From the very beginning, fans have speculated that Stranger Things would end with Eleven dying a hero’s death and those fears became incredibly real with the release of Stranger Things season 5 part 2.
Ahead of the series finale, Kali informed Eleven that Dr. Kay had picked up where Dr. Brenner had left off, and was experimenting on pregnant women in hopes that Kali’s blood would give the women’s babies abilities. This is why Dr. Kay was so set on finding and capturing Eleven, as Eleven is truly the only one of the kids from the original experiment that was like Henry. Eight is adamant that there are no happy endings for them, as she shows Eleven a vision of herself in the straps and labs where Kali had been held captive before her rescue.
Later, as Murray prepares his truck for the group’s final mission, Kali and El sit and talk with one another within El’s mind. Kali asks El if she’s thought about her plan and what it all means. El suggests that when they blow up the bridge, they’ll blow up Dr. Kay’s lab but Kali points out that Dr. Kay will just start a new lab. El suggests they kill Dr. Kay, but Kali points out that another scientist will just come along to replace her, just as Dr. Kay replaced Brenner. It’s a cycle, but they can stop it if after they kill Henry and save the others, they stay behind and vanish with the Upside Down.
When the time came to enter the Upside Down to enact their plan, Mike asks El if she’s ready for the fight and she quickly assures him she is. It’s what happens after that that left many fans worried Eleven would die in the finale, as Eleven then looked to Kali and gave her a nod, suggesting she was going to go along with the plan to stay behind in the Upside Down to end the cycle.
All signs pointed towards Eleven sacrificing herself to save the world and stop future experiments from happening, but did she follow through with this plan in the series finale?
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
Eleven does not die in the Stranger Things series finale
Heading into the final battle, it becomes clear that Eleven is going to go along with Kali’s plan to remain behind in the Upside Down in order to stop the cycle and die a hero’s death. After Kali is murdered by Akers, Eleven has an emotional moment with Hopper in which she thanks him for taking her in and believing in her, giving her the bracelet from her wrist.
Eleven then joins the rest of the Hawkins team in the Abyss to join the fight against Henry. Despite the odds being stacked against them, the group is able to overcome Henry with Eleven pinning him onto one of the teeth in his lair before Joyce delivers the final blow that kills him by severing his head from his body.
With the world saved, Murray and Hopper set the timer on the bomb to destroy the Upside Down and the group loads up into the box truck. Upon driving through the gate back into Hawkins, the group is surrounded by Dr. Kay and her army who quickly begin rounding the group up. During the chaos, Eleven manages to return to the Upside Down through the gate.
Mike tries to reach her but a guard grabs him, sending him falling to the ground as he tries to get to Eleven. We then see Mike in the Void with Eleven. As Mike begs for Eleven to get out of the Upside Down before it’s too late, Eleven tells him that none of this will end if she’s still here. She asks him to talk to the others and thank them for being so kind to her and showing her true friendship. Eleven reminds Mike that she’ll always love him as the two share an emotional kiss, which ends with Eleven telling him goodbye and sending him back to the real world.
We see the bomb the team had set go off at the Hawkins lab, disrupting the exotic matter and causing the bridge between the worlds to collapse. Mike and the others watch on in shock as the gate to the Upside Down is destroyed, taking Eleven with it.
The episode then jumps ahead to graduation and beyond.
In the final moments of the series finale, after a game of D&D, Mike begins to talk about each of the group’s future before the conversation shifts to Eleven, the Mage. He reveals that the Mage they saw die was an illusion, one cast in a final trick by her sister (Kali). We then see Kali use her abilities before she dies to allow Eleven to escape out of the Upside Down before making Dr. Kay and the world believe she had died in the Upside Down in the moment before the explosion that destroyed the Upside Down.
We see Eleven off in a picturesque world overlooking three waterfalls, a scene like the one Mike described our heroes getting after defeating Vecna. It’s implied that perhaps this is all a theory which they have to believe, so technically speaking there is room for interpretation, but it seems that Eleven did get a happy ending in the end, even if it’s not quite the ending we hoped she would get.