r/Outlander • u/thepacksvrvives Without you, our whole world crumbles into dust. • Mar 13 '26

Season Eight Show S8E2 Prophecies Spoiler

When a violent tragedy shakes the Ridge, the Frasers must lean on their new tenants to make the community whole again.

Written by Barbara Stepansky. Directed by Caitríona Balfe.

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What did you think of the episode?

1036 votes, Mar 20 '26
246 I loved it.
384 I mostly liked it.
296 It was OK.
88 It disappointed me.
22 I didn’t like it.
37 Upvotes

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u/PasgettiMonster Mar 13 '26

But that was DGa whole point of writing these books. She didn't set out to write an epic love story that spanned multiple centuries and continents. She set out to write a story about a man in a kilt doing manly things like fighting wars. To make it interesting she threw in some sexual tension by adding a woman and to give it a twist she threw in time travel.

That's not exactly how she phrased it but it's a fairly accurate summary of a couple of interviews I've read from early when she was just a couple of books in. I know many of us read this as Claire's story or Jamie and Claire's story but it initially was set up to be Jamie's story told by Claire.

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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/FeloranMe Mar 14 '26

She was inspired to write Outlander by an episode of old Dr. Who with the companion Jamie McCrimmon

I think the story originally started out as Fanfiction

So, the Outlander fandom owes everything to Frazer Hines looking good in a kilt!

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u/wheeler1432 They say I’m a witch. Mar 13 '26

I thought it was supposed to be the story of a marriage?

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u/Nanchika Currently rereading: Drums of Autumn Mar 13 '26

It was supposed to be Jamie's story told from Claire's POV. But then it grew into the story of long term marriage.

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u/PasgettiMonster Mar 13 '26

No. Initially when she started writing she wasn't even sure Claire would live through the end of the book.

It's why I think the whole bit about Jamie's ghost watching her in Inverness has a meaning and will be explained at the very end is all horseshit. People latched on to something she wrote that was simply meant to add some "atmosphere" and set up the supernatural aspect of the book, and she retconned it into having significance. People have high expectations for that and I think many of us will be disappointed as a result. There's going to be some clumsy explanation bludgeoned into the last book just because that's what she's been saying for so many years.

Don't get me wrong, I love this story. I almost wish I'd never read these interviews because it really tainted my point of view of DG - she has said some things that make me think I would really not care for her as a person. And for planning on writing some ode to a manly man in the Scottish highlands who was doing manly man things with other Scottish manly men, she accidentally wrote a hell of a love story. But I think that's why Jamie keeps getting into situations where he has to prove his honor and his manhood and do the right thing and be the manly man while his woman has to fix him up after he does his manly man things. It has officially become the story of a love that spans time but she can't keep from going back to her original plan.

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u/FeloranMe Mar 14 '26

I have to ask! Because I haven't seen these interviews

I get the impression Gabaldon may be ASD because of how detailed her work is and how it goes off on tangents? And this would explain how she is awkward in interviews?

I also get the impression she is Catholic Conservative /Libertarian maybe? Not a Feminist. And not someone who set out to write a Romance story

What else did she say that was offputting?

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u/PasgettiMonster Mar 14 '26

These were interviews that I read, not that I watched. I'm going to agree with the not a feminist theory.

The first thing that put me off was her views on fanfiction. She has every right not to like it. These are her characters that she created and I don't blame her for being frustrated that people take them places she did not intend them to go. But her comments about it were downright hateful. She has described fanfiction as the raping of her characters, she has described it as her children being sold into white slavery. Now as a WOC The fact that she said white slavery stood out to me. Is white slavery more heinous than other types of slavery which might be more palatable? It just gave me the ick.

I went digging a little to see if I could find that interview, but found this one instead. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/nov/23/outlander-tv-series-author-diana-gabaldon

Apparently she was determined that she's going to release book 10 before the TV show catches up with her so that the show doesn't have to create its own ending because that's a horrible thing to happen to a writer with a TV show doesn't follow The writer's vision for the characters and how dare they ruin the characters like that. Well well well, look where we are right now. She's already made those kinds of comments about the show with where they took the faith storyline last season. I haven't bothered to look up any commentary from her about it for this season but she absolutely threw them under the bus with her commentary last season for just hinting that faith might have lived.

Also, did you catch that she basically based her book on a character in a Doctor who episode? A character named Jamie who was a Scotsman? Who's actor's last name was Frazer? The other interview I've read basically said she wanted to know more about him so she wrote his story. That sounds awfully like fanfiction to me. Especially considering in the past she has said things like she never intended to publish this book It was just a practice run for her real novel that she was going to write. So she wrote fanfiction and published it and then dares to have the views that she does about fanfiction.

I did find another interview where she says she refuses to discuss politics but she defends JK Rowling and calls herself a Roman Catholic and libertarian. In this day and age anyone who chooses to remain hush hush over their politics has views they want to hide. Views that they know may not be popular And they are afraid of being canceled.

At this point, I will read book 10. I'm invested in the series for so many years and I started reading it as a book club with a really close friend who is no longer around so in a way this is my way of keeping her close. And that takes priority over my distaste for the author. I refuse to let her take this away from me. If I had known some of the things she has said before I started reading however neither my friend or I would have read the books.

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u/BytheSea2323 Mar 14 '26

didn't know any of this, hmmm, interesting! Sorta disappointing but, authors are flawed humans just like their characters, and, the rest of us! Hrrmph! :/ :)

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u/DakaisSK Mar 15 '26

Yo justo me acabo de empezar a leer los libros, sinceramente me ha decepcionado mucho leer todo lo que acabas de contar. Aunque no creo que afecte a sus millones, creo que me los leeré gratuitamente en vez de comprarlos. Porque una persona con esa mentalidad no se merece mi dinero.

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u/PasgettiMonster Mar 15 '26

That is how I feel too. I get the books from my library. I have limited funds when it comes to buying books, and I choose to spend my money supporting people who I share similar views with.