Claire transformed considerably in the 20 years she was separated from Jamie on Outlander. On this #TransformationTuesday, it’s time to look at that to see why her feelings for him adapted slightly.
Things weren’t quite the same between Claire and Jamie when she returned to the past in Outlander Season 3. While there were many fans against this relationship development, I enjoyed the realities of it. Claire had transformed considerably over the 20 years she was apart from Jamie and so did he! It wasn’t surprising that their thoughts and feelings adapted.
Sure, it didn’t happen the same in the books, but then the show isn’t the books. I’m looking at Outlander Season 3 as just the show, the way I saw it the first time.
For this #TransformationTuesday, it’s time to put a spotlight on that 20-year separation and how Claire changed. I’ll do this for Jamie, too, at some point to see how his personality adapted and what that meant for their relationship. But for now, it’s all about Claire.
She was in an unhappy marriage
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I don’t want to say Claire and Frank’s marriage was loveless, as I don’t believe it really was. They both cared deeply for each other. In fact, I suspect Frank did still love Claire–the Claire that left him in 1946. He wanted that Claire back.
Their marriage may not have been loveless, but it wasn’t a happy one. They stayed together for Brianna and for the love that once burned brightly for each other. Claire didn’t have a choice to divorce Frank at the time, so the only option was for Frank to divorce Claire if he wanted. Frank was never going to let that happen.
The unhappiness would have eaten away at Claire’s soul, especially when her love for Jamie continued to grow despite the fact that they had been separated for 20 years. Her mental health would have taken a knock, as she continued to force the smile and pretend like everything was a-ok.
Claire had a lot of strength when Sandy accused Claire of holding onto Frank. She (and we) knew that it wasn’t the case, but she stood by and let Sandy have her rant. Was this a sign of how much her unhappy marriage had worn her down?