Notice! Spoilers for Outlander season 7, episode 13, and the Outlander books ahead!
Traveling through time is always complicated, but Outlander Season 7 Episode 13 made things even more confusing. The fantasy series saw characters make several attempts to go back in time and change past events, but it never worked out that way. Outlander uses a model of time travel that is more paradoxical, so anything a time traveler does in the past only guarantees future events rather than changing them. Despite this, Roger did his best to save his father in Outlander Season 7, but the vision he receives in episode 13 makes everything a little more confusing.
Roger's father, Jerry MacKenzie, disappeared and was presumed dead when his plane crashed during World War II. However, Roger's 1739 adventures in Outlander season 7 reveals that there is more to this story. Roger and Buck discovered Jerry's 18th century dog tags and quickly deduced that instead of dying in the war, Jerry MacKenzie had accidentally traveled back in time. Roger successfully found his father in 1739 and helped him return through the stones to his own time. This is when Roger had a vision of himself, at five years old, snuggled close to Jerry..
Roger's vision of his father is misleading in Outlander Season 7
Outlander Makes It Look Like Roger Created a New Memory
Rogério mentioned in Outlander Season 7, Episode 13, which he thought might be flooded with memories of growing up with his father when Jerry was sent back to his own time. He still seems to hope that changing things in the past will somehow change history. Instead, Roger received only his somewhat confused vision. Jerry disappeared when his son was just a baby, so a five-year-old's vision Roger snuggled up to his father Outlander implies that these characters have successfully changed the past. How else would Roger only have this memory when Jerry crossed the rocks?
In fact, Roger didn't change anything by saving his father in 1739 and sending him back through the stones. Node Outlander books, Roger never finds out what happened to Jerry after he said his last "I love you" to his father when the man disappeared. Since it was not created by man, Roger assumed that Jerry was unable to get through the rocks. However, the novel by author Diana Gabaldon A Leaf in the Wind of All Saints reveals that Jerry traveled to Point a few years after his initial disappearance and found his wife and son just in time to save Roger during the Blitz before he died.
No one actually changed the past, but the vision Roger received in Outlander season 7 implies otherwise, especially since the TV show left Jerry's true fate ambiguous.
Jerry saved Roger when the latter was just five years old, but no one knew it since Jerry wasn't wearing his dog tags - he was buried as a John Doe. This only happened because Roger went back in time, but It was already part of his story.. In truth, no one changed the past, but the vision that Roger received in Outlander season 7 implies otherwise, especially since the TV show left Jerry's true fate ambiguous.
Outlander uses a paradoxical model of time travel
The past can't really be changed in Outlander
There are a few different models of time travel that movies and TV shows typically use. One is one"changeable schedule"model, which allows characters to travel through time and change events in their own future (think Marty McFly almost erasing his own existence in Back to the future). On the other hand, the paradoxical model of time travel makes it impossible to change anything. Anything one does in the past will only ensure the future. For example, Brianna went back in time to Outlander to save his parents from a house fire, but ended up being the one who caused the inferno.
Outlander consistently uses a paradoxical model of time travel, and Roger's journey to save his father in the 18th century so that his father could save his life in the 20th century is another example of this. However, the characters of Outlander continue to make efforts to change history despite consistent evidence that this is not possible. Roger having a vision of himself with Jerry only adds to this confusion. It makes it seem like Roger has successfully changed the past and somehow received a vision of some sort of alternate reality. Outlander should provide a definitive explanation of Jerry's fate to clear things up.
Outlander should reveal what really happened to Jerry MacKenzie
The Outlander TV Show Should Do What the Central Book Series Didn't
Novel derived from Diana Gabaldon A Leaf in the Wind of All Saints reveals the full picture of Jerry's story and makes clear what Roger's efforts in 1739 actually achieved. However, it appears that the Outlander The TV show will give audiences just a glimpse of Roger and Jerry's moment together on the London Underground. Instead of clarifying the clever paradox achieved by Roger's time travel, this vision just makes it seem like it's actually possible to change the past. This does Outlanderbig twists much less interesting and makes the complexities of time travel even murkier.
Hopefully, Outlander will reveal that Roger's vision was not a vision at all, but a memory that he only recalled because of his reunion with Jerry MacKenzie. This would mean that, in the TV show's version of events, Roger must discover the truth about Jerry–something that didn’t happen in the books. There are benefits to stories like Jerry's being ambiguous, but in the case of OutlanderMore definitive answers are needed to ensure that the public's understanding of how time travel works in this fictional universe remains accurate.