Forget-me-not: Outlander’s Powerful Use of Flowers to Tell Stories

Possibly, and she doesn’t. Claire wants to ensure Frank’s existence and takes measures to ensure his family tree remains intact (at great personal cost to herself and others, as we witness many times throughout the first two seasons). Her life with Frank needs to be remembered, because we know all too well that Claire’s fate is to eventually return (albeit, reluctantly) through the stones to save herself and Jamie’s unborn child. But this little flower has an even bigger story to tell.

Jamie is the love of Claire’s life, and here’s where the meaning of the forget-me-not truly shines. My informal research found phrases such as “true and undying love”, “a connection that lasts through time”, and “fidelity and loyalty in a relationship, despite separation or other challenges.” Wow. If that doesn’t describe Jamie and Claire’s story to a tee then I don’t know what does. One more – “remembrance during partings or after death” – played out in the finale of season two when Claire returned to Scotland after Frank’s death. She’s certain Jamie is dead, but can’t help visiting the places that connected them in life – Lallybroch, Culloden – and she finds herself immersed in research, trying to find out what happened to Jamie. Will we see the little blue flowers on Craigh Na Dun when Claire returns to find Jamie, now that she knows he survived the Battle at Culloden?

Claire and Jamie have a wonderful exchange, getting to know each other a bit, and Jamie tells Claire what he used to do when he would visit the Black Kirk as a young boy. Besides climbing the walls, pissing on the stones (in defiance of the devil), sometimes they’d find berries or wood garlic to eat. He says he didn’t care much for the taste and shows it to Claire, who recognizes it immediately as lily-of-the-valley. 

Let’s take one last flower-fueled journey back to season two, in the heart-wrenching “Faith.” Claire lost the daughter she was carrying and Jamie is locked up in the Bastille for dueling with Black Jack Randall. After weeks in the hospital, Fergus visits and begs her to come home and we see them arrive at Jared’s apartment. The carriage door opens, and Fergus is the first to exit, holding a very powerful symbol in his hand – a bouquet of blue anemones. 

They’re not a casual prop, just something nice for Fergus to hold in his hand as a gift to Claire. The word “anemone” comes from the Greek word meaning, “the wind’s daughter.” Baby Faith is gone from the earthly world, but does her memory float on the wind? Anemones symbolize the death of a loved one or the loss of them to someone else. The dual meaning is a poignant reminder to Claire – she’s lost her daughter, but she’s also lost Jamie – to the Bastille.