Outlander Book Club: Book 1, Chapter 17 breakdown

Foreshadowing with the Outlander chapter

While the start and the ending of the chapter is mostly in the moment, the middle does have some foreshadowing involved. It’s clear that Horrocks will continue to be an important part of at least the next chapter; possibly more than that.

This is the one man who could help get Jamie free from the murder charge. Horrocks knows who killed the man Jamie has been accused of killing. It’s important that Jamie meets with Horrocks, but he can’t put himself in danger.

The Watch is heading in the same direction that Horrocks’s meeting place is. Jamie notes how he can’t head that way, despite saying in the previous chapter that the bounty on Jamie’s head isn’t enough for the Watch. Of course, that doesn’t mean The Watch won’t take him for a reward should he stumble upon them. It continues this reminder that Jamie is going to be at risk in a future chapter; foreshadowing that The Watch is going to cause a problem.

There’s also a sense of foreshadowing of Murtagh’s storyline. We get just a little hint of his connection to Jamie in this chapter. Of course, up to this point in the show we’ve come to know him better. But at this point in the books, we learn that he’s not a MacKenzie but a Fraser. He’s someone who will look out for Jamie; someone who Jamie trusts with everything.

This talk of Murtagh foreshadows the journey that Murtagh will go on with Jamie and Claire. He’ll become a confidant, someone they can both trust. I just wish that Claire’s relationship with Murtagh grew in the books in the way it did in the show.