In the promo for Outlander season 7, episode 10, Roger tells Buck that Geillis has murdered five husbands. In the actual episode, he notes that she will kill that many. It’s led to questions about just who those husbands are.
In the TV series, we know of three husbands Geillis has killed. It’s actually in the books that she’s been responsible for other murders. Did the show make a blooper, or is this just a sign that there’s things about Geillis that the show hasn’t bothered going into but is there in Roger’s research?
The three husbands Geillis killed in Outlander
In the TV series, Geillis Duncan has killed three men she married that we know of. Her first husband was her blood sacrifice to get through the stones. This was when she went by her legal name in 1968, Gillian Edgars.
When she was in the past, she killed two more husbands. The first was Arthur Duncan. She was pregnant with Dougal MacKenzie’s child, and she needed to get rid of her husband so that she could marry Dougal since Dougal’s wife had recently died. However, that never happened.
Instead, Geillis ended up in Jamaica, which is where she married Mr. Abernathy. And yes, she was responsible for his death. I don’t remember if it was explicitly stated, but it was inferred well enough. She marries men for title, property, and money in the past, and then she kills them when they are no longer of any use to her.
How many husband did Geillis have in the Outlander books?
Even in the books, I can only recall the three husbands. However, she was connected to a couple of other people while in 1739.
One of those was a much older man who lived in the cottage that had burned down. The man’s body was found, but the woman moved to Cranesmuir. We know that this is Geillis, and she likely killed the man.
Another connection was Dr. McEwan, who is a fellow time traveler. The two only end up having an intimate relationship, and we don’t get to find out what happened to McEwan in the end. It’s possible that Geillis killed him, but it’s also easy to suggest that McEwan headed out treating other people or died of other causes.
I do think that Roger saying that Geillis will kill at least five husbands is a blooper in the writing in the Outlander TV series. Of course, he could just be exaggerating to get Buck to listen to him about how dangerous Geillis is.
Outlander airs on Fridays on STARZ.
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