#stranger things 2 theories

[lunabug2004]

Guys whatever you do don’t think about the fact that Mike Wheeler gets no comfort while watching his best friend get taken over by a literal monster and then be in excruciating pain because of this monster, only to be lost to this monster in front of his own very eyes. Don’t think about the fact that despite being the only (aware) child in the situation, none of the adults around him ever try to check up on him or support him through this.

Then when Bob dies he’s the one providing comfort to Joyce when they run, he’s the one comforting and supporting the others by coming up with plans.

The only comfort he gets isn’t until the beginning of episode 9, when everything isn’t even over yet, and it’s too late. He’s already lost his trust in Hopper now. He kept El from him for almost a year, letting him soak in his own depression and self-guilt. He may stay by Hop after he comforts him because that’s what he is craving, it’s what he needs, but we’re back to disrespectful Mike in the next season bc obv it was too much for Mike to forgive Hop.

In season 1, we see a kid with his heart on his sleeve. He knows what he wants and he’s not afraid to tell people this, even when his own family is putting him down for it. But in s3, we see a kid who represses his emotions as far down as they’ll go, full of self-hatred, never opening up to anyone.

I believe this change is mainly due to these facts: 1) he was depressed for a whole year and no one ever picked up on it, again, no one comforted him, esp not his family. He probably thought he was being stupid, we already know he thought he was crazy. 2) at this point, he had been repeatedly shut down when voicing his thoughts (Lucas shutting down his worries about Will, Dustin yelling at him when he was grieving for Bob, Hopper immediately getting mad when he was voicing his frustrations), and he probably doesn’t think there’s any point to it anymore. No one ever listens to him anyways. And then 3) the complete lack of comfort he is (not) given throughout seeing Will, his best friend, suffer and being completely unable to help him. That is, until he’s forced to listen to his screams as he’s convincing the others to put Will to sleep.

So yeah… don’t think about that guys :)

[samcats]

Mike sensing El in the void isn’t romantic

Many people say that Mike sensing El in the void is evidence for Milkshake. Which for multiple reasons, does not make sense, nor does it mean anything.

Mike does sense her, yes, but he just concludes it to him being crazy. He never for a second thinks that maybe she might still be alive.

If his love for her is so strong, why does he not hold out hope that she’s still alive like he did with Will back in season 1?

Nothings stopping Mike from thinking she’s still alive and it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary either. But he just shoves it off as him being crazy. Real romantic, huh?

Anyways, back to my actual point. Mike “sensing” El does not mean anything romantic like Milkshakes claim it does. Because:

1) he doesn’t really think she’s there, as I stated. He just thinks he’s being crazy.

2) Mike is not the only one who has sensed her in the void.

Will.

Season 1, episode 7: The Bathtub

Eleven finds Will in the void. Will senses her and talks to her, telling her to “hurry” after she says Joyce is looking for him.

Billy.

Season 3, episode 3: The Case Of The missing Lifeguard & Season 3, episode 6: E Pluribus Unum &

Billy notices her two times. The first time he just senses/sees her. The second, he grabs her arm. Granted, he was flayed. Yet my point still stands.

Heather.

Season 3, episode 3: The Case Of The missing Lifeguard

When El is looking for Heather in the void, she finds a bathtub. Heather emerges from the water and says “help me” to her. Unlike Billy, she wasn’t flayed in this scene. Heather sensed/saw her and talked to her, and she didn’t even know El before hand

Demogorgon.

Season 1, episode 6: The Monster

Okay shitty example but in season one there’s a flashback at Dr. Brenner’s lab, Eleven is looking for the demogorgon in the void.

When she finds it, she touches it. The demogorgon feels her and turns around to look at her.

- - -

All those characters I mentioned know for a fact that El is there in the void. But Mike, the person who loves El more the anything in the world, doesn’t believe it’s her?

El does the same thing with Mike that she does with all the other characters. She talks to him, she evens reaches out to touch him. Yet he still doesn’t believe she’s alive. He doesn’t even think for a second that maybe she survived, and with everything that happened, would it really be too hard for him to believe?

[cleradinscloset]

ok so hear me out but I need mike in the upside down calling out for will like how el and will both called for mike (their love interest) while they were in the upside down

[greenfiend]

i just read your time travel theory and all i keep thinking about is how in back to the future 2 marty and doc travel to the future and biff finds the time machine and works it in his favor so when marty and doc travel back to present time everything is wrong and they have to travel all the way to the beginning. have you had any thoughts on such a twist? (by the way i love all your theories and you blow my mind with every single one)

Short answer: a big huge YES!!!!!!

I actually allude to this idea in this post!

I believe that we have already seen aspects of the show inspired by Back to the Future Part II.

For example: newspapers indicating different timelines. Just one example is the differences between the Will articles… the Henry-Edward Creel articles are another major example of this. -> click here for info on that. Credit to @aemiron-main for these amazing finds.

Another one is the Dustin and Mike walkie-talkie scene- it’s a reference to the first sequel of BttF (since it was the only one of the movies where they used walkie-talkies!).

Now for some stuff I think we WILL see referenced from the movie…

Now, I believe it’s very telling that they put “William” rather than “Billy” on the gravestone and that they played the song “Dear Willy” in the background of this scene. They are obviously alluding to the other William here as well, and possibly to a separate timeline where he died on November 6th, 1983. Not unlike how George Mcfly was murdered in the alternate 1985 in Back to the Future part II.

If true, then I’m even more inclined to believe that Lonnie is the #1 suspect. Lonnie being our Biff… and possible step father to Will…

Look at their similarities… “[He] always did have a way with women.” 🤢

Then, of course, we must have a scene like this one.

The alternate timeline!!! There’s absolutely at least one of these, possibly more. For this scene, I like to envision Dustin being the one to explain this to everyone.

Now for my favourite idea…

Our characters travelling back to a previous moment within the show! Ah… movie magic. I cannot tell you how much I love this concept. Blew my mind as a child. Look at how the events of the first Back to the Future movie were occurring as a second Marty was on a separate mission desperately avoiding detection from his past self. Time travel can be confusing as heck but damn it’s fun.

I will say that I do not think time travel within Stranger Things will occur in the same way as it does in Back to the Future. It’ll be different somehow. I mention a pretty *wild* idea here.

Now. Here are some things I’m nearly confident about:

Will will (or has) travelled to the past. SO much evidence of this, it’s nearly undeniable.

Mike *somehow* is their “ride” back in time. This is heavily implied when Dustin calls up Mike for a “ride” while the DeLorean is shown on the big screen.

Multiple timelines exist, and we will likely see them or at least learn about them.

Vecna, Mike, and Will are the characters most associated with time and time travel.

Ahhh I love time travel and Back to the Future. The Duffers clearly do too! Back to the Future has been referenced since episode one when we first saw Will in that classic red “life preserver”. The references go deeper than most people realize too. I gotta say too, the whole play being set in the 50s, with the parents as teens, is very reminiscent of Back to the Future as well!

I would not be surprised at all if they referenced this classic sequel a fair bit in the final season!

[chirpsythismorning]

We never really left

[strawberrybyers]

when karen goes missing in s5. when nancy and mike discover they’re related to the creels in the process of trying to find their mom. when el discovers henry is her dad because the lab secretly impregnated terry. therefore all of this putting another nail in mikeven’s coffin 😌

[coniangray]

St5 teaser breakdown

(cus im bored) (spoilers, duh....i think)

All these clips are from the first 2 eps cus ofc they wont wanna spoil more that early into production. Like imagine if this felt too much of a sneak peak, the season is gonna be HUGE and this will feel like the 0.00001% of what it actually is lmao.

The school scenes:

i think first scenes, all from episode one.

The boys will catch a signal from the radio the night prior, paralleling s2e1

but this time either will lives with the wheelers or hes at the radio station and they contact from there.

the signal might be near a military base OR

its henrys signal that needs decoding excactly like the scoop troops did in st3.

So, the dynamics here are gonna be reminicent of both s2 and s3e2.

some quotes like "what are you doing on this channel again" and ''I cracked it", "cracked what?","I cracked the code" are also gonna make the cut. This scene will be paralelled with either mike or dustin, since these two were the brain of the party.

BONUS:

And what did robin also figure out in s4? Oh, wait-

I dont actually know what this code is, but i know it needs all four of them to solve it. And what if, in the background of the signal they catch up on little dream of me playing in the background?

The daisy song being broadcasted was accidental; the russians werent planning on including it there or they just did it as a distraction (they might have recorded the code within the crowd of the mall in brought daylight.) So what if the music, even if there is one at the background, is accidental too? After all, this song is mentioned as victors safe space because he called ella fitzgerald an angel, not henrys.

It all has to do with vecna at the end of the day, given how will touches his neck and feels him. This is an early sign of the symptoms, given how later, after school, they grow bigger and wider, giving will his first vision of the day:

And i dont even need to tell yall what this scene paralels lol

same table, but not same tree.

The code solving talk still continues here, because of how convenient it is to have will see the clock, zone out, walk towards it while the rest of the group talks about vecna and him capturing his victims in manipulative ways. In this scene they will bring up metaphors and allegories, just like they did with chrissy and eddie "do you ever feel like youre losing your mind?","i feel like im going crazy right now, doing a deal with the queen of hawkins high".

Also, like eddie said, this place promises safety because no o ne ever goes out there. SO, my bet is, mike chose they go there since eddie mustve told him right before he died.

bet hell say sth between the lines of "We have to go somewhere private. Somewhere no one can hear us." and thatll be most likely during lunch.

And thats where the bullies come in.

In order to continue their scenes out there, they mustve been interrupted by andy and jasons squad, and teased as to what they were doing with the radio on the table, given the leaks we got back in january or mike and dustin being followed by them.

no i have a feeling that during this arguement (after lunch and before the table scene), andy will attack mike and dustin and will will hopefully give a punch, paraleling el and angela in s4 and joyce in s3. This is my guess here, but i hope its true cus poor boy needs to throw hands with sb.

Spoiler alert it might not happen that day cus all of them are safe and sound without a scratch in the table woods scene.

After the woods scene, dustin visits eddied grave with his bike, which vandalized to the gods and guess who did it; thats right the bullies.

which will probably paralel maxs scene on billys grave

I wanna believe we get a heartfelt speech about his and mikes relationship with eddie, warming the ground for more eddie flashbacks to come. No, he wont get vecnad here, but rather found and beaten up by andi and the bullies, cus he was seen with a bruised face later on

and yes, the projector scene is also from the same day.

Another interesting thing to point out here is how the duffers said that our characters will start the season in action, so all the el scenes fighting vecna in the upside down and all the lights flickering, theyre all from the first 2 episodes.

After school and after the graveyard, with propably a few new scenes taking place in the middle, they all go to the new station set, and as it seems the byers are doing a presentation??

Probably from their experience in the uspide down, or most likely explaining sth about vecnas connection.

Orrr its a group thing, idk.

The thing is, dustin is beaten up standing next to steve. My bets are that hell notice dustin is hurt and make a huge deal about it, argue with the party on why he was found like that in the first place.

This would also be a chance to bring up the dynamics from the previous seasons and their flaws, aka dustin being with steve more time than he was with the party or others.

The thing is, in the same scene we see this;

M4tt showing n0ah how to choke.

Things most likely get heated in this scene, and that triggers wills connection with vecna. The mindflayer activates, and he becomes like billy.

And who else flayed choked sb else prior to this?

LETS GO BABY WE ROLL !!

Will will attack someone, most likely steve, cus he was also shown beaten up later in the teaser, especially in the car scene with nancy n johnathan.

Which leads us to this leak;

Its night, right outside the radio station. My guess is that steve tries to escape but part of him stays cus hell its will that attacks, that boy is harmless, right? While will is just there, chocking him and bagginf him to run.

Its the perfect lead up imo; first he feels the mf getting closer, then he has the vision and then he gets activated.

i feel like this is the cliffhanger between e1 and e2, since it would be perfect to have us waiting for steves safety and wills sanity for the next episode.

Bonus bonus;

Nancys Candy striper outfit

Going undercover in ep 1 was not on mybingo card, so im guessing shes an actual vollunteer at the hospital, because shed have to gain trust in order to sneak in and steal files.

but then again, why from tyhe hospital? all this place has ws maxs condition, which was already known to her and the rest of the team.

Involving her with such type of environment is simply to create more paraelels from the hmh scenes in s3.

Now, we also got this leak from april, and its most likely for ep4

the vollunteer is obviously nancy, but for her to return to that outfit, shell have to wear it again. So that means what i said, she became a vollunteer to gain trust and steal the proper files from the turnbows mansion thats connected to the lab.

Wills outfit also indicates its from a later episode.

As for the hopper scenes, idk a lot to break it down. And for el, this must be in ep 1 since this is unfinished bussiness from the piggyback if u nthink abt it

Thats it, hope you enjoyed my brain fart and i hope im right.

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

Duffers!!! Make Mike get vecna’d, and my life is yours

Say Mike and Max are intentionally similar and paralleled (because of byler/lumax and because they are “same character different font”) and no one bats an eye. Say Mike and Max are intentionally similar and paralleled because they both get vecna’d, and suddenly it’s not fun anymore.

Not to mention Vecna lacking a left eye (in d&d, and eddie says so during s4 campaign), and mike having lots of imagery regarding his left eye (when talking about his (fake) headache in s1, you can see him rubbing/covering his left eye, his left eye is also shadowed a lot, specially during s4 (to see more of this, search for posts tagged #possesiongate) which also happened to Will in s2, when he was possessed).

+ the many references to michael myers (to the point where while max is having her Vecna vision at the cementery, there’s a grave that’s says “myers”)

Credits to @givehimthemedicine for the discovery of the “random” scenes parallels

Also having MANY thoughts about this post

[demobatman]

do we ever think mike never wanted to play dnd in season 3 because they associate every traumatic experience they have to the game and he wasnt ready to revisit that part of his life again yet. bc dnd is the connection to the partys trauma but for will its his escape. do we ever think about that.

[the-irreverend]

Never change, Toby.

Never change.

Yes, I still miss Eddie.

[willthewise7]

So I’ve seen speculation of why Mike was able to get Will out of his trance, whilst we can see Mike reaching out visibly to Will in the trance too.

The first explanation for this is that Will keeps getting stuck between both sides. He’s there in the real world whilst he’s seeing the Upside Down. It’s like a thin veil between both dimensions. He’s able to be in both at the same time. Therefore, Will can be seen in the real dimension at the same time. So Mike reaches out to Will to try and make sure that he’s okay, and to help him.

So we know Will can be between both dimensions. But why can we see Mike reaching into it?

You can visibly see here in this shot that Mike’s hand is almost shown to be reaching into the Upside Down to grab Will. This directing is purposeful, to convey a message and to hide symbolism. Otherwise, this whole shot could’ve simply been Mike grabbing Will in the real world, with Will awakening from his trance. So they’ve set this shot up on purpose, neat editing.

Ultimately, this could be interpreted as clever symbolism of Mike being the light that reaches Will in dark places. The one that can always save him due to the bond that they both have. With how they’ve shown Will with his love for Mike in Season 4, it makes even more sense. Mike is Will’s light, therefore it makes sense for him to be able to pull him from the dark. Also, notice how his voice also is displayed with this scene too even in the Upside Down trance? Mike’s voice works too. This isn’t the only time that he pulls him out of a trance either.

Mike also snaps Will out of his trance outside of the Palace Arcade, this time just by using his voice. Therefore, a common theme. Mike is capable of bringing Will out of his trances just by touching him or using his voice. The only time this didn’t work is when the Mindflayer was possessing Will on the field. However, later in the season we get another iconic scene showing how Mike is capable of saving Will and getting through to him, even when he’s possessed.

Mike retelling the story of when they first met in Kindergarten and Mike saying that asking him to be his friend was “the best thing I’ve ever done”, broke through to Will. Enabling him to fight back against the Mindflayer temporarily.

It’s also key to note that in this scene when Will taps the chair with morse code to create a message for everyone, it’s the same hand tapping the chair that Mike touched earlier in the season.

So all of these scenes and clues put together show that it’s the love Will has for Mike that pulls him through. Like Will says, Mike makes him feel like “he’s not a mistake at all” and gives him the “courage to fight on”.

So to finally answer this question, I believe they intentionally framed Mike’s hand like that to demonstrate how strong Will’s love for Mike is. So therefore, this is proof of them setting this storyline up from the very beginning. Like David Harbour said, it’ll all make sense when you look back at it.

Finally, Will is also Mike’s light in the dark. This’ll be touched upon in the final season more with Mike, as they did with Will in Season 4. This shot below demonstrates this.

This is a key piece of cinematography for the show. Will is in the light, with Mike in the dark. Foreshadowing that Mike will join the light with him in Season 5. Possibly saving Will from trances again too?

One thing for sure, it’s showing Will in the light, as Mike’s light too. This shot shows that they both need each other, they light each other up in dark times. They encourage each other to fight on. They are both each others light. Both capable of saving each other and pulling each other from the dark.

Overall, therefore, this shot combined with other iconic scenes for the show further confirms Will’s love for Mike. Alongside foreshadowing Mike’s love for Will in Season 5.

[samcats]

Jancy & Byler parallel

Okay I was rewatching season 2 and while watching this specific scene where Murray is talking to Jonathan and Nancy I noticed how it parallels Byler. This could just be a confidence of course though I still find it interesting. Anyways here’s a video discussing that

[stevesbanana]

Stranger Things Incorrect Quotes:

Billy: “We are not gonna cry over a guy that doesn’t know what y=mx+b means”

Y/n: “Do you?”

Billy: “This isn’t about me.”

[freetobeeyouandme]

The thing about the Mindflayer lore in ST is that everything keeps contradicting itself. The First Shadow is apparently like "The Mindflayer possess Henry, it's an evil alien, it's in charge, Henry is just a pawn." and that makes sense with Dustin's S4 comment that Henry's the "five star general opening gates for it"...except Henry tells El/Nancy that he shaped the MF into the spider creature we know it as, and we know it actually does look like that from Will, so that seems to be true? And then Will says it's weird to know that the whole time it has been Henry that he's felt....as if he agrees with what he's been told by El/Nancy/the others and as if that suddenly makes things make sense?

And sure maybe the MF wants Henry to think he is in charge and Will might not be able to identify the thing he's been feeling and so simply believes when he's told that was Henry. After all they did make a point of how Dustin is usually right and has a knack for conceptualizing the supernatural (except Dustin keeps getting undermined by Steve who is right also. Dustin and Robin crack the code but Steve figures out the Russians broadcast from Hawkins, Dustin says he knows where Skull Rock is, but Steve leads them there, Dustin calls Steve stupid for suggesting Vecna is a vampire but he's right Vecna is a vampiric figure!)

But then why introduce Henry at all, when in S3 the MF already had personal beef with El and it was implied (or at least I interepreted it that way back then) that it was because she foiled its plans and closed the gate on it in S2. Then S4 goes actually maybe that was the moment Henry realized he was dealing with El and that whole thing was because of what happened in the lab back then. So what is the point of the Mindflayer?

Especially when in S1/2 the Mindflayer/Demogorgon/hivemind aren't being portrayed as evil aliens but as alien animals? Like yeah the demogorgon is a vicious predator but it's being compared to a shark, Jancy lure it with blood, it's hunting! And then in S2 they make a point of how the Lab is hurting the gate by burning it to keep it from spreading and so the hivemind burrows underground and then when Will is possessed and sends those soldiers to their death he says it was because they were hurting the hivemind (i don't remember if he says "it" "him" or "us", but the point stands). And Dustin is able to form a bond with Dart because that's just an animal! If you treat it kindly it will not attack you!

So it's like, who is in charge, Henry or the Mindflayer? Who is being used? What even is the Mindflayer like we're still not sure on that, are we?

Anyway I think I might just give up and say it's both and neither. Try to make sense of that

[f1nn-w0lfhard-l0v3r]

Reasons Byler will be endgame

So first of all let’s start on Season 1

Season 1:

We all know that Will Byers went missing in the first episode! yes that’s sad. anyway, Mike was the first one to CARE about that. (in the party) Yes, Lucas and Dustin obviously cared but Mike cared more. he said “i’m the only one who cares about will!” and repeatedly said they need to go find him. also he stood up for Will when he got bullied when not even being there. Fast forward to when Mike hides El. When El points at Will in the photo mike gets excited and decides to use El as a way to find Will. this shows, maybe Mike never actually loved el? maybe he just liked how she helped. but missed her as a friend in season two. ANYWAY he uses her and when we found out that “Wills body” was in the lake, Mike got angry… too angry. he yells at El for lying and then when gets home he cries to his mum. showing he really cared about will. (yes i know he is his best friend, but what if it was just more, and he didn’t notice?) Anyway, they finally find will and bring him to a hospital. The gang is waiting in the waiting room and when the nurse says that will is awake, mike is the fastest to get in the room and instantly hugs will. ❤️

Season 2:

in season two we notice that will is getting visions and who is the one who always snaps him out of it, or makes sure he is okay? Mike. at the arcade will gets a vision and then when he sees the mind flayer mike snaps him out and puts his arm around will and brings him to everyone. fast forward to halloween, Will gets left behind of the group and bullies start to pick on him. he gets another vision after falling and then runs away and when he wakes up he finds mike there trying to snap him out of it again. then he tells the party that they’re going HOME. Mike decides that home is his basement. they’re talking about how they are both going crazy so mike makes will feel better and says “if we’re both going crazy, we can go crazy together right?” and ofc our buddy, will, agrees. fast forward to when they lost dart at the school. Will finds him and tells dustin through the walkie talkie then senses he’s from the upside down so he gets scared and runs away. when everyone gets there the only one who notices that will is gone is MIKE. he suddenly goes to look for him and finds him in a field and tries to wake him out of it again then eventually the gang finds them too. later they find out he got over taken by the mind flayer blah blah blah and then mike decides to go to the byers house to COMFORT will and they have a cute little sleepover. they have a talk about how will feels when the mind flayer is inside of him. then when they go to the lab hospital thing mike is beside him the entire time. Will eventually loses his memory when he wakes up and everybody is around him. also mike ofc. when they ask will who mike is will says “that’s.. my friend.. mike :)” mike is so happy that. will remembers lol. fast really forward bc id remember much lol. they are locking will in the shed and when mike tells Will the cute little story, how they met, and how it was the best idea of mikes life meeting him on the swing. THAT is what triggers will to do the Morse code. (it was then if you pay attention like me, you would notice.) but it takes Hopper a way longer time to notice. eventually, they found out that Will is saying “close gate.” I don’t remember much lol. that’s all I remember right now if there’s more, comment.

This was part one. I will post part two one day that has season three and four in it because this one has season one and two, of course. ❤️❤️❤️

[ijustreallywantagrilledcheese]

ELEVEN FROM STRANGER THINGS IS NOT JANE IVES AND I CAN PROVE IT.

I've been rewatching Stranger Things before we cancel our Netflix subscription, and while I've always believed El is not Jane Ives, I can prove it now after this rewatch.

So, let's start with Season 2, where El finds out that her mama is still alive.

She finds Terry Ives' files that Hopper stupidly kept in his cabin (literally, Hop, you have an ENTIRE office to put that stuff in, why did you put it in your CABIN?)

And like Jim and Joyce, come to the conclusion that SHE IS Terry's lost daughter.

So she sets out to find Terry. Once she does, she talks with Becky, tells her who she is, and then talks with Terry in a special sorta way that only they can do.

El goes up to the woman she believes is her mother, and says "Mama, it's me, Jane. I'm home."

AND TERRY'S FIRST WORDS TO HER LONG LOST DAUGHTER, THE CHILD SHE LITERALLY ENDURED YEARS OF TORTURE, RIDICULE, AND MOCKERY FOR, LOOKS AT THIS GIRL CLAIMING TO BE HER DAUGHTER, AND SAYS NO.

And THEN she shows her what happened to her.

When she shows El that she had a dangerous and traumatic labor, she shows that she had an emergency C-section.

KEEP THIS IN MIND, IT'S IMPORTANT.

Also, she shows a different lab, a different rainbow room, and two little girls who, specifically, were wearing normal clothing and who did not have buzz cuts.

El understands that Terry wants her to find someone, but she thinks it's the other girl, Kali?

If Terry wants her daughter to come home, why send that same daughter who has been gone for over a decade out to find another child that isn't hers?

And Kali doesn't know who El is when they meet? She has to show her tattoo? She literally doesn't recognize her.

Furthermore, when picking out one of the Bad Men to kill, El only remembers the one that she saw in the memories Terry showed her? She doesn't recognize ANYONE else out of all those people except for one person she doesn't know personally?

Then, Season 3 goes by with few references to El's past.

Then we get to Season 4.

El has lost her powers from her fight with the Mindflayer at the end of Season 3. She is starting to remember her past, and she remembers something completely different from what Terry showed her.

Children with buzz-cut hair and hospital gowns, just like her.

A different-looking rainbow room from the one Terry saw and was in.

Then time goes by.

Brenner magically shows up to help El get her powers back, proving that he has connections outside of Hawkins and the Bad Man that El picked for Kali and the others to kill was NOT lying.

And El slowly gets her memories back. At least enough to remember what happened with 001 and the Upside Down and how things started. Conveniently, the memories of where she was before the lab are ALMOST COMPLETELY in Terry's POV.

Except one very awkward and out of place memory that didn't fit the others.

She remembers her birth. And she remembers going through a tunnel--like a child passing through the birth canal.

Which can only be done via a vaginal delivery.

El remembers being born vaginally.

Why is this detail important?

Because TERRY DIDN'T HAVE A VAGINAL DELIVERY, SHE HAD A C-SECTION.

THEREFORE,

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE for El to be Jane Ives.