The fifth and final season of Stranger Things finally concluded on December 31 with an epic two-hour-plus finale that simultaneously streamed on Netflix and was released in over 500 theaters across the US and Canada, where it grossed between $25 million and $28 million at the box office, as reported by Variety.Following the events of Volume 1, which consisted of four episodes that premiered on November 26, and Volume 2, whose three episodes arrived on December 25, the feature-length finale saw Eleven, Mike Wheeler, Max Mayfield, Will Byers, Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson, Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington, Jonathan Wheeler, Joyce Byers, Jim Hopper, Murray Bauman, Erica Sinclair, Robin Buckley, and Kali/Eight take the fight to Vecna, AKA Henry Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower) and stop him from bringing his home world to earth.Watch the official trailer for the finale below:Naturally, despite some negative criticisms over previous episodes in the latest season, expectations for the finale were high. Stranger Things launched on the streamer in 2016, spawning an entire multimedia franchise that includes tie-in novels, comic books, mobile games, tabletop games, VR titles, walk-through experiences, and a stage production.Now, the hugely popular TV series has come to an end, with the finale wrapping things up for all our main characters. While viewers were expecting to see the show kill off several familiar faces by the end, we only got one major character death (and thankfully no more).Warning: Major spoilers ahead. If you haven’t watched the Stranger Things Season 5 finale yet, stream it now and come right back here.Credit: NetflixRelated: ‘Stranger Things’ Being Repurposed for Younger Viewers Once Main Series EndsThat character is Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), who made the ultimate sacrifice by letting herself die in an explosion rigged by Hopper (David Harbour) to destroy the Upside Down.After defeating Vecna, Eleven and the gang are later apprehended by Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton) and her soldiers, the latest in a line of shady military and government types hellbent on using Eleven’s blood to create more telekinetic children, in the same way Henry Creel was used to make all the other “numbers”, including Kali/Eight (Linnea Berthelsen).To end the cycle and prevent future children from being abused and tortured and having their lives taken from them, Eleven allows herself to perish in the gigantic explosion that permanently seals the gate between Hawkins and the shadow dimension.Credit: NetflixUnsurprisingly, Eleven’s death tugs at the heartstrings. Moments before she disappears inside a hurricane of smoke and debris, she pulls her boyfriend Mike (Finn Wolfhard) into her mind to bid him farewell, complete with a tear-jerking montage of past seasons to the emotionally charged ‘80s power ballad “Purple Rain” by Prince.After she disappears, so does the gate.We then jump forward 18 months to the epilogue, which reveals how each character has moved on now that Vecna and the Upside Down are no more.In a closing scene that also gets the water works going, the original Hawkins teens – Max (Sadie Sink) included – many of whom are now ready to go off to college, are playing D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) in Mike’s basement one last time.There, Mike shares a jaw-dropping theory that suggests Eleven may still be alive.Credit: Inside the MagicEl’s grieving boyfriend suggests that she couldn’t have jumped/flown from the soldiers to the Upside Down gateway several yards away because of the “suppressors” Dr. Kay and her team had erected outside their base, which prevented her from using her powers, acting as her “kryptonite”.He suggests that Kali, the other telekinetic character who was able to create projections in people’s minds, used her abilities to convince everyone that Eleven sacrificed herself, moments before her own death (Kali is killed minutes before the gang defeats Vecna, although given her powers, it’s possible that this was also an illusion).Mike goes onto suggest that Eleven could now be living off the grid, and that he likes to imagine that she’s living in a place where there are “three waterfalls,” a place he promised to take her after they defeated Vecna so she could be free from more government agencies.We then cut to Eleven, who’s hiking in such a place. While the scene itself doesn’t necessarily confirm that she’s alive – it’s used only to demonstrate Mike’s theory – there are clues throughout the episode and the entire show that point towards Eleven actually being alive.All the Clues That Prove Eleven Is Alive and WellThe SuppressorsCredit: NetflixThough we’ve already mentioned the suppressors, this could be one of the biggest clues that Eleven is alive and well. After defeating Vecna and the Mind Flayer, the gang returns to their own world, where they’re captured by Dr. Kay and her soldiers.We then see Eleven suddenly standing inside the gate to the shadow dimension several yards away, ready to accept her fate. But we don’t see how she gets there.While we can assume she jumped or flew there – meaning she used her powers to leap high through the air, which she’d been training to do at the beginning of Season 5 – the suppressors mean she’d have been unable to do this as it was firmly established that they rendered her powerless.No Nose BleedCredit: NetflixWhether intentional or not, the fact that Eleven doesn’t appear to have a nosebleed during this scene also lends to the ambiguity surrounding her fate. Typically, when she’s using her powers, Eleven has nosebleeds, but when we see her at the gate, her nose appears clean.Past Fake-Out deathsCredit: NetflixThe hit Netflix series is no stranger to fake-out deaths. At the end of Season 1, following her confrontation with the Demogorgon, Eleven is seemingly vaporized, leaving her newfound friends believing she’s been killed. But she returns in Season 2 alive and well and living with Hopper in the woods, having only been sent to the Upside Down during that final battle.Season 3 is another culprit, as the finale “kills off” Hopper during an explosion in a Russian facility beneath Hawkins. However, it’s later revealed that he survived the blast and was apprehended by Russian military forces, who imprisoned him in Kamchatka.Dr. Martin Brenner, AKA “Papa” (Matthew Modine) also should have been killed by the Demogorgon in Season 1, but he returns unharmed in Season 2.“We Could Be Heroes”Credit: NetflixOne fan on Reddit points out that the song “Heroes” by David Bowie plays during the finale’s end credits, a song that played after Will Byers’ fake body was found in the quarry in Season 1.The song was also played in Season 3 after Eleven read Hopper’s letter following his fake-out death. It seems the Duffers love to play this song after a death that didn’t actually happen…Indiana Jones and the Last CrusadeCredit: NetflixDuring the epilogue, it’s revealed that life at Hawkins has gone back to normal now that both Vecna and the Upside Down have been destroyed. During a montage, we see a clip of a movie theater where Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is showing.As pointed out by a fan on Reddit, the classic adventure film, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Harrison Ford, has a famous scene where Indy (Ford) falls off a cliff and is presumed dead. While The Last Crusade did indeed hit theaters in 1989 – the year the Stranger Things epilogue takes place – this is obviously no coincidence.A Recent Interview With the Duffer BrothersCredit: NetflixIn a recent interview with Variety, Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer were probed about Eleven’s death.When asked about the ambiguity surrounding her fate, Ross said, “A couple things: Eleven represents, in a lot of ways, the magic of childhood. And we knew for our kids to be able to grow up, the magic had leave Hawkins. There was never a version that we had written where it was Eleven down in that basement. It was never going to be that simple and that easy. It was finding a way to come up with an ending where it was not that simple, but also bittersweet, and that there was hope there.”“The question was, which of those choices is Eleven going to choose?” Matt added. “And if you, like Mike and the others, choose to believe that she is alive somewhere, then she picked something in the middle. But either way, it’s a completely selfless act and heroic act on Eleven’s part. I mean, you’ve seen all those pregnant women, and how many children are going to be born, potentially, using her blood, how the cycle will exist, and how many other kids will go through what she went through. And she’s making damn sure that that never happens again.”While “making damn sure that that never happens again” sounds like Eleven really did make the ultimate sacrifice, Matt goes on to say that the ending was “intended to be ambiguous” and that it’s ultimately about what you choose to believe.“This is obviously intended to be ambiguous, right? With Eleven. At the end of the day, it’s being told from the point of view of Mike and his friends. And they don’t know, and the audience can’t know,” he said. “If you knew that she was out there and you knew she existed, then she’s very much at risk. So we thought there was something really cool about not knowing for sure, and having our characters choose to believe. We just thought that was more powerful than providing a definitive answer, one way or the other. And I like that the audiences are in Mike, Max, Lucas and Dustin’s shoes, in the sense that they get to choose or not choose. I mean, I’m definitely seeing the majority choosing to believe and side with the kids.”While the Duffers don’t confirm that Eleven is alive, they don’t confirm she’s dead, either.Check out the full interview here.Dustin’s Tee-ShirtCredit: NetflixPerhaps the biggest clue of them all is Dustin Henderson’s tee-shirt. After delivering his valedictorian speech, Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) removes his graduation robes to reveal a Hellfire Lives tee-shirt, a tribute to his friend and fellow Hellfire Club member, Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), who died in the Upside Down at the end of Season 4.One eagle-eyed viewer has pointed out on Threads that the words “Hellfire Lives” contain the words “El Lives”. Deliberate? There’s no way this is a coincidence.What Are Fans Saying About Eleven?Credit: NetflixIt seems that most fans are in favor of Mike’s theory that Eleven survived.On Reddit, one says, “I’m a firm believer in the cardinal rule of main character deaths: no body=no death. I don’t care if it’s copium, it’s accurate in this show!”“Honestly, in this show that is the best reason to believe she lived,” one replies, adding, “Hopper survives a massive explosion, Brenner inexplicably survives a Demogorgon attack. This was a much more potentially survivable situation than those were.”“In my head,” another says, “the village that she ends up in, adopts her and she finds a nice, stable and understanding partner, has a daughter and lives a long, happy life. I believe.”One fan points out that “it’s f**ked up that either way she’s dead or alone.”“Agreed,” another replies. “Sucks that her full circle moment means roaming the earth looking for someone somewhere somehow if she gets to stay alive at all. No wonder MBB [Millie Bobby Brown] just made faces when people asked her if she was happy with Eleven’s ending. I wouldn’t have been able to stay quiet.”Credit: NetflixRelated: ‘Stranger Things’ Could Get an Open-World Video Game SoonFortunately, Eleven will return this year in the 3D animated series titled Stranger Things: Tales From ’85. However, Millie Bobby Brown won’t be back. Instead, the character will be voiced by Brooklyn Davey Norstedt, who stars alongside several other newcomers lending their vocal talents to all the other familiar characters from the main series.Tales From ’85 premieres sometime this year and takes place between seasons 2 and 3.A live-action spinoff is also currently in development.Credit: NetflixWhere Can I Watch the Stranger Things Finale?Stranger Things seasons 1 — 5 are now streaming on Netflix.Stranger Things Season 5 stars Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Brett Gelman (Murray Bauman), Nell Fisher (Holly Wheeler), Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Jamie Campbell Bower (Vecna/Henry Creel), Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), and Linda Hamilton (Dr. Kay).Do you believe Eleven is still alive? Share your thoughts with us in the comments down below!The post ‘Stranger Things’ Confirms That Major Character Survived Season 5 Finale — Here’s How appeared first on Inside the Magic.