The group saves Josef by amputating his snake-bitten leg, but his wife Risa (Anna Fiamora) succumbs to a head injury she sustained while getting thrown from a horse in Episode 9.
Final goodbyes
Josef is seen on crutches, his right leg amputated, as he removes his wedding band — presumably because his wife has died. He pulls a stack of wood planks from his horse, and we're left to believe that he is building his new home in a valley.
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.
James Dutton
The patriarch of 1883, James (Tim McGraw) was a farmer from Tennessee. Haunted by his experiences in the Civil War, where he served in the Confederate army during the Battle of Antietam and was later held as a prisoner of war, James chose to strike out for a new life out west with his family in 1883.
'1883': James Dutton (Tim McGraw)
Due to the death of his beloved daughter, Elsa, James and the remaining family settled in Montana, establishing the Yellowstone in the year 1883 with his wife, Margaret, and their 5-year-old son, John Dutton I.
The Dutton family cemetery makes more sense after 1883 revealed that Elsa was the first person to be buried on the land.
James and Margaret Dutton
The caravan was heading toward Oregon, but the Dutton family had to settle in Montana after the death of their daughter, Elsa (Isabel May). Elsa was the main narrator of 1883 and appeared via voiceover in the first episode of 1923 as well.
Elsa Dutton's death in 1883 had to happen in order to close the story of how the Duttons found Paradise Valley, which is ultimately a lesson in the dark, cruel history of white America, from which Sheridan borrows the conflicts that drive his neo-Western universe.
Elsa Dutton was a main character and the narrator in 1883: A Yellowstone Origin Story. She was the eldest daughter of James and Margaret Dutton.
Spencer Dutton
The younger brother of John Dutton Sr. (and the youngest child of 1883's James and Margaret Dutton, born after that show's conclusion) Spencer served in WWI and remains haunted by his experiences.
In a stunning twist, Elsa decides that she will not make the rest of the journey to Oregon, opting to stay with Sam, marry him and make a life together. It's a decision that garners a great deal of pushback from James and especially Margaret (Faith Hill), who is not ready to relinquish control over her daughter yet.
1883 ended its first season in brutal fashion. The Yellowstone prequel starring Faith Hill and Tim McGraw wrapped its 10-episode season by killing off both their onscreen daughter, Elsa Dutton (Isabel May), and Pinkerton agent Shea Brennan (Sam Elliott).
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.
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.
Hours after the season finale episode of 1883 premiered on Paramount+, LaMonica Garrett took to Twitter to indicate that, yes, it's true: Thomas, his character, and Noemi, played by Gratiela Brancusi, really did get to happily-ever-after in Oregon with Noemi's boys.
She had lovely things to say about her co-star Isabel May and mentioned the last thing Elsa says to her: "See you in the valley." Hill said, "I can't imagine not being with my child in their final moments of life." If you recall, only James was with Elsa when she finally died.
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.
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.
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.
The two then ride off where Sam tells Elsa that he chose his name after a man named Sam killed his wife; he wanted to take the man's name after taking the man's life. (Sam killed Sam.) Sam gives Elsa a nickname, “Lightning Yellow Hair.”
We found them. My father's hunting their killers right now, and if he's hunting them, he'll find them,” Elsa tells the men. Taking in the news, the leader asks Elsa her name. She responds, “Lightning with the yellow hair,” in Comanche.
When she finally starts to go, she has a few final words for her father after seeing a bird. “You birds sure are smart,” Elsa says to the bird. Then, as James awakes from a nap, she says, “I understand it now.”
John Dutton Jr. Alexandra Dutton is a British woman whom Spencer Dutton meets while safari hunting in Africa and later became his wife.
In the Duttons' case, they protect their way of life and ranch through the easement, and keep their property whole, as John intends. The family can continue to live there, and the land can be sold or passed on to heirs.