This “Stranger Things” theory will change the way you feel about Eleven forever
We seriously can’t get enough of Stranger Things. Ever since it premiered on July 15th (and we binged it all in eight hours flat), we’ve been craving more of it – which is super tough, especially given the fact that Season 2 hasn’t actually been officially confirmed yet by the creators or by Netflix, despite the fact that the creators have publicly discussed quite a bit about what they would do with a follow-up season and the fates of several Season 1 characters.
So, as we’re all wont to do when there are no new episodes of a show we love, we’ve turned to the thing the internet is best at: Fan theories! One particular theory about fan-fave character Eleven, the shaved-head telekinetic little girl at the center of it all, is shocking but supported by really strong evidence.
The monster who kidnaps Will – which his friends nickname the “Demogorgon,” after the beast of the same name in Dungeons & Dragons – is the biggest mystery of all across the first season, and gets the least explanation. We learn a lot about Eleven and the apparent source of her powers, but we actually have no information about (1) what the Demogorgon really is, (2) where it came from, and (3) why it, all of a sudden, is whisking people off to the alternate dimension “Upside Down” and then shoving roots down their throats, killing them. Seriously, what’s that all about?
UpRoxx investigates a theory that has been circulating about the Demogorgon across the web and created a video to explore the claim. Specifically, the theory states that Eleven herself is the monster.
What?! Crazy, right? It’s actually not crazy at all, when you listen to what the UpRoxx video creators have to say about it.
The theory goes that Eleven and the monster are actually two sides of the same person. The UpRoxx video points out that the monster first “emerges” in a flashback, when Eleven is put into a deep meditative state in the tank so that she can mind-travel across the world to spy on Russians. Importantly, Eleven first sees the creature in a dark, empty black space – not the Upside Down – suggesting that maybe the creature was unlocked from within her and made its way out, rather than conjured up from another dimension like the Upside Down.
They point out that the show is all about dichotomies. The Demogorgon itself is a creature with two faces. “One side,” according to UpRoxx, “is destructive like the monster, while the other side is deceptive like Eleven.” Similarly, the Upside Down is a mirror version of the real world – except gray, ashy, and deteriorated. There is also an X-Men reference to Jean Grey, another telekinetic character who also has both a good and bad side.
Perhaps the most promising pieces of evidence are how Eleven destroys (or appears to destroy) the monster in the finale and the fact that she literally calls herself the monster in one episode.
“That’s why the Monster raises its hand in an identical way to Eleven in their final fight, and when it disappears, so does she. At one point, she even calls herself the Monster.”
Bonkers, but *totally* a legitimate theory.
Check out the full video below! All of it is extremely convincing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VlaDE2cMAE?feature=oembed
What do you think of this theory? Does it change the way you view the beloved Eleven? One thing is for sure: We can’t wait until Season 2 to get answers to all of these burning questions!
