Jack Harkness (Captain Jack Harkness)
Captain Jack Harkness was a young American serving as an RAF Group Captain stationed in Cardiff with the 133rd Squadron. He had a brief though intense affair with Captain Jack Harkness, the man from the future who had appropriated his name.
Biography
While based in the World War II time period (DW: The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances), Captain Jack Harkness had taken the name and assumed identity of an American airman who he knew would die in battle on 21st January 1941. Jack hadn't known anything about the other Jack as a person, even what he looked like, until, transported from the 21st century to 1941 with Toshiko Sato, they met each other. In 1941 again, the future Jack adopted the name Captain James Harper.
Jack was gay but trapped in a heterosexual relationship, he found himself going out to dance with his girlfriend Nancy Floyd at a Cardiff nightclub called The Ritz. Distressed at the idea that his Nancy might actually be in love with him, he felt unhappy about leading her on. He also bore the pain of listening on the radio as a trainee pilot, Albert Richards, died when a German Messerschmitt shot him down on 14th May 1940. (TW: Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood website)
On the night of 20th January 1941, Jack and "Harper" met. The two men felt an immediate attraction. Both had experience of war and of close friends having died by it, though Jack had to overcome the fear and reluctance over moving the relationship to a sexual level. For his part, "James" knew Jack would die the next day.
Jack eventually struck up the courage to dance with "Jack" in front of a party of servicemen and their guests. As the Cardiff rift transported "James" and Toshiko back to their own time, the two men kissed passionately, leaving both in tears.
The next day, 21st January, during a training exercise, Jack and other RAF flyers, German aircraft appeared. Captain Jack Harkness died in air combat protecting Cardiff from a bombing raid. (TW: Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood.org.uk)
Back in the present day, Toshiko Sato comforted Torchwood's Jack by telling him that 1941's Captain Jack would be proud that he took his name, carrying it on as he saves the world. (TW: Captain Jack Harkness)
Notes
While she set out to find out more about Torchwood 3 and its leader, Gwen Cooper made inquiries, only the name of the 51st century Captain Jack, who "went missing" in 1941 appeared on the police database. The database seemd to have no information about the original Jack, who had died in 1941. (TW: Everything Changes)
- The 51st century Jack must have done a thorough job of covering his tracks.
Behind the Scenes
1941's Captain Jack is identified as of the same rank as the future Jack. This could reflect a misunderstanding of the RAF rank structure by the Torchwood production team, since he only commanded a squadron, and Group Captains are never addressed or referred to as "Captain".
