if an outsider season doesn’t end with resourceful time traveler claire fraser (caitríona balfe) and/or her broad-shouldered hillbilly husband, jamie (sam heughan), in a precarious situation, is it even an outsider season? ? someone’s life has to hang somewhere on the scale of danger; otherwise what are we doing here? season six follows tradition: we leave claire in prison, wrongfully accused of murder (and being a witch, but when is she not accused of that?), and jamie running to find her. what will happen next? Will Claire herself be hanged for a crime she didn’t commit?
Good news, fellow strangers: the answers are already in store in Diana Gabaldon’s series of novels. we don’t have to wait to find out what happens! While Outlander the television series does not strictly adhere to the novels on which it is based, sometimes changing story lines or changing them entirely, thus far the show has mostly followed the events of each novel in order. . this most recent season drew most of its plot from book six, a breath of snow and ashes, which means the upcoming season seven will be based primarily on book seven, an echo in the bone.
now, if you look at that stack of very long alien novels and get turned off because you subscribe to famous philosopher and happy endings character penny hartz’s school of thought that “reading is stupid, television rules!”, You are in the right place! Below, find some predictions about what Claire and Jamie could do in season seven based on all the information we have from the seventh novel. you don’t have to read anything! except for this post. I’m sorry, we can’t do everything for you. Obviously, all spoilers below.
You are reading: How do the outlander books end
First, we have to wrap up the events of book six.
oh yes. Due to the pandemic and some other scheduling issues, the sixth season of Outlander was cut short with only eight episodes. While the series left Claire alone in a jail cell facing possible execution for a crime she didn’t commit, the whole Malva Christie affair is left shrouded in a breath of snow and ash, and it seems likely that the TV series start season seven by finishing that story line. and, uh, that’s great, folks. tom christie admits to having feelings for claire and knowing she is innocent, so she confesses to killing her daughter to save claire’s life. but tom is not guilty either; finally, allan christie confesses to claire that he is the father of her sister’s child and that he murdered her to prevent her from telling anyone. yeah, she gets pretty dark. but as unsettling as it all is, that should be (mostly) a wrap for the christies and, honestly, bon voyage.
then we travel back in time.
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again, this will include some plot points that take place in the sixth book that haven’t happened in the show yet: once bree has her daughter, amanda, claire realizes she has a heart murmur and There’s nothing to be done about it in 1776. Bree, Roger and their two children go back to the future and end up in 1980, where they move – surprise! — lallybroch. Book Seven, An Echo in the Bone, finds the Mackenzies rebuilding their lives in their new (old) time, but that doesn’t mean the time travel shenanigans are over. They end up getting a visitor from the past: William Buccleigh Mackenzie. you know, the secret son of dougal mackenzie and geillis duncan, the ancestor of roger, who… hanged him that time? that’s not awkward at all, is it? well, that guy accidentally walks through some rocks, ends up in 1980, and turns to roger and bree for help. I’m crossing my fingers that this happens in season seven for two reasons: one, it’ll be fun to watch a guy from the 1770s try to figure out the 1980s, and two, maybe you remember when we first met buck. In season five, he was played by Graham Mctavish (who also played Dougal), and it’s always a treat when he shows up in Outlander. give us money!
But that’s not the only time travel that happens in 1980: one of Bree’s colleagues, Rob Cameron, decides to kidnap Jimmy and they think he’s taken him back in time. Towards the end of an Echo in the Bone, Roger and Buck travel back through the stones in an effort to save Jimmy. sorry to say but jem is not there; Still, it looks like these two distant relatives will be embarking on a real adventure.
Speaking of lallybroch, we’re in for a long-awaited (and bittersweet) family reunion.
at the end of a puff of snow and ash, wendigo donner ransacks the fraser house for gems so he can travel, a fight breaks out and the house burns down. Jamie and Claire don’t die in that fire, but it does answer most questions about that pesky obituary. This hasn’t happened on the show yet, but in Season 6 we got to see someone who looks like Donner in Wilmington jail, where, conveniently, Claire is being held. On the show, it looks like Donner already has a gem, but regardless, it looks like things are lining up for some version of this fire to happen soon. The fire is important because it is the impetus for Jamie, Claire and young Ian to travel back to Scotland so Jamie can get the printing press from her and bring her back to America. the trip to scotland and the frasers’ time in their homeland is a big part of the book, so i suspect we’ll get some time in scotland within the 16 episodes of season seven. However, their time there is bittersweet: yes, they have a long-awaited (so long!) reunion with Jenny and (old) Ian at Lallybroch, but they also learn that Ian is dying of consumption. timing is everything, especially in outlander, right?
and there’s that other kind of family reunion, where one participant doesn’t realize they’re part of the family.
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i mean jamie’s son, william, of course. there is a lot of william in an echo in the bone. We haven’t seen him on the show since he and Lord John Gray visited and John got the measles in season four, but here we find him grown up and a loyal member of the British Army. does that make things confusing for our rebellious resident jamie fraser? You bet while William has his own adventures to go on, the crux of his story has always been the secret about his real biological father. You knew that eventually that secret would come out, right? well, it’s not until the end of book seven that william finds out the truth. Who knows if we’ll get that far into William’s story yet, but Jamie’s secret son should at least start to play a bigger role in the overall narrative.
then something really wild happens…
seriously, if you want some surprises about claire and jamie’s future, stop reading right here. you’ve made your choice!
so claire and ian leave scotland without jamie and later they get the news that the ship jamie was supposed to travel to america on has sunk, and they think jamie is dead. everyone is really sad about it. Later, when Claire is about to be arrested for being a spy (she’s constantly getting into trouble, we know), someone offers to marry her off to protect her from it. did you guess lord john grey? Because yes, Claire and Lord John end up married in book seven, and yes, drunk (and grieving over the loss of Jamie, whom they both love with all their hearts) they consummate that marriage. And then Jamie shows up safe and sound! it’s a wild turn of events, so you better start preparing now in anticipation of what is sure to be a controversial storyline in season seven.
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