Tom Christie will be introduced in Outlander Season 6. We’re looking at A Breath of Snow and Ashes to get an idea of the storyline. Is love part of the story?
Caution: There are spoilers from A Breath of Snow and Ashes and An Echo in the Bone in this post.
We’ll get to meet the Christies in Outlander Season 6. The patriarch of the family is Tom Christie, a man who did time in Ardsmuir with Jamie. The two men certainly don’t get along, but is religion the only reason for that?
There are a lot of questions about Tom’s feelings for Claire in the books. The entire storyline may not play out in the TV series, but we’re expecting certain elements to be included. This is one of those elements. It’s all about Tom’s feelings for Claire.
Does Tom love Claire in Outlander?
Tom Christie doesn’t initially like Claire. She’s a Catholic, married to Jamie Fraser, and is a healer. He doesn’t trust her and her medical knowledge, with Malva suggesting at one point that he believes Claire’s book of medical notes is actually a book of spells.
However, Tom soon comes around. Claire treats some of his medical conditions, and that leads to him seeing her in a new light.
When it comes to Claire being arrested for Malva’s murder, Tom Christie steps forward and takes the blame. He wasn’t even the one responsible, but he steps forward and clears Claire’s name. That’s a big sign about his feelings for her.
Tom turns up again in An Echo in the Bone. He wasn’t hanged for Malva’s murder, and he was the one who put out the obituary when he heard about the fire at Fraser’s Ridge. He didn’t even know if Claire and Jamie had survived, but it suggests that he believed them dead. And he was grieving.
Tom explains that he does love Claire. He will always love Claire, and he will never be fully happy knowing that she is with Jamie and he can never have her. Taking the blame for the murder he didn’t commit—but also knew Claire didn’t commit—was became he loved her.