At the end of episode 7, Claire is arrested for Malva's murder, with many of the accusing residents citing jealousy or witchcraft as her motives, while the fact the young woman's body was found in Claire's garden didn't help her case.
Eventually, Claire learns the truth about the paternity of Malva's baby.
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.
As readers of Diana Gabaldon's books know, Jamie is not the father of the baby and it was all a ploy on Malva's part to hide the identity of the baby's real father. Malva was also sleeping with a number of other men on Fraser's Ridge to deflect attention from the real father of the child.
Tom later confesses to Malva's murder, although he did not do it; he tells Claire privately that he knew the girl was like her mother, a witch and a siren, luring men. He also tells her he found the remainder of Ephraim's bones in Malva's work basket, beating her for the truth.
Although Allan got away with murder, he later told Claire the truth at Malva's graveside and admitted to her raping and impregnating her. Additionally, Allan confirmed he took Malva's life because she was going to reveal the truth and he didn't want this.
Malva Christie might have only been introduced in Outlander Season 6, but she has a central role in the drama. The daughter of Tom Christie, she is both naive and sinister, and many Outlander fans have struggled to work out her true intentions.
During Outlander Season 6, Episode 6, Claire's near-death experience was the least of her problems. Months later, the Christies came to the Frasers with news. Malva is pregnant and she claims that Jamie is the father.
The haircutting was part of the process. Malva wanted to make Claire undesirable. She wanted to make Jamie turn to her instead of to his wife. We can get a sense of that from the way Claire worried about Jamie seeing her with the short, jagged hair.
Jamie also has two stepdaughters, Marsali MacKimmie Fraser and Joan MacKimmie, from his marriage to his second wife, Laoghaire MacKenzie.
Tom confesses to Malva's murder and tells Claire that the strange sickness he shared with Claire seen at the beginning of Outlander season 6, episode 6 was Malva's attempt to murder them both.
She's never seemed curious about the intimacies of a couple before. This suggests that she's up to something. Watching the two gives her information to use in the future.
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. “It's like the peak of the tragedy, and it's so visceral.
This is dysentery. Claire tells everyone that a contaminated water source most likely caused it, but after funeral upon funeral — the body count is high! — no one can seem to figure it out. And then Claire falls ill.
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.
In the novels by Diana Gabaldon, it is actually Malva's brother Allan (Alexander Vlahos) who is the father of her baby and is the cause of her untimely demise. Allan confesses to Claire he slept with his sister on several occasions and forced her to claim the baby was Jamie's.
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.
Tom Christie's biggest confession, however, is that he is deeply in love with Claire. It is still unclear if Tom Christie has identified his son (and Malva's half-brother), Allan, as Malva's true killer when he falsely confesses or if he only takes the blame because he knows Claire to be innocent.
Jamie does not sleep with Malva in Outlander
The story comes out over the course of A Breath of Snow and Ashes. Malva makes her story about Jamie being the father of her unborn baby convincing. She shares that she knows about the scars on Jamie's back.
Some think Jamie's spirit (but not his body) traveled to through time to guide Claire to him; others suggest Jamie had a near-death experience after the Battle of Culloden, and that's why his ghost is 25 when he appears to Frank.
For instance, Lord John Grey learns the truth about Claire, Brianna, and Roger... though he has a hard time believing it. And speaking of Roger and Brianna, they get into their own time-travel trouble — Roger with his ancestor Buck and Brianna with Rob Cameron.
In the novels, Marsali and Fergus apparently know. They haven't been told on-page, but Diana Gabaldon confirms that the two know that Claire, Bree, and Roger are time travelers.
Marsali however took to each trial courageously and saw a future away from Fraser's Ridge. In the fifth episode, she decided it was best to move her family to New Bern for a fresh start and to keep Fergus far from its negativity.
Henri-Christian is born as the fourth child of Fergus and Marsali. He is a dwarf and some of the residents of Fraser's Ridge believe he is a punishment for his parents' sins. Henri-Christian is placed in a basket and put into a stream by some boys. Roger saves him and baptized him.