Outlander Book Club: Voyager Chapter 6 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

The Voyager chapter includes something that will have a knock-on effect in the books to come. It’s all about Fergus losing his hand. He comments about how he will be a “man of leisure,” but that’s not exactly the case.

He doesn’t just get to sit back and do nothing. After all, he’ll see how Ian Murray continues to work despite only having one leg. Instead, Fergus continues to serve Jamie in ways that he can, but he does eventually want to work for himself.

Fergus finds work in later books. Between his hand and the birth of Henri-Christian, he suffers from depression and there are some darker storylines to come for Fergus. While as a young boy he’s joyful, this chapter hints towards a darkness to come.

We also have the setup for Jamie to be imprisoned. Jamie shares that Claire told him that after a few years, Jacobite traitors would no longer be executed. They’d be imprisoned, so at least he will have his life. It all sets up for a certain reunion to come.

Adapting the Voyager chapter

There was no way of avoiding this chapter on Outlander Season 3. It’s a major one in the overall Outlander story, so it needed to be adapted into the TV series. It’s everything that happens to Fergus that leads to Jamie making the big decision he does.

There are a few changes to the story, though. Jamie takes Fergus back to the house instead of the soldiers. Part of this would have been to cut out the time Jamie was in the cave and reduce the need for Rabbie since there wasn’t much time to cover all this. Another part would have been to make us hate the soldiers even more, especially the lowlander who was the main instigator.

Ian Murray had returned home from prison around the time Fergus’s hand is chopped off. That means Ian can be part of the discussion with Jamie and Jenny about Jamie turning himself in. Jenny is far more against it in the show than the books, but Ian talks her around. He’s the one that knows Jacobites are no longer being executed—and he probably would know routinely ending up in prison!

Instead of one of the tenants turning Jamie in, it’s Jenny. I do think this was partially to avoid adding more characters than necessary in a short section of the series. It limited the number of cast members needed, similarly to the way the show avoided the extra people in Lallybroch due to the burning of tenants’ homes.

Bringing Ian back into the show at this point would have also been to give a character we’ve all come to know and love some extra time. In the books, it’s possible to bring him back at a later point with ease. There is never a guarantee that guest stars will be available for later episodes, so managing moments when they can is essential.

We also get a heartbreaking moment at the end of the chapter. Instead of finishing with Jamie with Mary MacNab in the cave, we see Jamie being taken away. We have that line of Jenny never forgiving Jamie, making it clear that she can’t forgive him for making her take the money and turn her brother into the English.

What did you see while reading Voyager Chapter 6? Share in the comments below.

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