What Jamie lighting the cross on Outlander Season 5, Episode 11 means

At the end of Outlander Season 5, Episode 11, Jamie lit the fiery cross. It’s the only time he’s lit it, calling the men to war. What does it really mean?

There’s a power in actions. Jamie’s actions at the end of Outlander Season 5, Episode 11 mean everything. On the surface, lighting the cross means war. Here’s what they really mean.

We know that Jamie is calling the men to war through his actions. He said in the premiere episode that he would only light the cross in a time of war; when he needed the men who had given their oaths to be by his side to fight. And on the surface, he’s declaring war.

However, there’s something more meaningful. While he had the cross and it was lit during the gathering, not once did Jamie light it when it came to needing the militia. He gathered a militia under orders from Governor Tryon and he even went to war against the Regulators at the Battle of Alamance, but it was never real “war.” Jamie wasn’t commanding those who had given him their oaths to fight by his side.

That all changes when it comes to family—more importantly, when it comes to Claire. She’s been taken. While he can take a guess right now, he doesn’t know exactly who has taken her. He has no idea about the situation surrounding the struggle and won’t know what Lionel Brown saw in Claire’s surgery.

All Jamie knows is that the woman he loves is gone, and she’s in terrible danger. All he knows is that he is willing to declare war for the woman he loves. And so he does. He lights the cross, making it the first time he’s used it to call the men who gave their oaths to the Ridge.

Will they all come? This is certainly a test. As the majority of them are Highlanders, they will take their oaths seriously, so they probably will. And they’re not going to be happy with the men who took Claire Fraser—not just the wife of their “laird” but their surgeon and someone they’ve come to know and love.

Outlander Season 5, Episode 12 airs on May 10 at 8/7c on STARZ.