Every Major Character Who Dies In The Stranger Things Series Finale

Contains spoilers for "Stranger Things" Season 5, Episode 8 — "Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up"

One of the biggest criticisms surrounding "Stranger Things" throughout its run is how the show has always felt afraid to kill off any major characters. Yes, the likes of Barb (Shannon Purser) and Eddie (Joseph Quinn) perished, but they were killed off the same season they were introduced. We didn't get the chance to fall in love with them over many years, unlike the main cast, who were gifted with some of the strongest plot armor in recent TV history. With Season 5 being the end to all of this, it felt like the perfect time to start killing some main characters off. So what happened?

We here at Looper had some ideas about who would die in the "Stranger Things" finale, and we were actually kind of right about one, though, ultimately, the last ever "Stranger Things" episode was pretty light on deaths. That being said, there were some notable departures in the series finale that are worth analyzing, including one that's a bit nebulous. "Stranger Things" didn't go out as the bloodiest show on television, but let's take a look at the finale's death toll (not including the various nameless soldiers who met their ends, of course).

It was kind of inevitable that the Hawkins team would kill Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) by the end of the "Stranger Things" series finale. But we finally learn about the symbiotic relationship between Vecna and the Mind Flayer and how the two connect to one another. This relationship proves to be their undoing, as Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) battles Vecna inside the Mind Flayer, which in turn hurts the Mind Flayer. Meanwhile, the rest of the team are able to attack the monster head-on with real firepower, weakening Vecna by proxy. 

After a pretty epic battle, Eleven is able to use her psychic powers to force Vecna down onto a spiky thorn inside the Mind Flayer. Note to self: Don't set up an evil base with a bunch of nonsense pointy things you could easily get impaled on. But Vecna isn't quite dead yet, and it's Joyce (Winona Ryder) who gets the final licks in as she swings an axe down on Vecna's neck, decapitating him. 

For a minute, it appeared as though the villain could receive a brief redemption arc. With his psychic connection to Vecna, Will (Noah Schnapp) tries to tell him that he's being used just like he was. Will urges Vecna to break free, but he likes being with the Mind Flayer and perseveres with his plan for Dimension X to merge with the real world. It proves to be his undoing, and he seems dead for good.

"Stranger Things" Season 5 brought back a controversial character in the form of Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) after she had starred in what's widely regarded as the worst episode — Season 2's "The Lost Sister." She had been experimented on just like Eleven and had developed the ability to create illusions. We catch up with her in Season 5 with the government experimenting on her to create more psychically-gifted children. She ultimately tells Eleven that to stop the madness and potentially another Vecna getting created, the two of them have to die, and she's more than willing to sacrifice her life for the greater good. 

After the military captures her and Hopper (David Harbour), she has a gun pointed at her, and she seems to want Hopper not to give up Eleven's location for her sake. Murray (Brett Gelman) blows up a helicopter, creating just enough chaos for Eleven to get the upper hand and kill the soldiers. However, Kali's accidentally shot in the stomach and dies before the mission to kill Vecna is complete. 

Of course, later in the episode we see how Kali may have survived the initial gunshot wound when Mike (Finn Wolfhard) talks about how there's a chance Eleven could have survived her fate (more on that in a moment). But even if Kali survived long enough to create the illusion of Eleven's death, she still would've perished when the Upside Down got destroyed. No matter when exactly she died, she did ultimately give her life to stop Vecna once and for all. 

Vecna, as the villain, has to die. Kali was always pretty expendable. But the "Stranger Things" series finale really needed to kill off a major character to raise the stakes, and that seemingly happened with Eleven. When the team gets out of the Upside Down before it gets destroyed, they're apprehended by the military. Eleven stays behind in the wormhole as it's collapsing, and she enters into a psychic vision with Mike to tell him that she loves him. It's a sweet moment before the Upside Down blows up, and she's taken with it. 

18 months later, Mike and his friends play a game of Dungeons & Dragons where he talks about all of their fates, like Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) excelling in college and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Max (Sadie Sink) finding happiness in their relationship. But he also offers a glimmer of hope when it comes to Eleven, namely that Kali was able to create the illusion of Eleven dying in the Upside Down while she escaped elsewhere. In his version of events, Eleven is now living in a far off place away from the government. But how would Mike know all the specifics?

When asked how they could know that it's true, Mike responds, "We don't. Not for sure. But I choose to believe that it is." It's just a theory, maybe one Mike needs to believe happened so that he can continue with his life. As it stands, Eleven's probably dead. The Duffer brothers have poured cold water on past rumors of an Eleven spin-off, but if Netflix wants to bring her back for a new series at some point down the line, the door's open for her still being out there somewhere.