Outlander Book Club: Voyager Chapter 29 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

This chapter does offer a little foreshadowing. The mention of the West Indies comes up. We know Jamie and Claire will head off on a voyage across the seas to save Young Ian. This is the foreshadowing of that. The story with the Campbells isn’t over yet.

We shouldn’t be that surprised they’ll show up again. Diana Gabaldon doesn’t write in characters just for the sake of it.

Another element of foreshadowing is the talk of spiders and their webs. Jamie shares how spiders spin two types of web, a sticky silk and a dry silk. The dry silk is for the spiders to climb across, while the sticky one is for the insects to get caught. It’s important for a spider to know which silk is which to avoid getting stuck.

There is a sense of foreshadowing of things to come. Jamie needs to know who he can trust to make sure he’s not stuck in a particular situation.

Of course, there’s the foreshadowing that Jenny isn’t going to be happy about Claire’s return. She and Ian don’t believe the story. They can’t understand why Claire let them all believe she was dead for 20 years.

Thinking about it, wouldn’t it have made sense to weave a story of imprisonment in France? One of the big problems was that she didn’t write.

Or maybe just the truth would have been appreciated by all. It wouldn’t have been easy to understand, but it would have been better than a clear lie.

Adapting the Voyager chapter

This chapter was only partially used for the TV series. It was all about the Campbells. Everything else was skipped over, and likely for the sake of time. There was a lot to fit into one episode.

I do wonder if the Campbells would have been left out if it wasn’t for one big reason: Geillis Duncan. They are involved with Geillis’s storyline at the end, linked to Margaret’s visions. It all links to Geillis finding out about the prophecy to get a Scottish king and Geillis’s belief that she needs to kill Brianna.

Everything else involving the Campbells that comes up in the books was ignored. This included her connection to Culloden. The backstory wasn’t needed and the other part they’re involved in wasn’t included at all in the story.

I think if there was another way to make Geillis a threat with the characters they already had, the writers possibly would have done. It would have cut down on actors needed and time spent with the Campbells.

One thing that I did like about the TV series is that Margaret grabbed Claire’s hands and talked about “Abandawe.” It was foreshadowing that works perfectly well in the world of TV. We knew Abandawe would come up again later, and those who hadn’t read the books knew the Campbells would likely make a return eventually.

From a TV show perspective, this decision wasn’t a bad one. There wasn’t the time to throw everything involving the Campbells in, but we got to meet them and the important moments were included.

What did you spot in the reading of Voyager Chapter 29? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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