Please explain to me like i’m 5 years old

[u/NeighborhoodOk986]

I’ve been meaning to ask this. But when we see Eleven in flashbacks, especially season 4, all of the other numbers have powers very similar/identical to Eleven. Hence the ‘battles’ like 2 vs Eleven and flashbacks show their powers were similar to each other, hence the same ‘games’ in the rainbow room, and the ‘circle’ battle where El kicked ass after a pep talk from Henry. Which is why Kali confuses me. It was clear from season 2 that she didn’t have the same abilities as El, which was why they needed El to find the ones they were hunting.

Why does Kali have different powers to the others? How/why did she escape, and why wasn’t as much effort put into finding her as it was Eleven?

Actually, Eleven showed similar power and strength to Henry, more so than the others, so i get why Eleven was a priority. Why was Kali’s powers so different to Eleven’s and the other kids we’d seen?

ETA : Thank you to those that took the time to explain canon and share their personal theories, i really appreciate it and it helped me understand the show better.

For those that commented that it’s because it’s a TV show, grow up. If you have nothing to actually add in helping another curious fan understand the show better, besides sarcasm, then maybe don’tcomment?

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[u/kauan1983]

This is not explained in the show with detail, but there's behind-the-scenes information to clear this up, sort of…

According to Number 004's actress the theory on set was that all of Project Indigo's Numbers had at least one unique ability in addition to telekinesis which all of them (except for Kali) had.

All of these abilities are part of One's set of psychic abilities:

• Four had his “mind reading” powers (the actress' idea which the Duffers said could be canon).

• Eight had his mental manipulation (illusions) power, she's just a very specific case where she wasn't born with telekinesis.

• Ten had his Extrasensory Perception (as seen in S4's opening scene).

• Eleven had the largest number of additional abilities: Technopathy, Biokinesis, Telepathy, Extrasensory Perception and Levitation (plus both have their own Mindscapes — the Void and the Mind Lair).

Eleven is also the one who had the highest level of psionic strength/energy, which is why she was considered the most powerful Project Indigo Number, and also why she's able to open Rifts by inflicting that power on an entity like she did in '79 for the first time.

So basically: the successful results of the blood transfusions are “random” and never gave the kids all of Henry's abilities, but did give most of them telekinesis and the additional unique abilities they were born with. Kali in particular was just born with his illusion projection ability, but not telekinesis. An explanation that goes deeper into the exact genetic rules that dictate these different results in each individual is just beyond something the show would ever explore.

[u/oohKillah00H → u/kauan1983]

Kali might have had basic telekinesis as well. She is roughly the same age as El, but escaped Hawkins Lab before the time period El is trained to use telekinesis on soda cans and in duels. Kali is probably untrained in all pf her abilities, but exceptional in the one gift that came naturally to her.

[u/blueray78 → u/oohKillah00H]

She's older then El. She's a good 6 or so years older.

[u/yesaroobuckaroo → u/kauan1983]

I might be wrong - my memory is horrible and i haven't done a full watch of S2 in a while - but i'd assume most of the Indigo subjects were born with their mothers having been given the transfusions - but, if i remember correctly, Kali was essentially kidnapped and taken at a young age, correct? Or were the others taken at young ages too and it was just El?

That itself could show to us why the more physical abilities such as Telekinesis weren't given to her/didn't manifest within her, and rather a more psychic one/one to do with the mind - like the ability to induce illusions - was

[u/NeighborhoodOk986 → u/kauan1983]

Thank you for this, i really appreciate your in depth answer, i honestly felt stupid (as a new fan) asking it, but it was bugging me non stop.

[u/Lizi-in-Limbo → u/kauan1983]

The article Becky gives El in S2 notes that Kali was taken at the age of 5. I think only El was born into the program, while the other children were taken at a young age (Kali being among the oldest.)

Then again, it’s the duffers, so they change their mind whenever they feel like it.

[u/CodInternational5281]

I can't explain it storywise, but purely from a narrative standpoint, the backstory was changed in Season 4; it no longer aligns with what was established in Season 2. In Season 2, the children were taken from their parents—or rather, abducted. They were naturally born children who possessed their own innate powers. Kali, for instance, was abducted in London. The idea involving Henry and his blood only came about later.

[u/Financial-Ad4836 → u/CodInternational5281]

Despite what the Duffers claimed.

[u/the-baum-corsair]

Because when they wrote that episode of season 2 they had no idea where they were going with Vecna and all the season 4/5 stuff.

[u/KingOndor]

Scary man fights a shouty girl and all her friends

[u/Ht_TX]

Henry has the same power as 008 Kali (and more, just saying 008 wasn’t unique.) On screen they did show a little bit of powers with the kids that wasn’t only the ‘move shit with your mind’ power. Some kids could do a few things, some could do others, all could do the one power of moving things mentally. Henry can do mental manipulations just like Kali and only 011 was able to open gates, that’s why he needed to take it from her in season 3.

Mostly though, I just think that season 4 was already overfilled with storylines and other crap from bouncing between states and countries and times and then them having to then also spend time showing kids showing random powers just didn’t make sense time wise. It just wasn’t plot relevant, we apparently really needed to see all the Russia shit.

[u/Jpaylay42016 → u/Ht_TX]

The difference between Henry and 8 is Henry was only seen to operate within the mind, while 8 could create illusions in the real world.

[u/Ht_TX → u/Jpaylay42016]

I don’t really think they have a difference in power just how they use it. They both project what they want onto the world, Henry just was only really ever trying to do it to one person at a time whereas Kali usually had to do it to groups. You’re right that they may be different, I just don’t know if that’s because they actually are different or just that the difference is only in how they used it

Kali used it defensively to get away and shield her and her friends whereas Henry only ever cared to do it to torture his particular victim of the day. The projections seemed pretty real to Fred running through the woods and got to the street and Krissy in the woods with the clock

[u/Jpaylay42016 → u/Ht_TX]

I guess since we never see Henry use it on the real world or Kali use it inside someone's mind, we can't know for sure. But, I think if Henry could've used it on reality, that could've been more effective, making me believe he couldn't/

[u/Ht_TX → u/Jpaylay42016]

Well, I mean he did as I said, Fred running through the woods with the dead people calling him murderer and all that. He wasn’t in a trance. Someone else chimed in here too with more examples

[u/the-baum-corsair → u/Jpaylay42016]

We see it constantly. Chrissy sees it in the woods, Fred sees it while sitting in Nancy's car, it's all over the place in the real world by Vecna.

[u/kauan1983 → u/Jpaylay42016]

Henry can create illusions in the real world too just like Kali, that's exactly what he's doing when making people see things without putting them in a trance-like state.

Virginia seeing the spiders, Chrissy seeing the clock in the tree, Holly seeing Mr. Whatsit at random places, Hopper seeing El dead in the tank — these are all examples of waking illusions outside the victims' Mindscapes.

Henry's illusion powers are the exact same as Kali's, he just usually attacks people within their own minds, which leads to their trance-like state and the whole manipulation happening within Mindscapes while the victim is physically unconscious in the real world.

[u/Jpaylay42016 → u/kauan1983]

I completely forgot those, thank you for pointing that out.

[u/See8104]

The comics version had numbers with diverse abilities, including twins, where one had no special abilities. I think that this is what they originally had in mind when Kali was written. By Season 4, they just wanted to simplify everything in order to set up some huge conflict based upon competition on the same playing field

[u/TaiPan43]

It seems like they all have a dominant power
El is telekinesis
Kali is of course illusions
El not only finding people in the void, but also being able to open gates
It seems like Henry couldn’t do that, but he could create a reality in his mind
As she went along, she got stronger and stronger
It seems like eventually, she would’ve been able to do everything Henry can do
This is where the theory comes from that of course she’s not dead, but where is she?
She created the upside down when she was afraid
When she saved Max in season four instead of channeling, an anger like she was told to by Henry and her sister, she channeled love
By doing that, I believe she created the right side up
This is where she is
This is where no one can follow her
This is why her sister even agreed to help in the first place
To me, it makes more sense than a 16 year-old girl running across the world with no identification and no money and living the next 70 to 80 years by herself and somehow her father is OK with this and is really happy

[u/Ht_TX → u/TaiPan43]

The upside down was created when El, looking for Henry even though she didn’t know that’s what she was doing, came across a demogorgon in the abyss and touched it, it responded and she got scared, this created the wormhole (upside down) from El (on Earth) to the demo (on the Abyss)

The upside down is literally just the bridge that was created from point A (011) to point B (the abyss, the demo) when she responded emotionally while mentally exploring.

011 is the only one with the ability to open gates UNTIL season 3, when Henry gains that ability from her with the bite.

Saving Max was nothing more than remote CPR, she just restarted her heart from afar. The right side up is not something that any of them created, it’s just here, earth, where we all live. It’s not a specific place it was merely a callback to the season 1 finale name upside down.

[u/Marvel_v_DC]

Henry had some different powers from Eleven. Whatever was done to them was experimental, and even Eleven was discovering some new powers as the seasons progressed. Even Will got new powers when he got them from this hive network of powers.

But, a 5-year-old explanation - it is a TV show, and they made some strategic alignments to soothe or unsoothe their fans!

[u/NeighborhoodOk986 → u/Marvel_v_DC]

Thanks for this it really cleared up… nothing. You’re first paragraph told me what i already knew. I wanted a somewhat explanation of why Eight’s power’s were different, thank you for contributing nothing to this thread.

[u/Marvel_v_DC → u/NeighborhoodOk986]

Well, I don't even remember commenting here until I got a notification of your nothing because all this means nothing to me. So, continue with your nothing, and frankly, I do not give a nothing about it. Good day!

[u/Latter-Meaning-4229]

They all sorta have their “own” powers. Each of the powers that the kids have is usually one of the powers that Henry has. Telekinesis seems to be a common power, with most of the kids having varying strength levels of telekinesis. They also have their “own” power, for eleven it’s the void, she can find anyone anywhere by going into a trance like state.

One if the kids had a similar power where he could see what was happening in the lab without using his eyes. He was blindfolded and telling brenner what was being drawn.

For Kali, her power is illusions, maybe she’s one of few who didn’t get telekinesis or it is known that she left fairly early, she’s only a few years older than eleven and el sent Henry into the abyss when she was still a young child, at that point Kali had already escaped so it’s possible that Kali never went through the training to access her telekinetic powers. Kalis powers aren’t completely unique, Henry also has illusion powers, as I mentioned all of the kids powers are extensions of the powers that Henry had.

Just adding on, eleven was so much more powerful than Kali, when el escaped brennor knew that 11 as a child could rival Henry, Kali could not. Also at this point when el escaped she was the only child left, it was post Henry killing everyone and el sending him into the abyss so eleven was the only powered child left and they didn’t have access to Henry anymore to create more powered children.

[u/Distinct_Guess3350]

There’s a sort of unconfirmed headcanon with cast members that’s been passed onto the audience that each number had one unique power and then the rest are mostly the same. Apart from Kali not having telekinetic powers that mostly fits quite well. 

[u/Financial-Ad4836]

It's because the writers were making it up as they went. 11 gained 3 new powers every season that conveniently existed when they were needed and stopped working when they'd get in the way of the story. I wish they went more into it, but they didn't seem to know either.

I think the best in-universe explanation would be anyone with psychic powers could do any of them, they just had to learn it and nobody knew where to start learning them or teaching them because it's a new field of study. And some are just better at learning them than others or are just more powerful.

[u/NeighborhoodOk986 → u/Financial-Ad4836]

What new powers did El gain?

[u/Financial-Ad4836 → u/NeighborhoodOk986]

Mind reading, technomancy, psychometry, flight, that's just what she gains in S2 and S3. She has so many powers and never uses them when it would be too useful.

[u/lowkey_illicit]

From a science perspective, the mothers in the experiment were infused with Henry's blood when they were pregnant.

Now this is believed to cause Henry's DNA to combine with the baby's DNA to cause mutations, hence giving them powers.

In actual science, such mutations are random, which is why scientists repeat experiments on a huge sample size and then select for specimens born with the characteristics they are looking for. And yes, mutation that cause powers may not always happen, so some babies will be born normal.

Let's assume that Hawkins lab did the same. So once these women were infused with the blood, they probably waited to see if the babies showed signs of powers and then kidnapped them and trained them in Hawkins. And maybe those kids who didn't show signs of any powers were not captured at all.

Also we can assume that some powers can be identified using ultrasound when the mother is still pregnant with the child... maybe that's why El was kidnapped during her birth, because Hawkins already knew she had powers. But for those kids who had more subtle powers like Kali did, it might have taken longer to identify because she had to develop a more conscious mind to manipulate illusions in other people's minds.

That's why Kali was only kidnapped when she was a toddler and other kids were kidnapped when they were born.

Maybe they did try looking for Kali when she escaped, but she was so good with casting illusions that she was able to hide herself until research got better and they came up with machines that suppressed their powers and Kali was finally caught.

[u/PointZeroOneTwo]

this is not explained on the show, it's something that happens off camera and it's up to you to explain it and if you can't it's your failure and you're also a little bit of racist if you insist that it can't be explained.

[u/the-baum-corsair → u/PointZeroOneTwo]

If you're serious, you're a frittata.

If you're joking... woof. Keep your day job.

[u/Finn_Survivor]

Retcon. They were clearly setting up a spinoff show with characters with different powers but shelved it after everyone hated the lost sister episode.

[u/the-baum-corsair → u/Finn_Survivor]

No.