A tribute to Ian the Elder (SPOILERS!)

Many OUTLANDER fans have been thinking about Ian Murray the Elder this week, so I thought this would be a good time to share some of my favorite quotes by and about Jamie's beloved best friend. This is an updated version of a collection I first posted in 2016. Hope you enjoy it!

*** SPOILER WARNING!! ***

If you haven't read all of Diana Gabaldon's OUTLANDER books, you will find SPOILERS below! Read at your own risk.

1) Ian and Claire's first meeting:

"Frasers dinna listen to anything when they’ve their danders up. When they’ve shouted themselves out, sometimes ye can make them see reason, but not ’til then."

(From OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 26, "The Laird's Return". Copyright © 1991 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

2) Jenny, telling Claire about Ian and Jamie:

"I remember, when they were young, auld John told Ian it was his job to stand to Jamie’s right, for he must guard his chief’s weaker side in a fight. And he did--they took it verra seriously, the two of them. And I suppose auld John was right, at that,” she added, snipping off the excess thread. “After a time, nobody would fight them, not even the MacNab lads. Jamie and Ian were both fair-sized, and bonny fighters, and when they stood shoulder to shoulder, there was no one could take the pair o’ them down, even if they were outnumbered.”

She laughed suddenly, and smoothed back a lock of hair behind her ear.

“Watch them sometime, when they’re walking the fields together. I dinna suppose they even realize they do it still, but they do. Jamie always moves to the left, so Ian can take up his place on the right, guardin’ the weak side.”

(From DRAGONFLY IN AMBER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 33, "Thy Brother's Keeper". Copyright © 1992 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

3) Ian, describing how he came to marry Jenny:

“How did ye come to wed anyway, given your scruples?” he asked, one side of his mouth curling up.

“Gracious, man,” Ian protested, “ye think I had any choice in the matter? Up against a Fraser?” He shook his head, grinning at his friend.

“She came up to me out in the field one day, while I was tryin’ to mend a wagon that sprang its wheel. I crawled out, all covered wi’ muck, and found her standin’ there looking like a bush covered wi’ butterflies. She looks me up and down and she says--” He paused and scratched his head. “Weel, I don’t know exactly what she said, but it ended with her kissing me, muck notwithstanding, and saying, ‘Fine, then, we’ll be married on St. Martin’s Day.’ ” He spread his hands in comic resignation. “I was still explaining why we couldna do any such thing, when I found myself in front of a priest, saying, ‘I take thee, Janet’…and swearing to a lot of verra improbable statements.”

(From OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 29, "More Honesty". Copyright © 1991 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

4) Jamie, describing Ian to Claire:

"He’s only a year older than me. When I was growing, he was always there. Until I was fourteen, there wasna a day went by when I didna see Ian. And even later, after I’d gone to foster wi’ Dougal, and to Leoch, and then later still to Paris, to university--when I’d come back, I’d walk round a corner and there he would be, and it would be like I’d never left. He’d just smile when he saw me, like he always did, and then we’d be walkin’ away together, side by side, ower the fields and the streams, talkin’ of everything.” He sighed deeply, and rubbed a hand through his hair.

"Ian...he's the part of me that belongs here, that never left," he said, struggling to explain.

(From DRAGONFLY IN AMBER by Diana Gabaldon,  chapter 33, "Thy Brother's Keeper". Copyright © 1992 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

5) This is one of my favorite Ian-and-Jamie scenes:

"Have ye really got to do it, Ian?” Jamie made one last effort, turning to appeal to his brother-in-law.

“Well,” said Ian slowly, “as I’ve told the lad he’s going to be thrashed, and he kens verra well he’s earned it, I canna just go back on my word. But as for me doing it--no, I dinna think I will.” A faint gleam of humor showed in the soft brown eyes. He reached into a drawer of the sideboard, drew out a thick leather strap, and thrust it into Jamie’s hand. “You do it.”

“Me?” Jamie was horror-struck. He made a futile attempt to shove the strap back into Ian’s hand, but his brother-in-law ignored it. “I canna thrash the lad!”

“Oh, I think ye can,” Ian said calmly, folding his arms. “Ye’ve said often enough ye care for him as though he were your son.” He tilted his head to one side, and while his expression stayed mild, the brown eyes were implacable. “Well, I’ll tell ye, Jamie--it’s no that easy to be his Da; best ye go and find that out now, aye?"

(From VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 32, "The Prodigal's Return". Copyright © 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

6) Diana Gabaldon has said that she knew for many years that Ian would die of consumption. If you've read AN ECHO IN THE BONE, it's impossible to read this next quote without seeing it as foreshadowing:

"Da told me about one time he was arrested, when they took him to Edinburgh, and kept him in the Tolbooth. He was in a cell wi’ three other men, and one of them a fellow with the consumption, who coughed something dreadful, keeping the rest awake all night and all day. Then one night the coughing stopped, and they kent he was dead."

(From DRUMS OF AUTUMN by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 2, "In Which We Meet a Ghost". Copyright © 1997 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

7) What a sweet, poignant moment between eight-year-old Jamie and his best friend Ian, age nine:

"I thought I’d have a new brother,” he’d said suddenly. “But I don’t. It’s just Jenny and me, still.” In the years since, he’d succeeded in forgetting that small pain, the loss of his hoped-for brother, the boy who might have given him back a little of his love for his older brother, Willie, dead of the smallpox. He’d cherished that pain for a little, a flimsy shield against the enormity of knowing his mother gone forever.

Ian had sat thinking for a bit, then reached into his sporran and got out the wee knife his father had given him on his last birthday.

“I’ll be your brother,” he’d said, matter-of-fact, and cut across his thumb, hissing a little through his teeth.

He’d handed the knife to Jamie, who’d cut himself, surprised that it hurt so much, and then they’d pressed their thumbs together and sworn to be brothers always. And had been.

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 81, "Purgatory II". Copyright © 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

8) Here's a quote from Diana Gabaldon's novella, "Virgins", the story of Jamie and Ian as young mercenaries in France, before Jamie met Claire.

"Well, if ye’re goin' to Hell, I might as well go, too. God knows, ye’ll never manage alone."

(From "Virgins" by Diana Gabaldon, in SEVEN STONES TO STAND OR FALL. Copyright © 2013 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I was glad to see that this line was used in OUTLANDER Episode 113, "The Watch".

9) Here's a message from beyond the grave, from Ian to Jenny, courtesy of the mysterious Sachem we met in BEES.

“Oh, surely a person is entitled to more than one name,” the Sachem replied, his eyes creasing in amusement. “You have more names than Murray, I am certain--for after all, that one must have belonged to your husband.”

Jenny looked taken aback, but then realized, as Rachel had, that the Sachem was well enough acquainted with European custom as to have recognized her by her dress as a widow. Either that, Rachel thought, amused, or he’s a good guesser.

Her amusement vanished in the next instant when the Sachem took Jenny’s hand in his and said, quite casually, “He is still with you--your husband. He says to tell you that he walks upon two legs.”

Jenny's mouth fell open, and so did Rachel's.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 83, "The Forefeather of a Great Horned Owl". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

10) And finally, this is my favorite quote about Ian in the entire series. Perfect, just perfect!

“Where d’ye think he is now?” Jenny said suddenly. “Ian, I mean.”

He glanced at the house, then at the new grave waiting, but of course that wasn’t Ian anymore. He was panicked for a moment, his earlier emptiness returning--but then it came to him, and, without surprise, he knew what it was Ian had said to him.

“On your right, man.” On his right. Guarding his weak side.

“He’s just here,” he said to Jenny, nodding to the spot between them. “Where he belongs."

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 84, "The Right of It". Copyright © 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

RIP, Ian Murray. Many thanks to Diana Gabaldon for creating such a terrific character, and to Steven Cree for bringing him to life on TV!