charge, information started leaking. Information that implied the government had a far bigger role with 456 than they let on. The government continued to deny it, which is when videos started emerging.

Meetings, top secret meetings where they discussed which children were disposable and made sure their own were safe and sound, played out on news channels across the country. Britain sat in horror as they watched, unable to believe what it was they were hearing. And once the leaks started, they poured.

Documents told of contracted killings, cover-ups from decades ago. Whispers of the name Torchwood became commonplace not just in Cardiff but across the country. 

Cardiff, where strange goings on were a part of everyday life. Where more people than anywhere else had tales of his man and his box. Where people had gaps in their memories and recollections of screams and growls they never remembered hearing. Cardiff, where the explosion that ripped apart the Plass suddenly had a firm reason behind it.

And then another video appeared, this one grainier than the rest. Like a recording of a recording, distant and blurred. The screen was split in two. One side showed a tank pumped full of smoke, vaguely glowing blue. The other side showed two men. Two men who stood up to the 456, told it that they wouldn’t give up a child–not one, single child–that they would fight until their last breath if it meant keeping them safe.

Two men who did just that. Two men who stood their ground when the rest of the building fled. The image of them splayed out on the floor, holding each other, fronted every paper, every news channel.

The Thames House incident was finally explained in full, all those lives lost. Bodies piled at the sealed doors.

One of the men was instantly recognisable from his coat alone. Jack Harkness who called himself Captain but never had the story to back it up, well known around Cardiff. He flirted with me once, one person said over a pint in a pub, and me, came the reply. They laughed, raised their glasses in honour.

A question mark hung over Jack. Everyone heard what he said to the other man. I can survive anything. In a world where aliens got a buzz of off children, a man who could survive that virus didn’t sound impossible. 

Out of everyone, it was the boy who’d worked at Jubilee Pizza after he left school who recognised the second man grainy, pixellated figure. Ianto Jones. The man who sat at the desk at the quay’s information centre and laughed when the delivery boy said he had pizzas for Torchwood. A joke his office liked to play, he’d explain. Get people thinking he was some kind of spy or something. The delivery boy would laugh too, laugh at the ridiculousness of this man being anything more than a sit-about pen-pusher.

He went out and told anyone who would listen. It’s Ianto Jones, to his mates in the pub, that bloke from the quay. Yeah, that’s the one. It is! See, look at the video, here.

The name spread through Cardiff like wildfire, and then beyond. Ianto Jones, one of the only people brave enough to stand up to the demands of the 456 and say no. Overnight, the forgotten information desk destroyed in the Plass explosion turned into a shrine. Flowers and cards and candles appeared. A vigil was held. People came from across the country–across the world–to thank the man, and perhaps men, that laid down their lives for the sake of the world’s children.

The hole at Cardiff’s heart became something else. The Plass was cleared up, the water tower rebuilt, and the shrine would stay for as long as there were people on Earth to visit it. The memory of Ianto Jones would be kept at the heart of the city forever.

He may not have had a box, might not have been a doctor. Might not have even been the person to stop the 456 but that didn’t matter. Not in the end. Because he was one of the only people who tried while those in power rolled over and showed their bellies. He stood up for what was right and what was good when no one else would.

It’s said if you walk the quay at night that you may just see a woman stood alongside a man with a recognisable coat. That she may lean her head on his arm, and he may give her hand a tight squeeze. And that you might catch the faint sound of tears mixed with soft laughter.

It's even said, in the far-off future, that the same man in the same coat still visits. Alone, now, as he was destined to be. He presses his fingers to his lips, then to the shrine–still meticulously maintained even though memory of the man and the events are long since forgotten–and tells him it was good.

[coffee4harper]

Say what you want, the Torchwood soundtrack hits hard

[doctorwhoisadhd]

it will never ever stop disappointing me that tosh never got a leitmotif

[xutxfxrder]

am i crying bc i cant do maths or bc im listening to the ballad of ianto jones while failing maths?????

[idolsgf]

y’all i feel so dumb i just realized gareth david-loyd played ianto jones

[twingeof-cosmic-angst]

you're laughing. Ianto Jones got into Torchwood because he was such a pathetic loser weirdo that Yvonne Hartman latched onto him and made him her little meow meow and you're laughing? Me too.

Blind Summit is making me feel shrimp emotions holy shit. Just . Everything. Ianto Jones being silly but also trying to survive the crushing weight of the world. The utter GUT PUNCH at the end where he says he doesn't want to devieve people because he thinks he'll be good at it with the DEVASTATING Ballad of Ianto Jones in the background?? The entire audio just forces you to remember how young he was and how full of life he was before the fall/joining Torchwood in general, how from the beginning he was always someone who would do anything to save someone. He didn't want to become a torchwood operative and he didn't want to deceive anyone and the first real thing you ever learn about Ianto Jones is that he was a liar who deceived the entire Torchwood team. I am not okay

[teslapunk3327]

My Roman Empire is 'The Ballad of Ianto Jones' being played for Disco Jones instead of Ianto

[the-torchwood-magician]

Playlist said you will cry today 😭

[iloveyoufor800years]

the ballad of ianto jones went platinum in my bedroom at 15 years old

[crescentcitytorchwood]

Can we take a moment to appreciate how incredible the character themes are in Torchwood.

I've spoken before about the pure genius of The Ballad of Ianto Jones but just wanted to share Owen's theme this time.

That gentle underlying piano refrain, layered and buried under a jolting electric guitar but eventually seeping through at the end again. Just pure Owen. Pure genius.

[ao3feed-torchwood]

Retcon

https://archiveofourown.org/works/53872936 by kunnflebunny Toshiko is on the roof ready to jump, it all started when she sat down with Ianto to talk about Mary. Words: 1921, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Series: Part 1 of The Ballad of Toshiko Sato Fandoms: Torchwood, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/F Characters: Ianto Jones, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper Relationships: Mary (Torchwood: Greeks Bearing Gifts)/Toshiko Sato Additional Tags: Angst, Suicide Attempt

[daddyslittlegirlofsammy]

The Ballad of Ianto Jones hits but Owen's theme hits way harder than it should