How much of the 1883 prophecy finally came true in Yellowstone? Details explored

Taylor Sheridan's Yellowstone finale saw Kayce selling the Dutton Ranch to Thomas Rainwater, and just like that the 1883 prophecy came full circle in the show's finale.

Since Yellowstone is Sheridan's passion project, which has gained immense popularity on television, the filmmaker is charting out the history of the Dutton ranch through various spin-off shows.

One of these spin-offs, titled 1883, is about the first Dutton generation, who came to Paradise Valley, Montana, and settled on the present-day Dutton ranch.

While many fans might have been disappointed seeing Kayce and Beth lose their family ranch to Thomas Rainwater, this was bound to happen because of the 140-year prophecy Sheridan laid out in 1883, which completely came true in the Yellowstone finale.

More about the 1883 prophecy that came to fruition in the Yellowstone finale in our story.

What was the 1883 prophecy about the Yellowstone ranch?

James, Margaret, and their daughter Elsa Dutton are at the center of 1883, Yellowstone's first spin-off series that follows the post–Civil War generation of the Duttons. They join a wagon trail and undertake a journey west to Oregon, eventually settling in Montana and establishing the present-day Dutton ranch.

Elsa is one of the most important characters in 1883 and the Dutton prophecy came to fruition because of her death. While Elsa is a fairly healthy teenager who survives the weather extremities of the time, her fate is doomed when a Lakota warrior shoots an arrow at her.

On the journey with her parents, Elsa is shot by a Lakota warrior with an arrow dipped in poison, which leads to a massive infection that soon starts spreading in her body. James and Margaret continue their journey and stumble upon a group of Crow people, who nurse their daughter back to health.

The Crow people perform a healing ceremony for Elsa but reveal to her parents that the girl will die eventually because of infection as the Lakota arrow, which pierced her liver, was dipped in cow manure, thus causing the infection.

James requests the Crow people to guide them to a resting place for their daughter, and that is when the Crow chief tells them about the Paradise Valley.

But this guidance came with a prophecy about their hunting land, that the Spotted Eagle tells James, which eventually became the ending of Yellowstone. The Crow chief tells James that their people will take back their land from the Duttons after seven generations, to which James peacefully agrees.

How much of the 1883 prophecy came true in Yellowstone?

Honoring his 1883 prophecy, Sheridan fulfilled it entirely in the Yellowstone finale. The groundwork for this prophecy was laid in Season 1 itself, when Broken Rock Tribe Chief Thomas Rainwater, Spotted Eagle's descendant, claims to John Dutton that he will restore the land to his people.

This partly fulfills the 1883 prophecy where the Spotted Eagle said that his people would reclaim the land after seven generations.

Completely fulfilling the 1883 prophecy, Sheridan made Kayce sell the Dutton Ranch back to the Broken Tribe People at what it cost 140 years ago when his ancestors settled on that land.

While Kayce and Beth struggled to keep the Dutton ranch with their family throughout the show, after their father's death, Kayce realized that this was something they couldn't escape because it was already foretold 140 years ago, and hence the 1883 prophecy came to fruition in the finale, with the Dutton ranch going back to its original owners.