The season 7 finale of Outlander, "A Hundred Thousand Angels," delivered up some wild twists, even for this show. To make a long story short, thoughout the episode, Claire Fraser is visited by visions that remind her of Faith, the daughter she had with Jamie Fraser who died all the back in the season 2 finale. In that episode, Claire faints and wakes up later to learn that Faith had died in childbirth. We see her cradle the dead child in her arms, singing the song “I Do Like To be Beside the Seaside." An apothecary owner named Master Raymond treats Claire when she has complications from the birth.
Claire gives birth to Faith in the 18th century, but remember that she is a time traveler from the 20th century, which is how she knows the song “I Do Like To be Beside the Seaside," which wouldn't be written for many years after she sang it to a dead Faith.
Skip forward to season 8, and we meet Jane and Fanny, sisters whose mother has passed on. Jane herself dies in this episode, and Claire and Jamie over to take Fanny back to their home of Fraser's Ridge and raise her.
We learn that Fanny's mother's name was Faith, and that apparently she knows the song “I Do Like To be Beside the Seaside," even though it's a song of her time. At the end of the episode, Claire tells Jamie that she thinks that their daughter Faith survived!
“I think Jamie is in exactly the same place as the audience: complete shock,” Sam Heughan (Jamie) told Decider. “And I think the repercussions are going to be felt for a long time. It asks and poses many questions, I think, for Jamie and Claire, but also for the fans. And I think it’s such a great ending. The way that [Fanny’s] singing that song and the way that Claire finds out? It’s the beginning probably of how it’s going to continue into Season 8. So big, big reveal for the fans to look forward to."
Is Faith alive in the Outlander books?
In the latest Outlander book, Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone, Claire muses on the coincidence that her daughter and Claire's mother were both named Faith, but we don't get a firm suggestion that they're actually the same person. It's possible that's coming in the final Outlander book, which author Diana Gabaldon hasn't finished writing yet.
Questions arise, most obviously how Faith managed to survive. The strongest possibility is that Master Raymond and sent her to live with another family before dying himself. Also, Jamie's illegitimate son William slept with Jane before she died. If Faith was who Claire thinks she was, that means he slept with his half-sister's daughter. Finally, I have to wonder how Faith managed to retain the lyrics and melody “I Do Like To be Beside the Seaside" well enough to pass it onto her own kids when she only heard it the once as a baby.
We'll hopefully get answers to these mysteries when Outlander returns for its eighth and final season, which could be as early as this year.
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h/t Decider