ELEVEN Eleven's opals are boulder opals that look like rocks cracking open to reveal vibrant, luminous gemstone beneath. plans: Her memories are tied to specific people left behind. CW for physical and mental child abuse, neglect, experiments, drug abuse, death, self-sacrifice, mentions of brain damage, mentions of murder
Papa (aka Dr. Brenner)
Being raised in a lab for the first 12 years of her life, only knowing herself as "Experiment 011", raised by Dr. Brenner, but only knowing him as "Papa", who trained her and other subjects in the lab to test them for and subsequently develop their psychic powers
Dr Brenner encouraging volatile behaviour and rewarding it with affection, but punishing her with lack of affection and care if she's disobedient towards him
Her extremely stunted development due to a lack of socialisation, affection and education. "Papa", "please", "yes", "no", "don't" and "bad men" being some of the very very few words she easily knows at this stage in her life
Two orderlies dragging Eleven through sterile corridors while she screams and cries and pleads with Papa until she's tossed into a small, empty and pitch black room and left there in tears and utter hysteria, developing severe claustrophobia and becoming scared of the dark (hello Beacon's perpetual darkness) Papa showing her affection and pride when she finally snaps and uses her telekinetic powers to kill both orderlies, collapsing into his arms after The terror of being put inside the suspension tank to enter the Void, sensory deprivation being what allows her to telekinetically spy on Dr. Brenner's behalf. Encountering a monster in the Void, and Papa commanding her to make contact despite how terrified Eleven is, which allows the monster to connect to her, and subsequently to escape into her world - and which allows Eleven, in turn, to escape the lab as well
Encountering the first adult after the lab, the owner of a diner, who gives her an oversized t-shirt and food and only wants to help. Watching him get killed by Dr. Brenner's people for helping her
Days after the escape, her killing several of Dr. Brenner's agents sent to kill her friends and retrieve her by liquifying their brains, subsequently collapsing in exhaustion, and then Papa holding her gently, promising he'll fix everything if only she'll come home. She sees through this, finally aware that she can be free, that she can be more than an experiment, and rejects him. The monster, drawn by the blood Eleven spilled, killing Dr. Brenner as Eleven watches
Eleven killing the monster to protect her friends, seemingly dying in the process and yet sacrificing herself without hesitation
Mama
At 13, isolated by Hopper and presumed dead, running away from Hopper's care to find her mother, and discovering through her mother's memories that her mother took part in a study headed by Dr Brenner and was subjected to drugs, later found out she was pregnant and dropped out of the study. Her being told in the hospital her daughter was stillborn, but never believing this, and finally finding Dr. Brenner at Hawkins Lab, breaking in with a weapon to find her stolen daughter, only to be caught and subjected to electroshocks so brutally that she is now near catatonic and not lucid, a state Eleven finds and has to leave her in.
Friends & Found Family (various happy and emotionally formative/important moments)
Mike naming her El, turning the number 011 into a name she can claim for herself.
Mike, Lucas and Dusting stealing Nancy's make up, an old dress and a wig to make Eleven look like a normal girl, and Eleven thinking herself pretty for the first time in her existence
Mike teaching her new words, introducing her to things like food (waffles!), TV and values (friends don't lie!), and becoming the most important person in her young, extremely limited existence
Retaliating against a bully by using her telekinesis to squeeze his bladder so he pees himself in front of the entire school
After being presumed dead, trying to return to Mike and realizing that the bad men (aka government agents) are still looking for her, and that Mike will be in danger if he knows she's still alive, therefore choosing to keep sacrificing herself by walking away without revealing herself alive
Spending a year in isolation with Hopper, not allowed to leave his cabin in the woods to see her friends because it's too dangerous and she could be caught, getting so frustrated and pent up that she starts seeing him not as a father figure, but as nothing more than Dr Brenner, and in a massive tantrum lashing out at him and half-destroying the cabin
Reuniting with Experiment 008, Kali, considering her a sister, being taught by Kali to lean into her anger and use it to become stronger, to stand up to everyone who ever hurt her and tear them down, to take what she wants in life and let no one hold her back. Leaning into the anger, the hurt, the bad, and setting out to kill one of the scientists from Hawkins Lab... and ultimately choosing mercy over revenge, realizing that Kali's path is not her own, that her heart is not out for revenge and constant hurt and anger, but that she wants to return to Hawkins, to her friends and her family, not because they can help her, understand her or save her... but because she can save them.
Reuniting with Hopper later, realizing he's scared of losing her and only wanting to protect her from everything in the world that can hurt her, him giving her the blue hair tie he always wore on his wrist and that belonged to the daughter he lost, a hair tie that Eleven is prominently wearing on her own wrist and never, ever takes off
Hopper adopting her with fake documents that name her 'Jane Hopper', giving her a real father, a real family, a real name - although she still mostly goes by El and Eleven
Getting to wear a pretty dress and make up and dancing with Mike at his school dance, like a normal girl
Hopper and her sharing waffles stacked high with whipped cream and sprinkles, playing board games and watching 80s shows on TV with her and getting her school books so she can learn and develop, teaching her new words every day
Max teaching her that life is more than what the overprotective Hopper and Mike let her experience, taking her to the mall where Eleven isn't allowed to go normally (too many people, therefore too high a risk of exposure), teaching her for the first time in her at this point 14 years how to choose clothes for herself, and just generally having a good and pure and fun time and >omg pls watch the video, it's too pure
Overhearing Mike yelling at the others that they shouldn't let Eleven overuse her powers and risk herself so much even when Eleven volunteers herself so readily, he can't lose her again... because he loves her
Asking Mike to trust her, and endangering herself voluntarily and readily, because she is okay with sacrificing herself for the people she loves.
Billy / the Mind Flayer
Various instances of her brutally using her telekinesis to fight against the Mind Flayer's flesh manifestations and the possessed Billy (nearly getting choked to death in the process, and collapsing in exhaustion here and there)
Chasing Billy in the void to try and find the Mind Flayer, learning from the Mind Flayer through the possessed Billy that everything that's been happening in Hawkins has been happening because of her, because she opened the door when she engaged the monster she encountered in the Void, and that it intends to kill first her, then her friends, and then everyone
The Mind Flayers plan seemingly succeeding when it kills Eleven in her own mindspace, freeing her body up to be potentially possessed and used to hurt her friends
Eleven
Eleven's opals are boulder opals that look like rocks cracking open to reveal vibrant, luminous gemstone beneath.
plans: Her memories are tied to specific people left behind. CW for physical and mental child abuse, neglect, experiments, drug abuse, death, self-sacrifice, mentions of brain damage, mentions of murder
Papa (aka Dr. Brenner)
- Being raised in a lab for the first 12 years of her life, only knowing herself as "Experiment 011", raised by Dr. Brenner, but only knowing him as "Papa", who trained her and other subjects in the lab to test them for and subsequently develop their psychic powers
- Dr Brenner encouraging volatile behaviour and rewarding it with affection, but punishing her with lack of affection and care if she's disobedient towards him
- Her extremely stunted development due to a lack of socialisation, affection and education. "Papa", "please", "yes", "no", "don't" and "bad men" being some of the very very few words she easily knows at this stage in her life
- Encountering the first adult after the lab, the owner of a diner, who gives her an oversized t-shirt and food and only wants to help. Watching him get killed by Dr. Brenner's people for helping her
- Days after the escape, her killing several of Dr. Brenner's agents sent to kill her friends and retrieve her by liquifying their brains, subsequently collapsing in exhaustion, and then Papa holding her gently, promising he'll fix everything if only she'll come home. She sees through this, finally aware that she can be free, that she can be more than an experiment, and rejects him. The monster, drawn by the blood Eleven spilled, killing Dr. Brenner as Eleven watches
- Eleven killing the monster to protect her friends, seemingly dying in the process and yet sacrificing herself without hesitation
Two orderlies dragging Eleven through sterile corridors while she screams and cries and pleads with Papa until she's tossed into a small, empty and pitch black room and left there in tears and utter hysteria, developing severe claustrophobia and becoming scared of the dark (hello Beacon's perpetual darkness)
Papa showing her affection and pride when she finally snaps and uses her telekinetic powers to kill both orderlies, collapsing into his arms after
The terror of being put inside the suspension tank to enter the Void, sensory deprivation being what allows her to telekinetically spy on Dr. Brenner's behalf. Encountering a monster in the Void, and Papa commanding her to make contact despite how terrified Eleven is, which allows the monster to connect to her, and subsequently to escape into her world - and which allows Eleven, in turn, to escape the lab as well
Mama
- At 13, isolated by Hopper and presumed dead, running away from Hopper's care to find her mother, and discovering through her mother's memories that her mother took part in a study headed by Dr Brenner and was subjected to drugs, later found out she was pregnant and dropped out of the study. Her being told in the hospital her daughter was stillborn, but never believing this, and finally finding Dr. Brenner at Hawkins Lab, breaking in with a weapon to find her stolen daughter, only to be caught and subjected to electroshocks so brutally that she is now near catatonic and not lucid, a state Eleven finds and has to leave her in.
Friends & Found Family (various happy and emotionally formative/important moments)
- Mike naming her El, turning the number 011 into a name she can claim for herself.
- Mike, Lucas and Dusting stealing Nancy's make up, an old dress and a wig to make Eleven look like a normal girl, and Eleven thinking herself pretty for the first time in her existence
- Mike teaching her new words, introducing her to things like food (waffles!), TV and values (friends don't lie!), and becoming the most important person in her young, extremely limited existence
- Retaliating against a bully by using her telekinesis to squeeze his bladder so he pees himself in front of the entire school
- After being presumed dead, trying to return to Mike and realizing that the bad men (aka government agents) are still looking for her, and that Mike will be in danger if he knows she's still alive, therefore choosing to keep sacrificing herself by walking away without revealing herself alive
- Spending a year in isolation with Hopper, not allowed to leave his cabin in the woods to see her friends because it's too dangerous and she could be caught, getting so frustrated and pent up that she starts seeing him not as a father figure, but as nothing more than Dr Brenner, and in a massive tantrum lashing out at him and half-destroying the cabin
- Reuniting with Experiment 008, Kali, considering her a sister, being taught by Kali to lean into her anger and use it to become stronger, to stand up to everyone who ever hurt her and tear them down, to take what she wants in life and let no one hold her back. Leaning into the anger, the hurt, the bad, and setting out to kill one of the scientists from Hawkins Lab... and ultimately choosing mercy over revenge, realizing that Kali's path is not her own, that her heart is not out for revenge and constant hurt and anger, but that she wants to return to Hawkins, to her friends and her family, not because they can help her, understand her or save her... but because she can save them.
- Reuniting with Hopper later, realizing he's scared of losing her and only wanting to protect her from everything in the world that can hurt her, him giving her the blue hair tie he always wore on his wrist and that belonged to the daughter he lost, a hair tie that Eleven is prominently wearing on her own wrist and never, ever takes off
- Hopper adopting her with fake documents that name her 'Jane Hopper', giving her a real father, a real family, a real name - although she still mostly goes by El and Eleven
- Getting to wear a pretty dress and make up and dancing with Mike at his school dance, like a normal girl
- Hopper and her sharing waffles stacked high with whipped cream and sprinkles, playing board games and watching 80s shows on TV with her and getting her school books so she can learn and develop, teaching her new words every day
- Max teaching her that life is more than what the overprotective Hopper and Mike let her experience, taking her to the mall where Eleven isn't allowed to go normally (too many people, therefore too high a risk of exposure), teaching her for the first time in her at this point 14 years how to choose clothes for herself, and just generally having a good and pure and fun time and >omg pls watch the video, it's too pure
- Overhearing Mike yelling at the others that they shouldn't let Eleven overuse her powers and risk herself so much even when Eleven volunteers herself so readily, he can't lose her again... because he loves her
- Asking Mike to trust her, and endangering herself voluntarily and readily, because she is okay with sacrificing herself for the people she loves.
Billy / the Mind Flayer
- Various instances of her brutally using her telekinesis to fight against the Mind Flayer's flesh manifestations and the possessed Billy (nearly getting choked to death in the process, and collapsing in exhaustion here and there)
- Chasing Billy in the void to try and find the Mind Flayer, learning from the Mind Flayer through the possessed Billy that everything that's been happening in Hawkins has been happening because of her, because she opened the door when she engaged the monster she encountered in the Void, and that it intends to kill first her, then her friends, and then everyone
- The Mind Flayers plan seemingly succeeding when it kills Eleven in her own mindspace, freeing her body up to be potentially possessed and used to hurt her friends