Outlander Book Club: A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 33 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

During this chapter, Claire tends to Lionel Brown’s wounds. He’d managed to crawl out of the surgery and ask for help. He doesn’t want to die. He is certainly convincing, although we find out that it is all an act. He isn’t actually sorry for the things he did.

While tending to wounds, Claire gets a chance to ask about Donner. This is when she learns his name was Wendigo, and Claire knows that the name is that of a mythological creature in the Native American culture. She can’t remember the tribe, but that doesn’t really matter. Donner chose this name on purpose.

When Claire goes to get something, Mrs. Bug takes it upon herself to deal with Lionel. It turns out that he gloated to her that Claire would have sympathy for him and would plead for his life, and Mrs. Bug didn’t want that to happen. So, she decided to smother him with a pillow. Claire tries to resuscitate him with CPR, but it’s too late.

Jamie now needs to figure out what to do with Mrs. Bug. After all, this could cause a problem with Richard Brown, and it is murder. Arch Bug offers his life for his wife. Jamie decides not to take it when he hears the full story. He’s not going to punish people for these actions.

It turns out that there are no marks to show how Lionel died. While they can’t say he died in the fight—assuming Donner went back to Brownsville and told the story so the Browns retrieved the bodies—Jamie does realize that he can tell Richard that they took Lionel to treat his wounds. He died from those injuries.

The end of the chapter connects to something Mrs. Bug said to Jamie. He is much like his grandsire, who she saw executed on Tower Hill. Claire notes that Jamie is as ruthless as his grandfather at times, but not always. There are certainly similarities, but that doesn’t make Jamie a bad man. Jamie can’t help but comment that his grandfather is likely laughing at the idea of Jamie being just like him.