Eleven

**Spoiler Warning!**
This article or section reveals details from *Stranger Things: The First Shadow*. Read at your own discretion...

## Eleven

* 1986
* 1985
* 1984
* 1983
* 1979
* 1974

## Biographical information

### Age

2/3 (1974)
8 (1979)
12 (season one)
13 (season two)
14 (seasons three and four)

### Aliases

Jane Ives (birth name)
Jane Hopper (legal name)
011 (subject name)
El
The Weirdo
Eleanor
Shirley Temple
Mage

### Residence

Hawkins, Indiana
(1971 - 1985):* Hawkins National
 Laboratory (1971 -
November 1983)
* Wheeler basement
(November 1983)
* Hawkins woodland
(November - December 1983)
* Hopper cabin
(December 1983 - July 1985)
* Byers house
(July - October 1985)

California
(October 1985 - March 1986) :* Byers house

### Family

Biological family:* Andrew Rich † (biological father)
* Terry Ives (biological mother)
* Bill Ives † (maternal biological grandfather)
* Becky Ives (maternal biological aunt)
* Shirley (maternal biological grandaunt)

Adoptive/foster family:* Jim Hopper (adoptive father)
* Joyce Byers (foster mother)
* Sara Hopper † (adoptive half-sister)
* Jonathan Byers (foster half-brother)
* Will Byers (foster half-brother)
* James Hopper Sr †
* Unnamed adoptive grandmother †
* Unnamed adoptive great-grandfather †
* Darlene (foster grandaunt)

Hawkins National
 Laboratory: * Dr. Martin Brenner †
(captor/father figure)
* One/Henry Creel
(fellow test subject)
* Eight/Kali Prasad
(fellow test subject)
* Two, Three, Four,
Five, Six, Seven, Nine,
Ten, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen,
Sixteen, Seventeen,
and Eighteen †
(fellow test subjects)

### Other relations

Mike Wheeler (boyfriend)
Dustin Henderson (best friend)
Lucas Sinclair (best friend)
Max Mayfield (best friend)
Nancy Wheeler (friend)
Steve Harrington (friend)
Robin Buckley (friend)
Argyle (friend)
Benny Hammond † (friend)
Dr. Sam Owens (ally)
Billy Hargrove † (enemy)
Vecna (enemy)
The Mind Flayer (enemy)
The Demogorgon † (enemy)
Angela (enemy)
Jake (enemy)

### Affiliation

Ives family
Hawkins National Laboratory (formerly)
The Party
Hopper family
Byers family

### Occupation

Test subject at Hawkins National Laboratory (1971-1983)
Student at Lenora Hills High School (1985 - 1986)
Test subject at The Nina Project (1986)

## Portrayal

### Other actors

Charlotte and Clara Ward (2/3 year-old Eleven)
Martie Blair (8 year-old Eleven)

### Episodes

**Jane Hopper** (born **Jane Ives**), also known as **Eleven**, is a main character in *Stranger Things*. She is portrayed by Millie Bobby Brown.

Jane Ives was born with special psychokinetic abilities; Jane's mother, Terry, was experimented upon in the controversial government program known as "MKUltra", which, by accident or by Dr. Martin Brenner's design, affected Jane in the womb. Upon her birth, Jane was immediately kidnapped by Dr. Brenner, and brought to Hawkins National Laboratory. Jane was re-designated "Eleven", being the eleventh of Brenner's series of child test subjects. Throughout her childhood, Brenner tested Eleven and the others’ abilities at the lab, all the while denying her access to the outside world.

On September 8, 1979, a mysterious Hawkins Lab orderly showed Eleven that Brenner had implanted a strange device in his neck, and tricked her into removing it with her powers. Eleven soon realized that the orderly was in fact Henry Creel, or One, the lab’s original psychokinetic test subject. In a fit of rage, Henry - his powers restored from having the implant removed - brutally murdered the other test subjects and attempted to sway Eleven to his cause. However, Eleven refused and overpowered him, sending him through a temporary gate to another dimension. Following the incident, Eleven fell into a coma, and became somewhat amnesiac, with her powers blunted.

Four years later, on November 6, 1983, Brenner pushed Eleven to make contact with a creature from the alternate dimension, accidentally opening a second gateway at the lab. Amongst the chaos, Eleven escaped the lab through a drain pipe; she was soon found by Mike, Lucas, and Dustin. Upon discovering her abilities, Mike believed that she could help find Will, their missing friend. During their time together, she and Mike formed a strong bond and quickly grew to like each other. In an attempt to protect her friends, Eleven eventually destroyed the monster she had unleashed in a showdown at Hawkins Middle School, mysteriously vanishing in the process.

Despite her apparent demise, Eleven had survived, and secretly began living with Jim Hopper at his grandfather's old cabin. Frustrated from being separated from her friends, Eleven decided to defy Hopper's orders, and went on a journey of self-discovery, uncovering her past. Realizing she could not leave her friends behind, she returned to Hawkins, reuniting with her allies to help them neutralize another supernatural threat dubbed "The Mind Flayer". Eleven was then taken in by Hopper as his adopted daughter, her legal name now "Jane Hopper". In December, she attended the Snow Ball school dance with Mike.

By the summer of 1985, Eleven had struck up a friendship with Max, with her romantic relationship with Mike continuing to blossom. Upon learning that the Mind Flayer had returned to wreak havoc in Hawkins, she and her friends began efforts to defeat it. During their fight against the possessed Billy, "the Flayed" and the Mind Flayer's various proxy forms, Eleven suffered a traumatic injury and later lost access to her powers.

After Hopper's apparent death, Eleven was taken in by the Byers family, who were all relocated to Lenora Hills, California under Dr. Sam Owens's supervision. She struggled to adjust to her new life, especially with living without her powers while being a target for bullies. In 1986, while spending spring break with Mike, Owens informed her of a new evil threatening Hawkins; she agreed to participate in "Nina", an experimental scheme Owens and Brenner created, designed to restore and even boost her abilities. During the process, Eleven re-experienced her repressed memories; she learned One was responsible for the 1979 massacre. Later, the deranged Lt. Col Sullivan led a military effort to assassinate Eleven, though she escaped the Nina facility with the help of Mike, Will, Jonathan, and Argyle. She attempted to assist her old friends in Hawkins via psychic projection, but was unable to prevent Vecna's plan to further the Upside Down's incursion.

## History

### Birth and early life

Hoping to recreate Henry Creel's powers in other individuals, Dr. Martin Brenner, a researcher for the controversial government program "MKUltra", took what he had learned from Henry and adjusted his experimentations.

Around 1970, a student named Terry Ives chose to participate in Brenner's experiments. As a test subject, Terry would take psychedelic drugs and be sensorily deprived, in the hopes of "expanding the boundaries of the mind"; Terry also apparently recieved a transfusion of Henry Creel's blood.

Unbeknownst to Terry, she had become pregnant during this period. In 1971, she gave birth to a girl, naming her Jane. Due to the experimentation on Terry, Jane was born with various extraordinary psychokinetic abilities. Immediately after her birth, she was abducted by Brenner; the incident was covered up as a miscarriage, meaning there were no birth certificates or medical records of Eleven's existence. While Terry knew she had seen her daughter alive upon giving birth, Terry's sister believed Jane never survived. Terry filed a lawsuit against Brenner and his associates, but was unsuccessful due to a lack of evidence.

### 1970s

Growing up in Hawkins Lab, and secluded from the outside world, Jane was not referred to by her given name, instead being labeled "011", indicating her role as a test subject. Brenner built himself up as a father figure in the mind of Eleven, making her refer to him as "Papa".

Eleven was not the lab's only test subject: she had sixteen "brothers" and "sisters", who were probably abducted from their birth mothers in a similar fashion. In the early years of her life, she was allowed to play in the Rainbow Room with the other test subjects, including Eight. Psychological tests were conducted to exploit the telekinetic abilities the children were born with.

#### 1974

##### Terry's rescue attempt

In 1974, Terry attempted to retrieve Jane, breaking into Hawkins Lab with a gun; she briefly saw Eleven playing with Eight, but was apprehended. Brenner then subjected Terry to electroshock therapy, which left her in a seemingly permanent catatonic state for years after.

#### 1979

##### The friendly orderly

During Eleven's time at Hawkins Lab, she became acquainted with a friendly orderly who took a particular liking to her. Since Eleven had no friends amongst the test subjects following Eight's escape, she received words of encouragement from the orderly before doing training exercises with the other children.

On September 4, 1979, Brenner took Eleven and the other subjects into the main training room, where, one-by-one, the children would attempt to psychically manipulate a series of lightbulbs. Eleven struggled with this task, leading the oldest child, Two, to mock and belittle her. Despite this, Eleven briefly powered one of the bulbs.

On September 7, the friendly orderly advised Eleven to use negative emotions, such as anger and sadness, to better channel her abilities. Later that day, Brenner pitted the children against each other in a combat-based test. Two children at a time would stand on mats, with both trying to psychically push their opponent off their mat, all the while resisting the other's attack. In this game, Eleven ultimately defeated Two, humiliating him. Later, Two and his allies - Three, Four and Five - ganged up on Eleven in the Rainbow Room, and bullied her with their powers, even threatening to kill her. After being slammed into a wall, she apparently suffered a concussion. Some time later, she was taken to recover in the infirmary.

##### The massacre at Hawkins Lab

On September 8, Brenner checked up on Eleven in the infirmary, before he escorted her to the training room and summoned all the other test subjects. He punished Two for attacking Eleven through use of an electroshock collar.

Later that day, Eleven and the friendly orderly played chess in the Rainbow Room, during which the orderly quietly offered her a chance to escape the lab. The orderly disclosed - or claimed - that the other children planned to kill her, and that Brenner had been intending for this all along. He silently slid her a key card under the table, and told her to meet him in the basement.

Some hours later, Eleven persuaded another orderly to escort her to the infirmary, pretending to feel ill. Eleven used the distraction to reach a stairwell and travel to the basement. There, she met with the friendly orderly, who showed her an escape route through a drain pipe. He then convinced her to use her powers to remove the “Soteria” suppressant chip from his neck. Shortly after this, security guards stormed the basement; the two reached a corridor but were surrounded by the guards. However, the orderly, telling Eleven she didn't "have to be afraid of them" anymore, suddenly outreached his hand. Using his own set of powers - restored from having the Soteria removed - the orderly maimed most of the guards and killed one of them; he took Eleven to a storage cupboard and told her to wait there, revealing his ‘001’ tattoo before leaving.

One proceeded to go on a murderous rampage throughout the laboratory, killing all the other test subjects and various Hawkins Lab personnel, and indirectly knocked Dr. Brenner unconscious. Eleven entered the Rainbow Room and watched in horror as One finished killing Two. One explained himself to Eleven, telling her of his origins and philosophy, and of his former identity as Henry Creel; Henry asked her to join him in his goal to eradicate humanity.

    But Eleven refused. She used her powers to fling Henry into the wall; angered and disappointed, Henry stood back up and outreached his hand, with Eleven doing the same. The two test subjects engaged in a psychokinetic duel, with One initially overwhelming and almost killing Eleven. However, Eleven, finding strength in a distant memory of her mother, ultimately overpowered One, pinning him against the wall of the Rainbow Room. She began disintegrating his body, but somehow, she opened an interdimensional gate in the wall, through which One was transported.

The gate began to seal up, and just after the membrane separating the worlds finished healing, Brenner entered the Rainbow Room. Though he initially believed Eleven was responsible for the massacre, he later learned One was to blame after reviewing surveillance footage. Brenner was amazed by Eleven's feat of power, but by the time Eleven woke from her coma, Brenner learnt she had no memory of the incident, and her powers had been somewhat reduced. Brenner was bewildered by One's disappearance, and wondered if he was still out there somewhere, "hiding in the darkness".

### 1979 - 1983

#### Psychokinetic training

For years, Brenner trained Eleven and developed her psychic abilities. To punish her for any failures, Eleven was sometimes locked in a solitary cell for great periods of time; this experience severely traumatized her, leaving her with a fear of confinement.

In one experiment, Eleven was presented with a soda can, which she then crushed using telekinesis. Although her nose began bleeding soon afterwards, Dr. Brenner seemed pleased nonetheless. Another experiment involved using her powers to manipulate a living creature. Dr. Brenner presented Eleven with a cat, but she could not bring herself to do anything to it. As punishment for her refusal, she was dragged into the cell by two guards. Refusing to be locked in again, an enraged Eleven used her powers to smash one guard into a wall and to break the other's neck before they could close the door. While she sobbed at her experiences, Brenner gently carried her away, pleased with Eleven's feat of ability.

#### Targeting the Soviets

The Cold War was at a height in the early 1980s, with the United States and Soviet Union in conflict; Brenner and his associates sought to use Eleven's power to spy on their adversaries. Testing Eleven's ability to eavesdrop over long distances, Eleven was ordered to repeat words stated by an individual elsewhere in the laboratory. She did not repeat the words through her voice, but instead transmitted the individual's words via a speaker.

Brenner later directed Eleven to spy on a Soviet agent. A room in the lab's underground complex contained a sensory deprivation tank used to enhance Eleven's psychic powers; when sensorily deprived, Eleven could become immersed in an inner mental void, in which she could project her consciousness and psychically reach out to other living creatures. On an unspecified date - likely in 1983 - Eleven was lowered into the tank before entering her Void. She succeeded in finding the agent, but she unwittingly encountered a creature from another dimension, transmitting the creature's noises over the loudspeakers in Brenner's control booth. Eleven panicked and the experiment was aborted, but Brenner remained intrigued by the creature.

### 1983

#### Making contact

Dr. Brenner decided to repeat the experiment, ordering Eleven to make contact with the creature. On November 6, 1983, Eleven entered the tank once again. Immersed in the psychic state, Eleven reluctantly made contact with the creature, while it fed off a large, yellow egg.

In the moment contact was established, a second gate cracked open in the wall of the tank room, invoking panic and confusion among the scientists. In the ensuing chaos, Eleven escaped the lab through the basement's drain pipe and fled into the surrounding woodlands of Hawkins.

#### On the run

Walking through the woods, Eleven came across Benny Hammond's diner and attempted to steal food, but Benny caught her and prevented her escape. He clothed, fed, and attempted to communicate with her. She was reserved and did not say much, but eventually revealed her name was Eleven. Thinking she was a victim of child abuse, Benny called social services; Hawkins Lab's monitoring room listened in on the call, prompting Brenner to travel to the diner, flanked by a group of agents. Agent Connie Frazier greeted Benny at the diner's front while posing as a social worker, but quickly dropped the facade and shot Benny. Eleven fled the diner, killing two other agents in the process.

Later that night, Eleven crossed paths with Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, and Dustin Henderson as they searched for their missing friend Will Byers in the forest. They brought her back to Mike's house and took her to her basement, where they argued about what to do with her. Lucas and Dustin were cautious, and wanted to call the police, but Mike disagreed. He insisted on a different plan, to which the others reluctantly agreed: the next morning, the girl would simply pretend to arrive at the house and ring the doorbell, and Mike's mother, Karen, would sort out the rest. After building Eleven a pillow fort to sleep in, Mike and Eleven introduced themselves to each other, with Mike giving her the nickname "El."

The next morning, Mike sneaked some of his Eggo waffles away, giving them to El as her breakfast. He tried to convince her to go along with his plan, but she refused, telling him "bad" people were looking for her. After the Wheelers left for school and work, Mike sneaked back home and gave Eleven a tour of the house. He showed her his room, where she noticed a photo of Mike and his friends. Seemingly to her own surprise, she somehow recognized Will in the photo. However, before Mike could ask her any more questions, his mother unexpectedly returned home. Terrified that Mike would tell Karen about her, Mike calmed Eleven by promising he wouldn't. He hid her inside his closet, closing the door fully and confining her, accidentally triggering her claustrophobia. After talking to Karen and lying about being sick, Mike opened the closet door to find Eleven in tears, though she assured him she was okay.

After school, Dustin and Lucas returned to Mike's house, where Mike shared his theory that Eleven could help find Will. Lucas dismissed Mike, and decided to tell Mike's parents; however, as Lucas tried to leave Mike's room, Eleven telekinetically shut the door in front of Lucas's face while quietly uttering "*no...*", stunning him and and the other boys.

Later that evening, the boys brought Eleven food, apologizing to her and revealed that they were desperate to find their friend Will. While Eleven was unfamiliar with the concept of "friend", Mike explained it to her. To demonstrate where Will was hiding, she flipped over their *Dungeons & Dragons* board to demonstrate that he was in an "upside down" dimension. She placed Will's player piece on top and the Demogorgon piece next to it, which symbolized the Monster.

The next day, the boys decided to let Eleven guide them to Will after school. Before leaving, Mike provided El his watch, telling her to meet them at 3:15pm, near the powerlines. While alone at Mike's house, Eleven browsed through channels on the Wheelers' TV, seeing a Coca-Cola commercial which triggered her memory of the cola can test. Later, Eleven left the house and waited for Mike and his friends to appear; she witnessed a house cat growling, which reminded her of Brenner pressuring her to kill a cat. The boys appeared moments later, snapping Eleven out of her memories.

The group commenced "Operation Mirkwood", where Eleven led them through the woods to find evidence relating to Will. She led them to the Byers house, but was unable to articulate that Will was there, but in the other dimension. Police cars raced by, and the group followed them to the quarry, where they saw what appeared to be Will's corpse being dragged out of the water. Feeling hurt and betrayed, and believing Eleven to be a liar, Mike lashed out at her and raced home on his bike.

Returning to Mike's basement, Eleven psychically tampered with Mike's Supercom in order to prove Will was still alive. After Mike angrily berated Eleven and accused her of lying about Will, El projected Will's voice through the Supercom; Mike heard his friend faintly sing one of his favorite songs, convincing him Will was still alive.

The following day, Mike had El repeat the process for Dustin and Lucas, who wondered if Will had become a ghost. After further discussion, the boys decided to take El to school so that she could use Mr. Clarke's Heathkit to make further contact.

They disguised Eleven in a blonde wig and Nancy's old pink dress, and brought her to Hawkins Middle. They crossed paths with Mr. Clarke in the hallway, who made them attend an assembly for Will. After the assembly, Mike confronted the bully Troy for mocking Will during the assembly. After Mike shoved him, Troy attempted to hit him back, but Eleven froze him in place using her powers and made him urinate his pants in front of the other students. Later, they used the Heathkit radio and heard Will talking to his mother from the other dimension. Unfortunately, the radio eventually caught fire. After they returned to Mike's basement, Mike theorized that Will was stuck in the Vale of Shadows, a "dark echo" dimension of death and decay, which Eleven labeled the Upside Down.

After talking to Mr. Clarke at Will's funeral, the boys decided to follow their compasses, believing they could be guided to a hypothetical gate to the other dimension; this was assuming that the gate would affect the local magnetic field. However, Eleven manipulated their compasses to direct them away from Hawkins Lab as it wasn't safe. When the boys realized this, Lucas accused her of sabotaging the mission, which Mike refused to believe. When he tried to defend Eleven, a fight erupted between the two boys, and Eleven, in an outbreak of emotion, flung Lucas into the air using her powers, knocking him out. Panicked, Mike screamed at Eleven, and she fled the scene, overwhelmed with emotion.

In the woods, Eleven took off her wig and despaired as she looked at her reflection in a pool of water, angrily sending ripples across the water with her powers. She later entered a supermarket to steal some food as she was hungry. As Eleven walked through the store, some people warily eyed her. When the store's manager tried talking to her, Eleven called him a "mouthbreather" and proceeded to steal some boxes of Eggos, which she had developed a great fondness for. The manager attempted to stop her thievery, but she walked out and broke the sliding glass doors using her powers, preventing the manager or anybody else from following her.

    As Eleven sat alone in the forest, she faintly heard Mike and Dustin shouting her name as they searched for her. The two boys were suddenly ambushed by Troy and his friend, James, who were seeking revenge following Troy's humiliation in the gym. They threatened Dustin with a knife and forced Mike into taking a fatal plunge off a cliff into the water below. Eleven appeared just in time, levitating Mike back to safety, pushing James to the ground and breaking Troy's arm. Weak from her exertion, she apologized and claimed that she was the monster for having opened the Gate. Mike comforted her saying that she wasn't the monster because she saved him. Eleven, Mike and Dustin then reconciled as they embraced each other, before returning to Mike's home.

Mike and Eleven shared an intimate moment in his basement before Dustin interrupted to alert them that Lucas was communicating via radio, warning them that the "bad men are coming." The three escaped on bike while agents from Hawkins Lab pursued them. Eleven used her powers to flip one of their vans over, and they made a narrow escape. The kids went to a junkyard, where Lucas and Eleven apologized to one another. After realizing that agents were still searching for them, they shoved their bikes under an abandoned bus and hid inside.

    Chief Hopper, who now knew of Eleven's existence, communicated with the group through Will's radio and came to escort them to the Byers house, where they met with Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy. Eleven tried reaching Will and Barbara Holland through one of the boys' radios to no avail, but she suggested they could use a "bath" instead. The group broke into Hawkins Middle School and set up a kiddie pool filled with saltwater to serve as a makeshift sensory deprivation tank. Joyce commended Eleven for her bravery, ensuring she would be there for her while she looked for Will and Barb. Floating in the pool, Eleven entered her mental void. She first found Barbara's corpse, and in response, Eleven grew hysteric and repeatedly shouted, "Gone!". Joyce comforted her, calming her down. Eleven eventually found Will alive but weak, and hiding in Castle Byers. Eleven told him to stay strong and ensured him his mother was coming for him. Will responded telling Eleven to hurry before she suddenly lost contact.

The kids were left alone in the school while Joyce and Hopper went to the lab and Nancy and Jonathan went to the Byers house. Mike and Eleven shared another intimate moment where Mike invited Eleven to join him at the Snow Ball school dance. Eleven accepted and the two shared a kiss.

As part of an "agreement" he made with the laboratory to save Will, Hopper revealed Eleven's location. Agents arrived at the school to capture her, but Eleven killed most of them by crushing their brains, an exhaustive process which drained her energy and caused her to collapse.

Dr. Brenner and his team of agents and military police found Eleven and the boys. As the boys were restrained by military police, Brenner talked to Eleven, telling her that she would be returned to the lab. However, Eleven resisted, calling and reaching out for Mike.

The Monster was attracted to the pools of blood, breaking through the wall. It began a spree of violence, attacking Dr. Brenner as the military police released the boys and opened gunfire. This allowed the kids to escape, Dustin carrying Eleven. For a while, the four kids evaded the creature, hiding in Mr. Clarke's classroom. Mike tried to calm Eleven, who was exhausted after using her powers, and told her not to worry as everything was going to be okay and that they would go to the Snowball together. Eventually, the Monster found them, breaking into the room and attacking them. The boys attempted to fight it with Lucas's wrist rocket, but it had little effect on the monster. Though she was drained, Eleven confronted the creature, pinning it against the blackboard with her mind while immobilizing Mike to prevent his intervention and protect him. After wishing goodbye to Mike, she proceeded to disintegrate the creature's body, vanishing in a cloud of black smoke.

When Eleven reawakened, she saw the classroom was suddenly inflected with vines and spores, and soon realized she had been transported to the Upside Down. She stumbled through the school corridors in fear, calling out for Mike. Eventually, she found the gate the Demogorgon had left behind in the corridor wall. Eleven, using her abilities, widened the portal just enough to let her crawl through and return to the regular world. Carefully evading the scouring agents of Hawkins Lab, Eleven made her way back to the Wheeler residence, where she witnessed agents interrogate Mike through the window; she accidentally caught Mike's attention for a split second, confusing him. The agents, suspecting Eleven might be nearby, began combing the immediate area, forcing Eleven to flee and hide for cover in the woods.

### 1983 - 1984

#### Living in Hopper's cabin

For a month, Eleven hid in the woods, killing and cooking wild animals for sustenance. Upon being discovered by a hunter while cooking a squirrel over a flame, she telekinetically attacked the hunter; she knocked him unconscious by using the flaming log, and stole the man's jacket for warmth.

Around December 25th, Eleven took leftovers and Eggos from a box in the woods. It remains unclear if Eleven already found the box, or previously used the box to collect food.

Upon discovering Chief Hopper was the one leaving the food, Eleven cautiously approached him. Hopper decided to take responsibility for her, and the two travelled to an old cabin in the woods belonging to Hopper's grandfather; this would serve as their new home, a safe place where Eleven could avoid the forces of Hawkins Lab.

Together, Eleven and Hopper cleaned and refurbished the cabin. They rigged nearby trees with trip-wire to alert them to intruders. In order for them to communicate covertly, Hopper taught Eleven how to use Morse code. He also insisted upon a set of rules, requiring Eleven to always have the curtains drawn and the door locked, and to never leave the cabin alone.

One night, Eleven asked Hopper where her mother was, to which Hopper responded she "was not around anymore".

### 1984

#### October

##### Growing impatient

When Hopper arrived at the cabin late on October 30th, Eleven was irritated he had not signaled beforehand. The two then had dinner together.

The next morning, Eleven tried to convince Hopper to let her go trick-or-treating for Halloween, arguing that she wouldn't be seen by the "bad men" due to her ghost costume. Hopper refused, but suggested a compromise: he would get off work early so the two could watch a scary movie together. Eleven, though not entirely happy with this compromise, agreed to Hopper's proposal.

Later that day, Eleven was flipping through television channels when she heard a sound coming from outside. Looking out the window, she saw a squirrel, making her think back to her encounter with the hunter in the woods.

That night, as Eleven watched a movie alone, Hopper signalled he was going to be late again over radio, angering Eleven. When Hopper finally returned, Eleven refused to leave her room. Using white noise from the television and a blindfold, she entered her mental void to visit Mike, finding him inside the blanket fort in the Wheeler basement. She sadly watched as he attempted to contact her over his radio; she tried to make physical contact, but was too late, with Mike growing frustrated and exiting the pillow fort. Crying, El removed the blindfold.

#### November

##### Discovering her past

The following morning, Hopper convinced Eleven to come out of her room. At breakfast, Eleven asked Hopper when she would be able to see Mike again. Hopper tried to placate her by saying she'd be able to see him “soon,” but Eleven's patience had reached its limit. She lashed out at Hopper and stormed away to her room, slamming the door. After Hopper departed, an irritable Eleven left the cabin to search for Mike, disobeying Hopper.

Making her way to Hawkins Middle, Eleven began searching for Mike. She eventually spotted him in the gymnasium, and peered at him through the door window. Though initially overjoyed to see Mike in-person for the first time in almost a year, Eleven's mood soured when she noticed he was in the presence of another girl, skateboarding care-free around the gymnasium. Jealous of the girl, and afraid what Mike's interactions with the girl could have meant, a bitter Eleven exerted her abilities to push the skateboard, making the girl fall to the floor. After witnessing Mike pull her back up, Eleven tearfully departed and headed back to the cabin.

On her way out of Hawkins Middle, she was spotted by James and Troy, still intent on getting revenge. As she reached the woods, Eleven heard their voices and performed a telekinetic trick that scared the two. Looking out from behind a tree, Eleven wiped her bleeding nose before continuing towards the cabin.

Upon returning to the cabin, Eleven and Hopper quickly got into an argument, with Hopper grounding her and revoking her television privileges. However, Eleven held the television in place with her powers, prompting Hopper to destroy the power cord. Furious, Eleven told Hopper she hated him and went to her room. As Hopper tried to convince her to open the door, she emotionally lost control and broke all of the cabin's windows with the powers, while letting out an ear-splitting scream.

Before leaving for work the following morning, Hopper told Eleven he'd consider fixing the television if she cleaned up the mess she had made the night before. As she was sweeping, Eleven discovered a storage compartment hidden beneath the floorboards. There, she found a cardboard box containing documents from Hawkins Lab. Looking through the files, she discovered the name of her mother: Terry Ives. Using the Void, Eleven located Terry, who was able to recognize Eleven as her missing daughter, Jane. However, just as Eleven tried to reach out, Terry's apparition faded away.

Defying Hopper once again, Eleven hitchhiked to the Ives residence in Bloomington, where she was initially dismissed by her aunt, Becky. Eleven used her powers to unlock the door and demanded to see her mother, stunning Becky, who then allowed her inside. Eleven tried to talking Terry, but she received no response and realized something was "wrong with her". Terry continued to stare blankly at the television, repeating a sequence of words and phrases: *Breathe, sunflower, rainbow, three to the right, four to the left, 450.*

As Becky led Eleven to the room Terry had kept for her, the hallway light flickered, and Eleven realized it was Terry using her own powers, attempting to communicate. Using the Void while in Terry's presence, Eleven saw several of her mother's memories; she saw the day Terry went into labor and had Jane taken away from her. In another memory, Terry broke into the lab and momentarily witnessed Jane in the Rainbow Room, but was soon captured. Brenner then had his orderlies strap Terry down and subjected her to electroshock therapy, directly leading to Terry’s present-day catatonia. Terry’s memories played in what El dubbed a "dream circle", mirroring Terry's sequence of words.

Since the dream circle kept focusing on a second girl in the Rainbow Room, Eleven believed Terry was instructing her to find the girl. Looking through Terry's files of missing children, she recognized the girl from Terry's memory as "Kali Prasad", whose picture was displayed in a newspaper column. Eleven once again used the Void to locate Kali, initially failing but succeeding on her second attempt. Moments later, Eleven overheard Becky on the phone with Florence from the Hawkins Police Department. After stealing money from Becky's purse, El sneaked away and boarded a bus to Chicago.

Once in Chicago, Eleven managed to track Kali and her crew to an abandoned warehouse; after showing each other their lab tattoos, the two recognized each other as 'sisters'. The next day, Kali instructed Eleven on how to better control her powers, asking her to move a railroad car. When Eleven was unsuccessful, Kali suggested channeling her anger and pain to better exercise her will. Following Kali's advice, Eleven succeeded in moving the railroad car.

Later, Kali brought Eleven to a wall covered with newspaper clippings and photos related to Hawkins Lab. Asking if Eleven recognized any familiar faces, she pointed to one: a now-retired orderly named Ray Carroll, the man who performed electroshock therapy on her mother. After giving Eleven a radical makeover, the gang set out to pursue Ray. Before heading to their destination, the gang stopped at a convenience store for supplies. While Kali used her illusion powers to distract the cashier, Eleven and the gang began stealing from the store. The cashier soon found out, and threatened the gang with a gun. When Kali was unsuccessful in convincing him to let them go, Eleven slammed him against the wall, knocking him unconscious and allowing the gang to get away.

Arriving at Ray's residence, Eleven, Kali and the gang broke in and threatened him. Ray tried to barter for his life, saying he could bring them to Brenner. Not believing him, Eleven began to strangle him with her powers. As he was being dragged across the floor, Eleven noticed a portrait of Ray and his children. Feeling guilty, Eleven could no longer go through with killing Ray and spared his life. Kali pulled out her gun and attempted to kill Ray herself, but Eleven used her powers to throw the gun out of her hand. Moments later, the police arrived, and the group fled the residence.

Back at the warehouse, Kali told Eleven that she had a choice to make: to either go back into hiding, or to fight and face Brenner again. When Eleven insisted that Brenner was dead, Kali made one of her illusions appear before her in the form of Brenner. The illusionary Brenner urged her to confront her pain, warning that, if unaddressed, it would spread, "fester", and ultimately kill her.

As police descended on the warehouse, a melancholic Eleven reminisced about Mike and Hopper. Using a blindfold to enter the Void, she observed Hopper at the lab, overseeing an expedition into the subterranean tunnel system beneath Hawkins. Mike suddenly appeared, desperate to warn Hopper of the Mind Flayer's trap. Eleven tried to make contact, but was snapped out of the Void by the sound of a banging thud. As the police broke through to the warehouse, Kali and the gang escaped and prepared to flee in their van, but Eleven refused to go with them. Resolving to save her friends in Hawkins, Eleven departed and boarded a bus back to Indiana.

##### Closing the Gate

As the Party and their allies came under attack from a pack of Demodogs, Eleven arrived and tossed one of the creatures through the Byers' house front window, while either eradicating the others, or scaring them away. Psychically unlocking and walking through the front door, El was overjoyed to reunite with Mike, Lucas and Dustin; however, she had a frosty response to Max Mayfield's attempt to introduce herself, the same girl she had witnessed interacting with Mike. Together, the group made a plan to defeat the Mind Flayer: Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy would attempt to exorcise the Mind Flayer from Will, while El and Hopper would travel to Hawkins Lab and seal the Gate. Before leaving, El promised Mike he wouldn't lose her again.

While Eleven and Hopper drove to the lab, El admitted that she had gone to visit Terry, and said she shouldn't have left. In return, Hopper apologized to Eleven, blaming himself for the breakdown of their relationship, while explaining he feared losing Eleven just like he'd lost Sara. They both forgave each other as they held hands.

Eleven and Hopper went back to the lab, coming across the remains of the massacred technicians. They eventually found Dr. Owens seriously wounded in the stairwell, seemingly the only survivor of the Demodogs' attack. After a brief interaction, where Owens agreed to keep Eleven secret from the wider government as Hopper patched up his wounds, Hopper and Eleven continued to the rift lab. Finally arriving at the Gate's original entrance, they were surprised to see Demodogs fleeing from the area. Moments later, Hopper received the signal from Jonathan to destroy the Gate via Supercom, after Will and the Mind Flayer had become disconnected.

After the two took the elevator to the tunnels' entrance, and came face to face with the massive outgrowth of the Gate beneath the lab, Eleven began to channel her power; slowly, but slowly, the edges of the portal began to retreat. The Mind Flayer and the hive mind, becoming aware of Eleven's actions, sent a horde of Demodogs their way to stop her; the creatures crawled up the cavernous wall and lunged at the elevator, but Hopper fought them off with his shotgun and rifle. As Eleven focused on sealing the breach, the enormous silhoutte of the Mind Flayer appeared beyond the luminous membrane, but it was too late. Eleven, drawing on all her anger and pain, as Kali had taught her, finished closing the Gate. As the Gate closed, the remaining Demodogs, deprived of their connection to the hive mind, dropped dead and fell from the cavern walls. Hopper embraced an exhausted Eleven, and commended her for her bravery.

#### December

A month later, Dr. Owens allowed Hopper to officially adopt Eleven, providing him with a forged birth certificate displaying the name "Jane Hopper". Though Owens advised Eleven should lie low for another year to ensure her safety, Hopper convinced Owens that El could be allowed a single night out, to let her attend the Snow Ball with her friends at Hawkins Middle.

On December 15, Eleven attended the Snow Ball along with Mike and her friends. After they reunited again, Mike stated that she looked beautiful and asked if she wanted to dance. She agreed and they danced together to the song, "Every Breath You Take", and shared a kiss. However, in the Upside Down, a raging Mind Flayer loomed above the school, sensing Eleven on the other side.

On Christmas Day, Eleven and Hopper travelled to the Byers house to celebrate Christmas, and was gifted a Supercom from Radio Shack. After venturing out into the snow to rescue a rabbit caught in a trap, Eleven, Will and Jonathan watched various video cassettes of old Christmas specials.

### 1984 - 1985

Eleven and Mike grew closer in the months that followed. Hopper also gradually granted Eleven greater and greater freedom when publicly venturing in the outside world.

### 1985

#### June

##### Spending time with Mike

On June 28, El and Mike spent time together at Hopper's cabin, making out with one another in El's room - much to Hopper's discomfort. Hopper's patience with the pair eventually snapped when El used her powers to shut the door. Annoyed, Hopper entered the room; the pair acted innocuously, though Hopper remained unconvinced. Mike soon departed to meet the rest of the Party at Starcourt Mall. While riding away on his bike, Mike and El communicated via Supercom, telling her he'd see her first thing the next day.

At the Henderson house, El played a key role in the Party's welcome back surprise for Dustin, psychically manipulating his electronic toys; however, the surprise ended in catastrophe when Dustin sprayed Farrah Fawcett Hairspray in Lucas's face. Dustin presented various inventions he'd brought back from summer camp, including Cerebro, a powerful ham radio he created to contact his girlfriend, Suzie. However, for Cerebro to work, it needed to be placed somewhere with high elevation, and the group decided to assemble it atop a hill nicknamed "Weathertop". However, on their way up the hill, El and Mike made an excuse to leave so they could spend time together.

That night, the couple were having another make-out session when Hopper interrupted them, intending to have a "heart-to-heart" with Mike about boundaries. Despite his best intentions, Hopper failed; he came up with a lie about Mike's grandmother being sick, and told him to repeat it to Eleven. As Hopper drove Mike home, he told him to spend less time with El, or otherwise, he'd stop them from dating completely.

##### Friendship with Max

When Mike was late the following morning, El called him asking why, unaware of Hopper's threat. Mike told her he couldn't see her that day, repeating the lie about his sick grandmother.

Suspecting him of lying, El sought out Max for advice, who confirmed her suspicions and advised her to break up with Mike should he not explain his reason for lying. Max then took El to Starcourt Mall, where the pair had a fun-filled shopping spree. As they were leaving, they unexpectedly crossed paths with Mike, Lucas, and Will. El confronted Mike about his lie, and when he failed to explain himself, she broke up with him.

That evening, at Hopper's cabin, the girls decided to spy on the boys via the Void. While eavesdropping, El overheard the boys' frustrations with understanding the girls, calling them a "different species". Moments later, they decided to play a spin the bottle-esque game to decide who to spy on next, landing on Billy as their target. However, when El found Billy, she saw him sitting on the ground while a disembodied voice desperately screamed for help. Sensing El's presence, Billy suddenly turned to face her, before disappearing.

#### July

##### Investigating Billy

Believing something was wrong with Billy, El and Max traveled to the Hargrove house to see if they could find any evidence of sinister activities. While searching Billy’s bathroom, they found a bathtub full of melted ice water, a fanny pack from the pool, and a lifeguard whistle covered in blood. The pair then went to Hawkins Community Pool, where they were informed that the fanny pack belonged to Billy's co-worker Heather Holloway, who hadn't shown up for lifeguard duty that day. Using a photograph she had acquired from a bulletin board, El sought out Heather in the Void; she found her in a tub full of ice, pleading for help. El then watched helplessly as the tub dissipated and Heather fell through the bottom of the Void, into an endless abyss.

When the girls arrived at the Holloway house, they found Billy and a seemingly normal Heather dining with her parents. When they inquired about Heather being absent from work, Billy responded that she had simply felt sick and decided to stay home, with Heather assuring them that she "felt so much better". Confused, El and Max departed from the residence and returned to the Hargrove house. While El was still wary that something was wrong, Max assured her that everything was fine.

El and Max awoke the next morning to Mike, Lucas, and Will calling them about a code red situation. At the Wheeler basement, Will posited the part of the Mind Flayer that had possessed him the year prior "never left" and was still in Hawkins. When El relayed all that she had seen, they began to suspect Billy could be the Mind Flayer's new host. The group travelled to Hawkins Community Pool, where they spied on Billy from a distance. While there, they observed Billy had developed a peculiar avoidance to the sun; a clear sign he shared the hive mind's aversion to heat. The group devised a plan to trap Billy in the facility's sauna, to confirm his status as a host.

While El took out a mannequin needed for the plan from the pool's supply closet, Mike followed and attempted to talk to her. El rebuked him, saying she preferred to spend time with her “own species”.

After the pool closed and Billy was alone, the group enacted their plan, luring him into the sauna. Once he was trapped, the group looked on as Billy became more and more erratic due to the increasing heat and the Mind Flayer's influence. Billy, demonstrating superhuman strength, eventually busted through the sauna's door and began attacking; El held him at bay, though he eventually got the upper hand, grabbing her by the neck and strangling her. She was saved by Mike, who struck Billy in the head with a weighted barbell. When Billy tried to go after Mike, she retaliated by throwing him through the wall, which resulted in Billy’s escape. The Party then returned to the Wheeler house.

Using her abilities, El sought out Hopper and discovered that he and Joyce were headed to Illinois. When Nancy and Jonathan arrived, Nancy disclosed what she had witnessed at the hospital the night prior: an old woman named Doris Driscoll had exhibited behavior identical to Will’s when he was possessed by the Mind Flayer. After noting her behavior happened at the same time as the sauna test, they concluded that Doris had also become "flayed" - a host to the Mind Flayer -and suspected there were potentially several more. In turn, the group deduced the Holloways had also become hosts.

Returning to the Holloway residence, El had to use her powers to open the front door upon seeing no one was responding to the doorbell. Once El and her friends entered the house, they found that the inhabitants had consumed several household chemicals, which Will noted was not something he did when he was under the Mind Flayer's control, causing Mike to theorize the Flayed could be making a substance in their bodies with the chemical they have eaten. When they investigated further, they surmised that Heather’s parents had been attacked, tied up, and taken to an unknown location where they were flayed, a place El speculated the Flayed did not want her to find when Billy had sensed her presence within the Void. Will then proposed that they use Driscoll to find the source--the location where the flaying was taking place.

At the hospital, Mike and El finally reconciled. Meanwhile, Nancy and Jonathan had gone to see Doris. They were instead met by Tom and Bruce Lowe who brutally attacked them. While they were able to defeat their respective assailants, the battle was not over; Tom’s and Bruce’s bodies melted and fused to create a gruesome creature. When the creature cornered Nancy in a room, El burst in using her abilities and threw the creature out the window. Outside, the group witnessed the creature escape through a grate into the sewers.

After scouring the Void extensively in search of the Flayed, El eventually found Billy, sitting in his room. While everyone agreed it was a trap, El made the decision to return to Billy in the Void in hopes that she could view his memories to find the source. She succeeded, viewing a memory from Billy's childhood of him spending a day at the beach with his mother in California. After searching through several other memories of his abusive childhood, El finally located the source: Brimborn Steel Works. When she tried to leave the Void, she was instead trapped in a hallucination induced by the Mind Flayer. There, she was met with the mental projection of a possessed Billy who warned her the Flayed now know her location and that they would eradicate her, her friends, and then "everyone". Meanwhile, the Flayed were congregating at the mill under the Mind Flayer's influence, to form a gigantic entity, the Spider Monster.

##### Battle with the Spider Monster

Seeing that the Spider Monster was headed toward the cabin, the group prepared for battle. The Spider Monster infiltrated the cabin using several of his mouthed tentacles, all of which were successfully stopped by El. Suddenly, the monster burst through the ceiling and grabbed El by the leg with a tentacle protruding from his mouth. After being freed from the creature’s grasp thanks to Lucas cutting off the tendril with an ax, El severed the Spider Monster’s head in half, temporarily incapacitating him and allowing the group to escape.

The group went to Bradley’s Big Buy to fix El's wounds and gather supplies. When they were alone together, Mike confided in El about his feelings for her. Just as he was going to tell her how he felt, he was interrupted by Dustin calling on via the Supercom. However, the signal kept cutting out due to Dustin’s Supercom having a low battery; the group were surprised to learn Dustin, Steve, Robin and Erica - aka, the Scoops Troop - had discovered and infiltrated a secret Soviet-controlled facility located beneath Starcourt Mall. They ten headed to the mall, arriving just in time to save the Scoops Troop, with Eleven telekinetically throwing a car at a group of covert Soviet soldiers.

Shortly after reuniting, El collapsed due to her leg; the group realised a piece of the Spider Monster was still lodged under her skin. After Jonathan attempted to cut it out with a knife, El opted to do it herself. Using a tremendous amount of power and force, she was able to remove the piece from her leg and throw it across the room. The piece was subsequently stepped on by Hopper, who had just arrived with Joyce and Murray.

Once everyone was briefed on the situation, the group came up with a plan: Hopper, Murray, and Joyce would infiltrate the Soviets' base and shut down their gate-creator machine, while being assisted by Dustin and Erica via Cerebro. Nancy, Jonathan and the Party members would seek shelter at Murray’s warehouse in Illinois, and El said goodbye to Hopper before leaving.

In the Starcourt parking lot, Nancy discovered that the car wouldn't start due to the car missing its ignition cable. With Billy blockading the mall's parking lot, the group was forced to retreat back into the mall. While trying to get in touch with the Scoops Troop for emergency transportation, they realized they could use the ignition cable from the car El had thrown before. When El tried to move the vehicle so they could retrieve the component, she found she was unable to do so. Instead, they were able to retrieve the cable with a plan Mike came up with involving physics.

Shortly after, the Spider Monster crashed through the glass roof into the mall. After successfully evading the creature, El, Mike, and Max managed to escape through the back doors located in The Gap, while the remaining group managed to escape through the front out to the car, distracting the Spider Monster in the process. When the trio made it to the front, they were intercepted by Billy, making them turn back the way they came and alerting the Spider Monster of their presence. Billy eventually caught up to them and knocked all three unconscious. He then kidnapped El and brought her to the Spider Monster, which had returned to the mall, so that the Spider Monster could kill her.

Moments before he could do so, he was stopped by the group pelting him with fireworks. Meanwhile, El tried to escape, only to be prevented from doing so by Billy. Once the fireworks had run out, the Spider Monster tried again to possess El, only to be stopped by Billy, who was able to free himself from the creature's control due to El reminding him of his time with his mother. However, the Spider Monster stabbed and brutally wounded Billy with his tentacles. At the same time, in the Russian base, Joyce activated the key which destroyed the Gate machine, resulting in the Gate being closed and Hopper apparently disintegrated. As a result of that, the Spider Monster's link with the Mind Flayer severed and the monster ultimately meet his demise. El and Mike shared an embrace before comforting Max who mourned the loss of her stepbrother.

Following the arrival of the US military, El as well as her friends were treated and escorted to the mall's parking lot. Outside the mall, El noticed Joyce returning back but without Hopper. As she looked at Joyce, she realized that Hopper didn't make it back, and was devastated.

#### July - October

##### Farewell & moving out of Hawkins

Following Hopper's death, El was taken in by the Byers family.

Three months later, in October, El and the Byers began preparing to move out Hawkins. Although she was still unable to use her powers, Mike consoled her, telling that they will return. El and Mike then shared plans to visit each other at Thanksgiving and also at Christmas, since it would be fun opening their presents together on Christmas Day. El then recalled how Mike confessed his feelings for her back at the cabin, and kissed him, telling him that she also loves him.

While packing their belongings, Joyce gave El the heart-to-heart speech written by Hopper. As she began reading the letter, she came to tears upon learning how deeply Hopper cared for her. Outside the Byers house, El shared tearful hugs with her friends, Mike, Max, Dustin, Lucas and bid farewell before heading out of Hawkins along with the Byers.

### 1985 - 1986

#### Adapting to a new life

After moving out of Hawkins, El and the Byers were helped by Dr. Owens in relocating to Lenora Hills, California so they could stay safe. Once they settled into their new home, Eleven was starting to be considered by the Byers to be a member of their family. Going by her birth name "Jane", El enrolled in at school for the first time, becoming a freshman at Lenora Hills High School along with Will while Jonathan became a senior. Though Jonathan made a new friend named Argyle while living in California, Eleven and Will had trouble making new friends where Eleven started getting bullied by a popular girl named Angela and her circle of friends, leaving Will to try and support her. In addition, El's powers still did not return, but she kept in touch with Mike by sending him letters though she never informed him about her struggles and she continued to mourn for Hopper's supposed death, missing her adoptive father greatly.

### 1986

#### March

##### Feud with Angela

On March 21 - the last day before spring break - El finished creating a diorama of Hopper's cabin for her history class. She left for school with Will and Jonathan, with the three hitching a ride in Arygle's Pizzamobile. At school, El presented and explained her diorama at Mrs. Gracey's request, which was inevitably mocked by Angela and her cronies. Later that day, Angela and her posse tripped up Eleven and caused her to drop her project. As the group walked off laughing, Jake kicked the diaroma to Chad, who stomped on it, destroying the miniature cabin and figurine of Hopper. Furious, Eleven called out to her and unsuccessfully attempted to use her powers in a fit of rage, screaming; nothing happened, further embarrassing Eleven. A larger crowd of students gathered around and started laughing at El, catching the attention of both Will and Mrs. Gracey, noticing something was wrong. The laughter died down when Mrs. Gracey made her way through the crowd, pulling Angela aside and leading her to the principal's office.

The next day, El, Will, Jonathan, and Argyle went to the airport to pick up Mike, who gifted El a bouquet of flowers he handpicked from Hawkins before he left. They all left the airport and went to Rink-O-Mania, a roller rink in Lenora Hills, where El lied to Mike about her frequent visits. When Mike asked El if any of her "friends" she mentioned in her letters would be joining them, she stated her "friends" with Stacy and Angela would not be joining them and promised Mike he can meet them later.

Later, Will confronted El about her lies, warning her Mike would eventually find out the truth. Soon after, El was pranked by Angela and her friends, causing El to skate away in tears and hide in a storage closet. Some time later, El angrily confronted Angela and ended up striking her with a roller blade in a fit of rage, causing a split in her nose and face. As Angela cried with blood gushing down from her face, El experienced a fractured recollection of the 1979 massacre at Hawkins Lab.

Upon arriving back home, they saw Murray cooking risotto. While eating dinner with Murray, Argyle, Mike, and the Byers family, El listened to Murray explain he arrived in California on a business trip and decided to stop by the Byers's house to spend the night. El was then surprised to hear Joyce announce she was leaving tomorrow to go to Alaska for a business trip, leaving Jonathan in charge of El, Mike, and Will in the meantime. El then watched the high Jonathan express confusion over what his mom told as Argyle filled him in on what was happening before they mentioned the incident at the roller rink. When Argyle stated he believed Angela was going to be fine, Mike, still mad and upset over being lied to by El, made an offhand comment on Angela not looking fine. This caused El to abruptly excuse herself from the table where she laid down on her bed and thought about her attack on Angela, and further struggled to recall the massacre at Hawkins Lab.

##### Recruited by Dr. Owens

The following day, Jane was arrested, falling into the custody of California police. It was decided she would be transferred to a juvenile detention center against her will, with Jonathan and Will unsuccessfully appealing to get the charges against her dropped. Mike remained adamant he'd find a way to "fix" things as a distraught Eleven was driven away from her home.

However, Dr. Owens, flanked by various agents, soon intervened and assumed custody of Jane; he interrupted her transferral to the juvenile detention center and made it so the charges against Jane would be dismissed. Owens took Eleven to a nearby diner, where he revealed he had figured out a way to rejuvenate her powers, and that a "war" with the Upside Down was fast approaching. Eleven agreed to join Owens and travel to the Nina facility.

##### Buried memories

Owens and Eleven arrived at the Nina facility the next day. Eleven remained willing and enthusiastic to participate, until, to her horror, she discovered Dr. Brenner was alive and also working on the project. Eleven fearfully attempted to flee the base, but Brenner ordered Eleven to be forcefully sedated. The unconscious Eleven was then injected with experimental drugs and placed inside the Nina sensory deprivation tank. While inside, she was exposed to audiovisual stimuli from Hawkins National Laboratory, in 1979, via the form of old CCTV tapes playing on various screens.

Eleven awoke to find herself "re-experiencing" her memories from 1979. In this first episode of 're-experience', Eleven relived an exercise where she and the other test subjects manipulated light bulbs using their powers; in this exercise, Eleven struggled to illuminate a single bulb. Shortly after, she had a momentary vision of the September 8 massacre, before finally waking up back at the Nina Project. In a fit of rage, Eleven attacked Brenner and attempted once more to escape. Guards tried to restrain her, but as she let out an outburst of anger, the guards were sent flying and knocked unconscious; Eleven's powers were beginning to resurface, due to Nina's influence. Brenner gave Eleven the option to leave the facility if she so desired, but she agreed to stay and continue the experiments.

The next day, El was given a tour and clarification by Brenner on what the Nina Project was capable for; reawakening an individual's memories by using video footage that Brenner took from the lab. He also explained to El that when she was bitten last year, her brain suffered a stroke which caused her incapable of using her powers. When El asked why she did not remember her time with the lab's other test subjects, she heard Brenner explain it was because her brain was protecting herself from traumatic memories she had in 1979. She was then advised by Brenner to re-experience each memory carefully or she and the entire Nina facility would suffer terrible consequences if she was not careful.

After entering the Nina sensory deprivation tank again, Eleven re-experienced a moment where she was playing a game called "math disk" in the Rainbow Room. She encountered the orderly, Henry, again who told her that she reminded him of the lab's first test subject, One, despite Brenner insisting he did not exist. El listened to Henry describe One, saying he was able to strengthen his powers using negative emotions before he revealed to her that her mother was indeed alive and that the lab was actually a prison. Confused, El proceeded to go along with the memory by following the other test subjects out of the Rainbow Room after Brenner announced he had an assignment for them.

Finally, she fully re-experienced what happened on September 8, 1979; Eleven remembered that One was responsible for the September 8, 1979 massacre of her fellow test subjects. She relived her battle with One, in which she ultimately overpowered him and banished him to the Upside Down. After reliving this final memory, Eleven's powers were seemingly restored to her previous limit.

##### Attack on Nina

After exiting the tank, Eleven was debriefed by Brenner and Owens. They explained what happened in the years after Henry was banished to the Upside Down, before revealing he had returned to wreak havoc in Hawkins. Henry had committed a series of murders; El was shown photos of Vecna's previous victims, Chrissy Cunningham, Fred Benson, and Patrick McKinney, and she became concerned for her friends in Hawkins. Owens tried to reassure Eleven, but after Brenner revealed that Henry was using the psychic connections with his victims to open new gates, a nervous El excused herself and retreated to her chambers.

Still feeling concerned for her friends, El made impromptu use of the Void to spy on her friends in Hawkins. She found Max, Dustin, Lucas, Nancy, Steve, Robin, Erica, and Eddie Munson in a trailer. Learning her friends had already encountered Henry, or "Vecna", she listened in as they devised a plan of attack. Dustin pointed out that Henry's physical body, like Eleven's, was vulnerable when he used his own form of psychic projection to attack his victims. Max, mentioning how Vecna had already targeted her, offered to use herself as bait to draw Vecna's attention, while the others attempted to attack and kill Vecna in his vulnerable state. This caused El to grow even more worried for her friends' safety.

Eleven exited the Void and told Owens of her friends' plan, and informed him she sought to aid in their fight against Vecna. However, Brenner sought to continue the Nina experiments, wanting to push Eleven's abilities beyond their previous limit. Brenner and Owens began to argue when Eleven insisted on returning to Hawkins, which provoked Brenner to forcefully incapacitate both Eleven and Owens. Guards loyal to Brenner chained Dr. Owens to a rail inside the observation room, while Brenner personally sedated Eleven; he strapped Eleven down and put an electroshock collar on her, claiming it was "for [her] own good."

Shortly after Brenner executed his coup, Lt. Colonel Sullivan launched a full-scale military attack on the facility, deploying soldiers, various vehicles and a helicopter. The soldiers burst down the door to the facility with a bomb and charged inside, killing the guards. Most, if not all, of the scientists evacuated through a hidden escape hatch, but were all apparently shot and killed by the helicopter's sniper. Brenner, while carrying the weakened Eleven, reached the desert surface through the escape hatch, and was shocked to discover the deaths of his colleagues. The sniper aboard the military helicopter then turned his attention to Brenner and opened fire, gravely wounding him. Meanwhile, Colonel Sullivan located Owens, still chained up in the observation room. Ignoring Owens's plea to spare Eleven, Sullivan ordered the sniper to take the shot on Eleven. However, Eleven used her telekinetic powers to destabilize and ultimately crash the helicopter.

Moments later, Mike, Will, Jonathan and Argyle, who had independently discovered Eleven's location, arrived at the scene in Argyle's Pizzamobile. Eleven, still recovering from having exerted her powers, was pleasantly surprised to reunite with her friends. Before departing, Eleven granted a dying Dr. Brenner one last conversation, though denied him the complete forgiveness he asked for. After the group of five escaped what remained of Sullivan's forces, Eleven informed the others they needed to travel to Hawkins immediately, if she were to have any hope of stopping Vecna.

##### Fighting Vecna

After telling the boys about Vecna, and how their friends in Hawkins planned to fight him, the group attempted to book an immediate flight back to Hawkins. However, upon realizing that physically returning to Hawkins in time to help was impossible, Eleven instead decided she would attempt to "piggyback"; it was possible she could enter Max's mind while Vecna attacked her, meaning she could fight him without having to physically be in Hawkins. The group made a makeshift sensory deprivation tank in the back of a nearby Surfer Boy Pizza restaurant, which Eleven used to project her consciousness. Mentally travelling to the Creel House, Eleven witnessed Lucas and Max trying to communicate with Vecna, with Max turning off her cassette player to make herself more vulnerable.

After numerous unsuccessful attempts, Max decided to confess that there was one part of her that did indeed wish Billy to disappear from her life permanently for abusing her repeatedly but now that he was gone because of the Mind Flayer, she immediately regretted such thoughts and began praying for something similar to happen to her. This confession successfully drove Vecna to possess Max once more. Vecna stalked Billy's stepsister throughout her mind and even conjured an illusion of Billy back when she and her friends trapped him in the sauna room. With enough concentration, Max created a perfect illusionary replica of the 1984 Snow Ball at Hawkins Middle, where she hid for a good amount of time. Unfortunately, the memory of the Snow Ball started to buckle under Vecna's influence; balloons suddenly exploded in a bloody mess, the Upside Down's spores flooded the school gymnasium, and the record playing in the background abruptly transitioned into a different song.

Moments later, Vecna arrived in the memory and cornered Max, showing her visions of her loved ones struggling to fight back against him and his minions. Before Vecna could end the gate-death ritual, he was interrupted by Eleven, who had found her way inside the same memory. Eleven and Vecna became engaged in conflict, using their powers to throw objects at each other. Rather than leave Eleven behind and seek sanctuary in another memory, Max tried to help Eleven by stabbing the creature with a stake, only for Vecna to subdue both girls. He pulled the two girls into his mindscape and attached their bodies to pillars of the fractured Creel home with his vines.

Back in tangible reality, Hawkins Tigers' basketball team leader Jason Carver arrived at the Creel house to investigate the Party's activities. Upon seeing Max in her trance, he assumed Lucas was committing a ritualistic sacrifice to Satan, and refused to believe in Lucas' words in regards to the existence of Vecna and the Upside Down. Jason threatened Lucas with his gun, and the two ultimately ended up in a fistfight. To make matters worse, Jason accidentally crushed Max's cassette player during the scuffle, leaving Max's fate solely in Eleven's hands.

Right after attaching Max's unconscious mental avatar to a pillar with his vines. Eleven revealed to Henry Dr. Brenner's death, and tried to sympathize with him over the abuse Brenner inflicted upon both of them, insisting that Brenner was the true "monster" in the story, not Henry. Vecna turned to face Eleven, and told her she was wrong; not only he had chose this path for himself, but it was actually Eleven who had made his transformation possible. Vecna elaborated, explaining that while exploring the Upside Down, he found the mists of the proto-Mind Flayer and transformed it into its current incarnation as a giant, spider-like beast; a shocked Eleven realised the Mind Flayer had been Vecna's puppet this whole time, with Vecna and the Mind Flayer's will being one and the same.

Despite her horror towards this revelation and Vecna's crimes, Eleven tried to convince her former mentor to put an end to the madness that he began but he rejected her and vowed to erase humanity off the face of the Earth before "reshaping" the world to his image. Vecna then turned his attention back to Max, leaving Eleven in a state of despair. Moments later, she heard the voice of her boyfriend, Mike, break through from the real world. Standing at Eleven's side as she floated in the makeshift isolation tank, Mike declared his love for Eleven and encouraged her to keep fighting. Inspired to re-kindle her concentration, Eleven used her powers to slowly make the vines restraining her unravel.

Back in the Creel attic, Lucas had ended up restrained and choked by Jason; unable to move, he watched in fear as Max started to rise above the floor. In a fit of rage, Lucas took Jason by surprise and smashed his face into a window, knocking him unconscious. Lucas turned back to face Max, but was horrified to watch as Vecna broke her limbs, one by one. Upon finally being released from the vines, Eleven unleashed her full power, pushing Vecna up against a pillar before he could finish killing Max.

Meanwhile, Steve, Nancy and Robin had made their way to the Upside Down's version of the Creel House, and found themselves face-to-face with Vecna in a meditative trance and connected to vines. Steve threw a Molotov cocktail, setting Vecna ablaze; instantly after being set on fire, the vines disconnected from his back, breaking Vecna's concentration and causing the mindscape to dissolve around Eleven. Robin inflicted more damage by throwing another Molotov before witnessing Nancy shooting the creature numerous times with a shotgun, leaving Vecna with no chance to gather his bearings and fight back; Nancy's last gunshot sent Vecna flying through the boarded window, with his body crashing to the hard ground below. The trio rushed outside to make sure of his death, but found he had disappeared.

Following Nancy, Steve and Robin's attacks, Eleven's consciousness returned to the mental void through which she entered Max's memories, and for a moment, Max's consciousness returned to her body in the attic. Although Vecna's attack on Max had not gone to plan, she nevertheless succumbed to her injuries, and her heart stopped. Nancy, Steve and Robin heard the grandfather clock chime eerily from within the house; moments later, a fourth and final gate ripped open in the attic, bisecting and killing Jason in the process. All four curse gates then rapidly expanded, creating the cataclysm Nancy saw in her vision; the gates converged upon the Hawkins town square, creating an earthquake-like effect killing dozens of residents. Eleven used her abilities from afar to restart Max's heart, reviving her, albeit in a comatose state.

##### Return to Hawkins

Two days later, Eleven, Will and the others arrived in Hawkins, and were horrified by the magnitude of the destruction Vecna caused in their hometown. They reunited with Lucas and mourned with him Max's comatose state, with Eleven secretly travelling in the Void to find her best friend's consciousness, only to find complete emptiness. Afterwards, the group travelled to Hopper's cabin in the woods and decided to restore it. While Eleven cleaned her bedroom and Nancy and Jonathan fixed the broken windows, Mike and Will discussed El's battle against Vecna and Mike seemed optimistic that the creature was dead and gone for good. However, Will revealed that his connection to the Upside Down was reactivated the moment he stepped foot back in Hawkins, allowing him to sense that Vecna was still alive despite his gravely-injured state. A fearful and worried Will told Mike that Vecna would not stop until he had destroyed them and the rest of mankind and if they wanted to put an end to the horrors of the Upside Down permanently, they had to eliminate Vecna. Joyce and Hopper reunited with the teens, with Eleven having an emotional reunion with her adoptive father before expressing her gratitude to Joyce for rescuing him. Not long after, the Upside Down's spores began to fall from the sky. Walking to a nearby hill, the protagonists watched in shock and horror as plumes of smoke and spores emerged from the four gates, which allowed Eleven to realize Vecna was still out there and her face was filled with rage and determination as she mentally prepared herself to put an end to her former mentor's existence once and for all.

## Personality and traits

Raised in Hawkins National Laboratory and completely deprived of socialization, Eleven was timid, socially withdrawn and extremely cautious of other people. However, she became fiercely protective and showed unyielding loyalty towards those who cared for her, especially to Mike whom she fell in love with, to the point of sacrificing herself to destroy the Demogorgon when it threatened to harm her friends. Even after being separated for a year, Eleven showed considerable determination in saving her friends by returning to them in Hawkins from Chicago when she sensed them to be in grave danger through the Void, reuniting with them in the process.

If Eleven attempted to defy Dr. Brenner's orders when under his control, she would be locked in a cramped room as punishment, potentially for hours on end. These painful experiences lead her to develop severe claustrophobia. She also showed some signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, frequently remembering her harrowing experiences at the lab following her escape.

Despite her life being clouded with people manipulating and bullying her, El is shown to be incredibly empathetic, sweet, and curious about the world. Her sheltered life has left her incredibly emotional, becoming distraught easily in a dangerous or somber setting. As she grows older, El never loses her compassion, but begins to be careful on who to extend that compassion to. El's friends and family are her upmost priority, willing to do anything and everything for them even if it threatens her life.

Due to a very limited vocabulary, she could not effectively communicate her thoughts and emotions and had little to no understanding of simple concepts such as friendships or promises. These difficulties communicating often lead to misunderstandings with her friends. Despite this, she was a quick learner and came up with creative ways of explaining concepts as shown when she flipped the *Dungeons & Dragons* game board to explain the nature of the Upside Down.

Episodes of intense stress and fear had the potential to trigger Eleven's powers, releasing them in unpredictable and sometimes dangerous ways. She was reluctant to harm innocent life and had no malicious intent but was sometimes forced to maim or kill in extreme circumstances. She did not take this lightly as these instances were always followed by strong feelings of guilt and self-loathing (not to mention the physical toll these acts had on her body). Despite having killed before, upon being pressured by Kali into trying to kill, she refused to after seeing the man she was about to kill had children and then stopped Kali from shooting him. In every event of having to resort to killing someone, she has done it in self-defense.

After nearly an entire year of living with Hopper, Eleven's vocabulary expanded significantly, although she still struggled to understand complex words and social cues. Eleven also learns to be more independent when she forms a friendship with Max Mayfield and to start making her own choices. When discovering the Mind Flayer's return, Eleven became onboard to stopping him and when viewing the memories of the possessed Billy Hargrove, she sympathizes with him for having an abusive father which allows him to break free from the Mind Flayer's control over him.

When losing both her father and her powers temporarily, El is forced into a new environment that leaves her having difficulty adjusting to social interaction beyond her Hawkins friends. As bullying from her classmates worsens to the point she acts out with physical violence, El sinks into a solemn belief that she is a "monster" instead of the "superhero" her friends put her up as. Upon having the chance to regain her powers, El undergoes a special training program to reignite her powers, and slowly overcomes her belief that she is a "monster", overpowering Brenner's manipulation and coldly rejecting his dying attempts to gain sympathy for his horrific actions.

## Powers and abilities

### Overview

In the womb, the unborn Eleven was exposed to the effects of hallucinogenic drugs, during her mother Terry's time as an MKUltra test subject. As a result, Eleven was born with various preternatural abilities; these might have been caused by mutations brought about by her mother's drug use. However, in 1984, an otherwise vegetative Terry demonstrated limited use of her own psychokinetic abilities, suggesting Eleven's abilities may have been inherited, and had a genetic component. In any case, Eleven's abilities were the reason she was abducted at birth and raised at Hawkins National Laboratory, where she was experimented on.

The effect of Hawkins Lab’s experimentation on Eleven and her powers is unclear. It is possible that her powers laid dormant and could only be unearthed through further experimentation. However, it is also possible that Eleven had access to these powers at birth, but merely gained understanding and experience of them during her time in the laboratory. As Eleven’s mother displayed similar psychic powers, it is possible the experimentation on her mother during her pregnancy augmented Eleven’s own set of powers, or she simply naturally developed stronger abilities. According to one source, Eleven and all her fellow child test subjects possessed some form of telekinesis, but each test subject possessed an "extra" unique power; in Eleven's case, this would be her remote viewing ability.

Initially, exercising her abilities to accomplish small tasks was shown to be rather difficult. However, with practice, Eleven was able to accomplish greater and greater feats. Nearly a year after the events of November 1983, Eleven became able to use her telekinetic and telepathic powers far more easily and without as much effort and concentration, easily closing doors, lifting objects, and entering her mental void by simply placing a blindfold on and using the white noise from a television.

Her abilities are somewhat linked to her emotional state, generally being at their strongest when influenced by her anger and fear. Being in distressing situations would occasionally cause Eleven to unleash her powers involuntarily. This was a possible factor at play when Eleven had opened the Gate; her fear of witnessing the Demogorgon may have inadvertently magnified her powers. In a similar case, she unintentionally flung Lucas across the junkyard during his fight with Mike. Following an intense argument with Hopper, Eleven had a kind of "psychic tantrum", causing her to accidentally break all of the surrounding windows. After receiving advice from Kali, Eleven learned to harness her anger at will, gaining more precise control over her powers. She went on to employ this tactic while closing the Gate, even causing her to levitate as she fended off the Mind Flayer.

However, on some occasions, Eleven's other emotions appeared to make an even greater impact than her anger. Eleven's attempt to use her anger against Henry Creel in 1979 failed, with Henry overpowering and nearly killing her. However, during a lapse in consciousness, she re-lived being held by her mother as a newborn, her most distant memory. When Eleven returned to consciousness, she had found the strength she needed to finally overpower and defeat Henry. Similarly, when ensnared by vines in Vecna's mindscape as Vecna started his execution of Max, hearing Mike's words of encouragement gave her the strength to unravel the vines and stop Vecna in his tracks.

Using her powers takes a physical toll on her body. When using her powers to perform more menial tasks, Eleven usually only suffers from nosebleeds. Based on how her powers are executed, it is likely the source of this blood is actually her brain. When accomplishing more daunting tasks, however, she would become physically exhausted, often to the point where she'd be unable to walk. Her most extreme acts caused bruising on her face, her eyes to become bloodshot, her ears to bleed, and fainting. However, if Eleven was sufficiently satiated, this physical toll could be alleviated. Eventually, Eleven’s body had grown accustomed to the recurrent use of her powers, able to go longer durations without succumbing to complete exhaustion.

Eleven's powers would occasionally affect the nearby electricity; when attempting psychic communication, nearby lights would sometimes flicker or even go out entirely. The Demogorgon, while traveling between dimensions, had remarkably similar effects on nearby electricity, suggesting her abilities may also cause distortion of the electromagnetic field.

After the battle against the Mind Flayer, Eleven's abilities seemed to vanish. According to Dr. Brenner, power overuse led to a blood vessel in her brain to burst, causing a stroke. While strokes in ordinary people can cause cognitive and paralysis issues, for Eleven, the stroke caused the "signals" in her brain to become too scrambled for her psychic abilities to work. Through intensive immersion therapy, which also unearthed repressed memories, Eleven regained her former powers.

### Psionics

* **Telekinesis** - Her most recurrent power, she is able to manipulate objects, people and creatures with her mind. When amplified by her emotions, her telekinesis is strong enough to lift large and heavy objects; she flipped a *Hawkins Power and Light* van in the air, and later channelled her anger in order to pull a train car towards her. Moreover, she was able to throw and kill a Demodog with her mind. Eleven could also use this ability to attack and cause physical damage to people (primarily in self-defense). She could affect internal organs to some extent; she mentally squeezed Troy Walsh’s bladder to make him urinate against his will, embarrassing him in front of a crowd; later, she broke his arm when he threatened Mike and Dustin. Additionally, she has thrown people against walls on several instances, broken the neck of an orderly at Hawkins Lab, and was even able to crush the brains of several agents at once. In 1986, Eleven could levitate a 1,000 pound tank with relative ease, and telekinetically manipulated a military helicopter mid-flight. Destroying the MonsterLevitating Mike's toy Millenium Falcon
	+ **Levitation** - Via telekinesis, Eleven could suspend objects in the air, making them levitate. She first demonstrated this when she made Mike’s model of the Millennium Falcon float. This ability is not restricted to objects, as shown when she levitated Mike to safety after he had jumped off a cliff. Later, Eleven herself levitated as she was closing the Gate, seemingly as an unintended side effect.
	+ **Binding:** Via telekinesis, Eleven can stop her enemies and targets from physically moving, as shown with the Mind Flayer’s tendrils as she held them at bay with her powers in 1985.
	+ **Biokinesis** - Eleven could manipulate the bodies of living creatures to a certain extent, as shown when she disintegrated the Demogorgon.
		- **Resurrection** - Under some circumstances, Eleven can even resurrect the deceased. Eleven was able to restart Max Mayfield's heart to life after momentarily dying at Vecna's hand, though Max's injuries remained.

### Portal Manipulation & Dimensional Travel

Eleven can open and manipulate gates to the Upside Down. In 1979, she somehow created the first known gate during her fight with Henry Creel at Hawkins Lab, and later, opened the Mothergate upon making psychic contact with the Demogorgon. It's unclear whether Eleven intentionally or accidentally opened the 1979 gate; similarly, the creation of the Mothergate occurred against Eleven's will. One year after the Mothergate opened, Eleven returned to Hawkins Lab and successfully used her powers to close it.

After getting trapped in the Upside Down, she manipulated a temporary gate that the Demogorgon had opened, widening it enough for her to crawl through.

After the Gate was opened, it allowed Hawkins Lab scientists to access the Upside Down. She herself entered the dimension after disintegrating the Demogorgon, seemingly by accident.

### Extrasensory Perception & Psychic Projection

    Eleven can gain information through the mind rather than the physical senses. She could recognize people taken into the Upside Down from photos, though she had presumably never met them before, and could sense Will's corresponding location in the other dimension.

While sensorily deprived, Eleven can enter a heightened psychic state and visualise herself in an inner mental void, through which she can seek out targets in different locations than her own. This ability is powerful enough to find targets over vast distances, even as far as other dimensions.

* **Telepathy** - Often used in tandem with her remote viewing abilities. When she has located her target, she can choose to communicate with them mentally.
	+ **Mind Walking**- Eleven can enter the minds of others via contacting them through the Void, such as when she entered the mind of Max Mayfield to save her from Vecna's curse.
	+ **Memory Reading** - Eleven can view the memories of others via contacting them through the Void. She was able to see several of Terry's memories, and later used this ability to view memories of Billy Hargrove's abusive childhood.
	+ **Psychometry** - Or "token-object reading", Eleven can gain information about a person by touching objects associated with them; she was able to correctly identify which game piece was Will's when demonstrating with the *"D&D"* board.
	+ **Technopathy** - To some extent and with varying results, she can transmit the voices of people and other sounds in other locations over electronic speakers.

### Regular abilities

* **Survival skills:** While living in the woods for a month, Eleven learned crucial survival skills, such as hunting (by using her powers) and how to make a fire.
* **Intellect:** Eleven has demonstrated her intellect on numerous occasions:
	+ She acknowledged the risks to herself and her friends when investigating Billy Hargrove's strange behaviour. Later, Eleven realized that by viewing Billy's memories, she could also learn the Spider Monster's location.
	+ When miles away from Hawkins and unable to fight Vecna in-person, Eleven made a plan to 'piggyback' onto Max's mind, allowing her to psychically fight Vecna in the process.
* **Empathy:** At times, Eleven tried to empathize with her opponents, rather than attacking:
	+ Eleven, having lost her psychokinetic abilities during the battle of Starcourt Mall, instead tried to empathize with the possessed Billy Hargrove; the strategy worked, momentarily allowing Billy to remember his past, and resist the Mind Flayer's influence.
	+ Eleven employed a similar strategy while trapped in Vecna's mindscape, albeit less successfully. Seeking to stall for time and stop Vecna from killing Max, she brought up their shared history dealing with Dr. Brenner at Hawkins Lab. Eleven made a point to call Brenner, and not Vecna, the "monster", telling Henry (Vecna) that Brenner had failed him. Vecna wasn't distracted for long, but Eleven's strategy nevertheless bought Max some precious time.
* **Stealth:** Eleven sneaked inside Benny's Burgers without making a noise, and ate french fries until getting caught. Later, she evaded the forces of Hawkins Lab as they scoured the woods near the Wheeler house.
* **Fighting adaptation:** After losing access to her powers, Eleven began resorting to improvised weapons when in difficult situations; she used a roller skate as an improbable melee weapon to attack Angela, and later, grabbed the handle of a defibrillator to swing at Dr. Brenner, scarring his mouth.
* **Morse code:** She was taught how to read and signal Morse code by Hopper as a means for them to safely communicate.

## Relationships

### Familial

**Terry Ives**

While Terry is her biological mother, Eleven originally had no knowledge of her or even the fact that Brenner had kidnapped her at birth. However, Terry tried desperately to get her daughter back and still believed she would one day return. After learning that her mother was alive through the Void, Eleven defied Hopper's rules to meet her. However, when Eleven finally met her mother, she was heartbroken to see her mother catatonic and learned that Hawkins Lab was responsible for causing her mother to be mentally unstable. Despite this, Eleven harbored some love towards her mother, even though she knew that Terry could not raise her as a result of being mentally broken. Although Eleven was saddened and horrified of her mother's tragic fate, she still loved her mother.

**Becky Ives**

Becky is Eleven's aunt. Like Terry, Eleven had no knowledge of her due to not knowing the circumstances of her birth. Becky believed Terry really miscarried and in extension believed that Jane did not exist. Becky helped Eleven (Jane) look for her "sister" Kali. Eleven stayed the night at Becky's house, but ran away due to her calling the police in regards to her being found.

**Jim Hopper**

— El defending father as her hero, "The Hellfire Club"

Chief Hopper was an ally of Eleven and later became her adoptive father. He rescued her and her friends from government agents, safely bringing them to the Byers house to meet with the others. Their relationship likely had little opportunity to develop at this time as they were preoccupied with saving Will. Hopper ultimately had to reveal Eleven's location to Hawkins Lab in order to save Will, a decision he did not take lightly. Hopper appeared to have some awareness of Eleven's status following her self-sacrifice, providing her with Eggo waffles on Christmas Eve. Eleven's disappearance reminded Hopper of the loss of his daughter, and he became determined to find her.

Hopper eventually found Eleven in the woods and began taking care of her, relocating her to his grandfather's old cabin. The two developed a complicated father-daughter dynamic as they lived together for almost a year. For her safety, Hopper neither permitted her leaving the cabin, nor did he permit her to communicate with Mike or her friends.

After the shutdown of Hawkins Lab, Hopper officially took Eleven in as his adopted daughter and allowed her to attend the Snow Ball.

In 1985, after living with Hopper for over a year, Eleven had come to see Hopper as her father. She remained close with him, even though he did not enjoy her spending so much time with Mike. After learning Hopper forced Mike to lie to her so they can start being distant, Eleven showed no anger towards Hopper, believing her adopted father was right as she had spied on Mike and his friends making comments on girls. When reunited with Hopper at Starcourt Mall, Eleven and Hopper had an emotional talk as they prepared to shut down the key and close the gate with their allies. Though Eleven wanted to help fight, she eventually agreed with Hopper to get safety as she now knew his protectiveness over her was out of love and concern while sharing an embrace with him. However, the defeat of the Mind Flayer's avatar, Eleven was saddened to discover Hopper was supposedly killed in the attempt to close the gate, resulting her to be taken in by the Byers family and move out of Hawkins.

A year later, in 1986, Eleven continued to mourn for Hopper and still loved him. She would even do a history project on Hopper in order to honor his memory where even describing his supposed death brought her to tears. When Angela mocked Hopper, Eleven was provoked to attack Angela in a fit of rage in order to defend her adopted father and his memory. After temporarily defeating Vecna, Eleven was tearfully reunited with Hopper who was revealed to be alive due to having been captured by the Russians after closing the gate last year. Overjoyed to see Hopper alive, Eleven shared a warm embrace with him as he comforted her.

**Joyce Byers**

— El expressing gratitude to Joyce for rescuing Hopper in "The Piggyback"

In 1983, when her son went missing, Joyce asked Eleven for assistance in locating Will in the Upside Down. However, unlike Brenner, Joyce was extremely patient and kind to Eleven. When helping her put on duct-taped goggles, Joyce praised El for her bravery and thanked her for helping her family, something El was visibly confused about but appreciative of. While in the pool, El began having a panic attack upon discovering Barb's corpse, but Joyce held her arm and comforted her. El does eventually locate Will, and Joyce hugs her and praises her after El exited the Void.

In 1984, El tearfully reunited with Joyce following a year in hiding. The two hug tightly while Joyce affectionately calls her "sweetheart". Eleven doesn't hesitate in once again rescuing Will and assisting Joyce.

In 1985, Eleven maintained a good relationship with Joyce, who was supportive of her relationship with Mike. After getting a piece of the Mind Flayer's avatar out of her leg, El reunited with Joyce and they, along with their friends came up with a plan to close the Gate in order to kill the Mind Flayer's avatar. After successfully closing the Gate, El made eye contact with Joyce who simply stared at her in tears as El slowly broke down crying as she realized from Joyce's expression that Hopper presumably did not survive. Three months later, El was taken in by Joyce and joined her family in moving out of Hawkins. On moving day, Joyce discovered Hopper's letter to Mike and El when folding his clothes. In turn, she gave it to a curious Eleven to read. El broke down as she read it, sobbing over the crinkled page, and Joyce comforted her afterward.

In 1986, El came to regard Joyce as her mother figure while living with her in Lenora Hills, California. However, it was likely El did not tell Joyce she was being bullied at her new school due to Joyce being busy with her new job as a telemarketer. During spring break, El was surprised to hear Joyce announced she had to go to a "conference" in Alaska, but did not say anything about it as she was upset over her alteration with Angela. On March 29, after temporarily defeating Vecna, El reunited with Joyce in Hawkins and learned she had actually gone to Russia to rescue Hopper who had actually been kidnapped by the Russian government. Upon reuniting with Joyce, El shared an embrace with her and jokingly expressed how happy she was that she went to her "conference".

**Jonathan Byers**

In the fall of 1983, Jonathan first met Eleven when she helped assist his family locate Will in the Upside Down using her telekinetic abilities.

In the fall of 1984, Jonathan was shocked upon Eleven's return after saving him and the others from rampant Demodogs.

In the summer of 1985, Jonathan and Eleven worked together alongside Mike, Lucas, Will, Max, and Nancy in taking down the Mind Flayer and Billy. El assisted Jonathan in saving Nancy from the Hospital Monster. When El was bitten by the Mind Flayer, leaving her ankle punctured, Jonathan assisted in treating her wound in the best way he could, and later assisted the others in ambushing the Mind Flayer with Lucas' fireworks to save El. Three months later, following Hopper's "death", El had begun living with the Byers, and moved out of Hawkins alongside them.

In the spring of 1986, Jonathan and El begun to address themselves as siblings or step-siblings. Both struggled to adjust to their new lives in Lenora Hills, California. El mentioned to Mike in her letter how she discovered Jonathan and his new best friend Argyle smoking "smelly plants" together; Jonathan told her that they were safe since they came from the earth, but made her promise not to tell Joyce. Jonathan would later help Mike, Will and Argyle track Eleven down, driving the group to Nevada in Argyle's Pizzamobile, and also assisted Eleven by creating a makeshift sensory deprivation tank for her battle against Vecna.

**Will Byers**

In 1983, when asked by Mike to help him look for Will, Eleven agreed to help. El located Will in the Void inside the Upside Down's version of Castle Byers, telling him to hold on a little longer, and that his mother was coming to rescue him. After Eleven disappeared and Will was rescued, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas shared stories about Eleven with a bewildered Will in hospital.

Upon Eleven's return in 1984, she helped to disrupt the Mind Flayer's possession of Will, while also closing the Gate.

By 1985, Will grew upset that his friends' preoccupations with romantic relationships, especially in regard to Mike and El. When the two lied about El's curfew to sneak away from the Party, Will commented that their relationship is "gross". After witnessing El and Max break up, Will seized the opportunity to play Dungeons & Dragons with his old friends, but quickly grew angry after noticing their apparent disinterest. After storming out, Will yelled at Mike that he was ruining the Party because of him "swapping spit with some stupid girl". However, when Will discovered the return of the Mind Flayer, he put his anger aside and helped defeat the monster. Three months after the destruction of Starcourt Mall, El became Will’s adopted sister, joining the Byers as they moved out of Hawkins.

In 1986, Eleven and Will grew closer after moving to Lenora Hills, California, where they started high school as freshmen. El was frequently bullied by their peers, but Will supported her, especially on the last day of school before spring break when El presented her diorama. Despite the teasing from Angela and her cronies, El did her best to ignore them until she broke down in tears and stormed out of the class. Will tried to comfort her, but El yelled that friends don't lie. At the end of the day, El's project was destroyed by Angela and her cronies, leaving both El and Will upset. When Mike arrived in Lenora the following day for spring break, he noticed El lying about being "friends" with Angela and going to parties at Rink-O-Mania. Will confronted El about her lies, warning her that Mike would not be happy when he found out. Will's prediction later came true when Angela and her cronies humiliated her in front of everyone at the rink. Later, El retaliated by striking Angela in the face with a roller skate, and when the police arrived to arrest her, Will tried to cover for her, but to no avail. Will eventually assisted Eleven in enhancing her abilities to fight off the evil threatening their hometown, Vecna. Days later, Will revealed that his connection to the Upside Down enabled him to sense that Vecna was still alive and recovering his strength, though Will seemed confident that Eleven would be able to take him down in their next battle. Both Will and Eleven, along with their friends and family, witnessed the Upside Down beginning its invasion upon the world.

### Non-familial

**Martin Brenner**

Dr. Martin Brenner had experimented on Terry Ives, who volunteered as a MKUltra test subject. While undergoing these tests, Terry mysteriously became pregnant. After discovering the pregnancy, Brenner took the child away directly from birth, raising her at Hawkins Lab under the name Eleven.

Throughout childhood, Eleven was treated harshly and severely. Brenner appeared to be Eleven's only source of social engagement, and thus she grew to be dependent on his attention. Brenner built himself up as a father figure, establishing a somewhat tender demeanor when in her presence. However, an unstated threat was present in even the most affectionate words he uttered, lurking just beneath the surface.

When Eleven performed well, Brenner would "reward" her with affection. When Eleven disobeyed him, she would instead be subjected to cruel psychological torture. Even when Eleven was on her best behavior, she spent much of her time in solitary confinement, locked in a "bedroom" cell. Brenner's only true interest in the girl was her extraordinary power; her physical or mental health was merely of tangential importance to his goal. When Eleven performed extraordinary feats, Brenner appeared proud of her accomplishments.

After Eleven escaped from the lab and experienced genuinely loving relationships for the first time, she could finally see through Brenner's façade. When he eventually found her and promised to take her home, she rejected his offer, instead crying and reaching out to her new friends. Before Brenner could take her back to the lab, he was attacked by the Demogorgon, which allowed Eleven to escape from his grasp and be rescued by her friends. After destroying the Demogorgon, Eleven had become convinced that Brenner had been killed by the monster.

In 1986, Brenner revealed himself to be alive, albeit with scars from his encounter with the Demogorgon. He and Sam Owens created the NINA Project with the goal of restoring Eleven's psychic abilities and amplify them to a stronger level. Though she initially refused, she ultimately relented, knowing that her friends and the rest of Hawkins and the world depended on her. Though the project successfully restored Eleven's powers, Brenner incapacitated her and Owens, stubbornly insisting that she was not ready to battle Henry Creel/Vecna, who was revealed to be Brenner's first test subject and the evil terrorizing Hawkins. Eleven finally had enough bravery to stand up against the man who raised her for most of her life and reminded that his constant attempts to locate Vecna in the Upside Down led to the opening of the "Mothergate," before blaming him for all of Hawkins' misery and destruction ever since then. She tried to rescue Owens, only to be sedated by Brenner. Lt. Colonel Sullivan led his forces towards Brenner's base of operations and his men managed to fatally wound Brenner as he tried to carry Eleven to safety. After Eleven destroyed an helicopter and killed some of Sullivan's men in self-defense, Brenner unlocked her collar and pleaded with his "daughter" that all he had done was for her own good before begging for her forgiveness. However, Eleven merely replied, "Goodbye, Papa," and departed with her adoptive family, leaving Brenner to die alone in the desert.

**Mike Wheeler**

Eleven and Mike developed a close relationship in the brief time they knew each other in 1983. Mike grew the closest to Eleven out of the three boys, partly due to her staying at his house. Although Dustin and Lucas eventually grew to trust her, Mike was the first to do so, welcoming her into his home and keeping her a secret from his parents. Eleven, in turn, was clearly most relaxed while alone with Mike. Unlike Dustin and Lucas, Mike immediately understood that, despite her powers and strange appearance, she was ultimately just another kid who didn't want to trouble him or his friends. His respect and admiration for her deepened when she aided and defended him and the others in their search for Will.

Mike even invited her to be his date to the Snow Ball, an offer she happily accepted. Out of love for Mike and her friends, Eleven used her powers to disintegrate the Demogorgon, vanishing in the process. Mike was devastated by her disappearance; Mike called El on his Supercom for 353 days in a row, while keeping her pillow fort in perfect condition; on many occasions, Eleven attempted to reach Mike through the Void, but found herself unable to. After almost a year of separation, the two were finally reunited and shared a long-awaited hug, though their reunion was cut short due to the on-going crisis at Hawkins Lab. Before Eleven headed off to seal the Gate, Mike told Eleven he "[couldn't] lose her again", to which El promised he would not. Afterwards, Eleven and Mike attended the Snow Ball where they shared their second kiss, and danced to "Every Breath You Take".

Hopper was able to adopt Eleven through a forged birth certificate given to him by Dr. Owens. This allowed Eleven to enter mainstream society without fear, which led to her pursuing a relationship with Mike that continued and prospered into the summer of 1985. Hopper, however, grew increasingly irritated with the relationship, threatening Mike and forcing him to stop seeing Eleven. This caused Eleven to break up with Mike, but they later reconciled after Mike explained the situation. During the battle against the Spider Monster, Mike saved Eleven's life various times; when her leg was seriously injured, he helped her walk and took care of her. After Hopper's apparent death, Eleven and the Byers moved to Lenora Hills under Sam Owens' supervision. Before leaving, El and Mike made plans to see each other at Thanksgiving and Christmas and Eleven said to him that she loved him and kissed him, but sadly had to say goodbye as the Byers departed.

In the spring of 1986, Eleven and Mike kept in touch through letters, but faced communication problems, with Eleven hiding the fact that she was being bullied and Mike struggling to say "I love you". After an incident at the Rink-O-Mania, Eleven was arrested, before later crossing paths with Dr. Owens. Before departing to regain her powers, she sent a note to Mike via Owens's agent, Ellen Stinson. Nearly a week later, Mike, Will, Argyle and Jonathan tracked down Eleven to the Nina Project facility in Nevada. They worked together to fight a new evil terrorizing Hawkins; during the final battle against Vecna, Mike gave a passionate speech to motivate Eleven to fight back, in which he reaffirmed his love for her and called her his "superhero”. Upon their return to Hawkins, they leaned on each other as they visited a comatose Max and witnessed the early stages of the Upside Down's invasion planned by Vecna.

**Lucas Sinclair**

Lucas was initially suspicious of Eleven, dismissing her as a "psycho". Although Dustin and Mike made efforts to become friendlier, Lucas kept some distance from her, viewing her as a distraction from the search for Will. Eleven, lacking social skills and confidence, was unable to convince him that she was truly on their side. When Eleven was discovered to be manipulating the compass to keep the boys from finding the Gate, Lucas grew angry, accusing her of being traitorous. After Eleven ran away, Lucas had little interest in finding her. However, after Lucas realized that she was justified to keep the boys away from the dangerous forces at Hawkins Lab, his opinion of her changed. Following the kids' reunion, Eleven and Lucas apologized to one another and remained friendly.

In 1984, when Eleven revealed herself to be alive, she embraced Lucas and Dustin. Lucas said they've missed her, with Eleven saying she missed them too.

In 1985, Lucas and Eleven remained close friends and worked together to fight the Mind Flayer. Lucas showed his care and concern for Eleven when she was attacked by Billy. Although Lucas was upset after learning Eleven had spied on him and Mike, he quickly forgave her. During the fight at Hopper's cabin, Lucas saved Eleven's life by chopping off one of the Mind Flayer's tentacles with an axe. After retreating to Bradley's Big Buy, Lucas stole fireworks to help Eleven in the final fight against the Mind Flayer's proxy. Three months later, as Eleven left Hawkins with the Byers family, she said goodbye to Lucas and the others.

After regaining her powers in March 1986, Eleven entered the Void to check on her friends in Hawkins, including Lucas. She grew fearful for their safety when she overheard their plan to kill Vecna. She helped Lucas protect Max via psychic projection, but Max eventually succumbed to her injuries, with Eleven and Lucas grieving the seeming loss of their friend, though Eleven would later restart Max's heart. Eleven later reunited with Lucas two days later, looking over Max at the hospital, Eleven asked if Max would wake up, to which Lucas replied that the doctors didn't know, calling Max's survival a miracle.

**Dustin Henderson**

Dustin's initial attitude toward Eleven lay somewhere between Mike's open-mindedness and Lucas's skepticism. He became considerably kinder to her after discovering she had "superpowers", although he retained a degree of indifference towards her. After an incident with Lucas, he was quick to call her out on a questionable use of her power, though he later admitted that it was “awesome.” While it is unclear if he saw her as a member of their "party" at that point, he did assist Mike in looking for Eleven after she had ran away. After Eleven saved him and Mike from bullies, he proudly declared that she was their friend and thoroughly cared about her from that point on.

In 1984, when Eleven revealed herself to be alive, she embraced Dustin and Lucas. Dustin revealed to her that they've reminisced her and talked about her almost everyday. Eleven was even surprised that Dustin had teeth which Dustin proudly showed them off to her.

In 1985, Eleven used her powers to make Dustin's toys move to lure Dustin to a spot where she and the others welcome him back from Camp Know Where. When Dustin revealed he got a girlfriend, El was shocked and went with him to help build Cerebro so he can contact his girlfriend Suzie. However, Eleven decided to leave on the journey to the top of Weathertop so she can spend romantic time with Mike, leaving Dustin upset. Later, after Dustin managed to get a short transmission to Mike, El used her powers to locate him at Starcourt Mall and comes to his rescue by stopping some Russians from killing him. After she saved Dustin, she happily shared a hug with him. When Eleven's leg wound began pulsating, El was helped by Dustin. After the fight against the Mind Flayer, Eleven said good-bye to Dustin before leaving Hawkins with the Byers family.

In 1986, when learning from Dr. Sam Owens of a new evil threatening Hawkins, Eleven became concerned about Dustin and decided to go to the Nina Project to regain her powers and save him. Once she successfully regained her powers, El entered the Void to check on Dustin and the rest of her friends to see how they were doing. When hearing Dustin and her friends planning to kill Vecna, Eleven grew fearful of their safety and decided to return to Hawkins to save Dustin and the others. After temporarily defeating Vecna by battling him in Max's mind, El returned to Hawkins and reunited with Dustin, sharing a warm embrace with him.

**Max Mayfield**

In 1984, Mike told Max that El was a girl who'd once been in the Party, but had "moved away" (though Lucas later divulged the full story to Max).

Eleven had an overwhelmingly negative first impression of Max. While looking for Mike at Hawkins Middle, she watched Max and Mike chatting and laughing from afar; a deeply lonely Eleven, overwhelmed with jealousy and feelings of abandonment, psychokinetically knocked Max off her skateboard. A few days later, Max was shocked to learn Eleven was real, eagerly introducing herself. Eleven coldly brushed her aside, much to Max's confusion.

Despite Eleven's initial animosity towards Max, the two grew to become close friends. The pair were on more neutral terms by June 1985, with both being formal members of the Party. Unlike Will, Max defended Mike and El's relationship as "romantic", but after Mike started acting unusually towards El, Max took El to the brand-new Starcourt Mall to cheer her up. The girls soon grew close to one another throughout the day, trying on clothes, taking photos, pranking bullies, and getting ice cream. Max encouraged El to find herself without her father or Mike's approval, and El began to copy Max, repeating many of her sayings. That night, Max slept over at El's cabin and introduced her to teen magazines, while also comforting her over her breakup with Mike. The two grew to deeply trust and care for one another, with both girls relating to each other's frustrations interacting with Dustin, Lucas, Mike and Will.

Later, the girls investigated the strange activity of Max's stepbrother Billy, concluding he had fallen under the possession of the Mind Flayer. Letting bygones be bygones, the girls reunited with the boys to defeat the latest threat from the Upside Down. When arguing with Mike, Max told him that El was fully capable of making her own decisions. After witnessing Billy's gruesome death, a grief-stricken Max sobbed in El's arms as she comforted her. Three months later, Max and El tearfully hugged one another as El left with the Byers, moving to California.

In March 1986, after having her powers restored, Eleven observed her friends from afar via the Void. She grew concerned for Max's safety, who planned to use herself as bait draw Vecna's attention, prompting El to beg Dr. Owens to send agents who could protect Max. Later, El decided she would fight Vecna by "piggybacking" onto Max's mind via the Void, protecting Max in the process. Unfortunately, Vecna incapacitated both girls and transported them to his mindscape. Moments later, El found the strength to interrupt Vecna's attack on Max. Upon returning to the Void, Eleven employed her abilities to restart Max's heart, saving her life. Two days later, El returned to Hawkins and visited Max in the hospital, who had fallen into a coma. Sitting by Max's side, Eleven failed to locate her friend's consciousness in the Void, which greatly upset her.

**Kali Prasad**

Kali, or Eight, was Eleven's fellow test subject at Hawkins National Laboratory. When they were young, the two were depicted as friends, playing in the Rainbow Room when Eleven's mother Terry Ives came to pick her up in 1978. The two were separated when Eight escaped the lab without Eleven.

In 1984, when Eleven visited her mother, her aunt Becky Ives told her about Kali. Eleven used her mind to track down Kali in Chicago, Illinois. There, Kali embraced Eleven warmly upon discovering that she was her sister. Kali had her gang give Eleven a makeover, and then explained how they hunted down the former lab workers and killed them, urging Eleven to join them. They reached Ray Carroll's residence, but Eleven refused to kill him, stopping Kali from doing so either. Kali was slightly angered at this, forbidding Eleven from stopping her from killing anyone. Later, when the gang was chased by police, Eleven chose to run away to help her friends. Kali was left devastated and in tears.

Overall, Eleven and Kali had a very warm and intimate sisterly relationship, but their personal morals clashed, leading to their eventual separation.

**Benny Hammond**

Benny was the first person Eleven encountered after escaping the lab. During their short time together, Benny treated her kindly and cared about her well being, a stark contrast to her treatment at the lab. Fearing that she was a victim of abuse, he called Social Services hoping to help her. Unfortunately, this good deed would lead to his death at the hands of DOE agent Connie Frazier. Eleven later killed Connie and other agents in order to defend herself and her friends; whether intentional or not, she avenged Benny with this action.

**Nancy Wheeler**

In 1983, Eleven was residing in Nancy's home, with her younger brother Mike sheltering the girl in their basement. When giving a tour of his home, El observed a picture of Nancy on the mantle, calling her pretty. When El was left alone, she explored the house on her own, finding her way into Nancy's room. She examined Nancy's trinkets along with photographs of her childhood and her best friend Barbara Holland, showing El what a normal life she could've had. El later officially met Nancy when Chief Jim Hopper rescued her and the boys from the Department of Energy agents. Nancy asked if El was wearing her old dress. After explaining her ability to locate people in the Upside Down with her telekinetic abilities, Nancy assisted in making a homemade sensory deprivation tank, hopeful El could find Barb, who had been snatched by the monster. In the bath, El had discovered Barb's rotting corpse, causing her to fearfully repeat the word "gone", devastating Nancy.

In 1984, a year later, Eleven met up with Nancy again after she saved her and the group from Demodogs. By 1985, eight months later, El and Nancy reunited upon the discovery that the Mind Flayer was growing an army through Hawkins residents, dubbed the Flayed. When arriving at Hawkins Memorial Hospital to have Doris Driscoll lead them to the Flayed, El rescued Nancy from being killed by a monster form from the possessed remains of Bruce Lowe and Tom Holloway. The next day, when Mike and Max argue on whether El should decide her limits, Nancy was shocked to discover that El had dumped Mike, and initially took Max's side that El was her own person and knew what was best for herself. However, she backed down upon Mike professing that he loved El and didn't want to risk losing her again. That evening, when the Mind Flayer's avatar attacked Hopper's cabin, El once again saved Nancy by stopping the monster from killing Nancy as she ran out of ammo. Nancy later saved El from being killed by shooting the monster in the mouth. The group later raided Bradley's Big Buy to help clean El's wounded leg, and Nancy soon attempted to remove the piece of Mind Flayer infecting El's wound, growing concerned of El's pain. Nancy would later save El's life again when she joined the others pelting fireworks at the Mind Flayer. Three months later, Nancy assisted helping El and the Byers move out of Hawkins.

In 1986, six months later, Nancy was put into a trance by Vecna, who used her as a messenger to Eleven what the future entailed of him destroying the world. Later, after El regained her powers, she went into the Void and discovered that the group was taking it upon themselves to travel into the Upside Down and kill Vecna themselves, leading El to grow desperate to rescue her friends. Two days later, El reunited with Nancy, leading the two to rebuilt Hopper's cabin before witnessing the Upside Down beginning to infect Hawkins.

**Argyle**

After moving to Lenora Hills, California, Eleven met Argyle after he struck a friendship with her adoptive brother, Jothan. Eleven referred to Argyle in her letters to Mike as "Jonathan's funny friend" whose hair was longer than hers, but she was cordial to him. When picking up Mike, El, and Will from Rink-O-Mania after El had struck Angela in the face with a roller skate, Argyle and Jonathan (while high from smoking weed) attempted to comfort her, saying Angela would be fine, but they only made it worse by joking about it. After regaining her powers, Eleven met with Argyle again as he had arrived with Mike, Will, and Jonathan to come to her rescue. After escaping from Lt. Colonel Jack Sullivan, Eleven was aided by Argyle in building a sensory deprivation tank for her to use so she could battle Vecna and save her friends in Hawkins. Argyle also provided pizza for Eleven and Mike, which she enjoyed. As Eleven fought Vecna, she was watched over by Argyle and after she temporarily defeated Vecna, they traveled back to Hawkins together.

**Troy Walsh and James Dante**

When Eleven saw Troy and James bullying her friends, she instantly disliked them. After Mike stood up to Troy for insulting Will, she used her powers to make Troy urinate in front of his classmates, humiliating him. When Troy sought revenge and threatened to hurt Mike and Dustin, she used her abilities once again to push James to the ground and breaks Troy's right arm. The two boys fled in terror. Although they clearly did not like Eleven, they had gained a newfound respect for - and fear of - her and her friends.

**Angela**

After moving to California with the Byers family, Eleven attended school at Lenora Hills High School where Angela, her boyfriend Jake, and their friends began to bully her. Though Eleven did her best to ignore Angela and her friends, she was often hurt by their cruelty. When Angela and her friends destroyed her history project that she based on Hopper, Eleven, having lost a moment of clarity, tried to use her powers against Angela, only to remember she still didn't have them as she ended embarrassing herself. When Ms. Gracey comforted her and asked if someone destroyed her project, Eleven lied and did not tell on Angela, but Ms. Gracey was able to see what really happened and escorted Angela to the principal's office as punishment for bullying Eleven and destroying her project.

When Mike came to California for spring break, Eleven lied to him, saying she was friends with Angela. Unfortunately, while at Rink-O-Mania, Eleven was confronted by Angela, who wanted revenge as she wrongfully blamed her for getting her in trouble. After Eleven was humiliated in front of the entire rink by Angela and her friends, Eleven angrily confronted Angela and asked her to apologize while confirming to Mike that they were truly friends. When Angela refused to apologize and instead mocked her of Hopper's supposed death, Eleven lost control of her rage and struck Angela in the face with a roller skate. However, upon seeing how badly she injured Angela, Eleven felt incredibly guilty.

**Vecna**

During her time as a test subject, Eleven was bullied by her most of her peers after Eight escaped from the lab, but a mysterious orderly comforted her and gave her words of encouragement and advice. The orderly, who was actually the first psychokinetic test subject, One, saw himself in Eleven, relating to how the other test subjects had ostracized her.

One later tricked Eleven into removing the power suppressant chip in his neck, allowing him to commit a massacre at the lab. He tried to persuade Eleven to join him in his quest to eradicate humanity. When she refused, they engaged in a telekinetic battle, with Eleven sending him to a parallel dimension. Moments later, Eleven fell into a coma; upon awakening, she had no memory of the traumatic events.

Years later, One exerted influence over Hawkins via the otherworldly entity known as the "Mind Flayer", which Eleven and her allies fought in both 1984 and 1985. In 1986, One resurfaced as the being known as "Vecna". He began to murder teenagers; through the "powerful psychic connection" with his victims, he could create gates to Hawkins from within the Upside Down. Following Eleven regaining her powers and repressed memories, she used psychic projection to confront Vecna from within Max's mind, though he initially overpowered her. However, she managed to save Max, attacking and suspending Vecna against a pillar within his mindscape before he could deliver the final blow. Despite restarting Max's heart moments later, she was unable to prevent Vecna's final gate from being created, which wreaked havoc across Hawkins.

Two days later, Eleven and her allies witnessed plumes of smoke and the Upside Down's spores emerge from the four gates. Eleven stared out defiantly at the chaos, ready to fight and defeat Vecna once and for all.

## Appearances

\* = Eleven appears in archive footage in "Dear Billy"

### Video games

*See also: Eleven (Fortnite), Eleven (Smite)*
## Family tree

*note: family trees are only visible on desktop.*

## Memorable Quotes

* "Bad."
* "Mouthbreather."
* "Friends don't lie."
* "Pretty."
* "Still pretty?"
* "Mike, I am sorry. The Gate ... I opened it. I'm the monster."
* "Goodbye, Mike."
* "No more."
* "It's eight-one-five. You are late."
* "Ghost. Halloween."
* "Compromise?"
* "You are like Papa!"
* "Bitchin'."
* "Do you lie?"
* "I dump your ass."
* "Mike. I love you, too."
* "And this is Mr. Fibbly. He is a squirrel."
* "I came here to try and understand who I was. To see if ... I was the monster. And I know the truth. It is not me. It is you. You are the monster."
* "Goodbye, Papa."
* "Mike? I... missed you."
* "I piggybacked from a pizza dough freezer."

## Behind the scenes

### Creation and development

The initial basis for Eleven's character was formed when the Duffers imagined an escaped MKUltra test subject heavily influenced by *E.T.* However, they also wanted to keep an underlying sense of danger and instability, saying that "Eleven isn' a normal girl, and she's no gentle plant-collecting alien either. She has unpredictable supernatural powers that will most definitely put our boys in jeopardy." As a result, they also incorporated elements from the anime, *Elfen Lied*, as well as the 1988 anime film, *Akira*, into her character, though with "less bloodshed." It's also highly likely Eleven was inspired by characters from the works of Stephen King, such as Carrie White from *Carrie* and Charlie McGee from *Firestarter*, although these have not been cited as specific influences.

In an interview, the Duffers revealed that the show was originally going to be more "R-rated", especially concerning Eleven's powers. Ross said, "The Eleven character, the kind of powers she has and to have a young protagonist that’s violent — it’s not *E.T.* It’s not a happy situation. She’s killing people, and brutally murdering them."

In a featurette later released by Netflix, the Duffer brothers revealed that Eleven was basically a blank slate of a character during production of the premiere season. It was Brown's charisma and instinctive performance that invented Eleven's iconic gestures, with the Duffers stating, "What she does with her eyes, what she does with her face, what she does with a certain glance – all of Eleven's power stuff, which now is kind of famous, the hands, the turn of the neck – this was all designed by an 11-year-old girl."

### Casting

Out of all the roles, Eleven was the most difficult to cast due to her having to convey various emotions with little dialogue. The role also required staying in character even while not talking. The Duffers feared they would not be able to find someone who could stay focused throughout an entire scene. 246 young actresses were seen for the role of Eleven. However, when they met Millie Bobby Brown those fears vanished, and the Duffers even stated she has a "preternatural talent". To help ease her worries about shaving her head, the Duffers showed Millie pictures of Charlize Theron in *Mad Max: Fury Road*.

The younger version of Eleven shown in "Dig Dug" and "The Lost Sister" was portrayed by a set of twin toddlers Charlotte and Clara Ward, however, they were never credited for the role.

## Trivia

### Eleven's age

* Eleven's exact age and date of birth is a point of contention:
	+ Dialogue from "The Monster" refers to Terry's "miscarriage" occurring "twelve years ago" from 1983, which is 1971. This means Eleven would be 12 years old during the events of Season 1.
	+ In the 2019 novel *Suspicious Minds*, Jane's birth occurs in June 1970, which would make her 13 in Season 1.
	+ In an interview published on June 2, 2022, the Duffer Brothers claimed Eleven is 11 years old during Season 1, suggesting she was born in 1972.

*Due to the wiki's rules surrounding canonicity, Eleven's date of birth is assumed to be 1971 - see the canon hierarchy ruling for more information.*
### General

* Eleven is extremely fond of Eggos, seen eating or standing near them throughout the series:
	+ Originally given to her by Mike the first morning she stayed at the Wheelers, she became instantly hooked. She raided Bradley's Big Buy's stock and destroyed the sliding doors when an employee told her she had to pay for them.
	+ She is seen enjoying Eggos with Hopper for breakfast and dessert. In "The Lost Sister", when Kali's crew raid the convenience store, El tosses some fruit aside when sees Eggos in the freezer.
	+ When trying to locate Dustin in "The Bite", she opens up the freezer doors inside Bradley's Big Buy, sitting behind shelves of Eggos.
	+ In "The Monster and the Superhero", Mike makes El Eggos for breakfast in an attempt to cheer her up. When eating with Sam Owens at the County Line Diner, she asks the waitress for waffles.
* Many of El's clothing throughout the series are hand-me-downs from other characters:
	+ In the first season, the first night El stayed at the Wheeler house, Mike gave her his sweater and sweatpants he wore the night before. The pink dress she wears throughout the rest of the season originally belonged to Nancy.
	+ In the second season, most of El's attire - oversized plaid button shirts - originally belong to Hopper.
	+ In the third season, El initially continues to wear Hopper's old flannels, but this changes when Max takes her to the mall and buys her more trendy outfits to wear. By the end, however, she reverts back to wear plaid flannels.
	+ In the fourth season, El's attire is derived of button-down flannels and graphic T-Shirts due to inheriting plaid shirts and T-shirts from Will and Jonathan. The main exception is her dress in "Vecna's Curse" that's ultimately ruined.
* In Hawkins Lab and Nina Project experiments, Eleven's scalp is fitted with an electrode cap. These caps affix electrodes to the scalp, allowing for measurement of bio-electrical activity within the brain.
* Eleven only speaks 246 words in the entirety of the first season.
* Eleven has a lot in common with Alessa Gillespie, a character from the *Silent Hill* series, which was one of the inspirations for *Stranger Things*. Both have supernatural powers and have lived abusive childhoods.
* El, her nickname, is also a Northwest Semitic word meaning God, as well as the name of a Canaanite god. While this is most likely just a coincidence, it could be alluding to Eleven's role in defeating the Monster; in mythology, Demogorgon is a god or demon associated with the underworld, and was even adopted by Christian writers as a Hell-dwelling demon.
* The Void, the mental space Eleven can access, is visually inspired by the 2013 film, *Under the Skin*.
* Eleven's relationship with Dr. Brenner mirrors the relationship between *Elfen Lied*'s Diclonius Nana and Doctor Kurama, who both call their father figures "papa".
* While Eleven's age is never explicitly stated, it was mentioned that Terry had been looking for her daughter for twelve years, indicating she is 12 years old during the events of the first season, placing her birth in 1971, alongside the rest of the five kids. However, the book *Suspicious Minds* gives conflicts with what is suggested in the show, instead placing her birth in June 1970.
* During a panel at Phoenix Fanfest, Millie revealed she filmed a scene in "Holly, Jolly" where Eleven read Nancy's diary, but it was cut for unknown reasons.
* The blonde wig she wore throughout the first season originally belonged to Mike's grandmother, who died of cancer. The wig was actually one of the most expensive pieces to buy since many of the basic/cheap wigs the crew bought either didn't look realistic enough or caused Millie Bobby Brown's scalp to itch profusely.
* Eleven was originally supposed to die at the end of the first season, but the Duffer Brothers eventually scrapped the idea.
* Concept artist Michael Maher, Jr. explored alternative concepts for Eleven being transported to the Upside Down. In the art, Eleven is sent flying through a glowing blue portal, and arrives in the Upside Down's woods rather than Mr. Clarke's classroom.

Art by Michael Maher, Jr.Art by Michael Maher, Jr.
* Out of all the visitors to the Upside Down, Eleven has spent the least amount of time there.
* Eleven is the Party's designated 'mage'.
* Revealed by the writers, El was originally going to mercy-kill her mother, Terry, in the second season.
* Eleven has only been absent from two episodes from the whole series; "The Spy" and "Dear Billy", though she appears via archival footage in Max's memories in the latter episode.
	+ She's also absent for the majority of "The Mind Flayer", only appearing in the last half minute before the credits.
* During the Snow Ball, Eleven was given the blue hair tie that originally belonged to Hopper's late daughter, Sara. She continues to wear the hair tie from the second season onward.
* In "The Battle of Starcourt", Eleven mentions that she enjoys watching *Miami Vice*, tuning in every Friday at 10pm.
* In "Vecna's Curse", Eleven's favorite colors are revealed to be yellow and purple, as Mike presents her with flowers of both colors he hand-picked in Hawkins, while also dressing in yellow and purple himself.
* In "The Piggyback", El is shown to love pineapple pizza, which disturbs Mike (until he tries it himself).
* Despite being known for being able to kill enemies very easily, "The Piggyback" shows El reviving a life for the first time by restarting Max's heart.
* Out of all the members of the Party, El has cried the most, crying in twenty-one episodes as of the fourth season.
* The ring Eleven wears in the fourth season was a gift given to her by Mike sometime in between 1985-86.
* El's bedroom both in the third and fourth season feature many Easter eggs:
	+ In the third season, she is given a poster of a dinosaur egg given by Mike that originally hung in his basement.
	+ El has drawings done by Will hung by her bed.
	+ The baby mask Kali gave her in "The Lost Sister" hangs on her wall, and is seen on the corkboard in the fourth season.
* According to the show's hair-department head, Sarah Hindsgaul, El's similar appearance to Joyce in the fourth season comes from Joyce cutting her children's hair to save money. Fans have noted how similar Millie Bobby Brown looks to Winona Ryder in her youth.
* As of August 2023, Eleven and Dustin have the most variants in *Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales*, each having four.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 An Instagram post by Amy L. Forsythe
2. ↑ Twitter Post
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "The Monster"
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Stranger Things: The First Shadow*
5. ↑ "‘Stranger Things’ Finale: Duffer Brothers Talk Cliffhangers, Death and Season 2" *Variety*. July 18, 2016.
6. ↑ *Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds*
7. ↑ The live video feed from "The Nina Project" reveals the date 08/04/79.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "The Vanishing of Will Byers"
9. ↑ "The Weirdo on Maple Street"
10. ↑ "Holly, Jolly"
11. ↑ "The Body"
12. ↑ "The Flea and the Acrobat"
13. ↑ "The Bathtub"
14. ↑ "The Upside Down"
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Trick or Treat, Freak"
16. ↑ *Stranger Things: The Bully*
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "The Gate"
18. ↑ *Stranger Things Winter Special One-Shot*
19. ↑ *Montauk Pitch Book*
20. ↑ "Dig Dug"
21. ↑ Sparrow Nicole's TikTok
22. ↑ "‘Stranger Things’ creators explain it all about season 1" *UPROXX*. July 26, 2016.
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 "Stranger Things episode 2: The Duffer Brothers on finding their Eleven" *Entertainment Weekly*. July 16, 2016.
24. ↑ "Stranger Things Was Originally Going to Be More R-rated" *Vulture*. January 9, 2017.
25. ↑ "‘Stranger Things’: How Millie Bobby Brown Invented Eleven’s Gestures" *Slashfilm*. June 15, 2018.
26. ↑ *Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down*
27. ↑ "Watch Stranger Things’ actress Millie Bobby Brown shave her head to become Eleven" *Geek*. August 22, 2016.
28. ↑ "MAJOR Netflix Series Casting Call for a Flashback Scene" *Project Casting*. February 2, 2018.
29. ↑ "‘Stranger Things’ Creators Answer Burning Questions About Eleven’s Origins, Will’s Sexuality (and Birthday!) and More Ahead of Volume 2" *Variety*. June 2, 2022.
30. ↑ "How many words does Eleven say in Stranger Things? One fan broke it down" *RadioTimes*. September 24, 2016.
31. ↑ "El (deity)" *Wikipedia*.
32. ↑ "How 'Stranger Things' Created The Void" *Inverse*. August 2, 2016.
33. ↑ "Stranger Things Millie Bobby Brown & David Harbour Panel Phoenix Comicon Fanfest"
34. ↑ "Confessions From The Set Of Stranger Things Season 2" *Refinery29*. December 14, 2016.
35. ↑ "Millie Bobby Brown was one of THREE characters supposed to be killed off in Stranger Things" *Daily Mail*. October 29, 2018.
36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 The VFX Wizardry Behind Stranger Things 2 (NAB Show 2018) | Adobe Creative Cloud The "Adobe Creative Cloud" YouTube channel. April 19, 2018.
37. ↑ "The Pollywog"
38. ↑ https://twitter.com/strangerwriters/status/1579543965615149056
39. ↑ "12 Clever Details You Might've Missed in Stranger Things Season 2"*Dorkly*
40. ↑ Twitter Post Confirmation
41. ↑ [1]

### Canon hierarchy

1. ↑ Information from *Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds*, a Tier 3 source, conflicts with the timeline the series presents (Tier 1 info), and with behind-the-scenes materials (Tier 2 info).

	* In the novel *Suspicious Minds*, Jane's birth occurs in June 1970. This conflicts with dialogue from "The Monster", which refers to Terry's 'miscarriage' occuring "twelve years ago" from 1983, which is 1971. In addition, an Instagram post by lead makeup artist Amy L. Forsythe lists 1971 as Jane's year of birth.
	* In a 2022 interview, the Duffer Brothers claimed Eleven was 11 during the events of Season 1, suggesting she was born in 1972; again, this conflicts with "The Monster" (and with Amy L. Forsythe's Instagram post).
2. ↑ Information from *Stranger Things: SIX*, a Tier 3 source, conflicts with what's presented in the main series.

	* The comic versions of the test subjects are at odds with what the fourth season depicts. Additionally, the dating of Terry's rescue attempt differs between *Stranger Things: SIX* and what behind-the-scenes material suggests (an Instagram post by lead makeup artist Amy L. Forsythe)