Why haven’t the Outlander books ever looking into Claire’s ability to time travel?

The physical Outlander story begins with Claire time traveling, but it’s something that’s never fully been explored. Why is that the case in the books?

The Outlander books are about Jamie, told from Claire’s perspective. At least, that’s the case for Claire’s side of the story. The books have grown considerably, giving us Roger’s, Brianna’s, Lord John Grey’s, and even Young Ian’s story. However, one thing hasn’t been explored as fully as it could be: Claire’s ability to time travel.

Outlander begins with a woman in the 1940s on her second honeymoon with her husband in Scotland. She accidentally falls through time, landing 200 years in the past, finding herself with her soul mate. That’s the basics, anyway.

While time travel has come up and we know a little about it, the books have never fully looked into Claire’s abilities. I mean, we know time travelers have a certain gene. Brianna gets it from her mom, while Roger gets it from his dad (and can go back through the line to Geillis Duncan). What we don’t get is an explanation as to where Claire gets the gene from.

One thing we know is that all time travelers are descendants of Master Raymond. Considering he’s prehistoric, that makes it difficult to track much more.

Will we ever get a tale about Claire’s abilities? Probably not.

Diana Gabaldon writes about the characters who speak to her. Claire’s parents haven’t spoken to her, which means she doesn’t have a tale to tell. There’s no reason to give us something that hints whether the ability to time travel comes through her mom or her dad.

On top of that, time travel isn’t really the main focus of the story. The intention when writing about Jamie Fraser wasn’t to bring time travel into it. Claire popped up in the story and was clearly not from the 18th century, so Diana Gabaldon had to figure out where she was from and how she got there.

When it comes to the story about time travel, I get the sense that Master Raymond’s stories will be the one to tell that. However, we still probably won’t find out too much about Claire’s parents, unless they decide they have a story to tell Diana.

What would you like to learn about the characters in Outlander? What would you like to learn about Claire? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Outlander Book 9 will be released sometime in 2020.