With just a couple of weeks away from Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1, the theories about how the show will end are coming in thick and fast, with some fans believing the finale title has “confirmed” how the story is wrapped up.
Let’s get one thing straight: all theories are pure speculation at this stage. Not even the cast will know entirely how every character arc ends in the fifth and final chapter of the Netflix series.
In a conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Will star Noah Schnapp said, “I just watched [Episodes] 5 and 6, and I was sobbing. It’s so good. And then the finale, they’re not going to show any of us, so I won’t see it until the world sees it and I’m just as excited as you guys are.”
Given creators Matt and Ross Duffer like to keep us on our toes, we won’t truly see how Stranger Things finishes until the finale arrives on New Year’s Eve 2025. Until then, fans are filling the gaps with their predictions.
Stranger Things Season 5 finale title could reveal ending
The Stranger Things Season 5 premiere has reignited discussion about the ending. Notably, the Episode 8 title – ’The Rightside Up’ – may just support the theory that there will be a happily ever after.
If you want to dig even deeper, the name mirrors a wild theory that Eleven will take Vecna’s place as the new ruler of the Upside Down and transform it into a paradise (in other words, turn it into the Rightside Up).
The idea, which was first shared three years back, states, “As long as Eleven is in our world, the Upside Down and its creatures will appear in our world. She is like a DnD sorcerer, and a link to the Upside Down.
“As long as she stays, a gate will continue to open. Therefore, the show can’t end with her living happily ever after with Mike, and only using her powers sparingly if at all. She is different, and things can’t get back to normal as long as she’s on the earth.”
They went on to suggest that the Upside Down’s appearance is the result of the “thoughts and emotions of the beings who access it. This is why before 001 was banished it was a wasteland, and then when Will was captured it looked like 1983 Hawkins.”
“This means that as long as there are sorcerers who are born with these powers, there will be chaos as the Upside Down erupts into Hawkins and the wider world,” they continued.
“Therefore, the end of Eleven’s character arc shouldn’t be her forgetting her powers and being normal, it should be her becoming a mentor archetype.
“As new children are born who can access the Upside Down, she can contact them and teach them to do good – as she has decided not to follow 001 and 008 into evil…
“I think this idea is the one thing that can make the state of things different at the end than at the beginning and prevent the ending from being unsatisfyingly open-ended. Mike accepts that he can’t be with Eleven, he grows up.”
When the Season 5 episode titles were revealed, it was the finale – ’The Rightside Up’ – that caught fans’ attention. As said by one, “‘The Rightside Up’ just confirms to me that Stranger Things 5 has a happy ending.”
Of course, Rightside Up could just be referring to the real world. Others, however, think the finale will go down a far darker path.
Taking to Reddit, one wrote, “My gut tells me Eleven is going to die. The foreshadowing at the end of Season 4, and tbh it’s the only way the show can end with a big enough emotional bang.
“If they just have her holding her hand out, beating Vecna and everyone, except newly introduced characters, is safe, it’ll basically just be like the Season 4 ending… That would be a bad ending too if the kids just defeat Vecna and there’s no real battle with stakes raised…
“Everyone thinks Steve might die, and maybe he will, but Eleven’s death would hit harder because most people do not believe they would actually do it.”
Another replied, “I used to think it was inevitable that Eleven would die. However it’s important to remember that her arc more resembles Harry Potter (in the sense she’s a sacrificial lamb) rather than a lamb for the eventual slaughter.
“She’s the hero. So I think she’ll have a huge final ending with the mind flayer probably resulting in her losing her powers for good due to the sheer willpower it’ll take to get rid of it.
“She’ll no longer be a threat, the military will agree unanimously to leave her alone and let her live in peace. We shall see. It’s not impossible they’ll kill her but it’s unlikely.”
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