Outlander Book Club: Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade Chapter 20 breakdown

Lord John Grey returns to Helwater in Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade Chapter 20. It’s time to ask Jamie Fraser for a favor.

John has a big ask of Jamie. After all, it involves conspirators and the Jacobites. If Jamie is caught working with John for information, this could lead to all sorts of issues on both sides. Sure, the Jacobite cause is dead at this point—we know that from looking at history—but the Scots will always keep plotting.

Jamie is not happy with the request, but it’s clear that Jamie will do this thing. At least, John hopes he will.

Breaking down Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade Chapter 20

The chapter starts with John in Helwater. He’s managed to find an excuse to leave the Dunsanys to see Jamie. After all, Jamie is the reason he is at Helwater.

John would like Jamie to write to known Jacobites. This isn’t something Jamie is actually allowed to do. He is not allowde to send or receive mail while he is paroled here. He is also upset that John would ask him to do this.

As Jamie speaks of “leaks” in the Stuart court in the present tense, John assumes that Jamie is in touch with someone. However, Jamie is smart. He happens to just know that there likely are leaks. The problem is that he puts himself at risk on both the Jacobite and the Crown side by doing this.

John questions Jamie about whether Jamie would like to kill him. If Jamie does that, he gets rid of John from his life and he ends up hanged for the crime and is taken from the world. Jamie doesn’t want that, though. There is family out there who depends on him, even while he’s here. And that family won’t want him dead, especially for murder!

Moving back to the topic of the letters, John makes it clear that he would like to be able to clear his father’s name. All he wants to know is if Gerald was connected to anything in 1741.

The end of the chapter sees John leaving for London. He gives Lord Dunsany orders to allow Jamie to write to anyone he wishes and for the correspondance not to be read by anyone at Helwater. He then leaves a note for Jamie.

Could this chapter be used in a TV series adaptation?

If this series was adapted into a TV series, I could certainly see this chapter being used. It furthers the Gerald Grey plot, while bringing Jamie into it. Of course Outlander fans would want to see more of Jamie!

This also gives us more of a look at how John and Jamie’s relationship develops. A lot of this is lost with the time jump in the books, so I appreciate getting some of it in these books. I’d love to see it all play out on the screen.

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