The evolution of Jamie and Roger's relationship

I never get tired of watching the relationship between Jamie Fraser and Roger MacKenzie evolve over the course of Diana Gabaldon's OUTLANDER series, no matter how many times I read or listen to the books. It's my favorite character arc in the entire series, and has been for a long time. So I thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at it.

This is a very long post, but there just seemed to be a lot to say! I hope you'll take the time to read the whole thing.

DRUMS OF AUTUMN

It's a massive understatement to say that the relationship between Roger and Jamie started off very badly! On a scale of 1 to 10, they began at about -999, with Roger encountering Jamie in the woods near Fraser's Ridge, totally unaware that Jamie thinks he raped Brianna.

“I’ll ask only the once, and I mean to hear the truth,” [Jamie] said, quite mildly. “Have ye taken my daughter’s maidenheid?”

Roger felt his face grow hot as a flood of warmth washed up from chest to hairline. Christ, what had she told her father? And for God’s sake, why? The last thing he had expected to meet was an infuriated father, bent on avenging his daughter’s virtue.

“It’s...ah...well, it’s not what you think,” he blurted. “I mean, we...that is...we meant to...”

“Did ye or no?” Fraser’s face was no more than a foot away, completely expressionless, save for whatever it was that burned, far back in his eyes.

“Look--I--damn it, yes! She wanted to--”

Fraser hit him, just under the ribs. Roger doubled and staggered back, gasping from the blow. It didn’t hurt--yet--but he’d felt the force of it all the way to his spine. His principal feeling was one of amazement, tinged with anger.

“Stop,” he said, trying to get enough breath to talk. “Stop! For God’s sake, I said I--”

Fraser hit him again, this time on the side of the jaw. That one hurt, a glancing blow that scraped the skin and left his jawbone throbbing. Roger jerked back, fear turning rapidly to fury. The bloody sod was trying to kill him!

(From DRUMS OF AUTUMN by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 46, "Comes a Stranger". Copyright © 1997 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

When they meet again in the Mohawk village of Snaketown, where Roger has been held captive for many months, Jamie apologizes, but that's not much comfort to Roger.

“I’ve done wrong to ye, MacKenzie, as ye’ll know. I’ve come to put it right, so far as may be, but it may be as I’ll not have the chance.” He gestured briefly toward the door. “For now, you’ve my apology. For what satisfaction ye may want of me later--I’ll bide your will. But I’d ask ye to let it wait until we’re safe out of this.”

Roger stared at him for a moment. Satisfaction for the last months of torment and uncertainty seemed as farfetched a notion as the thought of safety. He nodded.

"Done," he said.

(From DRUMS OF AUTUMN by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 60, "Trial By Fire". Copyright © 1997 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

But then, as they leave Snaketown, Jamie makes it clear that he's far from ready to reconcile.

“So I’m askin’ ye, MacKenzie; can ye go back to her, and live with her, knowing that it’s likely Bonnet’s child she bears? For if ye canna do it--then say so now, for I swear, if ye come to her and treat her badly...I will kill ye without a second thought.”

(From DRUMS OF AUTUMN by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 61, "The Office of a Priest". Copyright © 1997 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Jamie doesn't understand Roger at all at this point in the story. He's speaking in his role as a fiercely protective father, determined not to let Bree be hurt any further. We (the readers) know Roger far better, having observed him at close range for some time. We know him as a kind, gentle man who genuinely loves Bree and wouldn't intentionally do anything to harm her.

Looking at the situation from his 20th-century point of view, it surely wasn't Roger's fault that Brianna was raped. At the same time, it's true that he did leave her alone and unprotected after their argument (something no decent 18th-century man would do), leaving her vulnerable to the attack by Stephen Bonnet.

I give Roger a lot of credit for coming up with the one gesture that would make Jamie see that his intentions toward Brianna and her child are strictly honorable, by 18th-century standards. The scene where Roger formally claims Jemmy as his son is one of my favorites.

“I don’t imagine it pleases you any more than it does me,” he said, in his rusty voice, “but you are my nearest kinsman. Cut me. I’ve come to swear an oath in our shared blood.”

I couldn’t tell whether Jamie hesitated or not; time seemed to have stopped, the air in the room crystallized around us. Then I watched Jamie’s dirk cut the air, honed edge draw swift across the thin, tanned wrist, and blood well red and sudden in its path.

To my surprise, Roger didn’t look at Brianna, or reach for her hand. Instead, he swiped his thumb across his bleeding wrist, and stepped close to her, eyes on the baby. [...] Roger knelt in front of her, and reaching out, pushed the shawl aside and smeared a broad red cross upon the downy curve of the baby’s forehead.

“You are blood of my blood,” he said softly, “and bone of my bone. I claim thee as my son before all men, from this day forever.” He looked up at Jamie, challenging. After a long moment, Jamie gave the slightest nod of acknowledgment, and stepped back, letting his hand fall from Brianna’s shoulder.

(From DRUMS OF AUTUMN by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 66, "Child of My Blood". Copyright © 1997 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

That gesture, the blood vow, with its clear echo of the blood vow at Jamie and Claire's wedding, is a solemn one that Jamie must surely respect, whatever he thinks of Roger. And sure enough, within days, Jamie begins to soften his attitude toward Roger, bringing him a razor and shaving soap as a sort of peace offering.

In return, Roger offers to do what he can to help with the chores, although he's hampered somewhat by his lack of experience with farming.

“I dinna suppose you’ll be much hand wi’ a plow, or a farrowing hog?”

[....]

“No,” he said evenly, putting down the razor. “Nor do I know how to milk a cow, build a chimney, split shingles, drive horses, shoot bears, gut deer, or spit someone with a sword. [....] What I’ve got is a strong back. That do you?”

“Oh, aye. Couldna ask better, could I?” One side of Fraser’s mouth curled up. “Know one end of a shovel from the other, do ye?”

“That much I know.”

“Then ye’ll do fine.”

(From DRUMS OF AUTUMN by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 67, "The Toss of a Coin". Copyright © 1997 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

It's not friendship -- not yet! But it's at least a starting point from which they can begin to rebuild their relationship, and I was glad to see it.

THE FIERY CROSS

In THE FIERY CROSS, we see Roger becoming increasingly conscious of the fact that he doesn't have the skills required to support or protect his family here in the 18th century. That feeling of inadequacy compared to Jamie is something that he struggles with for a long time. When he learns that Jamie has hired Arch Bug to be factor on Fraser's Ridge, he takes the decision personally.

So Jamie thought that even an elderly, half-crippled man would be better equipped than Roger to handle the affairs of Fraser’s Ridge? That was an unexpectedly bitter thought.

He knew his father-in-law had doubts of his ability, beyond any father’s natural mistrust of the man bedding his daughter. Totally tone-deaf himself, Jamie would naturally not value Roger’s musical gift. And while Roger was decently sized and hardworking, it was unfortunately true that he had little practical knowledge of animal husbandry, hunting, or the use of deadly weapons. And granted, he had no great experience in farming or in running a large estate--which Mr. Bug plainly did. Roger would be the first to admit these things.

But he was Jamie’s son-in-law, or about to be. Damn it, Duncan had just introduced him that way! He might have been raised in another time--but he was a Highland Scot, for all that, and he was well aware that blood and kinship counted for more than anything.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 8, "The Factor". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I think Roger's feelings are getting in the way here, preventing him from seeing the situation from Jamie's point of view. Watch the way Jamie treats him throughout that Very Long Day. He doesn't ridicule him or treat him with disrespect. Immediately after their encounter with Arch Bug, Jamie gives Roger the respectable rank of Captain in the militia that Governor Tryon has ordered him to raise, and sends him out alone to the other campsites at the Gathering, to try to recruit men to serve in the militia. He prepares him with details on each family's circumstances, even suggests what to tell them to convince them to sign up.

“Joanie?”

Fraser grinned.

“Aye, auld Joan, they call her. Her camp’s near my aunt, her and her brother, Iain Mhor.”

Roger nodded, dubious.

“Aye. It’s her I speak to, though, is it?”

“Ye’ll have to,” Fraser said. “Iain Mhor’s got nay speech. She’s two more brothers who have, though, and two sons old enough to fight. She’ll see they come.”

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 9, "Germ of Dissent". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Jamie is being pragmatic here, delegating this task to Roger but giving him enough information to enable him to succeed in it. And yet, when Roger, seeing the poverty of Joan Findlay and her family and determined to do something about it, goes to speak to Jocasta, he learns that Jamie has already had a word with her about them. Roger takes this as another blow to his self-confidence. It reminds me of a teenager taking his first tentative steps toward solving a problem on his own, only to find that his parents have already dealt with the situation.

All through the Gathering, you can see Jamie going out of his way to include Roger as much as he can, but Roger still seems uncomfortable, sometimes awkward, speaking to him face to face.

[Roger] still had not settled on any comfortable name by which to call Jamie to his face. Jamie addressed him impartially as “Wee Roger,” “Roger Mac,” or “MacKenzie”--more rarely, by the Gaelic nickname Ronnie Sinclair had given Roger, a Smeòraich, in honor of his voice. Singing Thrush, it meant.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 9, "Germ of Dissent". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

It's only at the bonfire on the last night of the Gathering that things finally begin to change.

I saw [Jamie] turn his head; was he looking for Bree? But no--he stretched out his other hand toward Roger.

“Seas ri mo làmh, Roger an t’òranaiche, mac Jeremiah MacChoinneich!” Stand by my hand, Roger the singer, son of Jeremiah MacKenzie. Roger stood stock-still for a moment, eyes dark on Jamie, then moved toward him, like one sleepwalking. The crowd was still excited, but the shouting had died down, and people craned to hear what was said.

“Stand by me in battle,” he said in Gaelic, his eyes fixed on Roger, left hand extended. He spoke slowly and clearly, to be sure of understanding. “Be a shield for my family--and for yours, son of my house.”

Roger’s expression seemed suddenly to dissolve, like a face seen in water when a stone is tossed into it. Then it solidified once more, and he clasped Jamie’s hand, squeezing hard.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 16, "The Flames of Declaration". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I love that scene! This is the moment where Roger realizes, at long last, that Jamie has indeed accepted him, acknowledged him in public in front of the whole community as part of the family, "son of my house", and it marks a major turning point in their relationship.

Still, Roger continues to be acutely aware of his lack of 18th-century skills, and that feeling only intensifies when Claire discovers that Roger lacks binocular vision, meaning that he can't fire a musket with enough accuracy to hit what he's aiming at. The militia may very well be heading into battle, where Roger's inability to shoot and his lack of experience will be a dangerous liability, and that clearly worries Jamie.

"War is killing, and that’s all. Think of anything less--think of half-measures, think of frightening--above all, think of your own skin--and by God, man, ye will be dead by nightfall of the first day.”

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 26, "The Militia Rises". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

The only skill Roger has that the 18th-century people around him seem to value is his wonderful singing voice. Jamie lost his ability to hear music as a result of a head injury as a young man, so Roger assumes that Jamie can't appreciate his musical talent. But Jamie is more perceptive than Roger gives him credit for, as Bree explains:

“He may not listen to music, Roger, but he listens.” She glanced at him, snigging the comb through the tangles of her hair. “And he watches. He knows how people act--and how they feel--when they hear you do those songs.”

“Does he?” Roger murmured. He felt an odd spark of pleasure at the thought that Fraser had indeed noticed the effect of his music, even if he didn’t appreciate it personally.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 23, "The Bard". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

On the road to Brownsville, Jamie sends Roger ahead with Fergus and the militia, while he and Claire go to investigate the Beardsley cabin. This is another milestone in Jamie and Roger's relationship. Jamie is putting the lives of his men in Roger's care, trusting him to get them to Brownsville safely and handle any problems that come up on his own, without Jamie's supervision.

"He’ll no learn, and I dinna give him the chance," Jamie says, and of course he's right.

Roger carries out his mission successfully, and he couldn't be more pleased with Jamie's reaction.

“Ye’ve done well,” [Jamie] said in a casual undertone, clapping Roger’s shoulder in greeting before turning to receive the salutations of the other men and introductions to our involuntary hosts.

Roger merely nodded in an offhand sort of way, but his face took on a muted glow, as though someone had lit a candle inside him.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 32, "Mission Accomplished". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Jamie and Roger's relationship seems to be in a good place, the bond between them getting stronger every day. A few months go by, and the militia arrives at Alamance Creek, where Jamie has sent Roger to talk to Hermon Husband, leader of the Regulation.

Following the Battle of Alamance, Roger is hanged and nearly dies. Jamie feels tremendous guilt over this, because he was the one who sent Roger to speak to the Regulators in the first place. If Roger dies, Bree will never forgive him.

The first words Roger hears when he regains consciousness are Jamie's, telling him, "You are alive. You are whole. All is well." But of course, all is far from well.

Jamie confronts Governor Tryon, who gave the order to hang Roger without giving him a chance to speak.

The lamplight from the tent-flap gleamed off Tryon’s gorget, a crescent of silver that hung round his throat. Jamie’s hand rose slowly--so slowly that Tryon plainly perceived no threat--and very gently fitted itself around the Governor’s throat, just above the gorget.

[....]

“You dare to lay hands on me, sir!” The panic subsided at once, replaced by fury.

“Oh, I do, aye. As ye laid hands on my son.”

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 72, "Tinder and Char". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Notice Jamie's use of "my son" there, reinforcing the notion that family is about much more than just blood relationship.

As Roger recovers from his injuries, the loss of his voice sends him into a deep depression. Jamie's own experience after Wentworth gives him some insight into what that feels like.

“[What’s] happened to Roger Mac is maybe no so important as what will happen to him.”

I didn’t have to ask what he meant by that. More than anyone, he knew what it meant, to have a life kicked out from under one--and what strength was required to rebuild it.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 75, "Speak My Name". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

In the weeks after the hanging, Jamie supports Roger's recovery in important ways. On their journey home, when Roger is frustrated at not being able to help with the chores due to his injured hands, Jamie suggests that he write down an account of what happened to him at Alamance, thus giving Roger something constructive to do. And later, Jamie brings up the idea of a surveying expedition, and Roger immediately agrees, grateful to have an extended period of time alone, away from the rest of the family.

There was something about the sheer awful scale of the wilderness that soothed him. Among the gigantic trees and teeming wildlife, he found some peace; peace from the dammed-up words inside his head, from the unspoken worry in Brianna’s eyes, the judgment in Jamie’s--judgment withheld, but hanging there like the sword of Damocles. Peace from the glances of pity or curiosity, from the constant slow, aching effort of speech--peace from the memory of singing.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 82, "A Darkening Sky". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Jamie certainly understands the value of solitude. (Remember his seven years living in the cave?) I think he gave Roger this task as a sign that he still has confidence in him, that he can still be useful, despite the loss of his voice. And yet... notice how Roger thinks of Jamie in that passage. He thinks Jamie is judging him, even now, in the aftermath of the worst experience of his life.

Not long after his return to Fraser's Ridge, Roger asks Jamie to teach him to fight with a sword, and Jamie agrees. He doesn't say so out loud, but I think he's pleased that Roger is willing to learn.

And then we come to what I think is the most pivotal episode in the entire course of Roger and Jamie's relationship: While the men are out hunting, Jamie is bitten by a rattlesnake, and Roger must do his best to keep him alive. It's a terrifying experience for Roger, not least because he's all too aware that Jamie might die.

During that long night alone with Jamie on the mountain, for the first time in their relationship, Roger begins to see Jamie in a new light. Not as an intimidating father-in-law, not as someone who harbors serious doubts about Roger's ability to survive and care for his family in this time. Just a man, and a very vulnerable one at that, lying near death by the fire. And suddenly they find the words to speak as equals for the first time. The two men talk about a number of things, including free will and predestination, and what should be done about Stephen Bonnet, and how to handle the affairs of Fraser's Ridge.

Roger fought down panic, struggling to listen carefully, commit it all to memory, wanting to reassure Fraser, tell him to stop, to rest, that none of this was necessary--at the same time knowing it was more than necessary. There was war coming; it didn’t take a time traveler to know it. If the welfare of the Ridge--of Brianna and Jemmy, of Claire--were to be left in Roger’s inexperienced hands, he must take heed of every scrap of information that Fraser could give him.

[....]

It wouldn’t be enough, he thought, and a dull fear settled in the pit of his stomach, an aching dread that underlay the sharper pangs of grief. He couldn’t do it. Christ, he couldn’t even shoot a thing the size of a house! And now he was meant to step into Jamie Fraser’s shoes? Keep order with fists and brain, feed a family with gun and knife, tread the tightrope of politics over a lighted powderkeg, tenants and family all balanced on his shoulders? Replace the man they called Himself? Not f*cking likely, he thought bleakly.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 90, "Danger in the Grass". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

And yet, he doesn't say any of this out loud. Jamie has put his life quite literally in Roger's hands, trusting him to keep Claire and Bree and all of the people on the Ridge safe. There's no choice. Roger must do everything he possibly can to carry out Jamie's wishes, if he should die. So he forces down his fear, and in the end he brings Jamie home alive.

I just love this whole sequence! Especially when you consider how far their relationship has come since they first met.

Jamie and Roger seem more at ease with one another after that, as we see in the scene where Jamie is about to have maggots placed in his leg. This exchange between the two of them always makes me smile.

[Jamie] watched with resignation while I fetched the plate of maggots and my forceps, then reached for the leather strip by his head.

“You’ll not need that,” Roger said. He pulled up another stool and sat down. “It’s true what she said, the wee beasts don’t hurt.”

Jamie snorted again, and Roger grinned at him. “Mind,” he said, “they tickle something fierce. That’s only if ye think about it, though. If ye can keep all thought of them out of your mind, why, there’s nothing to it.”

Jamie eyed him.

“Ye’re a great comfort, MacKenzie,” he said.

“Thanks,” said Roger, with a husk of a laugh.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 92, "I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Later, in the Battle of Wylie's Landing, as they prepare to confront Stephen Bonnet, the two men exchange mutual promises to avenge one another if they should be killed. After Roger kills Lillywhite with his sword, Jamie is there at his side, supporting and comforting him. I liked that very much.

Then Jamie seized him by the wrist and got him loose, got an arm around him, and led him away, stumbling and blind with panic and pain. Held his head and rubbed his back, murmuring nonsense in Gaelic while he puked and heaved. Wiped his face and neck with handsful of wet leaves, wiped the snot from his nose with the wet sleeve of his shirt.

“You okay?” Roger mumbled, somewhere in the midst of this.

“Aye, fine,” Jamie said, and patted him again. “You’re fine, too, all right?”

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 102, "The Battle of Wylie's Landing". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES

In ABOSAA, Roger and Jamie's relationship is much more one of equals, the two men working as partners to solve problems as they arise. They make a good team, complementing one another's strengths. One memorable example of this occurs when the men from the Ridge attack the camp where Claire is being held captive:

I sat up, listening hard. It was a drum with a sound like a beating heart, slow and rhythmic, then trip-hammer fast, like the frantic surge of a hunted beast.

I could have told them that Indians never used drums as weapons; Celts did. It was the sound of a bodhran.

What next? I thought, a trifle hysterically, bagpipes?

It was Roger, certainly; only he could make a drum talk like that. It was Roger, and Jamie was nearby.

[....]

Then the most unearthly howl rose out of the dark to my right. I’d heard Scots scream going into battle before, but that particular Highland shriek made the hairs on my body prickle from tailbone to nape. Jamie.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 28, "Curses". Copyright © 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Jamie has long been uneasy about his daughter marrying a Presbyterian, but when a group of Presbyterian "fisher-folk" come to settle on the Ridge, Jamie realizes that Roger's faith actually gives him an advantage, and he sends Roger with Arch Bug to collect them. In the months that follow, Roger is able to establish relationships with some of the fisher-folk (particularly Amy McCallum and her son Aidan), and to get to know them in a way that Jamie cannot, because of their anti-Catholic views. Roger serves as a sort of intermediary between the two groups, a very valuable role that lessens the tensions in the community, at least for a while.

Speaking of Presbyterians: I think it's a testamant to the vastly improved relations between Roger and Jamie that when Roger decides to become a minister, he announces his decision to Jamie first, rather than Brianna.

“I think--” He stopped himself, correcting. “No, I don’t think. I know. I want--” His air ran out in a wheeze, annoying him; the last thing he wanted was to sound in any way doubtful about what he was saying. He took a huge breath, and the next words shot out as though fired from a pistol. “I mean to be a minister.”

Well, then. He’d said it out loud. He glanced upward, involuntarily, but sure enough, the sky hadn’t fallen. It was hazed and riffled with mare’s tails, but the blue calm of it showed through and the ghost of an early moon floated just above the mountain’s shoulder.

Jamie glanced thoughtfully at him, but didn’t seem shocked or taken aback. That was some small comfort, he supposed.

[....]

“Ye want to take care of them,” Jamie said softly, and it wasn’t a question, but rather an acceptance.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 51, "The Calling". Copyright © 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I get the impression that Roger is determined to do it regardless, but he feels better having his father-in-law's approval for such a major decision. Especially as it means he probably won't be fighting in any future battles that might arise.

Later, when Claire contracts a very serious illness, Roger worries a great deal about how Jamie might react if she dies.

Jamie Fraser was an honorable man, he was deeply uxorious--and he had been in the depths of despair and exhaustion during Claire’s illness. Roger had feared for him nearly as much as for Claire; he’d gone hollow-eyed and grim-jawed through the hot, endless days of reeking death, not eating, not sleeping, held together by nothing more than will.

Roger had tried to speak to him then, of God and eternity, reconcile him with what seemed the inevitable, only to be repulsed with a hot-eyed fury at the mere idea that God might think to take his wife--this followed by complete despair as Claire lapsed into a stupor near death.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 81, "Benefit of the Doubt". Copyright © 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Finally, the MacKenzies go back through the stones to save baby Mandy, leaving a huge hole in Jamie and Claire's lives. We don't know what Jamie and Roger said to each other before Roger left (that happened off page), but we did learn something priceless: Jamie dreams about Roger and Bree and the children in the future!

AN ECHO IN THE BONE

Roger and Jamie don't, of course, interact in person in ECHO or MOHB, but they haven't forgotten one another by any means:

“You don’t forget having a dad.”

Bree’s eyes slid sideways, the blue of them no more than a spark in the firelight.

“I thought ... you were so young. You do remember your father?”

Roger shook his head, the chambers of his heart clenching hard, grasping emptiness. “No,” he said softly, and bent his head, breathing in the scent of his daughter’s hair. “I remember yours.”

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 21, "The Minister's Cat". Copyright © 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Awwww!! I love that!

WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD

Of course Jamie hasn't forgotten Roger, either, as we see from his reaction to the gibbet in the British camp when he and Ian go to rescue Denny:

It scared him, badly. He didn’t point out to Ian the spot near the bottom of the main upright, where someone’s--or someones’--desperately flailing feet had kicked away chunks of the bark. The makeshift gibbet wasn’t high enough for the drop to break a man’s neck; a man hanged on it would strangle slowly.

[Jamie] touched his own neck in reflexive aversion, Roger Mac’s mangled throat and its ugly raw scar clear in his mind. Even clearer was the memory of the grief that had overwhelmed him, coming to take down Roger Mac from the tree they’d hanged him on, knowing him dead and the world changed forever. It had been, too, though he hadn’t died.

(From WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 60, "Deserter Game, Round II". Copyright © 2014 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE

Roger and Jamie don't have a lot of time together in this book, but there are some wonderful moments, like this one, not long after the MacKenzies' return.

Jamie left off what he was thinking, then, and turned his head to look at Roger.

“I missed ye, Roger Mac,” he said.

Roger opened his mouth to reply, but his throat had closed as hard as if he’d swallowed a rock, and nothing came out but a muffled grunt.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 8, "Visitations". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

That's another of those little moments that make me go, "Awwwww!"

I love Jamie's reaction as Roger is ordained, at long last!

These were Presbyterians and not given to spectacle. Roger Mac drew a deep breath and closed his eyes, and Jamie trembled as he felt the witness of surrender cleave his heart.

Warm drops struck his hands, folded in his lap, but he didn’t care. A murmur of awe and joy rose up from the church, and Roger Mac stood up, his own face wet with tears and shining like the sun.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 128, "Surrender". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Watching Jamie sitting there with tears in his eyes, I have to marvel once again at how far these two have come since those early days in DRUMS. He's certainly feeling the presence of God in that moment, but I think he's weeping at least as much with joy and pride at Roger's accomplishment.

And finally, there's Roger's experience at the Battle of Savannah. While Jamie was of course not present, I think it marks another turning point in their relationship. Consider the advice Roger recalls getting as a boy:

“What did you do for them?” Roger had asked, curious. “I mean--what does a chaplain do, in a battle?”

[....]

“Be with them,” the major said quietly, but his eyes held Roger’s, deeply serious. “Reassure them. Tell them God is with them. That I’m with them. That they aren’t alone.”

“Help them when you can,” his father had said, softly, eyes on the worn gray oilcloth that covered the table. “Hold their hands and pray, when you can’t.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 92, "Like Water Spilled on the Ground, Which Cannot Be Gathered Up Again". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

We see Roger doing just that in BEES, in the Battle of Savannah. I think Roger's role as a battlefield chaplain, as bloody and horrific and terrifying as it was, may give him new insight into how he can support Jamie.

Roger has always protected and cared for other people, so becoming a minister was a natural fit for him. (And it's one reason why he had such a hard time in ECHO, being suddenly deprived of that role.) But this experience, acting as a battlefield chaplain, risking his life to comfort and tend the wounded and dying on the field -- this seems to have touched a chord deep within him, somehow. Maybe THIS is his calling, what he was meant to do? To be at Jamie's side in the battles to come, but not to fight -- to care for the men in his own way, just as Jamie has always done.

And once the war is over, perhaps he'll settle into a role similar to the one Ian the Elder used to provide for Jamie: a trusted friend, adviser, confidant, sometimes even confessor. Jamie needs someone like that -- and who better to do it than Roger Mac?

This idea feels just right to me, on multiple levels, as though a major piece of the puzzle has suddenly fallen into place, and I can't wait to see how their relationship continues to evolve in Book 10!
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I hope you've enjoyed this "deep dive" into Jamie and Roger's relationship. Please leave a comment here or on my Outlandish Observations Facebook page and let me know what you think!

Here are my previous posts taking an in-depth look at specific characters:
The resilience of Claire Fraser
Jamie Fraser: A fallible man who learns from his mistakes

Hope you enjoy them!