Stranger Things season 5 volume 1 ending explained: who dies and how those huge revelations set up volume 2

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Stranger Things season 5 begins with Hawkins in quarantine and our heroes doing so-called “crawls” to map out the Upside Down. Unfortunately, things go wrong when Hopper is trapped in the other dimension, leading to a rescue effort by Eleven. She soon meets up with her adoptive father and, after some terse discussion, they agree they should raid the government-funded military base that’s been set up in the Upside Down, as it appears Dr. Kay has captured Vecna and is using him for nefarious purposes.

After some super-powered parkour, Eleven breaks into the lab, followed by Hopper, who then offers to sacrifice himself for the cause. Despite a heroic speech, Hopper does not die, and the pair manages to knock out Kay and get into the cell where Vecna is being held. But, what’s this? It’s not Vecna, but Kali, AKA 008, AKA Eleven’s “sister”, who is being used by Kay! Shock, awe, and that’s the end of that storyline for now.

Elsewhere in the Upside Down, Dustin, Nancy, Steve and Jonathan are stuck, having come up against a huge, impenetrable, and disgusting wall. While the two older boys are fighting over Nancy, Dustin intercepts a radio signal. Except, it’s not a signal coming from the military base, as originally suspected, but from the wall itself. Using his math skills, Dustin works out that the wall is, in fact, a circle encompassing Hawkins, and at the centre appears to be Hawkins’ lab, where this whole thing started. Coincidence? Dustin thinks not!

Meanwhile, back in quarantined Hawkins, our heroes Mike, Lucas, Robin, Will, and Joyce have been trying to free the children who were caught by Kay – the bad doctor’s attempt to lure out Eleven. What Kay doesn’t realise is that Vecna wants the children, the villain having previously disguised himself as the kindly Mr. Whatsit in order to trick the kids into thinking he’s a good guy. In other words, having all the children in one location is the worst thing that could possibly happen – something our gang quickly realises as they piece together who Mr. Whatsit really is. They then try to bust the children out of the military compound using a system of tunnels and toilets, but before the rescue is complete, Vecna shows up and unleashes his Demogorgons.

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Vecna manages to get away with the children, but not before confronting Will and giving him a (sort of) explanation for why he’s taking the children back to his lair: “Do you know why I chose them to reshape the world?” Vecna asks. “Because they are weak. Weak in body. In Mind. Easily broken. Easily reshaped. Controlled. The perfect vessels. And you, Will, you were the first. And you broke so easily. You showed me what was possible, what I could achieve. Some minds simply do not belong in this world. They belong in mine.”

Vecna leaves Will behind, but he’s not as weak as the villain thinks. Queue Robin’s words about accepting himself echoing in Will’s head, and a montage of footage featuring a young Will and his brother, Jonathan, playing together. Then, an instantly iconic moment that ends volume 1: Will unleashes his newfound telekinetic powers and destroys the Demorgorgons before they can hurt any of his friends. Cut to black…

But there’s one more story thread we need to cover: Max and Holly. The younger sibling Wheeler is trapped in Vecna’s mindplace, having been lured there by his alter-ego, Mr. Whatsit. Somehow, Max is also there, roaming around Vecna’s memories, trying to find a way out. They team up after Vecna leaves to grab the other children, giving Max and Holly a moment to plan an escape. However, they need more time, so Max sends Holly back to Mr. Whatsit, and tells her to pretend like nothing’s happened. And that’s where all the major story threads are left.

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Yes! Thanks to Will’s various encounters with the Upside Down, the Mind Flayer, the Demogorgons, and Vecna, Will has developed similar powers to Eleven. However, until this moment, he had been unable to accept himself and therefore unable to reach his full potential. This season, we’ve seen Will grow as a character, thanks in part to Robin, who has urged Will to come to terms with his sexuality and helped him rebel against his mother, Joyce. When Will’s nose runs red, it’s a huge and surprising moment, but one that feels absolutely right. He is, after all, the Sorcerer of his Dungeons & Dragons party.

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It is not entirely clear how Will has all of a sudden formed powers, only that he is able to conjure great strength when he channels his emotions. However, it seems as though Will is harnessing Vecna’s power rather than Eleven’s. Ever since he was kidnapped in season 1, Will has held a connection with Vecna, so much so that he regularly feels his presence and has seizures when the Upside Down is unsettled. In season 5 episode 1, we jump back to 1983 when Will was first captured, and see Vecna hook himself up to Will and feed him matter from the Upside Down, which must have caused the passing of power.

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She’s back. Kali was introduced back in the second season as another test subject, similar to Eleven, except she can induce mental hallucinations in others. In one particular episode back in season two, Eleven went off with Kali and her fellow Emo friends – something that was widely speculated to be a backdoor pilot for a spin-off series. That never transpired, but the Duffers did not forget about Kali, and now she’s back. Her powers will be extremely helpful in the fight against Vecna – the mix of Kali, Eleven, and Will makes for a bizarre X-Men-like squad – and her return has huge implications for Eleven, who now has her “sister” back. No doubt Kali will have a major role in shaping where Eleven ends up. Super-powered road trip around America, anyone?

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Max and Holly are trapped in a world that’s been nicknamed Camazotz after the alternate dimension in the book A Wrinkle in Time. It appears that Camazotz is Vecna’s creation, his mindscape, which makes the villain’s final line to Will – “Some minds simply do not belong in this world, they belong in mine” – all the more interesting.

Indeed, Vecna has purposefully trapped Holly there, having used his alter-ego, Mr. Whatsit, to lure her into Camazotz, promising she will be safe from the monsters there. Now, thanks to Max, she realises the monster is the person who created this place. Holly’s real body is presumably in Vecna’s Upside Down lair, where his tentacles are likely sucking her lifeforce away, all while her mind is being kept at peace in Camazotz. Expect to see the other children, captured during the final moments of volume 1, in Camazotz, too.

It looks like Henry’s Minscape is kept separate from the Upside Down, as later we see that in the underworld, Holly is unconscious and hooked up to one of Vecna’s feeding tubes, but in his mind, she is free as a bird. Well, almost. However, when Max runs away from Henry in the mindscape, she runs into a cave that Henry cannot access. He looks into the cave, terrified, unable to touch Max. His Vecna form is also starting to show as he reaches a burned arm out to Max. It seems as though the cave may be the key to Max and Holly’s escape.

Another burning question: why is Max there? While making those gates last season, Vecna must have accidentally let Max into his own mind, trapping her there while her real body is in a coma. Weirdly, that seems to be for the best, as Max can now help Holly – and the other children – escape the clutches of Mr. Whatsit.

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When Hopper and Eleven venture into the Upside Down, they encounter a tall, fleshy wall blocking their way to the other side. However, later, when Dustin, Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan arrive in the underworld, they find the same wall, but on the other side of the Upside Down. Using his smarts, Dustin works out that the wall is actually a circle, hiding something inside. It is not clear what the wall is at this point, but Dustin seems to think that Holly is behind it. We know that the wall in the Upside Down holds some significance, as it’s where the wounded Demogorgons limp off to. Could it be Vecna’s lair?

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At the start of Stranger Things season 5, we learn that the military operation that is keeping Hawkins in lockdown is run by a female general/doctor known as Dr. Kay, who is hellbent on finding Eleven. Played by Terminator star Linda Hamilton, Kay is very much in charge of the soldiers, but seems to have ulterior motives, as instead of destroying the Upside Down, it looks like she wants to study it. She has been secretly conducting experiments on various Upside Down creatures in the base and has also been keeping Eleven’s sister of sorts, number Eight, hostage for an unknown reason. Kay may be in cahoots with Vecna, or seeks his power. Only time will tell.

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Remember those warnings about never trusting strangers, even if they offer you a lollipop? Well, Mr. Whatsit’s the ultimate evil child snatcher, and one who wants to stick your mind in a recreation of his childhood home while sucking the literal life out of you in the Upside Down. Mr. Whatsit’s name is another reference to A Wrinkle in Time. In Madeleine L’Engle’s book, Mrs. Whatsit introduces the main character to the tesseract and the alternate dimension of Camazotz, so you can see some parallels there.

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The real version of the Creel household was not only a key location at the end of last season, but a major one in the stage play, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which details Henry/Vecna’s origins. The Creel family moved to the house from Nevada, and it’s here that Henry starts coming to terms with his powers.

However, there’s another, more overt reference to the play in season 5. When Max is hopping through Vecna’s memories, she briefly appears at Hawkins High School, where a younger version of Joyce is putting on a play: a production of Dark of the Moon. This is a direct reference to The First Shadow, in which – you guessed it – Joyce is putting on the play. And not to get into too many spoilers about The First Shadow, but Dark of the Moon ends up being a part of the finale. It looks like this season could start incorporating a few more elements of The First Shadow as it progresses.

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In the first half of volume 1, a Demogorgon breaks into the real world and kidnaps Mike and Nancy’s little sister, Holly Wheeler. Once in the Upside Down, Holly is unconscious and hooked up to one of Vecna’s feeding tubes of sorts, just like Will was back in 1983 when he was first captured. However, in her mind, she is living happily with her friend Mr. Whatsit (Henry Creel) at his house in his mindscape. But Holly isn’t the only one, as Will learns that Creel has been grooming other children her age in the same way.

Right at the end of the mid-season finale, Vecna finally comes clean about what he has planned for the kids. Vecna needs 12 “weak” and “broken” children who are easy to shape and control. He wants these “perfect vessels” so that he can use them to “reshape the world.” What does this mean exactly? Well, we will have to wait and see, but something is telling us that Vecna is trying to build an army of sorts.

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None of the major cast members actually dies in volume 1. Huzzah! Hopper nearly perishes, giving what feels like a very final speech to Eleven, yet he lives on (for now). Either he’s ready to meet his maker, or Hopper’s now safe for the next few episodes (my money is on the latter). Meanwhile, Dr. Kay has been knocked unconscious in the scrap to stop Eleven from getting through to Kali. She has to be back, right? You can’t get Linda Hamilton and only use her for a handful of scenes – she’s Sarah Connor!

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The next four episodes look set to be incredibly exciting, especially as Will comes to terms with his powers and Eleven reconnects with Kali. Then there’s the excitement of Nancy, Steve, Jonathan and Dustin heading back to Hawkins lab and finding out why everything seems to be leading back there, plus Max and Holly enacting their plan to get home. We’ll also see a fair bit more of Vecna as his plan starts to further come to fruition. Oh, and the Duffers have promised some #JusticeForBarb, with everyone’s favourite missing character set to cameo… as a dead body in the Upside Down, covered in vines and half-buried. Woo?

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There are four episodes left of Stranger Things season 5, and then that’s the end of the show as we know it. Here’s when you can expect those episodes.

Stranger Things season 5 volume 2 (episodes 5, 6, and 7) – December 25 (Christmas Day)Stranger Things season 5 finale (episode 8) – December 31 (New Year’s Eve)

That final episode will also be shown in select cinemas around the world, should you want to witness the action on the big screen. If that’s not enough Stranger Things for you, a spin-off animated series called Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85 is coming in the New Year, and a mysterious second spin-off is being developed by the Duffers for release at some time in the future. They have promised that spin-off won’t feature Eleven, Mike, and Will, but… stranger things have happened.