Okay, let’s cut to the chase and dive right into what everyone is talking about. Did Eleven actually die in the series finale of Stranger Things?
What We Know After Watching the Final Episode
After killing Vecna, defeating the Mind Flayer, and rescuing the children he abducted, The Party achieves an ultimate victory. All that remains is destroying the Upside Down itself, the only known link to Dimension X/the Abyss.
Murray and Hopper set up a bomb designed to destabilize the exotic matter holding the Upside Down together. The trigger is a vinyl record playing Prince’s Purple Rain. When the final song ends, the bomb detonates and BOOM! The Upside Down is erased.
After The Party escapes through a gate back to Hawkins, they’re ambushed by the military led by Dr. Kay. Tired of being hunted for her powers, Eleven sneaks back into the Upside Down, fully aware of what the explosion will do. She stays behind as the bomb goes off and the Upside Down collapses around her.
To everyone watching, it looks like a sacrifice. Yet the show leaves some clues to imply that Eleven could still be out there.
How Was Eleven Able to Say Goodbye To Mike?
Before the bomb detonates, Eleven pulls Mike into her mind one last time to say goodbye. It’s a heartbreaking moment but there’s just one little problem.
The military had the area surrounded with anti-psychic sonic devices designed to prevent Eleven from using her abilities. These speakers were aimed directly at her. She shouldn’t have been able to reach into Mike’s mind at all.
So how did she do it?
Maybe the devices failed, but it’s still a sign that something is off.
The Military’s Strange Lack of Urgency
Am I the only one who finds it weird that the military didn’t even try to bring Eleven back to Hawkins?
Dr. Kay just gawks at Eleven standing on the other side of the gate. Not once does she order her soldiers to grab Eleven, even after it’s made clear the Upside Down is being destroyed.
There were more than enough soldiers to keep the Party contained and retrieve who’s supposed to be a helpless Eleven. And yet no one goes after her.
For an organization that has spent years hunting Eleven so they can use her blood to make psychic super soldier children, the amount of inaction makes no sense.
Mike’s Theory and Its Flaws
Mike believes Eleven faked her death. He thinks Kali used her illusion powers to make Eleven invisible. That the two tricked everyone into believing she died when the Upside Down collapsed.
It sounds like a solid theory, but it has few holes in it.
Kali’s powers only work at close range. She has never demonstrated telepathic abilities like Eleven or Vecna, so she couldn’t know what was happening. She was also dying from a gunshot wound, assuming she didn’t fake her own death.
How could Kali know when to cast multiple illusions at the right time, despite being a considerable distance from where all the action is?
The Only Theory That Makes Sense
In order for the “Eleven faked her death” theory to make sense, there’s only one possibility that makes sense: Kali taught El how to cast illusions.
The show has established that Eleven’s powers are the closest match to Vecna’s. Vecna can create full sensory illusions. In fact, we see him create several illusions to torment Hopper earlier in the episode.
Eleven has never shown to be capable of generating illusions, but that doesn’t mean she can’t do it. Kali could have allowed Eleven to enter her mind to understand how illusions work.
What if Kali had a change of heart before she died? Instead of pushing Eleven to kill herself, she showed her sister there’s another way to escape the cycle of exploitation?
How Eleven Could Have Escaped
When the military ambushed The Party, Eleven used the chaos to escape.
Instead of returning to the Upside Down, Eleven stayed in Hawkins and moved out of range of the anti-psychic speakers.
Once she was in a spot where she could use her powers, she created a fake image of herself on the other side of the gate.
When the Upside Down was destroyed, Eleven left Hawkins for good. To live a normal life where she couldn’t be used by anyone, anymore.
I’m not a fan of ambiguous endings like this. There’s no real closure. Plus, it’s sad that if Eleven is still out, she has to cut herself off from her friends and family forever. It’s just like what Mike said near the end of the episode. Eleven’s fate is the theory you want to believe is true.
