Outlander is a work of historical fiction infused with time travel between the 20th and 18th centuries. Series author Diana Gabaldon is a former college professor with a love of research who made it a point to include historically accurate material in her literary fantasy series. But, with nine novels published so far — plus six seasons on TV — there’s bound to be some mistakes. Here are five times Outlander wasn’t exactly historically accurate.
The last witch trial in Scotland took place in 1722, according to The History Press. But when Claire Fraser (Caitriona Balfe) and her friend Gaeillis Duncan go on trial for witchcraft in Gabaldon’s first book, it’s 1743. This inaccuracy was actually done on purpose because Gabaldon wanted to have a witch trial in the story.
“So I was telling my husband that I’d really like a witch trial, but it doesn’t fit. He looked at me and said, ‘You start right off with a book in which you expect people to believe that Stonehenge is a time machine, and you’re worried that your witches are 20 years too late?’” Gabaldon told National Geographic. “So I did stretch that point. I figured that possibly this witch trial was an ad hoc affair that didn’t make it into the record. That’s the only place where I can remember I deliberately moved something that I knew was not quite there.”
Clan Fraser of Lovat is very real, and the person Jamie (Sam Heughan) meets in season 2 known as the “Old Fox” was also real. However, there is no one named Jamie Fraser in his list of descendants.Simon, Lord Lovat, a.k.a. ‘The Old Fox,’ was certainly a real person, and a very colorful one, too,” Gabaldon wrote on her website. “I made no alterations to his life or persona, save for grafting an illegitimate and totally fictional branch onto his family tree by making him Jamie Fraser’s grandfather. Given Old Simon’s persona as recorded, attributing an illegitimate son to him would in no way be character assassination.”
One of the most accurate parts of Outlander is the clans of Scotland, a complex system of loyalty. Jamie Fraser is part of Clan Fraser and Clan MacKenzie, and Gabaldon says the clan system was “very tribal.It was composed of extensive family units, and as it grew larger, the clans became political entities,” Gabaldon said. “And you didn’t have to be born to a clan, you could come in and swear allegiance to your clan chief.”
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