So after you found out Jamie survived the battle of Culloden, you were like “yeah, right,” mostly because showrunners spent the entirety of the first two seasons convincing you that if Jamie and Claire failed to stop the Jacobite rebellion, it would mean the bloody end of their romance and the next chapter in Claire’s life with what’s-his-name. Made extra sucky, of course, on account of what’s-his-name looking exactly like arch-nemesis and all-around evil human Black Jack Randall. Never mind that everyone knew there was a third season coming, though to be fair George R.R. Martin pretty much destroyed the notion that lead characters never get killed off, so you never know.
Anyway, Jamie’s survival isn’t actually all that outlandish (har, har), especially when you consider that there was a real person who survived the battle of Culloden in much the same way as Jamie did. According to Parade, author Diana Gabaldon based Jamie’s character on a Jacobite officer who survived the battle along with 18 other wounded Jacobite officers. Just like the fictional Jamie, the officer was called Fraser, and he narrowly escaped execution after he was discovered hiding in a farmhouse with the other men.
That’s pretty much where the similarities end, though. Sadly, history does not remember how old or dashingly handsome the real Officer Fraser was, how sculpted his calves were, or whether he was married to a time-traveling World War II combat nurse. But hey, anything’s possible.
