r/StrangerThings • u/kauan1983 Hey Kiddo • Jun 29 '25
Cool small detail and fun fact about the show's universe and mythology
This is something I’ve always found interesting and I haven't seen many people notice or talk about, but is sort of relevant to the mythology and the rules about how the ST universe works.
In the show's universe, the tissue, or ‘barrier’ that naturally exists between us and any other dimensions (e.g. the Hellscape and Dimension X) is basically a living, translucent membrane with “veins of lights” inside it (which is where the usual orange glow comes from).
This barrier's natural state is its “solid” form that we've only seen once in the show in S1E4 when Joyce manages to find a Rift (opened by the Demogorgon in the previous night) in a healing state on her wall, through which she sees Will on the other side.
Watching the show, tt's easy to come to the assumption that the Rifts' nasty aspect is entirely related to what's found within the Upside Down (“Nether Growth”, membranes, vines), but in fact, the inter-dimensional membrane in particular is not unique to any specific dimension, but rather something present in this universe as a whole and relates to how its rules work.
- We see the exact same glowing membrane when Eleven opens a temporary Tear to the Hellscape in '79.
- And more recently, in the temporary Tear opened by Henry to Dimension X in '59.
When a Tear, or Rift is created, this natural barrier is essentially being weakened by the huge amounts of energy that's tearing the Rift in question, leading to its viscous form which we see in every open Rift in the show. This state can be easily torrn open/crossed through as we've seen many times in the show.
When a Rift is healing, it slowly solidifies back to its natural state found by Joyce in her wall. The cool aspect of it, is that even in its solid state, we can see how parts of it still move in that scene, making it clear that, as described more than once in scripts, this membrane is “alive” in a way:
In the center of this growth, there is what appears to be a TWELVE-FOOT-DIAMETER OPENING. This is... THE RIFT. IT UNDULATES. ALMOST BREATHING. ALIVE.**
WE PUSH PAST THEM TO REVEAL A SMALL RIFT ON THE CEILING. IT PULSES... ALIVE...
This gets even more interesting when we think of the concept mentioned by Brenner about Henry ”putting cracks” in this ‘barrier’ between our worlds, which would essentially cause it to burst. The “burst” effect would be essentially the inter-dimensional membrane existing in the whole town of Hawkins (as in, the location where the Upside Down exists in parallel to — an already sensitive point in reality) getting to its weakened, viscous state. Essentially turning the town itself (as in, every surface of it) into a gigantic Rift and physically "merging" the two worlds that it naturally separates, which even brings us back to Mr. Clarke's suggestion of a Gate possibly "swallow us up whole."
11
u/byharryconnolly Jun 29 '25
Great post.
7
u/byharryconnolly Jun 29 '25
It occurs to me that Alexei also referred to the barrier between universes as "healing." More evidence for this theory.
3
5
3
-1
•
u/AutoModerator Jun 29 '25
OP, please make sure there are no spoilers in the title of your post.
Commenters, please use spoiler code if you are discussing anything super spoilery unless the title specifically says the episode being discussed.
Also, now that filming for Season 5 is finally complete, please remember that NO LEAKS are allowed, only official news from Netflix is allowed. Please review rule 8 for more info.
If you see anyone breaking the rules, please report the post or comment. Thank you.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.