Malva's Murderer Is Revealed! 'Outlander' Author Diana Gabaldon Weighs in on Season 7's Second Episode

The mystery of the identity of Malva's (Jessica Reynolds) murderer was finally solved when Outlander aired its second episode tonight, and it was a bit of a shocker to learn that Allan Christie (Alexander Vlahos) killed his half-sister/cousin/mother of his unborn child.

Hearing Allan confess to the incestuous relationship he had with Malva was hard on Claire (Caitríona Balfe), especially when Allan told her that Malva couldn't bear to hurt her, so she was going to come clean, and that’s why he had to stop her. That’s when Claire realized Allan killed Malva and part of the reason was her loyalty to Claire.

But even so, New York Times bestselling author Diana Gabaldon shares with Parade that that doesn’t mean that Claire should feel guilty. She had been nothing but kind to the Christies, teaching Malva about medicine, and repairing Tom Christie’s (Mark Lewis Jones) hand so he didn’t lose the use of it.

Related: Will Jamie Be Able to Save Claire from the Hangman on Outlander? Author Diana Gabaldon Weighs in on Season 7's Premiere Episode

“Well, I imagine she’d feel sick: not only are Malva and her child tragically dead, Tom Christie has just effectively given up his life to protect Claire from the accusation—and now she learns the truth about Malva’s death, which reveals Tom’s sacrifice (and presumed death) to have been the result of Allan’s lies,” Gabaldon says by way of explaining the plethora of emotions Claire is experiencing.

She continues, “So much carnage and loss. I think Claire feels that, along with the helplessness of not having been able to save any of the Christies, but honestly, I can’t see why she should feel guilty. Horrified and saddened, but while she’s been involved in all of this, she’s not actually responsible for any of it, and as Jamie says, she’s done no wrong to take her life from Tom’s hand.”

The Christie death count increases when Young Ian (John Bell) kills Allan —essentially wiping out the entire family— for having murdered Malva. As Ian and Claire prepare to bury Allan, Ian admits that because he had lain with Malva, he thought he might be the father of Malva’s baby.

Then the episode moves on to Bree (Sophie Skelton) and Roger’s (Richard Rankin) preparations for their return through the stones to the future, where daughter Mandy will be able to receive the heart surgery she requires to save her young life. Jemmy shared with his parents that Mandy can hear the noise the gemstones make, so they know that she, too, inherited the time traveling gene.

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But first the family goes to Wilmington to find more gemstones—one for each of the four of them, because the gemstones ease passage for time travelers. While in Wilmington, Jamie runs into Lord John (David Berry) and the two men say their goodbyes when Jamie reaffirms to Lord John that he won’t be fighting on the side of the Red Coats, so it is too dangerous to continue their friendship.

So, Jamie is saying a lot of goodbyes. Even so, that doesn’t stop him from presenting Claire with an extra gemstone he has been saving for her to use to return to the future should she want to return with Bree and Roger or in the event of his death.

He has been wondering if he’s enough for Claire, especially with Bree, Roger and the grandkids returning to the future, which means they will most likely never see each other again. But Claire throws the gemstone out the window. She doesn’t need a backup plan to her life with Jamie.

“He’s deeply relieved,” Gabladon says. “He’s steeled himself to take/send Claire back to her own time before, and he knows how that felt. Ditto, living without her for 20 years. To lose her again, and this time undoubtedly for good…? No, loving Claire undoubtedly complicates his life (to say the least), but he sees that love as the best part of him, and everything that makes that life worth living.”

Related: Outlander’s Sam Heughan on Life Isn’t Worth Living for Jamie Without Claire

Bree and Roger’s journey back to the future isn’t the only time travel story in this episode—and the second one is more dramatic. Wendigo Donner (Brennan Martin) shows up at the Big House on Fraser’s Ridge to get Claire’s help so he can return to his time. First, he wants to know how time travel works, but then he also demands that she turn over her gemstones to him. Of course, she doesn’t have the cache of gemstones that he imagined she did, and when she refuses him, he calls to the men he brought with him to search the house, during which they discover a hoard of gold. Of course, the Frasers deny knowing anything about it—it turns out the gold belongs to the Buggs—but the men don’t believe them.

They continue to search and when they get to Claire’s office, they clumsily spill the ether and then Wendigo strikes one of the matches Brianna made to light a candle to see better, and everything whooshes up in flames and the Big House burns to the ground.

“The Big House in my mind is actually much more real to me than the show version of mini-Versailles on the Ridge. (I don’t object at all to it being that way; the Big House as imagined by the inimitable Jon Gary Steele is one of the beautiful fantasy aspects of the show.),” Gabaldon commented when asked how hard it was to watch it actually burn rather than just imagining it in her book.

“The other thing is that they do send me all the dailies from the show, so I see/saw the house burning as though I were on set, with all the prep, camera changes, multiple takes, actors moving in and out of character, etc. So, I kind of don’t have the experience that the audience will have, of entering into the emotional reality of the destruction.”

New episodes of Outlander are available to stream weekly on Fridays at midnight on the STARZ app, all STARZ streaming and on-demand platforms, and internationally on the Lionsgate+ premium streaming platform in the U.K. New episodes will air weekly on the STARZ linear platform on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET in the U.S.

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