Murtagh has always been such a loyal friend to both Jamie and Claire. Not only has he stood by them through thick and thin, he also knows Claire's secret. And even more than that — he believes it. So you can imagine how distraught I was during the Outlander Season 3 premiere when his character was nowhere to be found after the Battle of Culloden. But given how many Scots lost their lives in the fight, many viewers are probably wondering: is Murtagh dead on Outlander? As of now, his fate remains unknown to both us and Jamie.
Speaking of Jamie, he was in pretty rough shape after the battle, having been significantly injured during his final showdown with Black Jack Randall. In fact, he couldn't even stand up straight, so he wasn't exactly in a great position to try and track his godfather and comrade down. He later became concerned and asked what had become of Murtagh, but no one could say for sure. Does that sound good? Not exactly. However, I refuse to start mourning him until I've seen an actual body. Plus, Murtagh is such a good fighter, I wouldn't put it past him to have survived the battle.
Book readers may have a better idea of Murtagh's fate, but for the sake of not spoiling anything I'm not going to go into any details about it. (However, keep in mind that the show sometimes alters what happens in the books.) Let's just hope that he'll eventually pop up at some point this season. If he does, it'll probably be when Jamie needs him most. Red Jamie has had a lot of terrible things happen to him throughout the years — most of which were at the hand of Captain Randall — but if there's been one constant in his life, it's been Murtagh, so I have a difficult time picturing what Jamie will do without him.
I'm sure the writers will eventually clue us into Murtagh's fate over the course of the next few episodes. But until I see him by Jamie's side, I'm going to continue to be cautiously concerned about his whereabouts. But even if he does manage to come out of the battle alive, that still doesn't mean he's safe — at least not for long anyway. This is Outlander, after all. So anyone can be killed at a moment's notice. But, in my opinion, Jamie needs him to survive. And, you know what, so do we.
