Of Time Travel and Outlander Tags

I found this particular tag floating around at Esther @ Chapter Adventures and thought, well, since I finished the first book and absolutely adored–and binge-watched the last few episodes of the Starz show (I mean those last few episodes of season 1 were BRUTAL), there was no way I’d avoid doing this tag. Even though I hadn’t been technically tagged (or, you know, do blanket tags count? I’d say so, lol!).

The only rule regarding this tag is that while it is an Outlander tag, one should not use Outlander as an answer to said questions. I suppose this shouldn’t be too bad…

The Questions

You touch some standing stones, and you get transported back in time. What year would you end up in?

Assuming that the standing stones are mostly a phenomenon within Europe, and I was limited to time travel and not spatial displacement, if this were up to me, I’d be somewhere in England during the 1920s. Suffragists, flapper dresses, booze, media frenzy, electrical innovation, and socialite parties quasi-Gatsby-style. Yes please!

But knowing my luck, I’d probably stumble onto a pair of standing stones while randomly vacationing in Norway and end up sent all the way back to the 1100s Viking Era, running from burly warriors and their need to pillage coastline villages…

Claire is a good nurse, but what type of skill would you want a fictional character to excel at?

Whatever the eff the woman wants to excel at. I always found sleight of hand and the talent for misdirection to be one of the best skills a fictional character can have. A hidden dagger pressed close to the thigh, a thin, sharp weapon used doubly as a hair ornament. A set of lockpicks and a long sash used as rope. Yeah. Master thief galore! I’ve watched too many heist movies clearly…

Jamie and Claire are the ultimate relationship goals. Who is your favourite fictional couple? 

Hah. This usually changes depending on my current favorite book. Jamie and Claire make a cute couple, but I’d say they’re far from my idea of relationship goals (though honestly, watching the TV series just makes me rethink my stance–Balfe and Heughan are just TOO ADORABLE FOR WORDS). I have too many OTPs this year to give a straight answer to this question, though as of writing this, my favorite fictional couples are Shazi and Khalid from Renee Ahdieh’s The Wrath & the Dawn duology and Cinder and Kai from Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles. Again, all likely to change with the ever-altering seasons and whatnot.

The ending of Outlander was shocking. What is one book that you read that totally blew your mind?

I wasn’t really “shocked” by the end of Outlander. Honestly, it was the chapters prior to the end that rattled me a bit. Still, a person who often blows my mind with his stellar endings is Brandon Sanderson. Every ending in the Mistborn trilogy left my mouth hanging open, and this is similar in the case of Steelheart, where I was mostly wide-eyed at the revelations he wrote up at the end of the book. There’s really no excuse why I haven’t picked up Firefight yet…other than the fact that I’m still only halfway through Sanderson’s The Way of Kings.

Scotland has lots of castles and we see a few in Outlander. What fictional kingdom would you want to live in?

Tortall! Always and forever Tortall! Tamora Pierce’s Tortall books will always hold a special place in my little ole’ heart, and I’ve loved reading about the Tortallan world so much, with its Gifted kings and queens and abolished slavery laws. I’d preferably want to live in a Tortall post-Immortals but I’ll take whatever I can get, to be honest. Maria V. Snyder’s Sitia (and occasionally Ixia) from the Study series are a close second, though. In any case, I’d love to live in a world filled with magic.

Outlander has some very steamy scenes. What is your favourite romance novel?

The magical types. Honestly, I love the idea of romance, so if it’s there in a novel, I’m not going to shy away from it. That said, I prefer the idea of slow-burn romances more than anything else. Cybele’s Secret by Juliet Marillier is definitely one of my favorites in that respect. Paula and Stoyan have undergone such a trial of trust and love that it’s just…swoon.

The Jacobite rebellion is a huge plot point in Outlander. What is one of your favourite battles from a book?

I wasn’t such a big fan of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire, however there was a particular dragon battle scene at the end of the book that comes to mind, which I still remember vividly. Novik has a way with battle scenes, because she invoked the same kind of imagery in Uprooted, which I loved to bits. In Uprooted, there is a battle in the forest, the people against the Wood, an entity in and of itself. It was a pretty intense fight.

Now, if you’re looking for an epic battle amongst giants, I’m totally going to point you in the direction of Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan trilogy. Or, for a more a fight of mecha-level epicness, Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One has an awesome battle scene at the end of the book.

Jamie and Clarie get married very unexpectedly. What fictional characters would you like to marry on a whim?

Hah. I’d like to see Miss Fisher and D.I. Jack Robinson get hitched (from Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries). But Phryne is too sensible and much too free-willed for that, and Jack’s clearly not going to push the issue, lest he lose the Phryne he fell in love with. So alas, I’m at an impasse in that relationship. All the same, it’d be fun to see them play husband and wife in some undercover case they’d be working together in. Cue fanfic goodness here! *starts her search*

Scotland is a very beautiful place. What fictional world would you love to visit?

Egads. I’d love to go everywhere! I wouldn’t be able to choose just one particular world to visit, though if I had to choose, I’d go to a fantasy world over a scifi one. Preferably one with dragons. Preferably so I can be in a party where I can slay dragons. Alright, you got me. I’d totally go to Ferelden or Orlais in the Dragon Age series. Maybe before the Blights though. I’d love to see the elven wonders of Arlathan before its fall. And if the Arbor Wilds was any indication of how beautiful Thedas used to be, then hell yes, I’m sold.

If you could change the past, would you?

This poses an interesting question, because I always feel like traveling through time does change the past, whether or not the traveler has intended to do so. Do I want to change particular events in the past concerning me? Yes. Do I want to change particular events concerning important decisions in history? Maybe. Would I want to do it? Probably not. I wouldn’t risk changing possible fixed points. I’ve seen how disastrous that shmat is in Doctor Who.

But the question is moot if I’m willing to travel time even as an observer (which I am). For all anyone knows, an observer could innocently purchase wool at a nearby market without it doing much in the short run. Then all of a sudden, there’s a shortage of wool, nations are vying for said wool, and suddenly all of Greece is surging against Troy because they have said wool (and maybe because Troy stole a Spartan princess from her cuckolded husband…who knows). Or, I don’t know, the observer steps on an excellently-grown potato, and suddenly no more potatoes grow, and that observer has just inadvertently caused the Irish Potato Famine. BOOM. Butterfly effect. XD

Yeah, time travel is a messed up venture. I’d still do it, though…even if the risk is changing the past and screwing up the future. *coughs*

I’d just claim plausible deniability after.

And, like Esther, I’m totally tagging anyone who wants to do this tag. It was fun, and it actually made me think about my stance on time travel, lol!

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Do you have a particular time period you’d like to go to as an observer?

How about fictional battles? What would you like to see?