Outlander: Blood of My Blood star Rory Alexander clarifies why Murtagh Fitzgibbon Fraser’s romantic emotions for Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater) are so sturdy. Although Ellen is in love with Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy), and they’ll go on to be the mother and father of Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), Murtagh has his personal emotions for Ellen at this level within the Outlander timeline.
Blood of My Blood’s government producer Maril Davis beforehand defined that the Outlander prequel adjustments Murtagh by depicting a extra optimistic and romantic model of the character who has not had his coronary heart damaged but by Ellen.
In an interview with ScreenRant’s Tatiana Hullender, Alexander was now requested to interrupt down why Murtagh’s coronary heart is about on Ellen within the first place. He explains that Ellen is “an important fantasy” for Murtagh and that the character confuses this with genuine love. Try Alexander’s feedback beneath:
ScreenRant: Talking of the incomparable Ellen, far be it for me to disparage Murtagh’s emotions, however are you able to inform me from whence they emerged? Why are his emotions for Ellen so sturdy?
Rory Alexander: I feel she’s form of one thing of an necessary fantasy for him. She’s unobtainable – which, for somebody who doesn’t fairly know what his station is on this planet, provides him one thing to hope for and cling to and push in direction of.
I feel that if she had been a maid servant who labored in a close-by barn, he wouldn’t have the identical emotions. However as a result of she’s form of aspirational, he confuses these emotions with a real love. After which in a while, the love adjustments into one thing way more actual, largely as a result of it adjustments coloration. It does change into fully genuine, however not in the way in which that he thinks it should at first.
What This Means For Outlander: Blood Of My Blood
Rory Alexander’s Murtagh and Jamie Roy’s Brian wanting curious whereas standing in entrance of a carriage in Outlander: Blood of My Blood
Alexander’s feedback make clear that Murtagh is initially extra in love with the concept of Ellen than who she truly is. He’s largely fixated on her due to her excessive social standing, which makes her “unobtainable” and offers him one thing to attempt for as he figures out his personal place on this planet.
With out this social standing, Alexander admits that Murtagh would not have such intense emotions for her. Whereas he’s initially solely in love with Ellen because of the thought of her, Alexander does tease that Murtagh’s emotions will change into extra real as he sees Ellen in a distinct gentle in future episodes.
This hints on the character growth Murtagh will endure because the prequel continues. He’ll change into extra mature and wiser, which is able to affect the love he has for Ellen, though this won’t have a contented ending for him and is doomed to finish in heartbreak.
Rory Alexander’s Murtagh wanting into the space whereas standing in a crowd in Outlander: Blood of My Blood
Given how basic Ellen is to growing the Murtagh who seems in Outlander’s earlier seasons, it’s a aid to listen to how his emotions for her will change into extra nuanced within the prequel. It might be disappointing if the heartbreak that closely shapes him was based mostly on a romance the place he was solely in love with the concept of her.
There may be additionally the extra complexity of how Murtagh’s emotions affect his relationship with Brian in Outlander: Blood of My Blood, together with the necessary function that Murtagh performs within the lifetime of Brian and Ellen’s son years later. These complexities are a big a part of what has made the prequel compelling by itself and in the way it additional enhances the unique collection.
