I recently did a second reading of The Scottish Prisoner, and I have always felt that the bog man was probably a time traveler. As a result, I decided to take a closer look at the evidence given in the text. Of course, this post is speculative, and the final verdict is still out.
Most of the evidence seems to be associated with the Cupán Druid Riogh. Who might have thought that these interesting words with no prepositions but with declensions would be an object revealing information? Tobias Quinn mentions that it is a “powerful symbol of kingship,” and the “ancient possession o’ the kings of Ireland” (ch. 3). As the name suggests, the cup is given to the king by the chief druid. Of course, Quinn’s account is based on legends. The notion of this cup being given to Prince Charles to claim the throne might work for those in Ireland, but it might not help at all when it comes to claiming the throne of England and Scotland. It is something that only the Irish might identify themselves with.
Chapter 19 reveals that the cup is made of wood with gemstones on the rim and its bottom shows the carving of a standing stone with a cleft down the center. This description implies that the bog man was probably a time traveler. Jamie also muses about this notion of the bog man being from another time, and worries about Claire’s fate as a result. Another interesting detail is the rocky hill in the middle of the bog. Some fascinating features of the hill include the stony High Chair where the kings were crowned and the presence of a circle of stones, one of them cleft like the one carved in the cup. The implication is that probably the bog man was also a king (or somebody with high status). In fact, the objects buried with him include not only the cup but also a gold brooch, a trumpet or horn, a ring and a gold hilt. Because these are valuable objects which were not stolen from the bog man, it seems that his death was more ritualistic. Furthermore, the threefold death was applied to him, “a procedure reserved for gods or heroes” (ch. 19).
Was the bog man a king? It is a possibility based on the details provided in the following article.
The Irish Kings were wedded to the goddess of the land. Therefore, they were responsible for the prosperity of the land. If there were a famine or a time in which everything went wrong, they would lose popularity. They would be blamed for every misfortune and end up as a “teind.”
The text offers other hints in regards to the bog man being a time traveler. Based on the Outlander Series, Jamie cannot hear the stones and cannot use them to travel back and forth. However, he and his daughter, Brianna, are gifted with the second sight.** He perceives the bog man’s presence every time he holds or looks at the cup or anything associated with the remains. Furthermore, the bog man wants the cup back. However, because his body was given a Christian burial at the rocky hill, one wonders whether he wants the cup buried with him at the new location, or back in the bog. Of note is how Jamie perceives the bog man:
. . . the sense of someone standing behind him was back and had about it something of . . . eagerness? Desperation? He could not say what it was exactly but it was bloody unsettling (ch. 19).
Of course, Jamie thinks that his perception is an indication that he should not lead the Irish Jacobites. Because of Claire, he knows that it is a doomed cause. Does the bog man feel the same way since he might be from the future? Of course, it could also be that Jamie perceives the stress that the bog man experienced as a ruler.
Here is another hint mentioned by Tobias Quinn:
“See, the thing is, we’ve found the Cupán — lost for two hundred years it’s been, and legends saying the faeries took it, the Druids reclaimed it, all manner of tosh, . . .” (ch. 3)
As Quinn noted, what is being said about the cup is nonsense. The cup as the bog man seems to be ancient, and it has been lost longer than that (his ring has runes speculated to be from the Ogham alphabet). However, the two hundred years gap and the observation that it was taken by the faeries are juxtaposed with the finding of the cup in that particular quote, creating an association between its owner and time traveling.
Abbot Michael also provides some information regarding the identity of the bog man:
“. . . But the notion is that the faeries owe a tithe to hell, for their long lives – and that tithe is one of their number, given over once every seven years” (ch. 19).
This comment brings to mind what Young Ian heard about Claire long before meeting her.
“Some o’ the auld women at Lallybroch say ye were wisewoman – a white lady, or maybe even a fairy. When Uncle Jamie came home from Culloden without ye, they said as how ye’d maybe gone back to the fairies, where ye maybe came from. Is that true? D’ye live in a dun?” (Voyager, ch. 27)
Obviously, there is an association between the faeries and time travelers. Was the bog man viewed as a faerie?
Hope you enjoyed reading this post. My next post will be about the “teind.”
** For more information about the second sight, I suggest reading the following post.
Sources
Gabaldon, Diana. The Scottish Prisoner. New York: Bantam Books. 2012. Print.
– – – . Voyager. 1994. New York: Bantam Dell. 2002. Print