‘Outlander’: 11 ‘Faith’ Parallels Made in the Season 7 Finale
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Outlander, Season 7 Episode 16, “A Hundred Thousand Angels.”]
Outlander is at its best when it gets self-referential, and such was the case with its Season 7 finale installment, “A Hundred Thousand Angels,” which saw Claire (Caitriona Balfe) fighting for life after a near-fatal shooting.
Amid her recovery process, time-traversing doctor Claire is visited by an old acquaintance, whether it is a dream, vision, or actuality, her reunion with Master Raymond (Dominique Pinon), the apothecary owner she met in France during Season 2, brings memories of “Faith” flooding back to the surface. When the finale reaches its last moments, after various signs point her in the direction, Claire begins to believe that her stillborn daughter Faith may have actually lived all those years ago.
The revelation is shocking and stands at the big cliffhanger ending for fans to mull over for the proceeding Droughtlander. In the meantime, we’re taking a deep dive into the parallels and easter eggs from “Faith” that popped up in “A Hundred Thousand Angels” and providing more context for anyone seeking a refresher.
Scroll down for a closer look at the “Faith” references made in the Season 7 finale, and let us know any that we missed in the comments section below.
Outlander, Season 8 Premiere,TBA, Starz
The Dragonfly
While there isn’t exactly any reference to a dragonfly in the episode, “Faith,” the symbol is raised in the Season 2 finale, “Dragonfly in Amber.” As viewers will recall, Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) friend Hugh Munro (Simon Meacock) gifted Claire a dragonfly encased in amber as a wedding gift in Season 1. The dragonfly plays a large role in symbolizing Jamie and Claire’s relationship. The fact that the bug pops up in what turns out to be a flashback scene of the young Pocock sisters, Jane and Fanny, with their mother feels like no coincidence.
Imprisonment
As viewers will remember in Season 2, Claire went into labor early after witnessing Jamie and Black Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies) dueling. She was carted away to the hospital, and her husband was imprisoned. Dueling was illegal in France at the time, and angered over by nemesis Black Jack Randall’s assault on young Fergus (Romann Berrux), Jamie had a lack of control in resisting the fight. Ultimately, Claire has to sleep with King Louis (Lionel Lingelser) to bargain for Jamie’s freedom, which isn’t altogether dissimilar to the imprisonment of Jane (Silvia Presente) in this episode and Jamie and William’s (Charles Vandervaart). However, the results are vastly different as Jane doesn’t survive the ordeal.
Master Raymond's Promise
In the Season 2 episode, Master Raymond visits Claire in the hospital during the dead of night, not unlike the way he appears in the Season 7 finale. In “Faith,” Master Raymond mysteriously helps to heal Claire who is suffering from an infection due to leftover placenta in her body. It is through his touch that he’s able to magically leach the infection from her blood. While this is never explained, he asks her about the things she sees in her state of poor health, and when she tells him of the different visuals, he promises that she’s healing. When they meet again at King Louis’, Master Raymond is essentially turned away from France, but he vows they’ll see each other again. It would seem that his promise was kept as the man resurfaced in this Season 7 installment, but his words were less about how they’ll see each other again and more apologetic as he tells her, “Someday you will know,” as he also pleads for forgiveness.
Claire's Deathbed
Claire’s deathbed plays a prominent role, with her fate remaining unclear for portions of both respective installments. “Were you trying to leave us again?” Master Raymond asks Claire in reference to her gunshot injury which mirrors her recovery from the traumatic birth experience so many years prior. “It is not time, Madonna,” he explains, hinting that similar to Claire’s “Faith,” ordeal, she will make it through this latest trial.
Healing Wings
One piece of imagery that is carried over exactly from the episode “Faith” is blue wings, which Master Raymond had told Claire was a symbol of healing. Master Raymond told Claire in France that the wings would carry the pain away, and when he reaches out to her in the Season 7 finale, those same exact wings appear to her then.
The Madonna
During their acquaintance, Master Raymond refers to Claire as Madonna, a nod to the virgin Mary. Following Faith’s birth, Claire laments the nickname, telling Master Raymond that she has no children, but he informs her that the nickname comes from the aura she has around her. Master Raymond tells Claire she is surrounded by the color blue resembling the cloak of the Madonna healer. That motif resurfaces in the Season 7 finale, particularly when Claire stands for the first time amid her recovery, opening the shades to a sunny day outdoors, a blue blanket draped around her shoulders like a cloak.
Angels
When Faith is born, Claire isn’t initially aware of her status, and as she asks for updates, Mother Hildegarde (Frances de la Tour), the nun running operations at L’Hôpital des Anges, tells her the baby has gone to the angels. When Claire’s friend Louise (Claire Sermonne) visits her in the hospital following the birth, she calls Faith an angel. This talk of angels continues in the Season 7 finale when Fanny tells Claire that her mother used to say that by waving to the dancing lights in the sky, the angels would carry you off to heaven, an action that Jane follows before taking her own life. While they’re not exactly presented the same way, it doesn’t feel merely coincidental that angels should have such a recurring mention in these episodes. Plus, the angels carrying Jane away also mirrors Master Raymond’s sentiments about the wings carrying Claire’s pain away in France.
'Have Faith'
When Faith was born, Mother Hildegarde gave her the name, baptizing the stillborn so that she may be buried on hallowed ground. When Claire is forced to bid Master Raymond farewell, he tells her they’ll meet again. “Have faith,” he says. His use of wording felt extremely pointed and hinted that perhaps Faith may have something to do with their reunion. So for Claire to encounter the name etched on the back of Jane’s locket, it feels like a prophecy coming true. It’s also ironic that the name should be tied to a necklace, a similar item to the one Master Raymond gifted to Claire in Season 2.
Death
In “Faith,” Claire and Jamie go through the unimaginably difficult task of burying their daughter in France and having to leave her behind as they plan to set off for Scotland. The Season 7 finale sees Jane buried in a graveyard with indiscernible plots, leaving Fanny frantic as she searches for her sister’s grave. And just like Jamie and Claire in Season 2, Fanny is set to depart for Fraser’s Ridge with the couple, leaving her only known family behind, unaware of her potential connection to the Frasers.
Church
While it may be a sign of the times that both hospital and recovery spaces are set in churches, it must be noted that Claire’s ordeal in “Faith” is set at L’Hôpital des Anges, which is a church building. Meanwhile, Claire’s surgery and recovery in the Season 7 finale is also set in a church. Perhaps it is a coincidence, but it feels like a purposeful parallel.
That Song
One of the most important parallels is Fanny’s singing of the song, “I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside,” which was originally released in the early 1900s, nearly two hundred years after the current time she’s inhabiting. When Claire asks how she knows the song, Fanny reveals that her mother taught her. Unless some other time traveler happened to sing the tune, that leaves only one possibility: that Fanny’s mother was Claire’s daughter. As viewers will recall, and as seen in flashbacks, Claire sings the song to her baby girl, a secret only they shared.
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