At the end of Outlander Season 4, Roger initially stayed behind to think about his options. It was the best thing he could do for him and Brianna.
Claire and Jamie managed to get Roger back from the Mohawks, but he wouldn’t return to Brianna with them. Outlander Season 4 saw him remain behind, pondering his two choices. Would he stay with Bree and the baby or would he return to his own time and leave it all behind?
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While many think he should have just done the honorable thing and return to Brianna, Roger remaining behind was the best thing he could have done. Not only was it a good thing for him, but it was a good thing for Brianna.
To mark Day 5 of MacBree-mas, it’s time to defend his actions. Not that I believe he needs much defending, but it makes for a good post to write.
He needed to process everything that had happened
Roger had been through a lot. We spent a lot of Outlander Season 4 muttering “poor, Roger.” That’s the case in the novel, “Drums of Autumn,” too. From the minute he went through the stones to the minute he was finally reunited with Bree at the end of the finale, Roger had been through things that nobody could imagine now.
He witnessed children being thrown from a ship due to smallpox and a mother dive out to her drowning child. Then his own life was on the line when he tried to protect and hide a mother and baby. He found Bree only to argue with her again and be pulled away once more by Bonnet.
When he finally had a chance to get back to Brianna, he was beaten and sold to the Mohawks by Jamie. At that point, Roger had no idea what had happened. In fact, he thought Jamie was acting on Brianna’s wishes once he realized everything.
Roger became a broken man at one point, willing to give up on everything to look out for himself. When push came to shove, he couldn’t do that. It’s not in his personality, and it was a sign of the decision he would eventually make for Brianna and Jem.
However, Roger needed to know within himself that he could deal with it. He needed to process everything that had happened, and that required time on his own when he was safe.