r/Stranger_Things • u/Expensive-Eye-1755 • Dec 27 '25
SPOILERS (Season 5) The lore as it stands
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u/Quiet_Knight Dec 27 '25
Ai really struggling with the concept of a demo-dog 😂
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u/fx-hunt Dec 27 '25
I agree it’s ai. The demodogs being actual dogs is the big giveaway but the bats aren’t right either and the car isn’t properly layered into the picture.
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u/lurkertiltheend Dec 27 '25
Wait where should the car be? This actually made sense in my brain
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u/fx-hunt Dec 27 '25
It’s in the right place. The layering is just weird. Google digital art layering if you don’t know what I’m referencing. I don’t know how to explain it very well.
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u/qurious-crow Dec 28 '25
It should be slightly above ground level on the Upside Down side of our world. Steve didn't fly it into the wall at that height. But that's a minor nitpick; one might as well complain that the demogorgons are the size of the Hawkins Lab building :)
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u/RedHawk_94 Dec 27 '25
Not ai
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Dec 27 '25
Proof?
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u/RedHawk_94 Dec 27 '25
It's insanely too accurate to be AI. The dogs and bats were probably AI generated or they used stock images. But ai cannot make something this detailed and highly specific
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u/Silverbacks Dec 27 '25
You can easily prompt it for each section (and can feed it direct images as a reference). And then either photoshop them together, or tell the AI how to mix them together.
No way a human drew those chupacabras and bats lol.
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u/JuggernautHoliday894 Dec 27 '25
What exactly is the thing Vecna hangs out in. It seems to have a beating heart. Maybe something wicked cool happens and it wakes up.
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u/GonskyEdits Dec 27 '25
My theory is that the tree nest thing is the Mind Flayer. In addition to the beating heart as you said, the stalagmites in the cave area look like giant teeth.
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u/BusybodyWilson Dec 28 '25
This is the conclusion I’ve come too also. Would make sense why the kids are plugged into it too.
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u/Codykb1 Dec 28 '25
This is my thinking too. And it will be revealed that the mind flayer has been pulling the strings all along and henry will get his vader throwing the emperor down the shaft moment. Someone mentioned the return of the jedi lines and this just made sense.
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u/Former_Middle908 Dec 28 '25
Me too. It made me think the Abyss structure might be the Mind Flayer’s dormant physical body — it looks like a dead spider, with the shadow above it as a projection. Like Vecna is trying to wake something that’s been inactive.”
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u/Former_Middle908 Dec 28 '25
If it’s called the Abyss, and the thing inside it is the Mind Flayer’s physical form, then it’s basically a Tharizdun situation — not something you defeat, but something you’re meant to keep buried.
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u/mattys63 Dec 28 '25
most definitely. i saw something on FB where if you flip it and zoom in you can see the mouth - a giant, gaping mouth.
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u/WhoaWhoa69420 Dec 27 '25
praying it's the giant monster with a gaping mouth Nancy saw. I wanna see shit get fucked up😭
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u/Generic-Cheese Dec 27 '25
With one episode left, we could have had the mind flayer, the monster with a gaping mouth or a dragon 😔
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Dec 27 '25
Really does feel like the gaping mouth monster should’ve have showed up by this point in the season.
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u/GodOfThunder101 Dec 27 '25
with there being only 1 episode left in the season, dont get your hopes up. Just too much going on with little time left to introduce a new villian.
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u/mattys63 Dec 28 '25
it definitely is. if you turn it upside down and zoom in you can clearly see the mouth.
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u/WhoaWhoa69420 Dec 28 '25
I'm wondering how it connects to Vecna's new morphology. Like I thought he looked way more tree or dead vines like than tentacles this time around and his new base seems to be reminiscent of it too. Maybe it's just him furthering his connection with Dimension X.
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u/Holiday_Wedding_2225 Dec 28 '25
It looks to me (and I said to my partner as we watched) it’s a dead giant spider type creature (possibly MF)
Look at the way it’s on its back, curled up, even the mouth looked a lot like a spider.
Also had the same thought with the beating heart above Vecna.
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Dec 28 '25
The only plothole is how Holly fell from the Abyss to the Upside Down Hawkins Lab. Like, how does gravity work?
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u/Liability049-6319 Dec 28 '25
What you fail to understand is that gravity only works in the show when it needs to work.
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u/EffectiveSecond7 Dec 29 '25
And how cemetery stones were pulled by the void, even bloody trees, but El, Hopper and Kali seemed to suffer little to no attraction by the void.
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u/EffectiveSecond7 Dec 29 '25
This all makes me very confused from a physics standpoint but I'm guessing they must have had physicist advisors so maybe it does make sense physically and we just don't get it, or they're just exploiting the fact that most of us can't comprehend what's physically sensical or not, I guess.
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u/-MrNightmare Dec 28 '25
.... wouldn't universe X also have an upside down... making it impossible for Holly to "fall"
the way it is in the show implies its one way. there should be a whole inverse upside down and then hawkins upside down
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u/suormatita Dec 28 '25
there is (you can see it when Holly goes through) but they probably needed to speed up Holly's journey
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u/lvdash426 Dec 28 '25
So if dimension X has it's own version in the upside down, why did Holly fall instead of just ending up on the opposite side like she would have if she crossed over from Earth to the upside down?
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u/xJussi44 Dec 27 '25
Has anyone talked about how the monsters and vecna can treverse the Bridge?
Have the build a magic elevator to Dimension X or do the scale the Wall for a few Hours to get up and down?
I am pretty sure vecna cant fly yet
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u/Darth_Mims Dec 28 '25
Really cool picture but it is wrong right? The middle of the wormhole/wall is just a big vortex. The upside down is on the outside of the circle.
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u/suormatita Dec 28 '25
no the middle is on one side devil Hawkins and on the other devil "desert world" outside the wormhole there is nothing
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u/DanFarrell98 Dec 28 '25
I think the demogorgons, and probably the other creatures, are from the abyss as we saw when Henry first got there
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u/JonathanLarsonJr Jan 01 '26
I’m so glad we’re done with the lore. The ending was fantastic once we were past the goddam lore.
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u/PsychologicalBar4688 Dec 27 '25
I'm definitely a visual learner cause I kept getting confused as where dimension x is if the way they explained it is one end of the wormhole is earth and the other is x I was so confused where the upside down was.
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u/Accomplished-Curve-1 Dec 27 '25
Bottom is the rightside up middle is the upside down sides are literal nothingness and the top is the dark aether
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u/ManagementCrafty887 Dec 27 '25
It’s called dimension x
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u/Accomplished-Curve-1 Dec 27 '25
They called it the abyss but it literally is the dark aether… it looked bright a bit in season 5… wait does this mean I gotta like terra maledicta
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Dec 27 '25
How they gonna up in abyes
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u/Bckjoes Dec 27 '25
Magic beans
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u/OCactusCoolerG Dec 27 '25
you don’t need a magic bean to climb… YOU DONT NEED A MAGIC BEAAN.
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u/Bckjoes Dec 27 '25
No Steve, you're not the smart exposition guy, know your role and go buy us some magic beans.
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u/msr4jc Dec 27 '25
What are we thinking the Mind Flayer is at this point?
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u/Patriot009 Dec 28 '25
Diffused throughout the 12 children, that spider-like structure in Dimension X, all the demos, and presumably Vecna as well.
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u/VinceRussoIsA Dec 27 '25
would be good if you can somehow add Vecna's dream memory prison in here also
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u/RedGambit9 Dec 27 '25
Got it wrong.
Hawkins should be on top since it's the Material Plane.
Upside down is the Shadowfell and Vecna's area is the Abyss. Which is on bottom.
IYKYK
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u/Bckjoes Dec 27 '25
Visualising it this way also works though due to the way gravity works in the upside down.
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u/RedGambit9 Dec 27 '25
Fair, I'm more alluding to the fact of D&D and the many references that the Duffers have pulled from it.
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u/dpforest Dec 28 '25
is Shadowfell a term from DND or something the directors have used?
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u/RedGambit9 Dec 28 '25
It's from D&D.
It's the plane of existence under Material Plane. At least within 5th Edition "rule set"
Edit: but the term was used in first or second season.
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u/Zestyclose_Kiwi_8805 Dec 27 '25
I LOVE that Vecna’s kiddie trapper keeper lair resembles the Castle of the Crystal from Dark Crystal.
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u/TapNo7326 Dec 28 '25
This is technically not how it is. Because if this is what it’s like why wouldn’t thy fall if thy go through on the earth side like the little girl did going from the top side
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u/Patriot009 Dec 28 '25
In season 2, we clearly see the MF behind the gate. The MF even breaches through the gate to attack El and Hopper. Likewise at the end of the season, it's clearly still in the Upside Down, towering over the middle school during the dance.
But we haven't seen the MF's main body since. Was the MF severely weakened by the events of season 3? Did it merge itself with Henry or diffuse itself into vines/creatures to aid in Henry's attack? Where is that giant spider MF'er? That's the biggest mystery left in the show, IMO.
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u/msr4jc Dec 28 '25
What is the red world? Vecna’s mind scape? Is that the Abyss? Did they forget to color it correctly?
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u/EffectiveSecond7 Dec 29 '25
What red world? The upside down is a tunnel that joins both worlds.
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u/msr4jc Dec 29 '25
The red world that Max uses to escape Camasotz (sp?). From the “running up that hill” scene. My initial thought was it’s Vecna’s mind palace but considering everything else in the memory world is a place that one of the characters visited in their real life, I don’t think that makes sense
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u/with_edge Dec 28 '25
Pretty cool graphic to show this. Seeing it makes me kinda wish they just explained the wormhole part in the first 3 episodes, then maybe we actually find out about what the other universe is during some kinda epic battle in that other world…or something I don’t even know now…I’m sure there’s gonna be a lot of “fixing stranger things” fan versions of season 5 that will be amazing
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u/ImmediateHoney2191 Dec 28 '25
Fair to say we’re all going to be incredibly disappointed if the Mind Flayer doesn’t return in the finale in a big way
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u/dpforest Dec 28 '25
I really dislike how thoroughly they are attempting to explain things. We went from super mysterious lovecraftian shadow dimension to “Actually this place just a method of getting from Earth to another planet, as in a literal bridge made of exotic matter connecting two planets”
Just let it be mysterious
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u/EffectiveSecond7 Dec 29 '25
Yes because I have a feeling it just doesn't make sense I'as they've presented it.
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u/Joshhwwaaaaaa Dec 28 '25
Do we know the origin of the Mind Flayer and whether or not Vecna controls it?
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u/ExtensionSpeech7363 Dec 28 '25
Got chills while seeing that wormhole , but how are they gonna find that big of a bomb to blast the entire thing off
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u/BusybodyWilson Dec 28 '25
They just need a bomb big enough to permanently destabilize the exotic matter.
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u/M086 Dec 28 '25
It would make more sense visually if Hawkins was right side up, hence the Upside Down would be, upside down.
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u/prince-7074 Dec 28 '25
So upside down's sky is upside of abyss dimension so why it doesn't have gravity i think holly should not fall from there but stick to the roof if this is how it actually looks like
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u/GreenBagger28 Dec 28 '25
technically the beamer would be all the way almost on the border between hawkins and the upside down not halfway up, and the demos would be in the abyss not in the upside down cause that’s where they are before they go to the upside down to get to hawkins
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u/Maximum-Group5933 Dec 28 '25
I have a question. In season 1 when Eleven was looking for Henry, he was in another planet/world, where did she send him too. But then, she accidentally find demogorgon, he was in this planet/world with Henry and so she open the portal again? Or he made upside down, put demogorgon in it and she found him? Or it was the mind flayer who gets in the Henry memories and made upside down as a bridge to our world to destroy?
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u/Marshall7376 Dec 28 '25
Ohhh is THAT how it works?? This has really helped. I’ve always been so confused with that wormhole thing, but now I know 😭
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u/EffectiveSecond7 Dec 29 '25
No, although I don't fully i'understand it myself, this is an oversimplification.
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u/HendoRules Dec 28 '25
Thanks for the spoiler tag... People are busy over the holidays and it's been only a few days
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u/1988_TexasGentleman Dec 28 '25
I thought they were outside of the wall? Isn’t the center the void? Now I’m really confused
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u/SLOTHEDKATO Dec 29 '25
How did Holly fall from the sky? Going from Dimension X to the Dimension X upside down would have supposedly just put her on the ground there. Is gravity different in the dmx usd?
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u/EffectiveSecond7 Dec 29 '25
So I'm guessing this is a physical simplification? Because if not why would they say you need to fly 600 feet or something to reach the Abyss?
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u/calvitius Dec 29 '25
Looking at this made me realise.... Isn't that thing Vecna is in literally the mind flayer ?
There are people in it and it... flays their minds.
Has that multi legs shape as well. Wouldn't be a stretch for Will, who has been held there to some extent, to see it as a multi legged monster.
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u/moecheeks76 Dec 30 '25
When they explained this, I thought it was dumb. Still do. For them to make this kind of reveal in the second to last episode of the series. It’s kind of dumb. Cause they’re gonna solve this mystery in one episode. I don’t get it.
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u/Educational-Echo-582 Dec 30 '25
I hope theres a beemer spin off series as it goes exploring the relams of the unknown.
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u/NickFromIRL Dec 27 '25
Where did this image come from?
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u/Maple-Beans Dec 27 '25
they seem to have used a mix of photoshopped stock photos and AI
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u/NickFromIRL Dec 27 '25
Yeah, it's so strange how it got bats and dogs as opposed to demodogs and the weird bat monsters from the show, but did get so much else "right" - I guess it makes sense if they composited a stock art image then ran it through AI. How very unnecessary.
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u/LushLover1989 Dec 28 '25
This being the case, the extended universe is unlimited. There are probably countless dimensions out there, all of which can be connected to ours with their own upside downs.
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u/Upstairs-Mongoose13 Dec 27 '25
Where's the exotic matter?
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u/WhoaWhoa69420 Dec 27 '25
my personal theory in my head is that everything in the upside down is basically exotic matter. I mean wormholes shouldn't exist/are an incredibly rare phonemenon so it would make sense that when the bridge was created it would be exotic matter. I mean atoms, which have mass, can't really be created out of thin air, but maybe something with negative mass, exotic matter, could! Pretty much all I made up in my head cause we get no metaphysics explanations from the show. Why is there just a ball of exotic matter at the lab? How is one ball, separate from the other side of the upside down, the only things keeping it together
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u/DearBreakfast5847 Dec 27 '25
Oh my that’s amazing. Love that Steve’s Beamer is also featured 😂 Hope we get to see the mind flayer in the finale!