Outlander Book Club: Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade Chapter 5 breakdown

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade Chapter 5 is one of the longer ones of the book. It gives us a lot of detail about John out in Society, while also delving further into the Grey family and the mystery to come.

There are elements of this chapter I could see being skipped over if there was ever an adaptation. While they give us a look at John in Society, we can get that look through other ways. However, there are elements of this chapter that become necessary. Fortunately, it is all broken up.

Breaking down Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade Chapter 5

We start this chapter with John and Percy entertaining themselves. They are out in Society, and they need to fit in. This is Percy’s first real outing. At least, that’s what it feels like. Nobody knows who Percy is, but everyone knows who John is. It’s clear the women like him.

Lady Joffrey is one to come over to him. She would like John to give Monsieur Diderot a book of poetry as her nerves fail her. It turns out that the work is a little on the scandalous side. John does agree to do it. After that, he has time to think about how his parents met, and he decides that he needs to tell Percy more about his family history.

Percy, who was with “a woman of loose morals,” returns. The two head out of the building, and John decides to invite Percy to the Beefsteak for dinner and cards. Percy shares that he has a prior engagement with his father and another man, which disappoints John. However, Percy invites John to his quarters the next day.

John can’t go. He needs to go to Helwater, and it’s clear that Percy believes John does have to go north.

They part ways and John decides that he needs to talk to Hal about their father. He decides to walk through Hyde Park as it will be quicker, and that’s when he smells smoke. The fire is clearly meant to be a distraction as two Irishmen, who John recognizes as the O’Higgins brothers from his regiment, try to rob him. They quickly stop when they hear John’s voice.

John is now able to continue the journey to Hal’s house, but Minnie, his wife, shares that Hal is’t home and went to Bath. She just doesn’t know why. However, Minnie gets John to stay for food, and this gives her time to find out more about things going on in the family—including what Percy is like.

Minnie has information for John. Bates, the man involved in the plot Hal spoke of earlier in the book, has been arrested. His mistress came to Minnie to get details, and she wants John to find out where Bates is held to be able to get a note to the mistress. John agrees, but then realizes that he still has to travel to Helwater in the morning. Minnie makes it clear that John needs to be careful since he will be her daughter’s godfather.

Does Minnie have an idea of John’s sexuality? I get a sense that she does, but it’s just something that isn’t talked about. She must have some suspicions considering John was exiled for so long.

To end the chapter, John has some notes to write. One is to Hal to tell him where he is going, and another is to an officer in the regiment to warn him about the brothers. He does later write a note to Harry Quarry to find out where Bates is being held.

At the end of the chapter, John puts on a ring that Tom had found in his pocket. John had assumed that it was Hal’s signet ring and wants to wear it with the sapphire ring that was Hector’s—I love that John asks Hector if he minds about Percy. Hector was so important to John and that’s missed in Outlander, but we get it here.

In the end, John realizes that the ring can’t be Hal’s as the ring is too loose. John and Hal have the same sized fingers. He takes the ring off to figure out who it belongs to but finds nothing. It’s another mystery to solve.

Could this chapter be used in a TV series adaptation?

There are certain parts of this chapter that wouldn’t need to play out in full, such as the start of it. We don’t need to see John’s conversation with Lady Joffrey all that much. It doesn’t seem to play a big role in the grand scheme of things.

This chapter’s important elements are with Minnie and then Tom. We definitely need to meet Minnie as she is important in the Grey family. We also need to see why she wants to know where Bates is held, and how she ends up involved in the mess. This could turn into a huge scandal, and John and Hal need to get to the bottom of it all.

I think it's clear that the ring is important, so that would need to play out. Tom would need to stick around, though. Too much of this is internalized and we'd need to see John have a conversation with someone about it.