There are a lot of mysteries in Hawkins Lab, where some dangerous and mysterious experiments were taking place. One of those went wrong and ended up opening a gate to a parallel dimension, referred to as the “Upside Down”.
In that same season, Eleven lose her powers, and tricked everyone into thinking Jim Hopper was dead. Stranger Things has been packed with mysteries and monster villains, so much that it seems to have forgotten about one of its main characters: the Upside Down.
The other dimension continues to be an enigma not only to viewers but to the characters in the series as well, to the point where fans have been trying to come up with some explanations and origins. One of those suggests that it was all a creation of Eleven, and one that got out of hand as it’s now a danger to pretty much everyone as it unleashes different types of creatures.
What We Know About The Upside Down
The Eleven made with the Demogorgon in the Void during an experiment. This encounter opened a gate between the two dimensions, allowing the Demogorgon and other creatures to cross to the human world. This event caused panic at Hawkins Lab, which allowed Eleven to escape. Meanwhile, the Demogorgon moved between worlds by creating temporary wounds in the fabric of space and time, which is how it got to Will and how Nancy was able to enter the Upside Down in the forest.
The How the Upside Down was created and how it’s possible for it to have the exact same locations, buildings, trees, and more as Hawkins is still known, but some believe it’s all because it was created by a certain human with special abilities.
How Eleven's Powers Could’ve Created The Upside Down
A fan theory posted on Terry Ives, was part of a government program known as MKUltra, in which she was subject to many experiments involving psychedelic drugs and sensory deprivation. Terry got pregnant and gave birth to a girl, Jane a.k.a. Eleven, who was born with psychokinetic abilities as a result of all the experimentation Terry went through. Immediately after her birth, Jane was abducted by Dr. Brenner, making Terry believe she had a miscarriage.
Jane, later labeled and known as Eleven, grew up in Hawkins Lab with Brenner as her only parental figure. There she went through many tests and experiments with the purpose of exploring her powers (among those telekinesis, extrasensory perception, and biokinesis) and taking advantage of them, turning her into a weapon of their own. During this time, Eleven underwent a lot of trauma and abuse, as she would be dragged into and locked in a solitary cell for great periods of time, among other things. Now, as mentioned above, the Upside Down's history began when the gate was opened, and nothing is known about it before that. It’s possible, then, that the other dimension is a physical manifestation of Eleven’s trauma, and the Demogorgon and all the creatures in it are representations of her abs. After all, what opened the gate was Eleven making with the Demogorgon, which was a traumatic experience in its own, triggering the materialization of Eleven’s trauma as a dark, parallel world.
Evidence The Upside Down Was Created By Eleven
The best piece of evidence that the Upside Down was created by Eleven is that its history is unknown prior to the opening of the gate, as well as its origins. The other dimension is a lonely place, with only the Demogorgon, demodogs, and the Mind Flayer living there, which could be interpreted as the loneliness Eleven went through during her time at Hawkins Lab, and the different creatures are a representation of Brenner, other scientists, and the guards who locked her in the cell. The Upside Down and its creatures have become their own separate entities, but they still have a link to their creator, which would explain how Eleven was able to recognize Will in the pictures at Mike’s house.
Other pieces of evidence pointed out by Stranger Things fans are how the Demogorgon is drawn to blood (which is how it got to Barb in the first place), but never goes after Eleven when her nose bleeds; how when she faces off against the creature in the final episode of season 1, she extends her right hand to channel her powers and the monster does the same; how every time she went into the Void to find Will, the monster found him almost immediately after; and that when she told Mike that she was the monster, it wasn’t just her being too self-critical.
What This Means For Stranger Things Season 4
If Eleven created the Upside Down, then the only way to get rid of it once and for all is not by closing all the gates (in Hawkins, Russia, and anywhere else), but by killing Eleven. Although Stranger Things has had its fair dose of deaths and tragic moments (Bob Newby, Alexei, and Billy, just to name a few), the writers might not want to kill Eleven in season 4, so another solution to get rid of the Upside Down and its dangers would be through time-travel. It’s believed that Stranger Things season 4 will use time-travel, and through it, the group could go back in time to avoid Brenner getting a hold of Eleven. The author of the theory explains that this would mean that everything seen so far is canon, but the time-travel would create a new timeline, one where the group (at least Mike, Will, Lucas, Dustin, and Max) are still friends because they would keep their memories, only that they would meet Eleven in normal circumstances (as in: Jane attends school like any other kid).
Surely, traveling back in time to save Eleven and avoid the trauma she underwent at Hawkins Lab and thus the creation of the Upside Down would bring other, also heartbreaking consequences, namely that Jim Hopper would have never adopted her – although that would be new-timeline-Hopper, so he wouldn’t know that he was once her father, unless he travels back in time with the rest. Though it hasn’t been confirmed, it’s believed that season 4 of Stranger Things will be the last, and in that case, it should answer the biggest questions the other seasons have left, especially those about the Upside Down. Perhaps you’d want to keep this theory in mind whenever you rewatch the series and see if it matches with what has been shown or not.