'Outlander' Season 5 will likely explore Otter Tooth's backstory, going by Diana Gabaldon's 5th book 'The Fiery Cross'
From the vile villain Stephen Bonnet (Ed Speleers), to charming but sly Aunt Jocasta (Maria Doyle Kennedy), season 4 of 'Outlander' introduced us to many characters. The most mysterious among them is, of course, the mysterious ghost that appeared in episode 3. It was not until the season finale we came to know some truth about the ghost, whose name is Otter Tooth.
Even without his presence, he forms a central plot to how the season wrapped up. Young Ian (John Bell) had to sacrifice himself to the Mohawks in exchange for Roger MacKenzie's (Richard Rankin) life when, in fact, that would not have been necessary, had the Mohawks not seen Otter Tooth's opal stone around Claire Fraser's (Caitriona Balfe) neck.
Soon after encountering the ghost, who although looked rather scary had helped Claire find her way to Jamie (Sam Heughan), she immediately found he was a time traveler, just like her, thanks to his skull featuring silver fillings, which Claire knows was not discovered until 1800s.
His story is then forms a key premise when Claire, Jamie, Ian and Rollo reach Shadow Lake, where Roger is left captive. As they strike a trade deal with the people of Shadow Lake, Claire's opal necklace takes the Mohawks aback and they are dismissed from the village. However, few of the Mohawks approach the Frasers later and reveal the significance of the stone.
It belonged to a Native American named Ta'wineonawira or Otter Tooth. A Mohawk lady narrates it to Claire; "Many years ago before I was born, a man came to us. He talked of war, he said to kill the white men." Otter Tooth's preaching caused a lot of unrest in the village, so he was banished from the tribe, but because he kept returning, he was beheaded. However, his ghost is still considered to haunt the village, and the opal Claire carries around her neck was a bad sign for the Mohawks.
In the opening scene of season 4's finale 'Man of Worth,' we see Otter Tooth as a young man in white shirt and denim pants, unlike how he appeared as a ghost with black paint smeared across his face. However, his story is not yet over. There are still so many questions we have regarding this time traveler, who was he and what made him who he is.
Thankfully, the upcoming season will address and expand Otter Tooth's story because it is based out of 'The Fiery Cross,' Diana Gabaldon's fifth book of the 'Outlander' series and in it, we find more details about him. In the books, the Mohawk people describe him as "the Fire-Carrier." His name was Robert Springer before he became Otter Tooth and Claire finds that out after Young Ian returns to give Claire a journal belonging to the time traveler.
His story is explored more and the Frasers' figure how this man became a traveler, from where and when did he come. Turns out, he time traveled from 1968 and was a core member of Montauk Five, a group that seeks to promote the rights of Native Americans in the 20th Century. At first, the Montauk Five traveled back in time together to convince the tribes to align themselves with the British to ensure victory in the American Revolution. But Otter Tooth had plans of his own to ensure the Natives did not mix with the settlers, leading him to travel back to a different point in history compared to his team.
That landed him in trouble, since history, as we know, refuses to change, not even in 'Outlander,' where knowledge of the future does not alter the course of one's fate. Otter Tooth's story will also play out on our core characters as Brianna had time-traveled to ensure her parents don't die in the fires at Frasers Ridge.
