Torchwood and Lymond...

[fajrdrako]

Comparison: Captain Jack Harkness in Torchwood Children of Earth and Francis Crawford of Lymond in Pawn in Frankincense. Spoilers here for Children of Earth and all the Dunnett novels about Lymond.

I touched on this a little in previous posts, but thought I might elaborate. I realize that very few fans will understand this post - but on my LJ, there's more chance of people knowing both the Dunnett novels and Torchwood than there is in most places.

The similarity came to me when Captain Jack said, on Day Three, "I gave them the kids. I gave them the twelve children as a gift." This of course accentuates the horror of what he did - presented without apology, almost as a triviality, and no excuse made. Now, it takes little imagination to realize the magnitude of his moral crime - which was, in the first place, made with honest intentions.

In Lymond's life, perhaps the best equivalent is the death of his sister Eloise. "Man's ultimate crimes are always against his brother. Mine, in my competence, my versatility, and my self-important, self-imposed embargoes, was against my sister." We learn later that Lymond neither wanted nor intended his sister's death, but his actions were its primary cause, for which he continues to blame himself.

This contrast between outward shamelessness and inner torment and guilt is typical of Lymond, and that's where I first made the connection. From that point, similarities leaped out at me.

Lymond and Jack are both soliders. Both travel far from their homeland. Both use alternate names and identities: Thady Boy Ballagh, Don Luis, the Comte de Sevigny, and so on; or James Harper, Robert Gossage, Alan Jones, John Smith. Both often use a title ("Captain" or "Voevoda") as a distancing measure. Both have identity issues, connected with both their names and their backgrounds. Both have had problems with their brother trying to kill them - tragically, in the case of Jack, with a happier outcome in the case of Lymond. Both are surrounded by loving friends, who act as viewpoint characters in the story.

Each hero has an extensive knowledge of cutting edge weapons and their use; engineering skills; practical applications as well as theory of physics.

Both men are highly charismatic, with a lot of sexual charm. Both can be flirtatious, and we see them both being flirtatious with, and both have affairs with, both men and women, though I don't think Lymond ever had a relationship with a cephalopod.¹ Both have had tragedy in their sexual relationships. Both are well aware of the power of image and the need for courage.

Each hero has one person who became more important to them than anyone else: as mentor, moral exemplar, and a person whose presence made them happy. With Lymond it was his mother Sybilla; with Jack, it was the Doctor. Sybilla betrayed Lymond with lies and evasion where she owed him the truth; the Doctor betrayed Jack by leaving him on the Game Station. Lymond and Jack both continued to love Sybilla and the Doctor, and to easily forgive them, despite a noted lack of remorse on their parts.

In Pawn in Frankincense, Lymond causes the death of a fair-haired, innocent child. In Children of Earth, Jack does the same. Neither of them want the death, but it is necessary in the circumstances. Each witnesses the death.

In Lymond's case, the child was his only son. In Jack's case, the child was his grandson. Each man loved the child very much indeed, and in each case, the relationship was surrounded by mystery and secrecy. In both cases, as much as circumstances made it possible, the child liked or loved the parent or grandparent. The children were in both cases unaware of the blood relationship.

In both stories, the event was so painful it changed the hero so much that they left their friends and their home - exiling themselves. Lymond went to Russia with Khiaya Khatun, Jack returned to space and, and will, we know from rumours from the Doctor Who set, eventually meet up with the Doctor again.

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¹ See my comments on The House that Jack Built.