In a bigger mystery that involves Benjamin Grey, the son of Hal Grey, we get to know about Amaranthus Cowden in Written in My Own Heart’s Blood. She has a bigger role in the ninth Outlander book, suggesting that she could show up in Outlander Season 8.
The question is whether there will be a need for her. After all, bringing her in means bringing in a lot of other new characters in the final season of the series. There is already a lot going on with Claire and Jamie and then with Bree and Roger. Will there be enough time to tell everything?
Out of all the new characters in Written in My Own Heart’s Blood and Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, Amaranthus is the one that makes the most sense to include.
Amaranthus is clearly up to something bigger
At first, we just meet this woman who claims to be the wife of Benjamin Grey, a man presumed to be dead. It’s only later that we find out that Ben is a turncoat. The two of them developed a plan that would fake Ben’s death and Amaranthus would end up finding the Grey family.
William believes that Amaranthus loves Ben. That’s not so clear when it comes to the way she’s acted with Ben being gone. She doesn’t mourn him. And sure, she knows that he’s not dead, but she has to keep up the pretence and you would think she misses him.
Instead, it looks like she is after power. Having the heir of a duke would certainly help her, but with William, she can also be the mother of a future earl. It’s a lot of power from one family.
It looks like Amaranthus could be a spy for the Americans. It would make sense that she’d want to get in with the Greys as they will get some information about the British warfront. What’s surprising is that Lord John Grey, who has worked as a spy, doesn’t see that there’s something off about her.
How could Amaranthus be in Outlander Season 8?
Of course, Amaranthus connects to Hal, John, William, and Ben. How is it possible that we could see her story play out?
Well, the best way would be to just focus on the William and Amaranthus parts. The parts with John could be cut short to just him finding her and giving her a place to live. The Ben storyline could need to play out, but that doesn’t need to connect to Denny and Dottie. There would be a way to work around that for William to learn that Ben is alive and is a turncoat.
Most of the focus needs to be on this woman and whether or not she is a spy. Part of me thinks that she’s working with Captain Richardson, believing him to be a turncoat too. After all, he’s the one with the initial information about Ben.