Outlander Book Club: Drums of Autumn Chapter 21 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

The real foreshadowing is what happens to Young Ian eventually. He is settling in with the Tuscarora people, learning their language and hunting with them regularly. Is it really that surprising that he offers himself up in a trade?

This is a young man who wants to be part of their family. Sure, he still wants to be close to Jamie and Claire, but he wants to forge his own path, and he sees that is possible with the Tuscarora people.

We also get a hint of a relationship for him. The Mohawk have come to find brides. Eventually, Young Ian will marry, but it isn’t going to work out.

Adapting the Drums of Autumn chapter

This chapter wasn’t used at all during the series. A chapter like this would likely have ended up being the story for the whole episode. While the book fans would have appreciated it, for show-first or show-only fans, it could have been a little boring and slow.

TV just doesn’t work the same way as books. While the books allowed us to hear all of Claire’s thoughts as she searched for Jamie and then made sure he remained alive, the TV show wouldn’t have been able to do that.

We could have had some of the flashbacks and the episode could have been split up with some of the events in the 20th century, but overall, it just wouldn’t have worked that well shown on the TV screen.

I don’t mind that it was skipped. Honestly, it’s not my most favorite chapter in the book story.

What did you spot while reading Drums of Autumn Chapter21? Let us know in the comments below.

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