Dragonfly in Amber

Jamie Fraser is Claire’s husband and the second protagonist. Jamie is a man shaped by his life experiences. Jamie grew up on Lallybroch, the son of an illegitimate son, the product of a marriage that was made for love, but not sanctioned by the two clans involved. As a result, Jamie finds himself torn between two powerful families and a target of the English tyrants who roam the Highlands that are his home. Jamie finds himself in a foreign land at the beginning of this novel living a life that is both familiar and unfamiliar. Jamie is a guest of the king and a friend to a displaced prince. While Jamie does well in his new surroundings, he holds on to his fierce love of his home and the people who inhabit it.

Jamie is humorous, often using his good nature to charm the people around him. However, he is hiding a struggle with the trauma that comes after sexual assault. Jamie was arrested and tortured by Jack Randall, a torture that included both physical and mental torture as well as sexual assault. As a result, he often has nightmares and moments of doubt in regard to his honor and masculinity. This is illustrated both when Jamie learns that Jack Randall, his torturer, is still a live and again when he is placed in a position where he must tell his beloved friend and brother-in-law what happened to him. It is a dark shadow that moves along with Jamie throughout the novel.

Jamie shows his intelligence in this novel as he and Claire attempt to find a way to stop the rebellion in Scotland that will lead to the Battle of Culloden. He figures out before Claire that stopping the money will likely stop Charles Stuart from raising the support that he needs to begin the rebellion. His scheme does not work the way he wants and it only brings about the attempts on his and Claire’s lives by the Duke of Sandringham. However, it shows that he understands how the world works and his attempt at trying to change the future.

Jamie is an honorable man who does his best to respect those around him. He attempts to stop Charles Stuart to protect the men who live on his land. He defies Claire and gets into a duel with Jack Randall to defend Fergus and others like him who Jack has hurt. Jamie sends Claire back to Frank when he realizes that her life is in danger because of his actions. Although Jamie spends much of the novel jealous of Frank, he knows that Frank will take good care of Claire and she will be safe with him. Finally, Jamie pledges to die in battle to pay for what he did to Dougal on Claire’s behalf, and to save the men who fought under him. Even though it appears that is not how Jamie died, it is a highly honorable thing to do.

Roger Wakefield is a historian and Oxford professor. When the novel begins, he is working to clear out his adopted father’s home after his death, but quickly gets drawn into a project researching the members of Jamie’s troops for Claire. Roger stands as a contrast to Claire’s husband, Frank. Roger and Frank are both historians, both knowledgeable on the Jacobites. At first, Roger is nothing more than a source of information for Claire. However, after she tells her story about meeting, marrying, and living with Jamie Fraser in the 1740s, Roger becomes the first person in the modern world to believe Claire.

Roger also has a connection to the people Claire met in the 1740s. Roger is a direct descendant of Dougal MacKenzie and Geillis Duncan. As such, Roger is more than interested in helping Claire find Geillis to warn her what her fate will be when she travels back to the 1740s. Although the attempt is unsuccessful, Roger witnesses time travel and is with Brianna when she finally comes around to her mother’s seemingly outrageous stories. Unfortunately, Roger shows a spiteful edge when he decides to wound Claire for what she put him through at Craigh na Dun by telling her that Jamie did not die honorably as she believed. While not a major character, Roger provides Claire with much needed support and understanding while also providing information Claire spent 20 years trying to avoid.