Thanks to Outlander, we knew that Clan MacKenzie would stay in Colum and Dougal’s hands. The question was always going to be how that happened. How would Dougal and Colum eventually agree to work together? Blood of My Blood season 1, episode 3 has explained that.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for Blood of My Blood season 1, episode 3
Since Jacob MacKenzie’s death, there had been questions about who would lead Clan MacKenzie. Since he didn’t name an heir, he left the clan open to attack. And other clans certainly tried something.
In the end, we knew the clan would stay in the hands of the family. We just needed to see how it played out, and it all happened because of the smartest person in the family.
Ellen MacKenzie figured out a way in Blood of My Blood
It’s Ellen who manages to find a way. She thinks back to a flashback of her time with her dad, asking him who he will choose. Colum has the brains but can’t walk, and Dougal can walk but doesn’t have the diplomacy to lead. Ellen is the one that has everything Jacob would need to name as an heir, except one thing between her legs. She’s not a man.
However, Ellen manages to work out how the clan can stay with her family. She clearly makes the suggestion to Ned that Dougal and Colum run it together.
I would have loved to see the conversation play out. How did Dougal take it to hear that he would need his brother’s brains? How did Colum accept that he would need his brother by his side? And how did the two come to agree on terms in running the clan? Maybe some of that could be worked out at a later date.
There is precedent for something like this
Now it was a case of selling it to the rest of the clan. There were plenty of people who wanted to rule by themselves, and they even pointed out that it had never been done. There’s nothing to say that two people can run it.
However, Ned was ready for this. He had found precedent of something like this happening; not in Clan MacKenzie, but the precedent was there.
With the two brothers at the helm, the clan is in good hands. It doesn’t take long for everyone to follow through with taking the knee and swearing the oath, and with that, Ellen MacKenzie has saved both of her brothers and her home, but it could come at a price for her.
Outlander: Blood of My Blood airs on Fridays on STARZ.
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