Outlander Book Club: Book 1, Chapter 35 breakdown

Foreshadowing in this Outlander chapter

The clear foreshadowing is Black Jack Randall’s death. Claire remembers the date of his death from Frank’s genealogy charts. However, this makes it clear that the Battle of Culloden is sure to happen. I think it also foreshadows the mistake of believing that Black Jack Randall has been killed in the prison when the cattle run in.

I can’t remember now if in Dragonfly in Amber Claire and Jamie believe Black Jack Randall to be dead. This could have just been a show thing. I’ll find out when I reread the novel.

Another element of foreshadowing is that Lovat will send some men to help with the Jacobite cause. Maybe not him directly, but he’ll allow some men to fight with Jamie’s. And also Claire and Jamie will turn to Lovat for some help. When real history is considered, it makes sense to foreshadow this. Lovat was a Jacobite.

I also get a sense of foreshadowing of Jamie at Ardsmuir. Fletcher says that Jamie has been kept in chains the whole time that he’s been in the prison. He’s a dangerous inmate. However, most other inmates aren’t chained. At Ardsmuir, Jamie is the only one left chained because he is considered the leader of the rebellions.

There’s another element of foreshadowing for Voyager. Claire notes how Black Jack Randall has a smile that she once loved on Frank. Now she’s disgusted by the smile. Earlier in the books, she mentioned how she found it hard to distinguish between Frank and Randall because they were so similar.

Was this foreshadowing that things would never be right between Claire and Frank? Would she always see Black Jack Randall in him?

There are also a few moments when Claire is sick and after fighting the wolf, she falls asleep for a little. These are foreshadowing her pregnancy reveal, I’m sure.