Connecting to the Outlander TV series
Some of this chapter was definitely used for the fifth episode, “Rent.” We got to see life on the road, Dougal collecting the rents owed, and also giving the speeches in the taverns each night.
However, on the show, Claire initially suspects that Dougal is stealing money from Colum. She raises that with Ned, unhappy with the matter. Ned doesn’t correct Claire, and we know that there’s something more to it.
This isn’t included in the book, at least not up to this point. Claire immediately recognizes the name “Stuart.” It’s not until a later night that she learns about the Stuart king and that the men are Jacobites.
Why would the show change this slightly? I think it’s more to show Claire’s changing opinions of the men. At first, she views them with hostility. She’s angry that Dougal would use Jamie’s back to steal money from Colum. She sees the negatives that she wants to see.
As she starts to learn more about them and their intentions, she starts to feel a little for them. She knows that the Jacobite cause is a lost one. She knows that the men she is getting to know right now will be dead within two years, and part of her is sad about that.
The show needs to speed up the process of Claire connecting to Dougal and his men. It doesn’t have the liberty of time that the books do, so changing this part slightly is important for that. We see her changing her opinion of the men quickly.
During Outlander Book 1, Chapter 11, Murtagh pops back up. If you hadn’t see the show first, it would have been easy to overlook this character; almost forget about him. Claire mentions him as if he’s always been there and not that she hasn’t even thought about him since getting to Castle Leoch.
Of course, on the show, this is different. Murtagh has always been there to explain things to Claire, helping to set up that bond between them that the books don’t offer. This change is important for the show as side characters need to build some sort of connection to the main characters. With the book being from Claire’s point of view, that’s not necessarily as important.
What did you spot during Outlander Book 1, Chapter 11? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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