Claire's wedding rings consist of one gold ring, given to her by her first husband, Frank Randall, and one silver ring, given to her by her second husband, Jamie Fraser. From the time that she marries Jamie in 1743, Claire wears the silver ring on her right hand and continues to wear the gold on her left.
Description[]
Gold ring[]
Claire's ring from her first marriage is a simple gold band, slightly wider than might be expected of a woman's wedding band. On the inside of the band is inscribed: From F. to C. with love. Always.[1]
Silver ring[]
Claire's ring from Jamie is a wide silver band decorated in the Highland interlace style with a small thistle bloom at the center of each link.[2] Inside the band is inscribed: Da mi basia mille.[3]
Outlander series[]
Outlander[]
At their wedding, Jamie puts his father's ruby ring on Claire's right hand during the ceremony,[4] but she returns it to him later as it's far too large for her finger.[5] After they return to Castle Leoch, Jamie gives Claire the silver ring.[2]
Dragonfly in Amber[]
After telling her daughter, Brianna, and the historian Roger MacKenzie about her journey into the past and life with Jamie Fraser, Claire notices for the first time in twenty years that there is an inscription inside Jamie's ring[3] – a line from a poem by Catullus, which Jamie recited to Claire during their brief "honeymoon".
Voyager[]
One of the first things that Claire tells Jamie, when they reunite after twenty years apart, is that she never took off Jamie's ring.[6]
Drums of Autumn[]
| “ | I am a jealous man, but not a vengeful one. I would take you from him, my Sassenach—but I wouldna take him from you. | ” |
— Jamie Fraser, upon returning Claire's
gold wedding band to her | ||
In 1767, when Stephen Bonnet robs the Frasers on their riverboat, one of Bonnet's associates, Roberts, demands that Claire hand over both her rings. Claire removes the rings from her fingers, then impulsively puts them both in her mouth, intending to swallow them. Roberts manhandles her, sticking his fingers in her mouth, and she bites down to discourage him. One of the rings goes flying out of her mouth, and she manages to swallow the other. Later, after Bonnet and his men have left, Claire swallows an emetic in order to recover the ring she swallowed, which she discovers was the silver ring.[7]
In 1769, Brianna arrives in Wilmington after sailing from Scotland. The day after reuniting with Roger (and their explosive falling out), Brianna is fetching tea for her ailing maid, Lizzie, when she notices a gold ring being used as stakes in a card game. She asks Bonnet about it, and agrees to meet him on his ship the next day.[1] When she does, he agrees to give her the ring as payment, and proceeds to rape her. Brianna leaves with the ring, and continues on her journey to finding Jamie Fraser.
After reuniting with her mother, Brianna confesses to Claire that she was raped by Stephen Bonnet, and returns the gold ring to her. She asks Claire not to tell Jamie, and Claire agrees to keep the ring hidden.[8] However, when Brianna and Claire learn of Jamie and Ian's beating Roger and selling him to some local Indians, Claire produces the ring in order to stem the flow of rage-induced argument between her husband and daughter.[9] Jamie keeps the ring until after they have rescued Roger, and returns it to Claire at the Gathering at Mount Helicon in 1770.[10]
The Fiery Cross[]
During the Gathering, Roger and Brianna's imminent nuptials remind Claire frequently of Frank, and she often glances at her gold ring while feeling his presence.
At Jocasta's wedding at River Run, Jamie agrees to join Phillip Wylie in a game of high-stakes whist, and asks Claire for her gold ring to use as a stake. Furious, first for Jamie's gambling and then that he would even ask for her ring, Claire gives him both of her rings.[11] Jamie ends up winning, and returns the rings to Claire.[12]
A Breath of Snow and Ashes[]
After Claire's near-fatal illness, her silver wedding ring fits so loosely on her now-bone thin finger that she fears it will fall off.[13]
TV Series[]
In the television adaptation, Jamie has his key to Lallybroch made into a wedding ring for Claire in the Season One episode, The Wedding. In the Season Four episode America the Beautiful, Bonnet steals Claire's key ring, and she keeps the gold one from Frank. Jamie later gifts her a silver ring resembling the one originally described in the books in Savages.
When Brianna spots Claire's key ring in Wilmington, she asks Bonnet about it and ends up being violently raped on the spot in exchange for the ring. After reuniting with her parents, Brianna's revelation about Bonnet to Claire, and that of Roger's being sold to the Indians, plays out in a similar manner to the book.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Drums of Autumn, chapter 41.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Outlander, chapter 23.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dragonfly in Amber, chapter 47.
- ↑ Outlander, chapter 14.
- ↑ Outlander, chapter 15.
- ↑ Voyager, chapter 24.
- ↑ Drums of Autumn, chapter 9.
- ↑ Drums of Autumn, chapter 45.
- ↑ Drums of Autumn, chapter 50.
- ↑ Drums of Autumn, chapter 71.
- ↑ The Fiery Cross, chapter 46.
- ↑ The Fiery Cross, chapter 49.
- ↑ A Breath of Snow and Ashes, chapter 66.