Outlander Book Club: Drums of Autumn Chapter 32 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

The chapter is mostly about the past. It’s about Geillis’s theories as she made her journey through the stones. It has a reminder of Claire’s disappearance all those years ago.

However, there is a little that foreshadows events in the next chapter. We’re about to find out why people were burned when they failed to go through the stones. We’ll also find out why gems may be needed.

Of course, we’ll also find out that men can travel through the stones. But we knew that already, right? After all, as readers (especially reading short stories and Diana Gabaldon’s other writings) we know that some men have traveled.

Adapting the Drums of Autumn chapter

Geillis’s book came up back in Outlander Season 2. Claire and Brianna were with Roger when they worked their way through it. We didn’t get all the information, but we got the most important parts. We got Geillis’s theories about how the stones work, with some of those theories connecting to Claire’s theories.

The show changed some of the rules of time travel, sort of. Of course, we don’t really know the specific rules of time travel in the books. We just have the theories to work with, and Geillis has a very complicated theory about the use of gemstones.

The TV show kept things simple. Gemstones are required. It’s as simple as that. This works for TV show needs. There’s no point making something far more complicated when there are just a few episodes. Time travel is already complicated enough.

Condensing this chapter made a lot of sense for the TV show. We didn’t need the details. We just needed to get Roger through the stones to the 18th century.

What did you spot while reading Drums of Autumn Chapter 32? Let us know in the comments below.

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