Happy birthday, Gary Lewis: The smart but manipulative Colum MacKenzie

Gary Lewis plays the smart but manipulative Colum MacKenzie on Outlander. To celebrate his birthday, we’re showing our appreciation for the character.

Today marks the end of November. We’ll be getting into a Christmas countdown tomorrow. But today also marks Gary Lewis’ birthday. Outlander wouldn’t be the same without him and it’s time to show our appreciation for his character, Colum MacKenzie.

As a celebrity, Gary Lewis is one of the most down to Earth you’ll ever meet. He’s kind, fun, and interested. This is a guy who will remember you and he wants to get to know his fans. He couldn’t be further from Colum MacKenzie when it comes to this openness and welcoming nature.

Avoiding problems with his brother

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Colum is an extremely smart man. After all, he’s laird of the MacKenzie clan despite his disability. This is a guy who wouldn’t be able to fight but he does gain the support and respect of the people around him. Yet, he knows he needs someone out in the field, and the best way to deal with that is to put his younger brother, Dougal, in charge as War Chief.

It was a brave move but also a smart one. By giving Dougal such an important position in the clan, he was able to reduce the risk to his own life. After all, Dougal could have discretely arranged for Colum’s death should he have wanted to become the full laird.

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However, Colum also knew that his brother wasn’t capable of being the laird. When it came to his death, he knew Hamish would need someone to stand behind him and Jamie was the best man for that. Jamie knew how to be a good laird, and wouldn’t run into a battle without thinking carefully about it.

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Keeping Claire close to him

When Claire was saved by Murtagh, it would have been easy for the men to just leave her at the hands of the English. However, Dougal was sure she was a spy. He took her to Colum, who would know how to deal with her better.

Colum could have arranged for Claire to be taken away. He could have even offered her the help to get to Inverness and had someone physically see her off to France. Instead, he knew that he needed to keep her close, but he didn’t want to make her an official prisoner.

Getting her to take over the surgery was a smart move. It would give Colum time to assess Claire’s allegiance. While she knew that she was technically a prisoner, she would also feel more relaxed than in a dungeon somewhere. She would have been more likely to talk to the wrong people, helping Colum figure out if she was a spy or not.

His smart actions certainly led to some manipulation, but we can understand why he would do this. It was tense times in Scotland.

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What did you love about Colum MacKenzie? Share your love for the character on Gary Lewis’ birthday.

Outlander Season 5 premieres on Feb. 16 on STARZ.

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