‘Outlander’: 3 Reasons ‘Evidence of Things Not Seen’ Parallels ‘Faith’

Outlander‘s final season was bound to break fans’ hearts in some ways, and it was particularly jarring to uncover that it would come in the form of a book twist so big that even non-book readers could have predicted it. Warning: Spoilers for Outlander Season 8 Episode 7 ahead! 

That twist is the death of Fergus (César Domboy), who perished in a printshop fire after saving his children from danger. In Diana Gabaldon‘s book series, Fergus survives the fire, but little Henri-Christian does not, and according to the author, the change came due in part because the showrunners couldn’t accept killing the little boy, belonging to Fergus and Marsali (Lauren Lyle).”

Gabaldon told Parade, “I thought if they were too chicken to do it right, they should just have eased back and burned down the print-shop — but (luckily) not my call.”

Still, despite fan upset and clear deviation from the source material, Fergus’s loss in the TV show works narratively within the context of what fans have seen so far in the show. If anything, the title of the episode, “Evidence of Things Not Seen,” is a dead giveaway for the heartbreak found within it.