We start Outlander Book 6 with Young Ian as the focal character
After taking a bit of time off to catch up and catch our breaths, we’re onto Outlander Book 6 as part of our read-through. Chapter 1 picks up with a character we’ve not had as a focal point before.
It’s all about Young Ian in this book. He and Rollo are sleeping outside, and we get a sense of his personality much better than we could through the eyes of other characters. It’s time to see him as this warrior that he’s become since returning from the Mohawk village.
We also get a bit of foreshadowing of things to come. This chapter does leave a lot of questions but they’re answered in the chapters to come.
A Breath of Snow and Ashes was partly used for Outlander Season 5. It’s also going to be used for Outlander Season 6. This does mean our adaptation section needs to change a little. I’m going to do something similar to what I did with The Fiery Cross. There were times that the chapters hadn’t been adapted but could be in the future, so I looked at why the chapter probably wasn’t used or how it could be used in the future.
I’ll do something similar with A Breath of Snow and Ashes. I’ll share my thoughts on how I think the chapters could be used in the TV series or whether they’d likely fit a TV form of storytelling. Not everything does!
Let’s dive into A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 1.
Just the Outlander chapter
The chapter starts with Young Ian and Rollo in the forest. That’s where they’re sleeping since returning, but they’re not alone. There are other people there, and potentially not friends.
The men who turn up view Young Ian as a threat. He can’t take them all and he’s hit over the head. He does manage to remain conscious enough to tell Rollo to run away. Rollo doesn’t want to leave Young Ian, but he eventually does.
Young Ian thinks to himself that nobody would know he had died if he dies here. His mother would never know what had happened to him. He does consider calling out to the men since they’re white, but there’s no guarantee that they will help him. Could they decide to attack, viewing him as a threat?
It’s not clear at which point in Young Ian’s journey this part of the story takes place. Is it on the way back to Fraser’s Ridge or is it when he’s already at Fraser’s Ridge in The Fiery Cross? I guess we just assume he’s already made it back to his uncle and he’s just chosen to sleep outside because that’s what he is used to after all this time.
I do love this chapter. It sets that immediate sense of danger, and we get to see Young Ian from his own point of view. Seeing characters through others’ eyes means we don’t really get to know who they are. We come across as different people to other individuals. Even our parents will view us as someone different to our best friends or partners. It’s important to get to know characters from their own perspective to add a sense of well-rounded character, and I love that A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 1 makes it clear we’ll get to know more of Young Ian.
Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter
The chapter makes it clear that there’s a danger coming. This isn’t a danger we’ve seen before. After all, Young Ian counts 23 men all in different types of clothing. He doesn’t know who they are or what they want, but there’s a part of him that senses they’re not friendly people.
We know later in the books that these men are all involved in the burning of houses. They are major threats to the Frasers and MacKenzies.
This chapter also mentions fire. We’re constantly reminded that there’s still a fire to come at Fraser’s Ridge, and it gets all the more clearer that the fire is slightly connected to what Young Ian has seen.
Adapting A Breath of Snow and Ashes chapter
The chapter hasn’t been used in the series, and it probably won’t be. At least, not in this sense because we’ve already seen some of this storyline play out. That doesn’t mean we won’t get a chance to see Young Ian and Rollo together in the forest.
We know that Young Ian isn’t all that settled at the Ridge just yet. We need to see how he’s changed while living with the Mohawk and the pain that journey back to Fraser’s Ridge brought. There are various ways that the show will be able to do that, and it won’t need to include this specific chapter.
What did you spot while reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 1? Let us know in the comments below.
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