Brianna and Young Ian come across Donner in Outlander Book 6, Chapter 55
“Yellow Submarine” becomes a song of choice in Outlander Book 6, Chapter 55. It’s the best way for Donner to check if Brianna knows anything about time travel.
We get to learn a little more about Wendigo Donner in this chapter. It’s time to find out how he ended up in the past, and to see if he’ll be able to get to his own time. That’s all he seems to want now. We also learn just why he and others traveled to the past, and it turns out that he and some others had different intentions to Robert Springer (also known as Otter Tooth).
This is a chapter that takes away from the main things going on at River Run. However, it’s important for chapters later. In fact, there are things within the chapter that foreshadow some things to come. Everything eventually weaves into the story. We’ll get back to everything else soon.
I’m not entirely sure if this chapter will be used. Donner should come back, but I’m not sure if it will happen. We have to remember that Outlander Season 6 is shorter than it was originally going to be and that there were some pandemic restrictions. I’ll get to my thoughts on the topic in the adaptation section.
Let’s dive into A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 55.
Just the Outlander chapter
The chapter starts with Brianna drawing Jocasta. When she’s left alone, Young Ian comes up. Bree wants to draw him, but Ian shares the supersitions of the people he was with. The Mohawk believe that being drawn gives the artist power over the subject.
The two don’t really get to talk too much about it. Donner turns up whistling “Yellow Submarine.” Bree recognizes it, and it’s just what Donner needed. He introduces himself to Bree and Young Ian.
Bree knows who he is, and she makes it clear that he needs a gem to help steer. Brianna also asks for some information about how Donner ended up in the past and where he was. It turns out that one of the men he traveled with died on the journey through and suffered some burn marks. However, it’s not until Claire turns up that he goes through all the details.
He and the four other men who traveled with him weren’t alone. There were a good 200 to 300 people in their larger group, and Raymond said that people could only travel in groups of five. Claire wants to know what Raymond looked like. Could it be the same Master Raymond? It’s possible but it was so long ago that Donner doesn’t remember.
He shares that everyone actually wanted to arrive in the 1760s. The aim was to get the tribes to fight with the British instead of the Patriots. He thought that would help to prevent the negative impact on the tribes. However, Springer wanted to go further back in time. Everyone else knew that there was too much ground to cover back then and too much work to do.
Raymond gave a few rules. They would need to go one at a time in groups of five and no more, and they could only travel by 200 years or so. They had to chant something that Donner couldn’t remember or understand, and walk around the stone circle in a certain way. Donner’s group went through the stones at Ocracoke, and one of them had an African symbol on it. They traveled around late fall, and Bree notes that it was probably around Samhain.
Donner traveled with a pouch. He doesn’t remember what happened to the pouch, but he didn’t have it on him when he got through.
Claire suggests that Otter Tooth wanting to go further had led to a problem. Donner considers it, but right now, all he wants to do is get back home.
Their conversation is cut off by Ulysses. There’s another man with Ulysses and it turns out Donner stole that man’s purse. Donner is taken away by authorities and will probably hang for theft since there was £10 in the post.
Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter
The chapter makes it clear that we’re not done with Donner’s storyline just yet. I also think it foreshadows that there are many more time travelers, and some of them want to prevent the Patriots winning the war. There is someone who pops up in Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone who is a threat to the Patriots winning. What will happen if America doesn’t become America?
How can Donner escape his current predicament? This is a man who has always managed to survive while being in the past. He’ll figure something out when he needs to.
Brianna mentioning the gems is the foreshadowing for Donner returning. He wants gems, and he knows the Frasers likely have them.
Adapting A Breath of Snow and Ashes chapter
Will this chapter be used in the TV series? I’m just not sure. I think it will—or it sort of will. I do think Donner is going to show up again at some point. It might be in Season 7 instead of Season 6, but I think we’ll see him.
After all, we need to see that fight go down. We need some sort of closure to that storyline after he just disappeared into the night in the Outlander Season 5 finale.
If he’s not included due to the pandemic, I can understand that. It may have been hard to get everyone back within whatever the restriction rules were in Scotland. However, that means I hope he comes back in Season 7 just for closure of this entire storyline that started with the ghost of Otter Tooth.
What did you spot while reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 55? Let us know in the comments below.
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