Did Eleven Die in Stranger Things? Breaking Down the Series Finale’s Emotional Ending

Did Eleven die in Stranger Things? Season 5 spoilers ahead (duh).

On December 31, a 10 year journey came to an end as Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and her crew of misfit teens and parental figures carried out their plan to defeat Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) in the Abyss, rescue Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) and her classmates, and blow up the Upside Down upon their return to Hawkins. You can read a more detailed explanation of their plan here, though you probably know by now that it did not go completely according to plan.

For one, while Eleven’s sister Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) did not make it out alive, her death was not her choice after all. Though she originally planned to stay in the Upside Down when the bomb went off in order to stop the government’s experiments with her blood, she was moved by Hopper’s (David Harbour) empowering speech that Eleven needed to “fight for the days on the other side.”

Sadly, that choice was taken out of her hands when she was shot in the stomach by a soldier, leaving that final decision completely up to Eleven. You know, after Vecna and the Mindflayer were finally obliterated by a combinations of firearms, inter-mind battles, the power of friendship, and Joyce Byers’s axe (nice one, Winona Ryder).

So, did Eleven die in Stranger Things?

It seems the Duffer Brothers has left that up to us. When the Party returns unscathed—though we thought we lost Steve (Joe Keery) for a second there—they were met with an armed guard of furious military members that don’t realize their world almost ended via horrifying spider creature. Armed with a super loud surround system that destabilizes Eleven’s powers, the goal was clear: recapture Eleven and repeat this vicious cycle all over again, just as Kali feared.

But, at some point amid the chaos, Eleven got loose and seemed to choose the ending that her sister suggested before Hopper’s big speech. In a tearful exchange with Mike (Finn Wolfhard) in her mind, she asked the teenager to help the others understand her sacrifice, saying, “None of this will ever end if I’m still here.”