It’s the question everyone’s asking after the Stranger Things Season 5 finale: did Eleven die or not? The Duffer brothers purposely left it open to interpretation, but fans think this “important detail” proves she survived.
Season 5 Episode 8, ‘The Rightside Up’, landed on Netflix on New Year’s Eve, with the Hawkins gang entering a final battle with Vecna to save the world from total destruction. No biggie.
Although they achieved their goal and, as Robin (Maya Hawke) put it, lifted the curse on Hawkins, El (Millie Bobby Brown) chose to sacrifice herself to break the cycle of the government’s practice of rearing super-powered children… or did she?
Right at the end of the Stranger Things finale, Mike (Finn Wolfhard) suggests that Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) cast one last spell before her death, allowing El to escape and live freely – far away from Hawkins.
Why fans think Eleven survived Stranger Things Season 5
As said, the Duffer brothers haven’t confirmed whether Mike’s story is true or not. However, plenty of fans have been picking apart the last episode for confirmation, with one Redditor sharing a list of details they believe prove El did survive.
Among them is what they say is the “most important detail”: the fact that in Mike’s description of what he believes happened, El’s finger glitches while she’s standing at the gate. They believe this is the Netflix show’s way of telling us the truth.
“When Kali escapes the lab, the show gives us a key rule: her illusions glitch when pushed too far. Dr. Kay spots her because of the finger glitch, and Kali later admits she can’t maintain a perfect illusion at long distance,” they explained.
“In the final scene, we see the exact same finger glitch happening to Eleven while she’s standing at the gate. That’s not a coincidence. It’s the show’s visual language telling us what’s happening.
“The question ‘How could Kali project an illusion from that far away?’ is already answered: she can’t, not perfectly. And that’s why it’s glitching. The show expects viewers to remember this and connect it themselves.”
But the Redditor’s argument doesn’t stop there. They also point to the fact that Mike’s predictions as the Dungeon Master have come true throughout Stranger Things, so why should his description of what happened to El be any different?
There are also earlier moments in Season 5 that they believe make the “Eleven died at the gate” version of events harder to square with what the show has already established.
For example, they note that the season repeatedly shows how even a small crack between worlds creates violent suction and wind strong enough to pull people and objects toward it. Yet in the moment Eleven is standing at the gateway, she appears completely unaffected.
They also argue that the blast doesn’t seem to destroy the lab itself, but rather the “exotic matter” connected to the gateway. In their view, that detail matters because the lab sits at the center of the wall, meaning it would logically be the last place to collapse.
One hotly debated topic is the use of the Hedgehogs – the sound weapon developed by Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton) that disables El and Kali’s powers. Since these were set up outside of the gateway, how exactly would El have been able to enter Mike’s mind to say goodbye?
“The show clearly establishes multiple times that when the sound weapon is active, Eleven (and Kali) can barely function. A barely functioning person isn’t slipping past armed soldiers and making it all the way to the gate undetected,” they wrote.
“Sound weapon is on, she couldn’t have used her power to speak with Mike in his mind.”
Of course, the biggest pushback to the theory she survived is the fact that Kali is shot and bleeding out, and the show strongly implies she dies shortly after. If that’s the case, how could she possibly maintain an illusion powerful enough to fool Dr. Kay and the military?
However, they counter this argument by writing, “Medically speaking it depends on what was hit.”
If a bullet hits soft tissue and no major organs, people can remain conscious and alive for 30 minutes to several hours or even longer, while one to six hours is plausible if the intestines or liver are hit and there’s no catastrophic bleeding.
Kali detail could explain Eleven’s Stranger Things ending
This varies from case to case, but what’s certain is that it’s plausible that Kali survived long enough to cast her spell.
“We also never saw her dead body or her closing her eyes,” the Redditor concluded. “The show deliberately cut out that part to not give conclusive evidence that she died right there.”
The theory has sparked a busy discussion, with one fan adding to it by pointing out that when Kali was hit and El tells Hopper (David Harbour) to get bandages, the audience follows Hopper.
“All Hopper did was grab the bandage bag, which raises the question why they had us follow him? I think it’s because Eleven and Kali had the discussion during that time to create the illusion,” they wrote.
And if you want to go even further, another commented, “We already knew Kali planned to die in the Upside Down as it was destroyed, who’s to say she was even actually hit with that bullet and she wasn’t showing that as an illusion to make it easier to convince Eleven and Hopper to leave her there?”
A third agreed, “100% this. When the helicopter blew up I thought Kali definitely rolled away before the gun went off and I was initially confused at how she even got hit.
“I was immediately suspicious that Kali was putting up an illusion to make it appear she’d been hit and died, which would ensure that Hopper couldn’t suspect Kali of helping El with her escape.
“Making them believe she was dead would have been the smartest choice, especially since she went into the Upside Down with a death wish anyway.
“They also clearly showed her having a change of heart during the scene after Hopper shot the bath and gave his speech to El. I think she started plotting a way to help El immediately after that.”
And a fourth chimed in, “I feel like not enough people are talking about how after entering Mike’s mind her nose isn’t bleeding. That would be the first time she used her power to enter the void and her nose didn’t bleed.”
Not everyone agrees with the theory, however – there are plenty of Stranger Things fans who believe that El did, in fact, die in the blast.
Why the Duffer brothers left Eleven’s fate open
This was an intentional move by the Duffer brothers, who told Netflix after the Stranger Things Season 5 finale that they want the audience to draw their own conclusions.
What Ross Duffer did confirm is that, at least for the Hawkins crew, “she lives on in their hearts, whether that’s real or not.”
In a more recent interview, Matt Duffer explained why they left her fate open-ended. “What we wanted to do was confront the reality of what her situation was after all of this and how could she live a normal life,” he said.
“These are the questions that we’ve been posing this season that Hopper just doesn’t even want to think or talk about. Mike’s obviously talked about it a lot, but it’s sort of this fantasy version that would never work.
“There are two roads that Eleven could take. There’s this darker, more pessimistic one or the optimistic, hopeful one. Mike is the optimist of the group and has chosen to believe in that story.”
Ross Duffer went on to explain that there was never a version of the Stranger Things Season 5 ending where Eleven was reunited with the rest of the gang.
“For us and our writers, we didn’t want to take her powers away. She represents magic in a lot of ways and the magic of childhood. For our characters to move on and for the story of Hawkins and the Upside Down to come to a close, Eleven had to go away,” he said.
“We thought it would be beautiful if our characters continued to believe in that happier ending even if we didn’t give them a clear answer to whether that’s true or not.
“The fact that they’re believing in it, we just thought it was such a better way to end the story and a better way to represent the closure of this journey and their journey from children to adults.”
Matt added, “And the reality is, if Eleven is out there, the most that they could hope for is a belief that it’s true because they can’t be in contact with her. Everything falls apart if that were the case.
“So if that’s the narrative, this is really the best way to keep her alive. And it’s about Mike and everyone finding a way to move past what’s happened.”
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