Outlander Book Club: The Scottish Prisoner Chapter 25 breakdown

We end the week with a rather tense and scary chapter. The Scottish Prisoner Chapter 25 sees a prison escape, but one of our own is shot.

Jamie turns to Quinn for help in rescuing John from Castle Athlone. Quinn is surprised, but he is forced into helping the situation. It leads to Jamie learning a little more about the current Jacobite plan.

While the chapter ends with Lord John Grey rescued, it isn’t a happy ending. Tom has been shot, but will he survive?

Breaking down The Scottish Prisoner Chapter 25

Knowing that Lord John Grey is being taken to Castle Athlone, Jamie turns to Quinn for help. At first, Quinn doesn’t want to help. After all, he’s got nothing to gain from helping Jamie’s English captor. Jamie shares that he knows where the Druid’s Cup is. He’ll take Quinn to it if Quinn helps to save John.

The two and Tom head out to save John. When Tom sleeps, Quinn tells Jamie a little about the plan to put the Stuart king on the throne. There is some merit to the part of the plan that Jamie hears, but he still refuses to take part in it. He knows what Claire has said.

Meanwhile, at Castle Athlone, we find out where Lord John Grey is. He’s in a small cell, and he’s just waiting for Jamie to save him. While he waits, he thinks about who could have killed Siverly. Was it Twelvetrees? This would make sense since there is the family rivalry. Twelvetrees did threaten John, so why not frame him for murder?

Jamie and Tom quickly get John out of his prison cell. When they get to the water, Quinn isn’t there, so Jamie has to go looking for him. During that, Tom is shot.

Fortunately, Jamie does find Quinn and forces him back to John. We’re left wondering if Tom will make it.

The problem is that there are other Outlander books set after this. Even if you’d only read Written in My Own Heart’s Blood and Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, you know that Tom is alive during them, but no longer John’s valet. So, this means that he has to survive this, and it takes out the tension.

Could this chapter be used in a TV series?

Well, could we really not have this chapter? If The Scottish Prisoner is every used for an adaptation, we would need to see this chapter play out. It’s a huge part of the main plot. The only way not to have this chapter play out is for John not to get arrested, and, well, that doesn’t make sense.

I would love to see this play out as well. It’s a huge turning point for John and Jamie, as John realizes that he can trust Jamie to save him. Jamie could have easily ran off at this point.

The only bit that would need to change is John thinking about Twelvetrees. We’d need to see him discuss this with someone, whether it’s Tom or Jamie.

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