Taking Sides: Eleven’s fate in “Stranger Things”

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the season finale of “Stranger Things.”

Eleven is alive
By: Nooreen Hussaini

With the end of Stranger Things, a lot of fan theories have been set in place as to whether or not Eleven is alive or not. The Duffer brothers, directors of Stranger Things, told the audience it is up to fan interpretation on whether or not we should believe her death had happened or if she really is alive and living in a better place outside of Hawkins.

In Mike’s theory, he believes that the plans revolving around Eleven had changed when Kali was shot. He thinks Kali and Eleven made a new plan that would consist of Eleven living, but it would also mean she would never see her friends or Hawkins ever again. When Eleven was by the border of both Hawkins and the Upside Down, Kali formed an illusion of Eleven, so the real Eleven could escape and make everyone in Hawkins think that she died with the Upside Down. 

Mike’s theory is believable because when Eleven was standing in the border of both Hawkins and the Upside Down, she didn’t get weak and put her hands on her ears when she heard the sirens the government had specially put on for her arrival. This is one of the key factors on why I would believe she had escaped. Eleven was also not pictured with any nosebleed the last time we had seen her before she was taken away in the wreckage. This is also a key note that the Eleven we had seen was an illusion made by Kali and the real Eleven used her powers to escape. 

Some might say that Eleven isn’t alive because Kali had already died when she was shot. While people don’t know if that is true or not, people did figure out that when Murphy was putting bombs around the buildings, the building Kali was in was the last building to get blown up. There is a big chance she was still alive and ready to help Eleven. 

Although the original plan of Eleven and Kali was for them to both die and kill Vecna. I believe Kali saw how much Eleven friends loved her and how caring Hopper was to Eleven even though that’s not his real daughter. This is one of the reasons why Kali said “My story was always supposed to end here but yours doesn’t,” She knew that Eleven still had a reason to live and she knew Eleven for a long time to know she wanted to see more of the world other than what she has been seeing in Hawkins.

Eleven is six feet under the ground
By: Hilde Trinidad

Ever since the Duffer Brothers wrapped up some plot holes of season 4 by leaving them up to interpretation, fans of “Stranger Things” have been arguing nonstop about what really happened to Eleven. Is she alive? Has she escaped to a land with three waterfalls? Or is she already gone in a way the show just hasn’t fully admitted yet? Some audience members are not ready to accept some endings, but I am pretty sure I found the conclusive one: Eleven is dead. 

From the very beginning, Eleven, played by actress Millie Bobby Brown, was never written as someone who would get a simple, happy ending. She didn’t grow up normally. She wasn’t allowed to be a kid, but instead was raised to be a weapon. Every season pushes her harder, emotionally and physically. 

A perfect ending for Eleven feels wrong. As much as it hurts to say, everytime she seems to win, she loses something too: her childhood, sense of identity, powers and peace.

Think about Season 1. She literally disappears after defeating the Demogorgon. The show taught us early on that her victories cost her everything. That “death” set the tone. She survives, yes, but that victory never feels permanent. Instead, it feels more like the calm before the storm.

By the time we get to the battle with Vecna, she’s running on trauma and pure willpower. Even without the influence of Kali in her ear, Eleven stands looking exhausted — not triumphant. And that final shot of her staring at the ashes falling doesn’t feel like a hero who just saved the world. It feels like someone who already sacrificed herself and is drained of all ability, but still pushes herself from the encouragement of her loved ones.

Throughout the season, Eleven gets nosebleeds whenever she uses her powers. But in the finale, when she visits Mike through her psyche, she has no nosebleed at all. Not because she got more powerful — rather, the more effort she uses, the more she bleeds. So it is unusual why in her final moments she would not use all of her strength, while doing something massive with her powers. This is a major anomaly, not just a tiny detail that the producers would miss.

Even if Eleven was just an illusion created by Kali, the collapsing structure of the map itself was shown to have imploded on screen at Hawkins Hospital before the scene, meaning Kali was already dead. This implies that there’s no realistic way for Kali to be alive to cast illusions, let alone be strong enough to maintain them over such distance and time.

Eleven has always been tied to the Upside Down, she did open the gate after all. If the final season ends with her sealing the Upside Down for good—even if it costs her life—that wouldn’t betray her story. It’s like she’s the bridge between worlds, so when it breaks, she falls too. She was never meant to survive, she was meant to end what she started.