#we're using the play taser to make the prod

[evilejfan]

It has begun...

[reikunrei]

there is honestly sooo much evidence that Brenner used Henry to "breed" Eleven and all of the other kids at Hawkins Lab:

we never learn anything about who El’s biological father is. it's never even posed as a really tangible question. all we know about Terry's pregnancy was that it was a surprise, and they were all worried about it since she was in the middle of doing these supposed "drug experiments" at the lab, which was also used as a cover for taking away El, blaming a "miscarriage."

if Terry was under the influence, she likely would not have ever been aware that she had been artificially inseminated.

Henry is of the right age for Brenner to have collected sperm samples from him. quick math with some science thrown in: El was 8 in 1979 and Henry was 32 (per the fandom wiki). therefore, when El was conceived, Henry would have been 23/24. we don't know the ages of the other kids at the lab, but there don't seem to be many who are older than Eleven. some of the kids who assaulted her looked like they could have been 15-18 (though this also depends on how much we're aging down the actors like the main cast lol). regardless, even if we ballpark one of the older kids being 18, Henry would have been 13/14 at the time of conception. people who produce semen can start developing sperm as soon as puberty begins, which can start as early as 11 years old. as icky as it feels, i would not put it past Brenner to take samples from Henry the instant he was viable.

the fact that there are age gaps between all of the kids is evidence that Brenner didn't want to raise any red flags about the pregnancies in his test subjects. it seems like anywhere from 1-4 kids at the lab could be around the same age, so Brenner would have played it safe by inseminating just a few women at a time to not raise any alarms.

Brenner admitted that Henry was difficult to control, so that would lead him to try and get "fresh" minds that he could mold from infancy so the kids wouldn't try to fight against him and would do exactly what he asked. he needed to be sure they'd have powers to begin with, though, so of course he tried taking from the only source he had.

this is less evidence, but just something the scene after Henry helps El and he gets physically punished for it reminds me of. him being tasered reminds me of livestock being physically reprimanded into behaving a certain way (ie. taser = cattle prod). and, hey, if you want good cattle, you breed your best bull.

and now, less quantifiable stuff to point at, but more evidence by way of the storytelling of the series... i talked about it in depth in this post where i discussed my personal thoughts and hopes for how they elaborate on the relationship between El and Henry, but to sum it up:

throughout the entire show, but especially in s4, there's been the discussion of "good vs evil" or "monsters vs superheroes" and how things are not so black and white, as Brenner put it. even Henry says that, no, Brenner was not a monster, he was just a mediocre man who was searching for purpose vicariously through his experiments.

this, i feel, is obviously leading to an understanding on Eleven's end that she has both done monstrous things and is still a good person at heart. she strives to be good, she pushes against being the "monster," but she will have to admit that, sometimes, she behaves in monstrous ways. however, that does not make her a "monster."

this could very easily jump into her being blood-related to Henry, worrying that it makes her more of a monster, before realizing that evil is not genetic. like, it's not that far of a stretch to place this narrative over blood relations while the kids at Hawkins Lab already all view themselves as "siblings" due to their upbringing.

on the opposite side of the coin, this feeds into the discussion that Henry is not a pure-blooded monster. not only will Eleven have to realize that she is capable of being a monster, but Henry is capable of not being a monster. he is, just like Brenner, simply a man who happened to find himself in fantastic circumstances.