Talk:Owen Harper

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[edit] Owen's sexual ethics

I think something should be added about what might be called his "sexual ethics", based on both his use of the spray and the website's background check, but I don't know the best way of phrasing it. Daibhid C 23:01, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

I've given it a stab anyway. It probably needs tidying up. Daibhid C 22:20, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] murderer?

Jack didn't die so how is he a murderer? Lizzie Harrison 15:31, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

I suppose it depends on whether you see what happened to Jack as "dying and then coming back" or "not really dying", and on how you define murder. —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 03:38, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Owen murdered Jack. Then Jack came back to life. Owen's capacity for murder was even foreshadowed by the episodes Ghost Machine and Combat.~Zythe^{Talk to me!} 21:44, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

OK, folks, let's stop the slow-motion edit war and talk this over. If you shoot someone, believing that they are mortal, but they turn out not to be, are you a murderer? Does Jack really die (note that he says, "I can't die"). If he doesn't die, does that mean that Owen is merely an intended murderer, rather than an actual murderer? We should all admit that this is a grey area. We need to define the terms "murder" and "death" in the Torchwood context, and discuss what's actually said and shown on screen. Reverting back and forth will get us nowhere. —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 04:58, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Owen just shot him so he would not stop them, he did not go "I hate you, I want to kill you". Just because someone has the capacity to murder does not make her a murderer. Jack was alive enough to hug people, drink coffee, forgive Owen and do a runner in the TARDISLizzie Harrison 18:49, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Owen shot him in the head repeatedly and then Jack died (and then he came back to life). Owen murdered Jack, Jack came back to life, Jack died fighting Abaddon, Jack came back again and forgave Owen. Forgiveness doesn't mean he didn't do it. I don't get what your motivation is. He fits the category. Being places on the article is not an attack of your favourite fictional character, if that's what this is. You're just incorrect.

And also, my noting of the foreshadowing in previous episodes wasn't to say those episodes show he is a murderer but rather to point out that it was likely the writer's intent, to consistently develop Owen's character.~Zythe^{Talk to me!} 19:58, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

I think that part of what Lizzie is saying is that murder requires intent, and in that scene it looks as if Owen's intent is merely to stop Jack, rather than to kill him. If you read the scene the way she's describing, Owen's crime would be manslaughter rather than murder. Am I right, Lizzie? —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 20:44, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Can you shoot someone in the head repeatedly with intent to wound? ~Zythe^{Talk to me!} 21:06, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

After reading this, I believe that the people who believe he should go in the catogory are right.Lizzie Harrison 12:18, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Psychologist? and novels

Just because he wrote up a profile on someone once, doesn't mean he's a "trained psychologist." The rest of the info about him contradict this -- Owen trained as a medical doctor and then worked in A&E with the aim of being a surgeon, so it's doubtful he was ever a trained psychologist. Also, does the info in the Torchwood books count, and should it be added (to the main article or in its own section in the article) because they give a lot of details about Owen's former life and how he came to join Torchwood, etc. 172.143.65.240 02:00, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

The general practice for Doctor Who articles has been to add the information, but state its source clearly; we generally also add a note indicating that the novels are "of unclear canonicity". The BBC has never made a clear statement about what is and isn't canon for Doctor Who or, now, for Torchwood, so it's original research either to suggest that they're as canonical as the television series or to state clearly that they're not. For good examples of how it's been handled in Doctor Who character articles, see Susan Foreman, Romana and Peri Brown; you'll see that info from non-telly sources is usually separated out into "other appearances", so that readers can make up their own minds about how much it "counts". —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 03:38, 21 January 2007 (UTC)