Ellen Fraser's pearl necklace was a wedding gift to Ellen Fraser from Marcus MacRannoch, a former suitor. Jamie tells Claire that his father, Brian, gave the pearls to him to offer to his future wife, though he didn't say where they had come from.[1]
Description[]
The necklace is made of baroque, freshwater pearls, each of which are separated by small gold roundels. Whenever she doesn't have occasion to wear them around her neck, Claire typically kept the pearls sewn into the seam of her skirt pocket until bequeathing them to her daughter, Brianna.
Outlander series[]
Outlander[]
On their wedding day, Jamie, before the ceremony, takes a small pearl necklace out of his sporran and places it around Claire's neck. Dougal expresses surprised displeasure at sight of them when he recognizes the pearls as Ellen's, but Jamie merely replies, "Aye, and now they're my wife's."[2]
While at Lallybroch, Claire laments that she left the pearls Castle Leoch, unable to retrieve them during their hasty departure from the witch trial. At mention of them, Jamie remembers that Murtagh collected them from the castle, and he returns them to Claire.[3]
When Claire, Murtagh, and the MacKenzies find themselves at Eldridge Manor, Claire tries to use the pearls as compensation to entice Sir Marcus MacRannoch to help her rescue Jamie from Wentworth Prison. When MacRannoch sees the pearls, he immediately recognizes them as the ones he gave Ellen on her wedding day. Softened by his fondness for Ellen MacKenzie, MacRannoch returns the pearls and agrees to help Claire rescue Jamie.[4]
Dragonfly in Amber[]
In the winter of 1745-46, Claire is in Edinburgh trying to free the Lallybroch men who were arrested for desertion and confined in the Tolbooth. She needs to buy them blankets and warm clothes, and decides to pawn Ellen's pearl necklace.[5] Before leaving for Inverness in the early spring of 1746, Jamie goes to the pawnbroker to recover the pearl necklace.[6]
In 1968, Claire is wearing the pearl necklace when she reveals to her daughter Brianna that Jamie was Brianna's biological father, not Frank Randall. She tells Brianna to go to the National Portrait Gallery, where there is a painting of Ellen MacKenzie wearing the same pearl necklace.[7] Later, Claire admits to Roger MacKenzie that the necklace doesn't prove anything; she could have acquired the necklace anywhere, and used the portrait to support her "delusion."[8]
Voyager[]
In 1968, when Claire decides to travel back in time to try to reunite with Jamie, she leaves the pearl necklace for Brianna as a family heirloom.[9]
Drums of Autumn[]
At Christmas in 1969, Brianna wears the pearl necklace while attending Mass with Roger in Inverness.[10] In May 1971, when Roger receives boxes filled with Brianna's family history, he realizes that the pearl necklace is not among her belongings, and concludes that she has gone to find her parents in the past.[11]
When Brianna arrives at Lallybroch in June 1769, she shows the necklace as proof that she is Claire and Jamie's daughter.[12]
References[]
- ↑ Outlander, chapter 41.
- ↑ Outlander, chapter 14.
- ↑ Outlander, chapter 31.
- ↑ Outlander, chapter 36.
- ↑ Dragonfly in Amber, chapter 42.
- ↑ Dragonfly in Amber, chapter 45.
- ↑ Dragonfly in Amber, chapter 5.
- ↑ Dragonfly in Amber, chapter 47.
- ↑ Voyager, chapter 58.
- ↑ Drums of Autumn, chapter 18.
- ↑ Drums of Autumn, chapter 30.
- ↑ Drums of Autumn, chapter 34.