WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Outlander season 7
Outlander fans were stunned to see Master Raymond (played by Dominique Pinon) back in the show after last appearing in season two in 2016.
He appeared in Claire Fraser’s (Caitríona Balfe) fevered dreams and hinted her stillborn daughter Faith could still be alive.
The character is shrouded in mystery but there have been many clues both in the Starz series and the books about him.
When fans in both the source material and TV show encountered him, he ran an apothecary in Paris and Claire visited the shop.
He recognised she was his descendent and it’s been suggested both Claire and Geillis Duncan (Lotte Verbeek) were distant relatives and so could time travel.
In the books, it’s been suggested Master Raymond is an ancient time traveller, who has lived in various eras and is described as being “prehistoric”.
He is also linked to other time travellers – in the novel A Breath of Snow and Ashes, Wendigo Donner (Brennan Martin) told Claire how he and his fellow Native Americans had been guided by a man called ‘Raymond’.
So, it seems Master Raymond has helped others traverse through different periods.
This form of guidance was hinted at in Master Raymond’s dealings with the dastardly Comte St Germain (Stanley Weber) with both knowing the other was a time traveller.
In the novella, The Space Between, the Comte St Germain returned to France 30 years later to seek out Master Raymond.
The two eventually met with the Comte asking him about immortality and time travel.
Another element of Master Raymond is his powers – he is thought to have the strongest abilities out of all the time travellers in Outlander.
Although the rules of time travel and indeed magic have remained undefined, it’s clear Master Raymond had otherworldly powers. He even gave Claire a crystal to protect her from poison.
He also helped to heal Claire after her baby loss, using strange methods to purge the infection from her.
Master Raymond could see auras and sensed Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) had a red one, which denoted Viking lineage, while Claire’s was blue to symbolise healing.
Interestingly, he sent Claire unmarked parcels when she returned to Scotland. These gifts contained an assortment of items, including a bear’s finger bones, a seal tooth, and a human molar – along with rare herbs and crystals.
The items initially seemed to be random but as the book series went on, fans would have noticed the bear’s digit was a reference to Jamie’s Native American moniker ‘Bear Killer’ in The Fiery Cross, while the human tooth related to the skull Claire found in Drums of Autumn.
Master Raymond seemed to be giving Claire hints about what was in her future.
He is an important and powerful figure, but it remains unclear whether he will return again after his brief moment in season seven.
Even so, his message to Claire to “have Faith” and vague apology will be coming into play in season eight with potentially damaging consequences.
Outlander is streaming now on MGM+ via Prime Video