When Claire and Jamie were separated, they weren’t the only ones affected in Outlander. It’s time to look at those 20 years and how they affected Frank Randall.
Outlander saw Claire and Jamie separated for 20 years during the third season. They weren’t the only two affected, although their separation and the events during that separation certainly did change their characters. With their character transformations, others saw important transformations. One of those was Frank Randall.
Whether you love or hate him, you have to acknowledge the changes that Frank went through over the 20 years. One of the biggest was going from being a man whose wife had disappeared to a husband and father again. However, he also found himself in an unhappy marriage, faked for the sake of a child and appearances. Here’s how the 20 years affected him to explain some of his decisions and anger.
He had to share his wife with another man
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Through absolutely no fault of his own, Frank had to share his wife with another man. When they were in Scotland, Claire literally fell through time. At first, she wanted to return to Frank but soon realized that her love for Jamie was deeper. She wanted him and only returned because Jamie forced her to.
Frank didn’t have a say. He didn’t get to choose what happened when Claire was in the past. While he was grateful and happy that Claire was back, he knew that he was going to have to share her with someone else. Not only was she pregnant with another man’s child, but she was clearly deeply in love with him.
It wouldn’t have been easy. As a historian, he would have likely wanted to keep the items from the 18th century to examine. However, they were reminders of being separated and reminders of this other man. He needed to get away from them if he was going to move forward. With that in mind, it wasn’t all that surprising that he needed everything burned.
But it wasn’t just this. When they tried to make a new life in Boston, Frank found himself as the other man. Claire was lost in the past and no matter how much Frank wanted them to move on and tried to get Claire away, he knew he was fighting a losing battle.
He tried to find love elsewhere
Understandably, Frank decided he needed love and Claire wasn’t going to give him that. In the TV series, we find out that the two agreed to see other people. The books are different, but this is about the series. Claire and Frank agreed to an open marriage and Frank took advantage of that.
Whether he had multiple other women at some other point, it’s clear that for a long time he wanted to be with Sandy. Yet, he was constantly aware of his duty to Brianna and there was still part of him devoted to Claire. Frank was stuck in this place where he couldn’t move forward but couldn’t go back.
Think what you want of Sandy and the affair, it’s clear that Frank needed love. He didn’t feel like he was getting that from Claire, because she couldn’t love Frank in the way that she had Jamie.
He feared for the future
By Outlander Season 3, Episode 3, Frank made it clear that he wanted Brianna to go to England with him. Claire could remain in the States, but he wanted a divorce and to move back to England with his girlfriend and his daughter. This would understandably set a lot of people on edge, but this was part of his transformation throughout the 20 years.
When Claire returned, he wanted Claire to promise him not to research Jamie. He wanted everything gone. It was clear that he was worried that Claire would return to Jamie if there was a chance that Jamie was alive.
With time, that fear never disappeared. Instead, the fear got worse. It deepened to the point that Frank feared Brianna would be taken away from him. Rather than risk that, he wanted to take Brianna away from Claire, opening the chance for Claire to search for Jamie–who he likely knew was alive from his own research.
There could have been a vindictive side to him (I wouldn’t put it past him) but a lot of his actions were out of fear. He was scared his wife and daughter would choose Jamie and not him.
Next: 5 best Frank moments from Outlander Seasons 1-3
Did you notice the change in Frank over the 20 years in Outlander? What did you gather from his character in the series? Share in the comments below.
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