Who did take Claire’s water hemlock on Outlander Season 5, Episode 8?

Somebody took water hemlock from Claire’s surgery on Outlander Season 5, Episode 8. Was it Roger? Fergus? Who did take the poisonous substance?

The Outlander Season 5, Episode 8 promo certainly brought us a lot of questions. One of those was who took Claire’s water hemlock?

Claire understands the danger of this root. It’s poisonous unless someone knows how it’s supposed to be used. Even Marsali knows the dangers of it, saying in the episode that she wouldn’t have touched it because she’s pregnant. So, she didn’t prescribe it to anyone.

Did Roger take the water hemlock? This is something Claire fears. It’s something many fans feared. There was the suggestion that Roger had taken it so he could kill himself in private. Claire and Jamie don’t race into action when they realize it’s possible he did it, but maybe it’s because they’re just not that sure. Or maybe they don’t think there’s enough time to help Roger.

However, it wasn’t Roger. While Roger Mac is certainly suffering from PTSD after the events of his hanging and he does have dark thoughts, he wasn’t the one planning ahead to kill himself.

And no, it wasn’t Fergus either. This is a storyline that comes up in a later book, but whether the show decides to bring it in or not is another topic. Right now, Fergus is happy on the Ridge with his family.

This is where we get into major spoilers for Outlander Season 5, Episode 8 if you haven’t watched it yet.

A returning character has some dark thoughts

It’s easy to get tunnel vision when watching the series. While we know there are storylines in the book that could happen earlier, we can become focused on particular storylines that are happening at the moment. It’s no wonder Roger was the first thought.

However, Outlander Season 5, Episode 8 saw the return of a character; a character we don’t get to see again until closer to the end of “The Fiery Cross.” Young Ian and Rollo are back, but Young Ian is definitely not the happy-go-lucky guy that he used to be.

There’s a weight on his shoulders. Something has happened to him, and he later tells Roger that he had a wife and lost her. She’s not dead, but she’s lost to him. There’s clearly more to this story, and it’s the more that links back to the missing water hemlock root.

Young Ian was the one to take it. He’d know the dangers of various herbs living his life with the Mowhawk tribe. He’d get to know what some of the roots are capable of doing. After all, water hemlock was once used as a substance for the Native tribes to dip their arrows into.

So, it’s not surprising that Young Ian was the one to take it. He wanted to kill himself and almost did. We can thank Roger for realizing that something wasn’t right; that there was a reason for Young Ian to tied Rollo to a stake in the ground.

What did you think of Young Ian’s early return? Did you guess that it would be Young Ian to take the water hemlock? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Outlander continues on Sundays on STARZ.