It seems some are speculating that Jamie and Claire didn’t survive including Cait and Sam in their BTS commentary. “Did they survive?” Do you want us to believe they ended up in some afterlife? I don’t think that is what happened. The show doesn’t seem to reinforce the afterlife theory. One might think Jamie’s little journey does but I think what the ending and the hints along the way really suggest is Jamie has a mission and a little magic himself.
I think the show is telling us they both survived. Here are the clues I think back that up:
- Physical Connection: Claire clings to Jamie. Like clings. She’s not letting go and she’s there for what seems like 24 hours or more. We see in Faith that Master Raymond spends time healing Claire. Maybe not days but a good amount of time to heal an infection. When Claire brings Susannah’s baby back she is just healing a small person and it seems like she’s just bringing the baby’s soul back to her body. See 3.
- No Interference: Roger and Ian try to get her to leave. She won’t let Roger touch Jamie. Instinctual? Will someone else touching the person interfere with Claire’s healing process?
- Soul’s Presence: When Roger and Ian leave, Claire asks Jamie, “Where are you?” Is this because his soul went wandering to the future and then the stones which is Jamie making sure Claire came back to the past. Does she need find his soul to heal him? Or maybe does he soul just need to be nearby? Is that what took so long to heal him? Maybe he’s soul being nearby is important. And the only reason I’m thinking that is because Mandy can see a persons aura (which I believe would actually be their soul) and she can tell if they can travel.
- White Hair: Claire’s hair turns white as Adawehi said it would when Claire reached her full power. Her full power implies she’s capable of something big and we’ve seen a time traveler heal (and if you read the books there is another one that heals Buck). We’ve even seen Claire seem to have an uncanny knowledge of what is happening in someone body.
- They Breath: Jamie and Claire’s eyes not only open but they both breathe. I think if their eyes had just opened I would have assumed Jamie and Claire were just together now. But their breath suggests life. I doubt one would need to gasp when entering an afterlife.
- Age: We see Jamie’s soul wandering and he’s younger looking. Jamie and Claire are the age they are supposed to be when their eyes open. It isn’t a younger Jamie and Claire. If Jamie’s soul goes wandering as a 23 year old, why would it suddenly become 60ish?
These things don’t suggest they did NOT survive. Jamie’s soul wandering to see Claire and to the stones to ensure they end up together could imply afterlife but we see Jamie’s soul as a younger man. I think if this were their afterlife we’d also see Claire as young too.
No, I definitely think Claire used her power to heal Jamie and this was a big heal because he did die. But the only way to get him to wake up was to heal the damage and have his soul there, hence, “Where are you?” I think Jamie came back to that moment when he left the stones and Claire white hair suggest she may have age a little by dispensing that much power.
