Outlander Book Club: Voyager Chapter 17 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

We get a sense of the way Claire is torn. It’s clear that eventually she and Roger will find where Jamie is in the past. It won’t be easy. The next two years will have little mention of Jamie, but Roger isn’t going to stop searching. And eventually, Claire will decide to leave.

However, it’s not going to be an easy choice. Claire has to leave her daughter behind. She doesn’t think she’ll ever get to see Brianna get married or she’ll get to meet her grandchildren. That’s something she has to work through in her mind, and we’re getting a hint of that to come. We also get a hint of how it affects others in her life, especially Brianna.

Roger mentions that he heard the stones in this chapter. Claire doesn’t realize that he has the time-traveling gene, but it makes sense considering his lineage. This foreshadows that, eventually, everyone will end up in the past. However, don’t expect them to stay there! The books have a lot of time jumping, especially for Roger.

Adapting the Voyager chapter

This chapter wasn’t used in the TV series. In a way, it wasn’t needed. The conversations that were important could be used in other ways.

For example, in Outlander Season 3, Episode 4, Roger quickly points out that they need to get to 1766. Claire will travel back 202 years. It’s only a working theory, but one based on Claire’s travels from 1945 to 1743 and then back from 1746 to 1948.

The other conversation is Claire wondering about whether she should time travel. It’s a conversation she has with Brianna instead, and there’s a conversation between Brianna and Roger.

A TV show only has a little time to work with and needs to pack the best punch possible with that time. That means cutting out some of the quieter, lesser important chapters of the story. In this case, this was one of those chapters, and I didn’t feel it missing in the TV series.

What did you notice in your reading of Voyager Chapter 17? Share in the comments below.

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