Owen Harper
- For other individuals named Harper, see Harper (disambiguation).
Owen Harper performed medical and dissection duties for the Torchwood Three team. Moody and forthright, Harper wasn't slow to show his dissatisfaction with Jack Harkness's decisions.
Profile
Biography
Early Life
Born 14th February 1980 (TW:Exit Wounds), Owen Harper 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) He does not appear to have been close to his father, either, though apparently both parents were still alive at the time of Owen's death. (WEB: torchwood.org.uk)
Recruitment
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 Three. 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 him out for a date (despite his flirting with temporary Torchwood Three agent Martha Jones) and he accepted, although circumstances would intervene and prevent this from happening. (TW: Reset)
First Death
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, which included a deepening friendly with Toshiko. (TW: A Day in the Death)
After he came back to life, Owen Harper had limited bodily functions. His wounds did not heal, he could not breathe and he couldn't eat, sleep or drink, also lacking the ability to maintain an erection due to the lack of blood flow. He was encouraged to maintain regular physical exercise to prevent rigor mortis from setting in. Apparently painful stimuli did not hurt. He injured his left hand twice by cutting it and then by deliberately breaking a finger; as these injuries did not heal, he was forced to wear a bandage/splint on the hand from there on, which limited his ability to use certain objects to the extent that he had to recruit Rhys Williams to use the singularity scalpel at one point. (TW: Dead Man Walking, A Day in the Death, Something Borrowed) Due to his inability to heal, Jack was initially hesitant to allow Owen to take part in regular operations again, but soon Owen was back out in the field. His lack of breathing and other bodily functions proved useful to the team, such as when he was able to circumvent a heat-based alarm system (TW: A Day in the Death) and it also on at least two occasions allowed him to avoid further damage at the hands of Rift-based creatures who found him unpalatable and confusing (TW: Something Borrowed, From Out of the Rain).
However, Martha Jones indicated to Owen that the energy used to keep him "alive" began to dissipate after the defeat of Durac, but stated that it was impossible to predict when it would run out and "final death" would occur: she told Owen it could take anywhere from 30 seconds to 30 years. (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, and would have to watch as his body fell apart. He talked over the com with Toshiko discussing the date they had never gone on. (TW: Exit Wounds) They also discussed the fact that several years earlier Tosh had covered for him when he was hungover and unable to assist UNIT in investigating an unusual incident involving a "space pig" (DW: Aliens of London)
It is not known whether Owen's body was destroyed or if any remains were recovered. If the latter, then per Torchwood policy they would be interred within the Torchwood Hub (per TW: Day One, They Keep Killing Suzie). Owen left a reosunding impression in the Torchwood universe as his photograph is still pinned up on Gwens desktop. in the final episode of Children of Earth, Jack reveals that he feels responsible for Owens death. It is assumed his body was destroyed when the HUB blew up.
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)
- Owen is the only Torchwood main character to never meet the Doctor.
Key life events
- Is engaged to Katie Russell
- Katie dies before the wedding
- Jack Harkness recruits Owen to Torchwood Three. (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)
