Outlander‘s series finale left Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie Fraser’s (Sam Heughan) ending open to interpretation with the episode’s closing moments.
After getting shot amid the battle at Kings Mountain, Jamie lay dying upon the summit, and as Claire rushed to his side, his eyes closed, and he went on a journey as a ghost, revisiting the moment from Season 1 that fans have long pondered about his presence outside Claire’s Inverness window in the 1940s. Spotted by her first husband, Frank (Tobias Menzies), Jamie’s disappearance from that point in time led him to the standing stones of Craigh Na Dun, implying that his ghost’s presence was responsible for the forget-me-not flowers that Claire went in search of so many years ago, ultimately prompting her trip back in time from the 20th century to 1740s Scotland.
As the finale showcased, Claire lay beside her husband’s body, seemingly breathing out a final breath herself as she wrapped around him. In the closing seconds of the installment, they both opened their eyes and seemingly gasped back to life. But did they really survive? Below, we’re outlining the details that prove they did awaken to continue their lives in 1770s America.
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The Book
In the finale’s post-credit scene, author Diana Gabaldon was signing books when a fan spotted Claire’s diary next to her. The implication is that Gabaldon’s book series is based on Claire’s written accounts, but as viewers witnessed, Claire had barely begun penning her story when she and Jamie headed for Kings Mountain. If Gabaldon’s full book series is meant to be based on Claire’s personal stories, then surely she’d have to live to finish writing them. And in Gabaldon’s books, Claire and Jamie survive the ordeal at Kings Mountain, and with more stories to unfold in future novels, Claire and Jamie’s survival would be necessary to carry on in a future movie or spinoff if that were to ever occur.
Claire’s White Hair
When Claire and Jamie seemingly awoke from their assumed deaths, her hair was stark white, compared to the salt-and-pepper do she had at the start of Kings Mountain. As hinted in past episodes, Claire was prophesied to have healing powers reminiscent of Master Raymond (Dominique Pinon), which would reach full power when her hair turned white, as Adawehi (Tantoo Cardinal) told her. If that wasn’t the case here, then what would have been the point of Claire’s hair turning bright white?
Third Time’s a Charm
Earlier in the final season, Claire helped birth a baby that was not breathing and she seemingly brought the child back to life by merely touching the child. If that was foreshadowing enough, it echoed the fate of Claire and Jamie’s stillborn daughter Faith, who was supposedly brought back to life by Master Raymond in the same way. Jamie being brought back to life by Claire’s touch would be the third example of this healing power in action and prove that the hints foreshadowing such a predicament were not for nothing.
There’s only one version of reality we can accept, and thankfully, the evidence supports that Claire and Jamie lived. What did you think of their ending? Let us know in the comments section below, and stay tuned for more Scottish adventures as the prequel spinoff Outlander: Blood of My Blood continues on Starz.
Outlander, Seasons 1-8, Streaming now, Starz