Adam Smith " Adam Smith " was the alias used by a memory - changing entity who could only survive if people remembered him . He infiltrated Torchwood Three and temporarily passed himself off as one of them . Biography . Adam escaped from " the Void " and made for the Torchwood team , because their memories were unique . He inserted himself into the memories of all the team members , and though he had only come into their lives two days before , they thought he had joined Torchwood years before . Adam made Jack Harkness trust him with his secrets and re - awakened memories of his lost brother , Gray , from Boeshane Peninsula . He also made Toshiko Sato love him and believe they had a close , physical and long - lasting relationship , even altering her personality to make her bolder . He also changed the personality of Owen Harper , making him less cynical , but more open with his feelings . Though he made Gwen Cooper regard him as a friend , as an unintended side effect , he made her forget about her fiancé , Rhys Williams . Ianto Jones noticed that Adam never got a mention in the logs that he meticulously kept of his work . As retaliation for his suspicion and threat to expose him , Adam made Ianto believe he had murdered three women . The false memory of the serial murders drove Ianto mad ; he reported this to Jack who saw Adam making Ianto remember him using the Hub ' s CCTV . Jack threatened Adam with his gun before locking him in the vault . Jack then gave the rest of the team retcon pills to forget about Adam ( after having deleted the CCTV recordings and other evidence ) . In a last bid to survive , Adam inserted himself into one of Jack ' s memories of his childhood . Jack took an amnesia pill to forget it all . As nobody now remembered Adam , he died . His body shimmered and disappeared into nothing . Although the Torchwood team had no knowledge of Adam any more , some evidence of his existence remained : for example , his name was found on a bag containing an alien artefact in Torchwood ' s possession ( which was in some way tied to Adam ) and Rhys , having briefly met Adam , would have retained his scant memories of the man . The box that once contained his essence also remained in the hub . ( TV : " Adam " ) Personality . Adam was a desperate and selfish being who valued self - preservation above all else , as shown by him implanting false memories of himself in all of the Torchwood team and going so far as to change their personalities in order to survive . When Jack confronted him about this in the holding cells , he claimed the way he changed them was for the better , a claim he backed up by reminding Jack he helped him remember who he was and how he rid Owen and Toshiko of their cynicism and lack of confidence , respectively . He came to the Torchwood team because he considered their memories unique and said Jack ' s were particularly unique , describing them as ' extraordinary ' . He clearly had feelings for Toshiko , as he made her believe they shared an intimate , year - long relationship . Despite claiming he didn ' t mean any harm , Adam was quite sadistic as shown when he implanted traumatic memories into Ianto of him remorselessly strangling three women to death . Ultimately , however , this exposed Adam due to Jack ' s refusal to believe that Ianto was a murderer . ( TV : " Adam " ) Powers . Adam survived only by people ' s memories of him . If he were forgotten , he would fade away . Adam inserted himself into the memories of others through touch . He would place his hand on the target ' s shoulder and merely say " remember " . Inserting himself into people ' s memories often wiped out other memories . Presumably , Rhys ' memory of Adam was either too minor to sustain him , or did not count as Adam did not insert himself into Rhys ' memories himself . Depending on the memories he implanted , Adam could change the personality of others as he did to Tosh , Owen , and Ianto ; making them bolder , kinder and have a mental break down respectively . Adam ’ s implanted memories would be seen as true , to the point of showing as true on a lie detector . ( TV : " Adam " )