Claire learns how Lionel Brown got mixed up in Hodgepile’s business in Outlander Book 6 Chapter 31
After a few chapters on the longer side, Outlander Book 6, Chapter 31 is relatively short. It’s time to find out Lionel Brown’s version of the events.
We don’t get to hear the story from Brown’s own lips. We hear Jamie tell Claire what he found out. This is one of my problems with the books. I’d prefer to see Lionel tell the story instead of hearing his words from another person. But that’s a personal thing.
The chapter is important to wrap up a few storylines from the start of A Breath of Snow and Ashes. It’s time to understand the burning of the houses more, and get that confirmation that Hodgepile was part of it. We also find out how the Browns ended up involved.
The chapter wasn’t used in the series, though. We didn’t get these full tellings of the events that happened. I’m not surprised by that, and I’ll get to that in the adaptation section.
I don’t really get a sense of foreshadowing in this chapter, either. It just gets us ready for some of the events to come.
Let’s dive into A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 31.
Just the Outlander chapter
The chapter starts with Claire being restless. She doesn’t like the silence in the room, and that’s understandable. After trauma, being left with your own thoughts is hard. Every sound has you on edge.
She decides to go to the kitchen, which is where Young Ian and then Jamie find her. Jamie explains that he talked to Lionel Brown. Hodgepile and his men were the ones responsible for burning the houses. It had nothing to do with the Browns at first.
It was only when Hodgepile got to Aaron Beardsley’s old trading post that the Browns ended up involved. The people living there were killed, but the couple’s 11-year-old daughter was able to get to the Browns for help. That led to a Mexican Standoff.
Hodgepile and the Browns managed to break a deal. Jamie’s whisky shed became a target, but Lionel swears that he didn’t want Hodgepile to take Claire.
Claire points out that Lionel encouraged the men to kill Claire and was going to drown her himself. This seals Lionel’s fate. Jamie has to execute him for his involvement in the attack on Claire.
At the very end of the chapter, Jamie shares with Claire about the Indian women who are always waiting for him when he’s going to see Bird. That night he has a dream about Black Jack Randall. His own trauma still comes up now and then, and I like that we get to see it. It’s not that I like seeing anyone suffer, but I like that we get something that is very real. Trauma doesn’t just disappear, and sometimes the brain brings it up after we think we’ve dealt with it.
Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter
There isn’t all that much foreshadowing in this Outlander book chapter. The main focus is on piecing together the plot points up to this. We get the answers about the burned-down cottages.
I guess the foreshadowing is in that Lionel Brown will die. He’s not going to die by Jamie’s hand, though.
Adapting A Breath of Snow and Ashes chapter
We didn’t get this chapter. It is a shame that a connection wasn’t made to the burning houses in the local area. I would have liked to see some sort of explanation to that. However, the burned-down houses weren’t exactly a big part of the storyline. Just one of the chapters was used, and I think it was more for Roger’s development than anything else.
We didn’t really need the rest of it. Did it really matter why Lionel Brown did things, and who started it? In fact, the reason Lionel Brown kidnapped Claire was for an entirely different reason. It was because he found out she was “Dr. Rawlings,” and he was angry about that. So we already knew.
I honestly didn’t mind the change. Making it about Claire and her leaflets made a lot of sense. This is how a lot of men of the time would have reacted. Also, there isn’t that much time to tell the full story. We need to see chapters cut, and this one made a lot of sense. The important elements, including Lionel’s death, were kept.
What did you spot while reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 31? Let us know in the comments below.
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