Outlander Book Club: The Fiery Cross Chapter 16 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

Ah, foreshadowing. This chapter certainly has that. In fact, something that I’ve not mentioned in previous chapters is the foreshadowing that is clearly in this one.

All the way up to this, people have mentioned Roger as the Trush or as the Singer. He’s known for his voice, and he was already known for that with Brianna before getting to the past. This time, he gets to do something more than sing some of the older songs that people in the 18th century will know. He sings Yesterday by the Beatles, something that is from their time.

It doesn’t really matter what he sings, though. It’s all foreshadowing one thing: Roger is going to lose his voice. These chapters make a note of how much his singing is part of his identity, and when he loses the ability to sing, he loses that part of him and has to find a new identity.

I think there’s also a bit of foreshadowing for Brianna in this chapter. Frank has prepared her for the past, even if she didn’t realize that. There’s a lot more that he prepared her for.

Adapting The Fiery Cross chapter

Not all of this chapter was used on Outlander Season 5. However, the show did keep Roger singing to Brianna on their wedding night. It’s a great way to ease the nerves, and the show did what the book did by reminding us that Roger’s identity is in his singing.

The song was changed. That was due to licensing costs for Yesterday. The costs of the show are already high that they needed to cut some costs somewhere. To be honest, things like this don’t bother me because I understand the licensing costs for some songs can be high. I got used to it early when Warner Bros. chose not to pay for the licensing costs of the Charmed theme song for the Season 8 DVD release!

Brianna’s part wasn’t included, and I was disappointed by this. Throughout the promotion of the season, there was a lot of focus on Brianna being a mother and a wife. It was like she’d lost her own identity. And with finding out that Bonnet was still alive, I thought there might be this moment where Brianna can’t climax with Roger and develop some of this storyline.

At lot of it is interalized and it would have been difficult to show that on the screen, so I do understand why it was skipped, but it doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed by this from a character development point of view.

What did you spot while reading The Fiery Cross Chapter 16? Let us know in the comments below.

Like Claire and Jamie on Facebook for the latest from the Outlander Book Club and much more.