Ever since we first met Fergus Fraser (César Domboy) as an adorable little scamp named Claudel (Romann Berrux) all the way back in Outlander Season 2, it was clear there was more to his backstory than even he knew. Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) originally found the orphan boy living in a Parisian brothel and soon hired him for the important gig of pickpocket. Jamie and Claire (Caitriona Balfe) eventually adopted Fergus and raised him as their own. Years later, he is now happily married to adopted stepsister Marsali (Lauren Lyle) and running a printing shop in the American colonies.

But who were Fergus’s real parents? Would the Starz show ever confirm the theory that Diana Gabaldon herself teased in her books? Well, Percy Beauchamp (Michael Lindall) returns in Outlander Season 8 Episode 4 “Muskets, Liberty, and Sauerkraut” to reveal Fergus’s true parentage…

**Spoilers for Outlander Season 8 Episode 4 “Muskets, Liberty, and Sauerkraut,” now streaming on Starz**

Outlander Season 8 Episode 4 “Muskets, Liberty, and Sauerkraut” reveals that Fergus “Claudel” Fraser is in fact the biological son and legal heir to the nefarious Season 2 character, the Comte St. Germain (Stanley Weber) and his secret bride, Amelie Beauchamp. Hardcore fans of the books will already know that Gabaldon floated this idea in An Echo in the Bone, but didn’t officially confirm it. In the Starz version of the story, however, Fergus is now officially the Comte’s son.

Photo: Starz
Ultimately, though, Fergus is ambivalent about this news. As he explains to Marsali, most orphans dream of discovering that they are secretly the children of great men. However, as he sees it, he’s already the son of a great man, Jamie Fraser. If Fergus accepts his newfound title and wealth, it may feel like a betrayal of all that Jamie has given him. (Intriguingly, there’s another scene in this episode wherein Amaranthus Grey [Carla Woodcock] explains to Jamie’s bastard son William [Charles Vandervaart] that a title is a thing you have, not the person you are.)

Fergus is also skeptical because Percy Beauchamp’s motivation for sharing this news is that Fergus stands to inherit a vast amount of property that Beauchamp and his pals want to buy for their own devices. Fergus isn’t sure it’s such a great idea to get involved with Percy’s schemes.

So why is it such a big deal that Fergus Fraser is really the son of Comte St. Germain? Who was the Comte St. Germain? What was so important about the character back in Outlander Season 2 and why do some fans think that the mysterious character might secretly be Claire’s brother who is born in Outlander: Blood of My Blood?

Here’s everything you need to know about Fergus Fraser’s real family… the Comte St. Germain and Amelie Beauchamp!
Photo: Starz

Who Are Fergus Fraser’s Real Parents on Outlander? All About the Comte St. Germain and Amelie Beauchamp:

This week on Outlander, Percy Beauchamp explains to Fergus that years ago, his wife’s headstrong sister Amelie fell in love with the Comte St. Germain and ran away from her family with a parcel of stolen jewels. While the family assumed that the Comte had deflowered Amelie and dumped when she became pregnant, the true story was more complex. Percy Beauchamp discovered a marriage license that proved Amelie forced the Comte to marry her before they had sex. Nonetheless, the nobleman still jilted Amelie when she became pregnant. Amelie sought refuge in a Paris brothel, where she was snidely nicknamed the Baroness. Her son, Claudel, was raised by the other sex workers while she summarily rejected him. Amelie only called for Claudel, as Fergus was known, on her death bed, to ask him to be a good boy.

While we never met Amelie, the Comte St. Germain is one of the more fascinating characters we’ve met in Outlander’s entire run. Based on a real historic figure, the Comte St. Germain is introduced in Outlander Season 2 as a wealthy nobleman with an axe to grind with Claire. When Claire discovers that a sailor on one of the Comte’s ships has smallpox, the ship’s cargo is lost, along with a hefty profit for the Comte. It also turns out that the Comte, like Master Raymond (Dominque Pinon), is involved in the occult and is yet another time traveler.

We haven’t seen Comte St. Germain on Outlander since he drank poison and collapsed during a sorcery trial that he, Claire, and Master Raymond all underwent in Season 2. However, he returns in Diana Gabaldon’s 2012 novella, “The Space Between,” where he terrorizes Marsali’s sister Joan (Layla Burns) in 1778 Paris.

However, some Outlander fans also think we may have seen the Comte in Starz’s Outlander: Blood of My Blood…

Is the Comte St. Germain Claire’s Brother from Outlander: Blood of My Blood?

Well, that’s one popular fan theory! Because the Comte St. Germain is a time traveler obsessed with going forward in time, some fans have speculated that the Comte is baby William Beauchamp grown up and stuck in the past. (Though if he’s William Beauchamp, is it then weird that he married Amelie Beauchamp? Or is this a “Forget it, Jake, it’s Outlander” situation?)

The truth is we don’t know if this theory is correct or if this is what Matthew B. Roberts, who currently showruns both Outlander series, has cooked up for the Comte or little baby William.

“I imagined there would be a million theories out there, which I love,” Roberts told DECIDER about Claire’s brother last year. “Where I want to go with it, I think heads might explode…but I’m not going to tell you!”

He also stressed that while he has a plan for Claire’s brother, he could always change it. “So I want to keep everybody on their toes,” Roberts teased.