Some may call her Jane Ives, others Jane Hopper, and most of us adopted her alias, Eleven. But if there's something we all know her as, it's a true hero. El is the sole reason why Hawkins hasn't fallen to the dangers that come through the Upside Down yet, single-handedly killing many Demogorgons or closing the gate through which the Mind Flayer started to infect our world. Sure, you could argue that such a gate exists because of her in the first place, but we can't say she hasn't tried to do everything in her power to save the day time and time again.
Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2 has only doubled down on the idea of how important Eleven is, both for the right and wrong reasons. See, after years of questioning where exactly El's powers came from, it was finally revealed that her mom was infused with Henry Creel's blood during pregnancy. The reason Jane has powers is that she's been carrying around Vecna's mutated blood since birth. Unfortunately, that means such an experiment can be replicated, and new super-soldiers can be created, too.
The reason the military had captured Kali (better known as Eight) was to infuse pregnant women with her blood. However, the experiments haven't been producing the desired results, which is why Dr. Kay is so desperate to find another golden goose in the form of Eleven. Knowing this, the nightmare that has befallen Hawkins over the last few years won't be over with the death of Vecna or the destruction of the Upside Down. As long as Eight or Eleven are alive, the military will hunt them, and could produce more like them—kids with telekinesis capable of opening a gate to the Abyss. As such, the two heroines have made a pact to sacrifice themselves to really save the day. But will that really happen?
Eleven is unlikely to die in the Stranger Things finale
Now, I know what you're thinking: all the evidence suggests that Eleven will die in the finale of Stranger Things. She created the Upside Down, so it might as well fall with her, too. El and Eight have agreed to sacrifice themselves so that the military is unable to make more kids with powers. Besides, Jane's conversation with Mike about moving to a place where there's at least one waterfall seemed to foreshadow that one of them wouldn't make it, with the former being the likelier candidate. It's all very obvious. Dare I say, a little too obvious, if we're completely honest. Surely, she has to die, right?
Stranger Things Season 5 has played with our expectations on multiple occasions and in many different ways so far. There was a time we were all convinced the military had somehow managed to capture Vecna, and were holding him captive behind a metal door... only for us to learn that it was actually Eight. Furthermore, we were all convinced Ted and Karen Wheeler would bite the dust for good... only for them to survive with just a few, big scratches. The series wanted us to believe that Jonathan would propose to Nancy, only for him to unpropose to her instead. The list of examples goes on, and on.
Stranger Things loves to subvert audiences' expectations, so following the series' pattern, they are just setting up El's death to surprise us with yet another big twist at the end. Could Jane live and Mike die? Well, it could certainly be a possibility. After all, if the show were to truly go with Eleven's death, it would feel a bit derivative of the ending of Season 1, where she "sacrificed herself" to kill a Demogorgon once and for all, only for the episode to end things on an open-ended note.
Leaked pictures are going around the internet that may suggest Eleven dies in the finale of Stranger Things. However, it is important to remember that directors and producers know everyone looks for set pictures ahead of time, so they might film some "fake scenes" just to throw fans off. Even Tom Holland himself was told he would film a scene involving "Tony Stark's wedding" in Avengers: Endgame, only for the whole thing to be Tony's funeral. Not even the actors involved in big productions have all the answers, all the time, let alone us.
If there's anyone who deserves a happy ending after all the craziness that has been Stranger Things, it's Eleven. She grew up in a laboratory, was bullied by other test subjects, single-handedly saved Hawkins more than once, was bullied in school, and has put the well-being of others first on many different occasions. If there's someone who should live right next to a waterfall once everything has been said and done, it's her.
Only time will tell who will really bite the dust in the Stranger Things finale. However, it's important to remember that whenever an answer seems extremely obvious, it might simply be the writers trying to play with our expectations.
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