‘Yellowjackets’: Who Killed Travis? Revealed

There is a lot of death and a lot of heartbreak in the Yellowjackets series, as we have learned so far, and one of the most tragic characters in the whole series so far is Travis Martinez, whose older version we didn’t have a chance to see because he committed suicide, years after the group returned to civilization. We know that Travis’ alleged suicide was always suspicious to Natalie, who probably knew him best, and this event was one of the major events that kept Natalie searching for the truth. In episode 2 of Season 2, we learned that Travis didn’t kill himself, at least not outright. So, who killed Travis Martinzer in Yellowjackets? 

Lottie killed Travis, but according to her, it was an accidental death. Travis asked her to hang him on the crane so he could get close to “death” and get some answers that he desperately needed. Lottie was supposed to hang him and then lower him back down as soon as he lost consciousness but the button malfunctioned in the middle of his ritual, and he died. According to Lottie, this doesn’t make her a murderer per se, but she was the one who pushed the button, which means that she killed him accidentally.

Now that we’ve cleared up who killed Travis, it’s time to analyze the events that led to his death. If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading!

Travis was always one of the most troubled characters 

We met Travis at the beginning of the series, at least his young version, and we know that there was a lot of tragedy just pilled up. First, he lost his father during the plane crash and witnessed all of it. Then, the girls chased him, wanted to violate him, and later even tried to murder him while they were under the effects of hallucinogenic drugs. 

After that traumatic experience, his younger brother Javi went missing, and it seems like Travis never figured out what happened to him, and this is something that will haunt his remaining days on this earth. 

Nat and Travis were really close, but he wanted to put some distance between them 

In the first season, we learned that Travis and Natalie were really close. They were together both during the whole ordeal in the forest and when they returned to civilization. Both of them tried to combat their demons through drugs and were seemingly bad influences on each other. 

Travis wanted to put some distance between them, which drove Natalie mad with grief, and the first thing that we learn about Natalie is that she is trying to find a way to get close to him as soon as she gets out of rehab. But tragedy struck, and instead of the two lovers reuniting, Natalie discovered that Travis died; seemingly, he killed himself. 

Natalie refused to accept that. Sure, he had his problems, and he was a deeply troubled person unable to settle down. But he was never the type to kill himself, much less in a sacrificial ritualistic manner. Natalie never believed for a second that was what happened, and she was right, since at the end of the first season, she realized that Lottie was somehow connected with Travis’ last days. Lottie also withdrew Travis’ funds from his bank account and then reappeared to haunt Natalie. 

Travis was killed, but it was accidental 

At the beginning of the second season, we learn that Lottie was alive all this time, and she managed to gather a cult around her. She kidnaps Nat to allegedly “help her” and stop her from ruining her own life. 

We also learn that even back in the wilderness, Natalie hated the fact that Travis looked at Lottie like some kind of spiritual leader. Natalie also hated the fact that Lottie gave Travis false hope regarding the fate of his brother, Javi.  Natalie hated this so much that she decided to fake Javi’s death.

Anyway, Natalie finally has the chance to ask Lottie what happened and how she is connected to Travis’ death, and Lottie tells her the whole story about what happened. At least her version of the story is currently impossible to verify. 

Travis contacted Lottie and told her that he needed help, that the wilderness had returned to haunt him, and that he knew what he needed to do now. Lottie, however, fell asleep due to fatigue, and when she woke up, Travis was gone. He wrote a message for Natalie and left her instructions on how to get the money from his bank account. Lottie rushed to the ranch where he worked, and a gruesome scene awaited her. 

Travis then explained to her that he needed to “get close to death” in order to get some answers. Lottie admits she thought this was a stupid idea, but fearing that he might do something to harm himself, she decided to play along. Travis rigged his neck to a crane and told Lottie that if she didn’t help him, he would do it on his own.

Lottie agreed to help him. She saw that he arranged the candles underneath him to match the mysterious symbol we keep seeing. The whole scene looked macabre and ritualistic in nature, but this is what his intention was, after all. 

Travis explained that he was about to hang himself, but as soon as he started losing consciousness, Lottie needed to bring him down with the crane with the press of a button. 

That was the plan, and the plan went wrong. Travis lost consciousness, and when Lottie tried to bring his body down, the button malfunctioned, and Travis died. It looked like a suicide, and it was a suicide for the most part (at least, this is what Lottie says), but Lottie played an instrument role. 

Lottie was the one that pressed the button to hang him, and she failed to press the button to lower him, which resulted in him suffocating and losing his life. It wasn’t her intention to kill him. He would have done it himself. It was a horrible incident, but it still stands that Lottie pressed that cursed button. 

Why did Travis kill himself? 

Travis killed himself because he wanted to “talk to it,” and what “it” is, is not yet clear. He said that the wilderness was haunting him, and he wanted to get in contact with “it” to make it stop. It might be some supernatural entity that the show still hasn’t revealed yet. It likewise might be “The Man With No Eyes,” which seems to be the aspect of death that Taissa keeps seeing. 

I mean, it makes sense that Travis wanted to talk to The Man With No Eyes since the whole point of rigging his neck to a crane is because he wanted to come close to dying. 

It’s also possible that some violent urges have come back to Travis and that he didn’t know how to handle them. It’s hard to adjust to society after you’ve been through so much. It’s downright impossible to play pretend that you’re just another average Joe. Certain things that they have been forced to do have a tendency to mark a man forever. 

It’s also possible that Travis killed himself to figure out what happened to Javi. It’s quite possible that the question came back to haunt him since he never figured out what happened to him in the first place. It is possible that he wanted to contact “it” to get some answers. 

In any case, Travis’ death was a tragic accident, according to Lottie, but it still doesn’t change the fact that she was the one who pressed the button.