1883 ends not unlike it begins, with Elsa Dutton (Isabel May) getting shot by a band of Lakota warriors while defending the wagon train. Unfortunately, Elsa's wounds are fatal, and though she's been the consistent narrator of this series, we soon realize that she may actually be narrating from the great beyond.
Killing Elsa In 1883 Wasn't A Decision Made Lightly
Serving as 1883's narrator, the show zoomed in on her journey of confronting the brutality of the frontier life and losing some of her innocence along the way yet never her hopeful spirit.
Yellowstone fans know that Duttons have been buried in the same spot in Montana for over a century. The Dutton family cemetery makes more sense after 1883 revealed that Elsa was the first person to be buried on the land.
Indeed, as there are no condoms or any other reliable form of birth control in the frontier, there's a real possibility that Ennis really did impregnate Elsa. Sadly, before 1883 could even drop any clues that Elsa was pregnant, Ennis died in the next episode while Elsa died during the finale.
Elsa Dutton - John's great aunt
Elsa is the sister of John Dutton Senior, but her relationship with Costner's character is more complicated. As John Dutton Junior came into the mix, Elsa is Costner's character's great aunt.
Margaret Dutton
Margaret (Faith Hill), married to James, was the original leading lady of the Dutton family. She served as a nurse in the Civil War in which James fought in. She was the mother to three children (whom we meet in 1883), Elsa, John, and Spencer.
Brecken Merrill as Tate Dutton
Brecken Merrill plays Tate, Kayce and Monica's son and John's only biological grandchild.
Spencer Dutton
Spencer is sibling to Elsa and John Sr. He is a former soldier-turned-big game hunter who is called home from Africa to help his family defend their land. While in Africa, Spencer meets and falls in love with Alex (Julia Schlaepfer), and they return to Montana together to help his family.
And because this is one of the few shows in which that phrase might be taken literally, allow me to clarify: Elsa gets married in Sunday's episode. The groom? Handsome Sam, the Comanche man she met [checks notes] last episode.
Elsa Dutton
Traveling west at the age of 17 with her parents and younger brother, John, Elsa fell in love twice on the road—first with cowboy Ennis, who was killed by bandits, and then with Comanche warrior Sam, to whom she promised she'd return after her family found their homestead out west.
Jacob took over the Yellowstone Dutton ranch after James and his wife, Margaret died, taking in the couple's two surviving children as well. While he and his wife Cara have no children of their own, his relation to James makes him either the great-granduncle or great-great-granduncle of Yellowstone's John Dutton.
1883's ending - explained from a historic point of view - painted a stark picture of how those who were part of the Westward Expansion survived, loved, and died along the Oregon Trail. Elsa Dutton surrendered to death and picked the spot in Paradise Valley where he wanted James to bury her.
In 1923, John works alongside his uncle Jacob, who maintains the ranch after his father's death. He eventually inherits it himself either on or after the time featured in the upcoming prequel series.
'1883' Reaches a Strangely Happy Ending
Elsa, who had decided to see her family in Oregon before returning to be with Sam, may be dead, but just as her spirit narrates the series (and the following 1923 series), so it's implied that her spirit reunites with Sam's in the afterlife.
If you've watched the series (and read the headline), you know that Elsa ultimately passes away from an infected arrow wound in Montana, leading the family to settle in the place of her death. It was an incredibly powerful scene, and even as the actors performing it, McGraw and Hill said the whole thing was rough.
Elsa Dutton was born on April 9, 1865, and is 5' 9” tall. She sadly passed away in 1883 at the age of 18 from an infection from a dirty arrow. Elsa Dutton is the daughter of James and Margaret and sister of James and Spencer, though she never gets to meet him.
One of the Comanche introduces himself to Elsa as Sam, a name he took from the man who killed his wife. The two race their horses; Elsa wins and Sam nicknames her "Lightning With The Yellow Hair". A storm approaches and tornadoes threaten the group; Sam and Elsa take shelter together and embrace.
A Comanche warrior who the Duttons met along the wagon trail in 1883, Sam professed to have taken his name from the man who killed his wife. He later began a romance with Elsa Dutton, and the two married without official ceremony.
The Yellowstone prequel never clarified whether Elsa (Isabel May) and Ennis (Eric Nelsen) consummating their relationship in 1883 season 1, episode 5 “The Fangs of Freedom" resulted in Elsa getting pregnant.
Although Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) was born after Elsa's death, the sibling's connection is shown in an item of Elsa's that has been passed down to him.
Spencer Dutton
Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) is John and Elsa's brother in 1923, and the character who is currently hunting lions abroad. Spencer was apparently born sometime after James and Margaret settled in Montana and was not featured as a baby back in 1883.
Spencer Dutton is the younger son of James (Tim McGraw) and Margaret Dutton (Faith Hill) from the 1883 series. He is also the younger brother of John Dutton Sr (James Badge Dale). As James Dutton from 1883 was John Dutton's great-grandfather, this makes Spencer one of John's grandfathers.
Alexandra Dutton | Yellowstone Wiki | Fandom.
John later explains to Monica that he branded Kayce for disobeying him when Kayce got Monica pregnant and Kayce refused John's demand to make Monica abort the child. John branded Kayce, which drove a wedge between the two and caused Kayce to enlist in the Navy where he became a SEAL.
Kayce John Dutton is a main character on Yellowstone. He is John and Evelyn Dutton's son.