'Outlander's' Most Shocking Deaths Ranked

Publish date: 2024-09-15

Whether you know what's coming in the story having read the books or if you have no idea what heartbreak is in store as each episode unfolds, every death on Outlander packs a serious emotional punch.

Author Diana Gabaldon has laid the groundwork for executive producer Ron Moore to bring to life an intensely emotional adaptation of her best-selling novels. Outlander follows WWII nurse Claire (Caitriona Balfe) accidentally travels back in time to the Scottish Highlands in the 1700s. While learning how to survive in this new dangerous climate, she meets and falls in love with Highlander Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), and the rest is literally history. The two newlyweds attempt to navigate murky political waters to try and prevent the Scottish culture and way of life from extinction while war is brewing and enemies try to pull them apart from every direction.

While Claire and Jamie have managed to make it out of two seasons of the Starz drama alive, their friends, loved ones, allies and enemies have not been so lucky. In order to prepare for season three, The Hollywood Reporter looks back on all the most shocking deaths on Outlander so far.

11. Horrocks (Lochlann O'Mearain)
In "The Watch," Jamie's brother-in-law Ian (Steven Cree) was forced to take a man's life in order to save Jamie's. When the British traitor Horrocks arrived at Lallybroch, knowing full well the price on Jamie's head, he tried to blackmail Jamie. To everyone's surprise, it was Ian who saves the day by killing Horrocks. But since Ian was not accustomed to such violence, he's the first character on Outlander who really struggles with the consequences of what he's done, even though he knew that Horrocks was a bad man who was threatening his family.
10. Le Comte St. Germain (Stanley Weber)
After season one's villain, Black Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies), traumatized Claire and Jamie in truly disturbing ways, season two's villain, Le Comte St. Germain, felt like a disappointing follow-up. Sure, he was still dangerous, as proven by the fact that he poisoned Claire and tried to kill her on multiple occasions while she was in France. But he got his just desserts when the King of France (Lionel Lingelser) forced Claire to use her "sorcery" powers to decide the fates of suspected witchcraft users Master Raymond (Dominique Pinon) and St. Germain. Claire tried to save them both, but Master Raymond poisoned St. Germain after he confessed to trying to kill Claire. It was clear that Raymond spiked St. Germain's cup with poison, so viewers knew his death was coming, but it was shocking to see it finally play out in such a theatrical way.
9. Angus (Stephen Walters)
After the victorious Battle of Prestonpans, crude, goofy, fan-favorite Highlander Angus sat by his friend Rupert's (Grant O'Rourke) bedside as he recovered from his injuries. But since the stubborn Angus didn't get proper medical care for his own internal bleeding, he ended up collapsing and dying, with Claire unable to help him. Another fan-favorite Highlander, Kincaid (Gregor Firth), also died from his injuries from the battle. The one-two punch of these deaths made the victory bittersweet for everyone.
8. Arthur Duncan (John Sessions)
In "By the Pricking of My Thumbs," Geillis (Lotte Verbeek) poisoned her 18th century husband Arthur after Dougal's (Graham McTavish) own wife died so they can be together out in the open. But it did not work: Colum (Gary Lewis) forbade Dougal from pursuing a relationship with Geillis, and Claire and Geillis were then arrested for witchcraft.
7. Greg Edgars (James Robinson)
Geillis certainly was predictable. In the season two finale, Claire, Brianna (Sophie Skelton) and Roger (Richard Rankin) witnessed Geillis/Gillian Edgars (her modern name) going through the stones for her first time. Since she believed you needed a human sacrifice to travel through time, Geillis murdered her modern husband Greg to make it happen. While viewers didn't get to know her first husband all too well before he was murdered (besides him drunkenly pining for his missing wife), witnessing the stones' magic firsthand was the final push Brianna and Roger needed to believe Claire's story, so his death holds major weight for the series moving forward.
6. Alex Randall (Laurence Dobiesz)
Black Jack's younger, kinder brother Alex had the unfortunate luck to contract a fatal illness just as he fell in love with Mary Hawkins (Rosie Day). Before he succumbed to his illness, his dying wish was for his love Mary to marry Black Jack so that their unborn child would grow up with money and protection thanks to Black Jack's military history and legacy. This unholy matrimony solidified Claire's modern husband Frank's (Menzies) existence in the future, except it turned out that he actually came from Alex's bloodline and not Black Jack, much to Claire's delight.
5. Frank Randall
When the season two finale began, viewers immediately found out that not only have 20 years passed since Claire returned to Frank in modern time, but Frank has also died. We never got to see Frank raising Jamie's daughter Brianna as his own child, or helping Claire ease back into life in modern times. It was quite a shock to the system, but one that viewers had to get over quickly as the super-sized finale continued.
4. Danton (Andrea Dolente)
This death was extremely welcome to watch play out onscreen as Mary finally got her revenge on the Duke of Sandringham's (Simon Callow) valet Danton after learning that he was the masked man who had raped her in Paris. The young girl stabbed and killed him while Claire and the Duke could only look on, horrified. Mary took her fate into her own hands after being pushed around all her life, and it was truly a joy to see.
3. The Duke of Sandringham (Simon Callow)
Another shocking death that was more satisfying than heartbreaking came just moments later, when Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) also was finally able to get his revenge after not being able to protect Mary and Claire from Danton's attack. After learning that the Duke of Sandringham was the one who ordered the attack to happen in the first place, he beheaded the Duke and laid the bloody head at Claire's feet. Talk about a mic drop moment.
2. Dougal MacKenzie (Graham McTavish)
After accidentally overhearing Claire and Jamie's plans to assassinate Prince Charles (Andrew Gower) in an attempt to stop the disastrous Battle of Culloden before it happened, Dougal tried to kill them for treason. But Claire and Jamie worked together in the resulting fight, and they ended up overpowering the tough Highlander, stabbing and killing Dougal. This fan-favorite character always walked the line between good and bad, depending on his mood, but watching the expression on his face as he died was heartbreaking as his beloved nephew was the one who delivered the killing blow.
1. Faith
In one of the most heartwrenching episodes of the entire series, Claire gave birth to her and Jamie's daughter Faith, but she was stillborn and Claire nearly died from complications from the birth. The rest of the hour is told in flashbacks from Claire's perspective, from when she held her dead baby in her arms, in denial, all alone while Jamie was held in the Bastille for the dueling Black Jack Randall. It took Mother Hildegarde (Frances de la Tour), Master Raymond and Claire's friend Louise (Claire Sermonne) to help bring her back to reality. When Jamie was finally released from prison, he and Claire mend their broken relationship and the death of their child motivates them to leave Paris and return to Scotland.
What do you think was the most heartbreaking death on Outlander so far? Let us know in the comments section.