#s5 speculation

[milevenweek24]

Eleven S5 Speculation

Nothing big, has probably been said before. But since we got a new Hopper & El bts photo today, I thought I'd put it all into a nice little post.

We see Hopper at the junkyard, with Joyce and Eleven in the background. Eleven is wearing the same outfit (PLUS the bandana around her head!) we've seen her wear in the UD:

Clearly attacking someone/something

Nose bleed

She also wears it here:

My guess is that it's the lab, probably the UD lab

In the studio

And here:

On top of the radio station with Mike

And also on the field with Mike

I'm 99% sure that El is "training" with Hopper on the junkyard and in the UD. That would explain her clothing. That would explain Hopper's stop watch and the water bottles, which have been pointed out before:

Picture edit by @byrhop on Twitter

Going into the UD lab might be part of that training, if that's where she is on that photo.

S4 had El going through suppressed memories to regain her powers, and it ended up going in the direction of "training" to face Vecna.

And we know that after Vecna defeated her and killed Max, El felt bad about herself, as told by Mike:

"Brenner. He said that she wasn't ready and now she's starting to think he was right."

"It's just...she's never lost before. Not like this."

So it makes sense that El will want to prepare herself for facing Vecna again. The determined hero look in the last scene of s4 gives us an idea of her drive:

These photos might be unrelated, but who knows:

Junkyard target?

Unlucky demogorgon who crossed El's path in the UD?😂

I'm probably suffering from drought-eritis, but I think that might be El.👀🤪

Any way, I'm looking forward to this and expect a full-on dramatic training collage to "Eye Of The Tiger" in E1.😤🤜🏋️‍♀️🐯🤣

[bylersbear01]

I think Jonathan and Will are going to stay at the Wheelers in s5 because of these photos.

There are 7 seats at the table and the Wheeler family only consists of five people. In s2 there were only 5 chairs at the table.

Now there are 6 chairs from the same set because chairs normally chairs come in a set of 6. So the Wheelers took the extra chair out for someone, but then they needed one more chair for someone else and since the chairs only come in a set of six they had to get an extra chair that was different from the rest. So my point is the two extra chairs are most likely for Will and Jonathan which means they will be staying at the Wheelers in s5.

[eclectic-sassycoweyes]

Wait - do you think Soup Ranger Campbell knows about Carlos’ sexuality? Do you think as they get to respect and know each other better Campbell will ask Carlos something like “do you have a wife?” Or “did your wife make that?” When he brings leftovers for lunch. And we’ll hear Carlos say “my husband, actually. He’s a paramedic”🥰🥰

I need to hear them refer to each other as ‘my husband’ and seeing Carlos come out at work would be so cool!

[jancy-central]

Every time Jancy shippers have to see another post about Jonathan and Nancy dying in s5:

NOT GONNA HAPPEN.

[thecelestialsyzygy]

I don’t wish bullying on anyone, but I’m so excited to see Mike Wheeler get bullied and stand up for him and his boyfriend LETS FUCKING GOOOOOO

[byler-alarmist]

Random thought- what if Robin reeeeaaallly didn't like Jonathan next season?

[honeybee-taskforce]

so since we (or at least I did) thought that this was TK being threatened/Gabriel's murderer taunting them, what if it's actually Carlos being called into work on a day when he promised to be free and spend the night with TK hahahahahahahahahahahahaha im hurting

[milevenstancyendgame]

Nancy and Mike's conversation in s5 better be better than this:

[raayllum]

thinking about the novablade. thinking about how ezran’s crown is a sword precisely because he didn’t want one. thinking about “lady justice laid before me her blindfold, her scales, her sword, and told me to choose.” thinking about ezran always wanting violence as a last resort. 

[zenon-karr]

I been trying to make sense of the the hints the Duffers have been dishing out and making sense of these posters. And I think I have a theory that connects most of the hints. I’ve pieced together recently that I think s5 of stranger things will be inspired by things like Us, They Live, and Uncanny Valley!! Hence why it looks relatively normal right now. It will be normal but people start to believe people and children are replaced by imposters because things are slightly off that babies or other people are basically monsters from the upside down or like the ‘flayed’ aka maybe like a mimic from dnd but they look like people but ‘off’:

I think they will solve the stinger at the end of s4 and they think they’ve beat 001/upside down. When really revealed that the enemy is actually mind flayer but we aren’t introduced to its final form till s5. but he’s built an army that infiltrates the main world by pretending to be human and the end of s4-beginning of 5 they’re lured into again into false sense of security when the portal opening just allowed the shadow monsters/mimics in. They’re alternate dimension beings lead by Mind Flayer to invade the main world. They tried with Henry and also Will to open gates and let the creatures in.

I think maybe the thing with the hospital is not actually that someone is this seriously injured but actually that The mains will realize something is off in the hospital bc they’re visiting Max. Maybe they start to realize that people are replaced by shadow flayed whatever versions of children/people in general. Maybe this is the meaning of the pregnant lady poster. And then there’s this drawing that looks like a shadow person. Then there is a the pregnant smoking - smoke and life under the cloud in the poster maybe the smoke is actually like shadow like the shadow monster but they’re people that are uncanny:

All creatures welcome poster and they even comment does this mean demogorgans? It makes me think they invite the monsters in their homes because they think they are their own children when they’re born or they don’t know people they know have been replaced by monsters you know so maybe the hints to switched at birth actually mean switched not literally like a soapy like children being swapped at birth but like in the horror monster sense.

Look at Holly’s room. She has an Alf poster I think Alf is a hint of an alien or something Among the humans. And along with the shadow person concept or alien/mimic idea. Peter Pan has the living shadow and then Ross posts this this billboard of a family where one is like disfigured so maybe one in so many people have been replaced by a fake (mimic or an upside down monster) the billboard even says ‘new residence’

Here’s the plots of They Live and Us! They’re both movies about aliens or beings infiltrating among humans. I been watching the supernatural horror TikTok’s of people thinking they’ve had encounters with a mimic and also Uncanny Valley. So I pieced together a theory based off the clues in Ross’ posts!

[milevenweek24]

S5 mini-comic/fanart by k.egg0 on IG

[wiseoceans]

Thinking about the fact theres a good chance that Will or Mike might be outed by Vecna next season💔💔

[thrandilf]

Viren in S5 about to be like:

[rainwalker-dragonblade29]

The beauty of The Queen's Mercy

I doubt it struck any of us before that Kimdael's collar was of importance. Taken to be just a jewelry element, but never of Sunfire make.

Look at this, it's been centuries now and the collar is still on her neck in The Bloodmoon Huntress...

And there is an interesting implication I've gleaned after reading the story, here come the first thoughts...

In the new short story, The Queen's Mercy, Kimdael goes to Lux Aurea to seek the Protection of Queen Aditi. Protection from the dragons who had driven Moonshadow Elves out of their own forest and "killed them one by one" leaving only Kimdael.

Which we know is a lie, because the moonshadow race is perfectly fine in the show and that does not make her the last of them. Also, multiple times, she pretends to plead while it is evident that inside she is plotting something. That her visit to Lux Aurea is for another crime. She pretended to be meek to gain Aditi's protection. But she is there for a different motive for why else would the Bloodmoon Huntress walk in broad daylight?

As Zubeia mentioned, there was a time when, after the death of Luna Tenebris, the dragons fought over succession. So their wrath is very real. And Xadia did descend into chaos... but Lux Aurea held strong through it. So it seems evident that of someone wanted to seek protection at the queen's mercy, it was the place.

What is interesting is that the dragons killing other moonshadow elves. Specifically the reaction of the other elves in the court:

It may seem like a rumour because we know moonshadow elves lived and that Kimdael is lying. Or perhaps twisting a truth...

Given reason, the dragons could have attacked the moonshadow elves, if they decided to intervene and help sort the matter. It is possible that the moonshadow elves are hiding from the dragons and that no one has seen them in a while that Kimdael's desperate plea raises the question in the minds of the court elves that it could be truth.

But Aditi sees through it and takes her to the forge where upon, she makes the ornament and puts it red hot, and burning, sealing it around Kimdael's neck. Even enchanted so if Kimdael tried to kill her, the collar will choke the huntress, and thus it binds her to the Sunfire royal line.

Here's where it gets messy. Aditi says:

As of what Kimdael said, she pledges in return, the remainder of her entire life to repay the Queen's Mercy. And this moment a spark:

The collar can only be removed by a member of Aditi's line. Kimdael is bound to servitude.

That leaves only TWO people: JANAI and KARIM...

The question is... who will remove it? More importantly, who will Kimdael side with?

One obvious answer is... well, Karim.

Courtesy to this shot, it seems he will leave Lux Aurea. And Aaravos tempts makes into serving him by offering them what they seek. Karim has drive, he seeks a brighter future for Lux Aurea despite the way his ways clash with Janai's. And to better his own fate, maybe he would have left/escaped after the generals apprehended him.

Kimdael could rarely be accepted on Janai's side as she is obviously with the trio or will be later anyway, and Rayla will not let Kimdael anywhere near her friends.

And because of my previous meta here, between a possible connection with Kimdael and Aaravos, in the sense that maybe he is the one who gave her the longevity, in giving her knowledge of dark magic that she uses for the ritual and that he has kept her alive for some cause. (ie given her the opportunity of immortality that she followed in herself unknowing of a greater role she has to play)

She is a tool to him. One of his chess pieces.

She will be useful to Aaravos after he is free or perhaps she has something to do with the freedom... but anyway, it makes more sense that she joins the Aaravos party, and later or before her, Karim gets bound in it too...

Also it could be that she met Karim first, before Aaravos is released, and they are the ones Amaya, Rayla and Callum are against here:

Whatever happens now, Kimdael, by the collar, is bound in the narrative.

[blutopaz15]

rayllum week 2023

prompt: swords/coins

2k, rated t

Callum loves her.

He hasn’t said it yet, but…Rayla knows.

She doesn’t need him to say it, she’d decided yesterday. Once he’d pulled her from that pile of rubble and finally—finally—held her again, she’d known. She’d known what that urgent, unchecked rush towards her had been about, what the crack in his voice meant, what his nose buried against her neck was…and it’d only gotten more obvious from there. He’d hardly let her out of his sight back at the Spire, insisting on fussing over new bumps and bruises, on filling her water, on finding her food…and she’d known.

It’d been clear when she’d shown them all the coins too. He’d been right there beside her the whole time, his hand heavy and constant on her back while she wept…and knowing Callum loved her had made it all a little easier, at least.

Not that she’d ever stopped knowing, really.

No way could she have gone on without him as long as she did if she hadn’t been sure he’d love her still. She couldn’t have let herself believe any different—not when she’d been sobbing all over that letter she’d left him, not when hunting for answers alone had turned hopeless, not when she’d been all edge-frazzled on the outskirts of the city a week ago. Even when he wouldn’t talk to her that first night, even with how cold and snippy he’d been the whole way to the mountain, even when they’d yelled at each other in the woods…she’d known that underneath all the hurt was love.

She’d always had faith in that—that nothing she’d done could make him stop, that he’d understand no matter how hurt he was, that he’d care enough to forgive her, that his love was just as true and deep as hers—

…and he’s done nothing but prove her right since Umber Tor.

Even if he still hasn’t said it.

It’d been the same today, back in Katolis. Since they’d landed, he’d been there, constantly near…even if any affection was a little stilted still. He’d kept close in their hurried little council meeting, held her hand while Soren pried open the sealed door to the dungeon…

…given her his shoulder when pulling Runaan’s bow out from the dust had been just…too much.

And all of that is more than enough for her to be sure.

He loves her.

So, she’s trying not to dwell on the quiver now strapped to her back or the gold pieces tucked in her pocket. She’s trying not to think about the home she can’t ever go back to, or her torn-apart family, or the mission they barely know where to start with…and to focus on Callum instead.

He makes it easy, of course, Rayla thinks, letting his rambling about supplies soften the pit in her stomach as she watches him a pace ahead of her, halfway down the castle corridor connected to his own.

His footsteps still keep the pace of their day, never mind that they’d reached the end of their castle errands before setting out early tomorrow, but…his quick steps don’t fall all over themselves like they might’ve before. He rambles like he used to, listing off things they’ll need, still to be collected in the morning…but his voice is deeper, controlled, steady. Best of all, of course, is how he looks back at her, eyes warm and attentive and so very sweet…even if they’re a little less bright than before.

If his attention alone hadn’t made it clear enough how much he still cared, their errands all over the castle certainly had. Even when she was gone, he’d loved her, it seemed, judging by the drawings of her all over his office, his well-practiced tending to her shadowpaw in the stables, her favorites still on hand in the kitchens where they’d left Ez with Bait and Stella, this bedroom he’s leading her to that’s—apparently—specifically hers…

…that no one but Callum could’ve put together.

Rayla’s a little stunned, honestly, once Callum’s done fiddling with the lock. He steps aside, holding the door for her…and all she can do is just blink at all of it at first.

He definitely loves her.

…and she absolutely loves him, but…

He won’t say it, so what can she say?

Slowly, she steps in from the doorway, feeling Callum hovering in the entrance behind her, and turns to him, still not sure what’s going to come out of her mouth…but he beats her to it.

“I…kind of had a phase last summer?” he explains, the new steady timbre of his voice raised with nervous laughter. “I think I thought you’d come for my birthday. I wasn’t sure how we’d feel about sharing anymore, and I wanted you to have somewhere comfortable, so…”

Callum trails off with a shrug, one hand gesturing to the room he’d clearly spent so much care and effort on, the other at the back of his neck, which she’s sure burns just as red as his face…and Rayla swivels back around, setting down her weapons, still beaming and still not quite knowing where to start.

Maybe with the pictures posted up on the walls? Some of them she’d seen before—her and Callum, Ez, Bait, even that picture of her parents from up at the top of the Spire—but most of the assortment are new—things they’d done those weeks here in the castle, things they hadn’t in Xadia.

Maybe with the table in the corner? He’s set out more than he’d bought her from that shop in town they’d gone to, plus things she’d confided about longing for from home—a horn buff, those little magically stretchy hair ties that apparently aren’t a thing in Katolis…even the moonberry balm she’d thought was Silvergrove-exclusive.

Or maybe with the ridiculous monstrosity of a bed? She tries not to roll her eyes—the sheets are the same shade that Callum had called her eyes that afternoon they’d gone to the castle seamster, the open canopy dark enough to block out the sun like he’d joked she’d needed every time she’d slept late, the pillows fancy and soft and huge, and—

“Are these—” Rayla starts, unable to help the upward pitch of her giggling, pointing to the fluffy-looking rainbow row of button-eyed puff-balls arranged against the pillows.

“Giant adoraburr pillows? Yep,” Callum shrugs, flushed bright still, and, oh, it’s an effort to stifle the squeeze that all this sweetness deserves.

She can see it now: hopeful-if-still-hurt Callum channeling all that consideration and care he’d had for her here at the castle into this little sanctuary, spending weeks and weeks drawing and shopping, searching high and low for everything little thing, all for her…only to realize maybe a week out from his birthday what was obviously missing. He’d been adorable, she’s sure, all lit up with inspiration, scribbling out a rushed and messy sketch, tripping over himself to find whoever in Katolis could sew them…and fast.

Rayla picks up a yellow burr, cheeks aching from keeping her smile low and fond instead of tackling him the way she wants to.

“Like I said,” Callum goes on explaining himself, “I got a little, uh…obsessed. I wanted it to be perfect so you’d…”

He doesn’t finish the thought, but it sobers all the lovesickness anyway.

“Stay?”

Their eyes lock, level and steady, for a long second before he answers, eyelids barely fluttering over a layer of not-quite tears.

“Yeah.”

He looks away.

But…he loves her, Rayla reminds herself, finding the familiar-looking pile of folded clothes opposite the adoraburrs. He’d wanted her here, obviously—he still wants her here—and she’d only been alone because she’d left, not because he didn’t care, not because she couldn’t be here, not because he’d been taken from her.

Rayla can’t look at him either.

She skims over the smooth, stitched, red towers she’d worn instead, embroidered over the heart of his borrowed pajamas.

“Those might be a little small now,” Callum adds, his voice lowered again, less likely to crack like before.

“They were a little big then,” she shrugs, knowing that if she turns back to him like this, there’ll be tension she can’t take.

So…she flops down on the bed instead.

“Uh…you alright?” Callum asks, his footsteps shuffling farther into the room as she unburies her face from the adoraburr pile.

“Just getting reacquainted with freeloading off my favorite fancy-pants royal family,” she smiles, hoping that maybe rehashing a joke from back then will melt the icy mood.

He doesn’t tease her back though…he just gives her the look that that bit had always ended with. Callum tilts his head, brow lifted, looking at her through his lashes, and he doesn’t have to say any of it—that she’s their guest, that this is her home if she wants it to be, that she belongs here.

She knows.

He loves her.

Rayla pushes up to her elbows.

“Thanks for all this.” Rayla looks all over again, smiling softly; Callum thaws even more. There’s even a little swell of satisfaction glimmering in his eyes…and Rayla’s heart squeezes in her chest.

“No big deal,” he shrugs, and it’s not tension anymore—not that kind of tension, at least—in the silence that follows, she thinks, seeing how he blushes and fidgets in the quiet, shifting his weight, not quite looking at her.

He breathes in a sharp breath, like he has more to say, and…it’d fit, she thinks, to say it now—

“What is it?” she asks, letting herself ask but not quite letting herself hope.

“I just wasn’t sure if maybe you wanted to…talk?”

…and Rayla deflates.

But only just a little: this was its own Callum kind of love confession, anyway.

“The past few days have been kind of a lot, and—” Callum pauses. He knows—of course he does—the reason for her kidding around, obviously. He knows what she’s avoiding. “It doesn’t have to be big feelings time for us, Rayla. Just…for you. If you want.”

She’s never answered as automatically as this: they’re big big feelings, but…he’s right that she should and she’s missed even what she used to chafe at.

He loves her, and…she hasn’t had this.

“That’d be…nice,” she nods.

“Really?” he cracks again, and she expects the way his eyebrows bolt upwards, expects the renewed flush that settles across his cheeks when she rolls to her back, expects how his steps stutter closer when she pats the spot beside her…and, clearly, he realizes the reason she’s given in so quickly to big feelings time like this too. “I mean—good.”

Callum settles at her side, their elbows alone touching, and all of that melted tension from before is a flood now—wetness flowing down her cheeks, confusion and hurt and doubt coming in waves. All that she can manage to keep welled up is how much loving him has to do with it all—having him and him alone to rely on, having risked that—and she trembles long after she’s through talking.

“I’m sorry,” he says quietly when she’s done, voice small—not that customary I hear your feelings that hardly ever seemed to actually be his answer.

“Thanks.” Her voice shaking, she stares at the purple silk above their heads, hand over the pouch in her pocket…until Callum shifts beside her, rocking up to an elbow.

“No, I mean. I’m sorry.” His brow is furrowed, the light sheen of not-quite tears over green again, and Rayla matches him, confusion mirroring his apologies. “I didn’t believe you back then and I kept pushing you to move on, and…maybe things could’ve been different.”

She’s shaking her head and sitting up before he’s even finished speaking, and then he’s upright too.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Callum. I just…didn’t want to lose anyone else.” She twitches to touch him, but…stops. She…shouldn’t, so she bunches her knees up instead, busying her hands with holding them in, to her chest. “I had to keep you safe. You especially.”

“...I know.”

Callum breathes, and she can’t bear to look at him, sure she’ll find the space between them just as strained as before…but then—

“Rayla? Can I…? If it’s not too weird?”

His hand lands on her shoulder, his other arm open too, and—

“Oof.”

Rayla whispers an apology but nuzzles in against the crook of his neck anyway, and he sighs, wrapping her up tighter as she loosens—only a little—the loop her arms make around his waist.

He loves her.

“We’re going to figure out how to fix this—all of this—okay?”

He doesn’t have to say it.

Rayla knows.

[thecelestialsyzygy]

Wait... if byler was basically just confirmed does that mean they kissed already