‘Stranger Things’ finale may have left a huge clue on the basement bookshelf

After almost a decade, Stranger Things is over – and even though some fans aren’t happy with how things left off, the finale still has a lot of people talking about it.

A topic dominating social media is the ultimate fate of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). Near the end of the finale, the series’ protagonist appears to sacrifice herself by remaining in the Upside Down as the dimensional bridge to the Abyss is blown to smithereens, eliminating any chance for the army to raise more children with their telepathic powers and continue their cruel experiments.

But then, during a final D&D campaign in the very last scene, Mike (Finn Wolfhard) comes up with an alternative theory. What if the image they all saw of El standing at the door to the Upside-Down was actually just a projection made by Eight/Kali (Linnea Berthelsen)? Could it be that the real El actually made a pact with her fellow Hawkins Lab survivor, managed to return to the real world while everyone else was distracted, and is now living out her days in another part of the world under a new identity as Mike’s story suggests?

The Duffer Brothers show refuses to confirm what’s really happening – but some fans are speculating that the clues point to El being alive.

What is the clue on the shelf?

One of these clues can be found on the shelf in the Wheeler’s basement at the very end of the episode, where the main gang goes to turn in their D&D campaign binders once and for all. In the episode itself, it’s hard to read the titles of the books surrounding the binders – but in one of the behind-the-scenes images posted to Instagram by Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp, we can get a clearer preview (swipe up to the final image).

As fans have already pointed out on Reddit, one of the books is The empty copper sea by John D. MacDonald — a 1978 novel about a detective investigating a possible faked death.

It seems very unlikely that this choice on the part of the Stranger Things The production team is a coincidence, so could this be another clue that Mike’s theory about El is correct? Maybe. Although if you were cynical, you could also argue that a grieving Mike may have spent the last 18 months reading about fake deaths while he worked on his own theory about El.

Ultimately, Eleven’s fate is hidden in the minds of the Duffer brothers, and they reveal nothing. Yet we choose to believe.

Stranger ThingsThe final season is available to stream now on Netflix.