Ellen MacKenzie just had one of the hardest decisions to make in Outlander: Blood of My Blood season 1, episode 9. She had to put her clan before her heart.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for Outlander: Blood of My Blood season 1, episode 9
Well, okay, Ellen didn’t exactly put the clan before her heart. She put her love before her heart. Colum MacKenzie made it clear that if Brian was no longer a threat to the clan, he would ensure no harm would come to him. Otherwise, Brian Fraser would be killed.
Having someone alive to hate her is better than him dead in Outlander: Blood of My Blood
Of course, Ellen was going to put Brian first. This is the man she loves, and she would rather be apart from him and have her hate than know that he’s dead because of their love—because of her. At least if he does hate her and he his heartbroken, he’s alive for that to be possible.
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It was never going to be an easy choice, though. Even when she gave Colum her word, I don’t think she had fully decided that she needed to break it off with Brian. I do think there was a part of her that would find a way to succeed in love, but then she talked with Julia.
Now, Julia at no point would suggest Ellen break Brian’s heart. That wasn’t what she was doing when she explained she had to make a choice to do bad things for her own and her son’s survival. It just gave Ellen a look at that she is not the first person to have to make that choice.
Ellen MacKenzie had to make Brian believe she didn’t want him
There could have been a better way to deal with the situation. In fact, there were two versions of this scene filmed, and in one of them, Ellen had tears in her eyes as she told Brian the truth—that she had no choice but to break it off with him. In this, Brian would know that she didn’t want this.
In the end, the version we saw in Outlander: Blood of My Blood season 1, episode 9 was the one chosen, and it was the right version. (We know this at ClaireandJamie.com thanks to an interview that we have coming.) Ellen knows that Brian won’t stop finding a way to be with her if he knows that she is only marrying Malcolm for duty. He won’t stop just because his own life is on the line, and he would believe that she needs protecting as well.
So, of course, Ellen had to make it look like Brian was beneath her. She had to bring up every fear that Brian had about himself, being illegitimate and penniless, because that would make him think that he had to walk away as well.
We all know how Brian and Ellen’s story ends thanks to Outlander, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy journey. Outlander: Blood of My Blood is able to fill in the gaps, and that means Ellen has to hurt Brian for his own safety.
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Outlander: Blood of My Blood airs on Fridays on STARZ.