The finale of the 19th-century Yellowstone prequel killed off its most important character, but many viewers still wonder why Elsa dies in 1883. While the death is tragic, it is necessary to move the story of the Duttons forward and to set up the world of 1923, Yellowstone, and beyond. Elsa Dutton (Isabel May) is the daughter of Margaret (Faith Hill) and James Dutton (Tim McGraw) the founders of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. While it was sudden and shocking, the buildup toward Elsa's death begins when she is shot with a poisoned arrow during an attack on the caravan.

Elsa Dutton's death scene was previewed in the 1883 pilot episode, and then fully fleshed out in 1883 season 1, episode 9, Racing Clouds. After a band of Lakota warriors find their settlement destroyed and their families murdered, they find 1883's caravan of settlers traveling away from the scene of the crime. Though the settlers had nothing to do with the massacre,...