John's daughter and heiress Màiri had married Donald Gorm[note 1] of Sleat (son of Domhnall Gruamach).
The fall of the clan and loss of the Isle of Lewis, began with Roderick's marital difficulties and the subsequent disastrous feuds it incurred.
In that way, Roderick provided a pretext for a disastrous feud which led to the death or exile of all his intended male heirs and saw Lewis fall into the hands of the Mackenzies.
In 1541, Roderick took for his second wife, the widowed Barbara Stewart from Orkney, daughter of Andrew, Lord Avondale, and by this lady had a son, likewise named Torquil, and surnamed Oighre (the Heir, to distinguish him from the disowned Torcuil).
He captured his supposed father, the old lord Roderick, and for the next four years kept him as prisoner under dreadful conditions within the castle of Stornoway.
In 1572, Roderick was brought before the Privy Council, where he was forced to resign to the Crown his lands of Lewis, Assynt, Coigach and Waternish.
Roderick took for his third wife, a sister of Sir Lachlan Mor Maclean, and had by her two sons, named Torquil 'Dubh' and Tormod.
The charge of the castle of Stornoway, with the chief a prisoner in it, was committed to Iain, the son of Connanach, but he was attacked by Lewis troops and killed.
He was by stratagem apprehended by the brieve of Lewis, chief of the Morrisons of Ness, and carried to the lands of the Mackenzies, into the presence of Lord Kintail, who ordered Torquil Dubh and his companions to be beheaded.