Outlander Book Club: Voyager Chapter 12 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter starts with a piece of tartan being found. John realizes that it belongs to Angus MacKenzie. This is a young man who hasn’t learned to hide his guilt just yet.

Having tartan is a crime now. Even just this small piece is a crime, and it means a flogging.

Jamie knows this, so he’s the one to take the blame. He pretends that it is his, even though John knows that not to be the case. John has worked out the piece is a MacKenzie tartan. Jamie puts up the argument that his mother was a MacKenzie, but John still knows that Jamie is covering for Angus.

Since Jamie has “admitted” it though, Jamie is the one who will get the punishment. That punishment is to be flogged, and John knows by Jamie’s stance that Jamie has been flogged before. Wouldn’t he know from the scars on the back? Unless I missed it, I was very surprised that John didn’t think about the scars on Jamie’s back at this point.

Nobody really wants to flog Jamie, including the man carrying out the punishment. However, it “has” to happen. It’s a shame that everyone didn’t decide against it, including Lord John Grey, and find another punishment that was less barbaric.

After being flogged, Jamie is taken away for his wounds to be healed. Morrison, one of the prisoners, is the healer. We switch to Jamie’s point of view here, as he thinks about how everyone found their natural skills in Ardsmuis, with healing being Morrisons.

Some men are just natural bullies, and that’s the case with Hayes and a few others. They all beat Angus for allowing Jamie to take the blame.

As Jamie is healed, he thinks about how he no longer hates Bonnie Prince Charlie. Instead, he feels sorry for him. He was a king without a crown. Now what is Charles’s purpose? Jamie thinks about that and then his own. He’d lost his purpose along his way, but he’s found it again after the flogging. What is it?