#WCW: Why I can’t bring myself to hate Laoghaire on Outlander
I know there’s a lot of hate for Laoghaire, but she’s not a character I can personally hate. In fact, I feel for her a lot throughout the book series. It’s because of that that she’s my #WomanCrushWednesday this week.
Laoghaire gets a lot of hate. She’s certainly made some awful decisions and been spiteful on a number of occasions, but I still can’t bring myself to hate her. I’ve made her my #WomanCrushWednesday for this week because I actually feel for her throughout the book series.
Don’t get me wrong; some of the things she did was downright awful and evil. She could be a manipulative, tantrum-throwing child when she didn’t get her own way. But that’s the thing. She was a child when we first met her. Well, a child by today’s standards but into adulthood in the standards of the 18th century and it’s easy to overlook this.
During this time period, women were owned by men. Yes, they were literally owned. A woman would belong to her father and then belong to her husband. If she never married and didn’t inherit through her father then she would struggle. It’s clear her father doesn’t like his daughter as she’s not lived up to his expectations, so she was likely fearing for her future. No, it wasn’t right what she did, but it’s this sort of consideration that I put in place before deciding whether I can hate her or not.
But she led to Claire being tried for witchcraft
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Laoghaire was a key part in Claire being tried for witchcraft. In the TV series, she even shared how she’d asked Claire for a love potion and then used it on Jamie herself. It was damning evidence and Claire has never forgiven Laoghaire for that.
But again, it’s all about the time period. Now, Laoghaire would be spiteful and jealous. Sure, then she would have too, but she was also thinking about her own safety. Standing up in defense for an accused witch would have been suicide for her. Doing anything other than what the courts expected, as a woman, would have been a big no-no. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t have.
There may have even been a part of her that believed the stories about Claire. After all, she did ask Claire for a love potion. This meant she believed Claire could do something; had some sort of knowledge of the magical arts. It’s possible she really believed Jamie had been seduced by magic.