Outlander doesn’t have any blood sisters, but family isn’t just about blood. For International Sisters Day it’s time to focus on the sisterly relationships in the TV series.
It’s International Sisters Day and this sounds like the perfect time to focus on the sisterly relationships in the show. This spotlight is a look at two sisters connecting together in Outlander.
Wait, there are no pairs of sisters, except for Marsali and Joanie and Jenny’s daughters. Claire is an only child; Jenny has brothers but not a sister; Brianna is an only child. How can I possibly focus on multiple pairs of sisters?
I don’t view family as just about blood. Family is who you make of it. Plus, Claire and Jenny are sisters-in-law. So, this is going to focus on some of the non-traditional sisters. Here’s a spotlight on Claire and Jenny’s relationship, Brianna and Marsali’s potential relationship in the future, and Marsali and Joanie’s bond.
Note: I’m going to focus on the TV show only so those who haven’t read the books won’t feel too left out or have to work around spoilers.
Think about who your favorite sisters are on Outlander and let me know in the comments as you read through these three sets. Maybe you’ve thought of a set of sisters that I’ve overlooked.
Jenny and Claire: The sisters-in-law
There aren’t many female friends in Claire’s life. Jenny really was one of the first and the one she bonded with the most. Despite not being able to tell Jenny that she was a time traveler, Claire made sure Jenny knew what was to come in the future and how to counter the famine. Without understanding why Jenny believed Claire. She didn’t need to understand why Claire knew because she just trusted her.
This trust was important to Jenny. With that in mind, it’s not surprising that Jenny was hurt when Claire just disappeared. For 20 years, she believed her sister-in-law was dead and that she’d never see her again. When Claire returned, Jenny wasn’t sure how to deal with the truth and lashed out in a way to hurt everyone.
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There’s more to come for the sisters. Do you really think Jamie would just leave Jenny behind and forget all about his family back in Scotland? Of course not. We’ll also get to see Jenny interact with her niece, realizing that Claire left more details of the truth out. This could have some serious repercussions whenever Claire and Jenny do come face-to-face again in Outlander.
What’s going to be hard for them is that they haven’t had the chance to repair the broken bridge between them. Claire turns up and suddenly Young Ian goes missing. It wouldn’t be completely off for Jenny to blame Claire for that and we haven’t seen that reaction or how she’s coping not knowing what has happened to her son.
Brianna and Marsali: The stepsisters
While Jamie’s marriage to Laoghaire is voided, he still feels a sense of duty to his stepdaughters. After all, they spent years viewing him as a stepfather and he welcomed them into his heart (and vice versa). So for all intents and purposes, Marsali and Joanie are still his stepdaughters.
This is going to be interesting when Brianna and Marsali meet. We know Outlander Season 4 will bring us Brianna and Joanie face-to-face. That’s going to have its own difficulties, but Brianna isn’t sticking around for too long. When it comes to Marsali, they’ll be around each other for a while.
Brianna has come from a very different world and is just meeting her dad for the first time. She’ll want to spend some time with Jamie, while also dealing with everything else going on.
Then there’s Marsali’s view that Claire broke up Jamie and Laoghaire. Sure, Marsali will understand that the marriage was voided, but she got Laoghaire’s side of the story first, and first impressions hurt. While Marsali is warming to Claire being around, it’s still hard. Claire’s daughter from the future will really throw a spanner in the works.
However, once these two have got past their initial reservations, I think they could be the perfect duo when needed. They are both strong-willed women with stubborn personalities. Their hearts are in the right places and that will count for a lot.
Marsali and Joanie: The sisters
The blood sisters to focus on are Marsali and Joanie. It’s unlikely that the two will see each other again unless Laoghaire and Joanie go to the Colonies. That’s certainly going to put a dampener on their sisterly bond.
Joanie will likely feel a little deserted and abandoned. In Outlander Season 3, Marsali ran away to be with Fergus, against Laoghaire’s wishes. Sure, they were meant to go back to Scotland eventually, but now they’re in the Colonies. For all Joanie knows, this was always going to be the plan.
As for Marsali, we’ve not seen her spare a thought for her sister yet. Is it possible that she didn’t view that bond as being that strong at all? Will she miss her sister? Ask Brianna about Joanie when they come face-to-face?
This is one of the harder sisterly relationships to think and write about. We didn’t get to see much of them in Season 3 and it’s unlikely we’ll see much of them in Outlander Season 4.
Who is your favorite set of sisters? What are you hoping to see next season? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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