Outlander: Can Lizzie Be Handfast To Jo AND Kezzie? Who Does She Marry?
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Outlander Season 6, episode 7!
Lizzie has now been handfasted to both Jo and Kezzie, but who Lizzie actually marries in Outlander season 6 is still unclear. Based on Diana Gabaldon’s sixth book, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, Starz’s Outlander season 6 has been brimming with drama, with the most recent scandal being the strange love triangle between Lizzie and the Beardsley twins. With a shortened season due to pandemic filming restrictions, viewers have only one final episode in Outlander season 6 to find out what comes of the so-called “throuple.”
Originally destined to be sold as a concubine when she first encounters Brianna fresh from the future, Lizzie is brought under Brianna’s wing and makes a life for herself among the Fraser’s on the Ridge. It is there that she meets the Beardsley twins, Keziah and Josiah, after they have been rescued by Claire and Jamie from indentured servitude. Raised in the backcountry and unaccustomed to life among others, Kezzie and Jo fall in love with Lizzie as she teaches them how to live in a civilized society. Over the course of Outlander seasons 5 and 6, the three are nearly inseparable, as Roger notes when he says that the twins have become Lizzie’s “tamed wolves.”
Now, in Outlander season 6, the truth of the relationship is brought to light after Lizzie discovers she is pregnant but is unclear if the child is Kezzie or Jo’s. Adamant that she loves both of them and that, as twins, they are like one soul split into two, Lizzie is distraught after Jamie performs a handfast ceremony essentially marrying her to Kezzie. She then dupes an unsuspecting Roger into performing a second handfast to marry her to Jo as well. And while it may be unconventional, the ancient process of handfasting is ill-defined enough to allow for the non-traditional union, much to the delight of Lizzie and the twins. This means that, for all intents and purposes, both ceremonies are valid.
The act of handfasting is first seen in Outlander when Bree and Roger are handfasted in season 4. It is a very old tradition that some believe pre-dates the Christian religion, however, it became more well known in the Middle Ages. Essentially meaning betrothal in medieval times, handfasting fell out of common practice in most of Europe during the early 16thcentury, however, the practice was both legally recognized and very common in Scotland up until the Marriage (Scotland) Act of 1939. As the BBC reports, handfastings “took place in lieu of a church wedding [and] were legally recognised as weddings resulting in marriage. Even after 1939 marriage 'by cohabitation with habit and repute' was legally recognised until the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 was passed.” Furthermore, the ritual lacks strict regulations, providing the perfect solution for Outlander characters Lizzie, Kezzie, and Jo, in that, Lizzie is essentially able to marry both Kezzie and Jo in a legally recognized ceremony (at least by Scottish law).
As is seen in Starz’s Outlander, Lizzie is handfasted to both the Beardsley twins in Diana Gabaldon’s book, A Breath of Snow and Ashes as well. Afterward, however, the throuple devise a plan to avoid scandal in which Lizzie tells everyone she has married Kezzie and Jo simply lives with them, which was not uncommon at the time. This lifestyle brings peace and joy to Lizzie, Kezzie, and Jo who, together, have multiple children and build a happy life together on Fraser’s Ridge.
New episodes of Outlander are available on Starz on Sundays.