Probably many of us are puzzled concerning the identity of the tithe/teind in The Scottish Prisoner. Is it Tobias Quinn or Jamie? In my two previous posts, I discussed the notion that the faeries do sacrifice one of their own to hell. Furthermore, I brought up the conception that time travelers are seen as faeries (check the recommended readings on this post). However, Jamie and Tobias are not time travelers.
When it comes to Tobias Quinn, he is the one going to hell because he committed suicide. However, many elements of the ritual associated with sacrificing the Irish Kings are missing, such as the threefold death. There is also a lack of details in the novella when it comes to how influential was Tobias among the Irish Jacobites. Was he viewed as a leader at a certain point? Of course, there are some similarities between Tobias and the bog man. Both end up being buried in the same location. The bog man most likely failed as a king to his people and was sacrificed. Tobias Quinn failed in leading the Irish Jacobites to dethrone the English King.
I tend to suspect that Jamie was supposed to be the teind/tithe. There is plenty of evidence in both The Scottish Prisoner and Voyager that supports this notion.
He had been born a leader, then bent and shaped further to fit such a destiny. But what of a man who had not been born to the role he was required to fill? John Grey, for one. Charles Stuart for another (Voyager, ch. 12).
Throughout the Outlander series, Jamie is seen as a leader by many. Of course, he is not a king, but he is a “natural” leader. First, he was not supposed to be the Laird of Lallybroch. That role used to belong to his brother initially. At Ardsmuir, other prisoners consider him the leader. He is knowledgeable when it comes to administering the land and the household, but he also excels in battle. Jamie’s color, red, is associated with success and triumph and the warrior, the Red Man (see recommended readings for this post). Furthermore, the threefold death is applied to “gods and heroes” (The Scottish Prisoner, ch. 19).
Jamie can also be viewed as a sacrificial victim metaphorically. He has sacrificed everything to keep his family and tenants safe. One of the best instances is when he gives himself to the English to become a prisoner at Ardsmuir.
Abbot Fitzgibbons also tries to convince him to take the cup and to lead the Irish Jacobites.
“You’re in the prime of your manhood, Shéamais Mac Bhrian,” he said. “Is it right that you should waste the strength and the gift you have for leading men?” Jesus God, he wants me to do it, Jamie thought, appalled. Take that cursed thing and do as Quinn wants (The Scottish Prisoner, ch. 19).
Another interesting detail is the dream Jamie has at the beginning of The Fiery Cross in which he is the King of Ireland, probably a metaphor to his role as a military leader during the War of the Regulation.
Jamie also muses about the notion of being the teind/tithe while burying Tobias.
Teind. Which of them was it who was meant to be the tithe to hell? Quinn, or him? < . . . > But the nagging thought recurred: Why leave the word written there in his blood? Was it confession . . . or accusation? Surely if Quinn had known what Jamie had done, he would have written “fealltóir” Traitor. And yet the man was an Irishman, and therefore poetical by nature. “Teind” carried a good bit more weight, as a word, than did “fealltóir” (The Scottish Prisoner, ch. 36).
Did other Irish Jacobites know that Jamie “betrayed” the Jacobite cause by working with Lord John? If this is the cause, they, including Quinn, probably viewed Jamie as a leader who failed them.
Finally, the most interesting detail is Jamie’s vision of the sacrifice while burying Tobias’s body. Is that the bog man? Or, is it Jamie? Whoever he is, he shares a strong resemblance with Jamie. Of course, this event is not the only time in which Jamie has experienced the presence of the Wild Hunt. He encountered them when he was hunting a deer for his family and tenants, while he was living in the cave after Culloden. He relates to Lord John that one cannot look at the sidhe because they could cast a spell on their victims and take them to their world (The Scottish Prisoner, ch. 28). This particular detail is important because Jamie does not run away the second time he encounters the Wild Hunt. He thinks they are not coming for him but Quinn. One wonders whether the sidhe cast a spell on Jamie in this particular event.
Of note is the description of the sound emitted by the horns as the honking of wild geese. It probably signifies that the Irish Jacobites, the Wild Geese, want a sacrificial victim, somebody who has failed them. Puzzling is the identity of the man being sacrificed. Here are some interesting details (The Scottish Prisoner, ch. 37):
- The sacrificial victim is a tall man: ” . . . he stood a head taller than anyone else, and now the sun lit his hair with a gleam of fire. . .” Does the man have red hair?
- The man is wearing a checkered cloak and knee-length breeches. Is that a plaid cloak and a kilt?
Based on the Outlander Series, the reader is aware that Jamie has visions of loved ones, such as his mother and his son, and of despised ones, such as Black Jack. He also experiences OBEs, which means he can create an image of himself. Is this vision a creation of his mind since he is musing about the notion of Tobias viewing him as a traitor before the apparition of the Wild Hunt? Or, are these entities real ghosts? It seems to be a combination of both.
The following passage reveals that the sacrificial is likely to be Jamie:
. . . The tall man wore a rope around his neck, and Jamie gulped air as though he felt the noose tighten around his own throat (The Scottish Prisoner, ch. 37).
It seems that Jamie is under a spell and he is unable to recognize himself. That could also explain why the attire and the physical appearance of the man are vaguely described. Finally, Jamie has not been having any idea of how he looked like for a long time, a significant reason why it took him a little bit longer to notice the resemblance between him and his son compared to others while living at Helwater:
The trouble was that Jamie Fraser had not actually seen himself clearly for several years. Grooms did not have looking glasses, and he had sedulously avoided the company of the maids, who might have provided him with one (Voyager, ch. 16).
Thanks for reading! I will be writing about Drums of Autumn in the following weeks.
Sources
Gabaldon, Diana. The Scottish Prisoner. New York: Bantam Books. 2012. Print.
– – – . Voyager. 1994. New York: Bantam Dell. 2002. Print