The ‘Yellowstone’ brand — what it is and who gets to wear it

Paramount’s Yellowstone hinges on storytelling that revolves around bonds. The bond the Dutton family has to the land, the bonds within the Dutton family themselves, the relationships they form with those closest to them, and even the way they’re connected to those who mean them harm. 

There are some obvious ways to tell who’s bonded in the sleepy Montana town, but some are less obvious. However, it doesn’t make them less essential. The less blatant bonds might be the most important; they certainly carry the most weight. 

If you’ve been paying attention, several characters wear a brand. The Y is widely known as signifying the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, and it’s forever scarred into their skin.

Why do some of the ranch hands wear the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch brand, what does the brand represent, and who is chosen to don it? Let’s take a look. 

What does the Yellowstone brand represent?

Above all else, the Yellowstone brand stands for trust and honor. To wear the brand, you must first understand its weight, which is as heavy as it is painful. To be branded doesn’t merely permanently burn a mark in your skin; it’s physically traumatizing — and maybe even mentally too — but the ranch hands are willing to embrace it. 

Being branded is a multistep process, and in part, it gives them a fresh start. The ranch hands at the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch all have scars of their own and stories to tell about them; several of them have come from dark places bringing a light from within and trying to shine despite feeling worn out. 

Feeling that almost out-of-body experience is a new page being turned, albeit painful, but it’s new nonetheless. They belong to the ranch now, to one another, and something so much bigger than themselves. 

Of course, for as much as they belong to one another, the brand is a tool Dutton uses to ensure that his ranch hands stay his ranch hands, but there’s more to it than that, and it’s not something that just any Dutton associate receives. As we said, the brand signifies being “owned,” but sometimes that goes far beyond the barbaric way you might imagine it. Sometimes that feeling of belonging to something else is exactly what the ranch hands that come to the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch need most.

There’s also an understood reverence to wearing the brand that, while never really spoken aloud, still underscores its importance. Those who wear the brand are expected to do anything to protect the Duttons. Yes, that means anything — even taking a life.

Why doesn’t everyone wear the brand?

Why doesn’t every Dutton ranch hand receive the brand? Well, that’s a loaded question. First and foremost, they must be trusted completely, which is a level of respect that not everyone can receive.

Quite simply, John Dutton has to have the utmost faith that you’d never betray him or the ranch, and sometimes even he gets it wrong. As fans of Yellowstone know, some of the losses in past seasons wore the brand, and they’re easily considered wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Do ranch hands get to voice an opinion in wearing the brand? That’s another loaded question. The choice isn’t one that’s made quickly, but when given the opportunity, there’s not a fight to be had. These ranch hands know the hurt they’ll experience, but they also understand what comes next — the loyalty and the bonded brotherhood for life.

Receiving the brand is an unspoken promise, a forever kind of promise, and breaking it only ends in violence.

Which Yellowstone characters are branded?

The first time we see someone receive the brand is Jimmy in season 1 at the hands of Rip Wheeler. Rip gives Jimmy a chance, an opportunity, and he takes it. He’s going to work on the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, and they’ll protect him from that moment on.

Jimmy wasn’t the first to be branded, as we also see Rip reveal the Y on his chest. It’s no surprise that Rip has been branded, as he is John Dutton’s right-hand man. Kayce Dutton, John’s son, also wears the brand, and fans find out more about that in the first season.

John felt he’d been burned one too many times by his son — betrayed as if there were no options left. He forced Kayce to take the brand in an attempt to remind him where his loyalty should lie. As John explains that the brand also signifies a second chance, it shines a light on the fact that John didn’t hate Kayce — he just wasn’t done with him yet.

Veteran ranch hand and one of Rip and John’s closest friends, Lloyd Pierce, also wears the brand, a show of complete devotion to the ranch. Lloyd is a wise spirit in the mix of the ranch hands, someone who has been around long enough to know what happens when times are good and when they aren’t. He’s versed in the Dutton mannerisms and how they work individually and as a group.

Walker also took the Yellowstone brand, which his character has struggled with ever since. Walker was brought to the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch after serving time, and it makes sense that he’d take the brand as a second chance and a fresh start — but he hasn’t risen to the occasion to become a favorable ranch hand. Still, he wears the brand, and his loyalty remains to the Duttons.

Ethan, Teeter, Jake, Ryan, and Colby all receive their brand at the end of season three after proving more than willing to do anything to protect one another and honor the Dutton name. Their brands are significant for several reasons, one of which is that a man lost his brand because of an attack he forged against Teeter and Colby. 

Wade Morrow was once a ranch hand for the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch before striking out on his own, which inherently meant going against the Duttons. When it was discovered that the attack on two of the Dutton ranch hands was his work, the Duttons all worked together to get revenge, sweet, sweet revenge. If it wasn’t apparent by now, Wade’s brand was removed, and the process was as unpleasant as you would imagine. 

So the brand in Yellowstone is a promise, unbreakable and strong — and only some ranch hands are ever allowed to make it. Painful and life-changing, it’s a decision not to be taken lightly, but it comes with the ultimate reward — Dutton-level protection.