Outlander Book Club: Written in My Own Heart’s Blood Chapter 44 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

After receiving the dog tags, Roger has to figure out what they mean. How have they ended up here?

To figure all this out, he decides to take Buck alone to explain it all. After all, Buck knows all about time travel, so it will all make more sense to him. While explaining the dog tags, Roger also takes the time to tell Buck of everything that is about to happen to the Frasers because of Black Jack Randall.

Buck wants to make a preemptive strike. Why not kill Black Jack Randall now?

This is where the logical part of Roger steps in. If they kill Black Jack now, Jamie won’t be near Craigh na Dun when Claire goes through the stones. It could change everything, and that includes Brianna being born. If that happens, then Jem and Mandy won’t be born. Roger can’t risk that, despite the bad.

I’m so glad this is all explained. It’s something that I feel was missing in Claire not wanting Jamie to kill Black Jack Randall. At that point, everyone believed Randall was Frank’s direct ancestor. Claire should have made it clear that if Randall died then Frank wouldn’t be born and that could affect her going through time. We know now that wouldn’t be the case, but nobody did at the time.

Back to the chapter, Roger does decide he needs to pay Black Jack a visit. He needs to find out about the dog tags.

Buck questions if Roger now thinks that Jem and Cameron are in the past. Roger worries that it was all a ruse to get Roger away, or that Jemmy is in the past alone and needs help getting back. He has the dog tags, though. Those are fresh on his mind and the only lead he has right now.