Outlander Book Club: Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade Chapter 22 breakdown

Lord John Grey finds himself thinking about Jamie’s flogging at Ardsmuir in Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade Chapter 22. It all starts with Percy.

This chapter is another one that brings John and Percy together more. It’s about their intimacy, and how they end up trying things for each other. However, their intimacy comes off the back of something difficult.

A soldier needs to be flogged, and it’s Percy who has to do it. John can’t help but think of the time he flogged Jamie at Ardmsuir.

Breaking down Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade Chapter 22

The chapter picks up with things going smoothly for the regiment for the most part. They are embarking to Germany in a week, but there’s been a situation. A soldier needs to be flogged, and Percy is the one who has to do it.

The flogging is reduced from 100 lashes to 50 since the soldier needs to be able to sail to Germany. That doesn’t make it easier on anyone, though. John does find himself thinking of when he had to flog Jamie for the tartan at Ardsmuir. I do think John suspected that Jamie took the blame for someone else, but he could never prove that.

After the flogging, John goes to find Percy, who is in a shed. Percy is angry that he had to do that, and he asks John if he knows what it is like to be flogged. There is an intimate moment between the two of them as John agrees to being flogged by Percy. When Percy breaks skin and makes John bleed, he stops and apologizes. John had a mixture of pain and pleasure, suggesting that he could develop some BDSM interests.

Could this chapter be used in a TV adaptation?

If this book was adapted into a Lord John Grey series, I have a feeling that this chapter would be skipped over. It doesn’t serve much more than to show us that John and Percy are getting closer. We get a reminder that John will cross a few boundaries or try new things for this new love interest. I still think things move way too fast between them, but I get a feeling that John is very obsessive, especially with the way he still thinks of Jamie.

It would all depend on how many episodes are available for this book to be transformed. The focus needs to be on the Gerald Grey mystery, and chapters like this take away from that. While we need to see John and Percy’s connection growing, not everything needs to be included.

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