The opening scene of "1883" Season 1, wherein we see Elsa shot through her side with an arrow, proves to be an ominous sign of what awaits her in the Season 1 finale, "This Is Not Your Heaven." A majority of the finale episode is spent trying to get her the medical care she desperately needs, even though it's clear the wound is too severe; she's not long for this world. A heartbreaking decision is made: James Dutton will travel with Elsa and wherever the pair stop to rest is the place where the Dutton patriarch will lay down roots for his family's new homestead.
During Elsa's final moments, James takes his daughter to an open area and they rest by a very specific tree — a tree that "Yellowstone" fans quickly recognized (via Twitter). "This is the spot," she tells her father. "Let's just sit here. Rest for a bit." It's a poignant moment and one that's also extremely heartbreaking, to the point where viewers were genuinely upset and angry with Paramount for airing it.
Elsa's death helps set up the backstory for how the Dutton family ranch came to settle in Paradise Valley, Montana, the location where the present-day Dutton family lives, works, and schemes. The untimely passing of James' eldest child is unexpected and perhaps not the kind of finale plot twist fans were hoping to see. It feels like a cruel misdirect, having Elsa taking on such an important position as a narrator and becoming a central figure, only to be wiped off the board by something as treatable (even by "1883" standards) as an arrow wound. And yet, there is something poignant in knowing that it is Elsa, a character audiences spend so much time with in Season 1, will be the metaphorical foundation on which Dutton Yellowstone Ranch is built.
