Outlander Book Club: Drums of Autumn Chapter 61 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

This chapter doesn’t foreshadow too much. It’s mostly about wrapping a few storylines up and getting Claire and Jamie back to Bree. It’s about setting up the story for the remaining chapters in the book.

It’s not 100% clear at this point which decision Roger will make. However, I still suspect that him thinking about Brianna’s love for him and still mentioning that they were handfasted is a sign that he would choose to stay. He’s a historian, though. He just needed time to work through his feelings.

Adapting the Drums of Autumn chapter

Some of this chapter was used for the story. We get to see Young Ian offer himself up to be adopted into the tribe. It’s initially Jamie that is going to do it, but Ian makes it clear that he wants to be a “man of worth.”

We don’t see him transform into being a Mohawk though. That surprise is left for Outlander Season 5, and I do like the way the show did that. After all, the show also makes it clear that Ian had to run and pass the gauntlet first, which he did. I still smile at the way he was so happy to be accepted into the tribe.

Again, I just prefer being shown something instead of being told it and trying to fill in blanks.

We also got the big reveal for Roger. He finds out Bree is pregnant, but also finds out that she was raped by Stephen Bonnet. There’s the shock, the joy, the anger, the disgust (at Bonnet, not Brianna!), every emotion possible in this scene.

Of course, it all ends in the same way as the chapter. Jamie and Claire head back to Brianna while Roger stays behind and decides what to do. It had to happen because it’s something Jamie holds against Roger for some time simply not really accepting Roger for who he is.

What did you spot while reading Drums of Autumn Chapter 61? Let us know in the comments below.

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