[Spoiler Alert: If you have not seen the finale yet, please come back to this post after you do.]
There have been a few comments from fans about a particular part of Jamie and Claire’s goodbye scene in the book that did not make it to the onscreen version in the second season finale, “Dragonfly in Amber.” Author Diana Gabaldon to the rescue! Diana wrote today via social media why Jamie and Claire cutting their initials into each other’s hands was cut from the scene at Craigh na Dun. Before the finale (and I think many weeks or even months ago), I remember Maril Davis or Diana mentioning that it was not going to be in the episode, so I was already prepared for that to not be included. See what Diana wrote below, but go to her Facebook Page or click on the tweet below to read the book version of the part that was excluded. It doesn’t include any spoilers for non-readers, but I left it out just in case.
Mark me….or, you know…don’t….
I’d thought of posting this bit from DRAGONFLY before the show’s finale, and warning you that the show wasn’t doing it this way, lest finding this particular bit omitted might cause some of you (you know who you are…) to become Disgruntled and thus miss the real beauty and intensity of Jamie and Claire’s farewell.
But then I decided that I shouldn’t do that; not only would it be a spoiler, it might well rile some people _a priori_ and not only spoil the ending for them, but also cause any amount of hopping up and down and general agitation that I didn’t think would serve anyone going into what’s really a spectacular ending.
But I did want to show the original to you, both as a solace to the book-fans, and a small gift to the show-only fans.
(Btw…one of the writers was chatting with me before a Writers Bloc interview in LA and said, “We’re not going to do the cutting initials, but you’ll _love_ what we’re doing instead!” I didn’t say anything (out of shock) but the expression on my face must have given a general impression of not being proactively thrilled. I got a grip and asked calmly what that was, only to be told that they were going to have Claire give Jamie the chunk of amber with the dragonfly, prior to going through the stones.
I won’t recount the entirety of my comments to Ron and Maril in the wake of this conversation, but I recall saying, “…there’s a massive emotional distance between, “I love you so passionately that I want you to shed my blood and scar me forever so I can remember your touch,” and “Here, darling, take the ugliest wedding present ever to remember me by for the forty-five minutes before you die.”
They admitted the essential truth of this <cough>, but insisted that they couldn’t do the cutting because it would be messy (they had all kinds of trouble with the blood-knife at the wedding, and were envisioning blood dripping everywhere and smearing and what it would do to the costumes, which had to last through multiple takes) and take too long and interrupt the pacing of the scene.
In all of which contentions, they were indubitably right, but STILL. The only thing I was able to do was extract a promise that they’d speak to the props department about making a new chunk of amber that didn’t look quite so much like a piece off a broken telephone pole transformer.)
So anyway….here you go!
Mark Me. Or, you know…don't….
Read: https://t.co/MFcWhfmIdH
— Diana Gabaldon (@Writer_DG) July 11, 2016
