Owen Harper
Owen Harper performed medical and dissection duties for the Torchwood 3 team. Moody and forthright, Harper wasn't slow to show his dissatisfaction with Jack Harkness's decisions.
Profile
Biography
Recruitment
Owen had a difficult relationship with his mother, so much that on his tenth birthday his mother declared that she did not have to like him, only love him. (TW: Adam) In his early twenties and already a doctor, Owen was engaged to Katie Russell, who unknown to both them had an alien parasite in her brain. Though Owen did not understand this, both knew that she had a degenerative neurological condition. Before Jack Harkness arrived on the scene, the alien inside had killed the surgical team which had removed the top of her skull in surgery. Jack Harkness appeared, explained and left the scene with Katie's body, then, after which time Owen had told a disbelieved story about aliens, re-appeared and offered him a job with Torchwood 3. Owen reluctantly accepted. (TW: Fragments)
At around age 26, Owen's personal life appeared to mostly revolve around the pursuit of casual sex, which he was happy to use alien technology to facilitate. (TW: Everything Changes) He also had an affair with Gwen Cooper. The closest he ever appeared to come to a serious relationship was with Diane Holmes, a pilot from 1953 whose aircraft the Sky Gypsy, fell through the Cardiff Rift. (TW: Out of Time)
Evidently, though, his team mate Toshiko Sato nursed a crush on him. When the alien Adam altered his personality and memories, turning him into a shy, sheltered nerd, he stumblingly declared his love for her. (TW: Adam) Though neither of them remembered the incident, Tosh eventually haltingly asked her out for a date (despite his flirting with temporary Torchwood 3 agent Martha Jones) and he accepted, although circumstances would intervene and prevent this from happening. (TW: Reset) Owen was shot and killed by Aaron Copley, the director of the Pharm, who was in turn killed by Jack. (TW: Reset) Prior to his autopsy by Martha, he was returned to a state of partial life by a second resurrection gauntlet, which was found by Jack. He also brought back with him an old entity known as "Durac", which Owen vanquished. (TW: Dead Man Walking) Owen coped with his self-pity and managed to pull himself together enough to go back to work and to carry on. (TW: A Day in the Death)
Physical nature
Since he came back "life", Owen Harper has limited bodily functions. His wounds did not heal, he could not breathe and he did not have to eat, sleep or drink. He could not even maintain an erection. Apparently painful stimuli doesn't hurt. He injured his left hand by cutting it and then by deliberately breaking a finger so that he subsequently wore a splint. (TW: Dead Man Walking, A Day in the Death) At a guess, he could die permanently at some undetermined date when his life essence simply ebbs away. (TW: Dead Man Walking)
Final death
Owen tried to stop a nuclear meltdown but an unanticipated lockdown meant that he was trapped when the waste was vented in and it decomposed his body. Because he was "dead" he could not feel the pain. He talked over the com with Toshiko discussing the date they had never gone on. (TW: Exit Wounds)
Other information
- Owen Harper kept a UNIT ID card in his wallet. (TW: Ghost Machine)
- He was Torchwood officer 565. (TW: Dead Man Walking)
- Three of his favourite things were eating, sleeping and 'shagging'. (TW: Dead Man Walking')
- Owen was 27 at the time of his death. (TW: Dead Man Walking)
Key life events
- Is engaged to Katie Russell
- Katie dies before the wedding
- Jack Harkness recruits Owen to Torchwood 3. (TW: Fragments)
- Owen is shot and killed by Aaron Copley. (TW: Reset)
- Owen is revived by a resurrection gauntlet. (TW: Dead Man Walking)
- Dies in a nuclear meltdown. (TW: Exit Wounds)
