Outlander Book Club: Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade Chapter 19 breakdown

Lord John Grey gets a day off in Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade Chapter 19. He uses it to spend more time with Percy and to get some answers from Dr. Rigby.

It turns out that Dr. Rigby was one of the suitors of Benedicta. Lord John Grey wants to get some information from him, and it’s all connected to his father. However, it turns out that John needs to turn to someone else for help with figuring out things about his father.

This will eventually lead us back to Jamie Fraser. And yes, there is a mention of him in this chapter.

Breaking down Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade Chapter 19

The chapter starts with John wishing that he could remain in bed all day with Percy. However, there are things to do, and Lord John needs to talk with Dr. Rigby.

There is a moment for Percy and John to talk about their sexuality and whether they wish they were different. This brings up the topic of the Duke of Villiers, who was linked to King James I was a homosexual lover. This is the duke shown in Mary & George if you want to see a fictional adaptation of the story.

Dr. Rigby interrupts their conversation, where he tells John just how much he looks like his father. Rigby is quick to admit that he once asked for Benedicta to marry him, and asks if John is married. This latter question throws John off, but admits that he has never contemplated marriage. We also learn a little more about Percy, who shares with John that his mother wanted to admit him to an orphanage and that he doesn’t want children.

John goes back to thinking about Rigby and about how the captain couldn’t have had anything to do with Gerald’s murder. The conversation keeps moving back and forth though, as Percy clearly continues to think about how he wishes he wasn’t made the way he is. John stands firm on how men are made in God’s image.

I love that we see John and Percy having these conversations. Percy is comfortable in discussing this with John as he figures out his own sexuality. At the same time, Percy realizes that John has feelings for someone else. John doesn’t mention Jamie, but we know who John is thinking about.

We get a little more about Gerald’s death, which happened when John was just 12 years old. He was too scared to tell anyone that it was clear Gerald had been murdered, and after the events, John was sent to Aberdeen to live with his mother’s cousins, while Benedicta went to France. John believes that Benedicta was protecting her sons, but he also wonders if she was looking for who killed her husband. Benedicta strikes him as a woman who would kill for revenge.

As Percy shares about his own traumatic experience watching his father’s death, who was run over by a mail coach, John starts to think about the journal. It had to have been taken from Gerald’s study after his murder, and there is likely some sort of incriminating information in it. Now he realizes that there is one person who could help him figure out this mystery. He needs to see Jamie again.

Reading this, I’m not all that sure why he thinks Jamie is one to help with this. Jamie has no idea who Gerald was. All he knows is that Gerald wasn’t likely a Jacobite traitor. How could Jamie help John figure things out without really knowing the man or about the Grey family as a whole? It almost feels like John just wants to see Jamie and will find a reason to do so.

Could this chapter be used in a TV series adaptation?

If the Lord John Grey books were adapted into a TV series, I could see this chapter being used. There is a lot of information to help with the rest of the mystery dropped in this. We find out a little about Dr. Rigby, and we learn more about John after his father’s death.

It is a lot of information, though. Some of it is internalized, so it would need to be talked about to Percy. At least Percy is there to allow for that.

The chapter also offers us more of Percy and John growing closer. We get to see the differences in the two when it comes to accepting of their sexuality. John has come to terms with it over the years, while Percy is struggling. This is so important to show, as this is so realistic, even in today’s world. There are simply those who are more accepting of themselves than others, and we need all elements of life as a gay man in a series. Everyone deserves the chance to see themselves on the screen.

Let us know what you spotted in this chapter via Facebook or Twitter.