The Yellowstone universe is home to so many of the strongest women on television. Each has their own strengths and their own powers. These women are a fictional historical inspiration even to our generation today.
Through centuries of time, there have been family matriarchs who have kept the Dutton men in line and some who have been even greater pillars than the ranching men. Without these women, the Dutton family and traditions would not be what they are today. We take a look a the top 10 women who have the Yellowstone franchise and the success that you see present-day.
10. Lynelle
Lynelle Perry is a former congresswoman in Yellowstone and former Governor of the state of Montana. Now she is a senate representative and a strong ally to John Dutton. As well as a former lover of the leading man. She holds John Dutton in high regard and he confides in her intelligence and political experience. Though their relationship has never been serious they do bring out the best in each other. Lynelle helps to guide John in his governorship. Teaching him the best way to lead the people of Montana. And without her John would have faltered before he even began.
9. Elizabeth Dutton
Elizabeth Dutton, formerly known as Elizabeth Strafford in 1923 is young Jack Dutton’s wife. When we first meet her she comes off as a spoiled wealthy rancher’s daughter. She marries Jack and has her own ideas of how she thought life was going to be as a rancher’s wife. It hit her hard and so did the tragedy that came with it. But under the guidance of Cara Dutton, she finds a lot of strength within herself she didn’t know she had. Though she struggles to learn her place Cara teaches her that she’s much more than a wife and childbearing woman. There’s so much more to life and so much more value she has to offer.
8. Alexandra Dutton
Alexandra “Alex” Dutton is a British woman in 1923 who too has her own ideas about love. When we first meet her she is engaged to be married to a man she isn’t in love with. Immediately she falls in love with Spencer Dutton at first sight in Africa. She was safari hunting and Spencer was a renowned hunter. Ultimately she ends up leaving her fiancé to be with Spencer. It’s a fast love but it’s very intense and passionate. When you know you just know. She is well-fortified and she never lets Spencer make her feel weak. The two share such a loving and equal connection which reminds me a lot of Cara and Jacob.
7. Monica Dutton
Monica Long-Dutton is the wife of Kacey Dutton in Yellowstone. Kacey has had a lot of estrangement with his father John Dutton through the years because of Monica’s Native American culture and his father’s want for Kacey to take over the ranch one day. There is obvious friction but one thing that is evident is Monica and Kacey’s deep love for each other. Upon meeting Monica she came off as a bossy and sometimes nagging wife. During this last season, she’s really grown on the fanbase. Between heartache and extreme loss, she became a stronger and better wife, mother, and friend. Even finding common ground with her father-in-law which has been heartwarming to watch.
6. Teeter
Teeter comes to surface as a hired ranchhand in Season 3 of Yellowstone and she has been universally loved ever since. Though you can’t typically understand what she’s saying in her thick southern accent she is a pistol with a hilarious personality. Teeter can handle herself among the men and she’s better than most of them. She becomes an ally and friend to Rip Wheeler pretty early on. The two share a very brother/sister dynamic that’s fun to watch. He believes in her, and she never let’s him down. Though she is not a Dutton she is one of the strongest characters of the show. Teeter has become someone who was a slight annoyance to start but became one of the most reliable ranchers of the Yellowstone.
5. Teonna Rainwater
Teonna is a descendant of Thomas Rainwater from 1923. She was stolen from the Broken Rock Reservation to be westernized at a boarding school run by the Catholics. You can sense she is tough from the start and she has to be to get through it. 1923 shed light on how young Native American girls were treated in this time to be “reformed” and how they were beaten into submission and had to forget the only life they ever knew. Teonna was abused physically and sexually by the nuns and killed two of them before fleeing and taking her power back.
4. Margaret Dutton
In 1883 we witness the first line of the Dutton Family and Margaret Dutton is tough but tender. She is a fierce and loyal protector of her family and wife to James Dutton. She carried immense willpower to get her family out west and build a new life for her family. Unfortunately, none of them could have imagined the great loss they would suffer along the way. But it was due to get immeasurable strength that got the Dutton family where it needed to go thus helping create the Dutton legacy of Montana.
3. Elsa Dutton
Elsa Dutton was about as free as any person can be. The daughter of James and Margaret in 1883. Elsa shared a close relationship with James and wanted to be just like him. Seeing this character really shows you the bloodline of how Beth Dutton got to be such a free spirit.
Though Elsa’s story ended in tragedy sometimes it’s not always about the quantity of life you have but the quality in which you live it. Even her father was jealous of the way she lived. During her family’s move out west, she never wanted to be the typical woman. She wanted to ride along with the men and help, and her father James never dared to tell her no. Which drove Margaret absolutely insane. She lived her life the way she wanted to live it, wild and free. Elsa even fell in love twice before her untimely death. She was shot by Lakota warriors and the place she died is the place where the Dutton’s called their home for centuries to come.
2. Beth Dutton
What can you say about Beth Dutton? She is one of the most remarkable women on television today. Though some may find her a little too snide she is hands down the toughest Dutton woman to ever live.
Like Elsa and James, she shares a very close-knit relationship with her father John Dutton. Her mother died in a tragic horse accident when she was young which she felt at fault for, that guilt is something she carries with her. Probably because her mother blamed her just as she died, that is something that still messes her up to this day. She also still reels for having an abortion when she was young that her brother Jamie helped set up which eventually led to her never being able to mother children again.
Beth is fiercely loyal, but only to those who deserve it. If you happen to cross her it won’t end well for you. She loves hard, she plays hard, and she fights hard. Beth is highly successful in business but her heart is the one thing she’s pushed aside until she finally admits the feelings she has for Rip. She is sarcastic, foul-mouthed, feminine but will take on any man and anything that stands in her way.
1. Cara Dutton
Cara Dutton is the matriarch of 1923. She is the wife of Jacob Dutton who came to Yellowstone after the passing of Margaret and Jacob. Together they raised their remaining two children like they were their own. Cara never had children of her own with Jacob but she is a mother to many, even more so than their own.
Cara and Jacob Dutton share the most loving relationship in the Yellowstone universe. To put it mildly, he worships the ground she walks on. A loyal wife who cares for the needs of her husband, as well as the needs of her entire family. She knows what it means to be a rancher’s wife. It’s no job for the weak. She is an Irish immigrant who seeks no-nonsense and will kill for her family without a second thought. In this day in time, you won’t find many like her and it makes her one of the most unique characters in the universe.
Cara carries a huge devotion to Spencer Dutton the youngest of James and Margaret. She raised him as her own and for all intents and purposes is his mother. Cara even helps her husband run the livestock commission when he is nearly fatally injured. She does things that are unheard of for a woman in her time. But this Irish badass becomes a heroic trailblazer that all women should aspire to be. She helps the other Dutton women along the way and guides them to be the best version of themselves and carry on the Dutton name with power, grace, and pride.