Later, after Claire has returned to the Ridge, she is confessor to Allan Christie, who explains that he was the one that fathered Malva's child, and then murdered her. He admits that Malva wished to come clean to Claire about the deception.
However, if the show is to follow the Diana Gabaldon books, Claire is not the murderer. The killer is in fact Malva's brother, Allan Christie (Alexander Vlahos). He is also the father of her baby, having raped and abused Malva since she was a child. Malva had decided to tell the truth, which is why Allan killed her.
Titled "I Am Not Alone", Episode 8 saw Claire Fraser (played by Caitriona Balfe) falsely arrested by Richard Brown (Chris Larkin) and his men for the murder of Malva Christie (Jessica Reynolds) and her unborn child.
Tom sees him as a protector, and he potentially sees Jamie as a good man. Tom is jealous of Jamie, and that's where some of the issues between them lie. The idea of Jamie having an affair seems ludicrous. Claire eventually realizes that Malva is lying because she knows her husband well enough.
Claire is arrested for murder, but Tom learns the truth in the end. It was Allan who did it. It turns out Allan sexually abused and raped Malva, and he is the father of the child. He made Malva sleep with other men and eventually claim Jamie is the father.
Claire knows that she didn't have the same thing, but she can't get to the bottom of the cause. It's Tom who eventually finds out. Malva, before her death, tells him that she made them sick. She'd collected parts of the dead Sin Eater and poisoned Claire and Tom.
Malva was first introduced at the beginning of the season as a new resident of the Ridge who admired Claire's medical skills. Behind her admiration was a darker side of blackmail, betraying Claire's trust, and stalking. She falsely claimed Jamie was the father of her unborn child.
Jamie denies having slept with her, but the damage to his and to Claire's reputation is done—and the bond between the Frasers and Malva is severed, until just a few weeks later, when Claire finds Malva murdered in the garden.
Malva was trying to bump off Claire in the hopes Jamie would take pity on the unwed mother and perhaps take her in. There's also a sense Malva was jealous of Claire and may have wanted her out of the picture to improve her own prospects.
After starting off the season fairly well, Claire ended it imprisoned for Malva's murder in a rat-infested jail in Wilmington, injured from being stoned, her hair chopped off, and no idea whether Jamie is dead or alive.
Later, after Claire has returned to the Ridge, she is confessor to Allan Christie, who explains that he was the one that fathered Malva's child, and then murdered her.
Without any relatives to pay the family's debt for the voyage, the ship's captain sold the twins, to be indentured for thirty years against the debt. A man named Aaron Beardsley bought their indenture and brought them to his homestead as servants.
In the TV series, we get to see how Malva knows all about Jamie's scars. She spies on Claire and Jamie when they're in the barn, which is going to lead to all of his scars on show. The TV show gave us this scene so that it would clear up questions later on.
Tom and Claire unexpectedly meet each other with the preacher questioning whether Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) was aware of his feelings. In the book, Claire confirms Jamie is well aware of Tom's unrequited feelings towards her and understands them as someone who is in love with her.
Lizzie says that she did attempt to talk to her the day Malva died, but the door to the surgery was locked. Those knocks were what Claire heard in her hallucination before she found Malva's body. This knowledge should transform her way of thinking, but Lionel appears in the surgery.
She is eager to learn more about medicine and surgery. Throughout the episode, she worked with Claire and learned how to use the ether. Then she questioned Claire about her book and what Claire writes in there.
He planned to turn himself in rather than continue with his isolated existence any longer. Before he did so, Jamie and Mary slept together after they found comfort in one another. Mary was a widow, whose husband had betrayed Jamie previously and paid a heavy price when he was murdered by the people of Lallybroch.
“For Claire, the ether is not addictive in itself, but the feeling it gives you is. The idea of putting yourself to sleep and not having to deal with any of these feelings she's having inside, that is something Claire will become addicted to.”
Allan began molesting his half-sister Malva from the time she was a young child and eventually, gets her pregnant.
Therefore, she kept it a secret in order to protect Jamie's feelings. Though Claire was able to forgive Jamie for his infidelity with Laoghaire in the past, she was also aware that the situation was different in this case, as she was the one who had committed the unfaithful act.
Brianna slept with Roger after they were handfast. However, that same night, she was raped by Stephen Bonnet.
Quick-cut to the 1740s, and Claire is in Castle Leoch, once again being fussed over by Mrs. Fitz, who washes her hair and admires her purty skin. Claire is moved to confess the truth to Mrs. Fitz: Her husband isn't dead.
Traditionally, a sin eater was a person (usually a man) who was paid to eat bread that sat upon the corpse at a funeral. Thought to have soaked up their sins, when eaten by the sin eater, it absolves the dead of their sins leaving them free to enter heaven unburdened.
In a shocking turn of events, Outlander season 6, episode 6 saw Claire's apprentice Malva accuse Jamie of infidelity, claiming her unborn child is Jamie's, but the aftermath forgets one critical detail from Outlander season 3.
Fans are convinced Outlander heroine Claire will be poisoned by Malva after she was seen slicing off a finger of the dead Sin Eater (David Gant) who was introduced in episode two.